About health insurance
Stable costs but more uninsured as ‘Obamacare’ sign-ups open: Today is the first day of open enrollment for ACA signups. Signups in most states close on December 15.
Summary of 2020 changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, Quality Payment Program, and other federal programs: This monograph from the American College of Physicians is an excellent resource to understand many changes in Medicare payment schemes. It is of further importance because private payers often follow Medicare methods.
CMS finalizes payment rules to spur greater use of innovative kidney drugs, home infusion: CMS finalized payment rules that it hopes will encourage less costly treatment options. For example: “The home infusion therapy benefit—which will be implemented in 2021—will cover the administration of certain medication through a durable medical equipment pump in a patient’s home. It will also cover professional services such as nursing, patient education and training and patient monitoring.”
Rural and Safety Net Hospitals Prepare for Cut in Federal Support: The ACA mandated financial cuts to hospitals that help poor and uninsured. The reason is that more people would be insured. Since the federal government was subsidizing premiums, it reasoned the extra payments would be “double dipping.” But the cuts will cause hardships for many of those institutions. Read the article for more details.
About healthcare quality and safety
Feds Appeal Block on Sanctions for Disclosing Medical Error Info (Bloomberg Law- may need subscription):”The HHS is appealing to the Eleventh Circuit a decision blocking it from penalizing a health-care provider for disclosing medical error-related information privileged under federal law. State law may force the hospital to produce the information in a state court medical malpractice case.” This case raises two issues: First, privileged information is necessary in many quality investigations and must be preserved. Second, this case apparently represents an overlap of federal and state laws that needs resolution.
About pharma
Long-awaited cystic fibrosis drug could turn deadly disease into a manageable condition (Washington Post- subscription may be required): The FDA has approved a new three-drug combination, Trikafta, that is expected to benefit 90% of patients with cystic fibrosis. It is a major breakthrough in treatment. Cost is expected to be $311,000 a year.
About the public’s health
Is chocolate healthy? Alas, the answer isn’t sweet. Here’s why.(Washington Post- subscription may be required): Don’t read this article if you love chocolate. It’s the “skinny” on the purported benefits of this beloved treat.