Chopping down the important information from the original informative Q&Aparticipated by some of the top healthcare professionals.
Introduction
The Healthcare Roundtable was a medical journal published and posted by the Orange County Business Journal on the 10th of April, 2017. It was an article full of trusted and reliable information provided by some of the current top healthcare professionals worldwide.
One of those healthcare professionals is Dr. Tonmoy Sharma, one of the co-authors of this certain publication. Dr. Sharma was the CEO of Sovereign Health, a company that focuses on the assistance and treatment of various mental health disorders patients suffer from. The focus of the journal is the topic of healthcare services that are currently available and upcoming ones in the future. Dr. Sharma has pointed out the lack of support when it comes to the support for mental health and its disorders.
Dr. Sharma’s Aim In Regards to Mental Health
Dr. Tonmoy Sharma, a mental health specialist, has pointed out that there should be a recovery-oriented system of care for various kinds of mental health conditions and disorders. He has also stated the lack of acknowledgment of mental health and its disorders as a chronic illness. He also pointed out that both serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders should be acknowledged as chronic disorders similar to how other chronic physical ailments are considered as such (i.e.
diabetes or heart conditions).
In addressing the challenges, Dr. Sharma, the author, and mental health specialist, said that the answer to handling mental health and its disorders is via proper recovery management. The end goal of that management is for the patient suffering from a specific mental health disorder to recover from it. The way he meant for someone to recover is for him/her to be able to maintain and/or improve their quality of life and their function levels.
Having a full framework for handling chronic diseases will be greatly beneficial to many, especially for those who are suffering from one or more mental health disorders and for those who have substance use disorders. Do take note that the said framework should have a focus on both evidence-based practices and consumer education to properly work.
Additionally, it should have careful and proper attention to medication management and self-care.
Healthcare Services Should be More Transparent
When questioned about the transparency (or lack thereof) of current healthcare services available to the public today and if insurance product designs alone can solve the cost issue of current healthcare services, Dr. Tonmoy Sharma, a mental health specialist, stated that insurance product design alone cannot solve the increased cost of various health services.
He is backing up the push to create a single-payer system for healthcare services to bring the costs down significantly. Dr. Sharma also pointed out that the service model of the field of behavioral health has moved from the old fee-for-service model (which is very anti-consumer in its form and practice) to the newer value-based care models (which is very pro-consumer overall).
As for the value-based care (VBC) model, it promotes shared savings, bundled payments, shared risks, and global capitation better than the old model. Patients under the VBC model will receive a per-person, per-month payment intended for the payment of their healthcare needs, regardless of what kind of services they use.
Improving Patient Outcome and Treatment via Measurement-Based Care
When asked about this question, Dr. Tonmoy Sharma, the author and mental health specialist, stated that the system of measurement-based care has many benefits for a patient using this kind of healthcare service, wherein those benefits will greatly affect the outcome and treatment of such service. Patients under that kind of system will have the avenue for communicating directly with their healthcare providers about symptoms of particular diseases or illnesses, and various side effects of a particular medication.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the stick, clinics who are using this kind of system will be able to gain insight into the condition of their patients and the progress of each treatment they are undergoing. Thanks to that, they are able to provide more accurate and proper healthcare services in a fast and efficient manner.
