The Latest Research, Commentary, And News From Health Affairs
Friday, December 17, 2021
Dear John,
In this month’s Narrative Matters essay, a genetic counselor uses her own resources to identify the root cause of her mother’s changing personality.
Narrative Matters: Genetic Counseling
In her Narrative Matters essay in the December issue of Health Affairs, Shivani Nazareth describes her quest to find the genetic underpinnings of
her mother’s dementia.
After initial pushback from her mother’s doctor when Nazareth requested genetic testing, Nazareth conducted extensive research and, armed with her own knowledge as a genetic counselor, convinced the doctor to go forward with a test. It ultimately revealed a genetic mutation that results in the slow accumulation of an abnormal protein in the frontal lobe of the brain—the part that controls personality.
“I was, in fact, relieved to have an answer to a lifetime’s worth of questions,” Nazareth writes.
However, payment is a barrier for many who could benefit from genetic testing. Despite growing interest and advances in genomics and precision medicine, genetic counselors are not recognized as Medicare providers and cannot bill for their services under the program, leaving older adults without private insurance to pay for genetic counseling services themselves.
Want to listen to authors read their own Narrative Matters essays? Check out our Narrative Matters podcast.
Today in Health Affairs Forefront, Lori Uscher-Pines and Lucy Schulson describe how the pandemic-era flexibility that allowed audio-only telehealth visits to be reimbursed as telehealth may be inadvertently leading to substandard care for those it was meant to serve.
Richard Sorian discusses Bob Dole’s strategy for success in pushing through major health system reforms and the lasting imprint Dole left on Medicare.
In case you missed it, Health Affairs recently rebranded our blog to Health Affairs Forefront. The mission will stay the same: Create a space for rigorous, action-oriented insights related to health policy research, ideas, and
current policy events.
Listen to our latest podcasts. On today’s episode of This Week, Rob Lott and Chris Fleming discuss CMS's 2020 national health care spending data, which was published by Health Affairs this week.
Best Practices For A Smooth EVV Implementation
With the 2023 Cures Act home health care services EVV mandate, implementing the right EVV technology is more critical now than ever before. In this all-inclusive guide, we uncover the tools and best practices you need to achieve a
smooth EVV implementation. Download it now.
New National Health Spending Data and Introducing Health Affairs Forefront
Listen to Health Affairs' Rob Lott and Chris Fleming discuss CMS's 2020 national health care spending data and the rebrand of Health Affairs Blog to a new digital publication, Health Affairs Forefront.
Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewedjournalat the intersection of health, health care, and policy. Published monthly by Project HOPE, the journal is available in print and online. Late-breaking content is also found through healthaffairs.org, Health Affairs Today, and Health Affairs Sunday Update.
Project HOPE is a global health and humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has published Health Affairs since 1981.
