Senior Patient Access to Care Suffers Under COVID-19 Restrictions
Patient access to care issues were worse in the US than in any similarly developed nation, researchers reported.
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By Sara Heath
- Seniors are reporting patient access to care issues from during the pandemic’s earliest days that outpace problems in any other similarly developed nation, while healthcare organizations from across the country are looking at the consequences of stress on both patients and clinicians.
One in Three Seniors See Care Access Issues
Thirty-seven percent of seniors over age 65 said they had at least one chronic disease management appointment canceled at the hands of COVID-19, amounting to care access issues that could have exacerbated conditions.
The data, published by the Commonwealth Fund, also showed serious social and economic pandemic consequences among that population. This comes as adults over age 65 have to navigate their inherent high risk for contracting the virus and getting seriously sick from it. READ MORE.
Hospital Uses Revenue Cycle Analytics to Yield Success
Claims data can be used for more than reimbursement. At Nebraska Medicine, claim analytics are transforming the data into revenue cycle strategy.
“During the March and April timeframe last year, when a lot of facilities were stopping elective services and volumes were down, we really had an opportunity to use that data to anticipate where we were going moving forward,” Jana Danielson, vice president of revenue cycle at Nebraska Medicine, recently told RevCycleIntelligence. READ MORE.
ACA Marketplaces Get More Diverse, Boost Savings
READ MORE: How the Delta Variant Exacerbates Healthcare Disparities
HHS announced that the Affordable Care Act market saw a higher share of Black enrollees and that nine in ten new enrollees saw reductions to their premiums.
Additionally, the agency stated that 2.8 million people gained health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace during the special enrollment period.
This influx of enrollees raised marketplace enrollment to 12.2 million, the highest enrollment level that these marketplaces have ever seen.
“It’s clear that when health coverage is accessible and affordable, people sign up, CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in the CMS press release. "Peace of mind is especially needed during the COVID-19 pandemic and thanks to the Special Enrollment Period millions more can now rest easy knowing they are covered." READ MORE.
Mount Sinai Uses Wearables to Detect Healthcare Worker Stress
Researchers at Mount Sinai are using wearables to flag healthcare workers who are experiencing significant stress at the hands of the pandemic.
READ MORE: How Does the Healthcare Industry Lower Prescription Drug Spending?
Additionally, the researchers are looking at factors that mitigate that stress, particularly reporting that high resilience and a strong support system are important for staving off burnout.
“Our study highlights the importance of emotional support and resilience in moderating the effects of stress on healthcare workers during the ongoing pandemic,” Robert Hirten, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine and the study’s corresponding author, said in a press release.
“Assessing the resilience and emotional support of healthcare workers may be able to help identify those at risk from ongoing stressors and may help guide healthcare institutions in allocating mental health resources for these at-risk employees,” he added. READ MORE.
SDOH-Related Stress Can Lead to Heart Disease
Experiencing social determinants of health can cause stress for individuals that ultimately can cause heart disease, according to research from the American Heart Association.
Studies have indicated that cumulative exposure to daily stressors or traumatic stress due to social determinants of health can increase cardiovascular disease risk. In addition, a growing body of research refers to the mind-heart-body connection, suggesting that a person’s mind can positively or negatively impact their cardiovascular well-being.
READ MORE: Preparing Healthcare CFOs for Business During a Biden Presidency
“The stress hormones norepinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine, and cortisol can increase with stress from life events, work, relationships, finances, and more. And we confirmed that stress is a key factor contributing to the risk of hypertension and cardiovascular events,” study author Kosuke Inoue, MD, PhD, said in a press release. READ MORE.
NE Hospital Liable for HIPAA Right of Access
The HHS Office for Civil Rights has settled its 20th HIPAA right of access case, this time dealing with a Nebraska children’s hospital that did not provide timely access to a child’s medical records.
The hospital is on the hook for an $80,000 civil monetary penalty paid by Nebraska-based Children’s Hospital & Medical Center (CHMC).
"Generally, HIPAA requires covered entities to give parents timely access to their minor children's medical records, when the parent is the child's personal representative,” Robinsue Fohboese, acting director of OCR, explained in the press release.
“OCR's Right of Access Initiative supports patients' and personal representatives' fundamental right to their health information and underscores the importance of all covered entities' compliance with this essential right.” READ MORE.
Manufacturing Company Inks mRNA Vaccine Deal
Manufacturing company National Resilience has secured a deal with Moderna to manufacture drug substance mRNA for its COVID-19 vaccine.
Resilience is a manufacturing and technology company founded in 2020 to boost access to complex medicines and protect biopharmaceutical supply chains against distribution.
Under the terms of the agreement, Resilience will produce mRNA for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at its facility in Canada. The company will distribute the vaccine globally.
“Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine has saved countless lives, and we’re excited to manufacture mRNA for this important vaccine,” Rahul Singhvi, ScD, chief executive officer of Resilience, said in the announcement.
“This collaboration has the potential to ensure more people are protected around the world from the deadly COVID-19 virus,” Singhvi continued. READ MORE.
Cerner Snags $113M More of VA EHR Implementation
The US Department of Veterans Affairs has allotted another $113 million to fund its EHR implementation, securing funding for EHR vendor Cerner for Wave G of go-lives. This comes along with $14M in VA funding for Cerner to propel the Department’s Waves K through M EHR implementations.
VA has hit quite a few snags in its EHR Modernization project, most recently with the Department hitting pause after an OIG report revealed VA underestimated implementation costs by some $2.5 million. READ MORE.
