cover story one
Health Care Utilization
Finding the right balance
By Zeke McKinney, MD, MHI, MPH
Underutilization in healthcare is not a new concept, but it is one that has not received as much attention as the related problem of overutilization. In a perfect world, “correct” utilization is similar to the concept of the “five rights” of medication use, which describe ensuring the right patient gets the right medication at the right time via the right route of administration and at the right dose. It is fairly straightforward to apply this framework of ensuring the right/correct parameters for medications to other forms of treatment and to testing. While this concept is philosophically correct from the perspective of practicing medicine,
cover story two
A Missed Opportunity: The Prescription Drug Affordability Board
By Reid Porter
Packed within the Omnibus Commerce Bill, Minnesota recently passed legislation enacting a Prescription Drug Affordability Board (the Board) that lets PBMs off the hook. The Board will do little to help patients and will likely harm future access to medicines. It is a bad deal for Minnesotans and it threatens the patient-doctor relationship, while injecting bureaucrats into the evaluation of whether certain treatments are worth paying for. It also does nothing to stop health insurance plans and their Pubs from making patients pay more for medicines than they do.
Minnesota health care roundtable
The Health Care Workforce Shortage: Facing a crisis
The following report from the 56th session of the Minnesota Health Care Roundtable addresses important issues surrounding the health care workforce shortage crisis. In this session we examine a growing concern that is impacting all industries nationwide.
interview
A Proud Tradition of Service
Nicholas Van Deelen, MD, Co-President/CEO and Chief Medical Officer, St. Luke’s
Behavioral Health
Incorporating Behavioral Health into Home Care: Embracing innovation
By Stephen Taylor, MA
Every crisis is also an opportunity. And the COVID-19 pandemic is no exception. While COVID has strained the health care system for years now, it also forced providers around the globe to innovate. The disruption of the pandemic, and the isolation it created for millions of Americans, exacerbated the country’s mental health crisis while necessitating new solutions for serving patients in their homes. Thus, the integration of mental health care and home care has catapulted forward.
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