One: The number of people out of 4 who have a chronic musculoskeletal condition, such as arthritis, back and neck pain and osteoporosis, according to data from insurer Highmark. These conditions collectively account for 50% of medical spending and so Highmark’s Well360 program is providing self-funded employer group members access to wearable FDA-listed motion sensors that give real-time feedback through their exercise sessions.
Born Free: The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, could not have predicted this - BCBS of Massachusetts members now have access to childbirth services through a free-standing birth center network. This includes Seven Sisters Midwifery and Community Birth Center in Florence, but may expand as other birth centers become licensed in the state.
See, I Told You So: If you have a teenager, you have told them that they will be blind by the time they are 25 if they keep looking at their phone, and so it’s not all that surprising to see innovation around vision benefits. UnitedHealthcare now offers its members discounts on blue-light-blocking laptops as part of their vision benefits. UHC partnered with Dell to offer members a 20% discount on Dell XPS laptops with blue-light-blocking screens.
Incentive Pay For MAT, Psych: BCBS Michigan is launching a new Collaborative Care Designation Program for 2022.The program will help support practices that focus on collaborative care and will use the patient-centered medical home model. The first year of the program will only require practices to build out a full care team, including a behavioral healthcare manager and consulting psychiatrist, while more requirements will be added in the second year. The insurer is also expanding its MAT initiative for patient-centered medical home practices, OBGYNs and maternal-fetal medicine clinics in 2022. The program now includes incentive funding for delivering MAT to all patients (expecting mothers or not) that they treat in these specialist practices.
Finish Line: Mental health provider Meru Health is collaborating with health insurer Evry Health to reward members for following through with their mental health treatment. They offer an incentive program for participants with the chance to receive up to $100 upon completion of Meru Health’s 12-week therapy program.
New Reimbursement Tier: Effective April 1, 2022, Aetna is expanding their Mid-Level Practitioners policy to include a new reimbursement tier for certain practitioners. The Mid-Level Practitioners policy will now include audiologists, genetic counselors, massage therapists, nutritionists, respiratory therapists, and registered dietitians, allowing reimbursement at 75% of the negotiated fee or recognized charge for covered services. This will only be applicable for Commercial business.
Wellness School: San Diego State University is opening a new Wellness Club, in partnership with Wellcare. The club will provide both physical and behavioral healthcare, along with social connections and education specifically targeted to senior issues, such as mobility issues and medication management.
Wait For It: Wait times for therapists continue to be a problem, up to 2-3 weeks on the low end, months on the high end depending on how much specialization is needed. Headspace Health is trying to provide a solution by recently acquiring Sayana, a self-care app that leverages chat sessions with an artificially created persona named Sayana who encourages users to track their moods and recommends exercises rooted in cognitive behavioral therapy.
Extra Point: I bet Tiger’s chip on 16 at the Masters will go down as the second best moment in sports behind only this. I bet I know what the next epidemic will be and I bet that if we only invest in this one thing we might actually lower healthcare costs. I bet I will forget my Apple ID by the time I finish this column. And I bet if you read the rest of this here you’ll have something to talk about at supper tonight.