AT THIS HOUR

June 3, 2022

15: Even though Andy Warhol thought all people would be famous for this many minutes and Swifties know all too well about teenage angst in Taylor’s song about this age, it’s healthcare that has a claim to this number. In 2022, more providers report as much as 15% reimbursement increases to reflect inflation and pay for performance and several health systems are opening 15+ outpatient centers, like Michigan’s Henry Ford Health System, which hopes to open 15 urgent care centers this year with GoHealth to “patch holes in care across the region” and limit ED visits, which averaged more than 129 per day in 2021 across all Henry Ford hospitals. 

Palliative Partner: SCAN Health Plan has acquired a palliative care, chronic disease management, care transition management and personal health assessment business for older adults. SCAN’s Medicare Advantage members will now have access to these services from Residentialist Group.

Social Risk: CareFirst BCBS is partnering with healthcare analytics company Socially Determined to offer insights into tracking social determinants of health and help the insurer support individuals with elevated health and socioeconomic risks. Our research study on social risk factors of health, first published spring 2021, featured an interview with Socially Determined co-founder and CEO, Dr. Trenor Williams. Read the report here.

Reversal Of Fortune: Virta Health of Arizona is offering a first-of-its-kind diabetes management program designed to help reverse type 2 diabetes without surgery. The Virta coach program offers tips to optimize food choices and uses daily support health coaches. After two years of the pilot program, 74% of patients are still participating, meaning that it is more sustainable than other diet and lifestyle programs. Clinical trial results also show an average daily insulin dosage reduced by 81%, and 67% of all prescriptions were eliminated. 

Retail 2023: CVS Health announced the launch of their new virtual care solution, CVS Health Virtual Primary Care, which will allow consumers to choose their care when and where they want - in a retail setting, at-home health services, or virtually. This offering is being sold to Aetna, fully-insured, self-insured plan sponsors and CVS Caremark clients and will be eligible for Aetna members starting January 1, 2023. 

Maternal Instincts: Health plans are increasing focus on maternal health outcomes through various initiatives, most recent of which is Anthem who is providing $14.5m in grants to community organizations. Four California based organizations will receive $1.9m each over the next three years for programs aimed at reducing preterm birth rate, maternal morbidity and mortality and primary cesarean rates. 

Nudge This: Playwright Tom Stoddard said words are sacred, that if you get the right ones in the right order you can nudge the world a little bit and the BCBS plan in Massachusetts hopes to do this with a new “Nudge Unit,” an interesting name for a new resource using behavioral science to influence patients. Since its launch, the unit has identified a number of ways to improve member behavior, like when it took Stoddard’s cue and revised a letter to members that is sent with at-home colorectal cancer screening kits. The change produced a 3% increase in test uptake and 500 additional screenings collected. The unit also notifies clinicians if they are outliers in their rates of prescribing certain medications or ordering certain tests. BCBS MA is one of the first health plans to start this unit, but we expect other health plans to launch their own Nudge Unit in the future.

Which 5 Specialists Expect To Be Pushed Into Value? Earlier this week we released a brief highlighting the results of our survey of 278 physicians from 10 specialties. The results tell an interesting story about challenges facing physicians, their expectations, the interesting juxtaposition between compensation trends and reimbursement trends, and the future of physician pay. Find out which 5 of the highest paid specialties expect to be impacted by value-based contracting here.

C3PO For The Older Folks: The New York State Office For Aging (NYSOFA) is aligning with tech startup Intuition Robotics to provide a companion robot, ElliQ, to isolated seniors to provide medication reminders, wellness suggestions and friendly conversations. The program uses AI technology for this care companion for more than 800 older adults with a goal to increase independence, combat loneliness and increase social activity. Unlike other consumer personal assistants, ElliQ is designed to initiate conversations with its users and suggest activities such as physical exercises, trivia games, or sleep relaxation.

Extra Point: This taller man with a mustache wearing a yellow short-sleeve button down and a sea blue baseball cap left the line at the general store yesterday for why I did not know at the moment….click here for "extra point"