Newswire Archives
HRSA has announced plans to submit an Information Collection Request to the Office of Management and Budget. HRSA seeks comments from the public regarding the burden estimate, or any other aspect of the ICR on Bureau of Health Workforce performance data collection. Comments should be received no later than December 17, 2018.
More information may be accessed here.
In week one (it was only three days long) of Open Enrollment for 2019, using the HealthCare.gov platform 371,676 individuals selected plans. Every week during Open Enrollment, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will release enrollment snapshots for the HealthCare.gov platform, which is used by the Federally-facilitated Exchanges, the State Partnership Exchanges, and some State-based Exchanges.
Enrollment data can be obtained at https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/weekly-enrollment-snapshot-week-1.
A report from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) presents preliminary data findings from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) spring 2018 collection, which included four survey components: Enrollment for fall 2017; Finance for fiscal year 2017; data on employees in postsecondary education for Fall 2017; and data for Academic Libraries for fiscal year 2017.
The report can be obtained at https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019021.pdf.
According to a study published on November 2, 2018 in JAMA Network Open, a greater prevalence of characteristics associated with black race, but not race itself, was associated with higher mortality risk after acute myocardial infarction. The authors suggest that further understanding of the mechanism by which socioeconomic status affects survival may be an important target for future research.
The article can be obtained at https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2712182.
Employers have had some success in controlling rising health care costs, but they have done so mainly by shifting costs to employees through high-deductible health care plans. Commonwealth Fund authors note in the Harvard Business Review that employers can better face the challenge of high costs by joining together to form purchasing alliances.
The paper can be obtained at https://hbr.org/2018/11/to-control-health-care-costs-u-s-employers-should-form-purchasing-alliances.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education has announced their intention to establish a negotiated rulemaking committee that will cover topics such as accreditation, innovation, state authorization, and distance education. Nominations may be made to the Accreditation and Innovation Committee as well as three subcommittees: the Distance Learning and Educational Innovation Subcommittee; the Faith-Based Entities Subcommittee; and the TEACH Grants Subcommittee. Nominations must be received by November 15, 2018.
NEHI, the Network for Excellence in Health Innovation, released “Health Care Without Walls: A Roadmap For Reinventing U.S. Health Care.” The report indicates that by combining technologies, such as telehealth with a reconfigured workforce, the nation’s health care system could be transformed into one that better anticipates individuals’ needs, works to keep them as healthy as possible, and brings prevention and care out of conventional institutional settings into homes, workplaces, and other convenient locations.
An executive summary can be obtained as a free download at https://www.nehi.net/.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized significant changes to the Home Health Prospective Payment System to strengthen and modernize Medicare. Specifically, CMS made changes to improve access to solutions via remote patient monitoring technology, update payments for home health care with a new case-mix system, begin the new home infusion therapy benefit, and reduce burden.
A fact sheet on the final rule can be obtained at
A new report from the Institute for Higher Education Policy examines persistent racial and socioeconomic gaps in access and graduation at six flagship universities in the Midwest.
The report can be obtained at
Building on its work over the past five years to reinvent the way future physicians are trained, the American Medical Association (AMA) today announced a new $15 million competitive grant initiative aimed at better aligning residency training with the evolving needs of patients, communities, and the workforce needs of the current and future health care system.
More information can be obtained at
https://www.ama-assn.org/education/ama-reimagining-residency-initiative.
The U.S. health care system is leaving many of the sickest Americans feeling helpless, facing serious problems with their care, and struggling to make ends meet, according to the first joint survey from the Commonwealth Fund, the New York Times, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, part of a partnership called Health Care in America.
A report of the survey results can be obtained at https://cdn1.sph.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/94/2018/10/CMWF-NYT-HSPH-Seriously-Ill-Poll-Report.pdf.
A new brief from the Urban Institute provides updated estimates of Social Security and Medicare lifetime benefits and taxes for households with different earnings histories, updated to the latest information on income, prices, mortality, and related factors. Tables illustrate how these programs continuously evolve over a 100-year period, stretching from a cohort born around the turn of the 20th century to millennials just entering adulthood.
The brief can be obtained at https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/99232/social_security_and_medicare_lifetime_benefits_and_taxes_2018_update.pdf.
According to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey of state Medicaid directors, enrollment in that program declined an average 0.6 percent in fiscal year 2018, largely due to a strengthening economy. Average combined federal and state Medicaid spending grew by 4.2 percent, similar to the previous year’s growth, and states project an average 5.3 percent increase in spending in FY 2019.
Survey results can be obtained at https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/medicaid-enrollment-spending-growth-fy-2018-2019/.
While accountable care organizations, or ACOs, are designed to contain health care costs and address inconsistency in health care quality, the evidence so far shows they've achieved only limited success in meeting these goals.
Additional information about research supported by the Commonwealth Fund-can be obtained at https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/journal-article/2018/oct/physician-practices-early-acos?omnicid=EALERT1496319&mid=thomas@asahp.org.
Health care added 25,700 new jobs in September 2018, in line with the 12-month average of 25,100 per month. Hospitals added a higher-than-average 12,000 jobs in July, above the 12-month average of 8,600. Ambulatory settings such as physician offices and home health added a lower-than-average new 10,300 jobs, below the 12-month average of 14,900. Year over year (September 2018 compared to September 2017), health jobs grew by 1.9% while non-health jobs grew by 1.7% and the health share of total jobs was steady at 10.76%.
The report can be obtained at https://altarum.org/sites/default/files/uploaded-publication-files/SHSS-Labor-Brief_October_2018.pdf.
Using updated American Community Survey 2012-2016 Estimates, U.S. Census Bureau researchers found that in a number of areas, the inclusion of off-campus students had a statistically significant effect on local poverty rates, in some cases increasing the rate by 10 or more percentage points.
More information can be obtained at https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2018/10/off-campus-college-students-poverty.html.
An announcement from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) indicates that the regulatory burden in present-value terms has been reduced by $12.5 billion. A news release provides specific examples.
The news release can be obtained at https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2018/10/17/secretary-azar-highlights-recognition-of-hhs-as-top-agency-for-regulatory-reform.html.
A new brief from the Urban Institute calculates the “mix-match” between the shares of individuals with postsecondary education and of jobs requiring it in 387 metropolitan areas. None of these areas has a higher share of jobs requiring “some college” than residents with that level of education and 87% percent of metros have a similar labor market “mix-match” for those with at least a four-year degree.
The brief can be obtained at https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/99185/the_education-jobs_mix-match_1.pdf.
A new post by the Commonwealth Fund discusses a proposed "public charge" rule by the Trump Administration that could affect millions of legal immigrants enrolled in Medicaid.
The post can be obtained at https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2018/new-public-charge-rule-affecting-immigrants-has-major-implications-medicaid?omnicid=EALERT1491507&mid=thomas@asahp.org.
The American Council on Education’s (ACE’s) Center for Policy Research and Strategy (CPRS) has released a brief that addresses hateful incidents on campus and explores how institutional leaders can balance free speech rights with providing a safe, inclusive, and welcoming environment for students, faculty, and staff.
The brief can be obtained at https://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/To-The-Point-Hateful-Incidents.pdf.
