Can appointment-based models (ABM) reduce total cost of care?

Managing multiple medications is a challenge for many individuals, particularly the elderly. One study by Almodóvar et al. (2019) found that among Medicare beneficiaries eligible for medication therapy management (MTM), 51% had used 11 or more medications. One approach to improving medication management is to use an appointment-based model (ABM) and other forms of medication…

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Montana’s Medicaid Expansion Conundrum

HELENA, Mont. — Despite concerns about what Congress and the Trump administration might have planned for Medicaid, Montana’s Republican-led legislature and GOP governor appear ready to keep the state’s Medicaid expansion program in place beyond its scheduled end date this summer. State lawmakers don’t have the luxury of waiting until the federal picture sharpens. They…

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What is the “Administration for a Healthy America”?

This is a new organization that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. aims to create, consolidating the functions of many federal health organizations and cutting significant staff.  The Guardian reports: Robert F Kennedy Jr said the nation’s health agencies will cut 10,000 jobs from their 82,000-person workforce – an enormous reduction the US health secretary characterized as…

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Managing care with patient appointment scheduling software

For five years straight, patients responding to the State of Patient Access survey have ranked “seeing a doctor quickly” as a top priority. Unfortunately, 94% of patients are still waiting more than two weeks for an appointment. Too many find themselves stuck in scheduling dead-ends, with unanswered calls, endless hold times and limited options when…

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Why Sentara Health Invested $11M Into iPhones for Nurses 

Sentara Health invested $11 million into smartphones for its nurses, equipping them with HIPAA-compliant devices to streamline communication, increase time at the bedside and improve patient outcomes. The program has been going on for a little more than a year — and Amy Rosa, the health system’s chief nursing informatics officer, says the initiative is…

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Federal Cuts Ripple Through a Bioscience Hub in Rural Montana

HAMILTON, Mont. — Scientists are often careful to take off their work badges when they leave the campus of one of the nation’s top research facilities, here in southwestern Montana’s Bitterroot Valley. It’s a reflection of the long-standing tension caused by Rocky Mountain Laboratories’ improbable location in this conservative, blue-collar town of 5,000 that was…

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