Honoring Lyme Disease Awareness Month with a Multi-Year Plan to Change the Lyme Disease Status Quo
As part of Lyme Disease Awareness Month in May, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched the Lyme Innovation Initiative and LymeX Innovation Accelerator Multi-Year Plan to change the Lyme Disease status quo. Lyme. Multi-year plan includes five years of HHS Lyme innovation goals, impacts to date, and
WEDI: HHS Should Create Office of National Cybersecurity Policy
The Working Group on Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) says the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) should create an Office of National Cybersecurity Policy led by a “cyber policy czar.” In the wake of the high-profile Change Healthcare and Ascension cyberattacks, WEDI sent a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier
President Biden’s Lower Cost Prescription Drug Law is Promoting Women’s Economic Security
Imagine facing the daily challenges of managing your chronic illness and then discovering that the medication vital to your well-being has a price out of your reach. You face the constant burden of paying for your medications, often sacrificing the needs of yourself and your loved ones. Just as he
RAND Study Confirms Higher Reimbursement from Private Payers
According to a new RAND report, prices paid to hospitals during 2022 by employers and private insurers averaged 254 percent of what Medicare would have paid. The RAND research organization stated in a Press release on May 13 that there is a wide variation in prices between states. RAND concluded
See my previous posts on negotiating IRA prices in drug selection (Part 1) and sending manufacturer data (Part 2). Today we will talk about the negotiation process and how CMS will set the maximum fair price (MFP) How will CMS be priced across all doses? “CMS will base the single
EHR Association Makes Recommendations on SDOH Data Capture
An EHR Association working group has made recommendations on how social determinants of health (SDOH) data should be captured in electronic health records. The association’s Working Group on Social Determinants of Health and Health Equity recently published “Recommendations for capturing determinants” notes that there is currently a lack of consensus
CMS launched Guidance on Negotiating IRA Prices last week. Below are some highlights on how medications will be selected. What medications are eligible for negotiation? For small molecules, drugs must (i) be approved by the FDA, (ii) be approved by the FDA at least 7 years ago, and (iii) not
Syphilis Is a Public Health Priority
As a sexually transmitted infection (STI), syphilis is a public health threat in the United States and has reached crisis level. Syphilis cases in the United States have reached their highest levels since the 1950s, and sadly, syphilis cases among newborns have increased more than tenfold in the past 10
Ascension Responding to Cyber Attack
One of the nation’s largest health systems, Ascension, is responding to a cybersecurity incident that is impacting clinical operations and access to medical records. Ascension Catholic Health System has 140 hospitals and 40 senior care facilities in 19 states and the District of Columbia with approximately 134,000 employees. The health
Risk Adjustment and Incentives for Upcoding in Medicare – Healthcare Economist
To account for differences in disease burden among the patient population of Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, risk adjustment based on the patient’s disease burden is used. Specifically, MedPAC notes that: Medicare uses beneficiary characteristics, such as age and prior health conditions, and a risk adjustment model (the CMS Hierarchical Condition
HHS Office for Civil Rights Creates FAQ Webpage in Response to the Change Healthcare Cyberattack
Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published a new webpage to share answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the Data Portability and Accountability Act rules. Health Insurance Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Cybersecurity Incident that affected Change Healthcare, a
Penn Medicine Creates New Role Overseeing Data and Technology Solutions
Penn Medicine in Philadelphia has created a new position of senior vice president of data and technology solutions that will oversee the offices of the chief information officer, chief medical information officer and chief analytics officer. Mitchell Schnall, M.D., Ph.D., was appointed to the new position, following two terms as
