Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles

Health policy impacts everyone, but it can be hard to know what is important. If you can only read three things about health policy this week, I suggest...

The Top Three...

Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Costs To Rise In 7% In 2024: PwC Healthcare costs are expected to rise 7% next year as providers deal with higher expenses and seek rate increases during contract negotiations with insurers. The projection by PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute tops the consultancy's estimates in 2022 and 2023, which were 5.5% and 6%, respectively. (Kacik, 6/29)

NBC News: Medical Schools Will Be Even Less Diverse After Affirmative Action Ruling, Experts Say The Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling will have far-reaching consequences for Black and Latino students hoping to attend medical school and, in turn, only worsen the health disparities among people of color across the country, experts said. After the high court’s ruling Thursday struck down affirmative action programs at the University of North Carolina and Harvard, many fear that medical and nursing schools and other professional institutions will no longer be able to foster diversity by considering race in their admissions processes. The decision will result in fewer Black physicians and more racial bias in the medical field, said Dr. Uché Blackstock, a physician who is the founder of Advancing Health Equity. (Adams, 6/29)

Bloomberg: US Nurses Threaten To Quit Post Pandemic Burnout, Risking Big Health Care Gaps A large swath of American nurses want out of the profession, raising the threat of a mass exodus that would leave gaping holes in health care. Almost one in three registered nurses say they’re likely to seek a different job, according to a recent survey by AMN Healthcare Services Inc. A McKinsey & Co. study last month warned the US risks a shortfall of as many as 450,000 nurses. Job openings in health care surged above 2 million in April, not far short of last year’s record. (Saraiva and Tanzi, 6/24)

For a Deeper Dive...

AP: Dozens In 16 States Charged With Health Care Fraud Schemes, Including $1.9B In Bogus Claims In one case filed in the Southern District of Florida, investigators said they found nearly $2 billion in fraudulent telemedicine claims submitted to government-funded coverage programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which mainly cover people age 65 and over and those with low incomes, respectively. ... Those cases involved templates for fake doctor orders for braces and pain creams that were used in exchange for kickbacks and bribes, investigators said. (Whitehurst and Murphy, 6/28)

ProPublica: How Often Do Health Insurers Deny Patients’ Claims? No One Knows It’s one of the most crucial questions people have when deciding which health plan to choose: If my doctor orders a test or treatment, will my insurer refuse to pay for it? After all, an insurance company that routinely rejects recommended care could damage both your health and your finances. The question becomes ever more pressing as many working Americans see their premiums rise as their benefits shrink. (Fields, 6/28)

Stat: Walensky Prepares To Leave CDC — And Congress — After A Bruising 29 Months Rochelle Walensky, the outgoing director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will miss aspects of leading the nation’s top public health agency when her term ends Friday. But testifying before Congress is not likely to be among them. Walensky squared off against congressional committees 17 times during her 2½ years as head of the CDC, most recently in mid-June, when she faced a grilling from Republicans on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. (Branswell, 6/29)

AP: Georgia Launches Medicaid Expansion In Closely Watched Test Of Work Requirements Georgia is offering a new bargain to some adults without health insurance beginning Saturday: Go to work or school and the state will cover you. But advocates decry the plan, which will insure far fewer people than a full expansion of the state-federal Medicaid program, as needlessly restrictive and expensive. The program is likely to be closely watched as Republicans in Congress push to let states require work from some current Medicaid enrollees. (Amy, 6/30)

The Washington Post: U-Penn Medicine Quits Cooperating With U.S. News Hospitals Ranking The University of Pennsylvania Health System will no longer participate in the U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of hospitals, officials announced Monday. The decision by the perennially highly ranked health system, part of Penn Medicine, added to a growing revolt against the lists by prominent schools. Kevin B. Mahoney, chief executive of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, said his moment of clarity came when someone asked how a decision to save a hospital in a low-income neighborhood might affect their place in the rankings. (Svrluga, 6/26)

Healthcare Dive: HHS finalizes info blocking penalties for IT vendors, kickstarting enforcement The Biden administration on Tuesday finalized penalties for health IT companies found blocking the electronic flow of health information, freeing regulators to start investigating the backlog of information blocking complaints. The HHS Office of Inspector General final rule enacts statutory penalties created by the 21st Century Cures Act, including fines of up to $1 million per information blocking violation. (Pifer, 6/28)

JAMA: Health Care Costs Will Comprise About 20% of US Economy by 2031 The country’s health care spending will grow an average of 5.4% per year between 2022 and 2031, accounting for about $1 out of every $5 spent in the US by the end of the period, according to new projections from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published in Health Affairs. The agency expects that recent legislative changes, such as the expiration of regulations surrounding the COVID-19 public health emergency and the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act’s prescription drug provisions, will drive some of the health expenditure trends. (Harris, 6/28)

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For the Visual Among Us...

A few years ago I started a weekly e-mail for friends and colleagues who want to keep up on major federal health policy developments but did not have time to plod through all the minutiae--they were busy doing important things like running organizations and taking care of patients! Much to my surprise, it became pretty popular. I have now converted to a weekly newsletter format so you can manage your own subscription preferences and forward to others that might be interested.

These summaries represent my judgement on health policy issues that may not on the front pages, but are relevant to clinicians, administrators, and educators. I monitor many news sources and clipping services to identify content for this newsletter and I try hard to be as factual, balanced, and non-partisan as possible. While the articles are written by others (with credit attributed), the choice of what to include is entirely mine. If you are interested in receiving a daily summary of health policy news, you might consider signing up for the KHN Morning Briefing. If you enjoy podcasts, I suggest What the Health? and Tradeoffs.

-Gregg S. Margolis, PhD