Not sure if this is the best place to post, but I need advice. Which of the following certificates are the most in demand in the healthcare industry: 1. CRCST 2. CMAA 3. MHTC 4. RBT 5. CMAA PTTC
What are the best ones for gaining employment? I live in California if that helps.
Hello! I'm not sure if this is the right sub for this, but I am a high schooler applying to college right now and am looking to submit my application to UT Austin (my preferred school) soon. I want to go to medical school and become a doctor in the future, but am not sure whether to major in public health or neuroscience. Both interest me (neuroscience slightly more so), and I realize that the undergrad major ultimately doesn't matter much when applying to med school, so I was debating which one would position me for my backup plan if med school doesn't pan out (healthcare administration/business).
Here's my dilemma:
I am more likely to get into public health at UT Austin than neuroscience (biggest plus of public health).
Now either way, I know I would have to get an MBA or an MHA for my backup plan, and although public health aligns more with it, I wanted to know if majoring in public health would be a significant advantage to me in applying to MBA/MHA compared to majoring in neuroscience (in which case I would minor in business). Would it even matter as long as I have sufficient experience/creds?
Also, would it make it easier to get research opportunities and such as an undergrad if I'm a neuroscience major as opposed to public health (as my main goal is still med school)?
And in your opinion, which one do you think outweighs?
Thank you so much.
TLDR:
High schooler wanting to become a doctor but has healthcare administration/business as backup plan. Would majoring in public health as an undergrad position me better to get an MBA or MHA compared to majoring in neuroscience + minoring in business? And would getting research be easier if I'm a neuroscience major compared to public health major?
Hi, I’m a medical assistant at a private practice.
Upon logging in to a portal (patient-facing) operated by AdvancedMD, the patient was asked whether or not they consent to having their de-identified data used/shared with third-party companies for advertising, building a profile, etc.
The two options were “Accept” and “Reject” followed by “Confirm Consent” button. This patient has anxiety. The patient selected “Reject” and “Confirm Consent” and navigated to their ToC page to view the “reject” button highlighted about several times.
To the patient’s defense, “confirm consent” is extremely shoddy language. Why couldn’t they have just used “Confirm Selection” or something similar? I’ve assured my patient numerous times but even I’m starting to doubt now…. Does “reject” followed by “confirm consent” (to ‘lock in’ the selection) mean that the rejection was confirmed, or will they use the “confirm consent” button to justify using the patient’s data regardless of their selection?
The patient attempted to print the page for the records but (surprise, surprise) it has overwritten backend data on it. I still recommended that it be printed because the “reject” is clear.
TIA
Both my wife and I got covid. I started to experience symptoms yesterday. Since my primary care doctor was closer I figured I'd go to urgent care. I generally try to avoid them but I was hoping they could prescribe something for some relief. I was experiencing some chest pain and burning when I cough or sneeze. My ears were also burning as well.
I get there they take my vitals etc and swab me for covid. While waiting for my results, the attending physician comes in and tells me that my symptoms are more in line with congestive heart failure. He has me do X-ray and EKG which both come back normal. He insists that it's heart failure so contacts my local hospital and lets them I'm going to come in for an echocardiogram.
I ended up just leaving and about 2 hours after I walked out I get a call from the hospital asking if I'm coming in for an echo. I explained what happened at the urgent care and the nurse told me she didn't think it was at all nessecary.
Is this a cya thing? Why are urgent cares like this? I understand being careful but I feel like this is irresponsible
Hi everyone!
I’m an administrator at a medical group and our patient volume has jumped 10% in the last six months. The wait times are driving our patients crazy and stressing out our staff.
I need to think of a tech solution to bring wait times down and get morale back up and I’m looking to Reddit for some help. I want to help everyone; the providers, the front and back office staff, and of course, the patients.
I would say that new patient appointment wait times are about 10 days for primary care and 45 days for a specialist, existing patients are 4 days for primary care and 15 for a specialist, and wait times in-clinic are 30 min in the waiting room, 15 in the exam room, and 10 for checkout…
I haven’t been working here for long, but I think the major problems are that appointments are only done via phone and we only have one receptionist for every three practitioners, the providers don’t really track the patient order and chart between patients, the providers have designated rooms which makes some of them super busy and others not at all, and there’s not really a good protocol in place for when people call out and we can’t handle the volume.
Our rushes are before nine and after four and during lunch (11-1) because of reduced availability and our phone lines are down. Monday is pretty bad too because we’re closed over the weekend.
I’m pretty much open to any ideas like a scheduling AI or an internal workflow system or some kind of communication platform…not really sure where to begin and would love some ideas from people who have more experience in the field. Thanks for the help!
TLDR: I need to make my boss happy and fix patient wait times, improve staff communication + make work less stressful, and manage patient flow better during our rushes. Need to think of some kind of tech solution for this.
Thinking of a career change and it’s a prerequisite but all the videos i’ve seen on it is scaring me a bit. How was it for you?
Hi sorry if this is a dumb question i’m a first generation college student so no one around me seems to know either lol.
