Keeping up with health care
The rate of change in medicine is astounding. Technological advances allow us to see the previously invisible and do the previously impossible. Legal changes are providing access to the previously uninsurable. In this series, we invite you to explore the many ways health care delivery is changing every day-for both your patients and your practice.
Patients Living With Chronic Illness Can Benefit From Palliative Care
For patients living with chronic illness, palliative care may be a viable option to help improve their quality of life. However, raising the subject can often be difficult and uncomfortable. Approaching the discussion with empathy and compassion can help put the patient at ease.
Denial Management: How to Reduce Rejection and Streamline the Appeals Process
Denial management isn't always easy for a growing private practice. You may think you're doing everything possible to submit clean, accurate claims to payers, yet denials still persist. How can you implement systems to prevent denials while also improving your appeals strategy? How can you help patients who are upset after an initial denial? These tips should help bridge the gap between what's best for your practice's administrative policies and what's best for your patient base.
Keys to Managing the Physician Shortage: A Focus on Nurses, Efficiency, and Wellness
We've been talking about the physician shortage in the United States for nearly a decade now, but the problem is becoming more acute as the overall population ages faster than we can train doctors. By 2025, we will likely have a provider shortage of anywhere from 46,000 to 90,000 physicians, according to a report by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). The degree of the shortage is projected to vary by specialty, with surgical specialists experiencing the biggest lack of professionals. The shortage burdens providers trying to fit more patients into the same amount of time, causing burnout for physicians and longer wait times for patients.
Connected Care: The Future (and Present) Age of Health Care
After a long week, you arrive home on Friday night excited for the weekend ahead, but maybe you're also feeling fatigued. The cumulative stress of caring for patients is catching up to you. Of course, as a trained physician, you know the cure: you drink a lot of water, eat a small dinner of veggies and lean proteins, and then go to bed. You wake up ready to take on the weekend.
The Pros and Cons of Mobile Health Apps
Just like with apps in general, the use of mobile health (mHealth) apps is a rising technological trend. Just look at the figures: There are more than 100,000 health apps offered by Apple and Android, according to mobile market research firm Research2Guidance. The firm also estimates that 50 percent of the more than 3.4 billion smartphone and tablet users worldwide will have downloaded mobile health apps of some kind by 2018.