1. Want cheaper surgery? Go on vacation.
An all-inclusive resor- er…wait - hospital?
Save this wild story down for later. To reduce costs on healthcare, some employers - like Ashley Furniture - have been flying down patients along with physicians to Cancun, Mexico in order to perform surgeries and other procedures.
As KHN reports, one patient flew from Mississippi to meet an orthopedist from Milwaukee to perform a knee replacement surgery, and the patient was paid for it - that's how much less it was to have the procedure done in an upscale hospital in Mexico rather than in America. Like, literally less than half as much money. Absolutely wild!
2. The latest privacy battle: Patient DNA data?
The latest privacy battleground.
This week, the Wall Street Journal reported (paywall) on recent hospital system and drug-maker partnerships to access patient DNA information. The partnerships are aimed at advancing drug development, or other research-oriented purposes. But they might not be the most forthcoming with patients as to how they're using patient data.
How it works.
Patients are given a free genetic test that shows them risk of various diseases and vulnerabilities, but they're not necessarily told how their genetic data might specifically be used by companies for drug development or other commercial purposes.
Keep an eye on this one as genetic sequencing becomes more commonplace.
3. Is employer healthcare spending reaching a breaking point?
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall….
Healthcare costs have risen for everyone - that's a given. But because the U.S. healthcare system is set up how it is, employers foot a larger portion of healthcare costs. In an interesting and detailed brief from Axios, it turns out that the system could be close to a breaking point.
As these costs continued to rise for employers, companies shifted more of their healthcare costs to their employees (hello, high deductible health plans).
What does shifting costs to us do?
On top of an already high deductible, patients end up having higher premiums along with more responsibility to pay for their medical bills. Given these set of facts, the rise of out of pocket spending and healthcare inflation could be unsustainable and lead to a crisis.
4. Policy Corner
What's your plan??
Democrats and basically everyone else were asking the Trump admin what the replacement healthcare policy would be if Obamacare were to fail in court in its 3rd victory lap around the Appellate Circuits. Never fear - Trump's health chief came out and let everyone know this week that officials were actively working on an Obamacare replacement.
Any details yet, or nah.
The plan itself is skimpy on details so far, but we DO know that officials are targeting a September release date, and we would expect the plan to include certain elements like ending surprise billing, giving states more wiggle room on policies, potential drug pricing solutions, and more.
In other Trump news…
The administration just hit the brakes on a law that would have stopped 'unneeded' CT and MRI scans, since officials faced some backlash from physicians who thought the policy was disruptive to their practices.
Cadillac Tax repeal.
Finally, it seems pretty likely that the Cadillac Tax, a tax on more 'generous' insurance plans, would be repealed this fall. Here's some background on that.
In the miscellaneous category..
Here's a pretty handy little tool created by the Healthcare Economist that compares different Democratic candidate health plans at a high level, and here's the full article.
5. Quick Hits
Biz Hits
- SmileDirectClub, a direct to consumer "teledentistry" platform, just filed to go public. They lost about $53 million on revenues of about $374 million in the first half of 2019. Their prospectus is pretty interesting if you have the time to read through it.
- Uber just sealed a deal with American Logistics to provide travel services for Medicare plans in its first tangible step into healthcare.
- Centene is expanding its ACA plans into 10 more states.
- Medicare Advantage growth is booming (obviously) but apparently the plans aren't producing much savings?
- CityMD and Summit Medical Group finalized their merger this week, bringing together an urgent care powerhouse and a huge physician group in the northeast.
- Healthcare has always been seen as a defensive, anti-cyclical investment in the stock market. But have things changed?
- Physicians are being targeted more and more for C-suite positions.
State Hits
- North Carolina just backed off on its plan to switch to 'reference pricing' for its state employees.
- $190 or $47,779? Colorado emergency charges vary wildly across state.
- This one was a pretty interesting read. A hospital administrator found creative ways to recruit physicians to his rural hospital, saving its operations.
- SSM Health and Paladina Health are the next in line to unveil a direct to consumer primary care platform.
- A private-equity firm just bought control of GoHealth in a whopping $1.5 billion deal, the largest private equity buyout in Chicago.
Other Hits
- NPR covers an app that's designed to save new moms' lives.
- Hospitals are now facing likely DSH payment cuts after appeals court ruling
- UnitedHealth Group's latest report puts rising healthcare costs primarily on hospitals.
- Doctors say most metrics provided by your Apple Watch, Fitbit aren't really that helpful to them
- Is there a looming long-term care crisis? Axios takes a deep dive.
- Average marketplace premiums for 2020 are expected to increase at the smallest ever rate - 0.6% - which might come as a reprieve to employers?
My favorite (other) reads this week
- Are We on the Verge of Another 2008 Market Event ? (I'm in the "no" camp)
- How a Scammer Drove a Network of Small-Town Hospitals Into the Ground.
Thanks for reading! As always, feel free to reach out if I missed anything.
You can read past editions or receive these via e-mail at this link, but I'll always post here.
0 nhận xét:
Đăng nhận xét