“Navigator” Standards Proposed by CMS
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a proposed rule this week establishing proposed “Navigator” standards under the Affordable Care Act. Navigators are organizations that will be providing information to consumers about health insurance, the new Health Insurance Marketplace, qualified health plans, and public programs. In other words, Navigators will be providing assistance to consumers shopping for coverage plans [...]
Driving Suicides to Zero
Medical providers (doctors, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, etc.) are invited to join Magellan for their Driving Suicides to Zero training Monday, April 29 from 9 to 11 a.m. or 1 to 3 p.m. The goal of the training is to help reduce the suicide rate by providing behavioral healthcare professionals with the skills, knowledge, attitudes and support to more effectively [...]
Licensing Changes Near
We're getting near the end of the long journey of our licensing regulatory reform. Last Wednesday we posted the revised draft rules for Chapter 10 (Health Care Institutions - Licensing) and Chapter 20 (Non-licensing approval). Our goals is to simplify and streamline our rules so they align with our strategic plan and map to improve public health outcomes. We've been working with [...]
What’s Population Health?
No doubt you’ve heard the term “population health” bandied about these days… especially as the nation wrestles with finding ways to keep people healthier while decreasing health care costs. But what exactly is population health? At its core, population health examines groups of people, their health outcomes, and the elements that influence those outcomes. Examples of things that influence health outcomes include public health interventions, the [...]
New Research Reconfirms Vaccine Safety
Fifteen years ago The Lancet published a case study that erroneously suggested that there could be a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. That letter has long since been discredited, and back in 2010 The Lancet retracted the article. Anti-vaccine advocates have been pointing to that long-since discredited 1998 case study to argue that there is some kind of link [...]
H7N9 Influenza
This week the WHO announced that several people in eastern China are infected with a newly mutated bird influenza virus called H7N9. All are in critical condition and some have died... but importantly the cases don't appear to be linked- meaning it's probably not from human to human transmission (that's good). The World Health Organization website has more detail including answers to some Frequently [...]