May 7, 2020 | Reduced costs for employers?
INDUSTRY NEWS
COVID-19 could reduce costs for employers
Care deferrals related to COVID-19 could reduce employer health care costs by as much as 4% in 2020, according to a new Willis Towers Watson analysis of large, self-funded employers. That’s a stark contrast to a similar study conducted in April, which projected employer costs could rise by as much as 7% due to COVID-19-related costs. “With treatment for COVID-19 top of mind, people have been putting off non-emergency medical care, including routine office visits and elective procedures at hospitals,” Trevis Parson, chief actuary, Willis Towers Watson, said in a prepared statement. (HealthLeaders Media; announcement)
Expect 3,000 daily deaths by June 1
The Trump administration projects a steady rise in the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths over the next several weeks, reaching about 3,000 daily deaths on June 1, according to an internal document obtained by The New York Times. The current level of daily deaths: around 1,750. The projections are based on CDC’s modeling forecast of about 200,000 new cases each day by the end of the month (vs. 25,000 today). As the Times puts it on Monday, “While the United States has been hunkered down for the past seven weeks, not much has changed. And the reopening to the economy will make matters worse.” (New York Times; internal document)
INNOVATION & TRANSFORMATION
Remdesivir resurrected, but it’s no miracle drug
Remdesivir, the antiviral being explored as a COVID-19 therapy, isn’t new, of course. A failed treatment for hepatitis and Ebola, it had been, as the New York Times’ Gina Kolata reports, “consigned to the pharmaceutical scrap heap.” She details how it was resurrected, with federal funding, to take on the coronavirus. Friday, the FDA issued an emergency approval for remdesivir as a treatment for patients severely ill with COVID-19. It’s no silver bullet, however. It doesn’t significantly reduce fatality rates, and some critics argue the trial’s primary endpoint was simplified to emphasize time to recovery. (New York Times)
CONSUMERS & PROVIDERS
Instead of having a personal physician, patients will increasingly seek out visits—whether video or in-person—with whatever physician is accessible, predicted George Hill, managing director for Deutsche Bank Securities. He argued that as younger patients begin to age, they will become “provider agnostic.” There will be exceptions, but for the most part, the “idea of ‘my doctor’ is going to diminish,” he told attendees at the annual "Wall Street Comes to Washington" conference sponsored by the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy. (MedPage Today)
COVID-19 repercussions damaging mental health
The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic crisis are creating fresh mental health challenges and making it harder for those who already have mental illnesses and/or substance use disorders, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Nearly half of those living in the U.S. say their mental health has been negatively affected by the virus and its repercussions. This is likely to increase as the pandemic wears on. On top of that, there’s the poor mental health due to burnout among front-line workers and increased anxiety or mental illness among those with poor physical health to consider. (KFF issue brief)
Compassionate care: Patients needn’t die alone
People don’t need to die alone during this pandemic—but they are. “We believe that the U.S. health care system can do better,” write the physician-authors of a New England Journal of Medicine commentary. Creative workarounds are possible; telehealth tools offer a possible solution. “There may be no way for families to hold patients’ hands or hug them while they’re dying, but with the care and compassion of frontline health care workers, maybe we can harness creative solutions to help them feel some connection, while still keeping everyone safe.” (NEJM)
NEW & NOTED
Telehealth fraud concerns: Telehealth has ballooned in recent weeks, improving access and allowing providers to continue to care for their patients and get paid. But, warn some, this increases the opportunity for billing fraud. Of particular concern: Some telemedicine companies may take advantage of Medicare patients they contact at their homes. (Kaiser Health News)
Training nurses in behavioral health: University of California nursing schools at UCLA, UCSF and UC-Davis are collaborating on a new one-year online training program for mental health care as a surge of patients is expected due to the social isolation and economic impact of COVID-19. (Kaiser Health News)
Insurers can help PCPs: Many primary care practices are in danger of closing at a time when strong primary care, working with public heath, is essential. Insurers can help keep this from happening. Julie Schilz of Mathematica’s Health Unit discusses how commercial insurers can support vulnerable primary care practices. (Milbank)
MULTI-MEDIA
Elvis Francois, MD, the orthopedic surgery resident who become an internet singing sensation, is releasing his first EP Friday. All proceeds go to The Center of Disaster Philanthropy COVID-19 Response Fund. He is finishing his residency at Mayo Clinic and will begin a fellowship in spine surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. (Medscape; Elvis singing “Lean on Me”)
MARKETVOICES...QUOTES WORTH READING
Patients will “want to be served in their manner, on their terms, in a way that suits them, as opposed to walking into a primary care office and potentially waiting in the lobby for an hour to an hour and a half to spend $250 for the 6.5 minutes they got with their overworked primary care provider.”—George Hill, managing director for Deutsche Bank Securities at the annual “Wall Street Comes to Washington” conference sponsored by the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy, quoted in MedPage Today