Health & Fitness

On Tuesday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued guidance to state Medicaid directors designed to advance the adoption of value-based care strategies across their healthcare systems and align provider incentives across payers. Under value-based care, providers are reimbursed based on their ability to improve quality of care in a cost-effective manner or lower costs while maintaining standards of care, rather than the volume of care they provide.

Riverside County residents are needed for coronavirus testing to continue to help slow the spread of coronavirus, as well as help the county emerge from the state’s most restrictive purple tier.

A man in his 80s from the San Jacinto Valley is being reported as Riverside County’s first flurelated death of the 2020-21 flu season.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our health and well-being beyond the damage caused by the virus. In nearly every community, elective surgeries have been postponed, and routine care has been delayed. Amid closed healthcare offices and clinics, compounded by fear of contracting COVID-19, routine vaccinations have declined significantly across all age groups, with demand plummeting as much as 95 percent for some vaccines.

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 72-year-old woman in fair health. I had strong bones until I had gastric bypass surgery. Within two years, I developed osteoporosis. In 2016 my parathyroid hormone level was found to be elevated. However, it has come down over the past year or two from 97.76 to 68.95 pg/mL. The endocrinologist now has me on 8,000 IU of vitamin D-3 per day. My calcium was 9.3 and ionized calcium was 5.0.

Each year, more than 250,000 women in the United States learn that they have breast cancer, and more than 20,000 find out they have ovarian cancer.

Fifty students in the Inland Empire will receive medical school scholarships this academic year thanks to the Healthcare Scholarship Fund (HSF) from Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP).

Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it will resume routine inspections of all Medicare and Medicaid certified providers and suppliers to improve the safety and quality of life of patients and residents. CMS had previously suspended certain routine inspections as part of its response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to prioritize infection control and immediate jeopardy situations and to give health care providers and suppliers time needed to respond to the spread of COVID-19.

Nearly 42 million Americans identified as caregivers for an older adult before COVID-19. Almost overnight, it's likely that millions more have since joined their ranks. With COVID-19, there are added complications, notably physical separation. Some people are supporting older relatives who live far away while others may be close by, but are maintaining a safe distance. The goal is to maintain social closeness while also practicing physical distance.

Testing! Testing! Testing! That’s what the experts say is necessary to move the country back to normalcy. Almost daily, local TV stations in New York City where I live run public service announcements urging viewers to get a test for COVID-19. Those announcements tell how to find a testing site, and most point out that the tests are free.