About healthcare quality
The Joint Commission and the National Association for Healthcare Quality Form Strategic Alliance to Advance Global Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality “The Joint Commission and the National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ) announce a strategic alliance to advance global healthcare Quality and safety for all…
With the alliance, The Joint Commission and NAHQ will transform healthcare by:
Uniting to a universal set of Quality competencies: The Joint Commission endorses and encourages healthcare organizations to adopt NAHQ’s Healthcare Quality Competency Framework™, which defines the full spectrum of work required for a high-functioning Quality program. This framework will not be a requirement for Joint Commission accreditation or certification. It will not be scored or determinative of survey or review outcome.
Skilling healthcare professionals: NAHQ offers the only accredited certification in healthcare Quality through its Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ)® To support the importance of competency development, Joint Commission and Joint Commission International (JCI) surveyors and reviewers will obtain and maintain this certification. Furthermore, The Joint Commission and NAHQ will jointly offer 25 annual scholarships to fund CPHQ attainment in underfunded organizations.
Co-developing best-in-class training and education: The alliance will create training and education on the most critical topics in healthcare, along with other global products and services. NAHQ will develop a series of micro-credentials aligned with each of the eight domains of its Healthcare Quality Competency Framework, including a micro-credential in Regulatory & Accreditation in collaboration with The Joint Commission.
Aligning critical missions and approaches: NAHQ recognizes and endorses Joint Commission and JCI accreditation and certification approaches and products as best practices for assessing Quality and safety within healthcare organizations around the world.”
About health insurance/insurers
IRS loosens rules on health plan coverage for preventive care “The IRS has expanded its list of preventive care benefits for high-deductible health plans. Services that must be covered at no cost to policyholders now include condoms and breast cancer screenings other than mammograms, among other items.”
COMPETITION in HEALTH INSURANCE From an annual AMA report: “A comprehensive study of U.S. markets“We find that the vast majority of U.S. health insurance markets are highly concentrated. In fact, health insurance markets have remained stubbornly highly concentrated over time, with the vast majority of them being so in the last 10 years. The share of commercial markets that are highly concentrated was 95% in both 2014 and 2023 and hovered between 95% and 96% over that 10-year period.”
About pharma
CVS, UnitedHealth, Cigna sue to block FTC case over insulin prices “KEY POINTS
CVS Health, UnitedHealth Group and Cigna sued the Federal Trade Commission, claiming the agency’s case against drug middlemen over high insulin prices in the U.S. is unconstitutional.
The complaint is the latest move in a bitter legal fight between the three largest pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, in the U.S. and the FTC.
The FTC in September sued CVS’s Caremark, Cigna’s Express Scripts and UnitedHealth’s Optum Rx in the agency’s administrative court.”
About the public’s health
What to know about microplastics, phthalates, BPA and PFAS An excellent review of this topic.