The Hidden Benefits of Silence
“Silence is a source of great strength.” – Lao Tzu
While some people dislike a silent environment, equating it with being alone and lonely, others look forward to spending time with just their thoughts, seeking silence with eagerness, as if anticipating a gift. Indeed, silence offers profound benefits, many of which we aren’t even aware of.
Silence is good for overall physical health and well-being.
Besides giving our ears a break, silence has been shown to offer significant health advantages that boost overall well-being. From a physiological standpoint, silence helps:
Lower blood pressure, which can help preven...
Source: World of Psychology - December 20, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Suzanne Kane Tags: Creativity General Happiness Health-related Holiday Coping Inspiration & Hope Mental Health and Wellness Mindfulness Motivation and Inspiration Relationships Research Self-Help Defensiveness Inner Strength Silence Source Type: blogs
On the Morality of Insurance Premiums
By ANISH KOKA, MD
As CVS-Aetna merger talks fill the air this Christmas season and experts weigh in on the impact this will have on the economy and consumers alike, I’m sitting at a little desk in a little office contemplating health insurance.
I run a little shop that’s about as far from CVS-Aetna as you can get in the health care space : a solo practice doctor with four full time employees and revenues a little south of $65 billion dollars. I shouldn’t feel too alone. Small businesses account for 99% of US firms and employ almost half of all private sector employees. But knowing my problem is one shared b...
Source: The Health Care Blog - December 11, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: anish_koka Tags: Uncategorized ACA Anish Koka CVS-Aetna IRS Source Type: blogs
CMS Releases Final Rule for Second Year of QPP - Includes PI-QI CME Improvement Activity
Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final rule that makes changes in the second year of the Quality Payment Program (QPP) under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), including the Merit-based Incentive Program (MIPS) and Advanced Payment Models (APMs). The second year of the QPP continues to build on transitional year 1 policies, noting that a “second year to ramp-up the program will continue to help build upon the iterative learning and development of year 1 in preparation for a robust program in year 3.”
In addition to the final rule, CMS als...
Source: Policy and Medicine - November 6, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
CMS Releases Final Rule for Second Year of QPP
Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final rule that makes changes in the second year of the Quality Payment Program (QPP) under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), including the Merit-based Incentive Program (MIPS) and Advanced Payment Models (APMs). The second year of the QPP continues to build on transitional year 1 policies, noting that a “second year to ramp-up the program will continue to help build upon the iterative learning and development of year 1 in preparation for a robust program in year 3.”
In addition to the final rule, CMS als...
Source: Policy and Medicine - November 6, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Why physicians should be their own brand
Health care in America and the practice of medicine has undergone a sea change over the last couple of decades. It used to be about Dr. Johnson’s office around the corner that would serve you and your whole family. Nowadays, it’s about mega-specialty groups and large health care conglomerates. It’s about mergers and hostile corporate takeovers. Statistics now suggest that over 50 percent of physicians are employed rather than being in their own private practice as business owners—a state of play that has huge consequences for the way physicians work and their level of autonomy.
It’s also posed another unique ch...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - November 2, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/suneel-dhand" rel="tag" > Suneel Dhand, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Hospital-Based Medicine Primary Care Source Type: blogs
Studies suggest we better train the mind as we train the body: with cross-training and in good company
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Different meditation types train distinct parts of your brain (New Scientist):
“We are used to hearing that meditation is good for the brain, but now it seems that not just any kind of meditation will do. Just like physical exercise, the kind of improvements you get depends on exactly how you train – and most of us are doing it all wrong…
The research comes out of the ReSource Project at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, and looked at the effects of three different meditation techniques on the brains and bodies of more t...
Source: SharpBrains - October 27, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Cognitive Neuroscience Health & Wellness brain chronic-stress Cortisol Limbic-System meditation mindfulness mindfulness-meditation neuroscientific prefrontal-cortex stress hormone Source Type: blogs
CMS Should Play the Role of Virtual Group Matchmaker
By MANU UPPAL and DAVID INTROCASO
In the 2018 proposed Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act’s (MACRA’s) rule, published earlier this year, HHS has again proposed to exclude two-thirds of physicians, or 900,000, from participation in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). MIPS was created under 2015 MACRA legislation to incent financially Medicare physicians and other Medicare Part B clinicians to improve care quality and reduce Medicare spending growth. HHS is choosing to exclude smaller-sized physician practices because, it is believed, MIPS reporting requirements place too high a burden...
