Ask a Health Advocate: What's the value of a second opinion?

That's a great question--and one that's been in the news lately, too.

For example, a recent New York Times article touched on the case of Andrew Schorr, showing exactly why second opinions are so important. In 1996, Schorr, a specialist in health communications, had been diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, which is incurable. His cancer doctors recommended that he immediately undergo chemotherapy.

But Schorr turned to the internet, scouring forums for more information on his disease and how it can be treated. Other chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients spoke highly of a Dr. Michael J. Keating, and soon Schorr hopped a plane from Seattle to Houston to get advice from Dr. Keating. Dr. Keating didn't recommend aggressive treatment like chemotherapy--instead, he recommended no treatment until and unless Schorr's condition worsened. After 4 years, Schorr's condition did indeed worsen, and Dr. Keating treated him with 6 months of standard chemotherapy for leukemia as well as an experimental medicine called Rituxan. This treatment has kept him alive and well, and had he undergone the immediate chemotherapy that his cancer doctors were calling for, he would not have been eligible for Dr. Keating's treatment--and he also may not have been able to father his third child, a son who is now 14 years old.

Getting a second opinion regarding recommended medical care can be beneficial in so many ways. It can:

* Help you save money--the provider who gives you their second opinion may recommend less costly treatment

* Help you be more comfortable--your "second opinion" provider could suggest treatment options that are less invasive, less aggressive, and with fewer side effects

* Verify that treatment is even necessary--sometimes a provider will instead recommend a period of "watchful waiting" before having you undergo any treatment

* Confirm your original medical diagnosis to verify that it is correct

* Recommend an experimental treatment that your previous provider may not have been aware of

Your health advocate (which can be a friend, family member, other person who's close to you, or a representative from an advocacy service) can help you obtain a second opinion from a reputable medical professional. By handing this task over to a health advocate, you can focus on resting and feeling as well as possible. Let your health advocate:

* Research other medical providers to verify that they are in-network with your insurance and are properly certified

* Find out if your insurance plan requires you to have referrals--if so, an advocate can help secure those references for you

* Call those medical providers to set up appointments for you

* Talk with the medical provider about any pre-visit testing or lab work

* Take you to and from those appointments and keep you company in the waiting room

* Take notes during your appointments

* Help you gather your medical records and information so that you're giving each doctor the most up-to-date information

* Help you clarify your health plan details so you can understand what procedures and tests are covered, and help you estimate any out-of-pocket costs you may incur

* Look over any Explanation of Benefits forms and/or medical bills to ensure that they don't contain any erroneous charges

Clearly a second opinion can be quite valuable, and having a reliable health advocate at your side can help you simplify and streamline the process of getting a second opinion.

Have a question about how health advocacy can benefit you? Send your questions to nhess@healthadvocate.com!

Ask a Health Advocate: I have heart disease. How can advocacy help me?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are currently 26.8 million Americans who have been diagnosed with heart disease--that's 12% of Americans. Heart disease includes a variety of conditions related to the heart, such as heart attack, coronary heart disease, congenital heart disease, and congestive heart failure. WebMD notes that heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States.

Managing heart disease can mean undergoing major lifestyle changes. There is no quick fix for heart disease--but there's a lot you can do to manage the disease and live healthier to reduce the risk of your heart disease worsening. You don't have to make these changes alone, either. You can enlist an advocate to help you. Your employer may offer an advocacy service as part of your employee benefits package; you might seek out a consumer-based advocacy service such as Health Proponent; or you could simply designate a trusted family member or friend to help you better manage your heart disease. Check out the many ways an advocate can help you in this situation:

* An advocate can connect you to the proper medical personnel. A primary care physician or a cardiologist can help treat your heart disease. A nutritionist could help you design a low-cholesterol, heart-healthy diet. A wellness coach could help you plan an exercise regimen. If mortality-related thoughts brought about by your heart disease are making you stressed or anxious, a mental health specialist can help you better handle these thoughts.

* An advocate can help make sure that medical providers take your insurance, and they can set up appointments for you or help arrange transportation to and from these appointments.

* Let your advocate help reduce your stress by having them handle a number of financial issues for you, such as researching pricing for medical procedures and services as well as negotiating costs of medical treatment with insurance companies and medical providers.

