Carle Health is once again hosting several community influenza (flu) vaccine clinics beginning Oct. 2 through Nov. 1 at various locations throughout the system.
The Danville clinic will be Oct. 7 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Carle at The Riverfront, 516 W. Madison St.
Community members can stay up to date on their vaccine by visiting a drive-thru or by scheduling an appointment.
These clinics are a popular option for those seeking a convenient way to get their annual shot. Patients can also receive their flu shot at most local pharmacies and public health departments. Carle Health officials encourage patients to receive their influenza vaccinations in October before it can spread in throughout the community.
Even those who received a flu shot last year should be sure to complete their vaccination with the updated formula to best protect against the current flu strains. Flu viruses change from year to year, and every flu season is different. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends flu vaccines for persons age 6 months and older because the flu can cause life-threatening complications for infants, older adults, pregnant people and those with chronic conditions.
“Every year, flu vaccination prevents illness, medical visits, hospitalizations and deaths,” said Sally Salmons, MD, associate chief medical officer, Ambulatory Care. “These clinics provide more convenient access to influenza vaccinations for our patients and their families. I strongly recommend that everyone vaccinate to protect their loved ones, themselves and their community.”
Nasal Flu Mist will not be available at any Carle Health location. The High dose vaccine will be available for patients 65 and older, or those who are immunocompromised. To streamline the experience for participants, flu clinics will not offer the COVID-19 vaccine. Patients should bring their current insurance card and ID to any clinic they attend. Carle encourages everyone to take extra precautions in the fall and winter months by increasing hand-washing and limiting contact with anyone displaying flu symptoms.
Eating disorders often start at a younger age, but they don’t solely affect this population. Recognizing this, virtual eating disorder support company Equip announced Tuesday that it is now treating adults as well as adolescents. The company also announced an investment from General Catalyst, which helped expand its platform to adults. The amount was not disclosed.
“There is a very pervasive, really dense stereotype that eating disorders only affect 15- to 25-year-old thin, White girls,” said Dr. Erin Parks, chief clinical officer and co-founder of Equip, in an interview. “That is true, it does affect them. But it is not only them.”
She added that because so few people have access to treatment, many older adults have had their eating disorder for a very long time and need support.
San Diego-based Equip, which was founded in 2019, previously focused on those ages 6 to 24. The startup is now expanding to serve people of all ages. The virtual company operates in all 50 states and is in-network with several insurance companies, including Aetna, Elevance, Optum, Cigna and UnitedHealthcare. It connects patients with a care team that includes a therapist, dietitian, physician and peer and family mentor.
Different ages require different kinds of treatment, according to Parks. With its younger patients, the company uses family-based treatment, in which the family is brought in to help care for the patient. For adults, the company is using a method called enhanced cognitive behavioral therapy, which is a highly individualized treatment that addresses thoughts, feelings and behaviors affecting the patient’s eating disorder.
Parks said that when it comes to adults, individual treatment is often the best way to go because they may not have a support group. Sometimes when adults have been sick for a long time, they’ve “pushed away” a lot of their family and peers, or they may be too busy with work to build that support group.
There are other virtual solutions for eating disorders as well, including Arise and Within. Arise offers coaching with a care advocate who has lived experience with an eating disorder, therapy, nutrition counseling, group support and psychiatry. Within provides access to a care team that includes dietitians, therapists, nurses and peers.
The expansion to adults was powered by a recent investment by General Catalyst. In total, Equip has raised more than $75 million. With the funding, the company brought on a new president, Nikia Bergan. It also updated its technology and trained its providers in treating adults. In addition, it’s planning to use the funding to gain more Medicaid contracts, Parks said.
Equip considers itself an alternative to brick-and-mortar eating disorder treatments, which often require patients to stay at the treatment facility for a certain period. Parks said the benefit of a virtual program is that patients can be treated as they live their normal lives.
“[If you take] someone out of their life and give them a bunch of skills, then all of the sudden they plop back into their life and have all these triggers that they aren’t equipped to deal with,” Parks argued. “One of the great things about getting treatment while still being able to go to school, still being able to go to your job, still being able to parent your kids, is that you get to work with your providers on your real-life triggers as they come up.”
