Mastering the Tricky Act of Transforming Population Health With Technology
Albert Tomchaney, MD, became the first chief medical officer of the Indiana-based Franciscan Alliance, which operates as Franciscan Health, in 2008. He has managed the physician practices for a time and overseen hospital operations such as pharmacy and care management. But throughout, and especially now, his focus has been on population health activities.
PSQH: The Podcast Episode 56 – How Implicit Bias Can Place Non-White Patients at Risk
On episode 56 of PSQH: The Podcast, Dr. Mike Dulin, head of the Academy for Population Health Innovation at UNC Charlotte, talks about how implicit bias increases the risk of poorer health outcomes for non-White patients. This episode is sponsored by Origami Risk as part of Healthcare Risk Management Week.
Improving Outcomes for Vulnerable Patients With Comprehensive At-Home Care
If the healthcare has learned anything over the past few years, it’s the need for change and improvement to systems and processes, particularly those related to care delivery for vulnerable populations. Organizations like Emcara Health were already working toward more interconnected, at-home delivery of care even before the COVID-19 pandemic, and over the past few years they saw the concept become top of mind for the industry.
A Balancing Act: Methods to Even Out Healthcare’s Quality/Cost/Equity Equation
High cost does not necessarily equal high quality, as the United States’ healthcare record proves. Despite outspending every other Organisation for European Economic Co-operation and Development country on healthcare expenditure by nearly twofold, the U.S. has the lowest overall life expectancy and the highest incidence of chronic disease, suicide, and obesity.
Three Steps to Reducing Health Inequities in the Latino Community
Many factors drive the health disparities affecting the Latino community, and these disparities are further exacerbated by the inaccessibility and unaffordability of U.S. healthcare. While the Affordable Care Act has narrowed some health disparities, Latino adults continue to report significantly higher uninsured rates than other groups. A 2020 Commonwealth Fund study revealed uninsured rates of 24.9% for Latinos, 14.4% for Blacks, and 8.6% for whites.
Treating Patients in Postacute Care: SNF vs. Home
A recent survey published by Brigham and Women’s Hospital revealed a shift in postacute care, with a move from skilled nursing facility (SNF) environments to home-based services. The survey followed 10 participants, randomly assigned to either rehabilitation at home or traditional SNF care. The results: Those recovering at home saw both a decrease in the cost of care and an increase in their activities of daily living, such as personal hygiene and feeding themselves.
Delivery of Care: Creating Communication Inroads
The healthcare industry continues to look for ways to improve care delivery, quality of care, and outreach. However, these discussions often fail to consider the challenge of real-world logistics. Without reliable access to care—including vital elements like food, transportation, and pharmacies—vulnerable patients will remain hard pressed to improve their overall quality of health.
How Direct Contracting Initiatives Can Help Bring CBOs Into VBC Networks
Providers, payers, community advocates, and the public health sector increasingly recognize that implementing value-based care (VBC) will be difficult without also addressing issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the healthcare ecosystem. Unlike traditional fee-for-service healthcare, VBC is about proactively keeping people healthy rather than engaging in reactive and more costly “sick care.”
Boosting Value From Genomic Database Participation
To boost the promise of more effective therapies, a number of organizations are working to capture the patient data that will drive research around precision medicine, with the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us research program being a notable example. Now, Seven Bridges Genomics, a bioinformatics ecosystem provider, has announced the formation of the Unified Patient Network (UPN).
Tackling Healthcare Disparities Begins in the C-Suite
In a report on the importance of diversity in the healthcare workforce published in 2021, Fatima Cody Stanford, MD, MPH, FAAP, FACP, FTOS, expressed the experiences of racial and ethnic minorities when pursuing their medical degrees compared to those from majority groups. In a survey of about 3,500 healthcare professionals, the findings showed that minorities and women were less likely to rank their organization as “culturally competent.”