When a health emergency strikes, trying to get the right treatment can feel like walking through a maze. The stress of hospital visits, new medications and unfamiliar specialists can lead patients to missed doses, confusion about instructions or worsening symptoms. 

For Cindy Brown, a Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital patient who had been experiencing seizures, the combination of caring hospital nurses and help from VHAN’s Care Management team made sticking to her treatment plan easier than expected.

With the number of patients using weight loss medications on the rise, it can be challenging for providers to identify the best option. Read more to find some key considerations when prescribing GLP-1s.

Statin use is a common and weighty quality measure for many health plans. Understandably, many patients cannot take statins due to intolerance or another condition. However, those cases still count against quality performance unless exclusions are coded annually. The next time you have a patient who cannot use a statin, try one of the codes in our Satin Use Table.

It would be difficult to find a preventive measure that brings as many benefits as possible to patients, clinical staff and a practice’s bottom line as a Medicare Annual Wellness Visit (AWV). VHAN Member Murfreesboro Medical Clinic is achieving extraordinary success realizing those benefits. The clinic performs AWVs for roughly 82% of eligible Aetna Medicare Advantage patients, exceeding the network average by 26.9%. From medication reviews to mental health checks, these visits are invaluable in supporting patients.

If you’re looking for ways to maximize your patients’ medication coverage, the VHAN Pharmacy Team has tips that can help. Read on for three ways you can increase the likelihood of PA approval for your patients.

Patients who monitor their blood pressure at home typically take a more active role in managing their hypertension and improving their cardiovascular health. But what about patients who need help with the practical details around self-monitoring? Providers can help patients manage their hypertension and obtain appropriate monitoring devices. To help our members and other providers, VHAN has gathered the several strategies and resources to aid in patient education related to hypertension.

When a teenage boy was suspended from school for creating a drawing with dark subject matter, Timothy Eidson, MD, a pediatric primary care provider at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, considered sending him to the emergency department (ED). The boy had also disclosed depression and passive suicidal ideation during the exam, and Dr. Eidson wanted to connect him to help as quickly as possible. Hoping to find an alternative to the ED, he reached out to the VHAN Pediatric Behavioral Consult Line for an urgent consultation.

It was the right decision. Read the full article to see how the consult line, which offers real-time phone consultations by a licensed clinical social worker to help manage patients’ mental health needs, helped get the teen into a partial hospitalization program that brought much-needed relief.

The VHAN Pharmacy Team often steps in to help patients fill medication gaps. Learn how a VHAN pharmacy technician helped a young patient with asthma gain access to critical inhaler therapy.

Antibiotic stewardship is a key strategy to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR)—a phenomenon that occurs when bacteria and viruses change over time and no longer respond to medicines like antibiotics. To help VHAN practices educate patients about antibiotics and assist with appropriate prescribing, VHAN offers several member tools that you can find on the VHAN Hub Resource Library. Read the full article for more information.