Parks is likely looking to replicate the positive results it claims to have achieved in the adolescent population in this new, adult population. In its annual outcomes report published earlier this year, the company cited that 81% of its adolescent patients reached or maintained their target weight within one year.
Photo credit: Bohdan Skrypnyk, Getty Images
The commercial market has been slower to adopt value-based care than the public market, but there are ways to move the process along successfully, executives said Monday.
During a panel at the Oliver Wyman Health Innovation Summit 2023 held in Chicago, healthcare leaders discussed the challenges and opportunities in advancing value-based care in commercial health plans. The panelists were Mark Hansberry, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of HealthPartners; Ellen Kelsay, president and CEO of Business Group on Health; and Tiffany Albert, senior vice president of health plan business at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
Bloomington, Minnesota-based HealthPartners, which is an integrated healthcare organization serving more than 1.8 million members, has had some success with value-based care in the commercial space, Hansberry claimed. He shared five rules for scaling value-based care in the commercial market:
1. Payers and providers in a value-based arrangement need to have a shared understanding of what value is for patients, Hansberry said.
“You have to have a universal definition of what value means so that when clinicians look at you as a payer … they need to acknowledge that what you’re saying a clinical outcome is is actually a good clinical outcome, a good measure of performance,” he stated.
2. It’s important to ensure that the providers in the value-based arrangement are able to and willing to take the risk associated with value-based care.
“Most care systems weren’t built to actually manage risk,” Hansberry said. “That wasn’t their job. Their job was to take care of sick people. Now we’re asking them to do something else. How do you actually support those individuals on that journey?”
3. Payers need to support providers engaging in value-based care with “real-time, actionable data and consultation,” Hansberry said.
“It’s not just a data dump or a big Excel file that you pass over and you say good luck with it,” he stated. “Because, by the way, if they perform well in those value-based contracts, you do too as a payer. You want them to perform well. So you want to provide them with good, insightful, actionable data that’s risk-adjusted, that is connected to their practice — not just an amorphous health system — but to their practice so they can take action on those insights. But then you also want to supplement that with that consultation along the way.”
4. The incentives in the value-based contract must be aligned to “enable that [provider] to reap the benefits of the value that they’re creating for those members,” according to Hansberry.
5. Ultimately, a value-based contract comes down to trust between all the parties. But Hansberry noted that this is easier for HealthPartners as an integrated health system.
“We’re fortunate because we’re both a health plan and a care system,” he said.
He added that success in value-based care doesn’t happen overnight, which is partially why it’s difficult to scale.
“It takes time to build trust,” Hansberry stated.
Photo: atibodyphoto, Getty Images
DANVILLE — Approaching a year since its temporary closure, the Family Birthing Center at OSF HealthCare Sacred Heart Medical Center is almost ready to serve expectant mothers again.
Ned Hill, president of OSF Sacred Heart, said final preparations are being made.
“We’re still working on it,” Hill said of the reopening. “We have a couple final touches left to do and so we’re going here shortly, but not determined what date yet.”
The expected reopening is Friday, or by Sept. 6.
Hill said they are still working on making sure they have everything covered from the doctor to nurse practitioner, provider standpoints.
He said they’ve got things in place, but have a few t’s left to cross and i’s left to dot.
“When we know, they’ll know” Hill said about informing the public. “It will be before the (Sept.) 6th.”
There are no cesarean sections or deliveries scheduled yet.
OSF officials are excited to reopen the center.
“We’re super excited about it. There’s no doubt, never has been, nor is the future of, this community needs (obstetric) services. There’s lots of babies being born in the Danville, Vermilion County market. So, we’re very excited to have this service back up and going. It’s been a long time…,” Hill said.
He said obstetrics is a challenging service line to be in.
“We’re just happy it all came together to reopen the services here in Danville,” Hill said.
There will be a least four providers delivering babies again at the hospital.
“It will grow with the volume,” Hill said.
