Few young adults spend significant time thinking about health insurance—especially as the Affordable Care Act allows them to remain on a parent or guardian’s coverage through age 26.

But at just 24, health insurance was at the top of Pooja Ika’s mind. Shortly after graduating from Babson College, Ika founded eternalHealth, a Boston-based Medicare Advantage (MA) health plan, in late 2020.

EternalHealth now works with 20,000 providers to serve almost 200 members in Massachusetts and Arizona—a number that’s expected to rise to 3,000 individuals come January. And Ika, now 26, has no plans to slow down.

Ika spoke with Healthcare Brew about why she founded eternalHealth and her hopes for the health plan’s future.

Keep reading here.—SY

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Shannon at [email protected]. For confidential conversations, ask Shannon for her number on Signal.

As radiologist shortages (and burnout rates) increase, the healthcare industry is working overtime to adapt.

Luckily, GE HealthCare is taking on the challenge—presenting over 40 solutions to help increase efficiency for providers and improve patient care.

Join GE HealthCare in Chicago for the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA)’s annual meeting on Nov. 26–29 to dig into the problems clinicians are facing—and how GE HealthCare is working to help solve them. From tackling the root cause of burnout to using data to help improve healthcare, GE HealthCare is focused on supporting clinicians and improving care.

With precision care + diagnostics, deep learning, and seamless workflows, providers can spend less time bogged down with administrative tasks and more time caring for patients.

Save your seat to learn more.

Health benefit plan Enthea plans to offer psilocybin-assisted therapy (PAT) coverage as a workplace benefit starting in 2024, the company announced on November 12.

PAT is a form of psychedelic therapy that is only legal in Oregon and Colorado and involves patients receiving psilocybin while under a therapist’s care. Psilocybin, commonly known as “magic” or psychedelic mushrooms, has proven to be effective in treating “addiction, depression, and end-of-life mood disorders,” according to a 2022 study.

“Given the evidence of effectiveness seen in clinical trials in the US and elsewhere, we have decided to give our employers the option of including psilocybin-assisted therapy in their benefit plans in those states that have legalized its use,” Sherry Rais, Enthea’s co-founder and CEO, said in a statement.

Keep reading here.—MA

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Maia at [email protected]. For confidential conversations, ask Maia for her number on Signal.

NYC Health + Hospitals (H+H) has expanded its lifestyle medicine program for healthy eating to Brooklyn, the municipal health system announced last Thursday.

The program, which started as a 2019 pilot at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, aims to help patients with hypertension, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and prediabetes minimize symptoms through a plant-based diet as well as other interventions, counseling, and reliable access to affordable, healthy foods.

Nearly 50 eligible patients at NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull in Central Brooklyn will be able to enroll each month in the effort, which is already available at Manhattan’s Bellevue and NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi in the Bronx. Three more public hospitals will begin offering the nine-month program in the coming months as well, according to H+H.

“Healthier lifestyle choices will lead to a life with significant improvements in many chronic diseases, and our goal is to support people to make sustainable changes, which ultimately brings health and happiness,” Gül Bahtiyar, medical director for Woodhull’s lifestyle medicine program, said in a statement.

Keep reading here.—AE

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Amanda at [email protected]. For confidential conversations, ask Amanda for her number on Signal.

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• Risky business? Healthcare staffing ventures are facing some major losses

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Today’s top healthcare reads.

Stat: Thirty young cancer patients have not yet been evacuated from Gaza’s children’s hospital. (the New York Times)

Quote: “I never considered getting rid of the drugs, but I also knew that the status quo was not going to work and we had to look at other options.”—Connecticut Comptroller Sean Scanlon on weight loss drugs covered under the state’s employee health plan (Politico)

Read: One Michigan-based insurer allegedly flouted the state’s law and denied a cancer patient a critical treatment that could have saved his life. (ProPublica)

Booting burnout: As radiologist burnout and shortages increase, healthcare has to adapt—fast. Join GE HealthCare at RSNA 2023 on Nov. 26–29 in Chicago to learn how precision care can improve care and increase efficiency.*

Tech talk: Register for our upcoming virtual event to hear from Dr. David Reich, president of Mount Sinai Hospital. Tune in Nov. 30 to learn how tech is transforming the healthcare system + creating better patient experiences. Sponsored by Typeform.*

^{*A message from our sponsor.}