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Wednesday, February 15, 2017
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Drug companies may have been uncertain whether President Trump thinks the government should get involved in negotiating Medicare prescription drug prices. Current U.S. law prohibits Medicare officials from interfering in negotiations between drugmakers and the insurance companies that administer Medicare’s prescription plans. But White House spokesman Sean Spicer, when asked whether the president favors having Medicare negotiate lower prices, said, “He’s for it, yes. Absolutely.” Spicer further said the U.S. should be doing what other countries do--bring the government’s purchasing power to bear to get a better deal on medicine prices. (
NPR)
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Last week, the Senate--along party lines--confirmed Tom Price, MD, as secretary of Health and Human Services.
Fierce Healthcare offers a primer on Price. Among the insights: He may revive high-risk insurance pools; he is a champion of health IT legislation who says the government has a role in interoperability; he wants to privatize Medicare; and will likely support cuts to Medicaid. (
FierceHealthcare)
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In a
Health Affairs Blog post, Susan DeVore, president and CEO of Premier, Inc., shares five health trends to watch in 2017. Among them: A renewed focus on consumerism. “Not only is care going beyond the four walls of the provider organization, but so is the entire buying experience,” she says. At the policy level, it could involve laws to protect or empower consumers, who are increasingly becoming the “payer” in health care. “For 2017, clinicians need to [...] start thinking about providing a customer experience that rivals the top consumer brands.” (
Health Affairs Blog)
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Innovation & Transformation
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Value-based care models, including bundled payments for hip and knee replacements, reduce costs and unnecessary care while improving quality, according to analysis from the Altarum Institute’s Center for Payment Innovation. As the title suggests, the paper aims at “Debunking the Argument that the Bundled Payment for Care Improvement Program (BPCI) Contributed to Higher Procedure Volumes.” (
Altarum Institute;
McKnight’s)
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Camden Coalition and UnitedHealthcare announced a $15 million strategic partnership that will focus on scaling new models of care for patients based on Jeffrey Brenner, MD’s, work identifying social determinants of health. Brenner has joined United as senior vice president of integrated health and human services. According to the
Philadelphia Inquirer, the deal gives Brenner entry to markets and a corporate infrastructure to take his ideas nationwide. “By partnering with the Camden Coalition, we have an unprecedented opportunity to make a transformational impact on our health, behavioral and social service systems,” Austin Pittman, chief executive of UnitedHealthcare Community & State, said in a statement. (
Philadelphia Inquirer)
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Moving to capped payments in Medicaid--either by block grants or per capita caps--could dramatically reduce federal spending on the program, according to analysis from Avalere Health. A GOP proposal to fund Medicaid through block grants could save $150 billion over five years. Shifting to per capita caps, in which states would receive a set amount of money per beneficiary, would save $110 billion over five years. Democrats say either proposal would lead to slashed benefits for beneficiaries and higher costs for states. (
Avalere analysis;
The Hill)
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Most states have apology laws that allow physicians to apologize without incurring medical malpractice liability. However, a paper from Vanderbilt University indicates these laws do not achieve their intended purpose--reducing malpractice lawsuits. “In general, the results are not consistent with the intended effect of apology laws, as these laws do not generally reduce either the total number of claims or the number claims that result in a lawsuit,” according to the study. (
Becker’s Hospital Review;
paper)
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Sepsis causes more hospital readmissions than those conditions used by CMS to assess readmission penalties, according to a research letter published in
JAMA. Specifically, 12.2 percent of readmissions were caused by sepsis. The conditions tracked by CMS--heart failure, pneumonia, COPD and heart attack--accounted for 6.7, 5, 4.6 and 1.3 percent, respectively. “If we, as a nation, place such high emphasis on reducing readmissions for the other four conditions, then we really need to look for opportunities to improve outcomes for sepsis,” lead researcher Florian B. Mayr, MD, MPH, tells
McKnight’s. (
McKnight’s;
JAMA)
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When physicians don’t talk to patients about the cost of care, patients are often blindsided by bills. The result: They may stop coming to appointments, fail to get precriptions refilled and generally ignore their care plan. The effect, according to
Managed Healthcare Executive, is higher long-term costs--for payers, providers and patients. But if consumers have access to the cost information in advance they will file fewer complaints and express a greater level of satisfaction with their care’s clinical aspects. That’s not happening, but it should, according to the experts interviewed. The article includes tips to help physicians talk about costs. (
Managed Healthcare Executive)
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The year of the antivaxxer? “It’s looking as if 2017 could become the year when the anti-vaccination movement gains ascendancy in the United States,” warns Peter J. Hotez, MD, a pediatrician at Baylor College of Medicine. He expects the first “blow” to be an outbreak of measles. (
The New York Times op ed)
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Work and health, visualized: The current issue of
Health Affairs explores the complex and constantly evolving relationship between work and health. Last week, it hosted a briefing on the topic, summarizing it in a “Storified” graphic overview. (
Health Affairs)
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On Twitter, 45 is 45: Who has the most Twitter followers? On Monday, President Donald Trump ranked, appropriately enough, 45th. The top three: Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and Barack Obama. Twitaholic robots scan Twitter a few times a day to come up with the rankings. No health-related Tweeters made the list. (
Twitaholic)
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In a 37-minute interview on
Fresh Air, Sarah Kliff, a senior policy correspondent at
Vox, discusses the challenges associated with repeal of the ACA. “One of the things that makes it very hard to price shop right now is there’s just such a lack of transparency in the health care industry,” she says. “Just published a story this week on
Vox about a college student who got some stitches in his finger and then received a bill for $2,800. It was, like, a five-minute procedure.” (
Fresh Air;
Vox)
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MarketVoices...quotes worth reading
“Without question, 2017 is going to be a year of change. But through it all, we must remember the larger purpose. Republican or Democrat, we’re all aligned behind designing a health care system that is coordinated, innovative, cost-effective, high-quality, available, and affordable for all Americans. If we keep the end goals in focus, this could be the year of tremendous promise and progress.”--Susan DeVore, president and CEO of Premier, Inc., in a Health Affairs Blog post
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Copyright 2009-2017,
H2R Minutes
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