News Clips
Fierce Healthcare: (9/21) – Kidney care startup Strive Health and Nephrology Associates of Northern Illinois and Northern Indiana (NANI) will jointly pursue and manage global risk payment models. This partnership will benefit people with chronic kidney disease and end-stage kidney disease through a “whole patient” approach that enhances lives and communities across Illinois, Indiana and potentially other states.
Healthcare Dive: (9/21) – HCA Healthcare, one of the biggest hospital operators in the U.S., is acquiring Steward Health Care's entire hospital footprint in Utah to meet rising demand in the state. The deal will add five hospitals to HCA's Mountain Division, which currently includes 11 hospitals in Utah, Idaho and Alaska. For its part, divesting the five Utah facilities will help Steward grow in other geographies and frees up capital for the system to invest more in its accountable care model, which is the largest private physician-led model in the U.S.
JAMA Network: (9/20) – The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the practice of medicine across the US. In response, many physicians reported practice interruptions, with some expressing intent to retire or close their practice. The authors of this article analyzed Medicare data to assess physician practice interruptions and provide preliminary evidence on whether those interruptions suggest early retirements or exit from medical practice.
Fierce Healthcare: (9/20) – Hospital industry groups are pushing back against a proposal to jack up fines for health systems that don't publish their prices, arguing that facilities are putting all their resources behind combating the COVID-19 pandemic. The groups wrote in comments to the 2022 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) rule strongly opposing a proposal to apply fines for noncompliance with a price transparency requirement on a per-bed basis. The current rule fines hospitals $300 a day.
Modern Healthcare: (9/20) – Rural hospitals that merged with or were acquired into larger health systems are associated with greater reductions in mortality for conditions like heart failure, stroke and pneumonia compared to facilities that remained independent, according to a new study. The annual inpatient mortality rate for acute myocardial infarction decreased from 9.4 percent to five percent among acquired hospitals, researchers at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and IBM Watson Health found. Meanwhile, independent facilities saw inpatient AMI mortality fall from 7.9 percent to 6.3 percent during the period studied.
Fierce Healthcare: (9/17) – The Biden administration is extending Affordable Care Act (ACA) open enrollment by another month and slightly increasing insurer user fees for participating on the exchanges to help fund greater outreach. CMS issued the third part of the 2022 Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters that lays out standards and regulations for the ACA exchanges for the 2022 coverage year. The rule builds on prior final rules governing ACA exchange insurers and related stakeholders in January and May of this year.
Modern Healthcare: (9/16) – Intermountain Healthcare and SCL Health signed a letter of intent to merge. The combined $11 billion health system would operate 33 hospitals, run 385 clinics and employ 58,000 caregivers across six states. Intermountain CEO Dr. Marc Harrison said their service areas do not overlap, and the deal shouldn't trigger any traditional antitrust concerns around hospital mergers.
Benefits Pro: (9/16) – Government regulation may be needed to counter the price pressure created by hospitals in concentrated markets, according to health care experts. Federal and state agencies are taking a close look at market concentration as part of an ongoing effort to address high and rising hospital prices. Authorities also are challenging practices such as anti-tiering and anti-steering provisions in contracts, which heighten the bargaining leverage of dominant health care systems.
Healthcare Dive: (9/15) – Providers pushed back on CMS' plans to overhaul the Quality Payment Program with a new push toward value-based arrangements. The proposed PFS calls for beginning use of the value pathways program in MIPS for 2023 and having it replace MIPS entirely in 2027. The providers said it's unclear whether MVPs would reduce administrative burden as expected or that it would be equitable across specialties.
Becker's: (9/15) – Value-based care can improve the quality of treatment for orthopedic surgery patients and reduce overall costs, according to findings from New York City-based Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS). The implementation of bundled payment programs at HSS saved CMS nearly $24 million, reduced readmissions and reduced medically unnecessary postoperative treatments.
Fierce Healthcare: (9/15) – Many U.S. hospitals have not been publishing their prices, as required by a new law. Now, a panel of researchers, purchasers and regulators is calling for new measures around increasing compliance and the usability of published pricing data. The panel argues in a new report that the requirements could “strengthen the market power of employers relative to consolidated hospital systems and insurers, enhance regulatory oversight and provide researchers with an abundance of information to inform policy making.”
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