North Carolina medical journal
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North Carolina's Medicaid reform plan legislation will continue the state's behavioral health care system of local management entities and managed care organizations for 4 years after the implementation of the 1115 waiver. Policymakers have options, including staying the course, but they must be deliberate and thoughtful in their decisions.
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Women's wellness spans from childhood into adolescence, through the childbearing period, and into older age. It includes not only wellness issues related to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other chronic conditions but also the consequences of intimate partner violence and mental health issues. ⋯ In addition, when women are connected to the health care system, their families are also more likely to be connected. This issue of the North Carolina Medical Journal explores the many aspects of women's health and its many impacts.
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The US Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have announced goals and timelines to transition from payments based on volume to payments based on value, quality, and efficient delivery of care. These value-based payments and alternative payment models will impact all health care professionals and provider organizations by encouraging better care, healthier people, and spending health care dollars wisely and efficiently.
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Recent randomized controlled studies have shown improvement in recanalization outcomes when physicians use the latest intra-arterial therapy devices in patients with acute, large-vessel, intracranial occlusions. The goal of this study was to explore how new procedures affected degree of and time to recanalization at a single center over the past 12 years as technology has improved. ⋯ Technological advances over 12 years in endovascular stroke treatments significantly improved the chance of and reduced time to achieving TICI 2b recanalization in our community hospital. This shows the importance of adopting new technologies in a rapidly evolving field in order to provide the best-practice standard of care for the people of our region.