Mar 9, 2018 | Managed Care Friday
1. 1,504. The number of children under age 17 admitted into hospitals for opioid overdoses from 2012 and 2015, up from 797 from 2004-07. Researchers at the Comer Children Hospital in Chicago determined these underage overdoses occurred from children getting their parents prescription medication, and particularly children under six years of age who were consuming methadone, a treatment for opioid withdrawal symptoms. 2. Rocky MLR: When meeting quality outcomes targets, 26 physician practices in Colorado earned a share in savings from the Rocky Mountain Health Plan during a recent Medicaid...
Mar 2, 2018 | Managed Care Friday
1. 3.6 Million: Number of Americans who miss medical appointments due to a lack of reliable transportation, which evidently lead to the launch yesterday of Uber’s new business called “Uber Health”, according to an Uber general manager. Uber Health will provide a car service platform specifically to drive patients to hospitals and rehab centers, allowing medical facilities to book rides using a web dashboard. 2. Marriage, Is What Brings Us Together…Today: Licensed psychologists and marriage and family therapists are being invited, as of this month, to participate in BCBS of Michigan’s...
Feb 2, 2018 | Managed Care Friday
1. 50.7: The percent of women in medical school, up about 3% since 2010. There are about 21,000 enrollees today. Two of my three kids want to be physicians – one boy and one girl. The boy wants to be a dermatologist or doctor of physical therapy, having spent a good part of his freshman year in PT. The girl wants to be an APRN or family doctor back in her home country of Thailand. In either case, neither solve the physician shortage on their own but in a straw poll of 38 medical directors this week, 37 said the girl gets their vole for ‘adding more value’. If you are looking at investing in...
Jan 26, 2018 | Managed Care Friday
1. 59: The fee in dollars BCBS of Massachusetts will pay for a standard medical tele-health visit, up $10 from last year. 2. OB Pre & Post Term Pay: Changes are likely for OBs both for pre-term and post labor payment. A number of managed care plan case managers, 42% in our poll of 136 of them in January, said they are looking into new depression screening type programs to support moms-to-be, particularly higher-risk pregnancy patients with diabetes or those with prior mental health conditions. The programs may address what one nurse manager called a rise of about 12% in pre-term births...
Jan 25, 2018 | Managed Care Friday
1. 7.7 Million: The number of adults who have co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. New information on comorbidity from a study done across the globe in Australia. The Queensland Brain Institute released a study this month with Aarhus University showing the risk of developing a second mental health disorder. People within the study who were younger than 20 at the onset of their mental disorder were more at risk than others for developing a second disorder in the next 10-15 years. This study is now the largest and most...
