August 2022 Edition
REGISTER NOW FOR OUR UPCOMING WEBINAR
Achieving Success in Population Health Management with Integrated Care
Join us for this special FREE webinar on Thursday, September 8, 2:30pm – 3:30pm EDT to learn how integrated care supports population health management. Register here!
 
Behavioral health has a significant impact on population health organizations addressing the quadruple aims of reducing costs, improving population health, patient experience, and provider well-being. Every year, 1 in 5 American adults report experiencing a mental health disorder. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, that number has doubled, with 40% of Americans reportedly struggling with a mental health or substance use disorder. With behavioral health needs soaring, population health organizations have seen the impact both issues have on health outcomes and the total cost of care. This has led to an increased demand for innovative and evidence-based strategies.
 
This free webinar is organized by The Population Health Alliance and co-hosted by PHA member NeuroFlow. This special event follows the publication of an issue brief in May developed by the PHA Behavioral Health Taskforce. Our expert panel includes:
Matt Miclette, MPH, MS, RN
Head of Clinical Operations, NeuroFlow and Chair, PHA Behavioral Health Taskforce
Amanda Brooks, MSW, LCSW, CADC
Senior Integrated Care Consultant
NeuroFlow
Dawn Weimar, RN
Senior Regional Director
3M
Rose Maljanian
Chairman & CEO, HealthCAWS
PHA Chairman Emeritus
Have You Registered for PHA’s Expo 22 this FallOctober 25-26?
“Early Bird” Rates End on August 31
Excitement is building for our upcoming PHA Expo 22 this fall, with more expert speakers recently added to this in-person thought-leadership event line-up. PHA22 Expo 2022-Decision Maker’s Connect, will take place on October 25-26 at the Top of the Hill Conference Center in Washington, DC.

We’re proud to announce the latest expert presenters added to our two-day program:

As your only population health improvement professional and trade association, this distinctive event will focus on marketplace needs, spoken by the solution buyers themselves. The intimate environment will allow you to meet directly with PHA Board members, Hill staffers, and senior leadership colleagues that are your existing and future business partners.
 
The interactive sessions and networking opportunities include the following:

  • CMMI Priorities and Strategies
  • Medicaid - Population Health Needs Amidst Growing Challenges
  • Senior Health - Ramping Up Aging in Place Support
  • Employer Value-based Approaches to Benefit Design and Health Promotion
  • Advanced Analytics Across Market Segments
  • Public-Private Partnerships to Achieve Community Health
 
Across these market-focused sessions, topical issues such as chronic condition prevention and management, addressing the growing behavioral health crisis, and supports for SDOH and health equity, will also be addressed by multi-disciplinary industry-leading experts.

Don’t miss out, register today for this in-person event! Unable to travel? No worries, you may also participate virtually.
Take a Look at Our Expo 22 Speakers
PHA Member Workgroups Continue to Find Gaps and Outline Solutions to Improve Care
PHA recently launched three vital members-only focused topic workgroups to work with our members toward achieving a multi-stakeholder vision and solution:
  • Advancing Primary Care
  • Medicaid: Improving Continuity of Care, Access, and Health Equity
  • Integrated Behavioral Health
 
The Advancing Primary Care Workgroup is focused on solving fragmentation in care and support solutions to provide a better experience for consumers and their primary care providers while averting complications and optimizing health outcomes. Workgroup Chair, Doron Schneider, MD, MBA FACP, Vice President of Population Health and Clinical Strategy at Tandigm Health, has designed an extensive case study approach, refined with input from the group that will allow all PHA members to contribute to the comprehensive solution set based on their unique core strengths. PHA members, please provide feedback to the workgroup on the case study by August 19.
 
The new Medicaid Workgroup is focused on unifying all stakeholders to deliver innovative solutions for the nation’s most vulnerable individuals and will commence its first meeting in August. The group is led by PHA Board Member Bill Lucia, Principal of Bill Lucia Associates, LLC and former Chairman and CEO of HMS Holdings Corp, and Leesa Allen, Director of Sellers Dorsey, and former Executive Deputy Secretary for the Department of Human Services in Pennsylvania, as well as the Commonwealth’s Medicaid Director. The group will consist of PHA member companies that desire to impact policy, quality, and cost for companies and improve access, health outcomes, and mitigate social and health equity barriers to achieve optimal outcomes for Medicaid members.

