Pediatric Price Transparency Information Nearly Non-Existent

October 05, 2021 - While the pandemic has likely drawn the bulk of interest over the past two years, healthcare price transparency has returned to the fore and new evidence suggests hospitals are not doing their part. 

Price Transparency for Pediatrics Falls Well Short

Despite a federal mandate, only 7 percent of parents are getting price transparency for their children’s medical care, according to data in JAMA Network Open.

Overwhelmingly, parents regard price transparency in the pediatric setting as a good thing. In a survey of just under 650 families in a pediatric healthcare setting, 75 percent said they wanted to discuss the cost of their child’s care, and 76 percent said it’s important to know the cost of their child’s care.

Most families reported that they did not know who to talk to about the cost of pediatric healthcare, the survey showed. However, if they were to have conversations about the cost of care, just over half of parents or guardians (56 percent) said they’d want to talk with a financial counselor with the healthcare organization.

Notably, 19 percent of parents said they were worried having a conversation about price transparency could impact the quality of care their child received. Low-income families, for example, might be concerned a clinician would recommend a less costly but also less effective course of treatment. READ MORE

Francis Collins to Step Down as NIH Director After 12 Years

Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, will be stepping down as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by the end of 2021.

Collins is the longest-serving presidentially appointed NIH director, serving three US presidents over 12 years. President Barack Obama appointed Collins as the 16th NIH director in August 2009. In 2017, Donald trump asked Collins to continue his role, and in 2021, Joe Biden followed.

“It has been an incredible privilege to lead this great agency for more than a decade,” Collins said in an official statement. “I love this agency and its people so deeply that the decision to step down was a difficult one, done in close counsel with my wife, Diane Baker, and my family.”

Hospital Keep Close Eye on Clean Claims, Initial Denials

The difference between clean claims and initial claims denials is a major key performance indicator (KPI) that hospitals track, according to a new survey.

The new survey from healthcare revenue cycle management company AKASA found that nearly 80 percent of hospitals are measuring the difference in the rates. But the KPI may not be the best indicator of revenue cycle health, survey authors stated.

“In my experience, metrics like clean claims can lead executives to believe they are performing better than they actually are, only to see their rate of initial denials is still high,” says Amy Raymond, head of revenue cycle operations at AKASA. READ MORE

NC Blue Realizes $112M in Savings on Lab Costs, Unnecessary Testing

Lab service costs can be an expensive category of healthcare spending, but Blue Cross NC aimed to change that with its latest partnership. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) achieved $112 million in savings on lab service costs and better-quality lab services for members in 2020 after partnering with a laboratory insights company.

The payer improved member health outcomes by reducing unnecessary lab testing and increasing clinical guideline adherence. Blue Cross NC first partnered with Avalon Healthcare Solutions in 2017. Since then, the payer has seen several improvements surrounding lab services. Blue Cross NC now provides 99 percent of all lab services within its network, compared to the 86 percent that the payer previously covered in-network.

The lab company also helped the payer improve its medical policy around lab services. The program offered automated support to help providers follow clinically accepted lab service guidelines. READ MORE

Data Analytics + AI = Reduced Hospital-Acquired Infections

By switching to a data analytics and AI-powered hygiene monitoring system, Novant Health decreased its number of hospital-acquired infections.

About 1.7 million hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) occur each year. Additionally, around a hundred thousand of those result in death. One way to tackle this problem is through hand hygiene monitoring.

While Novant had the goal of bringing their rate of HAIs down to zero, with the COVID-19 pandemic, the team tried to accelerate the process. However, that the system of hygiene monitoring was not effective in the time of COVID-19. While the hospital was already short-staffed, it was inefficient to pull staff members away from their work so they could watch other nurses and physicians wash their hands.  With artificial intelligence technology, Novant Health saw its HAIs decrease by 30 percent while HAIs went up by 30 to 40 percent across the industry. READ MORE

Remote Patient Monitoring Helps with Post-Surgery Pain

A recent study conducted at several Canadian hospitals finds that remote patient monitoring can be used to help patients recover at home after non-elective surgery.

The study, led by researchers at McMaster University and the Population Health Research Institute, both in Hamilton, Ontario, and published last month in the British Medical Association trade journal, focused on some 900 patients who’d needed surgery during the pandemic. Roughly half were treated with traditional follow-up care, including in-person services, and half were treated via remote automated monitoring (RAM) services, which include mHealth devices and a telehealth tablet.

Researchers found that the RPM platform didn’t significantly affect the mortality rate or the rehospitalization rate, but it did significantly reduce pain — and it was associated with a significant increase in detection and correction of medication errors. The study found that fewer patients using the RPM platform reported pain at seven, 15, and 30 days after discharge, an indication that they were recovering better and faster with the help of RPM. READ MORE