I graduate in December with my Bachelor’s in Healthcare Administration. When do I start applying to jobs? Do I start before graduation in Late October/November or after? I want to If I apply beforehand, do I make it known I’m not officially graduated yet? If I apply to out of state jobs should I wait?
To the healthcare workers (mostly medical workers), do you find that Third-Party Administrators (TPAs) and Clinical Management Organizations (CMOs) are problematic or necessary parts of the healthcare system? Excuse my ignorance if this is a dumb question, but I am a pharmacy student and wanted to see if there were parallels to our issues with Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs).
Currently, several state and national pharmacy advocate organizations are lobbying/calling for PBM reform (a losing battle fighting against PBM lobbyist money). The problem I think most pharmacists have is that the PBM used to be a necessary part of the system (a bridge between manufacturers and pharmacies), but the necessity of this role has greatly waned. This makes it super unclear what their role is, and it doesn't help that they have little to no disclosure of their fees or what services they provide. All we know is that they play a large role in the artificial inflation of drug prices and set the dwindling reimbursement rates that make it very difficult for pharmacies to stay profitable (Pharmacists, correct me if I'm wrong).
I was wondering if TPAs and CMOs, being sort of analogous to PBMs, share some of the same issues and distrust, or if their role is different enough in the medical field that they are seen as trusted/important. Are they also culpable in ballooning medical costs?
As someone in healthcare HR, I’m frustrated with the current recruiting process. The time-to-fill is insane, and we’re losing great candidates because of it.
I’ve been hearing buzz about AI in recruiting, but I’m not sure if it’s the answer. Has anyone tried using AI tools to streamline their hiring? What’s worked for you?
I will keep this to the simple facts in an attempt to not ramble.
Age 9 & has a genetic lack of enamel (amelogenesis imperfecta), she needs a root canal. Her face is swollen and she is on antibiotics.
Issues: most endodontist will not do root canal on under 16s.
Two of them will, one is out of network ($1900 out of pocket) but will do them with Laughing Gas.
The other will only do them with IV sedation & dental insurance doesn’t cover IV sedation (sedation only will be $1500 out of pocket) no appointment for over a month.
I am trying to get this maybe covered under medical insurance due to the congenital issue. But I am going in circles between the dentist and the insurance company.
Is there an angle I am missing? My daughter is just so wonderful and money is tight. I need to get her this treatment.
Thank you
My wife is pregnant. She lost her job in June and though she is starting a new job on the 6th, she will have to wait 60 days before she's eligible to buy health insurance. I make 78k gross a year and she will probably make 30-35k by the end (including her 3 months unemployed). We cant qualify for our state's health plan or medicaid, and she only needs it for the next 2 months but we cannot afford to spend all of the money we need to support ourselves and our newborn on one single appointment (6k for the next appt without insurance).
Can't believe I'm even asking or considering this but does anyone know about legally divorcing to qualify for medicaid?
American btw. obviously.
Whatever happened to "No surprise act"? Given that my corporate insurance has a high deductible plan, 99% of times we won't meet it. Now, given that situation, I try to find out the out of pocket cost of a given service, which many of the providers will just not tell me and try to go through insurance most of the times. They don't tell me how much it will cost through insurance, saying they don't know, go find out from your insurance and the insurance company will say, we don't know, what it will be. Now, I worked in repricing for a bit (so I know there are middle men who send how much % the insurance has to pay to the provider) so there was a NSA which these parties had to comply to, question is how can they avoid telling me the costs or even approximate amount? My goal is to go out of pocket if cost via insurance is going to be higher. Do any of you do anything similar and have any tricks to get the actual costs known before choosing one vs other?
I have to do an interview with a healthcare worker for my English class, 10 questions or less depending on how long the responses are. I understand that Reddit isn't exactly the most professional place to ask this (the interview was supposed to be either real life or in a call) but the transcript is due tomorrow and I've only now realized that I don't know any healthcare workers. I am totally willing to make up any personal information (like names and where you work); the questions you'd answer are about experiences you had in your line of work, why you decided to work in health, that sort of thing. My other option would be to ask someone I know about an injury that they had, but I don't think that would be nearly as fun or educational.
PS; All of the interview would just take place in the chat box, since I do not want to ask for personal phone numbers. (Or give out mine on reddit)
Hi I’m 17(f) and just found out I’m pregnant my 18th birthday is in a week with my first appointment at the baby doctor a few days later, I’m being told by family members that I will lose CareSource as my health insurance on my birthday and I can’t afford doctors appointments alone so I’m curious if Il actually lose the coverage on my birthday? Can anyone give some insight I’m really scared.
Hi everyone, I’m not sure exactly which sub is best for this question, so let me know if it would be better suited somewhere else. I am trying to decide whether to pursue a career in respiratory therapy or radiography (specifically sonography). I have finished nearly all prerequisite courses for both programs at my school, but I am still getting conflicting information on which career typically has a higher salary/earning potential.
When I look at the numbers, it appears as though respiratory therapists make less money. But after speaking with professionals, I am lead to believe RTs get large monetary incentives to work because of the high demand.
