2022 Patient Consumer Survey: From JLL. Some highlights:
—”Overall, 83% of patients are traveling less than 30 minutes to access care, though this is down from 89% in 2020. Those who traveled 45 minutes or more were more often seeking acute care, either in a surgery center or hospital, or seeking behavioral health services. Patients prioritize locational convenience over facility quality, which has remained true since 2020….
—Of those who had an in-person doctor’s appointment, had taken a visit to the hospital or had another non-dental medical service since July 1, 70% found location convenience either very or extremely important when selecting a healthcare provider. Location convenience is most important to millennials and respondents in urban communities….
—The overall sentiment surrounding choosing a healthcare provider that’s closer or newly built did not change from the 2020 survey—83% would prefer to be closer to care, even if the facility is old; 17% would drive further for a newly built facility….
—Even if an appointment is available sooner via telehealth, baby boomers are much less likely to schedule a telehealth appointment than other generations, especially when compared to millennials, who were the most likely. Millennials prefer convenience and efficiency, while baby boomers prefer more personalized care and perhaps have strong ties to their medical providers given increased need for care among this age group…
—70% of behavioral health/psychiatry clinic respondents would take an earlier available telehealth appointment, while only 38% of doctor’s office (with physician other than primary care) respondents would…
—A majority of Gen Z respondents find their experiences very positive but, compared to the other generations, have the most average to below average experiences…
—A majority of respondents who had an in-person doctor’s appointment, had taken a visit to the hospital or had another non-dental medical service since July 1 did not check reviews of hospitals or healthcare facilities before their visit.”
About Covid-19
COVID DATA TRACKER WEEKLY REVIEW: “As of March 2, 2022, the current 7-day moving average of daily new cases (53,017) decreased 28.5% compared with the previous 7-day moving average (74,143). A total of 78,977,146 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the United States as of March 2, 2022.”
About pharma
GoodRx to acquire pharmacy services platform for $150M: GoodRx has entered a definitive agreement to acquire VitaCare Prescription Services, a digital pharmacy services platform…
The platform is designed to help patients understand their coverage and find savings opportunities for brand medications.”
Biogen Begins Layoffs Amid Disappointing Aduhelm Sales: “Biogen has begun laying off large numbers of its workforce as the company scrambles to save $500 million amid lackluster sales of its controversial Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm (aducanumab).
The company has not specified how many people it will ultimately let go, but the number could reportedly be as high as 10 percent of its workforce. In its latest annual Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Biogen said it had 9,610 worldwide employees with 5,645 employees in the U.S. and 3,965 abroad.”
About the public’s health
First-ever malaria vaccine recommendation now published in a position paper and in the WHO guidelines for malaria: “WHO recommends the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine be used for the prevention of P. falciparummalaria in children living in regions with moderate to high transmission as defined by WHO.
The malaria vaccine recommendation was recently added to WHO's consolidated malaria guidelines on the MAGICapp platform. The guidelines bring together the Organization's most up-to-date recommendations for malaria in one user-friendly online platform.”
Hospital stops therapies after gender-confirming care order: “The nation’s largest pediatric hospital has announced it has stopped gender-affirming therapies after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the state’s child welfare agency to investigate reports of gender-confirming care for kids as abuse.
Texas Children’s Hospital, located in Houston, announced that its decision to stop such hormone-related prescription therapies was made after it reviewed Abbott’s order, which came when Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton last month released a nonbinding legal opinion that labeled certain gender-confirming treatments as ‘child abuse.’”
Exercise Helps You Sleep, But Which Workout Is Best?: “For study participants who had been unable to regularly get at least seven hours of sleep, weight training added an average 40 minutes of shuteye, said lead researcher Angelique Brellenthin, an assistant professor of kinesiology at Iowa State University.
By comparison, aerobic exercise increased sleep time by 23 minutes for another group with similar sleep problems, Brellenthin said.”
About healthcare IT
CVS files to trademark its pharmacy and health clinics in the metaverse: “CVS Health is looking to be the first pharmacy in the metaverse.
The drugstore and health services company filed for a trademark to sell virtual goods, NFTs and provide health care services, joining major retailers like Walmart and Nike.
In its filing with U.S. Patent Trade Office, CVS is looking to trademark its logo and to provide an online store, as well as downloadable virtual goods, including ‘prescription drugs, health, wellness, beauty and personal care products.’”
Allscripts expands online application store: “Allscripts relaunched its online application store to showcase more certified apps and devices available to its clients.
The rebranded platform will allow for all active developers, who have an app or device that has been built and certified through the Allscripts Developer Program, to feature their apps via the new Allscripts App Expo.”
Three cybersecurity companies to offer free protection to U.S. hospitals and utilities amid concerns of hacking attacks: “… endpoint protection company CrowdStrike, two-factor authentication provider Ping Identity, and Cloudflare, which is best known for guarding websites from automated denial-of-service attacks that would otherwise knock them offline, are offering their services free to the organizations most often thought at risk.
In an announcement Monday, the three said they would give away four months of their services to U.S. hospitals, which have been frequent targets of Russian-speaking ransomware gangs, and to electricity and water utilities, which are vital to everyday life.”
About healthcare personnel
2021 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report: “From a nursing perspective, the labor market continues to tighten with 39.8% of hospitals projecting to increase their RN staff. This is down 19.2% from last year. In 2020, the turnover rate for staff RNs increased by 2.8% and currently stands at 18.7%. Registered Nurses working in burn care, surgical services and women’s health recorded the lowest turnover rate, while nurses working in step down, behavior health and emergency services experienced the highest.
The cost of turnover can have a profound impact on diminishing hospital margins and needs to be managed. According to the survey, the average cost of turnover for a bedside RN is $40,038 and ranges from $28,400 to $51,700 resulting in the average hospital losing between $3.6m – $6.5m/yr. Each percent change in RN turnover will cost/save the average hospital an additional $270,800/yr.”
Other impressive statistics from the report: “Last year, hospital turnover increased by 1.7% and currently stands at 19.5%. Since 2016, the average hospital turned over 90.8% of its workforce.”