The U.S. healthcare system has been undergoing its own stress test. Stakeholders are currently experiencing a variety of pressures with a primary focus on finances, including administrative costs. The COVID-19 pandemic is often used as a convenient delimiter for the emergence of these problems, but in reality, tensions were brewing long before now and were caused by a variety of factors. Medicare Advantage (MA) is facing the headwinds of these issues – and as a result, MA
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Technology
Food is Medicine: Thrive Global and Blue Shield of California’s Cookbook Initiative
What You Should Know:
- Just in time for the holiday season, Arianna Huffington's Thrive Global will be releasing a new budget friendly, healthy-eating cookbook tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov. 26, in partnership with Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan.
- At a time when rates of chronic diseases including obesity and diabetes are rising, and many people struggle to afford and access healthy food, the Thrive Global Cookbook does more than just share recipes- it reflects Thrive
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Teladoc Health Enhances Virtual Sitter Solution with AI to Improve Patient Safety and Efficiency
What You Should Know:
- Teladoc Health has announced the launch of new AI-powered capabilities for its Virtual Sitter solution.
- Virtual Sitter aims to enhance patient safety, address workforce challenges, and improve care delivery for hospitals and health systems.
Addressing the Challenge of Patient Falls with AI-Powered Fall Prevention
Patient falls are a significant concern in hospitals, leading to injuries, increased healthcare costs, and strain on resources. Teladoc
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Arrowhead EMS Association Awarded $5M Grant to Deploy EMS Telemedicine Services
What You Should Know:
- The Arrowhead EMS Association has been awarded a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Program.
- The funding will support the NorthEast Advancement of Rural and Remote Emergency Medical Services (NEARR-EMS) program, an initiative to improve and expedite post-crash care in rural communities and tribal areas of Northeast Minnesota.
Telemedicine to Enhance Rural EMS
The NEARR-EMS
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Millions of Americans Remain Uninsured or Underinsured Despite ACA Gains
What You Should Know:
- A new report from the Commonwealth Fund reveals that despite significant progress in expanding health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), millions of Americans still lack adequate and affordable healthcare.
- The report highlights the prevalence of coverage gaps, high out-of-pocket costs, and the burden of medical debt, underscoring the need for further policy action to achieve truly universal coverage.
Uninsured and
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Bed Shortages: How AI Can Help Reduce Length of Stay in Hospitals
Length of stay management in acute care facilities represents a critical frontier for providers and payers to improve their own bottom lines, and also improve patients’ experience with the healthcare system.
Let’s take a closer look at how today’s systemic inefficiencies arose, and how collaboration within provider networks, and between payers and providers, might improve length-of-stay procedures and inefficiencies in the future.
Acute care facility bed shortages, and how they
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Revitalizing Medicare Advantage: How The Push to Streamline Prior Authorization Will Impact Senior Care
As a physician, the odds that you’ve had a negative experience related to the prior authorization process are (unfortunately) highly likely. According to the American Medical Association’s (AMA) 2023 Prior Authorization Physician Survey, 1 in 4 physicians report that prior auths “have led to a serious adverse event for a patient in their care.” Think about the toll that this takes on professionals whose primary job is providing lifesaving care, and the thing preventing this care is outside their
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Suicide is NOT a Symptom: Healthcare Is Missing the Mark on Suicide Prevention
Too many have lost a loved one to suicide. Every 11 minutes someone dies by suicide in the US, often without warning. Suicidality has historically been regarded as a symptom of major depression and mental illness in general. During my training, when someone was at risk of suicide, we were taught to treat the underlying mental illness and the patient will get better. However, in many cases that has proven to not be correct.
In fact, a large percentage of severely depressed
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Leveraging AI to Reach Occupancy Goals in Senior Living Communities: What You Should Know
Artificial intelligence (AI) is seemingly proliferating everywhere, and so are discussions about its advantages and pitfalls. The senior living industry finds itself at this technology crossroads as it tries to figure out if—and how—to incorporate AI into its operations.
Occupancy goals are one area that holds great potential for AI to give senior living communities a nice boost. However, it’s not as easy as just flipping a switch and letting AI take over. To realize the real advantages AI
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Wondr Health Expands Weight Loss Program with Support for GLP-1 Users
What You Should Know:
- Wondr Health, a leader in virtual metabolic health programs, has announced the expansion of its weight and obesity care solution, Wondr Plus.
- The enhancement provides comprehensive lifestyle support and nutrition counseling for employees using GLP-1 weight-loss medications, addressing the challenges of medication adherence and side effects.
Addressing the Need for GLP-1 Support
While GLP-1 medications have shown promising results for weight loss,
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