News Briefs
Inflation Causes Many Patients to Skip Doctors' Appointments
As prices go up generally, patients stay away from their physicians, according to federal analysts. In 2022, 28 percent of adults went without some form of medical care because they could not afford it.
(Source: Medical Economics, 2023-05-25)
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Possible Shortage of Medical Devices Ahead, FDA Predicts
Now that the COVID-19 public health emergency has ended, FDA officials are predicting a possible shortage of medical devices, saying in a new Health Affairs article that the supply chain may be threatened now that there will no longer be mandatory reporting. For the duration of the PHE, medical device companies were required to notify the FDA of any shortages.
(Source: Healthcare Finance News, 2023-05-26)
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Lawmakers Urge Regulators to Increase Nursing Home Transparency
A small group of Democrats have joined with U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to turn up bipartisan heat on federal regulators as they weigh increasing transparency into nursing homes' ownership structures. U.S. Sens. Bob Casey (D-PA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and U.S. Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) and Katie Porter (D-CA) have added their names to a letter sent to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
(Source: McKnight's Long-Term Care News, 2023-05-23)
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CMS Proposes Requiring PBMs to Disclose Medicaid Drug Prices
The U.S. health department proposed a rule aimed at cutting costs of prescription drugs for the Medicaid healthcare program for the poor by increasing transparency around how much those drugs actually cost. The proposed rule would also hold drugmakers accountable for providing the correct discounts to the state-based Medicaid plans for drugs.
(Source: Reuters, 2023-05-23)
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2023 Brings Decline in Hospice Merger and Acquisition Activity
Hospice merger and acquisition activity has taken a downturn in 2023, which is in line with projections from M&A experts. Approximately 14 hospice, home care, and home health transactions were reported during the first quarter of 2023, according to recent data from Mertz Taggart, and less than a handful (about 4 or 5) of these were hospice deals.
(Source: Hospice News, 2023-05-23)
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Advocates Say Assistant Physicians Could Relieve Worker Shortage
Assistant physicians could provide healthcare in areas of the country where it's badly needed while enhancing their own medical training, advocates say. Graduating medical students who do not match into residency programs could become assistant physicians, or apprentice physicians, working in primary care while building their own knowledge and skills, according to the Cato Institute.
(Source: Medical Economics, 2023-05-23)
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Pandemic Has Caused Rise in Unionization Among Residents
Only about seven percent of practicing physicians across the U.S. belong to unions, census data indicate. But across the country, the pandemic has spurred a rapid rise in unionization among residents, the term for recent medical school graduates working at a hospital under other doctors' supervision.
(Source: Politico, 2023-05-26)
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Lawmakers Introduce Protecting Rural Telehealth Access Act
Earlier this month, a group of six United States House representatives introduced the Protecting Rural Telehealth Access Act, which intends to maintain regional telehealth access and Medicare coverage flexibilities enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although many regulatory flexibilities that enabled access were intended to be temporary, a group of representatives has introduced the Protecting Rural Telehealth Access Act to sustain them.
(Source: mHealthIntelligence, 2023-05-24)
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Hospitals Unhappy with Bills Aimed at 340B Reporting Requirements
The House Energy and Commerce Committee has advanced legislation that would have major impacts on payments in the 340B drug discount program, and providers are not pleased with the potential changes. A pair of bills include provisions that would mandate additional reporting requirements for providers in the 340B program.
(Source: FierceHealthcare, 2023-05-25)
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Telehealth Use Increased as Medicaid Covered More Services
Medicaid coverage of telehealth services between 2013 and 2019 was associated with significant increases in telehealth use and healthcare access. But private insurer coverage of telehealth during the same period was not similarly linked to increases in use and access, a recent study shows. Published in Health Services Research, the study examined the association between state Medicaid and private insurer telehealth coverage requirements, telehealth use, and healthcare access.
(Source: mHealthIntelligence, 2023-05-25)
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