About health insurance/insurers
Resource Use and Care Quality Differences Among Medicare Beneficiaries Undergoing Chemotherapy “Question Are there differences in resource use and quality of care between patients with cancer undergoing chemotherapy who are enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA) vs traditional Medicare (TM)?…
In this cohort study of Medicare beneficiaries with cancer undergoing chemotherapy, MA enrollment was associated with lower resource use but not shorter survival.”
For an editorial comment, see: The Promise and Perils of Oncology Care in Medicare Advantage
Additional Oversight of Remote Patient Monitoring in Medicare Is Needed
”What OIG Found
—Taken together, our findings demonstrate the need for additional oversight to ensure that remote patient monitoring is being used and billed appropriately.
—The use of remote patient monitoring in Medicare increased dramatically from 2019 to 2022.
—About 43 percent of enrollees who received remote patient monitoring did not receive all 3 components of it, raising questions about whether the monitoring is being used as intended.
—OIG and CMS have raised concerns about fraud related to remote patient monitoring.
—Medicare lacks key information for oversight, including who ordered the monitoring for the enrollee.
What OIG Recommends
OIG recommends that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) take the following steps to strengthen oversight of remote patient monitoring:
—Implement additional safeguards to ensure that remote patient monitoring is used and billed appropriately in Medicare.
—Require that remote patient monitoring be ordered and that information about the ordering provider be included on claims and encounter data for remote patient monitoring.|
—Develop methods to identify what health data are being monitored.
—Conduct provider education about billing of remote patient monitoring.
—Identify and monitor companies that bill for remote patient monitoring.”
About the public’s health
NIH establishes pandemic preparedness network, plans up to $100M in yearly funding for work on new treatments and vaccines “The Research and Development of Vaccines and Monoclonal Antibodies for Pandemic Preparedness network (ReVAMPP) will research pathogens that currently lack effective treatments and vaccines, with the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) committing up to $100 million per year to the effort so long as funds are available…”
Quality Indicators for Pain in Adults: A Review of Performance Measures by the American College of Physicians The opioid epidemic spurred a backlash to curb use of these medications for pain. This article suggests appropriate measures to measure the quality of appropriate pain control.
“Six pain performance measures relevant to internal medicine were identified (See Table). One assesses the overuse of imaging for low back pain (CMIT 746), 4 address treatment of pain using opioids (CMIT 150, CMIT 748, CBE 2950, and CBE 2951), and 1 evaluates the patient experience of receiving their desired help for pain (CBE 3666). The latter 3 performance measures have never been used in a national accountability program and do not have CMIT numbers. ACP supports the performance measure about imaging for low back pain (CMIT 746) and the 2 that monitor the use of opioids (CMIT 748 and CBE 2950). The other performance measures (CMIT 150, CBE 2951, and CBE 3666) are not supported (See Figure 1).”
Only 45% of older adults will get updated COVID vaccines “Only 45% of Americans age 50 and older say they're likely to get the updated COVID-19 vaccine this season, according to a poll today from the University of Michigan.
The poll shows many at high risk of severe illness appear unlikely to seek the vaccine, and interest in an updated vaccine varies widely by age-group, education level, and other factors.
The results come from the National Poll on Healthy Aging conducted in August. At the time of polling, new COVID vaccines were not yet widely available, but they had been approved for use and endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Among adults 75 and older, 59% said they were likely to get the updated COVID-19 shot, with 49% of them saying they’re very likely and 10% saying they're somewhat likely. Among adults 65 to 74, 51% said they were likely to get the vaccine.”