Karen Ferguson, MS’ Post

Every day in America over 100,000 prior authorization rationing bureaucrats are employed by insurers-hospitals or physicians to fight for-or-against the one million health insurance company prior authorization rationing denials of preventive, medical, surgical and palliative care recommended by physician’s. Delayed, changed or abandoned physician recommended care caused by Insurer Prior authorization rationing has never been demonstrated to improved accesss, outcomes or costs for Americans in need of health care. #vbc #valuebasedcare #valuebasedhealthcare #tripleaim #medicareadvantage #healthcare Jesse Ehrenfeld MD MPH #priorauthorization U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Healthcare and voting still need to be on paper for security reasons, yet you can use an ATM card to get money from any bank in the world. Perhaps the people who run banking security can focus on healthcare and voting.

📢 Today, July 24, is #SelfCareDay! 📄 This year's #SelfCareMonth marks the 5th anniversary of the World Health Organization launching the first global Guideline on self-care interventions for health and well-being. This was a major shift in WHO guidance, paving the way to link communities, primary care and health systems. 🏥 Self-care can empower people to be active agents in their own healthcare, putting them at the center of it and relieving pressures on health systems. Self-care interventions can improve #PrimaryHealthcare and contribute to #UniversalHealthCoverage. 🏛️ Policymakers should advocate for renewed commitments and action to expand health systems to include self-care interventions. 🔗 Read the revised WHO guideline from 2022 here: https://lnkd.in/dAhQYqQu Learn more with this video from Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO 👇

Hello LinkedIn community and all those with a background in Public Health! What comes to mind when you hear the term "Inequity in Healthcare Professions," and what do you understand by it? Share your insights and thoughts based on your knowledge, understanding, and experience to shed light on this issue. (Tell me without assuming from my hashtags). #PublicHealth #PublicHealthProfessionals #HealthForAll #HealthCareIssues #UnnecessaryFavoritism #PrevailingElitism

I love the discussion in this week’s Health:Further podcast with Marcus Whitney and Vic Gatto about the question of the impact of the annual physical exam. Thank you gentlemen, for turning the conversation in exactly the right direction – that our system, not our clinicians, are at blame for the irrelevance of the annual physical exam (eg. the annual wellness visit, the annual PCP check-in) that does little to truly help guide a patient’s health and well-being. But let’s be clear and not confuse two different concepts: the lack of evidence around the annual ADULT physical exam does not in any way negate the importance of primary care. It’s not the annual nature of a primary care visit that actually makes a real impact on health. It’s the continuity and coordination that #primarycare provides that actually prevents longer term disease. It’s the anticipatory guidance and real focus on prevention and management that the pediatric framework supplies in the well child visit. I find it interesting that this JAMA article is from 2021 compares our annual physical exam to that of the national health service in England and the Netherlands - both also having larger systems surrounding #publichealth and prevention that our #healthcare system is clearly not in a place to support. Our primary care teams need a broader transformation throughout the system. When we discuss real #transformation in healthcare, let’s be sure to acknowledge how our system as a whole needs to incentivize real change in an upstream manner, and not single out what is really more of a vestige of the checklist approach to financial payment on which our healthcare system continues to rely. #healthcareonlinkedin

ICYMI! Christopher Whaley testified today before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging about the issue of health care price transparency. Key Highlights: 1. Health care prices in the United States are high and variable and are driven by provider consolidation and market power, and those high prices are not linked to increases in quality. 2. Effective price transparency can be a hub that enables employers and policymakers to develop impactful programs and policies that could improve access to affordable, high-quality care. 3. There are potential policy options that could enable price transparency to reach its cost-containment potential Read more about our initiatives at the Center for Advancing Health Policy through Research (https://lnkd.in/eFhGZGyB) at Brown University School of Public Health. https://lnkd.in/ejtuTRJS

As I continue to dive deep into the U.S. health insurance and delivery landscape, it becomes increasingly clear that value-based care models offer the most promising solution to the numerous challenges posed by fee-for-service models. By aligning incentives with standards of care and patient outcomes, value-based care holds the potential to yield great results, and Oak Street Health is doing a good one in this regard. The emphasis on integrating community-focused initiatives and behavioral health into its core operations resonates deeply with my thoughts about addressing the urgent needs of the health system, particularly in serving the most vulnerable populations. The strategic partnership with CVS Health further underscores the importance of leveraging impactful collaborations that maximize individual corporate strengths to achieve healthcare objectives. Kudos Marisa Rogers MD, MPH and the team leading this great work.

As I've reflected on the recent loss of a dear family member, it's been a powerful reminder of the importance of transforming health systems. Relationships, end-of-life planning, clear communication between medical providers and patients, and community support are just some of the reasons why transforming our health system really does impact individuals. #healthsystem #healthreform #healthsystemtransformation #doctor #endoflifeplanning #endoflifecare #communitysupport

It’s up to all of us — providers, policymakers, educators, advocates, and patients — to create a better #oralhealth system. On #WorldOralHealthDay learn more about how CareQuest Institute is working to achieve health equity and expand access to care by integrating oral health into overall health. https://ow.ly/h7pj50QQpU4

This is a fantastic interview by Dave Clarke, CEO of the Australian Patients Association discussing how we empower patients by giving them immediate access to all their test results. The changes proposed by government are fully endorsed by the APA. My favourite quote in this interview: "I think we have to start from the idea that patient's should be able to see everything. This is not GP-centred care or health sector or hospital-centred care it should be patient-centred care." https://lnkd.in/gfxHiK7N