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Telehealth is changing healthcare — patients are telling us so
Scott E. Rupp Healthcare AdministrationIf 2020 has taught us nothing else, it's that telehealth that is likely here to stay. But why? Convenience is critical to its success, but it can bridge the gap of care between caregivers and patients during the pandemic. It's proving to be a legitimate solution to reaching patients in underserved areas. Telehealth technology is no longer a concept but a tried and mostly trusted solution for care delivery. Since the height of the pandemic, patients' use has fallen, but people still like what it has to offer, and its use seems to be reaching critical mass.
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US payrolls add 638,000 jobs; unemployment rate drops to 6.9%
Seth Sandronsky Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementU.S. employers added 638,000 nonfarm jobs in October, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. October’s rate of unemployment fell to 6.9% from September’s 7.9% and August’s 8.4%. The gradual employment improvement is a result of eased COVID-19 restrictions on social movement and resuming of commerce, though the pandemic remains uncontained and prospects for a vaccine available to the public are unclear. "The number of unemployed persons fell by 1.5 million to 11.1 million," according to the BLS. "Both measures have declined for 6 consecutive months but are nearly twice their February levels."
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How common oral and nasal rinses might reduce COVID risk in the dental…
R.V. Scheide Oral & Dental HealthcareThe results of two recent peer-reviewed studies that found Listerine and an array of cosmetic and therapeutic mouthwashes kill the novel coronavirus in the laboratory should be approached cautiously. The studies are in vitro, in glass, in the test tube, in the petri dish, and we won’t know if these compounds work on actual living organisms, in this case human beings, until in vivo studies are done. Nevertheless, for dentists, dental hygienists and other dental healthcare providers, there’s plenty to celebrate in the studies, since they both validate some practices already put in place by dental offices when the pandemic took off in the United States last March and point the way forward for future research.
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Study: Tracking the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 virus mutations
Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied HealthcareCOVID-19 can go in two different directions once it has infected someone. The immune response can remain stable and regain control over the virus, eventually clearing it through T cell and antibody activity. Or the immune system can freak out and start to overrespond, churning out more and more inflammatory cytokines, in a frantic attempt to wipe out the virus. The second path causes substantial cell death in the lungs, resulting in the most severe infections, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and even death. However, in a new study, University of Illinois researchers and students found that the virus is honing the tactics that may make it more successful and more stable.
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Ringing in your ear? Here are some tips to help
Victoria Fann Medical & Allied HealthcareThere are few things in this world as annoying as a constant ringing sound in one or both ears. I know because I’ve experienced tinnitus, as it’s called, in my right ear for the past four years. It seems to come and go, and I suppose I’ve adjusted to it, but for many people it’s truly unbearable. In fact, there are more people than you might think affected by this auditory phenomenon. Fortunately, only 10% of sufferers of tinnitus need professional help. For the rest of us, we have to learn to live with it, because as of right now, there’s no cure. For our purposes, I will present some simple, no-cost or low-cost tips to help you cope with tinnitus.
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HSA, FSA or HRA: What employees need to know before choosing one
Grace Ferguson Healthcare AdministrationNot to be confused with health insurance, HSAs, FSAs, and HRAs are tax-favored accounts that reimburse employees for eligible healthcare expenses, as defined by the Internal Revenue Service. All three share the common goal of helping employees save on healthcare costs, but in the end, they are separate accounts. Here’s what you need to know before enrolling in an employer’s HSA, FSA, or HRA.
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Study: A substantial number of patients have deferred care during the COVID-19…
Scott E. Rupp Medical & Allied HealthcareRoutine patient care received a devastating blow earlier this year as the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged healthcare facilities, countless communities across the country and shut down elective procedures. According to a new study on patient care's impact during the pandemic, almost half of all U.S. employees deferred care because of the pandemic, Willis Towers Watson said. The global advisory firm surveyed a statistically valid 4,898 workers reporting that as many as 44% deferred medical care at some point during the pandemic.
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Fiction and fact: The undermining of science and society
Keith Carlson Medical & Allied HealthcareIn these days of a tumultuous and politically divided country and a raging pandemic taking scores of lives each day, research is a cornerstone of the bedrock of public health, evidence-based science, and healthcare delivery. However, when determined efforts are made to undermine the importance of the truth of scientific inquiry and discovery, our society itself is lamentably and powerfully undermined. The very notion of how we as humans accept or reject the concept of facts has changed remarkably in the course of the first two decades of the 21st century.
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Podcast: A marketing magician’s tricks to turn prospects into patients
Jarod Carter MarketingSince he was a child, Dave Dee wanted to be a magician. But he grew up and settled for work in "practical" jobs, adding in magic shows when he could. Like most of us, he believed if he got really good at his craft, success would follow. But instead, he just fell further into debt. In an effort to find answers, he studied marketing, and that sparked a huge mindset shift. Every private practice must do the same things to succeed: generate leads and close them, perform the service and get paid, and generate repeat business and referrals. That's why many of the same marketing principles that work for a magician will work for essentially any private practice.
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What is the long-term prognosis for telehealth?
Scott E. Rupp Medical & Allied HealthcareDuring the rush of COVID-19’s onslaught in March and April, health systems attempted to scale up and survive, so they invested in telehealth technology, according to a report from the Center for Connected Medicine and KLAS Research. Despite the meteoric rise of telehealth services during the quarantine, these same health systems are wrestling with how they will make long-term use of the technology when the pandemic winds down. Per the report, health system leaders who adopted telehealth want to improve integration, infrastructure, and security in the years ahead and focus on long-term telehealth decisions.
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