Western Pennsylvania Healthcare News

Covering healthcare news in the Pittsburgh region and beyond.

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Distinguishing between Mental and Behavioral Health

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Not all medical terms are widely understood, bringing about a disconnect when a person tries to communicate with others. One of these terms is behavioral health where people assume that it is the same as mental health. While one contains aspects of the other, they are not mutually exclusive. That means that behavioral health encompasses mental health but also includes substance abuse and addiction.

Understanding behavioral health

This term has evolved. Initially, it spoke of the behavioral measures one can put in place to prevent diseases. Three decades later, it has changed to include what people can do to treat or manage illnesses as well. That means a Cosmetic Consultants New York worker going into a doctor’s office to complain about migraines could learn the issue is not being in chemical labs only; it could be from working long hours in a high-pressure industry. They could get described painkillers and provided with measures when in certain work environments but they will also be asked to consider therapy to cope with stress.

Simply put, behavioral therapy looks at the relationship between one’s behavior and their health. It looks at actions, such as excessive alcohol or food intake, or depression that leads one to have suicidal thoughts. It, therefore, seeks to change behaviors to treat and prevent the physical or mental problems. It also includes treatment from various persons; a physician, neurologist, dietician, and therapist, only to mention a few. [Read more…]

How Healthcare Providers Can Help Keep Kids Safe from the Flu

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By Lyndsey Lord, MBA, BSN, RN

The summer months are coming to end, school is beginning… which means the flu season is looming and providers must find better tactics to help prevent its spread.

While it may feel strange to talk about the flu while it is still warm in much of the country, this is the most important time of the year to start thinking about protecting those most vulnerable to the flu – especially our children. According to the CDC, this past flu season resulted in 172 pediatric deaths from the flu; approximately 80% of these deaths were children who had not been vaccinated.

Germs are everywhere – in the grocery store, at playgrounds, and all over our children’s schools. We teach our children appropriate hand hygiene, but they are still learning, and often not masters at disinfecting themselves. This simply reinforces that all children must be vaccinated and safe from the flu.

Many parents will schedule well-child visits at the end of summer break or the beginning of the school year. This is a perfect time for providers to begin educating patients and parents on the upcoming flu season. Even if the vaccine is not yet available, providers should be discussing the importance of timely vaccinations and providing information on where and when the patient can receive the flu shot. [Read more…]

4 Commercial Leasing Money-Saving Tips for Healthcare Tenants

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By Jeff Grandfield and Dale Willerton 

For many healthcare tenants, negotiating a good lease or lease renewal against an experienced agent or landlord can be a challenge. While a doctor focuses on proper patient care, savvy real estate agents and brokers are specialized sales people. Their job is to sell tenants on leasing their location at the highest possible rental rate.

As explained in our new book, Negotiating Commercial Leases & Renewals FOR DUMMIES, tenants may go through the leasing process only two or three times in their entire lifetime – yet they have to negotiate against seasoned professionals who negotiate leases every day for a living. Negotiating appropriate leasing terms is vital for a doctor as the amount of rent he pays will directly affect the practice’s financial bottom line.

Whether you are leasing a new location for the first time or negotiating a lease renewal for your practice, these are some money-saving tips for healthcare tenants: [Read more…]

Why Focusing on People and Data Might Be the Distraction Hackers Need to Infiltrate Big Business

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By Kim Del Fierro

We live in times when it’s become easier than ever for hackers to breach a healthcare organization through social engineering. Breaches are primarily caused by phishing attacks, representing a huge security problem for businesses.

But why is this type of cybercriminal so widely represented in the statistics? What is it that makes it so easy and so profitable for hackers? We might not like the answers. The ever-increasing connectivity and focus on people and data is leaving us vulnerable to malicious attacks. To protect your healthcare business, you need to start thinking like a hacker.

Let’s take a look at how they infiltrate big business and what can be done about it. [Read more…]

Help Along the Wealth Continuum for Health Care professionals

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By Casey Robinson, CFP®

Whether you are an entrepreneur, a corporate executive or a health care professional, there are likely similar stops along the growth path of the wealth continuum. Struggle and sacrifice in the early portion of the journey, followed by earnings growth and the new challenges of financial planning, and then a period of material success and evolving estate planning as one nears the end of the continuum. But for those in the health care field, there are some challenges unique to their industry. Chief among them are the commitment of time it takes to start earning the wages people associate with being a doctor, and the significant cost of the education it takes to get there.

People who wish to become doctors are often fueled by a desire to help others. As they advance in their careers, the assistance they will require to manage their finances will likely grow as well. [Read more…]

Learn How Shaeffer Consulting Group Drastically Improved PRMC’s In-Hospital Pharmacy

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The Shaeffer Consulting Group guides its clients to make strategic, intelligent decisions that will ultimately result in safe, clinically sound, and cost-effective solutions that are beneficial for their patients and organization.

