Category: Editorial

Things You Need To Know About At-Home Drug and Alcohol Detox

People experiencing mild drug or alcohol abuse issues can actually safely detox at home. There are a number of available options for individuals who want to get on the path to recovery. It is very important for individuals like these to have self-discipline and willpower, as long as a support system that they can rely on.

Continue Reading

Is a Career In Nursing Right for You?

Face, First Aid, Hand, Hospital, Nurse

Being a nurse is not an easy life, but it can be very rewarding and is a popular career path for many. It takes hard work and dedication to even qualify as a nurse and thats before your role in the real world begins.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are almost 3 million nurses in the United States. In this article, we will explore the advantages and difficulties of a career in nursing.

Jobs Are Plentiful

Due to an aging and increasing population, demand for nurses has been rising and looks set to continue to do so. With most shifts at medical practices being short-staffed, there is always a need for new nurses.

In addition to this, there are many specific career paths available within the nursing profession. From midwife to paediatrician to military nurse, there is a huge range of opportunities to suit your particular skills and interests.

Shifts Are Long and Demanding

Nursing shifts are usually longer than shifts in industries such as retail and hospitality – with 12 hours or longer being fairly typical. The work is also often physically and emotionally demanding. Many nurses report struggling to maintain a good work-life balance.

However, although shifts are long, nurses are usually able to choose how many hours they work a week (e.g. part time or full time) and when. Schedules are usually flexible, with many nurses only working two to four shifts a week as the shifts are so long. Most medical practices will have their own nurse shift planner system.

Continue Reading

How To Find the Right Caregiver For Your Parents

Man, Woman, Elderly Couple, TwoUnderstanding that your aging parents are no longer able to care for themselves is a really difficult step in life. It’s even harder to realize you cannot take care of them on your own.

The first step is to understand that you are not alone. There is an array of professionals that can help you transition together onto this new stage.

While trusting someone to care for people you love may not be easy, there are several ways to ensure you get them the best possible care. Start by clarifying what you need. Is it in-home care? Do you need a health professional? Are you expecting to have someone to take care of their household needs? Make a thorough list and use it to create a job posting. Depending on your parent’s health, you also need to determine how much they can be involved in the decision-making process.

Due Diligence

Safety is always the main concern of family members who are seeking care for their elderly relatives. What if they are abused or neglected? While you always need to pay close attention to how things unfold after hiring a caregiver, due diligence is the best way to ensure safety. Once you have chosen a few good candidates, run a background check. Make sure they have no history of violence (which can be checked through criminal records) or sexual abuse (by checking sex offender registries).

A good place to start is to use an online service. Checkpeople, for example, can help you sort through thousands of websites and offer a comprehensive report. They charge a flat fee for unlimited monthly searches. If your parents require professional healthcare (such as a nurse or nurse aide), make sure they are certified.

The next step in the due diligence process is to call references and cross-check the information you get from them. When calling previous employers, ask for very specific examples of a candidate’s performance, such as: how did they handle emergency situations? Can you describe their attitude towards the job? How was the relationship between them and the person they were caring for?

The last step is the interview. Whenever possible, it is recommended that your parent is part of the interview process. This will help them have an easier transition. During the interview, talk about your specific requirements. Be clear about your expectations, and ask what they need from you. All this information will later need to be written down and signed on a professional agreement or contract.

Continue Reading

Hidden Cost Drivers In Healthcare

By Ben Forrest, CEO, Olio.

Ben Forrest

Healthcare spending in the United States is higher per-capita than in any other OECD country. Reasons for this unfortunate distinction are many and varied—uncoordinated care, specialty Rx, underutilization of palliative care—but there many hidden factors driving costs for providers.

Re-admissions remain a focus and albatross on the system. They can be incredibly expensive for hospitals, especially if the patient is being treated in a value-based relationship with a payer.

The Affordable Care Act placed a much heavier burden on healthcare providers to prevent readmissions within a 30-day window after discharge, and punishment from government payers can be swift and ruthless. In October 2019, Medicare cut payments to more than 2,500 hospitals, to the tune of $563 million over one year. Hospitals are already feeling a budget crunch from the loss of elective surgeries during the COVID-19 pandemic, so administrators are managing smaller margins.

A well structured value-based arrangement is only as effective as its infrastructure and care model behind it. Given that hospitals discharge patients to dozens, if not hundreds, of nursing homes and home health agencies, it can be difficult to maintain adequate communication across the care continuum. There are a number of ways to improve coordination with post-acute community partners, and hospital administrators and heads of population health should consider the following when developing a plan to address re-admissions:

Continue Reading

The Importance of Recording SDOH Data In Medical Records

By Julie A. Pursley, MSHI, RHIA, CHDA, FAHIMA, director of health information thought leadership, AHIMA.

