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Population Health (Part 2 of 3) - Defining the Social Determinants of Health- A Basic Primer

WHO Definition: The social determinants of health (SDOH) are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. Ø The SDOH are affected by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels. They are thought to be mostly responsible for unfair and possibly avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries (health inequities). The basic list of these SDOH (WHO) is as follows: Employment conditions - Employment and working conditions shape people’s social position. Health is affected by different types of jobs, conditions at these jobs, and the threat of job loss. Social exclusions - Health inequality is affected by unequal access to healthcare. Exclusionary dimensions include: Ø Economic Ø Political Ø Social Ø Cultural Ø Individual Ø Household Ø Group Ø Community Ø Country Ø Global Public health programs and social determinants - Historically, public health programs have
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How the Evolution of Payment Models Has Led to Improving American Healthcare

As we learned in Value Based Care Makes for Better Caregivers , while the old-style “fee-for-service” payment model promoted quantity of services, federal officials have planned numerous compensation programs to reward healthcare providers for the excellence of care they provide to patients. In the past, Providers or Professional Caregivers have not trusted CMS or the health insurance companies. Today, more and more Providers are partnering with payers and CMS in order to improve the health of their patients. VBC helps advance, not just the triple aim of healthcare, but it has also expanded to include the quadruple aim of healthcare today. ‘Triple Aim’ includes improved patient experience, improving population health, and cost-effectiveness in healthcare. The ‘Quadruple Aim’ adds improved work-life balance of Providers and their staffs as well. Like everyone else, professional caregivers get burned out and they need the improved, more efficient workflow of value-bas
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Value Based Care Makes for Better Caregivers

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As we learned in Defining Value Based Care in Today’s World , VBC helps Doctors, Physician Assistants (PAs), Nurse Practitioners and Nurses do what they have always wanted to do, which is improve patient health . Not only does this system help them get an organized handle on the care of chronic diseases such as diabetes, pre-diabetes, kidney disease, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis in women and more, it also rewards the providers for doing a good job . It helps them see fewer patients in a given time period and help all of their patients more successfully . This is what we call the shift from a large Volume (of patients) to Valuable care. ( Quality OVER Quantity ) Value Based Care Story Time : A Personal Example A couple of years ago, I met with a large group of Professional Caregivers on this topic. Their attitude was that I had “ moved to the dark side ” and that insurance companies had been “ ripping them off for years and they had no intention of listening to th
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Defining Value Based Care in Today’s World

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The Myths : VBC is about Money Value Based Care (VBC) is a way for insurance companies to make more money VBC is just another way for the government to interfere in doctor’s healthcare efforts The Facts : VBC is about Increasing Value & Individualized Patient Care VBC is a process that helps Docs focus back on caring for the patient the way we thought we would be doing when we went to medical school. It’s about adding more ‘value’ to our workflow rather than relying on seeing large ‘volumes’ of patients every day to make a living. Value Based Care is a much more enjoyable way to practice and it’s more comfortable for patients as well when Providers ( aka Doctors, Nurses and other Caregivers ) understand the beauty of it. When we focus on improved health outcomes for our patients using the HEDIS/Stars measures ( think about these measures as the Caregiver’s VBC Process checklist ) all the time, we’re able to improve our efficiency. VBC based systems are
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