Before the hospital stopped birthing center operations last fall due to lack of staffing, it was seeing 400-450 births a year.
“We expect that to increase to 600, 700, 800 per year because those births are already happening, just not happening right now in Vermilion County,” Hill said.
“So, if we get to that number, it’ll be more than four,” he added about five, six or seven OB-GYNs (obstetrician-gynecologists) to handle the volume. “The volume is already here. It’s just a matter of do we have the capacities, the providers, the staff, the services to keep them, and now we do.”
OSF employees, community leaders and others gathered for a blessing and rededication of the birthing center on Wednesday.
“Our team is eager to resume a needed resource in the Vermilion County area,” Hill said. “We are committed to providing exceptional care and are so appreciative of the community’s patience as we worked hard to get the birthing center up and running again.”
Labor and delivery services at OSF Sacred Heart will resume in September. OSF is partnering with Carle and South Carolina-based Ob Hospitalist Group to bring dedicated obstetrics providers to OSF Sacred Heart, in addition to OSF mission partners staffing the unit. Patients also will notice cosmetic upgrades in the birthing center.
“It’s fulfilling to see all the pieces fall into place,” Hill said. “We are excited to reestablish our partnership with Carle to bring obstetrical services back to this wonderful community. Health care can be complicated. So, when health systems collaborate, it means a better experience for the entire community.”
Outpatient prenatal care, post-partum care, general women’s health and pediatric services have continued at OSF Sacred Heart and OSF Medical Group in Danville.
In addition, more digital tools now will be used in Danville to supplement in-person care. OSF will offer a hybrid model of in-person visits and digital tools for women who prefer to take advantage of some virtual offerings, whether to help busy patients with scheduling conflicts or transportation concerns. For example, OSF could offer a virtual visit for every other visit throughout a healthy pregnancy. OSF lactation experts also offer virtual lactation assistance to any woman, regardless of geographic location.
The birthing center closure that started in October 2022, due to the lack of obstetric providers in the area, affected about 30 expectant local mothers a month, according to OSF officials.
Lakeview College of Nursing (LCN) and OSF HealthCare Sacred Heart Medical Center (OSF) have created a new partnership that will establish a dedicated education unit at OSF Sacred Heart. A blessing ceremony of the dedicated education unit took place this week to mark the beginning of this new venture.
This partnership will provide Lakeview students with consistency in their clinical experiences and provide OSF with new opportunities for employees who have an interest in educating future nurses, according to nurse leaders from each entity.
Brittany Lawson, dean of nursing and an assistant professor at LCN, and Julie Welch, chief nursing officer at OSF Sacred Heart, are optimistic this will not only lead to better opportunities for students and staff members but be good for the community at large.
“We are excited to build this partnership that will enhance the experience that our students have on the clinical floor,” said Lawson. “This will allow for better alignment with our outcomes. Students will be receiving more individualized attention that will help them be successful while they are in our program and as they begin their nursing career.”
Welch said that OSF nurses who are partnered with the nursing students will receive specialized training so they will be able to enhance the student’s educational experience and grow in their own role as a professional nurse.
“Our hope is that this program will foster continuity of care and encourage new nursing graduates to choose to work at an OSF HealthCare facility,” said Welch. “We believe that once the students experience the caring atmosphere at OSF, they will want to pursue employment here and continue to work with some of our outstanding nurses. Ultimately, this could have a big impact on the local community as we recruit and retain some of the best nurses in the area.”
Lakeview College of Nursing offers a Bachelor of Science in nursing degree in Danville and Charleston, Illinois, and has focused entirely on nursing education in the Danville Area since 1894. OSF HealthCare Sacred Heart Medical Center is a 174-bed comprehensive health care facility serving Danville, Illinois. It was established in 1882 in a 14-room former hotel by the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart. The team of 436 Mission Partners provides state-of-the-art therapeutic, diagnostic, medical, surgical and support services to our patients and their families. OSF HealthCare is a Catholic, 15-hospital health system serving Illinois and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, driven by the Mission to serve with the greatest care and love.
