October 1, 2021 | Deploying postal carriers as health workers
INDUSTRY NEWS
Insurers balk at pricey COVID tests
The emergency legislation that gave Americans fast and free access to COVID tests requires health insurers to cover them. Labs with no negotiated rates with insurers can charge a cash price the insurers had to pay. Now, some insurers and consumers are incensed over labs that charge 10 times or more than Medicare’s rate of $51 per test. The insurers allege in lawsuits that some labs are profiteering. Research published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found widespread variation on coronavirus test prices, ranging from 1 cent to $14,750 per test. (Journal of General Internal Medicine; USA Today)
MACPAC: Behavioral health providers need more HIT tools
Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program won't achieve significant progress on their goals if behavioral health providers don't have the health IT to make it possible, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission Commissioner Darin Gordon said during a recent MACPAC meeting. To that end, MACPAC is developing recommendations for Congress on improving health IT adoption among behavioral health providers, Modern Healthcare reports. MACPAC is also looking into asking congress to require EHRs to have consent-management tools, which would be especially useful in substance-use-disorder treatments. (Modern Healthcare*)
INNOVATION & TRANSFORMATION
Deploying postal carriers as health workers
Elisabeth Rosenthal, editor-in-chief of Kaiser Health News, has a not-so-modest proposal: Let postal carriers conduct home visits and basic health checks on the frail and elderly. “Why not instead redeploy some of the U.S. Postal Service’s vast supply of human resources to deliver a service our aging population — and our country — desperately needs?” It’s being done successfully and profitably in other countries, including France and Japan. The idea that the USPS could get engage in home health services — to fill a need and earn money — isn’t new. The USPS Office of Inspector General suggested it in March. (Kaiser Health News)
Integrating pharmacists into primary care: What to consider
Integrating pharmacists into primary care yields tremendous benefits, but an Advisory Board survey found that only about half of primary care clinics have dedicated pharmacy support. To help other practices make the transition, the Advisory Board suggests four questions for PCPs, including, Who is the pharmacist’s end customer? “Pharmacists who work with patients can provide comprehensive medication management, which can help free up some of the PCP's time while ensuring quality patient care,” while pharmacists who work directly with PCPs directly can often cover patients more efficiently. (Advisory Board)
CONSUMERS & PROVIDERS
Ransomware can be deadly for patients
Ransomware attacks have human outcomes--not merely operational and financial. A new Ponemon Institute report finds that ransomware attacks during the pandemic have had a deleterious impact on patient safety, data and overall care availability. Of the 597 health care IT and security professionals responding to the survey, 71% of those whose organization had experienced a ransomware attack said it resulted in longer patient stays, 70% reported delayed tests and procedures, 65% reported an increase in patient transfers and diversions, 36% said they saw increased care complications and 22% saw higher mortality. (Healthcare IT News; report)
Study: ACE associated with neurologic conditions
Adults with neurologic conditions are more likely than the general population to have had adverse childhood experiences (ACE) such as abuse, neglect or household dysfunction, according to research published in Neurology Clinical Practice. “Early recognition of these high adverse childhood experiences in people with neurologic conditions may be a way to improve their health,” lead author Adys Mendizabal, MD of UCLA said in a prepared statement. Participants with high ACE scores were also six times more likely to have an additional medical condition and five times more likely to also have a psychiatric condition. (Neurology Clinical Practice; announcement)
NEW & NOTED
Dying off: Alabama's population is declining for the first time in state's history as a result of COVID-19. The state recorded more deaths than births in 2020. (Salon.com)
Race-neutral kidney assessments: A scientific task force recently recommended abandoning a common measure of kidney function that adjusts results by race, providing different assessments for Black patients than for others. Doctors should rely on a race-neutral method for diagnosing and managing kidney disease, concluded a report from the National Kidney Foundation and the American Society of Nephrology. (New York Times)
Can’t afford prescriptions: An estimated 15.5 million adults under 65 and 2.3 million seniors were unable to pay for at least one doctor-prescribed medication in their household, according to a new study from West Health and Gallup. (Physicians Weekly; West Health announcement)
MULTI-MEDIA
Virtual health assistants: The next new normal
In this 6-minute HIMSS TV video, Yaa Kumah-Crystal, MD, assistant professor of biomedical informatics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, explains how voice-directed virtual health assistants are the future for both patients and providers. (Healthcare IT News)
MARKETVOICES…QUOTES WORTH READING
"Individuals diagnosed with severe mental illness die on average 25 years earlier than those in the general population. This needs to change. It's possible by recognizing the importance and value of fully integrated care, truly weaving behavioral healthcare into the larger healthcare landscape, and adequately supporting behavioral health organizations of all sizes in the work that they do via realistic and sustained funding mechanisms."— Brooke Hammond, director at Texas-based Integral Care, quoted in Modern Healthcare*