In the News

• Unnecessary MRI exams may be symptoms of a larger healthcare problem (MedicalExpress)

• In efforts to speed up the global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, the Biden administration has announced its support for waiving COVID-19 vaccine intellectual property (PhamrNews)

• EU Tepid on Biden Call to Waive Intellectual Property Rights for Covid-19 Vaccines (Wall Street Journal)
• Vaccine patent waivers face more hurdles despite Biden support (MSN/The Hill)

• Predictive Analytics Model Forecasts Disease Spread, Trends (HealthPayer)

• Study: A kernel-modulated SIR model for Covid-19 contagious spread from county to continent
• Related:Predictive Analytics Model Underperforms in Black Populations (HealthIT)

• Physicians in independent practice now minority in US (HealthcareDive)

• AMA Policy Perpsecitve:Recent Changes in Physician Practice Arrangements

• When hospitals buy physician groups, Medicare spending increases, study finds (Becker’s)

• Puzzling Hospital Ranking Report on Unnecessary Services: Based on Incomplete Data, Omits Important Clinical Details (AHA)

• HHS announces a new program will reimburse providers for administering vaccines to patients enrolled in health plans that do not cover the service or cover with patient cost-sharing (RevCycle)

• Use of New CPT Codes Depends on Practice Arrangement (Medscape)

• CMS to Adopt Rules to Lower Health Care Costs in 2022 Federal Health Insurance Marketplace Plans (CMS)

• CMS Proposes $2.5B IPPS Rate Hike, With Eye on Rural, Health Equity (RevCycle)

• Assessment of Overuse of Medical Tests and Treatments at US Hospitals Using Medicare Claims (JAMA Network)

• Humana Continues Home Healthcare Expansion in $8.1B Acquisition (HealthPayer)

• Screening healthcare workers could serve as early warning system for future viruses (MedicalExpress)

• How Lowering the Medicare Eligibility Age Might Affect Employer-Sponsored Insurance Costs (Peterson-KFF)

• Predicting Intensive Care Transfers and Other Unforeseen Events: Analytic Model Validation Study and Comparison to Existing Methods (JMIR)

• Hospital margins remain narrow in March as COVID-19 financial strain lingers (HealthCareDive)

• Health Affairs Article Misses the Mark on Physician-Owned Hospitals (AHA)

• Reversing Hospital Consolidation (Health Affairs)

• Early results from federal price transparency rule show difficulty in estimating the cost of care (Health System Tracker)

• Medicare patients who receive care at hospital off-campus departments are more likely to be sicker and poorer than those at physician offices (RevCycle)

• AHA Study Summary: Comparison of Care in Hospital Outpatient Departments and Independent Physician Offices

• FDA to scrutinize unproven cancer drugs after 10-year gap (ABC News)

• In two separate studies, Mayo Clinic researchers leveraged genomic data to better understand the pathology of colon cancer and Alzheimer’s disease (HealthIT)

• Novel non-opioid approach to relieve pain after knee surgery (NewsMedical)

• HHS Secretary Becerra Approves Illinois Waiver Request to Extend Postpartum Medicaid Coverage (HealthPayer)

• New Survey Reveals How Hospital Supply Chains Affect Nurses, Patient Safety, and Margins (Health Leaders)

• CMS proposes 1.3% pay increase for skilled nursing providers — with plenty of strings attached (McKnights)

• Related: Medicare payments are slated to increase 1.8% for inpatient rehabilitation facilities and 2.3% for inpatient psychiatric facilities, according to two proposed rules from CMS (RevCycle)
• Proposed FY 2022 IRF Prospective Payment System rule (Federal Register)

• A new big data framework leverages epidemiological and socioeconomic risk factors to identify populations vulnerable to COVID-19 and other infectious diseases (HealthAnalytics)

• Study: Precision Mapping of COVID-19 Vulnerable Locales by Epidemiological and Socioeconomic Risk Factors, Developed Using South Korean Data (MDPI)

• Physicians reported that prior authorization programs delayed necessary care access and lead to poor patient outcomes during COVID-19’s peak (HealthPayer)

• 2020 AMA prior authorization (PA)physician survey

• Study: 1 in 3 women with prenatal Medicaid lack coverage before or after pregnancy (FierceHealth)

• A blood test made up of RNA biomarkers can tailor medication choices to individual patients with mood disorders, leading to precision medicine treatments (HealthIT)

• Abstract: Precision medicine for mood disorders: objective assessment, risk prediction, pharmacogenomics, and repurposed drugs (Nature: Molecular Psychiatry)

• Families With Sick Kids on Medicaid Seek Easier Access to Out-of-State Hospitals (KHN)

• Operating margins will be negative for more hospitals compared to the pre-pandemic period even if vaccine rollout goes smoothly and COVID-19 hospitalizations drop (Health Payer)

• COVID-19 in 2021:Pressure Continues on Hospital Margins (Kaufman Hall for AHA)
• Hospitals and Health Systems Continue to Face Unprecedented Financial Challenges due to COVID-19 (AHA)

• Working Paper: Does Private Equity Investment in Healthcare Benefit Patients- Evidence from Nursing Homes (National Bureau of Economic Research/nbrg.org)

Blogs We Follow

Popular Site Destinations

Job Bank

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Federal Agency Blogs

COVID-19 Information

Starting Points:

• U. S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

• CASES, DATA & SURVEILLANCE

• 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:

• Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform (CHQPR) Report Summary on Pandemic and Rural Hospital Closure Risk
• Four COVID Vaccines Compared (Medscape)
• CDC’s COVID-19 Vaccination Program Interim Playbook for Jurisdiction Operations
• The Costs of Coronavirus (JAMA Network)
• Largest COVID-19 contact tracing study to date finds children key to spread, evidence of superspreaders (Princeton)
• Evidence-Based Practice for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (National Acadamies 2020)
• National Insitutes of Health
• 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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