Health disparity has impact on lives, families, finances
Oct 15, 2017 13:02:26 GMT
benson likes this
Post by ck4829 on Oct 15, 2017 13:02:26 GMT
Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States dies from a heart-related event. And black Americans experience 22 percent more heart disease deaths than whites, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This health disparity has a real impact on the lives, families and finances of black men and women across our country and right here at home in Mississippi.
I am motivated to address this disparity. That is one reason I am a board member of the Association of Black Cardiologists, which promotes the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease in minorities and works to eliminate health disparities and will be participating in ABC’s Spirit of the Heart events this weekend in Jackson.
It’s why I try to live our mission in my Jackson-based medical practice, where I counsel those who want to stop smoking, increase their physical activity and eat a nutritious diet. I also strive to help them regain control of high blood pressure and high LDL cholesterol.
And it’s why I am committed to helping my patients access the newest, most effective treatments to manage their risk factors. I encourage patients to adopt a healthy lifestyle as an important first step in their fight against heart disease. But, as a clinical researcher, I also recognize the value of pairing those efforts with advanced medicine. This isn’t always easy.
For example, there’s a promising new type of therapy called PCSK9 inhibitors that was approved by the FDA in 2015. These reduce the LDL, or bad, cholesterol in the blood. PCSK9 inhibitors can be life-changing for people who don’t respond well to traditional treatment or have certain genetic conditions.
Unfortunately, Mississippi patients are having a hard time accessing this therapy. One roadblock is a process called prior authorization. The process was designed by health plans to determine which procedures and medications they will pay for — it’s sometimes time consuming and cumbersome for physicians and nurse practitioners to complete. It can also cause treatment delays for patients.
Health plans use prior authorization for many treatments, but it is applied to new, more expensive therapies more often than to traditional, cheaper drugs. From August 2015 to July 2016, more than 50 percent of claims for PCSK9 inhibitors in Mississippi were denied by patients’ managed care organizations. These rejections led to more than 100 appeals for reconsideration.
Treatment decisions should be dictated by clinical need and based on conversations between doctors and patients. Heart health is too critical to be boiled down to just a matter of cost savings.
You can witness the value of personalized health care for yourself at the “Spirit of the Heart” health fair this Saturday. There will be health screenings with onsite results. You can talk to me or another physician on the spot if you have questions. This family-friendly event is a free opportunity to learn more about nutrition, fitness and even treatments that could save your life.
Remember, every second counts.
www.clarionledger.com/story/opinion/columnists/2017/10/13/health-disparity-has-impact-lives-families-finances/758840001/
I am motivated to address this disparity. That is one reason I am a board member of the Association of Black Cardiologists, which promotes the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease in minorities and works to eliminate health disparities and will be participating in ABC’s Spirit of the Heart events this weekend in Jackson.
It’s why I try to live our mission in my Jackson-based medical practice, where I counsel those who want to stop smoking, increase their physical activity and eat a nutritious diet. I also strive to help them regain control of high blood pressure and high LDL cholesterol.
And it’s why I am committed to helping my patients access the newest, most effective treatments to manage their risk factors. I encourage patients to adopt a healthy lifestyle as an important first step in their fight against heart disease. But, as a clinical researcher, I also recognize the value of pairing those efforts with advanced medicine. This isn’t always easy.
For example, there’s a promising new type of therapy called PCSK9 inhibitors that was approved by the FDA in 2015. These reduce the LDL, or bad, cholesterol in the blood. PCSK9 inhibitors can be life-changing for people who don’t respond well to traditional treatment or have certain genetic conditions.
Unfortunately, Mississippi patients are having a hard time accessing this therapy. One roadblock is a process called prior authorization. The process was designed by health plans to determine which procedures and medications they will pay for — it’s sometimes time consuming and cumbersome for physicians and nurse practitioners to complete. It can also cause treatment delays for patients.
Health plans use prior authorization for many treatments, but it is applied to new, more expensive therapies more often than to traditional, cheaper drugs. From August 2015 to July 2016, more than 50 percent of claims for PCSK9 inhibitors in Mississippi were denied by patients’ managed care organizations. These rejections led to more than 100 appeals for reconsideration.
Treatment decisions should be dictated by clinical need and based on conversations between doctors and patients. Heart health is too critical to be boiled down to just a matter of cost savings.
You can witness the value of personalized health care for yourself at the “Spirit of the Heart” health fair this Saturday. There will be health screenings with onsite results. You can talk to me or another physician on the spot if you have questions. This family-friendly event is a free opportunity to learn more about nutrition, fitness and even treatments that could save your life.
Remember, every second counts.
www.clarionledger.com/story/opinion/columnists/2017/10/13/health-disparity-has-impact-lives-families-finances/758840001/