Commercial insurers are charged two to three times more than what the same payer’s Medicare Advantage plans are charged for the same procedure in the same hospital, according to a study published Aug. 7 in Health Affairs.
Four things to know:
1. Using 2022 price information disclosed by hospitals, researchers studied the ratio of commercial-to-Medicare Advantage prices negotiated by the same payer, in the same hospital and for the same services. Most major insurers operate in both the commercial and Medicare Advantage markets.
2. The median commercial-to-Medicare Advantage price ratio in the same hospital varied, from 1.8 for surgery and medicine services to 2.2 for laboratory tests and emergency department visits and 2.4 for imaging services, according to the study.
3. Higher ratios were associated with health system-affiliated, nonprofit and teaching hospitals, as well as with large national payers.
4. The findings highlight the differences in financial incentives and regulatory policies in the commercial and Medicare Advantage markets. Because payers respond to differing incentives by obtaining different negotiated prices across markets, policy and practice efforts that alter incentives for insurers could lower commercial prices, according to researchers.
Click here for more details on the study.
Lakeview College of Nursing (LCN) announced that one of their faculty members, Eleni Key, MSN-Ed RN, has earned the distinction of one of the 40 Under 40 Emerging Nurse Leaders in Illinois for 2023 by the Illinois Nurses Foundation (INF).
Key was nominated by her fellow faculty members and peers at LCN, Rita Wallace and Katie King. They said she was an obvious fit for the award.
Wallace said that she has seen Key assist several newly hired faculty members. “She mentors and excels at making those around her want to be a better nurse, educator, student and person,” explained Wallace.
“She is the essence of a caring nurse,” said King. She added, “She cares for our students, our patient and our community.”
Key volunteers at her local public schools, helps with Special Olympics and assists on several committees at the hospital where she works. “She walks the mission we try to focus on each day by serving our fellow man,” according to King.
The INF website states, “The 40 Under 40 Emerging Nurse Leaders Award was established by the Illinois Nurse Foundation to highlight and celebrate young nurse leaders who are impacting health care and the nursing profession today and who undoubtedly shape the future of the profession.”
Key received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from LCN in 2015 and her master’s degree in nursing from Chamberlain University in 2018. She is currently an assistant professor at LCN, where she has been employed since 2018.
Key resides in Brocton, Ill., with her husband, Kohl, and their two children.
The Champaign-Urbana Elks 2497 in cooperation with the Illinois Elks Children’s Care Corporation will sponsor a free children’s orthopedic assessment clinic on Wednesday, Aug. 9 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.
The free clinic is by appointment only. To make an appointment call the Illinois Elks Children’s Care office at 1-800-272-0074 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. There are no charges for any services at this clinic.
The Elks will hold the clinic at the OSF Children’s Hospital of Illinois Multi-Specialty Clinic at OSF HealthCare Heart of Mary Medical Center, located at 1405 W. Park St., Suite 306, Urbana. Doctor James McKechnie will be the clinician.
No medical referral is necessary for the clinic but physicians are welcome to refer patients to the clinic for a specific reason or second opinion. School nurses are welcome to refer children and families to the clinic.
The Elks Organization has been working with physically challenged children since 1928 and this is one of the 15 clinic locations throughout Illinois. The clinic is an ideal time to have a child reviewed for bone and joint development. If your child has feet pointing inward or outward, complains of back, knee, leg, ankle pain or has a back curvature they can be seen at this clinic. There is no charge for any diagnostic services at this clinic. The Elks will provide financial assistance to the best of their ability for children needing further treatment or specialty equipment when the family lacks sufficient resources to do so. In the past, the Elks have purchased therapy services, corrective shoes, braces, wheelchairs and augmentative communication devices to help children overcome a variety of physical challenges.
Consultants have called on the Government to commit to €4 billion in funding for previously announced plans to improve public hospital capacity.
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) said the funding in Budget 2024 will be required for previously announced plans for 1,500 rapid-build acute hospital beds, six surgical hubs and four new elective hospitals.
