What are the most commonly used pain self-management strategies?
This study also demonstrates how novel interventions can be examined in groups with small numbers, but still allowing us to measure important changes. As an exploratory design, single case study design replicated with several participants is a method we need to use more.
In a systematic review and meta-analysis, Blasco-Belled and colleagues (2023) found that positive psychology interventions do enhance positive affect and reduce anxiety but didn’t alter depression. There were not many studies included in this analysis suggesting that we still have a hang-up on promoting joy and compassion and all the good things i...
Source: HealthSkills Weblog - November 26, 2023 Category: Anesthesiology Authors: BronnieLennoxThompson Tags: Chronic pain Clinical reasoning Coping Skills Coping strategies Occupational therapy Resilience Resilience/Health Science in practice biopsychosocial pain management Research Therapeutic approaches Source Type: blogs
Zealous for Wellness: The Ongoing Quest for Standard Measures
The previous articles in this series showed how payers, providers, and digital health companies try to prove that they’re helping to create healthier patients. Sara Shanti, a partner specializing in health care at law firm Sheppard Mullin, says that organizations in the wellness space are searching for strong algorithms. But they also want to ensure that technology leads to, and clearly reflects, improved and worthwhile outcomes. This is not likely to emerge for some time. But this final article looks at how some organizations are filling the gap.
Rigor at a Weight Loss Clinic
Dr. Brett Osborn, author of the book G...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - November 16, 2023 Category: Information Technology Authors: Andy Oram Tags: AI/Machine Learning Ambulatory Analytics/Big Data Clinical Communication and Patient Experience Health IT Company Healthcare IT Hospital - Health System LTPAC Arcadia Behavior Change behavioral health BPCI Brett Osborn Clinical Source Type: blogs
Zealous for Wellness: Deciding What Kind of Change You Want
This article looks at the measurements and reporting strategies used by some specific companies. Their interventions, goals, and measures depend a lot on who’s paying for the service.
Wondr Health Gives Employers What They Ask For
Wondr Health, like so many companies in this article and in the value-based healthcare space generally, works with employers and payers. Ultimately, for many employers, the purpose of engaging Wondr Health’s behavioral interventions is to improve employee productivity.
According to chief medical officer Dr. Tim Church, some of Wondr Health’s clients focus on cutting down the c...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - November 15, 2023 Category: Information Technology Authors: Andy Oram Tags: AI/Machine Learning Ambulatory Analytics/Big Data Clinical Communication and Patient Experience Health IT Company Healthcare IT Hospital - Health System LTPAC Telemedicine and Remote Monitoring Behavior Change behavioral health Cli Source Type: blogs
Rube Goldberg Would Be Proud
By KIM BELLARD
Larry Levitt and Drew Altman have an op-ed in JAMA Network with the can’t-argue-with-that title Complexity in the US Health Care System Is the Enemy of Access and Affordability. It draws on a June 2023 Kaiser Family Foundation survey about consumer experiences with their health insurance. Long stories short: although – surprisingly – over 80% of insured adults rate their health insurance as “good” or “excellent,” most admit they have difficulty both understanding and using it. And the people in fair or poor health, who presumably use health care more, have more problems.
Health insurance...
Source: The Health Care Blog - October 31, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Employers Health system change Kim Bellard Medicare PBMs Source Type: blogs
US Mental Health Startup Headway Raises $125 Million at $1 Billion Valuation
Headway, a healthcare tech startup that connects patients and in-network therapists, has raised $125 million in Series C funding, the company told Reuters.
The round of financing, which valued the company at $1 billion, was led by Spark Capital with participation from existing investors including Thrive Capital, Accel, and Andreessen Horowitz. Insurance company Health Care Service Corporation also joined the round.
Based in New York, Headway’s platform connects patients with therapists and psychiatrists who can provide care covered by insurance. It also offers billing and claims software for providers.
