June 17, 2021 | To drive vaccine uptake, instill confidence

INDUSTRY NEWS

Health care costs to increase 6.5% in 2022

Health care costs are projected to increase 6.5% in 2022, according to a new PwC Health Research Institute report. That’s slightly lower than the 7% medical cost trend in 2021 and slightly higher than it was between 2016 and 2020. The primary driver: care that was deferred or forgone during the pandemic. Other factors include growing mental health issues, preparations for the next pandemic and investments in new digital tools that are expected. (Modern Healthcare*; PwC report)

UHC to delay controversial ED policy

UnitedHealthcare has decided to postpone a controversial policy that would retroactively deny emergency department bills it deemed non-emergent. The insurer faced a tremendous backlash from providers, patients, patient advocates and hospital groups. But it’s only a delay: UnitedHealthcare says it planned to use the time to "educate consumers, customers and providers on the new policy and help ensure that people visit an appropriate site of service for non-emergency care needs." (Healthcare Dive)

INNOVATION & TRANSFORMATION

To drive vaccine uptake, instill confidence

Ending the pandemic requires widespread vaccination. To address that end, the nonpartisan GTMRx National Task Force released Report and Recommendations of the GTMRx National Task Force—Building Vaccine Confidence in the Health Neighborhood. It includes various recommendations for short- and long-term vaccine success. Its central theme: If we are to build vaccine confidence, we must enlist trusted voices in the health neighborhood. The task force calls on communities to create grassroots organizations, dubbed Vaccine Confidence Leagues, to mobilize trusted messengers from those communities to address individuals’ concerns and boost vaccine confidence and uptake. (Market Watch; GTMRx report; GTMRx blog)

Direct primary care: Fierce competition, huge opportunities

Subscription-based direct primary care (DPC) companies face stiff competition from each other, large regional health systems and their affiliated physician groups, retail clinics and even telehealth companies. DPC has significant room for growth; it has only a tiny share of the U.S. primary care market. It’s also poised to take advantage of frustration with the medical status quo. They’re also adapting to that status quo: “While positioning themselves as “disrupters” … many direct care companies nonetheless participate in the networks of their members’ health plans, and some receive fee-for-service payments from those plans,” KHN reports. (Kaiser Health News)

Rate of telehealth use declines, but less than before

Telehealth use dropped for the second month in a row in March, though the rate of decline slowed a bit, according to new data tracked by nonprofit Fair Health. Telehealth claim lines, as a percentage of all medical claims among the commercially insured population, fell 5.1% nationally from February to March, following a sharper drop of 15.7% from January to February as vaccination efforts ramped up and COVID-19 cases declined as a result. (Healthcare Dive; Fair Health)

CONSUMERS & PROVIDERS

Americans want to get vaccine at their doctor’s office

Most unvaccinated Americans (52%) want to receive their COVID vaccine at their physician’s office, according to a new poll from the African American Research Collaborative and The Commonwealth Fund. The survey also found that nearly one-third of unvaccinated Black Americans and one-fifth of unvaccinated Native Americans with some degree of vaccine hesitancy say the discrimination their communities have faced within the health care system makes it hard to trust COVID-19 vaccines. (survey results)

NEW & NOTED

SCOTUS and the ACA, part 3: The U.S. Supreme Court could issue a ruling against the ACA as early as today (Thursday). Based on November’s oral arguments, it appears unlikely that SCOTUS will overturn the law, according to Reuters. This is the third time SCOTUS has had to rule on the ACA. (Reuters)

No more 36-year-old geriatrics: Peanut, a social network for mothers, is calling for a “Renaming Revolution. It has created a glossary of more than 60 new and improved, nonjudgmental medical terms. Among those due for a change: "Hostile uterus." "Geriatric pregnancy." "Failed pregnancy." "Lazy ovary." (CNN)

Why don’t patients visit their doctors? People are avoiding doctor visits; nearly 20% have not seen a doctor in more than five years, according to a survey by OnlineDoctor.com. Among the reasons cited: distrust, discrimination, cost, lack of transparency and lack of access. (Medical Economics)

MULTI-MEDIA

Catch up on ACA, CMS chief and other news

The current episode of Kaiser Health News’ “What the Health” podcast discusses the fact that a record 31 million Americans have health insurance as a direct result of the Affordable Care Act. It also features interview with new CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. And to mark the podcast’s 200th episode, the panelists discuss what has surprised them most and least over the past four years. (KHN’s “What the Health?”)

MARKETVOICES...QUOTES WORTH READING

“Lack of COVID-19 vaccine confidence is a serious barrier to public health efforts to protect the population. Without widespread vaccination, we are at increased risk that new, more deadly variants of the virus will develop over time. To spare lives, it’s crucial that more people here and around the world become vaccinated. If there is one thing we have learned from this pandemic, it is the need for a stronger, better resourced public health system to adequately protect the public’s health.”—Georges C. Benjamin, MD, executive director of the American Public Health Association, on the new report from the bipartisan GTMRx National Task Force, quoted in Market Watch