CMS Chooses Press Ganey for Primary Care Patient Surveys; Sentara, Cone End Merger Plans

June 04, 2021 - Happy Friday after a long short week of work. Many of us in the Northeast will be scrambling to the coast to get some sun following a bleak and dreary Memorial Day Weekend.

Press Ganey Gets OK from CMS for Primary Care First Patient Experience Surveys

Patient experience consulting and surveying firm Press Ganey got a big leg up after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approved it to administer the Primary Care First Patient Experience of Care Surveys (PCF PECS).

The Primary Care First payment model, for which CMS started accepting applications in March 2021, is a five-year program focusing on improving patient experience and health outcomes while cutting healthcare costs in the primary care setting. PECS is an important aspect of this program as it helps measure improvements in patient experience.

Press Ganey said it would deploy the first run of PECS between September 28 through December 21, 2021. This first year of the Primary Care First model will leverage a curated set of patient experience measures, including some elements of the CG-CAHPS 3.0 and targeted questions developed with the PCF model in mind. READ MORE

Innovative Approach to Parkinson’s Treatment

French researchers have shown that deep brain stimulation provides sustained benefits for Parkinson’s patients fifteen years after device implantation. The findings were recently published in Neurology reveals. Study participants continue to experience motor function improvement and less dependence on medications to curb symptoms.

Researchers studied a cohort of 51 Parkinson’s patients who had a deep brain stimulation device implanted. Patients had the device for an average for 17 years. While the average age of diagnosis was 40, the average age of the candidate when they received the implant was 51.  The deep brain stimulation device is implanted surgically under the skin in the patient’s chest. Electrodes placed strategically on the brain communicate with the device which maintains control of electrical impulses.

Researchers then analyzed patient data on quality of life, medication, clinical test results, and mobility problems. Results showed that participants experienced dyskinesia 75 percent less than they had prior to implantation, meaning that they experienced less of the involuntary movements often associated with Parkinson’s. READ MORE

Amgen Receives Approval for First Targeted Non-Small Lung Cancer Therapy

FDA recently approved Amgen’s Lumakras, the first treatment for adult patients with non-small cell lung cancer whose tumors have a specific type of genetic mutation and who have received at least one prior systemic therapy.

Lumakras was approved specifically for tumors with KRAS G12C, a type of mutation in a group of genes that help regulate cell growth and division, an FDA spokesperson said. This is the first approved targeted therapy for tumors with any type of KRAS mutation.

According to Amgen, KRAS G12C is one of the most prevalent driver mutations in non-small cell lung cancer, with 13 percent of patients with non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer in the US having KRAS G12C mutation. KRAS accounts for nearly 25 percent of mutations in non-small cell lung cancers and KRAS G12C mutations represent about 13 percent of mutations in non-small cell lung cancers. 

FDA approved a 960-milligram dose of Lumakras based on available clinical data, as well as pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic modeling that support the approved dose. READ MORE

Sentara Healthcare and Cone Health Call Off Merger

Sentara Healthcare and Cone Health have called off a planned healthcare merger after dozens of public comments poured in raising concerns about hospital consolidation and its impact on prices. The health systems announced in a mutual statement yesterday that they would no longer move forward with the merger proposed in August of last year. The systems had been “working in earnest” to combine the organizations since early 2021. The merger would have created a 17-hospital system with over $11 billion in assets.

The mutual statement from Cone Health and Sentara did not attribute the deterioration of the merger plans to criticisms about potentially higher prices and reduced competition in the Greensboro area.

But shortly after Sentara and Cone Health announced the end of the merger deal, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein released his own statement warning about the cost implications of hospital consolidation. READ MORE

RPM at Wellstar Driving Patient-Centric Care

The Atlanta-based health system is finding that a remote patient monitoring program involves a lot more than collecting and using data, and that relationships play a role in seeing success. At the Wellstar Health System, administrators are looking beyond the clinical benefits of RPM and focusing on partnerships.

“We keep the patient at the center,” said Sally Eckford, assistant vice president of virtual health at the Atlanta-based health system. “We always try to keep them in the middle of every decision we make. For us, RPM gives us a chance to create a new relationship.”

The evolution of RPM goes hand-in-hand with the idea that healthcare is becoming more patient-centric. Care is moving out of the hospital and into the home, she points out, because that’s where people want to access and receive care, and it’s where they’re more comfortable and more likely to heal faster. Providers need to become a partner in that process. READ MORE

Humana to Cover More Seniors Through Value-Based Care

Humana’s CenterWell Senior Primary Care is expanding its value-based care model to Original Medicare members to improve care quality and health outcomes, as well as lower the cost of care.

CenterWell, a primary care provider that focuses on senior healthcare, is participating in the Direct Contracting Model which ensures that CenterWell’s reimbursement will be dependent on the quality of care it provides, according to the press release.

Under this model, CenterWell will also share financial responsibility for patients’ medical costs with CMS. “We’ve deployed this value-based population health model for decades to care primarily for patients with Medicare Advantage, and now we can offer our model to more of those with Original Medicare,” said Reneé Buckingham, president of Humana’s Care Delivery Organization.

CenterWell provides care at 67 payer-agnostic primary care centers in eight states and is on track to expand to its ninth state this year. The provider is a part of Humana’s care delivery organization which consists of care providers that serve more than 200,000 Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage members across the country. The payer’s value-based care model previously covered mostly Medicare Advantage members but they are extending it to now cover more Original Medicare members as well. READ MORE