Andrew Adams, ...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - October 27, 2023 Category: Information Technology Authors: Healthcare IT News Tags: Health IT Company Healthcare IT Accel Andreessen Horowitz Andrew Adams Headway Health Care Service Corporation Health IT Funding Health IT Fundings Health IT Investment Reuters Spark Capital Thrive Capital Will Reed Source Type: blogs
Faculty and Student Perceptions of Unauthorized Collaborations
In this study, it was clear students do recognize the need for individual accountability and that their individual competence will be assessed, but they also recognize that they are encouraged to work with each other and that throughout their careers they will be working with colleagues in the clinical settings and for the rest of their lives. That gets at some of the tension, and we create some of that tension in the curriculum because we foster students working together in small groups and we embrace them supporting each other and helping each other learn. Then that comes up against the individual demonstration of compet...
Source: Academic Medicine Blog - October 24, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: amrounds Tags: AM Podcast AM Podcast Transcript Academic Medicine podcast faculty learning environment medical students RIME Source Type: blogs
CMS ’s Policy on Mental Health Therapists Will Work
By JON KOLE
Nearly 66 million Americans are currently enrolled in Medicare, a number that will likely swell towards 80 million Americans within the next seven years. These are our mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, grandparents and friends – and, maybe, you.
A significant portion of these millions of people need mental health services – and, yet, many face long wait times or aren’t able to find a therapist at all. On average, Americans have a waiting period of 48 days before receiving mental health care. At present, two notable provider groups – Marriage and Family Therapists...
Source: The Health Care Blog - October 24, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Headspace Jon Kole Mental Health Therapy workforce Source Type: blogs
Weekly Roundup – October 21, 2023
Welcome to our Healthcare IT Today Weekly Roundup. Each week, we’ll be providing a look back at the articles we posted and why they’re important to the healthcare IT community. We hope this gives you a chance to catch up on anything you may have missed during the week.
Driving Patient Behavior and Connecting Patients With Care Teams. Patients are embracing the notion of monitoring their health every day, but health systems aren’t, John Lynn discovered in a chat with Rich Steinle and Scott Pradels at Carium. The conversation also covered how to remove barriers to adoption of remote monitoring technology. Read more...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - October 21, 2023 Category: Information Technology Authors: Brian Eastwood Tags: Healthcare IT Healthcare IT Today Weekly Roundup Source Type: blogs
Aspects of Social Determinants of Health: Collecting Data
This article shows how organizations are collecting it.
Andrew Eye, CEO of the healthcare data science company ClosedLoop, estimates that about 15% of physicians collect SDoH-related data from patients and use it to assess their needs. The percentage is much higher in some areas.
Data can be spotty, according to Eye, who says for instance that data from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) often lacks racial identifications.
He also says that collecting and processing the data is labor-intensive, because it can be hard to persuade patients to talk openly about financial and logistical problems. At the institu...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - October 18, 2023 Category: Information Technology Authors: Andy Oram Tags: Analytics/Big Data C-Suite Leadership Communication and Patient Experience Health IT Company Healthcare IT Hospital - Health System Andrew Eye Arick Morton Carta Healthcare Case Management Casetivity CDC Clinical Archictecture Cl Source Type: blogs
Your Insulin of the Future Could Be " Made in China " if Big PBMs Have a Say in the Matter
Back on June 16, 2022, I published an article on LinkedIn entitled "How the Civica Insulin Announcement May Be Disruptive to the PBM Kickback Scheme" (see the article athttps://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-civica-insulin-announcement-may-disruptive-pbm-scheme-strumello/ if you wish to read it) which predicted that a growing number of insulin biosimilars whose active pharmaceutical ingredients (API ' s) are cultured in offshore laboratories are forecast to hit the U.S. market in the next few years. According to the FDA and the individual companies whom I also follow on LinkedIn, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) typ...
