The ilumed Blog

Read Time: 4 minutes Our healthcare system is sick. Patients suffer from chronic diseases that burden their quality of life, challenge providers’ impact and raise costs. Three of the most common chronic diseases for Medicare beneficiaries—heart disease, diabetes and arthritis—are also the most expensive for payers. Our reactive rather than proactive approach to healthcare in America further exacerbates these… Continue reading Why this simple change could revolutionize primary care for the better

Read Time: 3 minutes You already know that eating good food can help you feel your best, but you might not know just how important good nutrition is to your overall health. Poor diets have been linked to health risks such as Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and even certain types of cancer.[1] It’s essential to give your body… Continue reading Stay Healthy and Save Money with These Four Grocery-Shopping Tips

Read Time: 3 minutes “Age is nothing but a number.” “You’re only as old as you feel.” “Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional.” Chances are, you’ve heard at least one of these sayings before, but did you ever stop and think that there just might be some truth behind them? In our age-obsessed culture, it can… Continue reading Forever Young: How a Positive Outlook on Aging Can Benefit You

Read Time: 2 minutes Want a Good Life? Improve Your Healthspan. Health plays a huge role in how much we enjoy our lives. We often measure someone’s life by how long they live, but their healthspan is a better measurement of their quality of life. What is healthspan? When we talk about someone’s life, we usually talk about their… Continue reading Discover the five healthy habits that can improve your healthspan.

Read Time: 3 minutes Healthcare is a team sport. It takes a group of people working together to make positive change. That’s the intention behind the new ACO REACH model, an effort to promote innovative healthcare delivery to underserved Medicare communities. At ilumed, we’re proud to be one of the few select organizations chosen to participate in this new… Continue reading How this patient advocate helps ilumed boost health equity

Read Time: 2 minutes You may know the basic health tips—get plenty of sleep, eat well, exercise regularly—but did you know friends are just as important? It’s true, the quality of your social life and relationships can play a big part in your health. While we’re reminded to maintain our physical health, we rarely do check-ups on our social… Continue reading How Social Connection Can Improve Your Health

Read Time: 3 minutes We’ve all been there: one month into the new year and the resolutions we made to get and stay healthy have fallen by the wayside. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. A whopping 91% of New Year’s resolutions fail. This year, strive to be the 9%. But how can we make our health goals… Continue reading It’s not too late: Stick to your 2023 health goals with these tips

Read Time: 3 minutes Your heart plays a key role in your health. It’s your body’s hardest-working muscle and will beat more than three billion times in your lifetime. We’ll help you understand why your heart health is so important to your overall health, risk factors and how your ACO REACH provider can help you live heart-healthy. Let’s dive… Continue reading What You Need to Know About Your Heart Health

Read Time: 6 minutes By: Debbie Finnel, Chief Operating Officer The Direct Contracting Entity model first came under fire in early 2022. Since then, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has decided to replace the DCE model with the ACO REACH model beginning January 1, 2023. The new ACO REACH model fosters health equity, puts providers in… Continue reading ACO REACH Myth Busters

Read Time: 4 minutes By: Stephanie Higginbotham, Senior Vice President of Clinical Services Most healthcare providers get into the profession because they have a calling to help. That’s a big part of my story as a registered nurse, but it’s not the full story. When I decided to go back to school, I was married with a family and… Continue reading How ilumed’s Population-Health Approach Can Heal Healthcare

Read Time: 4 minutes By: Bill Lane, Executive Vice President of Network Development and Global Risk Contracting For more than a decade, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has tested and refined alternative-payment models in Medicare. CMS continually strives to improve these models to achieve better health outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries and reduce healthcare cost expenditures while… Continue reading Why ACO REACH is the best alternative-payment model in Medicare

Read Time: 5 minutes By: Philip Middleton, Vice President of Social Determinants of Health It’s no secret that inflation has been rough for all of us, but it’s hit those on low and fixed incomes the hardest. As prices rise for food, housing, energy and more, the most vulnerable are forced to make dangerous tradeoffs that negatively impact their… Continue reading Inflation Takes a Toll on Social Determinants of Health.

