August 5, 2021 | The unvaccinated are not a monolith
INDUSTRY NEWS
The United States trails far behind other high-income countries on measures of health care affordability, administrative efficiency, equity and outcomes, according to a report released yesterday by the Commonwealth Fund. The top-performers: Norway, the Netherlands and Australia. The United States ranks last overall, despite spending far more of its GDP on health care. Four features distinguish top performing countries: They provide for universal coverage and remove cost barriers; invest in primary care systems to ensure that high-value services are equitably available; reduce administrative burdens; and invest in social services, especially for children and working-age adults. (Commonwealth Fund)
Many organizations have hesitated to call for vaccine mandates because they are concerned that courts will find it illegal to mandate a vaccine that is distributed under emergency use authorization. But, explain Ethicists Arthur L. Caplan and Dorit R. Reiss, the FDA can amend the EUA documents for the COVID-19 vaccines to make it clear that mandates are permitted. “The nation should not tolerate more deaths, hospitalizations, shutdowns, and economic and personal ruin. The key solution to promptly getting mandates requires our health bureaucracy to act, and act now, to rewrite the emergency use authorizations,” they write in STAT News. (STAT News)
INNOVATION & TRANSFORMATION
Value-based care can work for chronic disease specialties, experts tell Managed Healthcare Executive. But it will require engaging physicians and convincing them to move from fee-for-service. Most specialty value-based care programs focus on procedure episodes (e.g., hip or knee surgery). Beyond that, the industry has been slow to get specialists involved in value-based care, say Keith Boell, D.O., chief quality officer for population initiatives at Geisinger. “When the majority of reimbursement is fee for service, specialists are incentivized to focus on patients in their clinics and may not become as engaged in the broader population health discussion.” (Managed Healthcare Executive)
Google still figuring out its master health care plan
A recent Medical Futurist article explored Google’s plan for the future of health care. “With Google revisiting old projects, refocusing its health team’s efforts and announcing new partnerships, it seems like the tech giant’s healthcare plans are all over the place.” The most promising avenues appear to be in AI, remote monitoring software and cloud computing. But just because the company is floating many test balloons doesn’t mean all these projects will launch. “Google is also notorious for pulling the plug on even the most ambitious projects of its projects,” note the authors. (Medical Futurist)
CONSUMERS & PROVIDERS
HDHPs associated with skipped diabetes meds
Research published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine shows that 20% of people with diabetes and high-deductible health plans regularly skip their medications. Compared to people without HDHPs, people with high deductibles are also 28% more likely to not take their medicines on time due to cost. Looking only at patients taking insulin for diabetes, 25% of HDHP enrollees were unable to afford their medication, compared with 19% of those in a traditional plan. (Journal of General Internal Medicine; announcement)
Telemedicine improves monitoring for kids with diabetes
Children with type 1 diabetes with access to telemedicine had more medical visits and HbA1c determinations in 2020 than with those without access to telemedicine, according to study data. The multinational study looked at children in four Latin American countries. “Our study showed that children who have a chronic disease such as type 1 diabetes, which requires regular and continuous monitoring by health professionals, are more easily accessed through telemedicine,” lead researcher Valeria Hirschler, MD, told Healio. “ (Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics in Pub Med; Healio)
NEW & NOTED
Visualize internet access: Using data from its social determinants of health database AHRQ recently created an online visualization tool providing county-level information about internet access. It features a US map showing percentages of households with computers, smartphones and any type of high-speed internet access. The map also shows percentages of people living in poverty, because internet access rates increase with income. (JAMA; online visualization tool)
Peer pressure fears: Fearing social ostracism, some people in Missouri are showing up for the COVID-19 vaccine in disguise, Priscilla Frase, MD, the chief medical information officer for Ozarks Healthcare, said in a clip shared on the hospital's Facebook page on July 18. (Newsweek; Facebook video)
Riskier road behavior: Americans drove less during the pandemic, but they engaged in riskier behavior. More than half of all crash fatalities in 2020 involved unbelted drivers or occupants, the highest level since 2012. Roughly 38,680 people died in car crashes last year, 7% more than in 2019, despite fewer cars on the road. (Wall Street Journal)
MULTI-MEDIA
The unvaccinated are not a monolith
On Sunday, Dr. Rhea Boyd spoke with NPR about a public health campaign she developed, THE CONVERSATION: Between Us, About Us. It features Black and Latino physicians sharing messages about the vaccination. Boyd talks about some of the misconceptions we have about unvaccinated Americans and explains that access to the vaccine remains a barrier. (NPR; GTMRx blog)
MARKETVOICES...QUOTES WORTH READING
“Availability and accessibility are not the same thing. So even though the Biden administration has really taken on Herculean efforts to make sure that every American lives within five miles of a vaccination … that doesn't mean that everybody can actually access vaccination, right? Five miles sounds pretty close if you have a car or if you live near public transit. But if you live in rural America and you have to walk those five miles, you might think twice about whether or not that's an accessible vaccine to you,” Dr. Rhea Boyd, speaking with NPR’s Kelsey Snell.