US Patients See Rising Burdens of Mental Health, Chronic Disease

Mental health issues, behavioral health concerns, and chronic diseases are on the rise for individuals in the United States, creating significant challenges for healthcare providers in many regions of the country, according to the United Health Foundation’s latest population health report.

As Tech Companies Move into Health Care, Here’s What to Watch in 2019

From Amazon and Apple opening clinics to Uber launching a medical transit program, technology giants spent 2018 moving into the health care space. Many of these initiatives are still in very early stages, but they’ll continue to grow in 2019, and some of them may have an impact on Americans’ health care experiences as soon as this year.

Amazon Reportedly Exploring At-Home Health Testing

Details are beginning to emerge about the latest rumored home health endeavor from Seattle-based technology giant and online retailer Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN). In line with its ongoing focus on the home setting, Amazon has reportedly considered entering the health diagnostics space by acquiring venture-backed startup Confer Health, which develops hardware for at-home medical testing.

Improving Behavioral Health Access in a Time of Severe Provider Shortage

Behavioral health needs are highly prevalent, comorbid with other chronic conditions, and associated with increased clinical care and cost. The 20% of Medicaid patients with behavioral health problems account for 46% of total Medicaid spending on health services. Spending on behavioral health services in total is projected to reach almost $240 billion by 2020, up from about $150 billion in 2009.

Utilize CCM Codes to Maximize Patient Care, Payment

If you are a family physician, odds are high that a portion of your patient panel is 65 or older and a Medicare beneficiary. And of these patients, a good percentage probably live with two or more chronic diseases that are well managed by your family medicine clinic.

Value-Based Reimbursement Reduces Costs 15.6%, Improves Quality

Value-based reimbursement models are moving the needle on quality and cost, a new analysis from Humana shows. In 2017, medical costs for patients attributed to primary care practices (PCPs) in Humana’s value-based reimbursement models for Medicare Advantage (MA) were 15.6 percent lower compared to Medicare fee-for-service, the insurer reported.

Medicaid Enrollees See Better Patient Experiences, Care Quality

Patients with chronic illness who are enrolled in the Medicaid program tend to have better patient experiences than those without insurance coverage, according to a new study from America’s Health Plans (AHIP).

Amazon Expands Catalog of HIPAA-eligible AI Services

Amazon continues to look for new ways to be relevant to healthcare workers. Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud business, announced last week that three of its most popular services — Amazon Translate, Amazon Comprehend and Amazon Transcribe — are now HIPAA-eligible.

Designing a High-Value Approach to Chronic Care Management

Eighty percent of members’ health is determined by social factors such as housing, economic position, education and social connections, so called social determinants of health. But, most healthcare organizations struggle to use social determinants data to target members for focused intervention, a recent study found.

Keeping Human Stories at the Center of Health Care

Caring for the health and well-being of our fellow humans has always been viewed as a combination of art and science. With all the recent advances in technology, there is no doubt the health care industry as a whole gets an “A” in science. The tradeoff, however, is that we’ve become so focused on using the technology (as this HBR article points out) that we spend far less time listening to individual human stories.