Read Time: 3 minutes By Jorge Rodriguez, Chief Information Officer As healthcare continues to evolve, so does the role technology plays in helping providers make the best decisions for their patients. A big part of healthcare technology is delivering as much patient data to a provider as possible. BrainStream is the next step in the evolution of electronic medical… Continue reading The Next Step in the Evolution of Health Technology

Read Time: 4 minutes What inspired you to pursue a career in healthcare in the first place? For many providers, helping people be healthier is what ignited their passion and drives them to this day. If you feel this way, congratulations—you already have what it takes to succeed as a provider in the DCE model. However, that doesn’t mean… Continue reading What Does it Take for a Provider to Succeed in the Direct-Contracting-Entity Model?

Read Time: 3 minutes By Frank Richter, Chief Financial Officer The future of healthcare is all about data. Insights from patient data analytics used in Direct Contracting Entity (DCE) , soon to be ACO REACH, care models can not only be used to pinpoint issues that may currently be causing a patient to experience hardships but also help providers… Continue reading The Nitty Gritty on Patient Data Analytics

Read Time: 4 minutes How can providers support patients between appointments? We’re not telling you anything you don’t already know, but what happens to your patients outside the exam room is just as important as what happens inside it. Each day, you see firsthand how loneliness and isolation can negatively impact your patients’ physical and mental health. You encounter… Continue reading Is Healing Medicare the Key to Health Equity?

Read Time: 3 minutes By Brent Hood, Chief Operating Officer A changing healthcare landscape demands a new operational model. Ilumed can help your practice prep for the future. Healthcare delivery for Medicare beneficiaries is at a crossroads. The traditional fee-for-service model burdens beneficiaries with navigating a complex system and increasingly complex health needs. The Medicare Advantage model puts process… Continue reading How ilumed Helps Transform Provider Practices for the Better

Read Time: 6 minutes Healing the Whole Person: How Direct Contracting Entities Can Boost Your Practice You know your patients. You strive to give them the best care possible. However, the current fragmented nature of the healthcare system often works against you rather than for you. It needs innovation. Enter ilumed. We create simple solutions for a complex industry… Continue reading Healing the Whole Person: How Direct Contracting Entities Can Boost Your Practice

Read Time: 4 minutes By Debbie Finnel, Chief Executive Officer The current Medicare healthcare system is broken. It incentivizes the wrong actions. It benefits those looking to make a profit while it bulldozes over the people it purports to care for. The current system does not benefit taxpayers, beneficiaries, or healthcare providers. Some say fee-for-service (FFS) care is the… Continue reading What People Get Wrong About Healing Medicare

Read Time: 4 minutes By Dr. David Priscal, Chief Medical Officer We’re at a crossroads in Medicare. Physicians and nurses are burnt out. Patients are sicker. Costs have skyrocketed. But there’s hope. We can heal Medicare with innovation. Let me explain how. Strategy #1: Re-establish the primacy of primary care The U.S. has one of the finest emergency systems… Continue reading Six Strategies for Healing Medicare from a Doctor Who Knows the System Inside and Out

Read Time: 4 minutes On our weekly Monday morning team call someone mentioned going on vacation when someone else jokingly said “it must be nice to have time to get away”.  As a new DCE it feels like we are creating everything from scratch, so time is indeed precious, yet we all need to get away to recharge so… Continue reading 5 time-management tactics to help you enjoy more of your summer

Read Time: 5 minutes When contracting with a healthcare provider, one of the keys to success is building a credible relationship with the provider and their team.  Many organizations will have a provider support representative, or a Provider Rep, assigned to manage the participating provider’s account.  This individual will build and nourish the relationship with the provider over time. … Continue reading Participating Providers and the Direct Contracting Entity: Building and Nourishing Relationships

Read Time: 2 minutes By: Debbie Finnel, Chief Executive Officer Why is knowing your patient’s learning style so important?  Think about your own learning victories and learning struggles.  Are you a visual learner or maybe your someone who can translate verbal instructions into understanding?  For me I’ve always learned quicker when I had visual aids.  I was recently at… Continue reading Knowing Your Patient’s Learning Style