Mar 23, 2018 | Managed Care Friday
1. 65 Seconds: Amount of time it takes for someone new in the U.S. to develop Alzheimer’s disease – which by 2050 is expected to shrink to one person every 33 seconds. 5.7 million Americans are living with it now and depending on which state you live in, assisted or senior living can cost approximately $2,525 to $5,745 a month. My grandmother, who spent her childhood in the mountains near Napoli, spent her last 12 years in Fairlawn New Jersey with the disease. I lived with her for part of that time – she was only in a SNF near the end, when pneumonia got her. The pipeline of drugs to address...
Mar 16, 2018 | Managed Care Friday
1. $1.6 Trillion: If you had to guess, what you would think is the largest single source of economic burden in the world? If you guess cancer, diabetes, respiratory disease or heart disease you’re wrong. The estimated global cost of mental health problems is higher than all of those. 2. Talk Is Cheap, But Does It Work? A therapist messaging app called ‘Talkspace’ has serviced over one million people and is trying to help solve issues of access, stigma and cost for those suffering from mental health conditions, says app cofounder Roni Frank MD. The new solution has implications for therapy...
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...