The Integrated Behavioral Health Workgroup was formed because 
integrating behavioral health, medical, and social determinants of health care are vital to the success of Population Health Management. The workgroup recently released an issue brief, entitled “Achieving Success in Population Health Management with Integrated Care.” The webinar in September outlined above is based on this work. Register here.
 
Take advantage of the opportunity to network with like-minded accomplished peers from across the health care ecosystem!
If you are employed by a PHA member company and would like to participate in any one of these three workgroups, please email us at staff@populationhealthalliance.org. If you're not a member and would like to join the Population Health Alliance, click here to become a member or learn more. We look forward to working with you!

PHA MEMBER NEWS ROUND-UP
Take a look at some of the latest happenings from our PHA Members

DeliverHealth Launches its New Mobile Language Access Capability to Help Clinicians

DeliverHealth, a global provider of technology-enabled solutions for hospitals, health systems, and group practices, announced the official unveiling of its Language Access workflow tool, designed to improve existing connections between physicians and limited English proficient (LEP) patients, enhance compliance and reimbursement, and boost both provider and patient satisfaction.
 
To help guide this launch and future product enhancements, DeliverHealth has entered a joint research initiative with the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, The Media and Innovation Lab, to further explore the role that novel technology has in creating more optimal health outcomes among LEP populations. Read full release.
Geisinger Marworth Treatment Center to Host Fun Run/Walk

Geisinger Marworth Treatment Center is hosting its 40th Anniversary Celebration of Recovery Fun Run/Walk on Sunday, Aug. 28, at the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail, Scranton Half Marathon Pavilion. This annual event, which has been held virtually the past two years, is back in person for the 5K run/1-mile walk. Race proceeds will benefit the Geisinger Marworth Therapeutic Activities Fund, which supports programs that help patients enjoy healthy leisure and gain sober social skills after discharge. Medals will be awarded for top runners in male and female age groups as well as a prize raffle. Read more here.
3M Upgrades Make Negative Pressure Wound Therapy with Instillation Easier for Clinicians to Initiate

3M Health Care's Medical Solutions Division has advanced the delivery of 3M™ Veraflo™ Therapy. A new 3M™ Veraflo™ Cleanse Choice Complete™ Dressing Kit and a software upgrade for the 3M™ V.A.C.® Ulta Therapy Unit was introduced at no increased cost to the customer. These new offerings help simplify the care delivery processes for clinicians using Veraflo Therapy (negative pressure wound therapy with instillation) and help make dressing changes easier, faster, and less painful for their patients as compared to previous Veraflo Therapy dressings. Read full release.
Bayer Consumer Health Leaders Propose New Principles for Science-Led Self-Care

Bayer has published a new paper, Science-Led Self-Care: Principles for Best Practice, that sets out five key Principles that should underpin all self-care products improving personal health and wellness. The paper is intended to spark a conversation within the industry and its key stakeholders around the need to promote science-led self-care for the benefit of consumers. Read full announcement.
Staff Spotlight: Q&A with Nancy Smith-Leslie, Director
 
Nancy Smith-Leslie is a seasoned health care executive with 20 years of experience in health care policy, programs, and operations. As a former Medicaid director, Nancy leverages her operational and management experience to provide strategic and technical advisory, relationship support, and management strategies to state Medicaid agencies, managed care organizations (MCOs), health care providers, and more. Nancy is a thought leader on managed care program innovation and payment reform with a proven track record for helping public and private entities expand their programs, services, and products and improve health outcomes. Read full Q&A.
Yogathon to Raise Awareness for Suicide Prevention and Funds to Benefit Mental Health Programs

Beginner and experienced yogis alike are welcome to receive the mental and physical health benefits of yoga at the 2nd annual Yogathon for Suicide Awareness & Prevention presented by Independent Health and Power Yoga Buffalo. This Yogathon will raise awareness of suicide prevention and funds to benefit mental health programs at Mental Health Advocates of WNY on Sunday, September 18 from 9 am – 1 pm (class from 10:30 am – 12:30 pm) at 500 Seneca St. in Buffalo. Read full post.
How Nursing Research Improves Patient Care and Recovery

Urinary incontinence — involuntary urine loss — is a common and often embarrassing problem that can impair a person’s quality of life. The lower urinary tract is controlled by complex neural mechanisms not only in the periphery but also in the central nervous system. Thus, patients with a wide variety of neurological diseases often also have lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), including those with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Read full post.
The Ben’s Original™ ‘Seat at the Table™ Fund’ Launches in the UK in Partnership with Be Inclusive Hospitality to Help Increase Diversity in the Food Industry 

Mars Food’s Ben’s Original™ brand launches a new scholarship program – the Seat at the Table™ Fund – in the U.K. to help support access to skills building and mentorship for Black hospitality workers so they can further their careers in the food industry.  
 
