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US approaches end of ‘full-blown’ pandemic, Fauci says
The U.S. may see an end to all pandemic restrictions, including mandatory mask-wearing, in the coming months, Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the Financial Times Feb. 8.
He said he hopes that the end to these restrictions will come soon and explained that the response to the pandemic going forward will be concentrated at a local level.
“As we get out of the full-blown pandemic phase of COVID-19, which we are certainly heading out of, these decisions will increasingly be made on a local level rather than centrally decided or mandated. There will also be more people making their own decisions on how they want to deal with the virus,” he told the FT.
The National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases is preparing for the next pandemic by monitoring viruses that are known to cause severe illness.
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CMS releases 2023 Medicare Advantage and Part D Advance Notice
The agency’s end goal for Medicare Advantage is to match CMS’ vision for its programs as a whole, with an emphasis on health equity.
On Wednesday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released proposed payment policy changes for Medicare Advantage and Part D drug programs in 2023 that are meant to create more choices and provide affordable options for consumers.
The Calendar Year 2023 Advance Notice for Medicare Advantage and Part D plans is open to public comment for 30 days. This year, CMS is soliciting input through a health equity lens on the approach to some future potential changes.
The agency’s end goal for Medicare Advantage is to match CMS’ vision for its programs as a whole, which Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said is “to advance health equity; drive comprehensive, person-centered care; and promote affordability and the sustainability of the Medicare program.”
CMS is proposing an effective growth rate of 4.75% and an overall expected average change in revenue of 7.98%, following a 4.08% revenue increase planned for 2022.
WHAT’S THE IMPACT?
CMS is requesting input on a potential change to the MA and Part D Star Ratings that would take into account how well each plan advances health equity.
The agency is also requesting comment on including a quality measure in MA and Part D Star Ratings that would assess how often plans are screening for common health-related social needs, such as food insecurity, housing insecurity and transportation problems.
The Health Equity Index has been tasked with creating more transparency on how MA plans care for disadvantaged beneficiaries.
Additionally, CMS is requesting input on considerations for assessing the impact of using sub-state geographic levels of rate setting for enrollees with end-stage renal disease, particularly input regarding the impact of MA payment on care provided to rural and urban underserved populations and how such payment changes may impact health equity.
Other areas in which CMS is soliciting input include a variety of payment updates, a new measure concept to assess whether and how MA plans are transforming care by engaging in value-based models with providers’ and updates to risk-adjustment models to continue to pay appropriately for people enrolled in MA and Part D plans.
Public comments on the Advance Notice must be submitted by March 4. The Medicare Advantage and Part D payment policies for 2023 will be finalized in the 2023 Rate Announcement, which will be published no later than April 4.
REACTION
The proposed rule has already elicited reaction from various organizations, including Better Medicare Alliance.
“As we continue to review the Advance Notice in further detail, we appreciate that CMS has offered a thoughtful proposal that will help ensure stability for the millions of diverse seniors and individuals with disabilities who count on Medicare Advantage,” Mary Beth Donahue, president and CEO of the Better Medicare Alliance, said, adding that the proposal furthers the shared goal of improving health equity.
“Medicare Advantage has proven its worth for seniors and taxpayers – providing lower costs, meaningful benefits that address social determinants of health, better outcomes and greater efficiencies for the Medicare dollar,” she said. “A stable rate for 2023 ensures this work can continue. On behalf of our 170 Ally organizations and over 600,000 beneficiary advocates, we applaud CMS for putting seniors first by issuing an Advance Notice that protects coverage choices, advances health equity and preserves affordability for beneficiaries.”
AHIP also responded, with President and CEO Matt Eyles pointing out that for 2022 the average Medicare Advantage monthly premium dropped to $19, down more than 10% since 2021.
“We agree that MA plans play an essential role in improving health equity and addressing the social determinants of health that impact millions of seniors and people with disabilities,” he said. “We support CMS soliciting input on ways to advance these important goals.
“Medicare Advantage enjoys strong bipartisan support because it provides America’s seniors and people with disabilities with access to affordable, high-quality healthcare services,” said Eyles. “We will continue to review the 2023 rate notice and look forward to providing constructive feedback to CMS during the comment period.”
THE LARGER TREND
CMS’ Advance Notice follows a recent congressional letter in which 346 bipartisan members of Congress declared support for Medicare Advantage and urged the agency “to provide a stable rate and policy environment” for the program in 2023.
