Monthly Archives: July 2024

Medical Alert Systems and In Home Care Can Combat Rising Healthcare Costs

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A medical alert system can bring children of aging parents the peace of mind of knowing that their parents, who may live alone, can reach help if they experience a fall or other accident. The most common reason for purchasing a medical alert is wanting to make sure that an elderly loved one who is generally able to live independently is able to reach help when they need it. But can this tool for independent living also be a weapon in the fight against rising healthcare costs in the United States?

The population of the United States includes 39 million individuals over the age of 65 as of 2008, and by the year 2030, this number is expected to skyrocket to 72 million, as “Baby Boomers” reach the age of 65.

So, the aging population is growing. The individuals of the “baby boom” generation are reaching senior age, causing the senior population to increase dramatically. Not only that, but healthcare advances have allowed people to live longer; there are many more people reaching their 80s, 90s and even past 100. Those who reach these ages are, on average, suffering a large number of physical ailments and as a consequence, they consistently incur high medical expenses.

More seniors, fighting more physical ailments means a higher healthcare cost amongst our increasingly senior population. In fact, by the year 2030, health care for seniors is predicted to account for 25% of all the nations health care expenditures.

This is where a medical alert system can help. The price of equipment rental and monitoring can be less than $1 per day; a long hospital stay costs much more than that. The longer a senior waits to receive help after a fall, the more complications they will experience.

If a senior citizen falls, and is unable to summon help within the first hour, they are extremely likely to lose their independence, and most in this situation are ultimately placed in nursing homes.

With a medical alert system, an individual can get quick help, which often eliminates the need for a lengthy hospital stay, and prevents seniors from experiencing complications from their fall that land them permanently in a nursing home or care facility.

In conjunction with in-home care provided either by a professional service or a member of the seniors family, a medical alert system can keep an elderly individual out of a hospital, out of a nursing home, and can extend the amount of time in which he or she can live at home safely.

The average cost of nursing homes can top an average pricetag of $83,585/year, or $229/day. A medical alert system rental and monthly monitoring service costs less than $1/day.

While the rapidly rising population of seniors in the United States as well as recent changes to Medicare almost certainly guarantee a drastic spike in healthcare costs, this increase can be slowed. Preventative measures are the key to lowering healthcare costs in the United States, as it decreases the amount of costly emergency care and the many expenditures that come when an individual is no longer able to live in their homes.

Medical Coding Jobs Key Characteristics That Determine Success

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Medical coding jobs have grown to be very popular recently. A lot of people correlate an occupation in medical coding with top-notch employment security. Indeed, for the reason that number of individuals wanting to obtain health-related services continues to increase, the need for medical professionals like medical coders moreover expectedly improved. Before trying to train for medical coding jobs though, one needs to remember that not every individuals inherently have what is needed to achieve this kind of career. On this page, three key traits typical among those who stand out as medical coders are outlined.

Whenever a number of people think about medical coding jobs, they promptly think that those who are in this type of occupation are directly tasked to ensure patient health, just like any other healthcare professional. Even though this is true to an extent, people must never neglect the undeniable fact that the tasks achieved by medical coders are generally computer-related. Despite the fact that medical coders are anticipated to have a sufficient grasp of health concerns, their most important role inside the healthcare process is placed upon the call to adequately code and review in-patient data. Definitely, people who are noticed in medical coding jobs have got excellent computer expertise.

Other than having top-notch computer skills, those viewed as among the finest medical coders possess another essential attribute: outstanding communication skills. Basically, those seeking to pursue medical coding jobs should accomplish excellent vocabulary and grammar competence. Even though many don’t understand, those in the medical coding profession really need to communicate with others on a daily basis. For one, medical coders, especially those yet to progress into higher expertise levels, need to team up with fellow coders. Furthermore, medical coders are tasked to provide physicians and insurance agencies with accurate yet easy-to-understand specifics of patients.

A common need for reaching specialized success, endurance is also of good significance in achieving the top of one’s medical coding profession. Even though medical coding jobs are desired due to stability, medical coders that are only commencing their occupations do not really appreciate substantial income. Seeing that evolving through a variety of proficiency quantities demands a lot of experience, and also obtaining various credentials, only a few have the ability to achieve top-level medical coding jobs. Nevertheless, by being persistent enough and exhibiting full dedication towards the occupation, you should be able to succeed via medical coder ranks, and ultimately achieve a top-tier wage.

Although many primarily consider lessons to become medical coders, aspiring to eventually obtain the ideal medical coding jobs, just a few are able to score well in the career, let alone get to the medical coding career’s optimum. While would-be medical coders who possess excellent computer skills, excellent communication skills, and great persistence obviously have an aggressive edge, people who truly desire to go into the medical coding career still has an opportunity to succeed. Provided that one remains prepared enough to find out as often as possible and eager enough to improve one’s self naturally on a daily basis, attaining top-level medical coding jobs one day shouldn’t be an impossibility.

Medical Identity Theft – One of the Fastest Growing Crimes

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From keeping up with the latest technologies to providing top-notch patient care, there’s no doubt that healthcare industry professionals have a lot on their plate these days. But, would you imagine that one of their major concerns has nothing to do directly with patient care? Healthcare practices are spending large amounts of time and money keeping their practices compliant with the latest HIPAA regulations, and working hard to prevent a new trend in crime – medical identity theft. While it may not be making mainstream headlines, according to Javelin Strategy and Research, fraud resulting from exposure of health data has increased 112% year over year, from 3% in 2008 to 7% in 2009. To put this stat in perspective, medical identity theft is regarded as the fastest growing form of identity theft in America today and it is estimated that each year 250,000 to 500,000 people become victims of medical identity theft. Just like identity theft, medical identity theft is the act of stealing medical records or medical information of a patient. Both the medical facility and the patient suffer great losses once they are victimized by this type of crime. Imagine this scenario – when you check your mail one day, you find a giant bill from a hospital emergency room, yet you haven’t been to the doctor for anything other than a routine visit in years. So where did this five-figure bill with your name on it come from? The answer -someone stole your information and used it to obtain medical treatment and/or prescription drugs. Unfortunately, medical theft is a growing epidemic and is largely attributable to the large volume of paperwork medical providers are required to keep, in order to maintain 100% HIPAA compliance. Instances of medical identity theft are commonly reported when:

* Patients’ records are accidentally faxed or mailed to the wrong person * Medical records are stolen and misused after being disposed of improperly * Laptops containing confidential information or medical records are lost or stolen * Medical files left unattended in file rooms, on staff desks and in door folders; or unrestricted physical access to sensitive medical files.

While these security breaches might sound relatively innocuous, they are a huge concern. Not only does the medical facility face damage to their reputation and restitution fees, but also HIPAA has enacted legislation over the last year that makes such breaches very expensive – and on a punitive scale. Even worse, the victim may not realize the crime has occurred immediately due to lags in billing cycles so the theft is larger and potentially more costly. As if these scenarios aren’t nightmarish enough, add the fact that someone’s medical records could be tampered with, leading to improper medical care or misdiagnosis. With these costs to both victims and facilities in mind, preventing medical identity theft must be a high priority for medical facilities. It’s especially critical for smaller practices to take precautionary measures because they may have fewer internal protocols to protect patients…and shallower pockets to weather such an event. Ways to reduce medical identity theft include: