Abner Mason

As we know, social determinants such as poverty, transportation, and access to community resources play a critical role in shaping #healthoutcomes — 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦. 🚘 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞, 𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬. 📉 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐫𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝. By addressing financial barriers, providing affordable medication options, and building stronger community resources, we can ensure patients receive the support necessary to improve their overall well-being. Understanding these social factors is 𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍 to creating lasting, positive outcomes for the communities we serve. 🔹 𝘈𝘵 Archo Advocacy, 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤, 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵-𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴. #BridgeTheGap #PatientAdvocacy #RuralHealth #HealthcareInnovation #HealthEquity #SDOH #PatientOutcomes #PublicHealth

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Key trends and takeaways from HLTH 2024: 1. AI's Evolving Role: AI dominated discussions, with executives acknowledging its potential while also recognizing challenges in accuracy and clinician trust. There's a shift towards focusing on the practical applications of AI, with a call for partnerships to ensure reliable testing and implementation. 2. Infrastructure Focus: Beyond the glitzy AI tools, there's a growing emphasis on the "picks and shovels" needed for healthcare data accessibility, including infrastructure, compliance, and interoperability. Executives believe that improving data flow will facilitate the effective use of AI. 3. Middlemen Under Scrutiny: Pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) faced criticism for their role in rising drug costs, with discussions highlighting misaligned incentives and the need for transparency in healthcare pricing. 4. Women's Health Spotlight: Women's health initiatives gained attention, particularly following government funding announcements and personal stories shared by advocates. However, investment in women's health remains minimal compared to overall healthcare funding. 5. Interest in Psychedelic Medicine: The potential of psychedelics for treating mental health conditions garnered significant interest, with discussions about funding and research moving forward, especially within the Veterans Affairs system. Executive Takeaways: Leaders from various sectors emphasized the importance of consumer-focused strategies, collaboration, and the need for responsible AI usage. There was a consensus on the critical role of addressing healthcare accessibility, improving patient experiences, and fostering innovations that genuinely enhance care delivery.

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There is a strong link between community power and better health. A recent article in Health Affairs explores this topic and how we can reimagine public health advocacy: https://lnkd.in/daeFSA35 

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Urging Congress to include prevention in how states use behavioral health grants is a no brainer! Support Kelly Davis, Congressmembers August Pfluger and Kathy Castor, and Mental Health America in this fight for youth #healthequity. Why do we wait for kids to hurt themselves, overdose, or hear voices when by then potential lifelong effects of trauma on their brains (not to mention schooling, friendship, siblings/parents, and others) have set in? In some ways this is the legacy of both stigma - acting like those more sick aren't human beings so let's ignore prevention of THEIR illnesses - and of a behavioral health industrial complex in the US that's been largely centered around pharmaceuticals and government/PE-consolidated psychiatric facilities. We pay for pediatrics to prevent broken lives. Public health to prevent epidemics. Why not behavioral health prevention services to prevent horrible diseases clearly impacting all of our children and communities? #mentalhealthishealth. Let's get kids there by not acting like mental illness or addiction are forgone conclusions.

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A recent study published in The JAMA Network reveals strong support for the hospital-at-home care model among Americans across various demographics. Conducted by University of Southern California, the 1,233-person survey found that: ▶ 47.2% of patients found the idea of hospital-at-home acceptable ▶ 55.8% of patients believe recovery is faster at home ▶ 58.8% of patients would feel safe receiving care at home With this positive reception, the study’s authors recommend expanding hospital-at-home programs and extending CMS's Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver. https://lnkd.in/g2MMyaTJ. I #HospitalAtHome #RemotePatientMonitoring #CareAtHome #VirtualCare

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Effectively addressing social determinants of health (SDOH) and promoting health equity in communities requires an intentional focus on cross-sector partnership among public health, health care, and community-based organizations (CBOs). In the blog post, Unlock the potential of cross-sector SDOH partnerships with intentional collaboration, we'll describe structures that cross-sector partnerships can put in place to set themselves up for success. To read the entire blog post, please visit the Getting Further Faster website: https://ow.ly/nMKy50S9XFz

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Effectively addressing social determinants of health (SDOH) and promoting health equity in communities requires an intentional focus on cross-sector partnership among public health, health care, and community-based organizations (CBOs). In the blog post, Unlock the potential of cross-sector SDOH partnerships with intentional collaboration, we'll describe structures that cross-sector partnerships can put in place to set themselves up for success. To read the entire blog post, please visit the Getting Further Faster website: https://ow.ly/nMKy50S9XFz

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80% of clinical outcomes link to social factors - Social Determinants of Health (SDOH). Addressing these early impacts care use, costs, and quality outcomes. Yet, healthcare organizations face hurdles in capturing SDOH needs in an actionable way. As a healthcare provider aiming to tackle SDOH and resource referrals at scale, we've outlined key RFP questions for vendors. These questions enhance SDOH data collection, aligning with today's health equity needs. Key questions include: 🔍 Is the solution interoperable with existing systems like EHR or CRM? 🚀 Does it offer an intuitive interface and education for high member or patient engagement? 🌟 Can it provide personalized support and real-time human assistance? 💡 Does it offer a connected experience to relevant community resources? 📈 How does the vendor demonstrate success and client impact? Choosing a partner who ticks all these boxes sets your organization up for success and lasting benefits for consumers and stakeholders. Download now: https://lnkd.in/eMAeuCTb #HealthcareInnovation #DigitalHealth #RFPTemplate #SDOH #healthequity

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With $8.2B invested into digital health so far, 2024 is shaping up to be a $10-12B annualized investment year. This would make funding comparable to 2023. I suspect with continued venture investment, boards will require exits. One thing I’m particularly interested in is terms of recent acquisitions and growth equity rounds. What type of downside protection (e.g., structure) is not disclosed to media that protects the investor? Will funds who have specifically raised capital to buy stakes in VC-backed companies at significant discounts? And what revenue/EBITDA multiples are looking like for M&A in 2024/2025? Every founder has to spin their story in a positive light when speaking to media. I know this because PR agencies reach out to me about their clients (p.s. I don’t consider myself a member of the media). The private health tech market feels like it could significantly rip or drop in the next 12-24 months. Therefore, my general advice to early-stage founders is to assume you will not raise capital beyond your seed round. If the investor market heats up in 2025, you will have the option to raise a series A at that time if you’ve built a strong business. If you’ve already raised series c or beyond, then one of your goals will be to time the exit (M&A or IPO) appropriately so that you garner an attractive multiple. There are few private health tech startups that have founder board control, can reinvest positive cash flows, and stay private forever. So by necessity of the structure, exits are desired. - - - - Image Credit: Rock Health

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A while back I re-shared an article about the FFS and PMPM rates that would be needed to cover the costs of operating a community health worker (CHW) program by the Waymark research team. This article by the California Health Care Foundation describes how California's CHW program was developed and what they went through, including barriers (like merits of certification, CHW reimbursement rates). It also paints more context on the growing role (and need) of the CHW— a trained specialist with lived experience who helps patients in underserved communities navigate the health system and connect to social supports. The article highlights the key component best: "For generations, CHW/P/Rs have filled critical gaps in California’s health landscape and acted as liaisons between marginalized communities and mainstream systems. As trusted community representatives, they share cultural and linguistic backgrounds with their clients, many of whom are immigrants, people of color, and people with low incomes. And they provide accessible information and support in ways that resonate with their surrounding community." It would be pretty hard to replicate this connection and bridge with centralized care coordinators, discharge planners, customer service reps, etc., let alone AI, imho. As more closed loop referral systems are being implemented across city, county, state HIEs, and, systems, health plans, Medicaid agencies, etc., the increased effort on supporting whole-person care gives rise to more opportunity—and hopefully more funding pathways—for this kind of relevant, community-based work. Really great read by Robin Buller.

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I’ve been given advice that the fastest way to monetize HER Heard without charging the end user (woman) is trackers and selling data. Instead, I’d like to build something more trustworthy. I don’t want to be in a headline like this. If you are not paying, then you are the product (you/your data are being sold). There are newer ways to deindentify data or even to aggregate things women search for that can be of interest to various stakeholders. In theory that could be okay to sell, but in a post-Roe world with laws encouraging bounty hunting, I am vetting the choices ahead. I am all for moving fast, without breaking things.

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The Third Virtual National Health Care Transparency and No Surprises Act Summit ✅ April 16-19, 2024 Part 2 of 2 Aneesh Chopra shared how important it is for consumers to have access to health data, prices, and the resources necessary to understand quality. He also advocated for the standardization of Good Faith Estimates (GFEs) so a hip replacement, for example, would have the same bundled set of billing codes. Ahmed Marmoush, Susan Dentzer and many others shared that you can’t have price transparency without quality as the two must be taken into account in order to understand value. Justin Leader shared a heavy lift taking place in healthcare literacy and expanded on this by saying that consumerism can’t work for people who are unable to make an informed decision. Comments on the Machine Readable Files (MRFs) unearthed several challenges… Christopher Whaley and others talked about the health system Machine Readable Files (MRFs) being less complete, reliable and accurate than the posted MRFs from insurance companies. David Muhlestein in discussion with Niall Brennan shared how the machine readable price transparency files (MRFs) are riddled with ghost codes and other unusable data points. The pair shared the sentiment that price and quality aren’t correlated in healthcare. Kristyn Ulrich of CommonSpirit Health shared that the MRF framework doesn’t appreciate the complexity that occurs on the claim level which is how hospitals are paid. She wasn’t alone in expressing the difficulties that come with evolving and misaligned federal and state requirements. Finally, several people noted that the story is still missing on how all of these developments can turn into actionable impact to help patients at scale.   Additional people who I heard from and hope to continue the conversation with... Joseph Fifer, Francois de Brantes, Niki Panich MD, FCFP, Robert Tennant, Brian Cotter, Joel Ario, Ge Bai, Patricia Kelmar, Katherine Hempstead, Phil LeFevre, Cheryl Matochik, Lauryssa Humm, Peter Schultz, ASA, MAAA, Traci McGinnis, Julie Selesnick, Vanessa Candelora, Alice O'Carroll, POPM, Hemi Tewarson, Katie Martin, Mara McDermott, Doug Jacobs, MD, MPH, Matthew C., Amy Assenmacher, Stephanie Bird, Scott Roth, Howard Kraft, Melissa Speck, Erin Richter Weber, Melanie Wilson, Jamie Cleverley, Vance Ginn, Jeff Wu, continued in comments below.

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💡 Health care organizations can take steps to address challenges in care delivery with the growing older adult population. Joleen Lonigan’s article in the October CAHL Newsletter highlights the need for a systems approach to address health equity in aging adults and offers some suggestions for health care organizations to consider. #AgingPopulation #HealthEquity #SystemsApproach #PatientCare

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UCSF Receives CDC Grant as one of 10 National Regional Centers for Public Health Preparedness and Response UCSF has received a five-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control as one of 10 regional centers for Public Health Preparedness and Response (PHPR), an effort to ensure the country is ready to meet any future health threats, from pandemics to extreme weather events. Public health emergencies such as COVID-19, hurricanes and extreme heat have underscored the critical need for a more robust and resilient U.S. public health system, the CDC said. UCSF received the grant as the lead institution for the newly established Region 9 Pacific Southwest Center for Emergency Public Health, which covers California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and Pacific territories controlled by the U.S. “The Regional Centers will play a vital role in advancing the development and implementation of evidence-based strategies and interventions across communities, enhancing their ability to prepare for and respond to public health threats,” Lisa C. Barrios, DrPH, director of the Division of Readiness and Response Science at the CDC, said in a letter announcing the grants. Read full article at https://lnkd.in/gQczUGhi

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Fresh off the press: Bright news on the Digital Health/mHealth space! The Catalan Public Health System is creating a framework to make apps and digital services accessible to its 8M+ lives. This includes their own relational apps (read: your chart, appointments, prescriptions, etc) but also therapeutic apps created by 3rd parties. Today they have published the Best Practices Guide to Develop Health Assets for the Public Health System (Guia de Bones Pràctiques per desenvolupar actius digitals per a la ciutadania). Link in comments The guide provides a framework with the requirements to have apps and other digital services integrated (and covered!) by this public payer. All of us in Digital Health understand the need for structure and transparency when dealing with payers. Carme Pratdepàdua Bufill and team at TIC Salut Social Foundation, and Joan Guanyabens Yolanda Portero Elisenda Serra Masip thanks for your leadership in delivering this exhaustive and necessary work. This spirit of ecosystem and partnership is rare in this industry. Can't wait to see the impact this will make in providing equitable access to health and better outcomes for the citizens of Catalunya. #healthequity #accesstohealth #DTX #digitalhealth #publichealth

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Improving member health outcomes (and performance on the health equity index) begins with understanding and resolving the social determinants of health (#SDOH) challenges to adherence faced by your MA plan members. Your outreach clinicians are a critical partner in improving adherence, and you can support them with the right technology and tools. Not sure where to start with the #HEI, or need some ideas? Get five actions your plan can take to empower clinicians in this mission when you check out our newest blog! Click below to read more! https://hubs.ly/Q02sXnzG0 #Stars #StarRatings #adherenceresolved

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Join us on 5/21 for a webinar featuring our recent consensus study report on sustaining health care services for women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) during steady state conditions and during public health emergencies. Speakers will discuss the report’s recommendations from the perspective of expert stakeholders in emergency planning and IPV-related care. Learn more and register here: https://ow.ly/utJn50RjsJZ #PublicHealthEmergency #HealthServices #WomensHealth #IntimatePartnerViolence

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Join us on 5/21 for a webinar featuring our recent consensus study report on sustaining health care services for women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) during steady state conditions and during public health emergencies. Speakers will discuss the report’s recommendations from the perspective of expert stakeholders in emergency planning and IPV-related care. Learn more and register here: https://ow.ly/8GKr50RjsKp #PublicHealthEmergency #HealthServices #WomensHealth #IntimatePartnerViolence

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