A December 2021 Morning Consult poll showed that 94% of Medicare Advantage beneficiaries are satisfied with their coverage, while 93% believe that protecting MA should be a priority of the Biden administration.
From Amazon to New Balance, consumer brand execs bring ‘outsider’ perspective to healthcare
Massachusetts-based health system Wellforce recently appointed its first ever chief consumer officer, tapping an executive from a well-known sneaker brand.
Christine Madigan joined the health system to lead marketing and consumer engagement, Wellforce announced in January. She comes from New Balance Athletics, where she led the global marketing and brand management organization. Madigan was attracted to what she termed the “challenger brand” because of its nimble innovation strategy and its mission to help people live healthier. “I can’t imagine a more purpose-driven culture than that,” she told Fierce Healthcare.
“As a marketing veteran from consumer products, Christine understands the importance of envisioning and building services around consumer needs. She will be a great asset in improving and modernizing the way consumers engage with the health care industry,” David Storto, Wellforce’s executive vice president and chief strategy and growth officer, said in the announcement.
The move comes amid a rising trend in healthcare: executives sourced from outside the industry, and in particular from consumer brands, to lead innovation strategies. Fierce Healthcare spoke to several, some of whom have been in their roles for years. They agree that while there are many transferrable skills, there is also an advantage to being an outsider.
To Madigan, the core challenge remains the same business to business—understanding who the consumer is and the different ways they engage with one’s brand.
Aaron Martin, chief digital officer at Providence St. Joseph Health, who joined the health system from Amazon in 2016, echoed Madigan. “Bringing the patient focus—what we called at Amazon ‘customer obsession’—to Providence was key,” he told Fierce Healthcare.
Society is bombarded by healthcare marketing messages, Madigan noted. She wants to “drive some simplicity into the process.” While the system is built to provide reactive, acute care, Madigan sees preventive care as just as important. And a crucial part of facilitating that is establishing not only awareness of but trust in a provider. “Every detail matters in what you communicate in an experience,” she said.
And for organizations that don’t innovate, “somebody else is going to disrupt us,” Martin said.
To drive innovation at scale, Martin sees a disciplined strategy as key. At Amazon, that looked like picking an area to impact and measuring the value of closing that gap. Applying that to Providence, Martin worked with the clinical team to discover patients in need of low-acuity care were going to other providers instead of to Providence. So Providence launched ExpressCare, offering virtual appointments to recapture those patients and establish continuity of care.
Like Madigan, Novant’s chief digital and transformation officer Angela Yochem, who has held chief information officer roles at Rent-A-Center and BDP International, believes passive care is not enough to eradicate health inequities. “We’ve optimized for fixing things,” she said of the healthcare system. “I’d like to see the healthcare industry become more engaged continually. We need to understand our patients beyond what their last condition is,” she added, referring to social determinants of health.
“In retail, we used to say that customers shouldn’t have to shop our merchandising organizational chart,” said Prat Vemana, Kaiser Permanente’s chief digital officer, who transitioned in 2019 from chief product and experience officer at The Home Depot. To streamline how patients navigate an already highly fragmented healthcare system, Kaiser starts with the patient and works backward when developing digital experiences.
A challenge in healthcare, Vemana acknowledged, is the lag in data around health outcomes. Whereas in retail, results are immediately visible, healthcare is less straightforward. “We have to develop workarounds to get directional information while waiting to see the results,” he said.
The transformation of the sector won’t happen without diversity of thought and experience, Yochem said. It’s less about hiring from a particular sector and more about hiring from all over. Those people will have seen the potential for consumer engagement and will be able to “apply what we know to be possible,” Yochem said. Without those outsider insights in the insular sector, “you create an echo chamber, because you respond to problems in the same way.”
Nurses accuse PeaceHealth of retaliation after raising safety concerns
Nurses who worked at hospitals owned or operated by Vancouver, Wash.-based PeaceHealth are accusing the health system of retaliating against them when they raised concerns about patient and worker safety, NBC News reported Feb. 6.
Nurses spoke to the news division about their experiences, including Marian Weber, a travel nurse who was contracted to work at PeaceHealth Ketchikan (Alaska) Medical Center. She told NBC News that she raised concerns about critically ill COVID-19 patients who were placed in a unit with no central monitoring system and spoke up against the hospital’s suggestion of keeping a nurse in the room for 12 hours.
She said PeaceHealth terminated her contract in August 2021.
