January 28, 2021 | Who let the COVID dogs out? Miami did.
INDUSTRY NEWS
The number of ACOs participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program this year dropped 477, down from 561 in 2018, Fierce Healthcare reports. The new administration needs to “re-examine the balance of incentives and risk to ensure ACO growth and continued savings to Medicare, "National Association of ACOs President Clif Gaus said in a prepared statement. ACO participation has shifted and declined over the years, but ACOs continue to generate savings. According to the organization, the program generated $2.4 billion in gross savings for Medicare in 2019 compared with $1.7 billion in 2018. (Fierce Healthcare)
Foreign-trained clinicians remain largely untapped during crisis
Hospitals lack the staff to handle the COVID crisis, but roughly 165,000 foreign-educated doctors, nurses and other practitioners remain largely untapped due to licensing and credentialing barriers. Many have experience dealing with epidemics in other countries. “These really are the cabdrivers, the clerks, the people who walk your dog,” says Jina Krause-Vilmar, CEO of Upwardly Global, a nonprofit that helps immigrant professionals enter the workforce. “They also happen to be doctors and nurses in their home countries, and they’re just not able to plug and play into the system as it’s set up.” (Kaiser Health News; Migration Policy Institute)
INNOVATION & TRANSFORMATION
Moving upstream: Insurers look at covering food
A few insurers are covering food as they expand coverage beyond just the care that happens in a doctor’s office. More plans are paying for temporary meal deliveries and some are teaching people how to cook and eat healthier foods. “People are finally getting comfortable with the idea that everybody saves money when you prevent certain things from happening or somebody’s condition from worsening,” says Andrew Shea, senior VP with the online broker eHealth. So far, it’s primarily happening in Medicaid and Medicare Advantage, but some employers have expressed interest. (DP*)
COVID-driven trend: More value-based arrangements
Providers—especially those in fee-for-service models—suffered in 2020. And that may be driving a 2021 trend: A move to more value-based payment arrangements. "One of the greatest ironies in all this is that because of COVID-19, people are realizing that there's just as much — if not more — risk in staying in an antiquated, fee-for-service model than there is in embracing an alternative," Rita Numerof, president of Numerof and Associates, tells Healthcare Dive. The publication identifies several other trends, including the erosion of commercial plans and an increased focus on health equity. (Healthcare Dive)
CONSUMERS & PROVIDERS
Optimizing health IT to mitigate clinician burnout
Health IT and EHR optimization, EHR training and care-team expansion can mitigate clinician burnout, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. “Physician burnout is not reduced by technology implementation but can be mitigated by technology and workflow optimization, training, team expansion and careful consideration of factors affecting burnout, including specialty, practice setting, regulatory pressures and how physicians spend their time,” researchers conclude. They conducted a systematic review of multiple databases in 2018 and 2020 to identify potential workplace interventions to mitigate burnout. (EHRIntelligence; JAMIA)
More seniors need to activate portals
Many health systems use patient portals for vaccine communications, but 45% of adults 65 to 80, and 42% of those 50 to 80, say they haven’t registered with their provider’s portal system, according to a University of Michigan’s Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation survey. Income, education level and race were strong predictors of portal use. We need to encourage older adults sign up for patient portal access, or log in again if they haven’t in a while, says Preeti Malani, MD, of Michigan Medicine. (Patient Engagement HIT; University of Michigan)
NEW & NOTED
COVID lessons learned: Hospitalists are managing the care of patients with COVID-19, and they’ve learned a lot. MedPage Today asked them to share some pearls of wisdom. Among them: Be on the lookout for atypical presentation, watch out for delirium and don’t force proning. (MedPage Today*)
Seasoned FDA official steps up: Janet Woodcock, a longtime top FDA official, is expected to serve as interim commissioner of the agency until the Senate confirms whomever Biden picks to replace outgoing chief Stephen Hahn. (Wall Street Journal)
Don’t throw away your shot: As more Americans become eligible for COVID-19 vaccines despite their limited supply, deciding whether to take an available shot has become something of a moral quandary. Many medical ethicists agree: Get the vaccine. Declining a COVID-19 shot because you think it should go to someone else won’t help anyone—and the vaccine could end in the trash. (New York Times)
MULTI-MEDIA
Who let the COVID dogs out? Miami did.
The Miami Heat, abiding by social distancing rules, will allow some fans to attend games in person. They will deploy coronavirus-sniffing dogs to screen the fans. The animals have been trained to sit next to an attendee if they detect the presence of the virus; that person will be asked to leave. The approach is experimental. Experts warn that it shouldn’t give anyone a false sense of security. (Good Morning America)
MARKETVOICES...QUOTES WORTH READING
"If you hear hoofbeats, you are more likely to see a horse, unless you are in an evolving COVID-19 pandemic. Then it may be a zebra. Try to think of COVID-19 manifestations in the differential for patients with atypical manifestations of common disease." —Benji Mathews, MD, chief of hospital medicine at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minn., quoted in MedPage Today*