Healthcare News of Note: Amazon Care’s virtual health services are now available nationwide, and in-person care services are launching in more than 20 new cities in 2022

• Amazon Care’s virtual health services are now available nationwide — and in-person services will be rolled out in more than 20 new cities this year.
• HHS’s leadership and coordination of a range of public health emergencies constitute a “high risk,” according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
• Last year was especially tough for physicians, with 47% admitting to suffering from burnout and 21% indicating they were depressed, according to a new survey.

Over the last few weeks, I have found these industry news stories that should be of interest to healthcare finance professionals.

1. Expansion of Amazon Care’s virtual health services illustrates how new initiatives can ‘continue to push the envelope for consumer-friendly health services’

“Amazon Care’s virtual health services are now available nationwide — and in-person services will be rolled out in more than 20 new cities this year,” according to a Feb. 8 article by Amazon staff.

“The expansion comes as we continue to invest in growing our clinical care team and our in-person care services to bring convenient, quality care to more customers across the U.S.,” the authors wrote.

How Amazon Care works

According to the article:

• When issues can’t be resolved over video, Amazon Care will dispatch a nurse to a patient’s home for additional care where in-person care is available.
• In-person services range from routine blood draws to listening to a patient’s lungs.

“The service is already available in Seattle, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Austin, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Arlington,” but this year “we plan to bring in-person care services to major metropolitan areas like San Francisco, Miami, Chicago, and New York City,” staff wrote.

HFMA policy insight

Shawn Stack, HFMA’s director of healthcare financial practices, perspectives & analysis, believes that type of innovative approach to healthcare will benefit the industry and the communities served.

“Whether this fresh approach to providing healthcare is due to internal or external disruptions is not always clear, but it’s nonetheless inspiring,” Stack said. “New initiatives like Amazon Care’s virtual health services continue to push the envelope for consumer-friendly health services that minimize daily life disruption.

“Coming out of the public health emergency, legacy providers have found themselves becoming more creative, flexible and adaptive to change. My hope is that legacy providers, new disruptors and federal and state policymakers continue to engage, collaborate and support new and safe pathways that shatter the historical barriers that have plagued access to healthcare for many years in the U.S.”    

2. HHS leadership and coordination of PHEs are designated a ‘new high-risk’ area, says the U.S. GAO

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS’s) “leadership and coordination of a range of public health emergencies” have been designated “as high risk,” according to a Jan. 27 report on the COVID-19 pandemic by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The authors wrote, “This designation is in keeping with long-standing efforts to identify federal programs needing transformation, and to help ensure sustained executive branch and congressional attention so the nation is prepared for future emergencies.

“For over a decade, we have found issues with how HHS’s leadership prepares for and responds to emergencies, including COVID-19, other infectious diseases, and extreme weather events, such as hurricanes.

“While HHS has taken some actions to address the 115 recommendations GAO has made related to its leadership and coordination of public health emergencies since fiscal year 2007, 72 remain open.”

The authors note that ongoing supply chain shortages stem from HHS’s lack of action to address GAO’s September 2020 recommendation “to work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to develop plans to mitigate supply chain shortages for the remainder of the pandemic.”

3. 47% of U.S. physicians report experiencing burnout and 21% report being depressed in 2021, Medscape survey says

The second year of the pandemic was tough for physicians, with 47% admitting to being burned out compared to 42% in 2020, according to a Medscape survey of 13,000 physicians in 29 specialties. Additionally, 21% of respondents reported being depressed.

Specialties with the highest levels of burnout

The specialty areas for which 50% or more of respondents indicated they experienced burnout in 2021 are:  

• ED physicians (60%)
• Critical care (56%)
• OB/GYN (53%)
• Infectious diseases (51%)
• Family medicine (51%)
• Physical medicine and rehabilitation (50%)
• Diabetes and endocrinology (50%)

Burnout increased for both genders

More male and female physicians reported being burned out in 2021, according to survey results:

• 41% of male physicians reported burnout in 2021 compared with 36% in 2020
• 56% of female physicians reported burnout in 2021 compared with 51% in 2020

Severity of burnout

Perhaps more alarming than the numbers of physicians indicating feelings of burnout is the share — 54% — reporting that burnout “has a strong/severe impact” on their lives. Another 22% of respondents indicated a “moderate impact” and 24% “little or no impact.”

Depression among physicians

According to the survey, about a fifth, or 21%, of physicians said they were depressed.

“Of those, about a quarter of physicians said they were clinically depressed, which is a fairly high rate,” the authors wrote.

HFMA bonus content

• Read the article, “Senate panel discusses ways to address Medicare financing — and the consequences of not acting,” by HFMA’s Nick Hut, senior editor.
• Register for HFMA’s 2022 Revenue Cycle Conference, March 16-18 in New Orleans.
• Review the online version of the February issue of HFMA’s hfm magazine. The cover story is about how HFMA’s cost effectiveness of health initiative addresses the factors that impede health quality and raise healthcare costs.