Health

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose administration is struggling to contain a worsening homelessness crisis despite record spending, is trying something bold: tapping federal healthcare funding to cover rent for homeless people and those at risk of losing their housing. States are barred from using federal Medicaid dollars to pay directly for rent, but California’s governor is asking the administration of President Joe Biden, a fellow Democrat, to authorize a new program called “transitional rent,” which would provide up to six months of rent or temporary housing for low-income enrollees who rely on the state’s health care safety net — a new initiative in his arsenal of programs to fight and prevent homelessness. Related: HHS offers guidance to Medicaid agencies for reimbursi...

Healthcare organizations face risk in not delivering exceptional consumer experiences. Those that don't prioritize customer relationship management may find it harder to maintain their competitiveness. In a competitive environment, not delivering what consumers want carries considerable risk. But providing consistent and excellent customer experiences is a critical differentiator for health systems and health plans, and is challenging. In a market with ever-increasing customer choices, including those offered by nontraditional players such as Amazon and CVS, differentiating requires a significant focus of time and effort. Healthcare is evolving, and large national players are entering the market as worthy competitors. Organizations that do not prioritize CRM strategy, depending on the s...

The federal government owes tens of millions of dollars to dozens of safety-net hospitals for alleged delays in correcting  Medicare disproportionate share hospital payments, hospitals alleged in a new lawsuit. Nearly four dozen hospitals in California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and Minnesota filed the suit Tuesday against the Health and Human Services Department Secretary Xavier Becerra in a Washington, D.C., federal court. While regulators conceded in 2010 the DSH payment calculations were incorrect, HHS has delayed the amended payments, the hospitals allege. “The agency’s unreasonable delay has cost the plaintiff hospitals tens of millions of dollars in funds that should have been paid to them many years ago for the higher costs that they incurred to treat low-income patients more tha...

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread criticism of the response from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Director Rochelle Walensky has called for sweeping change in the way public health data is collected and communicated. This extends beyond organizational change and will require a technical and operational transformation of the CDC. The goal is simple: learn from the mistakes of the past and ensure that future health threats are addressed in a swift and coordinated manner. Assessing and devising a response to emerging public health threats requires a clear view into data from federal, state and local sources. And this is where the first challenge lies. Sharing is caring Public health issues are complex, and there isn’t one agency that has all the talent or r...

BY ANISH KOKA If there was any doubt the academic research enterprise is completely broken, we have an absolute train wreck of a study in one of the many specialty journals of the Journal of the American Medical Association — JAMA Health. I had no idea the journal even existed until today, but I now know to approach the words printed in this journal to the words printed in supermarket tabloids. You should too! The paper that was brought to my attention is one that purports to examine the deleterious health effects of Long COVID. A sizable group of intellectuals who are still socially distancing and wearing n95s live in fear of a syndrome that persists long after a person recovers from COVID. There are any number of papers that argue a variety of putative mechanisms for how...

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's decision to take over Silicon Valley Bank on Friday is likely to leave many digital health companies scrambling to pay employees and suppliers.  SVB, the nation's16th largest bank and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, was a big bank for tech companies, startups and venture capital firms. The bank said on its website that it had $78.8 billion in healthcare deposits and investments as of December. Experts say SVB's failure is another sign the digital health venture funding market is long past its peak. Funding has slowed down considerably from the highs of 2021. While the total for 2022 was the second-best year since Digital Health Business & Technology started tracking the data in 2010, the fourth quarter was the lowest quarterly f...

The health insurance industry at large may be marshaling its forces to fight proposed cuts to Medicare Advantage rates next year, but one CEO doesn't seem too worried. Humana would actually benefit from lower rates and has in the past, President and CEO Bruce Broussard said during a TD Cowen conference in Boston on Tuesday. “We found in years that there’s pressure on the rate notice, we do much better,” he said. “I feel that 2024 will be that way.” Humana is the second-largest Medicare Advantage carrier with 5.1 million members, or 18% of the market, while the leading insurer, UnitedHealthcare, has 7.1 million policyholders and a 29% market share. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a proposal last month to cut Medicare Advantage rates by 2.3% in 2024, but risk adjust...