Case managers today face significant challenges when working with patients who abuse opioids. According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine’s 2016 figures, some 2 million Americans had a substance use disorder involving prescription pain medicine in 2015, and an additional 591,000 had a heroin use disorder.
CMS recently released its annual report of Health Insurance Exchange open enrollment, which revealed that open enrollment is down from 12.2 million in 2017 to 11.8 million for 2018.
A national coverage determination (NCD) related to implanted cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) is causing some confusion. The NCD was issued on February 15, and the changes, while billed as “relatively minimal,” may actually require significant process alterations.
Virtual reality is not just for entertainment, it is a valuable tool that healthcare professionals can employ in clinical scenarios, according to CMSA Today. Virtual reality has been used in healthcare since the 1990s, and today serves as a valuable clinical and educational tool.
Some patients can now get more than just a prescription at their local pharmacy. Two healthcare organizations, BayCare Health System, Inc. in Clearwater, Florida, and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, have announced separate but similar partnerships with Publix and Walgreens that allow patients to visit specially designed telemedicine kiosks where they can video conference with a doctor to get a diagnosis and treatment for non-urgent medical problems.
Joya is waiting at the airport in Norway for her plane to the U.S. when she makes a last-minute decision to purchase travel insurance. She reads the insurance policy and information and realizes it excludes preexisting conditions. Joya has an existing cardiac condition that she knows might void the policy, but she decides to be positive.
The pediatric population is at high risk for medication errors in the emergency department, with medication error rates three times higher in pediatric patients than in adult patients, according to a study in Annals of Emergency Medicine.
CMS recently announced MyHealthEData, an initiative aimed at standardizing medical record data and giving patients the ability to share it with providers.
