Do you have access to healthy foods, transportation to a doctor, high-speed internet for telemed appointments, or a roof over your head? These are assumptions that most of us take for granted, and are not the questions that insurers usually take into consideration. But, as they look to increase member outcomes and foster long-term customer loyalty, considering the changing needs of many consumers in the face of today’s current affairs, it’s time they did.
In fact, forward-looking health plans
Read More
M&A Analysis: Mednax to Sell its Radiology and Teleradiology Business
Earlier this month saw Mednax announce significant plans to transform its business. Mednax intends to:
- Sell its Mednax Radiology Solutions business, which includes its radiology groups and the teleradiology market leader Virtual Radiologic (vRad).
- Reposition itself as a dedicated pediatrics and obstetrics business, including a return to its original company name, Pediatrix Medical Group.
Mednax made its entrance into the radiology business following the $500m acquisition of vRad in
Read More
Cardiology Improving Safety, Technology and Gender Equality
Women currently comprise more than half of all students enrolled in medical school, but gender inequality continues to mar some areas of medicine. In our field of interventional cardiology, men outnumbered women 95 to 5 as recently as 2019, but new technology, shifting attitudes and strategic recruiting have led to an influx of females in interventional cardiology that will alter the evolution of a field historically stunted by traditionalism.
Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause
Read More
5 Reasons Why Providers Need Electronic Support for Glycemic Management
It’s no secret hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia are associated with adverse outcomes in hospitalized patients. We’ve known for many years that hyperglycemia is widespread in the hospital, causes immune dysfunction, higher rates of infection, a longer length of hospital stay, complications, and even death.
Insulin has been the most effective therapy for hyperglycemia since it was first created almost 100 years ago, but it can also be dangerous if not managed properly. In fact, nearly 50% of all
Read More
The Digital Front Door: The Gateway to Empathetic Patient Navigation
The healthcare experience can often feel lonely. Lengthy surveys, unnecessary appointments, long waiting times and tedious, paperwork all contribute to this potentially confusing and isolating patient experience. Now, amidst a global health crisis, any barriers or obstacles to care could be detrimental beyond loneliness and could be fatal. These impeding components should not define a patient’s journey. Fair access to quality care, accurate record-keeping, and empathy should be at the core of
Read More
What Therapists Need to Know about Telehealth Technology
Thousands of therapists who never intended to engage in telehealth are now doing exactly that – they are providing services to clients in lockdown using video-enabled platforms. While the technological landscape for psychotherapy is dramatically improved from even a few years ago, therapists rapidly transitioning to online services need to hold a few things in mind.
It’s not the same as in-person therapy
While online psychotherapy has been shown to be just as effective as in-person care,
Read More
The New Normal: Rethinking Healthcare Delivery in a Post-COVID World
It’s becoming clearer that, while we are all hoping that things are going to go back to the way things were at the beginning of the year, the COVID-19 crisis will result in a new normal. That’s especially true in healthcare, due to four issues that are being wildly amplified by the COVID-19 crisis. Namely:
1. The US government has huge deficits, and healthcare is a major driver of the unsustainable increase in these deficits.
2. Addressing the demand for healthcare as a right (not a
Read More
How A Virtual Therapist Could Help Overcome Mental Healthcare Demands in Uncertain Times
Over the last few months, our hopes and expectations for 2020 have certainly been halted. There was an air of optimism globally as we entered the New Year and a new decade, but now we have been plunged into a world of uncertainty with the spreading COVID-19 pandemic. Future unknowns, both from a human well-being perspective and an economic standpoint are starting to take a toll on many people’s mental health.
Understandably, the situation we find ourselves in is creating concern and worry and
Read More
Consumer Genetic Tests Accelerate Precision Medicine for Some Providers
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests have been on the scene for some time now. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first DTC test on three specific BRCA1/BRCA2 breast cancer gene mutations more than two years ago. Six months after that, the agency similarly green-lighted a DTC pharmacogenomic (PGx) test to examine 33 variants for eight different genes that indicate how effectively patients metabolize specific medications.
Like many such advances, availability of DTC tests is
Read More
How Direct Digital Fax Can Improve System Usability for EHRs
The lack of EHR usability is a huge concern for the healthcare industry. According to a study conducted by Mayo Clinic researchers, modern electronic health records (EHR) are less user-friendly than Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Excel, and Google. Using the System Usability Scale (SUS), Electronic Health Records were marked with an unsettling “F” and a SUS score of 45 while Excel received a SUS score of 57 and Microsoft Word received a SUS score of 76. Google search came in on top with an “A” and a
Read More
