Insights

HMA Insights: Your source for healthcare news, ideas and analysis.

HMA Insights – including our new podcast – puts the vast depth of HMA’s expertise at your fingertips, helping you stay informed about the latest healthcare trends and topics. Below, you can easily search based on your topic of interest to find useful information from our podcast, blogs, webinars, case studies, reports and more.

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1808 Results found.

Webinar

Webinar Replay: Trauma-Informed Care: Overview and Best Practices in Patient Screening

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This webinar was held on April 26, 2016. 

More than three-quarters of Medicaid recipients report experiences of trauma and violence during their childhoods. These experiences may include verbal, physical or sexual abuse; living in poverty or violent surroundings, including war zones; or living with family members who struggle with substance abuse, mental illness or extreme disability. Research demonstrates that there is a direct correlation between traumatic experiences and the 10 most common causes of death in the United States.

The U.S. healthcare system continues to struggle to reach this high-risk population, many whom also have multiple comorbid chronic health conditions. It is imperative that today’s patient-centered and whole-person healthcare teams take a proactive trauma-informed approach to care delivery. Trauma-informed care begins by first understanding the problem and then identifying patients who have endured or witnessed over the course of their lives any number of adverse or traumatic experiences.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand adverse/traumatic experiences and trauma-informed care delivery.
  • Examine the correlation between trauma and physical health as well as the importance of integrating treatment through trauma-informed care.
  • Identify who is at risk for adverse or traumatic experiences.
  • Learn how to recognize and mitigate patient behaviors that often are the result of trauma.
  • Discuss screening tools for primary care practices.

HMA Speakers
Karen Hill, PhD, MSN, ANP-C, Senior Consultant, San Francisco
Laurie Lockert, MS, LPC, Senior Consultant, Portland, OR
Jeffrey Ring, PhD, Principal, Southern California

Who Should Attend
Physicians, physician assistants, nurses, and other healthcare practitioners; executives of health systems, physician practices, FQHCs, and other provider organizations; executives of Medicaid managed care plans; Medicaid directors and staff.

Webinar

Webinar Replay: Transgender Care and Transitioning

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On March 15 2016, HMA Information Services hosted the webinar, “Transgender Care and Transitioning: Implications of New Health Insurance Coverage Guidelines and Research Findings on the Experiences of Transgender Individuals in the Health Care System.”

New proposed federal regulations require health plans to cover all medically necessary care for transgender individuals, including transition-related services. But it’s more than just covering care. It’s also about ensuring access to appropriate services, training staff to understand the needs of transgender populations, and recognizing the social and financial implications of delaying transition-related care.

During this webinar, Marci Eads and John O’Connor of HMA Community Strategies and HMA’s Heidi Robbins Brown and Karen Brodsky outlined what health plans need to know about the needs of transgender individuals and about how to not only comply with the new guidelines, but also to ensure transgender individuals receive the care they need. Listen to the replay and:

  • Understand the implications of new draft federal guidelines requiring health plans to cover transition-related services and healthcare for transgender individuals.
  • Hear data from HMA Community Strategies’ national survey of transgender individuals about unmet health care needs and the social, psychological and financial implications of not having access to transition-related care.
  • Explore the importance of training health plan representatives to understand the needs of transgender individuals and recommend appropriate healthcare services.
  • Identify barriers to access that prevent transgender individuals from receiving transition-related care and other services in a timely manner.
  • Learn about resources available for ongoing reference, learning and development of culturally competent healthcare staff.

The slide deck for this webinar can be retrieved by clicking the “DOWNLOAD” button below.

Webinar

Webinar Replay: Targeting Readmissions: A Collaborative Strategy for Hospitals, Health Plans and Local Communities

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This webinar was held on March 30, 2016. 

Even as hospitals work to reduce readmissions through internal quality improvement efforts, local healthcare communities must also play an active role in addressing factors outside the hospital’s control.  The truth is that a significant percentage of hospital readmissions are associated with community-related factors such as unemployment, poverty, lack of education, and inadequate access to care.