In 2016, PRMC Home Scripts approached The Shaeffer Consulting Group about improving their ambulatory pharmacy operations. PRMC Home Scripts, part of the Peninsula Regional Medical Center (PRMC) in Salisbury, Maryland, is a first-fill pharmacy with two locations—onsite at the hospital and a retail location in Ocean Pines, a senior living facility. 

While the hospital-based PRMC Home Scripts pharmacy is designed for first fills only, PRMC Home Scripts Ocean Pines is a full-service community pharmacy. Patients who choose to stay with PRMC Home Scripts in the Ocean Pines, Berlin, Bishopville and lower Sussex County Delaware communities can continue to have their prescriptions filled there.

PRMC has 289 hospital beds and has been serving the healthcare needs of nearly 500,000 patients since 1897. It currently has about 3,300 physicians, staff and volunteers who provide safe, compassionate and affordable care.

PRMC Home Scripts has worked with Shaeffer Consulting previously on other projects and knew the results they could expect by working with them again. [Read more…]

Cancer Care’s Next Chapter Could Depend on RNA Interference

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By Geert Cauwenbergh, Dr.Med.Sc.

It’s no mystery why oncologists are eager for an improved array of therapeutic options. Certain important targets that are considered crucial to advance the state of care, such as RAS family members and various transcription factors, are considered so far “undruggable” using small molecules. At the same time, there is a growing recognition that in the era of personalized medicine, more flexible strategies are required to address the specific needs of individual cancer patients. As it turns out, one exciting area that could have the power and flexibility to address these challenges is immuno-oncology. RNA interference can be used to further improve immuno-oncology and expand approaches as well as to develop therapeutics for “undruggable” targets.   

One of the key benefits of immuno-oncology is the ability to modify a patient’s immune cells in ways that can make those cells more capable of fighting and killing cancer cells. In the laboratory, specific checkpoints on the surfaces of immune cells removed from the body can be modified, traditionally using antibodies, to sharpen their attack before being reinfused into the patient. But there’s a hitch: there are separate classes of checkpoints on cell surfaces, each of which can require modification. Multiple antibodies can be used simultaneously to modify these various checkpoint types, but this approach is not only costly and technically challenging but also harbors potentially harmful side effects. The ability to address different classes of checkpoints without putting the patients in harm’s way is one of the goals of oncology research today. [Read more…]

Let’s Be Real: How Much Does Cranberry Juice Really Help UTIs?

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One of the most common home remedies for a urinary tract infection is cranberry juice. Cranberries are filled with antioxidants and vitamins. Cranberry juice can be quite good for your health, in small doses, but it does have high amounts of sugar and is very acidic. It can bother your stomach. But can it prevent or cure a UTI?

Do Cranberries Prevent UTIs?

Cranberries are thought to prevent infections from forming because of an active ingredient A-type proanthocyanidins (PACs). Cranberry juice contains antioxidants that stop bacteria from sticking to your urinary tract wall. Although some women swear by cranberry juice, controlled research does not support the theories. It’s really unclear whether cranberry juice will prevent a UTI. [Read more…]

4 Ways EMS Billing Software Makes Ambulance Claims Processing More Efficient

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Inevitably, senior ambulance billers will (and should) influence EMS billing software decisions. EMS billers are constantly under fire when it comes to compliance, rejection/denial rates, and efficiency.

It’s not easy for EMS billers to manage all the demands of ambulance billing while still maintaining quality. In order to meet the high demands of ambulance billing, EMS billers need a software that works for them and not against them.

This post addresses what EMS billers need in an EMS billing software in order to make ambulance claims processing as efficient as possible.

Read more.

Filed Under: EMS

4 Effective Ways To Boost Your Confidence

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In everyday life, there are constant pressures and stresses that everyone goes through, and these can affect both your work and your life in general. It’s not just worrying about looking a certain way; it could relate to how you compare yourself to others in terms of success, financial stability, and relationships. It can be easy to let these feelings overcome you, but looking at ways to reduce negative thoughts and become a more positive person can help you reap the rewards of a happier and healthier lifestyle. There are several ways how you can gain a boost in confidence, so take a look at these four tips to help you each day.

Change your diet

The fuel you are putting into your body directly affects how you feel on the outside. Food often presents a comfort blanket for negative feelings, but this, in turn, piles on the pounds, and it can also cause significant health issues in the long-term. Diet and weight are two things that can be changed to help boost your self-esteem, and looking at ways to modify your lifestyle can be the catalyst for positive change. If you need a helping hand, there is a range of ways to get back on the right track; click here to find out how you could lose weight safely and effectively with a specialized program. [Read more…]