* The advocate can also help you by reducing your insurance-related stress. If your insurance company says they won't pay for a treatment or procedure, ask your advocate to handle the insurance company's denial and file an appeal on your behalf.

* Has a medical provider recommended surgery or prescription medication to treat your condition? Your advocate can handle lining up a second opinion for you so that you have the opinions and advice of two medical professionals and can make an informed decision about the type of treatment you're most comfortable with.

* If you smoke, know that an advocacy program like Health Advocate offers a Tobacco Cessation program as part of their benefits. Quitting smoking will not only save you money, but also has heart-healthy benefits!

* Let your advocate be responsible for reminding you about your yearly checkups and other important health screenings (they can set these appointments up for you, too).

* Some advocacy services offer Nurse Lines that members can take advantage of. Nurse Lines, staffed by registered nurses, often have extended hours and in some cases are available 24/7. Members can call the Nurse Line to talk to the nurses about any strange symptoms they're having and whether or not those symptoms necessitate a trip to the emergency room, urgent care, or other medical facility.

* An advocate can do the research on experimental heart-related treatments and clinical studies that you may qualify for.

* If you suspect that office-related stress could be contributing to your heart disease, check into whether an EAP + Work/Life service is part of your advocacy company's benefits. EAP + Work/Life can give you suggestions on how to maintain a better work/life balance that could result in you being less stressed, which is also a heart-healthy change.

Managing your heart disease is a lifelong commitment. It could require years of treatment and a medical team that includes many different medical professionals. This could result in piles of paperwork and bills to sort through, many phone calls to your medical team or insurance company, translating explanations of benefits or doctor-ese, resolving billing errors or insurance claim denials, and having overnight stays in the hospital. All of these things can be intimidating and stressful. You don't have to endure it alone. Recruit a health advocate to do the leg work for you so that you can focus on being as healthy as possible.

Curious about how a health advocate can help you? Email your questions to nhess@healthadvocate.com.

Wellness App Review: Pact

Need a little extra motivation to stay on track with your exercise goals? Are you willing to put your money where your mouth is? If so, Pact might be the right wellness app for you! 

What is Pact?

The idea behind Pact is simple: you commit to make a weekly pact to exercise more or eat healthier and set an amount you’ll pay to other Pact members if you don’t reach the goal.  If you reach your goal, not only do you get to keep your money, but you’ll also earn cash paid by members who didn’t. Rewards generally range from $.30 to $5 per week depending on the number of activities committed. 

You may be wondering…why should I risk losing money to commit to getting healthier? Studies have shown that people place a higher value on something that they own versus something that they do not own.  The notion of losing your hard-earned cash might be just the nudge you need to get moving!  

What kinds of pacts can I make?

There are three different types of pacts you can make on the site: gym pact, food logging pact, and veggie pact. The minimum amount of money that you can set as your stake for not meeting your goal is $5 per activity. To make a gym pact, all you need to do is decide how many days you want to go to the gym and what you will pay if you don’t follow through with it. The app has a built-in GPS that allows you to check in at your gym and record the time of your workouts.  If you prefer to work out outside of a gym, you can log your workout using the built-in motion tracker or connect to a partner app such as FitBit, Jawbone, or Moves. In order to get credit for your workout, you need to exercise for at least 30 minutes in a single session or complete 10,000 steps over the course of a day. 

While the gym pact is the most popular feature, you can also add a pact for food logging.  Food logging can help you gain a better understanding of your daily calorie intake and determine where you can make improvements to your diet.  You can decide how many days you want to commit to logging your food and the amount of money that you will pay if you do not fulfill your pact.  To log your food, you’ll need to download the MyFitnessPal app and connect it to Pact. To get credit, you need to log a minimum of 3 meals and 1,200 calories per day in MyFitnessPal. 

If you want to simply focus on incorporating more vegetables into your weekly diet, try the veggie pact feature.  You can decide how many veggies you want to consume over the course of a week and determine the amount you will pay per veggie missed.  To get credit for consuming your veggie servings, you’ll need to submit photos to show proof to the Pact community that you are consuming them.  You can also view and vote on other members’ photos. 

How can I get Pact?

Pact is available for iPhone and Android phones, and you can download it for free from the App Store or the Google Play store. You only need to commit to a pact one week at a time, so if this app seems like a good fit, it’s worth trying out.

