Accountability is foundational to real and lasting change. In health care, there are signals that this is an escalating theme in policy, payment and even research. A key strategy to promote accountability is transparency and it is heartening to see federal leadership to drive greater transparency in research, for example. Looking ahead, there must also be an increased demand for greater transparency in pricing across all elements of health care, in alignment of payment and funding with public health priorities, in regulation of emerging technologies, and in evaluating the impact of current policy decision making on future social and health outcomes. Transparency builds trust, incentivizes action that supports shared goals, and fosters learning and accelerated change. 

The first-ever set of measures of social determinants of health has been adopted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

The measure set, proposed by the Physicians Foundation, was adopted for use earlier this month in the Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System rule, effective 2023.

A few months after a leadership shakeup, the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is launching one of its most ambitious policy changes to date by making all taxpayer-funded research more accessible to the public.

The Biden administration is planning for an end to its practice of paying for Covid-19 shots and treatments, shifting more control of pricing and coverage to the healthcare industry in ways that could generate sales for companies—and costs for consumers—for years to come.

The Food and Drug Administration has spent more than four years trying to decide whether retailers should be able to sell products like cotton candy-flavored liquids, vapes made to look like fidget spinners, and disposables filled with more nicotine than 200 cigarettes. And so far, the agency has explicitly ordered hundreds of them off the market.

To look at recent data posted on Clemson University’s covid-19 dashboard, one might assume that viral activity is low on the Upstate South Carolina college campus.

The dashboard, which relies on positive covid tests reported by local laboratories and on-campus medical offices, identified 34 positive cases among students during the third week of August and 20 cases the week before.

Momentum Health Strategies

Jennifer L Bright, MPA

(703) 628 - 0534

jennifer@momentumhealthstrategies.com

www.momentumhealthstrategies.com

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