Clinical Connections: March 2022

Dear Clinical Providers and Colleagues,

Greetings and hope everyone is well and looking forward to the approaching spring. We are calling your attention to three new programs to share with your WHA patients, addressing weight management issues, musculoskeletal pain and high blood pressure management. Learn more in our 2022 WHA Innovations article.

But we’re just getting started this year! Look for news and details soon about our upcoming member incentive programs that we know will support efforts to ensure your WHA patients get the most out of their health plan to stay healthy.

Feel free to forward this newsletter to staff and if this was forwarded to you, take a minute to subscribe to Clinical Connections here. As always, we welcome your feedback on what you want to hear from WHA. Email me at k.arif@westernhealth.com.

Khuram Arif M.D., MBA, CPE
Chief Medical Officer, Western Health Advantage


Program Highlights

Here's an overview of the latest benefits added to our 2022 employer group member plans, and you can learn more in our 2022 WHA Innovations article, or link to our wellness program flyer that you can print and share with patients. Highlights are:

Nutritional Counseling — First health plan in this area to provide coverage for nutrition and dietary counselling. Designed in partnership with WHA doctors, this benefit supports people struggling with weight-related illness whether obesity, eating disorder or weight loss secondary to illness. For more information, see our Nutrition Counseling webpage.

Musculoskeletal Pain Management Program — An innovative partnership with Kaia from Optum Health, this proven MSK solution combines motion tracking using your mobile phone to bring AI-driven virtual physical therapy to your fingertips. Get details on how to enroll from our Kaia webpage.

Livongo for Hypertension  — Get connected via the app, an advanced blood pressure monitor, together with health education and one-on-one support from expert coaches, better manage hypertension with diet, stress management, and lifestyle changes. Go to our Livongo webpage.


Pharmacy Update

Pharmacy Spring Update includes information on our process and coverage for COVID-19 at-home over the counter diagnostic tests; prescription updates and pharmacy drug pipeline review. Read about it in our Pharmacy News. For any questions, please email pharmacy@westernhealth.com.

Lock into Prescription Safety — To help prevent prescription misuse in the home, please remind your WHA patients that they can request a SaferLock® bottle cap from their pharmacist when filling a prescription pain medication. Learn more at this SaferLock webpage.


News and Call to Action

HEDIS Season evaluation runs annually from Feb through end of April. This evaluation is to accurately assess the quality of care rendered for chronic diseases and wellness screenings. It is important that charts requested from provider offices during this time be handled in a timely fashion to meet NCQA deadlines. Chart submission is a requirement of clinical provider’s contract with contracted medical groups to meet regulatory and accreditation requirements. HEDIS rates are also publicly reported and directly linked to annual P4P payouts to the medical groups. For any questions or concerns, contact Judy Baillie, Clinical Quality Manager at j.baillie@westernhealth.com.

Article to Read: Importance of Race, Ethnicity and Language and your role in sharing this vital information to better serve our members and your patients. Thank you for your continuing support.

WHA’s Clinical Provider Handbook is available for our providers as single source of WHA policies and procedures. We’re planning an update in the upcoming weeks, so if you have any suggestions, please email us at providerrelations@westernhealth.com.