Healthcare News of Note: U.S. will be short 3.2 million lower-wage healthcare workers within 5 years, says Mercer
Healthcare News of Note for healthcare finance professionals is a roundup of recent news articles: Shortages of lower-wage healthcare workers, nurses, physicians and mental health staff are expected, PHI security and burnout are of concern to most healthcare professionals, and the pandemic is expected to affect health insurance rates.
Site-of-care payment issues get highlighted by UnitedHealthcare and MedPAC
A new report issued by a leading health plan is the latest sign that hospitals and health systems can expect payers to ramp up implementation of site-neutral payments.
Recipients of COVID-19 vaccine boosters won’t have to pay anything out of pocket, CMS confirms
Medicare beneficiaries will owe nothing out of pocket for receiving an authorized booster dose, and the same applies to almost all Medicaid beneficiaries and most commercial health plan members.
Healthcare price transparency initiatives may fall flat due to systemic factors, expert says
Niall Brennan, a leading expert on healthcare cost drivers, is among the skeptics who doubt the ongoing price transparency push can result in a more efficient system.
New rule describes the penalty associated with regulations on surprise billing
A new rule from HHS sets forth the maximum penalty for violations of new patient-billing regulations that take effect Jan. 1, 2022.
AMA releases 2022 CPT code set with new options that apply to COVID-19 vaccination, digital care services and more
The new set features more than 400 CPT code changes from 2021.
Healthcare News of Note: Providers should continue forward movement on improving digital patient access, survey suggests
Healthcare News of Note for healthcare finance professionals is a roundup of recent news articles: Expectations for convenient access to care in the pandemic era, a look at ICU bed use across the U.S., and the cost of hospitalizations among unvaccinated adults.
Most health plans have stopped waiving cost-sharing for COVID-19 treatments, report finds
Researchers with the Kaiser Family Foundation said more and more people likely will receive “significant medical bills” for COVID-19-related care.
Research examines whether financial challenges facing hospitals with large Medicare populations lead indirectly to cost shifting
Harvard researchers found evidence to suggest that hospitals with large shares of Medicare patients are at greater risk of being acquired, which can skew the market structure and lead to higher commercial prices.
May 18-22: Virtual summit on state of the healthcare ecosystem post-coronavirus is among a slew of online-only events in healthcare finance
A complete listing of healthcare finance-related hearings, conferences, webinars, public forums and deadlines for the week of May 18.