Julie A. Pursley

Reading news articles about vulnerable communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19 has been heartbreaking. My organization, the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), believes that social determinants of health (SDOH)—the socio-economic behavioral elements that affect health—play in role in explaining why poorer communities have experienced more negative impacts during the pandemic than other areas. We also believe it’s vital for SDOH information to be recorded in medical records.

It’s not difficult to imagine why low-income Americans may face increased exposure to the novel coronavirus. Perhaps most critically, people experiencing poverty are more likely to not have health insurance or be underinsured.

In addition, while many office workers have worked from home during the pandemic, people who earn lower incomes often work in public-facing jobs like restaurants and grocery stores and have no choice other than to take public transit to get to work. And the millions of Americans who have lost jobs may be dealing with food insecurity and a lack of money available to secure food and other goods at home.

Communities of color often comprise low income workers who encounter many of the situations mentioned above (and more). At AHIMA we support collecting race and ethnicity data for optimal public health reporting because recording SDOH information in a patient’s medical record can lead to better healthcare outcomes. SDOH information in a patient record offers providers a more complete story and can influence how they approach treatment, education, and care management.

“We’ve had physicians across our practices reach out to patients living alone during this time of social isolation, those who were identified as potentially being isolated and without support,” William Torkildsen, MD, chairman at South-Texas-based independent physician association Valley Organized Physicians (VOP), recently told the Journal of AHIMA. “We recorded those results and have been able to take action on the patient’s behalf, connecting them to necessary resources.”

Continue Reading

Improving Your Home To Promote Family Wellness

Your home is a place where the family gathers. It’s a place to relax and spend time with your loved ones. Listed below are a few tips for creating a house that promotes wellness and comfort. 

Continue Reading

Implementing A Healthcare Data Platform To Promote High-Value Care

How agile is your IT help desk? -- GCN

By Mike Sutten, chief technology officer, and Dr. David Nace, chief medical officer, Innovaccer.

Burdensome documentation and gaps in care have been long-standing challenges in the healthcare industry.

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified those challenges on a global level, creating a situation in which people have been hesitant to seek care for other medical concerns. As such, healthcare providers are losing revenue, employees are losing their jobs, and those remaining in the workforce are subject to burnout.

In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19, many healthcare providers proactively reduced or stopped in-person visits for non-COVID-19 medical needs, ranging from the routine care of a sore throat to treatment of chronic conditions, cancer, and even mental health services.

Additionally, nearly one-third of American adults reported delaying or avoiding medical visits over concerns for possible exposure to the virus, according to an American College of Emergency Physicians and Morning Consult poll. More than half reported worrying about access to their primary care physician or being turned away from the hospital.

As a result, healthcare spending decreased by 18% in the first quarter of 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Surprisingly, some 1.4 million healthcare workers lost their jobs in April, a sharp increase from the 42,000 reported in March, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The global pandemic amplifies the day-to-day challenges of identifying gaps in care, the increased documentation required to track them, and the difficulties associated with determining their effects and responding with appropriate interventions.

The impact of this virus looms over the backdrop of a healthcare environment in which the American Hospital Association (AHA) makes the point is rapidly evolving from a fee-for-service system into a value-based delivery system. As healthcare providers and payers transition to collaborative digital care delivery models, this movement highlights the greater need for a data infrastructure that supports value-based care with sharper and more transparent insights into population health.

Continue Reading

Report Shows How COVID-19 Could Impact Technology In Healthcare

Center for Labor Research and EducationA new report from the U.C. Berkeley Labor Center and Working Partnerships USA shows how technology is likely to impact job quality in healthcare and suggests that technological adoption may accelerate as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report, titled “Technological Change in Health Care Delivery: Its Drivers and Consequences for Work and Workers,” also finds that the pandemic could provide a wind of opportunity to shift the dominant strategy for technological adoption in health care toward a “work centered” approach.

The current approach is likely to lead to increased surveillance, micro-managing, and worker deskilling, as technologies are used to cut costs. A work-centered approach would instead allow workers to have a say in how new technologies are introduced, to receive training to develop new skills, and ensure their job quality isn’t diminished.

“Technological change in health care is accelerating, putting more strain on workers as providers seek to cut costs and increase efficiency,” said Adam Seth Litwin, the report’s author and an associate professor of industrial and labor relations at Cornell University. “If business continues as normal, we could see workers stripped of rewarding tasks, alienating them from their work and suppressing job quality. But that path isn’t inevitable. If workers are brought into the fold, technological changes can increase the quality of care workers are able to provide, while driving improvements in their pay and job quality.”

Continue Reading