13.8 million people sign up for ACA plans ahead of enrollment deadline

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https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/138-million-people-sign-aca-plans-ahead-enrollment-deadline

More than 13.8 million consumers have signed up for 2022 healthcare coverage through the Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplaces, on HealthCare.gov and state-based marketplaces. Coverage began on January 1.

This year’s open enrollment period, which started on November 1, 2021 and ends on January 15, continues to outpace previous years’ enrollment, including a 21% increase in plan selections through December 15, 2021, compared to the last year’s open enrollment in the 33 states using the HealthCare.gov platform.

In all, 4.6 million new enrollees gained coverage in 2021 through the ACA health insurance marketplaces.

WHAT’S THE IMPACT?

The latest national snapshot shows that the more than 13.8 million sign-ups include over 9.7 million people enrolled in, or being automatically re-enrolled, through December 15, 2021, in marketplace coverage in the 33 states using HealthCare.gov. 

The 18 state-based marketplaces that use their own platforms reported to CMS that through December 25, 2021, more than 4 million people selected plans or were automatically re-enrolled in a plan for 2022 health coverage, which is an increase of 240,000 consumers since the last published report.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services credits the Biden Administration’s outreach efforts, including additional funding and the quadrupling of the number of Navigators who are available to assist consumers.

As the January deadline approaches, there are 59 Navigator grantee organizations, with more than 1,500 certified Navigators ready to help consumers enroll. Navigators have held outreach and education events, focusing on meeting consumers in their communities at places such as local libraries, vaccination clinics, food drives, county fairs and job fairs.

THE LARGER TREND

Upon extending the open enrollment deadline in September, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also expanded services provided by federally-facilitated marketplace navigators – experts who help consumers, especially those in underserved communities, understand their benefits and rights, review options and enroll in marketplace coverage.

The agency also announced it’s relaunching its “Champions for Coverage” program. The program currently includes more than 1,000 local organizations that are active in providing outreach and education about the health insurance marketplace and how consumers can enroll in coverage through HealthCare.gov, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

According to CMS data, about 8.3 million people selected individual market plans through the marketplaces using the federal platform during the 2021 open enrollment period. 

This total enrollment is nearly the same as enrollments during the 2020 open enrollment period, despite the fact that New Jersey and Pennsylvania transitioned to state-based exchange platforms starting with the 2021 open enrollment period.

After removing these states from the total plan selection totals in the 2020 open enrollment period and comparing year-over-year trends, the results show plan selections this year increased by 7% from 2020, despite a decline in new consumers. Also, for the fourth straight year, the consumer satisfaction rate at the call center remained high – averaging over 90% – throughout the entire stretch.

Companies ignoring employee demands will falter

Posted on by • Posted in Employee Appreciation, Employee Benefits, Employee Flexibility, Employee Raise, Employee Satisfaction, Employee Staffing Shortage, Labor Relations, Labor Shortages, Labor Spend Management, Recruiting, Retention, Talent Acquisition Strategy, Talent Competition, Talent Identification, Talent Imperative, Talent Management • Leave a comment
https://www.cfodive.com/news/companies-ignoring-employee-demands-will-falter-fink/617321/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202022-01-19%20CFO%20Dive%20%5Bissue:39201%5D&utm_term=CFO%20Dive

Dive Brief:

  • Companies that fail to adjust to labor shortages and satisfy the growing demands of workers will likely falter as they lose the battle for talent, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in a letter to CEOs.
  • “No relationship has been changed more by the pandemic than the one between employers and employees,” Fink said, noting that “employees across the globe are looking for more from their employer — including more flexibility and more meaningful work.” Fink, while leading the world’s largest asset manager, has sought for a decade to influence corporate behavior through an annual CEO letter.
  • “As companies rebuild themselves coming out of the pandemic, CEOs face a profoundly different paradigm than we used to,” Fink said. Companies can no longer overlook employee mental health, insist that staff work in the office five days per week and provide modest wage increases for low- and middle-income workers.