During this webinar, experts from HMA will outline the rationale for a collaborative approach to reducing readmissions, involving hospitals, health plans, community-based organizations, and other providers who can address cultural and community-related factors that impact healthcare outcomes.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand the role that community-related and demographic factors play in driving hospital readmissions, including a look at the most recent research.
  • Identify successful partnerships and programs in which collaborative care can reduce hospital readmissions and improve care quality and outcomes.
  • Find out how team communications, early discharge, care management, and follow-up are key components of any readmissions strategy during and after discharge.
  • Understand the economic and business rationale for hospitals to develop strong collaborative efforts to address readmissions.

HMA Speakers
Gina Lasky, Senior Consultant, Denver
Warren Lyons, Principal, San Francisco
Suzanne Mitchell, Principal, Boston
Jeffrey Ring, PhD, Principal, Southern California

Who Should Attend
Executives of health systems, physician practices, FQHCs, SNFs, and other provider organizations; executives of Medicaid managed care plans; Medicaid directors and staff.

Webinar

Webinar Replay: Launching a Successful Medicare Advantage Plan

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On March 9, 2016, HMA Information Services hosted the webinar, “Launching a Successful Medicare Advantage Plan: Key Strategic, Product, and Operational Considerations.”

A growing number of health systems and Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) are moving to become Medicare Advantage plans. The launch of a Medicare Advantage plan can transition a health system to value-based payments and ensure a steady revenue stream. MCOs can serve a broader and complementary base of members with a Medicare Advantage HMO or a Special Needs Plan. However, launching a Medicare Advantage plan is a complex undertaking, requiring clear organizational intent and a well thought-out product and infrastructural strategy to navigate the regulatory environment and manage the population.

During this webinar, HMA expert Mary Hsieh discusses what is required to launch a successful Medicare Advantage plan, with a special focus on product and pricing strategies as well as key infrastructural and operational considerations. Listen to the replay and:

  • Determine the type of Medicare Advantage plan you should launch based on your organization’s strategic intent.
  • Evaluate product design considerations, including optional supplemental benefits such as fitness, dental, vision, transportation and meals.
  • Identify the driving factors that affect the pricing of the products and pricing trends.
  • Create the operational infrastructure needed for a successful Medicare Advantage plan.
  • The slide deck for this webinar can be retrieved by clicking the “DOWNLOAD” button below.
Webinar

Webinar Replay: Value-Based Payment Readiness

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On March 3, 2016, HMA Information Services hosted the webinar, “Value-Based Payment Readiness: A Self-Assessment Tool for Primary Care Providers, FQHCs, and Behavioral Health Providers.”

As the shift from volume-based to value-based payment accelerates, primary care providers, including Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and behavioral health providers, must make critical changes to become ready for value-based payments and ensure their financial sustainable. But what changes need to be made?

There is now an online self-assessment tool that providers can use to pinpoint specific strengths and gaps in value-based payment readiness and identify core care delivery, operational, and financial capabilities and high-priority elements to implement. The protocol was designed by HMA and CohnReznick in partnership with the DC Primary Care Association. During this webinar, HMA experts Deborah Zahn and Melissa Corrado, along with CohnReznick expert Peter Epp, demonstrated how the readiness tool can help practices as they prepare themselves for value-based payments. Listen to the replay and:

  • Understand how this new web-based, value-based payment readiness assessment tool can help you assess readiness for providers across multiple domains.
  • Lean how this tool can help practices identify gaps and/or areas in which improvements are needed and identify the core capabilities that are essential for value-based payments and high-priority elements that should be implemented first.
  • Identify the key differences between the assessment tool for primary care providers and the version for behavioral health providers.
  • Find out how multiple practices can use the readiness assessment tool to identify opportunities for developing joint strategies.
  • Understand the various components of the readiness assessment tool.

The slide deck for this webinar can be retrieved by clicking the “DOWNLOAD” button below.