Health-care reform must involve psychologists, medical providers, educate patients
While some members of Congress and others are trying to repeal the healthcare reform law that was passed in 2010, known as the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," medical providers have begun to implement requirements as the law slowly phases in over the next several years. For reform to be successful, one University of Missouri public health expert has determined that professional associations for psychologists and other medical providers need to be at the forefront of the planning stages, and that everyone, including providers and patients, will need to be educated on rights and responsibilities.
"We looked at psychology departments here in the United States and in other countries to determine what worked best when implementing the policies outlined in healthcare reform," said Nancy Cheak-Zamora, assistant professor of health science in the MU School of Health Professions. "Many providers, especially psychologists, work independently, but the new healthcare law is encouraging providers to develop a medical team approach, one that can tackle many different aspects of a disease."
The new law encourages providers to bundle payment methods, study best practices, and develop accountable care organizations (ACO), which are formal groups or institutions that include teams of general practitioners and specialists taking a team approach to patient care. ACOs will have a financial stake in the outcomes of their patients. These changes could force a major shift in health care providers' practices, including those in psychology and rehabilitation. Physicians and psychologists, and specifically rehabilitation psychologists, need to move away from the traditional model of considering mental and behavioral health care services as separate from medical care, Cheak-Zamora said.
Cheak-Zamora said that large professional organizations, such as the American Psychological Association, should take the lead to help form expectations and policies for the team approach. Simultaneously, new psychologists should be trained to work in a team with other medical providers. Benefits of a medical team include reduced unnecessary procedures, less paperwork, better coordination with other providers and specialists, and better monitoring of prescriptions to discourage abuse or unintended drug interaction.
In her analysis, which is being published as a chapter in The Oxford Handbook of Rehabilitation Psychology by Oxford University Press, Cheak-Zamora also found that patients and providers need to be educated about the current system, how to access care, how to get questions addressed, and how to get the quality care patients deserve.
"With the implementation of healthcare reform, many patients might have been uninsured or underinsured for so long that they no longer know how the system is supposed to benefit them," Cheak-Zamora said. "They need to know how to access insurance information and utilize the system effectively."
Additionally, medical staff will need to be trained to handle requests through the new system, and how to work with individuals that do not have experience with insurance.
"Healthcare reform is an outline of what the government wants. Policymakers are working to develop policies, so now is the time to air any concerns and help shape a policy that works for everyone," she said.
Provided by
University of Missouri-Columbia
-
Health policy expert says US can learn from Dutch universal healthcare coverage
Dec 06, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Increasing health care value improves health care quality
Sep 24, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Speaking the same language means better health care quality, study finds
Jan 20, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Accountable care at Academic Medical Centers: Lessons learned
Feb 02, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Urgent need to improve quality of outpatient care in public and private sector in poorer countries
Apr 12, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Motion perception revisited: High Phi effect challenges established motion perception assumptions
Apr 23, 2013 |
3 / 5 (2) |
2
-
Anything you can do I can do better: Neuromolecular foundations of the superiority illusion (Update)
Apr 02, 2013 |
4.5 / 5 (11) |
5
-
The visual system as economist: Neural resource allocation in visual adaptation
Mar 30, 2013 |
5 / 5 (2) |
9
-
Separate lives: Neuronal and organismal lifespans decoupled
Mar 27, 2013 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
0
-
Sizing things up: The evolutionary neurobiology of scale invariance
Feb 28, 2013 |
4.8 / 5 (10) |
14
-
Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras
Apr 15, 2011
- More from Physics Forums - Independent Research
More news stories
Economic incentives increase blood donation without negative consequences
Can economic incentives such as gift cards, T-shirts, and time off from work motivate members of the public to increase their donations of blood?
Health
43 minutes ago |
not rated yet |
0
|
Adult day services for dementia patients provide stress relief to family caregivers
Family caregivers of older adults with dementia are less stressed and their moods are improved on days when dementia patients receive adult day services (ADS), according to Penn State researchers.
Health
2 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Schools should provide opportunities for 60 minutes of daily physical activity to all students
Given the implications for the overall health, development, and academic success of children, schools should play a primary role in ensuring that all students have opportunities to engage in at least 60 minutes per day of ...
Health
2 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Survey reveals the success of personal budgets in social care
Over 70 per cent of people who hold a personal budget for social care said it led to greater independence and support according to the latest survey.
Health
5 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Scientists develop smartphone 'assistance agent' for older people
A new smartphone application, developed by scientists at the University of Ulster, which could help older people engage fully in an increasingly self-serve society, may be ready for use by the end of the ...
Health
6 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Researchers find common childhood asthma unconnected to allergens or inflammation
Little is known about why asthma develops, how it constricts the airway or why response to treatments varies between patients. Now, a team of researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College, Columbia University Medical Center ...
Scientists discover molecule triggers sensation of itch
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health report they have discovered in mouse studies that a small molecule released in the spinal cord triggers a process that is later experienced in the brain as the sensation of ...
Multiple research teams unable to confirm high-profile Alzheimer's study
Teams of highly respected Alzheimer's researchers failed to replicate what appeared to be breakthrough results for the treatment of this brain disease when they were published last year in the journal Science.
Brain uses internal 'average voice' prototype to identify who is talking
(Medical Xpress)—The human brain is able to identify individuals' voices by comparing them against an internal 'average voice' prototype, according to neuroscientists.
Drug reverses Alzheimer's disease deficits in mice, research confirms
An anti-cancer drug reverses memory deficits in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health researchers confirm in the journal Science.
Antibiotics: A new understanding of sulfonamide nervous system side effects
Since the discovery of Prontosil in 1932, sulfonamide antibiotics have been used to combat a wide spectrum of bacterial infections, from acne to chlamydia and pneumonia. However, their side effects can include serious neurological ...