Healthcare Intelligence Network

A health coach's use of motivational interviewing (MI) can pave the way to a partnership resulting in an individual's behavior change, explains Kristin S. Vickers Douglas, Ph.D., L.P., a clinical health psychologist at the Mayo Clinic and medical director of its EmbodyHealth coaching program. Frequently called upon to employ MI in her practice as well as train health coaches in the technique, Dr. Vickers Douglas describes the dimensions of MI and its value in determining and reacting to an individual's readiness to change. Dr. Vickers Douglas, along with Mike Casey, senior director of Mayo Clinic Health Management Resources, provide an update on Mayo's health coaching initiatives --- including its increasing utilization of MI and integration of Web 2.0 technologies in the newly updated Coaching in the Healthcare Continuum: Models, Methods, Measurements and Motivation, Second Edition.

As veterans of CMS' Physician Group Practice Medicare three-year demonstration pilot, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) physicians are comfortable dispensing chronic care in the medical home environment, explains Dr. Barbara Walters, DHMC's senior medical director. Its new medical home partnership with Cigna is an enhanced version of CMS' reimbursement model that Dr. Walters hopes will generate some "working capital" to reinvest in key medical home tools. She describes DHMC's physician-friendly model of negotiating with commercial payors and its current method of communicating the patient-centered model of care to patients. Dr. Walters, along with Lesley Reeder, RN, BSN, quality improvement specialist for the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, will examine case studies of reimbursement strategies for medical home programs during a September 24, 2008 webinar, Reimbursement Models for Medical Homes: From Pilot to Practice.

While there is a great deal of interest among public payors in medical home funding models, their funding needs pose several challenges, explains Lesley Reeder, RN, BSN, quality improvement specialist for the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. In this podcast, Reeder shares the secrets to a successful payor-provider partnership and discusses some of the code-dependent strategies at work in Colorado to reimburse physicians for preventive care services dispensed from the medical home. Reeder, along with Dr. Barbara Walters, senior medical director of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, will examine case studies of reimbursement strategies for medical home programs during a September 24, 2008 webinar, Reimbursement Models for Medical Homes: From Pilot to Practice.

U.S. healthcare spends an estimated $177 billion on medication non-compliance annually -- nearly 80 percent of the country's healthcare spending. And the pharmaceutical industry loses billions of healthcare dollars annually as a result of medication non-adherence. Thom Stambaugh, chief pharmacy officer and vice president of clinical programs and specialty pharmacy for CIGNA Pharmacy Management, discusses strategies for recovering some of this lost revenue, the challenges behavioral health patients bring to medication compliance and how CIGNA measures compliance in its population. Stambaugh, along with Connie Commander, immediate past president of the Case Management Society of America and president, Commander's Premier Consulting Corporation, will describe programs and initiatives that have increased patient compliance with medication regimes. You'll also learn the impact that compliance has had on healthcare utilization and patient satisfaction during a September 10, 2008 webinar, Improving Medication Adherence: Practical Strategies to Increase Patient Compliance.

As rising volumes and overcrowding affect EDs nationwide, hospitals are eager to reduce waits, notch up efficiency and, in turn, improve patient satisfaction. Drawing from her organization's 2008 ED Pulse Report, Press Ganey Vice President of Public Policy Deirdre Mylod, Ph.D., describes some strategies that can positively impact ED usage. She shares ideas from high-ranking EDs on coping with overcrowding and analyzes the impact that medical homes, retail clinics and patient education could have on ED trends. A lack of throughput for truly urgent patients, rather than the numbers of uninsured or underinsured patients in waiting rooms, is really at the root of ED overcrowding, she says. Dr. Mylod also shares what ED physicians at a magnet hospital are doing to improve patient satisfaction marks and why communication and comfort go hand in hand in the ED waiting room. A July 30, 2008 webinar, Emergency Department Diversion Through Behavioral Health Linkages, provides more information on alleviating the strain on EDs.

Julie Szempruch, associate vice president for the Midtown Mental Health Center, Wishard Health Services, discusses some key points regarding ER use by mental health patients, including the challenges involved with triaging such patients, effective strategies for educating this population about proper ER use as well as why the issue of ER patients with mental health issues is getting so much attention now. Szempruch, along with Joe Eppling, assistant vice president of post acute and behavioral health services at East Jefferson General Hospital, will describe their organizations' strategies for serving the needs of the behavioral health patient in the emergency room during a July 30, 2008 webinar, Emergency Department Diversion Through Behavioral Health Linkages.

East Jefferson General Hospital (EJGH) is doing things a little differently to try to reduce ER usage among their mental health patients. According to Joe Eppling, assistant vice president of post acute and behavior health services for EJGH, placing a psychiatric nurse in the ER around the clock enables hospital staff to really know the population they are treating, and in turn reduce ER "super users." Eppling also discusses the effect medical homes and transitional care units could have on the mental health population and suggests optimal ER wait times for this population. Eppling, along with Julie Szempruch, associate vice president for the Midtown Mental Health Center, Wishard Health Services, will describe their organizations' strategies for serving the needs of the behavioral health patient in the emergency room during a July 30, 2008 webinar, Emergency Department Diversion Through Behavioral Health Linkages.

In a joint interview, Wes Alles, Ph.D., director of the Stanford University Prevention Research Center, and Yann Meunier, M.D., health improvement manager at Stanford School of Medicine Health Improvement Program, describe the interactions between their individual Stanford programs, the science and methods behind Stanford's health risk and behavior change assessments, and incentives that encourage Stanford employees to complete HRAs and participate in health promotion programs. Alles and Dr. Meunier, along with Gary Smithson, M.D., M.B.A, WorldDoc, will describe how HRAs are evolving and the impact these enhancements are having on both HRA data and results during an August 13, 2008 webinar, New Developments and Enhancements in Health Risk Assessments.

According to Dr. John Draper, director of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, there is a silent majority of suicide survivors who have another message -- suicide isn't inevitable, and it can be prevented.

When it comes to suicide, more often than not, the media focuses too much on the tragedy of the situation and sends the message that it cannot be prevented. But according to Dr. John Draper, director of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, there is a silent majority of suicide survivors who have another message -- suicide isn't inevitable, and it can be prevented. Dr. Draper and Amanda Lehner, technology communications coordinator for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, discuss their latest endeavor, LifelineGallery.org, and how this social network hopes to connect with patients with its use of story-telling avatars. To learn how healthcare organizations are using video, podcasts, blogs, wikis and other Web 2.0 technologies to drive consumers to their Web sites and facilities, please visit: The Business Case for Web 2.0 in Healthcare: Building Brands and Redefining the Patient Experience.