Will the Future of Healthcare Shift Towards Value-based Care?

Is the future of healthcare shifting towards employing clinical analysis technology to administer value-based care? Analytic technology allows healthcare providers to understand their patient population better using social determinants of health. The analytic technology uses electronic health records to measure health trends amongst the targeted population.

Value-based care is collecting relevant data sources specific to socio-economic and social determinants of health unique to a specific population to plan appropriate interventions. These strategies have the potential to improve health outcomes specifically targeted areas at lower costs. Cost can be lower through a thorough analytical investigation of community needs trends and provider behaviors that increase cost. Carilion Clinic in Virginia is currently utilizing value-based care and analytical technology to serve its community better.

For more information check out this article:

https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/analytics-social-determinants-drives-millions-value-based-savings-carilion

Image:

https://www.alliancebhc.org/general-news-announcements/alliance-grants-target-social-determinants-health/

 

 

Short term health insurance sometimes referred to as term health insurance serves to fill in the gap in health coverage while in a state of transition. Transition periods such as in-between jobs, awaiting benefits from a new job, missed open enrollment time slot, and/or a college student fresh out of school are a few occasions when short term health insurance is necessary.

Short term health insurance under the Obama Administration developed regulations to limit the length up to three months with no opportunity for renewal. Currently, under the Trump Administration short term health insurance can be purchased for policies lasting up to 1 year with opportunity for renewal a maximum of two times.

Short term health insurance is regulated through the states not the Affordable Care Act which set specific stipulations and guidelines for insurance companies to abide by. Due to this, short term insurance has large coverage gaps, some not including maternity leave, mental health care, or prescription drugs. People with short-term health insurance policies have coverage but “skinny coverage”.

 

Source:
1.   https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/10/01/652141154/buyer-beware-new-

cheaper-insurance-policies-may-have-big-coverage-gaps

 

2. https://www.uhone.com/insurance/short-term

Surveillance of Hepatitis A Outbreaks: State-by-State Counts from 2017-2018

Source

In the midst of newsworthy Hepatitis A outbreaks in Kentucky, San Diego, and Michigan, this map depicts the number of Hepatitis A incidents across the United States from 2017-2018. The number fluctuations in each state over the last year is alarming considering that there are few national regulations being put into place in the realm of food safety. Catherine Huddle from Food Safety News explains that although the CDC recommends that all children should be vaccinated at the ages of 1 and 2, ” the CDC has not recommended Hepatitis A vaccinations for food service workers” (Huddle, 2018). We can only hope that more information and awareness of Hepatitis A outbreaks can help force a decline in it’s prevalence. For more information of state reported Hepatitis A incidents you can visit the Food Safety News web page.

Preventive Dental Care for Children in GA – A look at the disparities.

Preventive oral health care is essential for one’s overall health. For children, it is important to address oral health needs earlier in life to prevent oral health issues from forming and progressing into adulthood. Below is a map of the percentage of children in Georgia with financial access to preventive dental care. This map comes from an article written by Cao, Gentili, Griffin, Griffin & Serban (2017) titled, “Disparities in Preventive Dental Care Among Children in Georgia.”

The authors of the article state that financial access is, “the percentage of children who either are eligible for public insurance or have the ability to afford dental care through commercial insurance or ability to pay out-of-pocket,” (Cao et al., 2017). Although there are plenty of children who are eligible to receive public funding for preventive dental care in GA, only 27.9% of the 4,123 dentists in GA who offer preventive dental services to children accept public insurance, (Cao et al., 2017).

What are your thoughts? What does financial access to preventive dental care mean to you? Is this an accurate representation of financial access? I invite you to read more of the article on the CDC’s website, here. 

Source: Cao S, Gentili M, Griffin PM, Griffin SO, Serban N. Disparities in Preventive Dental Care Among Children in Georgia. Prev Chronic Dis 2017;14:170176. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd14.170176.

Tribal Health Facility Sites – Total National Loan Repayment Sites 2017

Check out this heat density map which shows the total number of tribal health facility sites health providers can work at to have some of their student loans forgiven. From the map we can see highly concentrated areas in states such as, Oklahoma, California, and Washington.

 

By Julia Watson

Rate of Self Reported Pesticide Related Illness By State 2014

 

Today’s map shows the rate of self reported pesticide related illness by state for the year of 2014 per 100,000 person. From the map we can see some states had rates ranging as low as 0.00 to 0.27 indicated by the yellow shading. In contrast some states, such as Alaska, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, New York, Kansas and Virginia had rates as high as 0.87 to 2.56 indicated by the dark blue shading. However, its important to note that because these are self-reported rates the date is subjected to under-reporting. In addition, because these exposures are self-reported both the type of pesticide and the degree of illness associated with the exposure may be mis-classified since the designation by the poison control center for both is based on the description provided by the caller.

According to the CDC farmworkers are among those when are subjected to pesticide exposure. For more information on migrant workers click here.

By Julia Watson

Number of Homes Built Between 1950 and 1979 By County 2000

Check out this map that shows the number of homes built between 1950 and 1979 by county for year 2000. From the map we can see there were many new homes built in counties within the eastern states, such as New York, New Jersey, Road Island, Main  indicated by the darker shading.  There were also many new homes built in counties within some western states, such as California and Arizona. We can see states such as North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana and Kansas had fewer new homes built within the 29 year period indicated by the yellow/yellowish shading. This makes sense because when compared to the previous map of homes built prior to 1950 for the year of 2000 we see these states had a higher percentage of older homes.

By Julia Watson

Domestic Migration Patters of Highly-Educated Workers.

Research by two Iowa State University economists shows there are not enough high-skilled jobs in Iowa to keep qualified people from leaving the state. Researchers found Iowa was competitive in jobs requiring a high school degrees, but lacking in having skilled workers for jobs requiring a bachelors degree. Check out this interesting map which depicts the domestic migration patter of highly educated workers. For more information click here.

By Julia Watson

Rates of Early Syphilis Varies By State

Interesting data by the CDC regarding morbidity and mortality of syphilis among homosexual males and bisexuals. For more information click here.

By Julia Watson

Percent of Uninsured Living with HIV By County 2014 (Ages 13 and Older)

Check out this map which shows the percent of people living with HIV who were uninsured by county for the year of 2014 ages 13 and older. From the map we can see that a large portion of counties within Hawaii, the north east, and some midwest states had some of the lowest percentages of people with HIV who where uninsured indicated by the yellow shading. In contrast states in the south and west had some of the highest percentages of people living with HIV who were uninsured.  We can see Alaska and Texas were predominantly shaded dark, indicating percentages ranging as high as 19 to 39.

By Julia Watson