If you’re a Health Advocate member with access to the Wellness Coaching program, reach out to your Wellness Coach for more assistance with finding wellness resources to fit your needs and lifestyle.

WOW –Workout of the Week: Abdominal Side Bends (Standing)

This week’s workout is Abdominal Side Bends. Abdominal Side Bends are a great exercise for strengthening your side obliques, tightening those pesky “love handles,” as well as your lower back muscles. These muscles are important to strengthen as they help with bending over, sitting down, and standing up. This exercise requires a weight, such as a dumbbell, but if you don’t have one, household objects like a can of soup will work too.  

Here’s how to do Abdominal Side Bends:

·         Start out by standing with your feet close together, holding a weight in one hand and keeping it next to your thigh.

·         Next, place your opposite hand behind your head (or on your hip).

·         Bend your waist to the side that is holding the weight, exhaling on the way down. You should feel tension in your side, above the waist.

·         Finally, bring your body back up into the starting position. Congratulations, you just completed one abdominal side bend! 

A few tips:

·         Alternate sides, and be sure to do the same amount of bends on each side so you get an even workout.

·         Important! Do not bend too far—the weight should not go past your knee, as it could cause straining in your back.

·         Be sure to keep good posture, and remember to exhale on each bend.

·         For added difficulty, hold a heavier weight or do the bends at a slower pace. Try doing multiple sets of 20-30 bends on each side.

We hope you’ll try Abdominal Side Bends over the weekend and then build this exercise into your daily routine Monday through Friday of the coming week.  

Want more fitness ideas?  If you’re a Health Advocate member with access to the Wellness Coaching program, reach out to your Wellness Coach for more healthy ideas to get—and stay—fit. And remember, talk to your doctor before beginning any new fitness regimen.

Ask a Health Advocate: How can I get back on track with my health goals?

Did your exercise routine or healthy eating habits go by the wayside during the holiday season? Have you felt less motivated or too overwhelmed to get started again? Here are a few tips to help turn that mindset around and boost your motivation!

Exercise:

• Be realistic. Set reasonable, achievable goals to ease you back into a weekly routine.
• Keep track of progress. Seeing personal improvements helps to increase motivation.
• Get support. Tell your friends and family about your exercise goals so they are aware and can help in your efforts.
• Find the fun in it. Pick an exercise activity that you enjoy doing! If you like it, you are more likely to stick with it.
• Break it up. If you are short on time and can’t reach 1 solid hour, try doing multiple sessions that are 10 - 20 minutes each throughout the day.
• Get a buddy. Working out is often easier when you have committed to going with someone else. An exercise buddy can help keep you more accountable to your goals.
• Put it on the calendar. Penciling in the time you are going to exercise each day makes it an appointment, similar to the other appointments you’ve scheduled into your day.
• Make it convenient. Find ways to exercise that are the most time-efficient, like exercising at home instead of going to a gym.
• Think about the health benefits. Understanding all of the countless benefits your body is getting from exercise is something to think about when contemplating getting off the couch.
• Reward yourself. Treat yourself for making the effort to exercise and sticking to your goal – go to a movie, buy flowers, take a short trip, or go to a sporting event or concert.

Nutrition:

• Plan ahead. Make a meal and snack plan ahead of time so you don’t have to ask yourself the question “What should I eat for……?”
• Make a grocery list. Knowing what you are going to buy before you step into the store makes it a lot easier to avoid impulse purchases.
• Shop in season for fruits and vegetables.  They will taste better and cost less!
• Purchase frozen fruits/vegetables for quick meal prep.  You can easily make a quick stir fry or a smoothie for a meal on-the-go.

·         

      Challenge yourself to try a new healthy food every week. New “superfoods,” which are dense in nutritional value and low in calories, are continuously being identified.  Have you tried chia seeds, flax seeds, quinoa, kale, chick peas, kefir, buckwheat, barley, or plantains? 

Try one or two of these tips to start off your new year feeling fit, happy, and healthy! If you’re a Health Advocate member with access to the Wellness Coaching program, reach out to your Wellness Coach for more exercise and nutrition tips.

Have a question for a Health Advocate? Email nhess@healthadvocate.com, and your question may be the topic of an upcoming “Ask a Health Advocate” column!