primary care

Primary Care Providers Crucial to Addressing Emotional Trauma

Kaiser Permanente and National Council for Behavioral Health Team Up to Provide Training to Community Health Centers

More than half of all U.S. residents have experienced a traumatic event, like domestic abuse, sexual assault, neglect, or disasters. The ideal place to identify and to show universal precautions is within primary care settings.

With support from Kaiser Permanente, the National Council for Behavioral Health is pioneering an educational program for community health centers to become trauma-informed practices and models for replication.

Company Thinks It Has Answer for Lower Health Costs: Customer Service

Virginnia Schock seemed headed for a health crisis. She was 64 years old, had poorly controlled diabetes, a wound on her foot and a cast on her broken wrist. She didn’t drive, so getting to the people who could tend to her ailments was complicated and expensive. She had stopped taking her diabetes pills months before and was reluctant to use insulin; she was afraid of needles and was worried that a friend’s son, a drug addict, might use her syringes to inject them.

Primary care doctors facing new cuts in reimbursements

Advocates for primary care were in Albany this week making the case that Governor Andrew Cuomo is cutting Medicaid reimbursements at the same time the state is trying to emphasize its importance.

News Author: 
Dan Goldberg

Congress and the Doc Shortage

You’re not the only one getting older. Take a look at your doctor.
 

One in 10 active physicians is between the ages of 65 and 75 — retirement age. More than a quarter is 55 to 64 — likely to retire within the decade.
 

The graying of our doctors and ourselves is part of the larger problem of access to health care. The goal of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, is to help everyone get insurance. Then what?
 

News Author: 
Marsha Mercer

EHR Interoperability Issues Challenge Primary Care Teams

What are some of the most substantial health IT issues that are hindering the healthcare field? A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association found that EHR functionalities that lacked integrated care management software and care plans, weak practice registry and EHR interoperability, and meager capabilities for patient tracking have all led to significant challenges for primary care teams.

News Author: 
Vera Gruessner

New Report Finds Patient-Centered Medical Homes Improve Care, Reduce Costs

Industry experts discuss findings from a new PCPCC analysis of 28 academic studies, industry reports, and state government evaluations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Caroline DeLaney

Jan. 30, 2015 EST
caroline@pcpcc.org | (352) 258-0090

 

At 205,000 Strong, The Nurse Practitioner Will See You Now

As the health care workforce shifts to treat patients in less expensive primary care settings, the number of nurse practitioners has nearly doubled in the last decade to more 200,000, new data shows.

The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) says there are 205,000 licensed nurse practitioners compared to 106,000 in 2004. Such advanced degree nurses perform myriad primary care functions, diagnose, prescribe medications and conduct physical exams.

News Author: 

Medicaid Pay Hike Opened Doors For Patients, Study Finds

Money talks.

A temporary Medicaid pay raise that was part of President Barack Obama’s health law made it easier for poor adults to get appointments with primary care doctors, according to a study published Wednesday.

Paying more to doctors who participate in the federal-state insurance program for the poor usually improves access for patients, but the law’s two-year limit on the raise, its slow rollout and other regulatory problems made many skeptical about how physicians would react to the extra money — which in many states equated to a 50 percent pay hike or more.

News Author: 
Phil Galewitz

Doctors see potential revenue boost under Medicare changes, telehealth

Primary care physicians stand to earn additional revenue starting Jan. 1 under Medicare's new fee schedule for care coordination of chronically ill patients and for using certain telehealth services. 

To bill for the $40.40 per member per month fee, physicians must offer some type of 24/7 access, a minimum of 20 minutes per month of clinical team time, a creation of care plan, coordinate community-based services and agree to manage hospital, emergency department and home care services. 

News Author: 
Jay Greene

$148M could be saved if mental health gets better attention, study says

New Jersey taxpayers could save hundreds of millions of dollars a year and thousands of patients could have improved health and better quality of life if clinicians coordinated physical and mental health care, a new Rutgers University study says.

The report, produced by the Center for State Health Policy, found that more than a third of the $880 million in hospitalization costs in the 13 communities it studied were associated with behavioral health issues such as mental health disorders and substance use.

News Author: 
Tim Darragh

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