Senator Dan Coats (R-IN) www.coats.senate.gov a member of the Senate Finance Committee recently introduced the “Ensuring Patient Access to Critical Breakthrough Products Act” www.congress.gov. The legislation would establish a program to accelerate transitional coverage and payment for new technologies that offer breakthroughs for serious illnesses affecting Medicare beneficiaries. (more…)
Some EMS Add Services
Today, some Emergency Medical Services (EMS) systems have evolved from responding solely to medical emergencies but also are able to provide an additional broad range of mobile health and clinical services. EMS professionals are now serving as the safety net for patients with chronic conditions who lack reliable and responsive primary care. (more…)
Helping Adults with Hearing Loss
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s http://nationalacademies.org “Committee on Accessible and Affordable Hearing Health Care for Adults” studied the affordability and accessibility of hearing healthcare for adults in the U.S. The resulting report, “Hearing Health Care for Adults: Priorities for Improving Access and Affordability”, recommends several changes. (more…)
Addressing Chronic Pain Issues
The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing (DHCPF) www.colorado.gov/hcpf has completed their first Chronic Pain Disease Management Program. The program connects pain management specialists throughout the country with primary care providers to help Medicaid members www.colorado.gov/pacific/hcpf/colorado.medicaid in chronic pain. (more…)
Initiating Team-Based Care
The case study reported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) www.ahrq.gov, titled “Team-Based Primary Care: Convergence of Improving Engagement, Safety, and Enhanced Joy in Practice”, discusses how primary care practices within Bellin Health in Green Bay Wisconsin are coping with the new team-based changes to deliver care. (more…)
Sequoia’s CEO Keynotes IHE Summit
The key to building the eHealth Exchange, the largest data sharing network of its kind in the U.S is industry and government collaboration and continual testing,” according to Mariann Yeager CEO of The Sequoia Project www.sequoiaproject.org keynoter at the IHE World Summit held in Amsterdam Netherlands. (more…)
Bills to Improve Behavioral Health
Representative Ben Ray Lujan from New Mexico https://lujan.house.gov has introduced two bills www.congress.gov aimed at rebuilding and strengthening behavioral health systems in his state and across the country. (more…)