Healthcare Workers Buy into COVID-19 Vaccine Enthusiasm; ACO Leaders Want More Focus from HHS

March 25, 2021 - The transition of power to the Biden Administration is heralding in a number of changes, including hope for value-based care programming and ACOs, renewed attention to the ACA, and a focus on COVID-19.

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Shrinking Among Healthcare Workers

An assessment from Geisinger Health System showed that healthcare workers warmed to the COVID-19 vaccine once the shot became an FDA-approved reality. Seeing their peers and others safely and successfully get the vaccine also improved enthusiasm, the researchers said.

This data builds on previous research that showed some hesitancy among healthcare workers. Prior to the FDA approval process, some healthcare workers were unsure they’d get the shot. Once that process was completed, more workers said they were interested. Additionally, the Geisinger data showed that those who were unsure could be swayed by seeing future vaccine success stories.

These findings are essential as patients themselves turn to their providers for vaccine recommendations. Providers who have gotten the vaccine and who will endorse it could be successful in building vaccine enthusiasm among patients. READ MORE.

ACO Leaders Call for Stronger Value-Based Care Efforts

The National Association of Accountable Care Organizations (NAACOS) called on HHS to put stronger effort into value-based care programs than had been seen in recent years. In a letter to the agency, NAACOS President and CEO Clif Gaus, ScD, emphasized that ACOs can cut costs and pushed HHS to capitalize on that potential.

“Since 2012, ACOs, including those in the Medicare Shared Savings Program, Next Generation ACO Model, and the now expired Pioneer ACO Model, have lowered Medicare spending by $8.5 billion and $2.5 billion after accounting for shared saving and loss payments and discounts to CMS,” Gaus said in a press release.

“This doesn’t include ‘spillover’ effects to Medicare Advantage or commercial insurance, which also measure in the billions of dollars annually. When compounded, these savings make an undeniable impression on our nation’s out-of-control health spending.” READ MORE.

OCR Reaches $65K Right of Access HIPAA Settlement

The HHS Office for Civil Rights has reached a $65,000 settlement agreement with Arbour Hospital for a HIPAA violation. This is the seventeenth settlement OCR has made under its HIPAA Right of Access Initiative.

OCR found Arbour Hospital had not adhered to HIPAA Right of Access protocol, which mandate covered entities provide patients access to their own medical information in a feasible timeline. The issue in question involved a patient requesting his medical records in May 2019 and still not receiving them by the time of complaint in July 2019.

“Healthcare providers have a duty to provide their patients with timely access to their own health records,” Acting OCR Director Robinsue Frohboese, said in a statement.

“OCR will hold providers accountable to this obligation so that patients can exercise their rights and get needed health information to be active participants in their health care,” she added. READ MORE.

NIH Funding COVID-19 Data Sharing

NIH has awarded $500,000 in grant funding to UC hospitals to explore COVID-19 data sharing. The grant will allow University of California, Irvine, to lead the transfer of UC data about COVID-19 cases to the National COVID Cohort Collaborative’s (N3C). N3C is a data resource at the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.

The institutions will securely contribute patient information like age, sex, weight, medications, and conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes, with identifying details removed. READ MORE.

Feds Expand ACA Special Enrollment Period

The Biden Administration has extended the Affordable Care Act special enrollment period, which it initially enacted to allow individuals whose jobs had been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic sign up for healthcare insurance.

The federal marketplace will now be open until August 15.

This follows the signing of the American Rescue Plan, which increased ACA marketplace and COBRA subsidies.

“Every American deserves access to quality, affordable health care – especially as we fight back against the COVID-19 pandemic,” said HHS  Secretary Xavier Becerra, whom the Senate confirmed as the next Secretary on March 18, 2021 by a margin of one vote.

“Through this Special Enrollment Period, the Biden Administration is giving the American people the chance they need to find an affordable health care plan that works for them. The American Rescue Plan will bring costs down for millions of Americans, and I encourage consumers to visit HealthCare.gov and sign up for a plan before August 15.” READ MORE.

West Virginia May Approve Interstate Telehealth Licensure, Audio-Only Visits

In West Virginia, a bill would make it okay for clinicians licensed in other states to deliver telehealth to patients in West Virginia. The bill would also approve audio-only visits for telehealth.

Clinicians utilizing the interstate telehealth ability would have to have good standing in their home state and be registered as an interstate telehealth provider.

The state’s House of Representatives previously approved a similar bill about interstate telehealth licensure. The state Senate has since unanimously voted on an amended bill that includes the audio-only visit approval, which now has been sent back down to the state House of Representatives. READ MORE.

Translating EHR Free Text to Make Sense of Travel History

Researchers have discovered a viable way to extract information about patient travel history from free text in the EHR and transmit it as usable patient data. This would be key in containing infectious disease outbreak, such as was done during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The system comes with some caveats, the researchers noted. For one thing, it was hard to know whether a note about patient travel history in free text was a document of a trip already completed, or a document of a trip planned for the future. It was hard for researchers to agree “trip to Europe with family” was something the patient was planning or something the patient already did.

Nevertheless, the system is a good first step in helping clinicians identify potential travel and infectious disease risks. READ MORE.