Read today’s Kaiser Health News
In other news:
NIH unveils plan to centralize grant reviews in effort to save $65M+ annually:The National Institutes of Health unveiled a plan on March 6 to move the peer review of grant applications, cooperative agreements and research and development contracts to a central location at the agency’s Center for Scientific Review (CSR). The move is intended to save more than $65 million annually, the agency said.
About healthcare quality and safety
10 top threats to patient safety in 2025: ECRI: n 2025, the top threats to patient safety reflect a mix of long-standing challenges and emerging risks, according to a new report from ECRI and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices…
Here are the 10 most pressing patient safety challenges in 2025, per the report:
Dismissing patient, family and caregiver concerns
Insufficient governance of artificial intelligence
Spread of medical misinformation
Cybersecurity breaches
Caring for veterans in non-military health settings
Substandard and falsified drugs
Diagnostic errors in cancers, vascular events and infections
Healthcare-associated infections in long-term care facilities
Inadequate coordination during patient discharge
Deteriorating working conditions in community pharmacies
About health insurance/insurers
CMS Notes Progress on Accountable Care Goals: Earlier this year, the United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) acknowledged progress that had been made on its goal for Traditional Medicare beneficiaries to be in a care relationship with accountability for quality and total cost of care by 2030. In fact, as of January 2025, 53.4% of people with Traditional Medicare (fee-for-service) were in an accountable care relationship with a provider, representing more than 14.8 million people and a 4.3% increase from January 2024…
As of 2025, there are 28 ACOs receiving advance investment payments (an increase of 47% from last year), with half of beneficiaries assigned to these ACOs residing in areas with a health professional shortage or in a medically underserved area.
Additionally, for the 2025 performance year, CMS approved 228 applications for the Medicare Shared Savings Program. That includes 55 new accountable care organizations (ACOs) and 173 ACOs that are renewing or reentering, the largest annual number of renewals in the history of the program. The total number of ACOs participating in the Shared Savings Program for performance year 2025 is 476. There was also a 16% increase in the number of Federally Qualified Health Centers, Rural Health Clinics, and Critical Access Hospitals participating in the program from last year.
CMS further notes that 103 ACOs are continuing their participation in the Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (ACO REACH) Model and 78 Kidney Contracting Entities and 15 CMS Kidney Care First Practices are continuing their participation in the Kidney Care Choices (KCC) Model. The ACO Primary Care Flex (ACO PC Flex) Model, a highlight of CMS’ support of primary care as the foundation of accountable care, boasted 24 participating ACOs. The ACO PC Flex model began on January 1, 2025, and serves 349,000 traditional Medicare beneficiaries.
6 BCBS plans reporting losses in 2024 FYI
On the other hand: Excellus BCBS posts $26M profit in 2024
About hospitals and healthcare systems
Buying across borders: 6 systems acquiring hospitals in a new state FYI
About pharma
CVS is opening smaller stores that only have pharmacies : The pharmacy chain is opening around a dozen stores this year that are about the half the size of its traditional layout and have only a pharmacy — ditching the front-end of the store that traditionally has sold snacks, greeting cards and other consumer staples.
The smaller stores are one aspect of CVS’ turnaround plans, which have also included more than 1,000 store closures and thousands of layoffs, as the chain looks to adjust in an industry currently undergoing an upheaval.
On the heels of FDA nod for cancer drug, Sun Pharma buys Checkpoint Therapeutics for up to $416M FYI