For more than a year now, COVID-19 has impacted our communities and changed the way we live in profound ways. And for many years to come, the implications of the pandemic will persist, significantly—and in some cases, permanently—altering how we work, go to school, travel, shop, and socialize.  COVID-19 has affected all of us to some degree. Many have lost their jobs, homes, and worst of all, friends and loved ones to this unrelenting virus. But perhaps the most concerning, and potentially long-lasting, side effect of the pa...

Mental health is, without a doubt, one of the biggest concerns we have today when it comes to the overall health and well-being of our children. Unfortunately, it’s also consistently one of the least addressed.  According to Dr. Karen Goldberg, a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, the primary reason for this oversight is money—as this is a complex issue that takes significant dollars to manage. That said, we now find ourselves managing the issue “in crisis,” rather than managing it proactively and preventatively....

A recently released survey by Kaiser Family Foundation revealed that anywhere from 20-25% of all patients will not get vaccinated for COVID-19, due to safety concerns. In some populations, the number almost reaches 50%. The costs of not getting vaccinated are significant: Vaccinations can save Payers an average of $32,879 per hospitalization, based on an average of 7 days in the hospital at $4,697 per day. At eQHealth Solutions, we are being proactive in reaching out to people with chronic health conditions that are more susceptible to COVID...

Depression. Suicide. Self-harm. Drugs. American youth are not okay. In addition, our healthcare system is woefully unprepared to tackle this issue. What are the barriers facing our kids from accessing mental health? Why hasn’t something been done already? And most importantly, what are the solutions? Listen to Podcast, “The Kids Are Not Alright.” While experts widely agree that there is a shortage of trained child and adolescent mental health providers, the obvious solution – encourage more medical students to pu...

With growing fears of the novel coronavirus rising and misinformation spreading rampantly, panic is everywhere. Having a population health management program implemented for your members is now more important than ever. During times such as these, pro-active strategy is key. Strategically approaching the care and education of your members is vital for their health and well-being, as well as the health of your organization, communities and our country. A key part of a population health management program is strategy and knowing who the high-r...

Written by Marina Brown, BSN, RN, CCM, CHC​, Vice President of Clinical Programs One of the most important aspects that separate good, knowledgeable sports coaches from the ones who win championships year after year is that the repeat winners understand they need to see and treat their players as individuals. They know what motivates one player to excel, whether it’s getting in their face and coming down hard or providing soft guidance and support, will cause another to fail miserably and they adjust accordingly. As former New ...

Anyone who has watched a dog chase after a firetruck and wonder what he will do if he catches it will understand one of the biggest dilemmas healthcare organizations are facing right now around data and analytics. Payers and providers are accumulating massive amounts of data about their members/patients, and many are beginning to use sophisticated analytics to try to make sense out of that data. While they may be creating reports, those organizations are still having trouble turning their reports and dashboards into action. Especially for th...

By Bruce Shutan In the Information Age, data analytics, predictive modeling, machine learning, deep learning, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and other technology solutions are changing the face of self-insurance. Disruptors are rapidly entering this space with digital toolkits that include anything from personalized dashboards that tap mobile apps or AI smart speakers to analytic platforms that spot high-cost claimants, care gaps, medical errors, etc. For self-insured employers, the use of advanced technology is as much about hu...

During the “Age of Exploration” it was the leaders of those expeditions – Columbus, Magellan, Cortes, Cabot, etc. – who received the bulk of the recognition and the glory. Not to mention the monetary rewards. But without the behind-the-scenes efforts of their navigators, those missions through treacherous and largely uncharted waters would likely have ended in disaster instead. Executives at payers and providers find themselves in similar circumstances to those early explorers. Thanks to electronic health records (...

By Ila Sarkar, Vice President of Analytics, eQHealth Solutions  While the nation’s eyes seem to be obsessively fixed on the high cost of prescription medications, the reality is they only comprise just under 10% of the total cost of healthcare. The real high-cost area is surgery, which accounts for roughly 40% of hospital and physician expenditures. Surgery also tends to compete with obstetrics for the highest-risk department in any hospital. That’s doubly bad news—surgical complications can dr...