Aug 7, 2020 | Managed Care Friday
50: The reimbursement rate increase for child psychiatrists agreeing to be in the BCBS of Massachusetts network. This is a big deal - we only see these hikes when traditionally out-of-network service providers perhaps agree to come in-network for a deal, and even then, they can be rare. Child psychiatrists are in high demand throughout the US. Meanwhile, primary care doctors who "integrate" mental health into their practice here will be eligible for incentives. Question is whether integration will include using telepsych platform and whether PCPs will be effective at this, given the length...
Jul 31, 2020 | Managed Care Friday
61: The percent of college students who will forgo school this year, according to our random poll of 417 incoming freshman and sophomores. Read what they’ll do instead and how it may impact healthcare by clicking here. David Gets a Win vs. Goliath in New Pay Model: BCBS of Massachusetts is launching a new payment model for small practices that will combine value-based care and support payments. The model is designed for practices with 1K-20K members and will incorporate upside risk. The pilot does not launch until 2021, but immediate support payments will go out to any provider participants...
Jul 17, 2020 | Managed Care Friday
700: The amount of primary care clinics Walgreens is planning to open up in the next five years through a partnership with VillageMD, the home-based primary care group. The clinics will be called Village Medical at Walgreens and will integrate digitally with Walgreens to simplify the prescription process. The first clinics will be opened in Texas and Arizona, and more than half will be in government-designated medically underserved geographic areas. Match Game: Like a page out eHarmony’s book, a former teacher we chatted with this week has plucked 24 college kids in New England, started...
Jul 10, 2020 | Managed Care Friday
988: The new National Suicide Prevention Lifeline phone number, available nationwide by 2022. The previous number, 1-800-273-TALK, was hard to remember, so advocates have changed it to three digits to make it “similar to 911 calls for emergencies.” High School Ups & Downs: Nearly three quarters of 394 sophomores and juniors in high school either lost significant weight or gained significant weight during the pandemic, citing lack of social interaction, according to a tracking poll of high school behavior we started in March. 9% self-acknowledged that they started “dabbling” in drugs or...
Jul 2, 2020 | Managed Care Friday
Extra Point: Unexpected marriages of medical practices are continuing to emerge within the healthcare industry. The latest union, which took place in Missouri, is a merger of Bolivar OB/GYN, Citizen’s Memorial Hospital and—wait for it—Butterfield Park Pediatrics. Although it sounds like a page out of Prince Humperdinck and Buttercup’s odd coupling in The Princess Bride, the combination of pediatrics and women’s health is likely an emerging trend. It is safe to anticipate an expansion of health system service lines, and for more Medicaid and commercial insurers to redesign payment to favor...
Jun 26, 2020 | Managed Care Friday
816,000: The number of “healthy days” seen by Humana’s Medicare Advantage members in 2019, representing the first increase in this metric since the insurer began tracking it in 2015. “Healthy days” is a health metric developed by the CDC that measures physical and behavioral health. The metric is tracked as part of Humana’s Bold Goal initiative, a population health strategy aiming to improve the health of the communities Humana serves. Uber At It, For Seniors: InComm, a technology company, announced a partnership with American Logistics and Uber Health to launch a transportation benefit...
