Wednesday, March 29, 2017
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Now that the GOP health care bill has failed to make it to a vote, what's next? A few moderates and centrists from both sides of the Congressional aisle--and even White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus--are talking about a bipartisan health care bill.
Kaiser Health News offers a roundup of the coverage. (
KHN;
The Hill)
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Sixty-four percent of health care providers responding to the Health IT Industry Outlook Survey indicated they were “unprepared” or “very unprepared” for the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act. Lack of budget (44 percent) and lack of qualified job canditates (43 percent) were cited as the top reasons why health care organizations are not fully staffed in their IT departments. (
Healthcare IT News;
survey results)
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Innovation & Transformation
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Business Insider recently provided an overview of direct primary care, including its history, its successes and the challenges it faces. DPC practices don’t accept insurance for routine visits. Instead, they charge a monthly fee that covers primary care visits and discounts on medicine. Despite challenges, the approach is slowly catching on. “In 10 years, we’re going to be an overnight success,” says one provider. (Business Insider)
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As it seems to be every budget cycle, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is back in the news and possibly on the chopping block. But what does it do? In part, its mission is to “produce evidence to make health care safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable, and affordable.” For example, it convenes the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Each year, the USPSTF makes a report to Congress that identifies critical evidence gaps in research related to clinical preventive services and recommends priority areas that deserve further examination. (USPSTF; reports)
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Telemedicine visits could save one person $156 in direct travel costs, four hours of driving time and 278 miles over 20 years, according to research published in Value in Health. Overall, researchers found telemedicine improved patient care, benefited primary care physicians who were able to interact with specialists more often, and also provided environmental benefits. “I believe that telemedicine not only results in equivalent health care for patients in remote areas but better care, particularly for those with complex medical conditions,” says James Marcin, MD, MPH, principal investigator. (MobiHealthNews; Value in Health)
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Many chronically ill patients who would benefit from a medium-coverage health insurance plan and preventive care are instead choosing comprehensive insurance plans, driving up medical costs, according to a recent study. “Our results indicate that there exists a sizable segment of consumers who purchase more comprehensive plans than needed because of high uncertainty vis-à-vis their health status, and that once in the plan, they opt for curative care even when their illness could be managed through preventive care,” the study says. (
HealthLeaders Media;
Marketing Science)
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Patients aren’t accessing their medical records because they can't aggregate all of their information into a single EHR, according to a new Government Accountability Office report. The GAO added that patients generally have to manage separate login information for each provider-specific portal, and noted the Department of Health and Human Services isn’t doing enough to measure how much patients are using their medical records. (
Modern Healthcare;
GAO report)
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Although health IT tools can help prevent patient safety problems, they can also lead to significant patient safety errors if they’re not used correctly, according to research from the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority
. Between January 1 and June 30, 2016, Pennsylvania health care facilities reported 889 medication error events that had health IT as a contributing factor. Computerized prescriber order entry systems and pharmacy systems were the most commonly reported systems involved in the errors. (
HealthLeaders Media;
Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority)
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The U.S. has one of the lowest labor-participation rates for prime working-age men among developed countries. One theory--explored in
The Atlantic--is that they suffer from serious health conditions that make it difficult for them to work. Their health deteriorates, which compounds the p
roblem. And many then turn to painkillers. Obesity and diabetes play key roles, according to the
authors, who note
that both affect people with a high school education or less--the very ones disappearing from the labor force. (
The Atlantic)
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More adverse events: There were 1.2 million reports filed with the FDA’s adverse events reporting system in 2015, up from 206,000 in 2004; that’s a greater-than-five-fold increase. (
FiercePharma)
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Advisory Board, Evolent, ponder merger: Reuters reports that health care technology provider Evolent Health is exploring a possible merger with the Advisory Board Co. The Advisory Board has already been targeted by activist fund Elliott Management, according to Reuters. A merger would be a reunion, of sorts: Advisory Board helped launch Evolent five years ago. (
Reuters)
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VBID and deductibles: The authors of a recent
Health Affairs report find that value-based insurance design can offset reductions in medication adherence associated with switching to a high-deductible plan. (
Health Affairs)
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Joe Antos, PhD, the Wilson H. Taylor Scholar in Health Care and Retirement Policy at the American Enterprise Institute, joins AEI’s
Banter podcast to discuss the American Health Care Act and the attempt to pass it last week. He explains the AHCA's framework, the limitations of the reconciliation process and where conservatives should go next. (
AEI)
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MarketVoices...quotes worth reading
“In order to reform health care in this country, we’re going to have to do it in a durable, sustainable way and in a bipartisan manner.”--Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) on NBC’s Meet the Press, quoted by The Hill
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Copyright 2009-2017,
H2R Minutes
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