-
ED visits rise, along with their costs for everyone
Scott E. Rupp Medical & Allied HealthcareEmergency department visits increased by nearly 10 million patients in 2016 compared to 2015 data, according to a recent report the from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The total of 145.6 million visits is the highest number reported. Even with the total number of visits increasing, patients who used the ED for regular care decreased. Per the report, the percentage of emergency patients with nonurgent medical symptoms dropped from 5.5% to 4.3%.
-
Alexa went to school, and now she’s HIPAA-compliant
Tammy Hinojos Oral & Dental Healthcare"Alexa, ask my dentist if my prescription is ready." No, really. You can do that now. Amazon announced on April 4 that its Alexa Skills Kit now enables select covered entities subject to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations to build Alexa skills that allow it to transmit and receive protected health information as part of an invite-only program. Cool. But what does that actually mean? It means soon you could be using your Alexa for more than weather and traffic updates and turning on music.
-
Study reveals statins have surprising benefits
Dorothy L. Tengler PharmaceuticalCardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Approximately one-third of all deaths in the U.S. are due to heart disease or stroke. Elevated blood cholesterol is a major risk factor for CVD, and statin therapy has been strongly associated with a reduced risk of atherosclerotic CVD. While investigating why statins cause negative side effects, cellular chemists at The University of Toledo discovered previously unknown benefits. Statins may play a protective role in the event of a heart attack because they can suppress a biological process that disrupts cardiac function.
-
A 4-step process for making changes in your nursing department
Amanda Ghosh Medical & Allied HealthcareAlthough difficult, it is possible to get your staff on board with a change. A recent study published in Nursing Open shares how a group of nurse managers successfully changed aspects of their wards. A four-step process emerged from their stories. Echoing the principles of emotional intelligence, the four steps included (1) identifying, (2) prioritizing, (3) implementing, and (4) evaluating. These steps can be used to spearhead changes in your department.
-
More teens, children seeking psych care in emergency departments
Chelsea Adams Mental HealthcareHere's the good news. More young people are seeking care for mental health-related disorders than ever before. The bad news? These teens and adolescents are using emergency departments to access the help they need. But, according to an analysis published in the March 18 issue of JAMA Pediatrics, only 16 percent of young patients who sought care in an ED ever saw a mental health professional. The analysis identified a 28 percent increase in overall psych ED visits among patients ages 6 to 24 in the years between 2011 and 2015.
-
Telehealth use up dramatically nationwide
Scott E. Rupp Medical & Allied HealthcareTelehealth use rose by more than 50% from 2016 to 2017, according to a new white paper by Fair Health. For the annually released paper, data was collected from the company's records of 28 billion commercial insurance claims, which showed that telehealth utilization grew nearly twice as fast in urban areas vs. rural over that span. Nationally, urgent-care centers increased their use of telehealth by at least 14%, followed by retail clinics at 7% and ambulatory surgery centers at 6%. Emergency department utilization of telehealth declined, though, by 2%. However, utilization in this setting was still the most used.
-
What’s next for association health plans after federal judge’s…
Seth Sandronsky Medical & Allied HealthcareU.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates recently ruled that the Department of Labor's issuance of a final rule last June 19 that lets groups of small businesses offer association health plans (AHPs) is "clearly an end-run" around the 2010 Affordable Care Act’s consumer protections. Kev Coleman, president and founder of AssociationHealthPlans.com, disputes Judge Bates' ruling. "The new study on chamber of commerce association health plans painfully illustrates the insurance gains that will be lost to small businesses if the recent court ruling is not overturned," Coleman said in a prepared statement.
-
Negativity: The mortal enemy of teamwork in healthcare
Keith Carlson Medical & Allied HealthcareTeamwork in healthcare holds a place of the utmost importance when it comes to cooperation and the positive outcomes that both patients and providers desire to achieve. Collaboration and positivity need to be two of our highest-valued attributes in healthcare, and when negativity rears its ugly head on a consistent basis in any particular medical workplace setting, we see the mortal enemy of teamwork in action. Anyone can understandably have a bad moment or a bad day; however, when a bad day becomes a bad week, month, or year, that's another story entirely.
-
Are e-consults right for your practice?
Lisa Mulcahy Healthcare AdministrationStudies show that referring a patient to a specialist can often be a stressful and time-consuming enterprise for a primary care physician. Not only does that PCP have to identify the correct doctor to refer to, he or she must then, in many cases, set up a meeting to discuss the patient's case. What's the latest high-tech solution to save this kind of effort and energy? Electronic consultations, often called e-consults or e-referrals. The process works this way: a PCP who needs to ask a specialist about a specific patient's care — such as a symptom that needs to be discussed — emails a specialist. Then, the PCP and specialist discuss the patient's situation through messages.
-
Tips to help your staff prevent patient data breaches
Lisa Mulcahy Healthcare AdministrationAs a healthcare administrator, you know how important it is to reduce any risk of a patient health information (PHI) data breach. Yet, breaches continue to be a vexing and dangerous problem. A study from Michigan State University found that about 1,800 large data breaches over the course of seven years had to do with lax hospital policies putting information at risk. How can you best assist your staff and your IT to secure the data at your organization? Let the research-based advice in this article be your guide.
All Pharmaceutical Articles