COVID-19 exacted a toll on health citizens’ mental health, worsening a public health challenge that was already acute before the pandemic. It’s World Mental Health Day, an event marked by global and local stakeholders across the mental health ecosystem. On the global front, the World Health Organization (WHO) describes the universal phenomenon and burden of mental…
COVID-19 vaccination has become a tricky subject for providers to navigate during patient visits. While we need to understand our patients’ vaccination status to care for them, we must also remain sensitive to potential vaccine hesitancy. Against this backdrop lies a golden opportunity for us to help our patients make sound, educated decisions about whether…
Hospitals and health systems can implement value-based payment models to ensure preparedness for seasonal and pandemic capacity surges, according to industry experts. Hospitals experienced increased demand for tangible resources and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, demand health systems typically only face during peak flu season. Unlike organizations in other industries, hospitals and health systems tend to lose…
COVID-19 pandemic fatigue has many people seeking a return to normalcy. But health care needs a new normal—one that achieves better health outcomes for more people. Wishing for a return to health care’s old normal is like driving into a long tunnel hoping for a U-turn that takes you back to where you started. Multiple…
There is growing concern among many well-respected providers about the consequences of fewer preventive services over the past 1½ years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As patients slowly start to resume care throughout 2021 and into 2022, experts predict we will see a spike in the number of severe or late-stage diagnoses that normally…
Speaking during a Sept. 15 eHealth Initiative panel discussion, Devdutta Sangvai, M.D., M.B.A., executive director of Duke Connected Care, said clinicians are under such stress during the pandemic that value-based care initiatives need to focus on enhancing efficiency to ease their burden. “If you can create efficiency in your value-based model, I think you’re likely…
The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed how healthcare is and will be delivered in the future, Scott Gottlieb, M.D., former commissioner of the FDA, said during his keynote address today at the 2021 Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute®Annual National Conference in Orlando, Florida. The future of healthcare is going to be very different from what it is now,…
If there’s a silver lining to the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s the spotlight it has put on the role of value-based, virtual health care models to address issues such as access to specialists, healthcare speed and efficiency, and healthcare inequities. Indeed, approximately 75 percent of employers in a recent survey said they plan to ramp up their implementation…
The COVID-19 pandemic compressed a decade of healthcare transformation into mere months. Healthcare leaders have been challenged with rethinking every aspect of the business, from how care is delivered to planning for the workforce needs of the future. At the same time, consumers continue to be a driving force in shaping healthcare’s mission. Today’s healthcare…
Social determinants of health (SDOH) have been talked about for years, but the COVID-19 pandemic has proved beyond a doubt how powerfully they impact patient outcomes. Data shows that socioeconomically disadvantaged populations globally are over-represented among COVID-19 cases and deaths. Yet, such data may only be the tip of the iceberg. Over the past 18 months, the…