About the public’s health
Experts project autumn surge in coronavirus cases, with a peak after Election Day: “Infectious-disease experts are warning of a potential cold-weather surge of coronavirus cases — a long-feared “second wave” of infections and deaths, possibly at a catastrophic scale. It could begin well before Election Day, Nov. 3, although researchers assume the crest would come weeks later, closer to when fall gives way to winter.”
Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count: “At least 261 new coronavirus deaths and 25,167 new cases were reported in the United States on Sept. 7. Over the past week, there have been an average of 38,915 cases per day, a decrease of 9 percent from the average two weeks earlier.
As of Tuesday morning, more than 6,317,200 people in the United States have been infected with the coronavirus and at least 189,000 have died, according to a New York Times database.”
Contributions Of Public Health, Pharmaceuticals, And Other Medical Care To US Life Expectancy Changes, 1990-2015: “Life expectancy in the US increased 3.3 years between 1990 and 2015…Forty-four percent of improved life expectancy was attributable to public health, 35 percent was attributable to pharmaceuticals, 13 percent was attributable to other medical care, and −7 percent was attributable to other/unknown factors.”
Assessment of Receipt of the First Home Health Care Visit After Hospital Discharge Among Older Adults: “Only… [54.0% of patients] discharged from the hospital with a home health referral received home health care services within 14 days of discharge. Of the remaining… [46% of discharged patients], 37.7%… never received any home health care, while 8.3%… were institutionalized or died within 14 days without a preceding home health care visit. Patients who were Black or Hispanic received home health at lower rates than did patients who were White… In addition, disadvantaged patients waited longer for their first home health care visit.”
The COVID-19 Global Response Index: With New Zealand as the global model of response (gaining a score of 100), the #2 country on the list is…Senegal (89.3). Not a statistical fluke, but the result of an early isolation policy starting with its top government officials acting as role models.
In EU, 1 in 8 deaths linked to pollution: report:”In the EU, 13 percent of deaths are linked to pollution, said a new report published on Tuesday by the European Environment Agency (EEA), which stressed the current pandemic put environmental health factors in the spotlight.
Europeans are constantly exposed to environmental risks like air pollution, noise and chemicals, and the COVID-19 pandemic provides an example of the links between ‘human health and ecosystem health.’
’The emergence of such zoonotic pathogens is linked to environmental degradation and human interactions with animals in the food system,’ the report said.”
Blue Shield of California launches interactive community health dashboard: “The dashboard, built in partnership with data company mySidewalk, combines information from dozens of sources to provide a look at health outcomes, care access and utilization, social risk factors and economic health conditions across California.
The goal, Blue Shield officials said, is to offer supports to community health organizations, health advocates providers and public health officials as they craft solutions targeting local needs. The data are not restricted to Blue Shield's members.”
About healthcare IT
OCR updates HIPAA resources for cloud computing, mobile health apps: ”HHS' Office for Civil Rights on Sept. 1 updated its previous Health App Developer Portal and changed it to a HIPAA resource page for cloud computing, mobile health apps and application programming interfaces.”
Children's Hospital Los Angeles launches 26-hospital pediatric digital innovation accelerator: “Children's Hospital Los Angeles is spearheading a new digital health accelerator that will link 26 hospitals across the U.S., U.K. and Australia with 10 tech companies focused on increasing digital innovations in pediatric healthcare.
Applications for the 13-week program, dubbed KidsX, opened Sept. 1; the program will follow a reverse pitch model, which allows the participating hospitals to pitch their problems or challenges to the startup community and then work with the companies that have tech solutions to meet their needs.
Some of the problems on the KidsX wish list include wearables and bi-directional communication technologies for monitoring pediatric patients at home, tools to improve care transitions from pediatric to adult healthcare, and predictive analytics to identify potentially harmful clinical outcomes in pediatric patients.”
Data-sharing lawsuit against U of Chicago Medical Center, Google dismissed: “A federal judge in Illinois dismissed the class-action lawsuit against the University of Chicago Medical Center and Google, which alleged HIPAA violations.Former University of Chicago Medical Center patient Matt Dinerstein sued Google and the hospital in June 2019, alleging the partnership between the two organizations violated HIPAA. Under the partnership, which began in 2017, the University of Chicago Medical Center shared thousands of de-identified patient records with Google to help the tech giant improve predictive analytics.
The data included time stamps for dates of service and physician notes, which Mr. Dinerstein contended violated HIPAA. The University of Chicago denied any wrongdoing and the lawsuit didn't include evidence that Google misused the information.”
From big deals to bankruptcy, a digital health unicorn falls short. Here's what other startups can learn from Proteus: “Hundreds of startups are trying to succeed in a digital health market that is now flush with cash.
Investors poured $5.4 billion into healthcare technology startups in the first half of 2020, according to digital health venture capital firm Rock Health.
But having a breakthrough technology is not enough to succeed.”
This article is a good case study of one company, Proteus, that ultimately filed for Chapter 11 after a promising start.
About health insurance
A Doctor Went to His Own Employer for a COVID-19 Antibody Test. It Cost $10,984:”Physicians Premier ER charged Dr. Zachary Sussman’s insurance $10,984 for his COVID-19 antibody test even though Sussman worked for the chain and knows the testing materials only cost about $8. Even more surprising: The insurer paid in full…
The bill left him so dismayed he quit his job. And now, after ProPublica’s questions, the parent company of his insurer said the case is being investigated and could lead to repayment or a referral to law enforcement.”
A great case for discussion of what went wrong and what can be done to prevent similar situations.
Urgent care network to pay $12.5M in billing fraud case: “A company that owned and operated more than 30 urgent care centers has agreed to pay $12.5 million to resolve overbilling allegations, the Department of Justice…
UCXtra Umbrella, which did business in Arizona as Urgent Care Extra, previously admitted…that it had billing procedures in place that caused its providers to overstate the complexity of the medical services provided to patients…
The company also admitted that staff were encouraged to order tests and procedures that may not have been medically necessary to justify higher billing codes and reimbursement.”
Adjustment For Social Risk Factors Does Not Meaningfully Affect Performance On Medicare’s MIPS Clinician Cost Measures: “Medicare’s Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) …do not include risk adjustment for social risk factors. We found that adjusting for individual and community social risk did not have a meaningful impact on clinicians’ cost measure performance... Prior analyses have generally found higher health care costs for patients with increased social risk. MIPS episode-based cost measures are distinct from previous cost measures because they only include costs related to the specific condition being evaluated. This unique approach may explain why costs were similar for patients with high and low social risk before any risk adjustment”