For more than 40 years, case management techniques have proven effective at meeting health plan members’ complex behavioral health needs. Still, today, when it comes to case management services, individuals coming out of correctional facilities remain underserved. Many community-based health plans fail to recognize that these individuals require at least the same intensity of case management services they would need as someone who is discharged from a psychiatric hospital or detox facility.
Developing mission, vision, and values statements are how an organization declares "who we are, what we're about, and how we're going to accomplish our goals together." These are intended to be living documents that guide not only long-term planning but daily actions and decision making. Creating these statements is an essential step of strategic planning—but only the first step in how an organization sets its destination and achieves its goals.
Prior authorization (PA) is a utilization management tool used to support safe, appropriate, and cost-effective use of medications. Because of extreme high volume, PAs are not always resubmitted for recertification before an authorization expires. The result may increase the risk of treatment delays and reduced medication adherence, which may compromise patient outcomes and increase medical costs. To solve for this issue, Commonwealth Medicine’s Clinical Pharmacy Services established a PA recertification program that uses proactive communication to coordinate care and ensure that patients always have access to necessary pharmaceutical therapies.
With COVID-19, keeping customers connected to your organization is more critical and more challenging than ever—especially in health care. The time of the customer contact centers has arrived, and there is every indication it is here to stay.
In this time of disruption and economic stress brought on by COVID-19, keeping families safe, healthy, and intact is more important than ever. Catherine Geary, MPH, senior policy analyst, Health Law and Policy discusses the benefits of family-oriented healthcare and therapy in improving a family’s communication and relationships.
Imagine you were learning how to use a parachute, but your instructor spoke a different language. Lisa Morris, Director of Cross Cultural Initiatives at the Massachusetts Area Health Education Center, discusses the importance of medical interpreters during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Pharmaceutical breakthroughs offer the promise of life-changing treatment for many patients. When payers evaluate how to add new drugs to their formularies, they must have clear insight into how many of their members are likely to benefit and at what cost. Commonwealth Medicine clinical pharmacists provide expert curation of pipeline intelligence, clinical trial analysis, and claims-based data analytics to predict the impact of new drug treatments on specific populations.
At the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Commonwealth Medicine’s child and family policy expert partnered with the Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate on an ambitious outreach and communications plan to promote tools and resources for families living with, or threatened by, domestic violence and child abuse while isolated from schools, extended family, and community activities.
Forced to embrace a new remote setting, educators in the pharmacy field are looking for new ways to give students real-world work experience. ComMed pharmacy experts have risen to the challenge by providing a virtual, population health-based, managed care experience for three PharmD students.
For many professionals, the shift from working in an office to working mainly from home can present a number of new challenges. Commonwealth Medicine Senior Director for Process Improvement Nicolas Comeau shares best practices for creating an at-home work environment that supports productivity and efficiency.