Dive Insight:

CFOs considering an increase in prices and employee wages need to balance the imperative to sustain profits with pressures from the worst inflation and labor shortages in decades.

The persistence of COVID-19 has slowed the labor market’s post-lockdown recovery and churned up company payrolls. Fink noted that in November the quits rate, or the number of workers who left their jobs as a percent of total employment, rose to 3%, a record high first breached in September.

CFOs aiming to attract and retain employees with wage increases must take into account a 7% jump in the consumer price index (CPI) during the 12 months through December — the biggest surge since 1982.

“Workers demanding more from their employers is an essential feature of effective capitalism,” Fink said. Describing “a new world of work,” he said, “companies not adjusting to this new reality and responding to workers do so at their own peril.

“Turnover drives up expenses, drives down productivity and erodes culture and corporate memory,” Fink said. BlackRock manages more than $10 trillion in assets for institutional and retail investors.

In order to satisfy workers, CEOs must look beyond pay and workplace flexibility, Fink said. The coronavirus “shone a light on issues like racial equality, childcare and mental health — and revealed the gap between generational expectations at work.”

Fink also reiterated his support for “stakeholder capitalism,” saying that “a company must create value for and be valued by its full range of stakeholders in order to deliver long-term value for its shareholders.”

“Stakeholder capitalism is not about politics. It is not a social or ideological agenda. It is not ‘woke,’” he said. “It is capitalism driven by mutually beneficial relationships between you and the employees, customers, suppliers and communities your company relies on to prosper.”

Most stakeholders expect companies to help “decarbonize” the global economy, Fink said, predicting that so-called sustainable investment will surge well beyond the $4 trillion total.

BlackRock has asked companies to set short-, medium- and long-term targets for greenhouse gas reductions which “are critical to the long-term economic interests of your shareholders,” he said.

At the same time, “divesting from entire sectors — or simply passing carbon-intensive assets from public markets to private markets — will not get the world to net zero,” Fink said, adding that “BlackRock does not pursue divestment from oil and gas companies as a policy.”

Fink’s annual letter drew fire from environmentalists.

The letter “is just another rehashing of the same vague rhetoric, without any meaningful new commitment to actually help lead the necessary transition to a climate-safe future,” Ben Cushing, the Sierra Club’s fossil-free finance campaign manager, said in a statement.

MedPAC declines to recommend to Congress additional pay bumps for doctors, hospitals

Posted on by • Posted in Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Health Policy, Health System, Hospital, Hospital Industry, Medical Group, Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), Physician, Physician Practice Management, Rev Cycle Management • Leave a comment
https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/hospitals/medpac-declines-to-recommend-to-congress-additional-pay-bumps-for-doctors-hospitals#:~:text=MedPAC%20declines%20to%20recommend%20to%20Congress%20additional%20pay%20bumps%20for%20doctors%2C%20hospitals,-by%20Robert%20King&text=A%20top%20Medicare%20advisory%20board,of%20the%20COVID%2D19%20pandemic.
Medicare spending costs money

A top Medicare advisory board did not recommend any new payment hikes for acute care hospitals or doctors for 2023, stating that targeted relief funding has helped blunt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), which makes recommendations to Congress and the federal government on Medicare issues, voted on the payment changes to Congress during its Thursday meeting. The panel decided against recommending any pay hikes.

The commission unanimously voted to update 2023 rates for acute care hospitals by the amounts determined under current law. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will publish its update to the current law payment rates this summer.

MedPAC estimated that the rates will increase 2% and that there would be 3.1% growth in hospital wages and benefits, but these “may be higher or lower by the time this is finalized,” said MedPAC staff member Alison Binkowski.

She added there will be another estimated 0.5% increase in inpatient rates.

MedPAC decided not to recommend any pay rates beyond current law after looking at the financial picture for hospitals and found the indicators of payment adequacy are generally positive.

