Newswire Archives
During the annual membership meeting of the American Hospital Association (AHA), hospital and health systems leaders shared affordability strategies at a panel discussion. Ways of doing so include using data and reexamining pricing and managing risk to make health care more efficient and affordable.
A video of the panel discussion can be can be viewed at https://www.aha.org/news/insights-and-analysis/2018-05-29-hospital-and-health-system-leaders-share-affordability.
Last year alone, more than 900,000 low-income students who applied for and were found eligible for state financial aid for college never received it because states ran out of money, according to a new analysis of data by The Hechinger Report. The number is likely much higher and it’s not just a few states that have a severe shortage. In ten states. More than half of eligible students didn’t receive a grant.
More information can be obtained at http://hechingerreport.org/eligible-for-financial-aid-almost-one-third-of-students-never-get-it/.
Despite growing interest in cloud storage and applications, many healthcare organizations are holding back due to concerns about compliance, security, and privacy, according to a new Datica survey of hospital CIOs. In all, 17.7% of respondents said their organizations have more than half of their existing software infrastructure remotely hosted or in the cloud and 15% said a quarter to half of their infrastructure is cloud-based. Nearly a third (32%) called cloud hosting for existing applications a top five priority while 60% ranked it as a top 10 priority.
A report about the survey can be obtained at http://www.prweb.com/pdfdownload/15509052.pdf.
After a decline in budget deficits over the past several years, the deficit is projected to increase significantly in FY2019, according to a new report from the Congressional Research Service. Each fiscal year, Congress and the President engage in a number of activities that influence short- and long run revenue and expenditure trends. This report offers context for the current budget debate and tracks legislative events related to the federal budget.
The report can be obtained at https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R45202.pdf.
In drafting a regulatory agenda for the oversight bodies for higher education institutions, the U.S. Department of Education is paying special attention to previously published recommendations that suggest reorienting accreditation toward its original focus of academic quality, a key adviser to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Tuesday.
Diane Auer Jones, a special adviser to the secretary, offered the remarks in a briefing before the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, which oversees the country’s higher ed accreditors, on how the department is looking to reduce the regulatory burden on those organizations.
The article may be accessed here.
The House Committee on Education and the Workforce held a hearing today to examine the policies and priorities of the U.S. Department of Education. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos provided testimony.
ASAHP's memo on the hearing may be accessed here.
A new Issue Brief from the Commonwealth Fund examines the potential of third-party payment programs to help low-income consumers obtain marketplace coverage. Funded by local hospital systems and run by independent nonprofits, these programs pay premium costs not covered by tax credits.
The Issue Brief can be obtained at http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/files/publications/issue-brief/2018/may/dorn_third_party_payment_progs_ib.pdf.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions held a Full Committee hearing today, “The Health Care Workforce: Addressing Shortages and Improving Care”, which examined how to address health workforce shortages, giving particular attention to workforce shortages in rural areas. Testimony was provided by Dr. Kristen Goodell, of the Boston University School of Medicine, Dr. Julie Sanford of James Madison University, and Dr. Elizabeth Phelan of Elizabeth Phelan of the University of Washington.
A memo on the hearing may be accessed here.
The U.S. Department of Education has delayed the effective date of the state authorization of distance education and correspondence education regulations by two years. The federal regulation, which was published on December 19, 2016, was to be effective July 1, 2018. The Department has proposed another round of negotiated rulemaking.
The latest rule on the delay may be accessed here and the rule on the negotiated rulemaking may be accessed here.
A new issue brief from The Trust for America’s Health and Well Being Trust highlights actions that the health care system – including hospitals and health systems – can take to help address issues like drug overdoses, alcohol-related deaths and suicides.
The issue brief can be obtained at http://healthyamericans.org/assets/files/PainNationHealthCareBrief-05.pdf.