The Ben’s Original™ Seat at the Table™ fund – which was first established in the U.S. in 2020 – launches in the U.K. in partnership with Be Inclusive Hospitality. The program aims to advance diversity in the food industry by addressing racial inequality in access to opportunities. Together with education provider Leiths School of Food and Wine, the program will offer 15 funded places on selected courses offered by the famous culinary institution. Read full release.  
LYNPARZA® (olaparib) Approved in the EU as Adjuvant Treatment for Patients With Germline BRCA-Mutated, HER2-Negative High-Risk Early Breast Cancer
 
AstraZeneca and Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced that the European Commission (EC) has approved LYNPARZA as monotherapy or in combination with endocrine therapy for the adjuvant treatment of adult patients with germline BRCA1/2 mutations (gBRCAm), who have human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative high-risk early breast cancer previously treated with neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy. Read full release.
NeuroFlow Launches a Comprehensive Referral Network to Meet Demand for Behavioral Health Care
 
NeuroFlow, the market leader in behavioral health integration, has launched a referral network with a group of initial behavioral health service providers, teletherapy companies, and telepsychiatry organizations to expand access to care across the healthcare industry. The growing demand for behavioral health support has put a spotlight on the challenges of accessing proper levels of care – this partnership introduces a new standard for navigating the ecosystem. Read full release.
American College of Lifestyle Medicine’s Rapidly Growing Health Systems Council Reaches 65 Founding Members in First Year
 
More and more large health systems are interested in integrating lifestyle medicine into their organizations to enhance health and improve high-value care. The American College of Lifestyle Medicine's Health Systems Council, a collaborative learning community leading the transition to high-value care through the integration of evidence-based lifestyle medicine, celebrates its first anniversary with 65 founding members. Read full release.
Million Hearts® Hypertension Control Challenge Open Through Sept. 7
 
2022 Million Hearts® Hypertension Control Challenge Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is common and concerning—but controllable. Yet only about 1 in 4 adults living with hypertension have this condition well controlled.
The Hypertension Control Challenge, a key component of the Million Hearts® 2027 initiative, identifies and spotlights health care professionals, practices, and systems that have achieved nationally laudable hypertension control rates. Since 2012, Million Hearts® has recognized 133 Hypertension Control Champions and 8 Hypertension Control Exemplars, who together serve more than 15 million adults across 40 states. Read full announcement.
CareOregon Awards $79,867 Grant to Help Lutheran Community Services Northwest Deliver Culturally Specific Mental Health Support to Ukrainian Refugees Impacted by Ongoing War
 
Since March, millions of Ukrainians have been displaced from their country due to the Russian war on Ukraine, some of whom have sought refuge in Oregon. Ukrainian asylees and refugees continue to deal with intense levels of trauma, stress, and lack of resources and are increasingly in need of culturally specific and trauma-informed mental health care. CareOregon has provided Lutheran Community Services Northwest with a $79,867 grant to help make more culturally specific mental health resources available to newly arriving and already resettled Ukrainian refugees in our region. Read full release.
The Benefits of Seasonal Produce

In today’s supermarket, it’s normal to see the same produce available year-round. However, that doesn’t mean the quality always remains the same. Eating seasonally means you are simply taking advantage of the harvest schedule and enjoying fully mature produce at the peak of its growing season. Seasonal eating can also help encourage you to eat more fruits and vegetables daily. Read full blog.
Tandigm Health Expands Patient Base to Include Medicare Advantage PPO Members

Tandigm Health (“Tandigm”), a leading population health services organization, today announced a new expansion of its patient base. Tandigm will now empower its network of primary care physicians and specialists to deliver value-based care to Medicare Advantage preferred provider organization (PPO) members, specifically those with Independence Blue Cross (“Independence”) Personal Choice 65 PPO plans, further extending its reach into population health management for PPO populations. Read full release.
The Iconic Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Travels Throughout U.S. to Film New Series “Mutual of Omaha’s the Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild”

Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom is back in action and traveling across the U.S. this summer to film a brand new television series, “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild.” The series, which will debut in January 2023 on RFD-TV and digital channels, will showcase conservation success stories, aiming to inspire the next generation of conservationists. Read full release.
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