January 6, 2022 | Steep drop in telehealth use in 2021

INDUSTRY NEWS

Study: Team-based approach reduces burnout

A team-based approach to primary care reduces clinician burnout, according to research published in the Annals of Family Medicine. In 2016, Stanford Health Care’s primary care clinic in Santa Clara launched Primary Care 2.0, a team-based model. It has proven beneficial for patients and physicians—but only when the model is sustained. “The Primary Care 2.0 model of enhanced team-based primary care demonstrates team development is a plausible key to protect against burnout, but is not sufficient alone. […] Transformation to team-based care cannot be a 1-time effort and institutional commitment is integral.” (Annals of Family Medicine; Stanford News)

Steep drop in telehealth use in 2021

Telehealth utilization declined by an average of 40.3% a month in 2021 compared to 2020, according to recent analysis by Trilliant Health. In contrast, Medicare fee-for-service telehealth visits increased from around 840,000 in 2019 to nearly 52.7 million in 2020, the Health and Human Services Department reported last month. However, according to the Advisory Board, telehealth is still stabilizing from its massive explosion in 2020, so the decline makes sense. It goes on to provide insights into using telehealth moving forward. (Advisory Board Daily Briefing; Trilliant analysis)rt says, “point to the tremendous power of vaccination to reduce disease and death from COVID-19.” (Commonwealth Fund)

INNOVATION & TRANSFORMATION

Applying technology to eldercare at home

More than 85% of older adults live with at least one chronic illness, and 10% have Alzheimer’s disease or Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias (AD/ADRD). These often create barriers to aging at home. But technological developments in artificial intelligence, hardware design and other areas may make reduce some of these barriers. These developments, when applied to monitoring devices, have the potential to enable precision and adaptive, data-driven interventions. This opinion piece makes the case that emerging technology should be adapted for eldercare. (The Boston Globe)

For some conditions, telehealth a viable substitute

For patients with certain conditions, video visits can be as effective as in-person visits, according to an analysis of 20 studies. The review was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The conditions include diabetes, respiratory illnesses, chronic pain, heart problems and neurological disorders. “Replacing or augmenting aspects of usual care with [video teleconferencing] generally results in similar clinical effectiveness, health care use, patient satisfaction, and quality of life as usual care for areas studied. However, included trials were limited to a handful of disease categories, with patients se

CONSUMERS & PROVIDERS

Study: Decentralize EHR responsibilities

Researchers examining the relationship between EHR proficiency tools and time spent interacting with the EHR found only one proficiency tool associated with reduced EHR time: Primary care physicians who had greater support from their care team in writing notes spent less time in documentation-specific activities and less total time in the EHR. The researchers, writing in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics, noted that “a greater amount of help from team members in note writing was associated with less time spent in the EHR and documenting.” The bottom line? PCPs can reduce their EHR-related and documentation-related burdens by decentralizing documentation responsibilities. (Healthcare IT News; JAMIA)

AMA: Doctors, nurses and other clinicians are leaving

The great resignation is coming to health care. One in five physicians and two in five nurses intend to leave their current practice within two years, according to AMA findings published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality & Outcomes. Additionally, about a third of physicians, advanced practice providers and nurses expect to work fewer hours in the next 12 months. If clinicians follow through, it will have “significant implications for the future healthcare workforce,” write the authors. However, “reducing burnout and improving a sense of feeling valued may allow healthcare organizations to better maintain their workforces post-pandemic.” (Fierce Healthcare; Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality & Outcomes)

NEW & NOTED

Explaining unexplained child death: Mutations in genes associated with cardiac and seizure disorders appear to be linked to sudden unexplained deaths in young children and may explain nearly 9% of such cases, according to research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The findings suggest that such mutations present “significant genetic risk factors for childhood sudden unexplained death and that their identification may lead to medical intervention that ultimately saves lives." (Medscape)

The year’s best quotes: MedPage Today compiled some of the best quotes its reporters heard during 2021. Topping the list: "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."— Benji Mathews, MD, of Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota. (MedPage Today)

Again, generics save money: A study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes found that substituting generic cardiovascular medications for brand-name ones in the Medicare Part D prescription program may result in substantial cost savings. (American Heart Association announcement; Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes)

MULTI-MEDIA

No Surprises Act now in place

It's finally official: The No Surprises Act went into effect Jan. 1. A three-minute All Things Considered segment explains the whys and the hows. (NPR)

MARKETVOICES…QUOTES WORTH READING

“In the study, we discovered the healthcare workforce is in peril. I believe that the 'Great Resignation' we are seeing across all sectors of the economy hasn’t yet fully hit us in healthcare.”—Christine Sinsky, MD, AMA vice president of professional satisfaction and lead author of an AMA study on clinicians leaving the profession, quoted by Fierce Healthcare