March 30th is Doctors’ Day, and for most physicians that means a special lunch in the hospital cafeteria or a carnation on their white coat. But a few years ago, I hung up my white coat and made the transition to healthcare consulting. The questions immediately started. Won’t you miss seeing patients? What exactly will you do? Did you lose your license? That last one is my favorite. So what exactly is a doctor like me doing in a place like this?
Clinical Services
Loneliness is Lethal: Five Strategies to Improve Health Outcomes by Improving Social Connectedness
This blog post was authored by HMA clinicians Margaret Kirkegaard, MD, MPH, and Jeffrey Ring, PhD
While most people would agree that social relationships improve day-to-day quality of life, do social connections actually provide a health benefit? The answer is a resounding yes!
In 1921, a remarkable study began tracking the lives of 1,500 Americans from childhood to death. It sought to track what factors in life — such as faith, marriage, pets and exercise — increased longevity. The most significant finding was that strong social networks mattered the most. The quality of social connections was more significant than the quantity.[1] In an interview with National Public Radio, lead researcher Howard Friedman notes, “We saw that over and above the number of connections and the frequency of interactions that when those connections involved helping other people, reaching out, being actively engaged to do things for others, that was an added bonus on top of what we already see as quite beneficial from the social contacts themselves.”[2]
Save the Date for HMA’s 2017 Conference on Trends in Publicly Sponsored Healthcare
The Future of Medicaid is Here: Implications for Payers, Providers and States
Sept. 11-12, 2017
Chicago, IL
Health Management Associates (HMA) is proud to announce its 2nd conference on Trends in Publicly Sponsored Healthcare, Sept. 11-12, 2017, in Chicago. The theme of this year’s event is The Future of Medicaid is Here: Implications for Payers, Providers and States and features as keynote speakers some of the nation’s most innovative healthcare leaders.
Is your organization ready to become an integrated delivery system?
For providers, transitioning from volume- to value-based care is no easy task. You are likely facing a growing number of pressures that are becoming increasingly difficult to manage. These could include community/political pressures, primary care shortages, medical staff competition, and incentives to measure and manage care quality and total costs and address non-clinical aspects of health. Additional demands include risk sharing arrangements, audits, and pitches from vendors. Aligning your facilities, programs and services into a fully integrated delivery system can seem like a daunting task. But HMA can help.
HMA Telehealth Series: Telepsychiatry and the Psychiatric Workforce Shortage
This week, HMA principal Lori Raney, MD, provides an overview of telepsychiatry, a type of telemedicine where general psychiatric services are provided via videoconferencing, and how it can play a role in addressing the nationwide psychiatric workforce shortage. Dr. Raney highlights the opportunities for telepsychiatry in the market today, as well as identifies several of the obstacles to telepsychiatry implementation.
HMA Behavioral Health Expertise on Display at Conferences
Our diverse, interdisciplinary behavioral health team has extensive clinical, policy, operations and funding expertise in mental health and substance use disorder prevention and treatment. Recently members of our behavioral health team shared their expertise at two notable conferences.
TeleHealth Services – Spotlight on Econsults
HMA principals Greg Vachon, MD, MPH, and Jean Glossa MD, MBA, provide an overview of econsultations. Greg and Jean define econsults and provide an overview of the spectrum of econsult services in place today, evaluate the benefits and challenges of econsults, and look at recent developments in the econsult market.
HMA Conference on Integrated Delivery Is Just a Month Away, More than 200 Already Registered to Attend
This week, we are providing an update on HMA’s inaugural conference on The Future of Publicly Sponsored Healthcare: Building Integrated Delivery Systems for Vulnerable Populations, October 10-12, 2016, at The Palmer House in Chicago. More than 200 industry leaders have already registered to attend, including top executives from hospitals, health systems, clinics, provider practices, community-based organizations, and Medicaid managed care plans. Featuring 37 high-level industry speakers, conference panels and breakout sessions are designed to inspire discussion about real-world approaches to helping provider organizations improve the health status of patient populations, lower costs, and ensure a more satisfactory patient experience. Visit the conference website at https://fpsh.healthmanagement.com/ for complete details.
30-plus Speakers Slated for HMA Conference on Integrated Care Delivery
HMA’s inaugural conference “The Future of Publicly Sponsored Healthcare: Building Integrated Delivery Systems for Vulnerable Populations” is slated for October 10-12 in Chicago. This premier event, presented by HMA and HMA’s Accountable Care Institute, will address key issues facing health systems, hospitals, clinics and provider practices seeking to integrate care in an environment of rising quality and cost expectations. More than 30 speakers have been confirmed to date. Early Bird registration is now open. Click here for complete conference details.
HMA Authors Explore New Models of Care in Correctional Health
HMA Principals Donna Strugar-Fritsch and Linda Follenweider are featured authors in the spring edition of CorrectCare, the magazine of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC).
Based on a presentation at the NCCHC’s 2015 Leadership Institutes, “A Call for New Models of Care in Correctional Health” takes a look at components of new primary care models, how they’ve advanced care – and how they can be used in correctional settings.