HEALTH CARE WEEK IN REVIEW: Telehealth Claims Increased More Than 8,335 Percent in April, Primary Care Doctors Say They Are Not Ready For Next COVID-19 Surge, 98 Percent of Physicians Avoid MIPS Penalties, Are Wearables a Key to Earlier Detection of COVID-19?
Source: Fierce Healthcare
Here's The Latest in Health Care:
• The volume of telehealth claim lines increased more than 8,335 percent in April 2020 compared to last year as the pandemic continues to drive utilization, according to a recent analysis of insurance trends. Mental health diagnoses continue to drive the visits, followed by joint and soft tissue conditions and hypertension, suggesting more privately insured patients turned to telehealth to manage chronic conditions during the pandemic. Read More
• As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in parts of the U.S., many primary care practices are not ready to address the current surge or a second wave predicted to come in the fall. At the same time, practices are reopening to in-person visits because of uncertainty about the duration and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on their practice financially. Read More
• Earlier this week CMS released details about the second-year performance results of the Quality Payment Program's Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), which determined payment adjustments for clinicians in 2020. Overall, the results are very positive with 98 percent of clinicians avoiding a negative payment adjustment, while 84 percent earned an "exceptional performance" designation, resulting in positive payment adjustments. Read More
• While overall, people are moving less throughout the day since the onset of the pandemic, FitBit reported that the amount of purposeful activity is actually going up, leading to statistically significant decreases in things like resting heart rate. The billions of data points that wearables like Fitbit and Apple Watch collect can do a lot more than simply tell us how we're spending our time during the pandemic, and could perhaps even help detect COVID-19 earlier. Read More
Each Friday, Signor Goat reports the latest from the week in health care. Check back next Friday for your dose of our little medical corner of health care news. Brought to you by pMD, innovators in charge capture, secure messaging, clinical communication, and care navigation software.
