The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services wants hospitals to post standard charges, but doing so won’t mean much, experts say. Standard rates are general—they don’t reflect health plan negotiated rates. Neither do they indicate patient health outcomes or what an individual consumer would actually pay. CMS is also seeking comments on how to make price transparency relevant to consumers, so they can compare prices.
(
MarketWatch
;
CMS announcement
;
Fortune
)
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A new value-based Medicare payment model for skilled nursing facilities is on tap for the next fiscal year that increases payments to skilled nursing providers by 2.4 percent, reduces red tape and requires more transparency. The program will apply either positive or negative incentive payments to SNFs based on their readmissions performance measures. New rules were also announced raising wages for hospice workers while requiring these providers to publicly report performance. Reducing redundant performance measures and extending performance periods will lower costs by $2 billion over the next decade, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services estimates. (
HealthPayer Intelligence
;
CMS announcement
;
Healthcare Finance
)
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Innovation & Transformation
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Consumer wearable giant Fitbit announced it will use Google’s Cloud Healthcare API to integrate data into patient electronic health records. The announcement follows Fitbit’s move into the employee health management space; using Google’s API will make it easier for other companies to create population health analysis tools using Fitbit data.
(
Mobihealthnews
)
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More news from last week’s long-term care prospective payment announcement: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services changed the name for its health IT interoperability program from “meaningful use” to “promoting interoperability.” CMS also reduced the number of program metrics from six to four: promoting interoperability: e-prescribing, health information exchange, provider-to-provider exchange and public health and clinical data exchange. Providers must use the 2015 edition of certified EHR technology to qualify for incentive payments under the proposed rule. Comments will be accepted until June 25.
(
Becker’s Hospital IT and CIO Report
)
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The current health care system doesn’t make it easy for consumers to “shop” for health care value, but there are steps savvy patients should take to avoid unexpected health costs. Asking if services are “in my network” rather than if the provider “takes my insurance” helps avoid out-of-network charges, as does writing “do not utilize any out-of-network care” on hospital and emergency department paperwork. The writer also suggests asking why tests are being run, if alternate providers can provide imaging and lab services at a better price, and for comparison prices. When prescribed a medication, always understand the risk, benefits and cost-effectiveness for your condition.
(
Forbes
)
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For asthma sufferers, spring allergies make it harder than ever to breathe. A price analysis of cash prices for asthma inhalers may make consumers even sicker; the average price has increased about 35 percent over the past five years. One Advair inhaler, the leading asthma medication, costs $496, the GoodRx analysis found—a 56 percent increase since 2013. Lower priced generic versions are on the market, however, and several more are in the pipeline. (
GoodRx
)
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House advances 57 opioid bills:
The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee powered through a swath of bills related to the opioid crisis, pushing them to the full committee. Some of the bills were still in draft form but moved forward anyway. The Senate Health, Education Labor and Pensions Committee also advanced a slew of proposals last week aimed at curbing opioid addiction and deaths.
(
MedPageToday
;
HEC subcommittee article
)
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A German study measured the ability for the body to handle social stress, finding that young men who grew up with pets and livestock on farms do better than their city-slicker, petless peers when the going gets tough. Although stress hormones surged when subjects in the farm segment faced a job presentation, a jury or a timed math test, they recovered in about five minutes. The urban group’s chemical reaction didn’t rise as much as their country counterparts, but they stayed on high alert for two hours and were less able to control the body’s inflammatory response. Researchers say the results confirm the “hygiene theory”—that early exposure to dirt and animals trains the immune system to react more reasonably to stress.
(
Los Angeles Times
)
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Introducing Health2 Resources' Baffled Health™ Podcasts
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Baffled Health™ is Health2 Resources’ podcast series about real people, totally bewildered, on their health care journey. In this five-minute podcast, we accompany Sophie from Savannah, Ga.: 25 years old, Sophie was driving to Nashville to celebrate the Fourth of July when she started having abdominal pain and feeling nauseous. A succession of doctors over 20 days failed to diagnose an inflamed—and then ruptured—appendix. Find out why. (
Baffled Health on SoundCloud
)
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MarketVoices...quotes worth reading
“Patients want transparency and costs, but they want it in context of their choices and options, and they want it from a health care provider they trust has their best interest.” Bob Pendleton, MD, University of Utah Health’s chief medical quality officer, as quoted by
MarketWatch
.
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Sandy Mau
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