Hello Colleagues:
It’s that time of year again – kids are heading back to school and soon winter will be knocking at our doors. For our pediatricians, that means most of their patients’ immunization records are up to date by now, but many of you may still be getting urgent last-minute requests coming in for sports clearances.
You may have limited time during an office visit, but as we all know, prevention is the key to good health. Use the opportunity to address:
- Immunizations
- Screenings
- Healthy habits
More than ever, immunizations will be an important area of discussion and medical guidance: COVID-19, Influenza, and Pneumococcal immunizations, to mention a few of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recommendations.
If you need to guide those who are hesitant about getting immunized, words matter. For insights in speaking about COVID-19 and other vaccines, see the White Paper we published in April.
Screenings & Healthy Habits
Screenings are critical tools for health care professionals. They help guide our medical decisions and help us put our patients on the right path. Next month, for example, is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Encourage your patients to get their mammograms. Suggest they take part in one of the many fundraising walks as a way to get them moving. Maybe start your own team and invite them to participate. The exercise is good for their bodies, and helping others can help with depression. Getting out is good for you, too!
Preventive care is not limited to physical health. Be sure to screen for mental health issues and refer EmblemHealth patients and ConnectiCare patients to their respective behavioral health programs should you uncover an issue. You may want to take advantage of these October observances (and the resource materials offered on each of these sites) as ways to raise the need for, and importance of, screenings.
Oct. 2 – 8: Mental Illness Awareness Week
Oct. 7: National Depression Screening Day
Oct. 10: World Mental Health Day
You can also take advantage of these resources we have available to you and your patients:
Behavioral Health Clinical Practice Guidelines
EmblemHealth’s Clinical Corner – Behavioral Health
EmblemHealth’s Live Well Member Page for Mental Health
ConnectiCare’s Live Well Member Page for Mental Health
Even after a diagnosis is made, preventive care can help keep a bad situation from getting worse. There are just four months left to meet quality measures and submit SOAP notes for risk adjustment. Plan your practice’s time wisely. Proactively bring members in for needed care. Don’t get caught at the end of December with members not seen and holiday schedules preventing them from coming in for a needed visit.
One area where preventive care can have a great impact is with diabetes since its management requires support, motivation, and medication adherence. If you have patients that may need additional support, we at EmblemHealth and ConnectiCare are available.
Next time, we will share ways we can help you and your members with diabetes. If there are other health topics you would like our perspectives on, please write to us at EmblemHealthMedicalDirectors@emblemhealth.com.
While we welcome your suggestions, and ask that you do not send protected health information or patient-specific issues to this mailbox. This mailbox should not be used for Complaints, Grievances, Appeals, or Claims Inquiries. The Claim Inquiry and Message Center features in the Provider Portals (EmblemHealth/ConnectiCare) should be used for those issues.