Source: The Health Care Blog - October 3, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized CMS MACRA MIPS Virtual Groups Source Type: blogs
Moving From Research to Implementation to Research in Palliative Care, Part 1
by Christian SinclairIn 2003, I began my hospice and palliative medicine (HPM) fellowship in Winston-Salem, NC. I was a solo fellow in a new program, and as luck would have it, I had loads of time to dedicate myself to learning. Since my wife, Kelly, was beginning her pediatric emergency medicine fellowship in Kansas City at the same time, I only had my dog and my fellowship to worry about. I always enjoyed reading articles and imagined how it would apply in my own practice. But when it came down to it, I was never really able to implement much of what I was reading, let alone have the numbers to benchmark against the rese...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - September 25, 2017 Category: Palliative Care Tags: ESAS non-pain symptoms quality research research issues Source Type: blogs
Deep Dive Into Proposed MACRA Rule
As we recently reported, CMS published their proposed rule to update the MACRA Quality Payment Program (QPP). The QPP is a part of a fundamental shift from fee-for-service to a more value-based health care system. Below, we offer a more in-depth look at the proposed rule.
Some Major Points
MACRA eliminated the sustainable growth rate formula and replaced it with a 0.5% rate increase through 2019. Physicians are encouraged to pick one of two Quality Payment Programs: 1) the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) or 2) Alternative Payment Models (APMs). MIPS folds together CMS legal programs of Meaningful Use, ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - August 10, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
The Many Problems With Medicare ’s MIPS Exclusion Thresholds
The 2015 Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) allows the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Tom Price, to define a low-volume threshold for the purpose of excluding some number of eligible clinicians from participating in MACRA’s Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). Secretary Price may identify a minimum number of beneficiaries, a minimum number of items and services, and a minimum amount of Part B charges that if not exceeded would, again, exempt a provider from MIPS participation.
This year, MIPS performance year one, those eligible clinicians with less than or equal to $3...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - August 3, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: David Introcaso Tags: Costs and Spending Featured Insurance and Coverage Medicare Payment Policy Quality MACRA Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act Merit-Based Incentive Payment System tom price Source Type: blogs
This EHR Mess We ’ re In
MICHAEL CHEN, MD
Dr. Matthew Hahn blogs about the current state of today’s EHR’s and rightly points out many of the same reasons that I have identified in my previous posts:
The negative impact of Meaningful Use (MU) since 2009
Poor usability of EHR’s
There are several other important concerns that have been left unanswered by our current Health IT offerings.
Patient privacy and control of their health records
Interoperability
Government Pipedream?
The solution Dr. Hahn proposed is one that hinges on the hope that government will abandon MU (unlikely given this political climate), and create a whole new EHR dev...
Source: The Health Care Blog - July 27, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Tech EHR Michael Chen Open Source Source Type: blogs
10 ways for doctors to think outside of the box
Thinking outside the box is a somewhat cliché way to illustrate thinking beyond the norm and imagining what “could be” with an innovative mindset. This imagery of being stuck in a box rings true for many physicians, given how many of us are quite literally surrounded by the four white walls of an exam room most of our lives.
Physicians work hard to treat each patient individually, but this feeling of being trapped in a box is magnified by a growing trend of physicians being employed by large health care organizations, which are managed and governed by non-physician administrators. Some innovation is happening in these...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - July 5, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/danish-siddiqui" rel="tag" > Danish Siddiqui, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Hospital Residency Source Type: blogs
CMS Releases Proposed MACRA Rule (Including CME as Improvement Activity)
On Tuesday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the long-anticipated proposed rule updating the Quality Payment Program – the program implementing the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) – for 2018. The rule continues the CMS trend of allowing more and more physicians to delay MACRA implementation, as many smaller and rural providers have said their lack of capital and resources make compliance difficult.
MACRA will eliminate the sustainable growth formula and replace it with a .5% annual rate increase through 2019, when physicians are encouraged to shift to either ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - June 21, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
CMS Releases Proposed 2018 MACRA Rule (Including QI CME as Improvement Activity)
On Tuesday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the long-anticipated proposed rule updating the Quality Payment Program – the program implementing the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) – for 2018. The rule continues the CMS trend of allowing more and more physicians to delay MACRA implementation, as many smaller and rural providers have said their lack of capital and resources make compliance difficult.
MACRA will eliminate the sustainable growth formula and replace it with a .5% annual rate increase through 2019, when physicians are encouraged to shift to either ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - June 21, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Is direct primary care doomed to fail?
A recent Medical Economics article asked “Is the DPC model at risk of failing?”
The piece focuses on two large DPC-like organizations, Qliance Medical Management of Seattle, Washington and Turntable Health of Las Vegas, NV, working in partnership with Iora Health, which recently closed their doors. Qliance and Turntable were not actually DPC practices by strict definition; they were innovative large business operations providing health care services to patients and excluding third party payers. Their idea was commendable, but their closure indicates little cause for concern in regard to the growing direct primary care ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - June 19, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/niran-s-al-agba" rel="tag" > Niran S. Al-Agba, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Primary care Source Type: blogs
