-
A study by Aetna shows that employees with a behavioral health condition return to work sooner if their claims are managed by a behavioral health clinician. Employees with a primary or secondary diagnosis of a behavioral health issue are referred to the disability behavioral health unit. The disability behavioral health clinicians identify all the physicians treating the employee and contact each of them, becoming their partner in coordinating care and getting the employee back to work. When employees with a behavioral health issue are seeing only a primary care physician, the disability behavioral health clinicians encourage them to refer patients for specialty behavioral health treatment.
-
A fall reduction system that encourages caregivers to respond early to warning signs has been proven to significantly reduce falls, according to the manufacturer.
-
Optums Field Care Advocacy program that provides services for people at risk for rehospitalization for a behavioral health condition helps decrease readmissions and extend the time that patients are able to live in the community. Field Care Advocates, who are licensed behavioral health clinicians, work with patients in person and over the phone, help them follow their treatment plan and access needed services, and coordinate care with their providers. They typically work with the patient and providers for 90 days. People with complex needs who have problems following their treatment plan are paired with peer specialists who act as health coaches and work with them for about six months.
-
A patient with influenza coughs. Viral particles fly across the room and linger in the air. A health care worker walks into the room and breathes in the invisible contaminant.
-
Depression takes a toll on nurses and other health care workers.
-
-
New patient handling standards from the American Nurses Association provide the first comprehensive guidelines that apply to all health care facilities.
-
Just what is the risk of transmission from a coughing patient with influenza? Researchers still can't answer that question definitively, but airborne particles appear to play a greater role than previously believed.
-
Health care workers in Boston are the first patients to test a new model of ambulatory care.
-
Egg allergy should no longer prevent someone from receiving the seasonal influenza vaccine. A recombinant flu vaccine (Flublok by Protein Sciences Corp.) that is not produced with eggs will be available this fall for people between the ages of 18 and 49.