“Hospitals maintained strong access to capital thanks to substantial federal support, including targeted federal relief funds to rural hospitals which raised their all-payer total margin to a near-record total high,” Binkowski said.

She added fewer hospitals closed, and facilities continued to have positive marginal Medicare profits.

It was also difficult to interpret changes in quality that traditionally would determine whether a payment boost would be needed.

“For example, mortality rates increased in 2020, but this reflects the tragic effects of the pandemic on the elderly rather than a change in the quality of care provided to Medicare beneficiaries or the adequacy of Medicare payments,” Binkowski said.

Even though commission members agreed with the recommendation for hospitals, they were concerned whether it was enough to help facilities meet drastic increases in labor expenses.

“With labor, it is more than just a salary increase these hospitals are seeing,” said commission member Brian DeBusk.

He noted that hospitals haven’t just seen an increase in rates for contract or temporary nurses, but in nursing education as well.

MedPAC also recommended no changes to the statutory payment update for dialysis facilities and shouldn’t give a payment update to ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) due to confidence in payment adequacy for the facilities.

“Despite the public health emergency, the number of ASCs increased by 2% in 2020,” said MedPAC staff member Daniel Zabinski. “The growth that we saw in the number of ASCs also suggests access to capital remains adequate.”

Physician fee schedule recommendation

The commission decided to take a similar estimate with the physician fee schedule, calling for any update to be tied to current law, which is estimated to have no change in spending.

Medicare payments to clinicians declined by $9 billion in 2020 but were offset thanks to congressional relief funds. Physicians also got a 4% bump to payments through 2022 compared to prior law.

The temporary rate hike is expected to go away at the start of 2023, but physician groups are likely to lobby Congress to keep the pay bump intact.

Physician groups already blasted the recommendation from MedPAC.

Anders Gilberg, senior vice president of government affairs for the Medical Group Management Association, tweeted that the recommendation was out of touch, especially after new reports of inflation.

“Hard to conceive of a more misguided recommendation to Congress at a time when practices face massive staffing shortages and skyrocketing expenses,” he tweeted.

20 hospitals, health systems that provide the most ‘unnecessary’ care: Johns Hopkins

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https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/20-hospitals-health-systems-that-provide-the-most-unnecessary-care-johns-hopkins.html?origin=BHRE&utm_source=BHRE&utm_medium=email&utm_content=newsletter&oly_enc_id=2893H2397267F7G
Johns Hopkins study names health systems that provide the most 'unnecessary' care | Modern Healthcare

Health systems that employed fewer primary care physicians, have higher bed counts or are investor owned were more likely to provide more unnecessary or low-value care, a study published Jan. 14 in JAMA found.

For the study, researchers from Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University analyzed Medicare claims data at 3,745 hospitals for 17 low-value services. The low-value services were previously identified as unnecessary and included services such as pap smears for women older than 65, an abdominal CT scan with and without contrast and spinal fusions for back pain, according to the study.  

The researchers then rated the hospitals using an overuse index, which was based on the Medicare claims for the low-value healthcare services. Health systems rated at least 1.5 standard deviations or more above the average in the overuse index were considered over-users of low-value services.

Below is a breakdown of the 20 hospitals that provided the most unnecessary care based on the overuse index.

1. St. Dominic Health Services (Jackson, Miss.)

2. USMD Health System (Irving, Texas)

3. Community Medical Centers (Clovis, Calif.)

4. Care New England Health System (Providence, R.I.)

5. East Alabama Medical Center (Opelika)

6. Pocono Health System (East Stroudsburg, Pa.)

7. University Health Care System (Augusta, Ga.)

8. Deaconess Health System (Evansville, Ind.)

9. Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.)

10. Iredell Health System (Statesville, N.C.)

11. Sacred Heart HealthCare System (Allentown, Pa.)

12. Southeast Health (Dothan, Ala.)

13. Chesapeake (Va.) Regional Medical Center

14. Butler (Pa.) Health System

15. CarolinaEast Health System (New Bern, N.C.)

16. Ohio Valley Health Services and Education Corp. (Wheeling, W.Va.)

17. Slidell (La.) Memorial Hospital

18. Lakeland (Fla.) Regional Health System

19. North Kansas City (Mo.) Hospital

20. Temple University Health System (Philadelphia)

Read more here. 

