In the News

• Key Considerations for Permanently Integrating Telehealth Coverage (HealthPayer)

• Related:
  Joint Commission Issues Telehealth Safety Advisory (Medscape); Advisory [PDF] (Joint Commission)
• Open Enrollment Marks Shift Toward Virtual member Engagement (Health Payer)

• Medicare has new tool to compare nursing homes, costs, hospitals. How good is it? (Miami Herald)

• CMS Care-Compare (Medicare)

• New Hospital Data from Colorado Shows Ventilator Use Fell Over Time And Coronavirus Patient Stays Grew Shorter (CPR News)

• Telemedicine use in the ER can yield positive results for patients and providers (Medical Net)

• Proactivity and partnership pay off for nursing homes in a pandemic, study suggests (EurekaAlert!)

• Predictive Analytics Models Forecast Prevalence of Flu Strains (IT Analytics)

• Study: Integrating genotypes and phenotypes improves long-term forecasts of seasonal influenza A/H3N2 evolution

• Rescue service piloting program to help with substance use, mental health crises (Herald Mail)

• Hospital Readmission Rates Following Outpatient Versus Inpatient Shoulder Arthroplasty (Healio)

• Program to improve outcomes for geriatric surgery patients shows promise (Medical Express)

• Related: New program results in shorter hospital stays, reduces post-surgery delirium in older adults (MedicalNet)

• 100 things to know about ASCs | 2020 (Beckers)

• Penn Med, PHMC lead coalition to save Mercy Philadelphia Hospital (WHYY.org)

• Transportation barriers to care may increase likelihood of emergency surgical intervention (Eureka!)

• Rethinking Covid-19 Test Sensitivity — A Strategy for Containment (NEJM Perspective)

• MedPAC supports changes to the development of Medicare Advantage plan payment benchmarks (Fierce Health)

• Program to improve outcomes for geriatric surgery patients shows promise in a hospital setting (FACS)

• Framework for Equitable Allocation of COVID-19 Vaccine (National Academies Press 2020)

• CMS'S Proposed Phase-Out of the Inpatient Only List is not Entirely Welcome News (National Law Review)

• Ransomware hack cripples Universal Health Services hospitals, facilities across the US (MSN)

• Related: Someone died because of ransomware: Time to give hospitals emergency security care (The Hill, Opinion)

• Private Payers Outpace Public Insurance in Value-Based Care Push (RevCycle)

• 2020 Scorecard on State Health System Performance (Commonwealth Fund)

• Cost, Health Literacy Cause for Concern Ahead of Medicare Open Enrollment (Health Payer)

• Census Bureau: Income, Poverty & Health Insurance Coverage in U.S.(Insurance Net)

• Op-Ed: Big data analytics in healthcare is all about ethics (Digital Journal)

• How Has Data Misuse Hurt COVID-19 Efforts? (Medscape)

• Partnering organizations are seeking to improve a provider’s ability to predict tumor response, leading to precision medicine in head and neck cancer care (IT Analytics)

• GAO report finds brokers offered false info on coverage for pre-existing conditions (The Hill)

• ED, Inpatient Volumes Stuck Despite Some Hospital Visit Recovery (RevCycle)

• A Pandemic Upshot: Seniors Are Having Second Thoughts About Where to Live (KHN)

• 66% of healthcare data breaches caused by hackers, HHS data shows (Beckers)

• 6 more health systems identified in Blackbaud security breach, bringing total to 27 (Beckers)
• Minnesota's second-largest health care data breach hits Children's, Allina (Star Tribune)

• The healthcare challenge: Protecting patient data privacy during a global pandemic (ITPro)

• Study finds disparities in receipt of home health care after hospital discharge (News-Medical Net)

• JAMA Network: Assessment of Receipt of the First Home Health Care Visit After Hospital Discharge Among Older Adults

• VA data breach exposes information of 46,000 veterans (UPI)

• Senators say 17,000 community care providers also impacted in VA breach (FedScoop)
• Following Breach, VA Officials Assert Data Privacy and Security are Priority (MeriTalk)

• CMS issues hospital IPPS final rule for FY 2021(AHA)

• Closer Look at the Inpatient Prospective Payment System Final Rule
• Medicare to Increase Payments in FY 2021

• Independent, smaller hospitals will need to make tough choices to survive COVID-19 financial crisis: analysis (Fierce Health)

• Private Equity-Acquired Hospitals Charge More for Common Services (RevCycle)

• Study: Changes in Hospital Income, Use, and Quality Associated With Private Equity Acquisition.



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Federal Agency Blogs

COVID-19 Information

Starting Points:

• U. S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
• State Health Departments
• NACCHO Directory Local Health Departments
• CMS Nursing Home Covid Data (1st report 5/24/2020)

• Related GAO Report: Infection Control Deficiencies Were Widespread and Persistent in Nursing Homes Prior to COVID-19 Pandemic

Guides & Resources for Reopening Workspaces:

• Kaiser Permanente Releases COVID-19 Playbook: Planning For The Next Normal At Work
• CDC Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers Responding to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

• CDC Workplace Decision Tree
• Summary of CDC guidelines on reopening businesses after the pandemic (Tech Republic)

Additional Resources:

• Evidence-Based Practice for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (National Acadamies 2020)
• John Hopkins ABX Guide: Coronavirus COVID-19
• The Covid Tracking Project:
• Oxford Martin School’s Our World Data -Covid 19
• University Of Minnesotta CIDRAP Covid Resources
• JAMA Sponsored Live Stream Q & A with CDC
• Kaiser Family Foundation COVID-19 News and Reports
• NEJM : A collection of articles and other resources on the Coronavirus (Covid-19)
• Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME): COVID-19 Resources
• Xtelligent Healthcare: Ongoing Updates on Latest Coronavirus for the Healthcare Community
• Penn Center for Research on Coronavirus and Other Emerging Pathogens Webinars (You Tube Channel)

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