Blessing Health System has implemented care coordination services to help residents navigate local healthcare services. This provides service navigation, chronic disease management and transitional care management. The new transitional care program aids patients at high risk for readmission to the hospital. Once a patient is identified as a high risk for readmission, a nurse care manager or caseworkers will arrange home visits and make telephone calls to address medication management, primary care provider appointment attendance and potential warning signs of a condition worsening.
The Jesus Clinic isn't the only affordable clinic in FL feeling the burden of an increased need for services. Faced with a sputtering economy, rising healthcare costs and shrinking Medicaid budgets, faith-based, tax-supported and privately-funded clinics and hospitals are being stretched to care for the uninsured, and that cost is often passed on to consumers. Four nights a week Dr. Bill Gilmer, a handful of medical professionals and volunteers donate their time to the clinic. It has an annual operating budget of $50,000 and donates more than $1.2 million worth of care to the community each year. Gilmer is raising funds for a larger clinic that includes additional patient rooms, a dental clinic and space for minor operations. He sees his clinic as a solution to lessening the financial burden for those who often slip through the cracks.
One year from the full implementation of federal health-insurance changes known as "Obamacare," the Petaluma Health Center in CA is gearing up for as many as 5,000 new patients in coming years. Last year the health center moved into a brand new 53,000-square-foot facility, recently hired five new healthcare providers, including two medical doctors, a psychologist and 2 physician assistants. The recent hires have "filled out" medical services currently being provided at the health center, said Kathie Powell, the health center's CEO.
What pushes a doctor to go this route, often called concierge medicine? And how hard is it to make a living? As to why doctors decide to switch to a concierge practice, the answer is almost always frustration. "About four years ago, one insurance company was driving me crazy saying I had to fax documents to show I had done a visit," said Stanford Owen, an internal medical doctor in Gulfport, Miss. "At 2 a.m., I woke up and said, 'This is it.'" Dr. Owen stopped accepting all insurance and now charges his 1,000 patients $38 a month. Dr. Owen, who once had three nurses and 10 examining rooms, said it was now just him and a receptionist. At the other end of the spectrum is David Edelson, who runs a practice with five doctors and a full fitness center.
The Obama administration proposed new rules that leave the Affordable Care Act largely unchanged. Some adjustments are made to address industry concerns, such as, how insurance companies will cover nearly all Americans, even if they are already ill, and provide plans with minimum benefits. Officials restated their commitment to move rapidly ahead, despite continued resistance from some Republican governors. The proposed new rules drew cautious praise from several leading industry representatives.
The Obama administration's healthcare law faces another challenge: a public largely unaware of major changes that will roll out in the coming months. Research suggests that most low-income Americans who will become eligible for subsidized insurance have no idea what is coming. Part of the problem, experts say, is that people who will be affected do not realize the urgency. Policy decisions are being made now that will affect tens of millions of Americans, and the lack of public awareness could jeopardize a system that depends on having many people involved. Low enrollment could lead to higher premiums, health policy experts say. Hospitals worry that, without widespread participation, they will continue getting stuck with patients' unpaid medical bills.