COVID-19 peaking in Northeast + 2 more forecasts to know

Posted on by • Posted in Coronavirus, Coronavirus Delta Variant, Coronavirus Mutation, Coronavirus Omicron Variant, Hospitalizations, Mortality, Pandemic • Leave a comment
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/public-health/covid-19-peaking-in-northeast-2-more-forecasts-to-know.html?origin=QualityE&utm_source=QualityE&utm_medium=email&utm_content=newsletter&oly_enc_id=2893H2397267F7G
COVID-19 Forecasts: Hospitalizations | CDC

COVID-19 hospitalizations are at record high numbers nationwide, though some parts of the country are seeing cases plateau or fall, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, said Jan. 16 on CNN‘s “State of the Union.”

In New York and other parts of the Northeast, “we are starting to see a plateau and, in some cases, an early decline in cases,” Dr. Murthy said. Daily average cases in New York have fallen 27 percent in the last 14 days, according to Jan. 18 data tracked by The New York Times. New Jersey, Maryland and Washington, D.C., have also seen cases fall in recent days. 

“The omicron wave started later in other parts of the country. So we shouldn’t expect a national peak in the next coming days,” Dr. Murthy said. “The next few weeks will be tough.”

As of Jan. 17, a record 154,335 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 nationwide, HHS data shows. Hospitalizations had previously peaked at 142,273 on Jan. 14, 2021.

Two other forecasts to know: 

1. Daily COVID-19 hospital admissions will increase over the next four weeks, with 17,900 to 48,000 new admissions likely reported on Feb. 4, according to ensemble forecasts the CDC published Jan. 12. For context, the current seven-day hospitalization average for Jan. 5-11 is 20,637, a 24.5 percent increase from the previous week’s average. 

2. CDC forecasting predicts COVID-19 deaths will increase nationwide over the next month, with 10,400 to 31,000 deaths likely reported in the week ending Feb. 5. Current forecasts should be interpreted with caution, the CDC said, as they may not fully account for omicron’s rapid spread or changes in reporting during the holidays. 

States ranked by COVID-19 hospitalization rates: Jan. 18

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https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/public-health/states-ranked-by-covid-19-hospitalization-rates-august-2.html?origin=BHRE&utm_source=BHRE&utm_medium=email&utm_content=newsletter&oly_enc_id=2893H2397267F7G

New daily COVID-19 hospitalization rates in the U.S. have risen 54 percent over the last two weeks, with all 50 states and the District of Columbia seeing hospitalization rates trend upward, according to data tracked by The New York Times.

Data is taken from HHS and was last updated Jan. 18. States are listed in order of hospitalization rate percent increase over the last two weeks. 

Alabama
14-day change: 133% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 50

Louisiana
14-day change: 120% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 41

California
14-day change: 118% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 35

Mississippi
14-day change: 109% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 47

Florida
14-day change: 105% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 53

Hawaii
14-day change: 102% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 25

South Carolina
14-day change: 102% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 43

Washington
14-day change: 99% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 31

Alaska
14-day change: 89% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 15

Texas
14-day change: 86% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 45

Arkansas
14-day change: 81% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 43

Nevada
14-day change: 81% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 57

Vermont
14-day change: 77% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 19

Massachusetts
14-day change: 76% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 46

Georgia
14-day change: 71% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 57

Tennessee
14-day change: 70% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 47

North Carolina
14-day change: 65% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 46

Oregon
14-day change: 64% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 21

Virginia
14-day change: 58% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 46

Rhode Island
14-day change: 57% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 51

Utah
14-day change: 57% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 22

Wyoming
14-day change: 57% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 18

Montana
14-day change: 52% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 20

Oklahoma
14-day change: 51% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 41

