Healthcare News of Note: Physicians say their trust in the U.S. healthcare system, along with confidence in healthcare executives and leaders, declined during the pandemic

• Physician trust in the U.S. healthcare system declined during the pandemic, according to a report from the nonpartisan research group NORC at the University of Chicago, commissioned by the ABIM Foundation.
• Major hospital systems are betting big money that the future of hospital care looks a lot like the inside of patients’ homes.
• Drawing on data from 24 million patients, a new analysis from athenahealth finds that there are racial disparities in mental health diagnoses in the U.S.

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

1. ABIM-commissioned report: Trust in the U.S. healthcare system declined for physicians during the pandemic

A May 25 Healthcare Dive article reported, “Physician trust in the U.S. healthcare system significantly declined during the pandemic, along with their confidence in the leaders and executives at the healthcare organizations employing them, according to a report from the nonpartisan research group NORC at the University of Chicago commissioned by the ABIM [American Board of Internal Medicine] Foundation.

“The poll found that 30% of physicians do not trust their healthcare organizations’ leadership and even fewer trust industry executives in general.

“Consumer respondents said they generally trust doctors and nurses more than they trust health systems, and 32% said their trust in the healthcare system declined during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Article author Hailey Mensik also wrote: “Healthcare workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis spent months grappling with conflicting information from government agencies and their employers that chipped away at their confidence in the healthcare system overall. Among physicians surveyed, 43% said their trust in government healthcare agencies decreased during the pandemic.

“The lack of transparency and open communication is also a major contributor to widespread burnout reported among the workforce, according to a February report from the Joint Commission.”

2. Hospital-at-home poised for growth as health systems strive to ease overcrowded hospitals and decrease healthcare spending

A May 24 Modern Healthcare article (log-in required) reported, “Major hospital systems are betting big money that the future of hospital care looks a lot like the inside of patients’ homes.

“Hospital-level care at home — some of it provided over the internet — is poised to grow after more than a decade as a niche offering, boosted both by hospitals eager to ease overcrowding during the pandemic and growing interest by insurers who want to slow health care spending. But a host of challenges remain, from deciding how much to pay for such services to which kinds of patients can safely benefit.

“Under the model, patients with certain medical conditions, such as pneumonia or heart failure — even moderate covid — are offered high-acuity care in their homes, with 24/7 remote monitoring and daily visits by medical providers.”

According to the article by Julie Appleby:

• Kaiser Permanente and the Mayo Clinic announced in May that they will collectively invest $100 million into Medically Home, a company that provides hospital-at-home services, “to scale up and expand their programs. The two organizations estimate that 30% of patients currently admitted to hospitals nationally have conditions eligible for in-home care.”
• Several other well-known hospital systems launched such programs last summer.

3. Racial disparities evident in U.S. mental health diagnoses, athenahealth analysis finds

On May 25, the STAT Morning Rounds Newsletter reported, “A new analysis from athenahealth finds that there are racial disparities in mental health diagnoses in the U.S.

“Overall, the study found that white patients were most likely to discuss their mental health with providers compared to those belonging to other racial groups. The largest gap was between white and Asian patients: white patients were 227% likelier to be diagnosed with anxiety and 213% more likely to have a depression diagnosis compared to Asian patients.”

The athenahealth article, which provides additional data on diagnoses of anxiety or depression among different demographic groups, also includes the following information:

• The analysis was based on a review of de-identified data from a cohort of more than 24 million patients between May and December of 2020 by the anthenahealth Research and Insights team.
• The research considered visits to primary care providers (PCPs) on the athenahealth network in 2020. It did not include data from mental health professionals like social workers and psychiatrists.
• Patients were considered to have been diagnosed with anxiety or depression if they had at least one claim from a PCP visit that included a relevant diagnosis code as defined by CMS.

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