Why Mental Health Experts Should Tap into TikTok
March 30th 2021Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of progress has been made toward a better future, but it’s clear there’s still significant room for improvement. While progress is made in one area, other issues that live beneath the surface bubble up. That’s certainly the case for the current state of mental health.
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Prime Therapeutics Boosts COVID-19 Vax Administration Fees To Match What CMS Is Paying
March 29th 2021The Minnesota PBM says it will pay $40 for a single-dose vaccine and $80 for a two-dose one. The company says it has paid pharmacies a total of $29 million in COVID-19 vaccine administration fees so far.
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Policymakers Must Take Action to Ensure Maternal Health Extends Beyond the Labor and Delivery Room
March 29th 2021If we look for the silver linings among lessons learned in 2020, the brightest positive outcome may be a better coordinated and more robust investment in public health. Yet as we continue to fight COVID-19 in the U.S., it’s important not to lose sight of another incredibly important battle we face on the public health front: maternal health.
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Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota on Forming an Equity Policy, According to Vayong Moua
March 29th 2021In this final part of a two-part video series, Senior Editor Peter Wehrwein spoke with Vayong Moua, the Director of Racial and Health Equity Advocacy for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (BCBSMN), about healthcare equity issues, how they relate to access issues, the political determinants of health and killing of George Floyd.
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Tobacco Control as a Model and Making Equity Analysis the Norm
March 26th 2021In this first part of a two-part video series, Senior Editor Peter Wehrwein spoke with Vayong Moua, the Director of Racial and Health Equity Advocacy for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (BCBSMN), about healthcare equity issues, how they relate to access issues, the political determinants of health and killing of George Floyd.
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New Analysis Shows Benefits of Electronic Prior Authorization for Patients and Providers
March 25th 2021Electronic prior authorizations (ePA) can significantly reduce the time between a request for prior authorization and a decision and the time to a patient receiving care. These were two of the top findings from an initiative launched by America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) to better understand the impact of ePA on the prior authorization process.
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Patients Pay the Price with Proliferation of Substandard Health Plans
March 25th 2021There are significant risks patients face when they enroll in non-compliant and substandard health insurance products. A new report published by 30 patient organizations shares the risks and details ways state and federal lawmakers can help protect these vulnerable consumers.
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Vaccine Mistrust Leaves Vulnerable Seniors at Risk, per Eve Gelb of SCAN Health Plan
March 24th 2021MHE's Associate Editor Briana Contreras spoke with Senior Vice President of healthcare services at SCAN Health Plan, Eve Gelb. The two discussed the issue of vaccine mistrust among family caregivers and how it can result in leaving vulnerable seniors at risk.
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How to Put Some Science Behind the Art of Physician Referrals
March 22nd 2021Medicine is both an art and a science. Some physicians would contend that science—specifically data science—has overtaken medicine and limited their ability to make decisions based on informed intuition and personal experience.
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Searches for COVID-19 Vaccinations Have Skyrocketed in America
March 19th 2021Americans are becoming more anxious to get the COVID-19 vaccine as additional vaccines are approved and doses are being distributed directly to United States retail pharmacies. According to NordVPN, Google searches in America for the vaccine are growing by 1,900% since January.
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ACLI Responds to Misinformation about COVID-19 Vaccine
March 18th 2021The American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) senior vice president of Policy Development, Paul Graham, recently responded to the social media news which suggested COVID-19 vaccines could be a factor a life insurer considers in the claims-paying process.
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The Opportunity in CMS’s Price Transparency Rule
March 18th 2021The opportunity for health insurers is to implement a well-designed cost estimator tool that goes beyond compliance to the new CMS rule and meets member and health insurer market trends by integrating more quality and cost metrics with an easy-to-use member interface.
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