On the other hand, the radiographers I spoke to claimed that radiography has a higher earning potential with the advanced modalities and such.
I am sure the salaries vary greatly by state, but please let me know if you have any experiences or advice on which route to take based on earning potential. Thanks!
Healthcare logistics generates enormous waste, especially from packaging. CJMB’s solution is a reusable container system with real-time monitoring for sensitive shipments (diagnostics, biologics, etc.). For those working in hospitals or supply chains, do you see sustainable logistics becoming a priority in healthcare, or is cost still the main driver?
I first heard collapse in reference to health care institutions and systems during the pandemic. To me the word implied complete inability to provide any care. Now I hear about it in the context of the Gaza war.
What does “collapse” mean? Is there a public health field definition ?
I hear “on the brink of collapse” in reference to healthcare institutions Gaza frequently over the last two years. I know few to no supplies have made it for quite a long time and hospital conditions are pretty minimal…but it is always “the brink of collapse” and never collapsing.
Pretty much what the title says. Not sure if this is where I am supposed to post this, but here goes. I (22 F) live in the USA, and earlier this year I had to visit the emergency room for intense abdominal pain and unusual GI symptoms. To avoid costs, I normally would have gone to an urgent care or outpatient clinic, but my symptoms were rapidly worsening during the early morning hours. At 1:00 AM my mother insisted on taking me to get immediate care, and the ER was the only facility who could see me since everywhere else nearby was closed.
I ended up being prescribed a couple of meds after they did a CT scan with contrast and an X-ray. Of course, as a young woman you can't get these imaging procedures done before confirming you are not pregnant, regardless if there is a zero percent chance of pregnancy.
Anyway, I did the stupid "pee in a cup" dip-stick test. I gave the student nurse my urine, she put the test strip in, and confirmed the results. No lab analysis, no blood work, no fancy testing equipment. Just a paper urine test strip.
Here's the problem- listed on my charges for the ER visit, I was billed $180 just for that little urine test. If I am going to be generous; the test strip, specimen cup, and latex gloves, can't cost more than $5 USD at MOST for the grand total for each individual unit. Those test strips cost pennies per unit, and if we assume the hospital buys them in bulk, there is no way that one strip costs the hospital more than one singular dollar. The nurse who performed the "test" was not even a registered nurse, but an unpaid nursing student completing her clinical education experience- so the hospital would not even have to pay her for the labor anyway.
So why on God's green earth was I billed $180 just for that? There is no rational or justified reason why anyone should be charged that much money for a test that takes seconds to perform and requires the cheapest equipment/materials. I don't care that it was because I went to the ER, its still a ridiculous markup that should not exist. I work in healthcare, obviously its well known that hospitals and insurance companies are super greedy. Still- even this kind of shameless, blatant exploitation of patients' finances is an outrage. This is why people don't go to see their doctor or seek out emergency care when they legitimately need it. Even the most simple and basic services are marked up beyond any reasonable amount. It is such a significant burden on the middle/lower class patients who can't afford even the least complicated care.
Long story short, I ended up calling the billing office of the healthcare network and asked to dispute the charge, and that I believe the hospital improperly coded the pregnancy test on my billing statement. They said they will flag my billing statement for review, and that someone would evaluate the billing codes to see if I have been charged incorrectly for the pregnancy test. I also requested an itemized bill for every single charge from the ER visit, so who knows what other ridiculous charges could be hiding in that. I was informed that it would take 3-4 weeks to receive a copy of my itemized bill and the decision about my dispute. Ugh... the American healthcare system is just a joke.
I don’t know how you are supposed to even get treated under modern healthcare
I am thinking about transferring to a han service degree at another uni due to financial reasons. Ideally I would like to work in administration and I have no interest in clinical work. But I read online that human services isn't as lucrative as a health science degree. Please let me know your thoughts.
I am not able to go to the pediatrician anymore, I have gone there my whole life and only stayed so long because I am afraid of getting a new doctor. I have a severe phobia of needles and there is no way I can get bloodwork done any time soon. I was told that going to a new doctor requires bloodwork at some point, can I refuse? I need to have a primary care physician because I am on Fluoxetine for anxiety and need to have my prescription continued.
Hello all! Please tell me if there’s a better sub for this. I have been a career high school teacher for over a decade, and I am ready to transition.
I have been obese and I am on my own journey for weight loss and improving my health. The first time I did this, I lost 135lbs through diet and exercise; this time, older, with a back injury, and 70lbs heavier (regain), I’m using a GLP-1.
Each time I go down this route, I find myself wanting to help others with their journey, through help with resources, understanding the medical system, nutrition, exercise, etc. I want to do this as a career.
Is there a career transition out there for me that wouldn’t require a ton more education (university) and I can work with people experiencing obesity? I have a masters in education.
Thank you!
This has happened twice within the last few months. I tried to book specialist appointment with a large health system in the upper mid-West, and both the times they booked it first, and then switched it to an appointment with a PA / NP instead of the specialist I wanted to meet.
This is being done unilaterally, and you risk getting your appointment cancelled and having to wait super long if you protest.
Are others facing the same issue? How are you dealing with it?