Source: Scott's Web Log - October 15, 2023 Category: Endocrinology Tags: 2023 Congress insulin insulin prices lawmakers PBM Pharmacy Benefit Managers Source Type: blogs
Virgin Pulse and HealthComp Announce Intent to Merge to Create Comprehensive Employer Health Platform
Joining Forces to Improve Health Outcomes, Lower Costs, and Empower Members Through a Next-Generation Health Technology and Data Platform
New Mountain Capital, Marlin Equity Partners, Blackstone, and Morgan Health to Back Combined Entity, the Industry’s First Health Platform-as-a-Service
Virgin Pulse, a leading global digital-first health, wellbeing, and navigation company, today announced its intent to merge with HealthComp, a next-generation benefits and analytics platform. The merger will create a technology and data-powered health platform-as-a-service organization poised to tackle some of the industry’s biggest c...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - October 13, 2023 Category: Information Technology Authors: Healthcare IT News Tags: Health IT Company Healthcare IT Blackstone Chad Harris Chris Michalak Dan Mendelson Evercore® Health IT Acquisitions Healthcare M&A HealthComp J.P. Morgan Securities LLC JPMorgan Chase Kirkland & Ellis LLP Kyle Peterson Marlin Source Type: blogs
Prior Authorization Takes a Leap Forward in CMS Regulation
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have taken a bold step by mandating a standard for prior authorization. I talked to Nikki Henck, Senior Director of Utilization Management at Sagility, about the implementation and potential impact of this proposed requirement, which, if finalized, will be enacted in January 2026.
The Dilemma of Prior Authorization
Prior authorization, also known as a pre-approval, strikes fear into both patients and providers. In a 2022 American Medical Association physician survey, 88% of providers said that the burden of doing prior authorization was high or extremely high. Anothe...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - October 12, 2023 Category: Information Technology Authors: Andy Oram Tags: Administration Health IT Company Healthcare IT Interoperability Regulations AMA CMS Electronic Prior Authorization FHIR Nikki Henck Prior Authorizations Sagility Source Type: blogs
Datavant Leads in Health Data Exchange: Surpasses Digital Connections to 70,000 Hospitals And Clinics, Acquires Healthjump
Datavant has now reached a milestone of more than 70,000 US hospitals and clinics in its digital network and enables the exchange of 60 million patient records per year. Datavant supports use cases ranging from continuity of care; to patient and attorney requests; to risk adjustment, to quality reporting and clinical research. Datavant also announces completing its acquisition of Healthjump, the leader in health data exchange for value-based care organizations, which has built connections to more than 1,500 healthcare organizations participating in risk-bearing arrangements.
“Together, Datavant and Healthjump will dramat...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - October 10, 2023 Category: Information Technology Authors: Healthcare IT News Tags: Health IT Company Healthcare IT Adam McClellan CIOX Health Cliff Cavanaugh Community Care of North Carolina Datavant Health IT Acquisitions Healthcare M&A Healthjump Pete McCabe Source Type: blogs
Dancing around the hexaflex: Using ACT in practice 6
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) can be slippery to describe. It’s an approach that doesn’t aim to change thought content, but instead to help us shift the way we relate to what our mind tells us. It’s also an approach focused on workability: pragmatic and context-specific analysis of how well a strategy is working to achieve being able to do what matters. Over the next few posts I want to give some examples of how non-psychologists (remember ACT is open for anyone to use it!) can use ACT in session.
Actions: It’s what we’re about
You know the old saying “All talk, no action”? The...
Source: HealthSkills Weblog - September 24, 2023 Category: Anesthesiology Authors: BronnieLennoxThompson Tags: ACT - Acceptance & Commitment Therapy Occupational therapy Pain conditions Physiotherapy Psychology Science in practice acceptance and commitment therapy biopsychosocial Chronic pain Clinical reasoning pain management Therapeutic app Source Type: blogs
The pros and cons of whole life insurance for high-income earners
According to the American Council of Life Insurers, permanent insurance is the most common type of life insurance purchased in the U.S. today. There is a variety of permanent life insurance available, but traditional whole life insurance is the most popular. For high-income earners like physicians, there are pros and cons to consider about whole
Read more…
The pros and cons of whole life insurance for high-income earners originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 22, 2023 Category: General Medicine Authors: Shane Tenny, CFP Tags: Finance Public Health & Policy Source Type: blogs