Ms. Weber filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board after her contract was terminated, and a hearing is scheduled for June 7, according to radio station KRBD. She seeks reimbursement for travel expenses, among other things.
In addition to Ms. Weber, Sarah Collins told NBC News that she lost her staff nursing job at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver after raising safety concerns, specifically regarding staffing and nurse-to-patient ratios.
According to the news division, Ms. Collins was put on a three-month leave in September after giving a local news interview. She told NBC News she was terminated for “operating outside her scope of practice” and “failing to follow policy.” She also has a complaint pending with the National Labor Relations Board.
Separately, NBC News reported, there is an ongoing lawsuit, filed in April 2020, claiming that PeaceHealth Southwest prevented workers from taking required meal and rest breaks allowed under law and that workers were discouraged from reporting missed breaks.
In a statement shared with Becker’s, PeaceHealth declined to comment on personnel issues or pending cases but said it emphasizes ensuring safety of employees and patients.
“We can wholeheartedly reinforce that the voices and opinions of our caregivers matter, and any concern brought forward is thoroughly reviewed,” the statement said. “We have hardwired safety into all our processes, including a longstanding ‘safe to share’ platform that empowers every caregiver — no matter their role — with the ability to confidentially raise opportunities to ensure safer care. This best-practice approach is part of our commitment to continuously improve and vision to ensure 100 percent safe care.”
“PeaceHealth medical centers’ overall quality and safety outcomes have been maintained in spite of the challenges presented by the pandemic, and our approach continues to ensure top-tier care in the communities we serve,” the health system added.
Hospitals see job gains after two months of losses
https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/hospitals-see-job-gains-after-two-months-losses
Despite the gains, employment in healthcare is down by about 378,000 jobs (2.3%) from where it was in February 2020.
After a rough end to 2021 in terms of job losses, healthcare appears to be on the rebound – for now. The latest jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed hospitals gaining jobs in January, though the industry is still below the levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic.
In total, the healthcare sector saw a gain of 18,000 jobs last month. It lost 3,100 jobs in December; the prior month, November 2021, was the last time the sector saw job gains, when it posted a net gain of 2,100.
Hospitals made up for some, but not all, of the job losses seen during the tail end of 2021. They gained 3,400 jobs in January, after losing 5,100 jobs in December and 3,900 in November.
The last time hospitals gained jobs was in October, when 1,100 were added. Hospitals lost 8,100 jobs in September.
The biggest increase was in ambulatory healthcare services, which gained 14,700 jobs during the month. Physicians’ offices added 9,700 jobs. Nursing and residential-care facilities lost about 100 jobs in January.
Despite the gains, employment in healthcare is down by about 378,000 jobs (2.3%) from where it was in February 2020, at the dawn of the pandemic, according to BLS.
The broader U.S. economy added 467,000 jobs in January, after gaining 199,000 jobs in December, while the unemployment rate held fairly steady at about 4%.
WHAT’S THE IMPACT?
In a preview of the jobs report by economic research firm Glassdoor, researchers predicted that job losses in healthcare and leisure and hospitality would drag down overall payroll employment. Other coronavirus-sensitive sectors, such as retail and education, were also impacted, though seasonal factors helped mute job losses in those sectors.
Over the course of the pandemic, new COVID-19 cases have been somewhat predictive of job market data, but current record levels represent a situation without precedent, and there are few good comparisons, Glassdoor found. Since September 2020, each new 1,000 daily cases has been correlated with 4,000 fewer job gains, but the level of cases seen in January is unlike any other previous point in the pandemic, leading to uncertainty heading into the BLS jobs report.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ preliminary benchmark estimates forecast a modest downward revision in payroll employment of 166,000 for March 2021.
THE LARGER TREND
The Great Resignation hit the healthcare sector hard in November. BLS released job numbers in January showing that healthcare is among the top three industries cited in a 3% rise in the monthly “quits rate,” matching a high from September. The number of quits surged to 4.53 million for the month.
The numbers coincide with an already-strapped healthcare staffing market. Shortages and burnout among healthcare staff are a pervasive issue.
Multiple factors are contributing to labor pressures, including staff burnout stemming from the enduring pandemic and an overall shortage of qualified help, which has resulted in higher costs to hire temporary staff, as well as wage inflation.
Further, a Fitch Ratings report in November noted that lack of staff is forcing some in-patient behavioral health and senior housing operators to lower admission rates.
HENRY KOTULA 