Idaho
14-day change: 50% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 22

South Dakota
14-day change: 46% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 39

Colorado
14-day change: 45% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 31

Connecticut
14-day change: 44% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 57

Missouri
14-day change: 44% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 61

New York State
14-day change: 40% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 67

Kentucky
14-day change: 39% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 51

New Jersey
14-day change: 39% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 69

District of Columbia
14-day change: 37% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 125

Kansas
14-day change: 37% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 43

West Virginia
14-day change: 35% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 52

Pennsylvania
14-day change: 34% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 63

Arizona
14-day change: 33% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 44

Maryland
14-day change: 32% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 60

Wisconsin
14-day change: 32% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 43

Maine
14-day change: 28% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 34

Nebraska
14-day change: 28% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 35

Iowa
14-day change: 24% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 31

Illinois
14-day change: 21% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 56

Delaware
14-day change: 20% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 64

Minnesota
14-day change: 20% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 31

New Mexico
14-day change: 19% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 31

North Dakota
14-day change: 19% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 34

Michigan
14-day change: 17% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 48

New Hampshire
14-day change: 14% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 33

Ohio
14-day change: 13% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 59

Indiana
14-day change: 8% increase
Hospitalizations per 100,000 people: 49

Too Many Kids are Uninsured or Underinsured in the US

Posted on by • Posted in Children's Health, Children's Health Insurance Coverage, Delayed Care, Health System, High Deductible Health Plans, Out of Pocket Expenses, Preexisting Conditions, Preventative Care, Short Term Health Insurance, Skinny Health Plans, Underinsured, Uninsured • Leave a comment
Too Many Kids are Uninsured or Underinsured in the US
Too Many Kids are Uninsured in the US - YouTube

Access to healthcare in childhood has long term effects on health outcomes, but many children in the US are either uninsured or underinsured, meaning they often don’t have access to the care they need. Why is that and what can we do about it?

What “mild” really means when it comes to Omicron

Posted on by • Posted in Coronavirus, Coronavirus Delta Variant, Coronavirus Mutation, Coronavirus Omicron Variant, Pandemic, Public Health, Public Opinion, Public Perception, Sign of the Times • Leave a comment

https://www.axios.com/what-mild-really-means-when-it-comes-to-omicron-f808e5ba-5655-4ac5-b057-4afe3b0aa860.html?fbclid=IwAR27eTD0HrjsF_XiS_USEVn9MxermNoLWJNhU10AeIFQV_y59C7Fl3ok9RM

Illustration of a coronavirus cell in curly quotes.

The Omicron variant doesn’t cause as much severe illness as other variants have, but its “mild” symptoms can still be pretty unpleasant.

The big picture: The way health care professionals and doctors differentiate between “mild” and “severe” illness may not align with a layperson’s understanding of those terms.

“To a health care professional, ‘mild’ means you’re not getting hospitalized,” said Megan Ranney, academic dean at the Brown University School of Public Health.

  • But, she said: “Omicron symptoms can range from absolutely no symptoms to a really mild cold to something where you are in bed with shakes and chills, and have a horrible cough and are fatigued and headachy for weeks. Those are all ‘mild.'”
  • A “severe,” illness means you’d likely have symptoms such as very low oxygen levels, kidney damage and heart impairment, she said.

What we’re watching: Omicron is causing a lot less severe illness than previous variants, but a “mild” case can still require about a week away from work, especially in front-line jobs.

  • And because so many people have gotten infected in such a short time, it’s leaving schools, airlines, and other businesses — including, critically, hospitals — with large numbers of workers out sick simultaneously, The Atlantic reported.
  • Then there’s the matter of long COVID. A study published Thursday in Nature Immunology found ongoing, sustained inflammatory responses following even mild-to-moderate COVID-19 cases.

What they’re saying: “It’s going to be a messy few weeks. I don’t think there’s any way around it,” said Joseph Allen, a professor of public health at Harvard, per The Atlantic.