A new Commonwealth Fund scorecard that measures health system performance in all 50 states and the District of Columbia shows that the combined death rate from suicide, alcohol, opioids, and other drugs increased by 50 percent nationwide between 2005 and 2016. Mortality rates for treatable medical conditions also rose, reversing a decade-long downward national trend. Gaps in mental health care are pervasive as well. On the plus side, the ability to obtain affordable health care improved, with states that expanded eligibility for Medicaid experiencing the biggest gains from 2013 to 2016.
An interactive state scorecard digital report can be obtained at http://www.commonwealthfund.org/interactives/2018/may/state-scorecard/files/Radley_State_Scorecard_2018.pdf.
The Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) will host their fourth event in their 2018 IPEC Webinar Series aimed at highlighting trends and activities in interprofessional education (IPE) and practice. The Webinar "Promoting Health & Wellness Through Collaboration"will take place Thursday, May 24 at 2:00 pm ET and feature panelists Drs. Lisa Desai (Screening for Mental Health, Riverside Community Care) and Aviad Haramati (Center for Innovation and Leadership in Education, Georgetown University Medical Center). Drs. Desai and Haramati will share remarks on strategies and approaches that can enhance the capacity for resilience among teams of health students and practitioners. This free, dynamic webinar is open to deans, faculty, staff, and students from IPEC member schools, as well as non-members, communities of interest, and practice representatives.
You may access more details, including a registration link, here: https://www.ipecollaborative.org/webinars.html
The postsecondary landscape has become increasingly complex, and as a result, has diminished transparency around student outcomes. A new report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce untangles today's college and career maze and shows that workers with a bachelor’s degree have median earnings nearly double that of workers with no more than a high school diploma. It also finds that the difference in annual median earnings between the highest and lowest paying majors is $39,000.
The report can be obtained at https://cew-7632.kxcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/Fiverules.pdf.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a redesigned version of the Drug Spending Dashboards, which include year-over-year information on drug pricing and highlight which manufactures have been increasing their prices. The dashboards are interactive online tools that allow patients, clinicians, researchers, and the public to understand trends in drug spending with data reported for both Medicare and Medicaid.
Additional information can be obtained at https://www.cms.gov/Newsroom/MediaReleaseDatabase/Press-releases/2018-Press-releases-items/2018-05-15.html.
A Data Point from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) examines the extent to which work experience programs (such as internships and apprenticeships) are related to formal education, and the characteristics of these education-based programs.
The Data Point can be obtained at https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2018/2018058.pdf.
A task force produced a report in the form of a "roadmap" for alternative federal system for apprenticeships. A 20-member task force of experts, including the secretaries of education, labor, and commerce participated in the development of recommendations.
The report can be obtained at https://www.dol.gov/apprenticeship/docs/20180510-task-force-meeting-final-report.pdf.
According to a report from the Pew Research Center, the number of foreign college students staying and working in the U.S. after graduation has surged. Federal training program experienced a four-fold increase in foreign students graduating and working in STEM fields from 2008 to 2016.
The report can be obtained at http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/10110621/Pew-Research-Center_Foreign-Student-Graduate-Workers-on-OPT_2018.05.10.pdf.
In a new interview on the AHRQ Patient Safety Network website, Commonwealth Fund President David Blumenthal, M.D., talks about progress in health information technology in the decade since passage of the HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act and reflects on his time serving as National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
The interview can be obtained at https://psnet.ahrq.gov/perspectives/perspective/248
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Rural Health Council released the agency’s first Rural Health Strategy intended to provide a proactive approach on healthcare issues and to ensure that individuals who live in rural America have access to high quality, affordable healthcare.
The Strategy can be obtained at https://www.cms.gov/About-CMS/Agency-Information/OMH/Downloads/Rural-Strategy-2018.pdf.
A report made available at the end of April 2018 discusses how preliminary figures show faster growth in the amounts governments in Canada are budgeting for healthcare over the past three years. These figures likely understate the acceleration, since later figures typically reveal that provinces and territories have overshot their budget targets. These budgets have tended to grow faster than Canada’s economy, raising concerns about the fiscal sustainability of that country’s healthcare system.
The report can be obtained at file:///C:/Users/Owner/Downloads/SSRN-id3157955%20(1).pdf.