[ Young people waiting to access mental health care at six-year high, IHCA warns ]
[ Waiting lists to grow if ‘brain drain’ of doctors leaving not halted, says IHCA ]
Along with an additional 700 hospital beds, the IHCA called for some 930 vacant consultant posts countrywide to be filled and the appointment of 2,000 additional consultants by 2030.
“The two key deficits of the Irish public health system are hospital beds and hospital consultant posts,” said IHCA president Prof Rob Landers while launching the pre-budget submission. “This is what the next budget should focus on, through credible and realistic funding.”
According to the consultants association, the Republic is below the EU average in terms of operating theatres, with 5.2 per 100,000 people against 10.3, and yet only 66 additional public long-stay beds opened since 2018.
The IHCA also reported that there are more than one million people — one-fifth of the country’s population — on some form of waiting list: 900,000 are on the NTPF waiting list, while a further 250,000 are waiting for essential diagnostic scans such as MRI, CT or ultrasound.
Compared to the pre-pandemic data, numbers on waiting lists have significantly worsened, as patients may have deferred their care back then and need assessment and treatment now.
In what the IHCA defines as a “vicious cycle”, these requests are often turned to emergency departments, resulting in further pressure on facilities and staff and in the cancellation of “thousands of hospital procedures every month”.
Emergency attendance in 2022 has increased by 10 per cent compared to 2019, while there was a fall of 1.3 per cent in inpatients, day cases and scopes, and an increase of 1.5 per cent in outpatient attendance.
[ Health service failing critically ill patients – IHCA ]
Speaking about the lack of staff, the IHCA said seven in 10 consultants here experienced burnout symptoms in the past 12 months, while hundreds of specialists chased better work and life conditions in the private sector or abroad.
“The private sector can alleviate pressure on the Government, but its capacity is way lower: with about 2,000 beds against 14,000, we’re talking about one-seventh,” said IHCA secretary general Martin Varley.
In its submission, the consultants association also stressed the importance of enhancing mental health services funding and quality, demanding allocation for mental health to increase from the current 5.7 per cent to at least 10 per cent of the next budget.
DANVILLE — Danville police are investigating three separate shootings between June 16 and June 17.
According to Deputy Police Chief Josh Webb, around 1:29 p.m. Friday, June 16, Danville police responded to the 1200 block of Garden Drive for a report of shots fired in the area.
Upon arrival, officers began investigating the scene when they learned that a victim had driven himself to the OSF Sacred Heart Medical Center emergency room. Officers responded to the emergency room and met with the victim who was identified as a 25-year old Danville man.
The victim stated he was in the parking lot in the 1200 block of Garden Drive when two men attempted to rob him at gunpoint. Webb said the victim sustained a non-life threatening gunshot wound to his wrist during the attempted robbery.
The suspects, who were last seen Friday running southbound from the area, were described as one Black male wearing dark-colored clothing and one Black male wearing dark pants and a multi-colored jacket.
Webb said around 4:24 p.m. Friday, police responded to the unit block of South State Street in reference to a report of a victim with a gunshot wound.
Upon arrival, officers located an 18-year old Danville man with a gunshot wound to his leg. The victim stated he was standing in the unit block of South State Street when an unknown Black male started shooting at him.
The victim said the suspect was wearing black pants and a blue shirt and left the scene on a bicycle. The victim was transported to an area hospital for treatment of his non-life threatening injury.
Around 7:53 p.m. Saturday, Webb said police responded to the 1000 block of Koehn Drive for a report of a man with a gunshot wound.
Upon arrival, officers located a 46-year old Danville man with a gunshot wound to his abdomen. The victim stated he was in his residence when two men entered his home and attempted to rob him.
The victim said during the robbery he was shot and the suspects fled the residence in an unknown direction. The suspects were described as two Black males wearing dark clothing.
The victim was transported to an area hospital for treatment of his injury and is currently listed in stable condition.
The investigation into these incidents continues and no other information is being released at this time.
Anyone who has information regarding these incidents are asked to call Danville Police Department at (217) 431-2250 or Vermilion County Crime Stoppers at (217) 446-TIPS.