About hospitals and healthcare systems
CMS finalizes 4.3% bump for hospital inpatient payments in 2023 “The Biden administration finalized a 4.3% bump for inpatient payments for the federal fiscal year 2023, an increase compared to the 3.2% that was originally proposed back in April….
Acute care hospitals paid under the IPPS and also meaningfully use electronic health records can expect to see a 4.3% increase in their rates based on a market basket update of 4.1%…
Long-term care hospitals can expect to see hikes of 2.4% in payments or $71 million…
The rule adds three measures to the inpatient quality reporting program focused on equity. The first aims to assess a hospital’s equity culture by examining strategic planning and leadership engagement. The other two measures focus on screening and identification of social needs such as food insecurity and transportation….
Other updates in the final rule include:
Creation of a “birthing-friendly” hospital designation that provides important information to consumers on how the hospital has reduced maternal morbidity and mortality.
Continuing current COVID-19 reporting requirements for hospitals and critical access hospitals but it will not finalize proposed requirements for any future public health emergencies.
A distribution of roughly $6.8 billion in uncompensated care payments for fiscal year 2023, a decline of approximately $318 million from the previous fiscal year. The change reflects projections on the impact of the pandemic, CMS said.”
About pharma
Optum, Sanofi team to make low-cost insulin available to uninsured “The UnitedHealth Group subsidiary announced Monday that it would make a 30-day supply of insulin available for $35 on Optum Store for those who do not have insurance. The insulin is available now for patients who have a valid prescription for the drug.
The news comes on the heels of an announcement from UnitedHealthcare that the insurer will eliminate cost-sharing on five preferred drugs, including insulin and several emergency medications, for people who are enrolled in its fully insured group plans.”
About the public’s health
PCORI approves $258 million to fund research studies addressing mental health, heart-related care, and a range of chronic and acute conditions “The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has approved funding awards totaling $258 million to support 26 new research studies. These studies aim to fill evidence gaps and improve health care decision making for a range of high-burden conditions among adults and children, including asthma, bone fractures, migraines, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and sinus infections.
Five comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) studies focus on improving mental health and another four CER studies focus on heart conditions, which have both continued to worsen in the U.S. amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additionally, PCORI… announced about $3.9 million for two projects that aim to promote wider, faster adoption of useful findings from completed PCORI-funded CER studies into typical care practices.”
Cardiovascular Disease Projections in the United States Based on the 2020 Census Estimates “By the year 2060, compared with the year 2025, the number of people with diabetes mellitus will increase by 39.3% (39.2 million [M] to 54.6M), hypertension by 27.2% (127.8M to 162.5M), dyslipidemia by 27.5% (98.6M to 125.7M), and obesity by 18.3% (106.3M to 125.7M). Concurrently, projected prevalence will similarly increase compared with 2025 for ischemic heart disease by 31.1% (21.9M to 28.7M), heart failure by 33.0% (9.7M to 12.9M), myocardial infarction by 30.1% (12.3M to 16.0M), and stroke by 34.3% (10.8M to 14.5M). Among White individuals, the prevalence of CV risk factors and disease is projected to decrease, whereas significant increases are projected in racial and ethnic minorities.”
Biden names FEMA, CDC officials to head monkeypox response “The White House said Biden will announce Tuesday that he has tapped Robert Fenton, who helped lead FEMA’s mass vaccination effort for COVID-19 as the agency’s acting administrator when Biden first took office, as the White House coordinator. Dr. Demetre Daskalakis of the CDC will be named his deputy. Daskalakis, the director of the agency’s HIV prevention division and a national expert on issues affecting the LGBTQ community, previously helped lead New York City’s COVID-19 response.”
About healthcare quality
NCQA Updates & Releases New Quality Measures for HEDIS® 2023 with a Focus on Health Equity “The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)… announced new and revised quality measures for health plans in the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) for measurement year 2023. Notable updates include the introduction of race/ethnicity stratifications and revisions to acknowledge and affirm member gender identity—changes that build on NCQA’s dedication to advancing health equity….”
To support this effort, one of the added HEDIS measures is:
”Social Need Screening and Intervention (SNS-E). To encourage health plans to assess and address the food, housing and transportation needs of their patient populations, this measure helps health plans identify specific needs and connect members with resources necessary to address unmet social needs. This measure assesses members who were screened, using prespecified instruments, at least once during the measurement period for unmet food, housing, and transportation needs, and who received a corresponding intervention if they screened positive.”
About healthcare IT
Healthcare ransomware attacks up 328% “Healthcare ransomware attacks jumped 328 percent in the second quarter of this year, despite a drop in the attacks globally, according to the 2022 midyear update of the ‘SonicWall Cyber Threat Report.’