Mar 22, 2019 | Managed Care Friday
1. 64: Percent of high school seniors in our poll earlier this month who say they are interested in medical school or healthcare jobs, but when ‘breaking out the results’ by gender, the numbers change a lot—girls (73%) and boys (49%). 2. Stroke of Genius: A new remote monitoring program has reduced bad ‘LDL’ cholesterol by 40% in less than 12 weeks, and cut blood pressure values in half according to results we found from Always Health Partners, formally known as Neighborhood Health Plan of Massachusetts. The plan’s remote medical management program is focused on reducing the risk of heart...
Feb 22, 2019 | Managed Care Friday
Extra Point: Unlike my kids whose idea of a crisis is their iphone app froze or the dog licked the waffle, meaning they have to make another one, there are real crisis situations going on and they are sparking a flurry of new healthcare psych-focused models. The latest is a new mental health facility focused on helping Medicaid patients in Tennessee, and it’s already at capacity. The center focuses on both crisis intervention and other psych needs, but its model has led to some questions from those we interviewed about its designation, whether it turns away crisis patients, and more broadly...
Feb 15, 2019 | Managed Care Friday
560,000: The number of referrals United Healthcare made over the last couple years to social services for its Medicare enrollees. United hopes to start creating diagnosis codes for social determinants of health, like housing, food and transportation…actual diagnosis codes (ICD-10 codes) have been rolled out first for helping address social determinants of health in Medicare patients. Medicaid related codes are next. About 1 million Medicare Advantage enrollees identified a social related issue connected to their health, a United spokesman confirmed. The Parkland Center for Innovation in...
Feb 8, 2019 | Managed Care Friday
1. Where There’s Smoke: People with schizophrenia are 3 times more likely to smoke than other people and tend to smoke more heavily in an effort to control their symptoms related to their mental illness, according to the Mental Health Foundation. Of note, Rhode Island’s BCBS insurer just partnered with OutcomesMTM and schizophrenia is among the focus areas. Overall, patients taking 8+ Part D drugs and have incurred at least one quarter of their annual drug cost in the last 3 months are ‘targeted’. Patients pay nothing to be involved. 2. Diamonds Are a Doctor’s Best Friend: A care manager and...
Feb 1, 2019 | Managed Care Friday
If You Build It….Psych Field Gets Boost In Iowa What It Means to the Emerging Trend in Psych Services Wait times for seeing psychiatrists or psychologists average 2-4 months, according to our poll of 231 school counselors, PCPs, and hospital discharge planners in Iowa, but there is hope in a new program out of Broadlawns Medical Center. The hospital has a new psych residency program. University of Iowa Hospitals had the only psych training program here until this one. Several Iowa hospitals closed their mental health units in recent years, not due to low demand but low supply, says Martin...
