Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
As Boomers Age Out Of Caring For Adult Disabled Children, Health System Is Unprepared To Take Over In Their Place
Politico: The Health Care System Isn't Ready To Replace Aging Caregivers
The first generation of developmentally disabled adults who grew up at home, not in an institution, are now middle-aged and facing a health care system that’s largely unprepared to take care of them as their baby boomer parents age out of that role. Numbering in the tens of thousands, they were the test case for deinstitutionalization. Now they are test cases for an ill-defined, underfinanced future. Most have never spent much time away from their parents and are on long waitlists for state services, which may be out of reach until an emergency strikes. (Goldberg, 11/13)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: A Philly Woman’s Broken Back And $36,000 Bill Shows How Some Health Insurance Brokers Trick Consumers Into Skimpy Plans
One slip on an icy sidewalk and Trish Martin was in the hospital with a broken back and wrist. ...Martin thought she’d bought a comprehensive health insurance plan through the government-regulated Affordable Care Act marketplace, healthcare.gov. But she really visited a website cunningly crafted to look like an ACA portal, which put her in contact by phone with a salesman. He sold her plan that turned out to offer only minimal coverage, and when Martin needed help, his number was disconnected. She was left with $36,000 in hospital bills that she’s still paying off. (Gantz, 11/14)
Modern Healthcare: Supply Chain Tweaks Could Help Average Hospital Hire Up To 165 More Nurses
The gap between the most efficient supply chain operators and their peers has widened, revealing that hospitals have a $25.7 billion cost savings opportunity, according to an updated study. Unnecessary hospital spending on supply chain products and related operations surged 12% from $23 billion in 2017, according to a Navigant analysis that compared the top quartile of most efficient supply chain operators to a sample of 2,127 hospitals. (Kacik, 11/13)
Modern Healthcare: Highmark Health To Deliver Hospital Care At Home
When a patient turns up in the emergency department at one of Allegheny Health Network's hospitals with uncomplicated pneumonia, a bacterial skin infection or another lower-risk ailment, that patient may now get the choice to skip the hospital bed and go home to receive care. Highmark Health, the parent company of Pittsburgh-based Blues insurer Highmark and integrated system Allegheny Health Network, is introducing a program to deliver inpatient hospital care to patients in their homes, where it says certain healthcare services can be provided in a safer, lower cost way through a combination of in-person home visits and telehealth. (Livingston, 11/13)
California Healthline: Dialysis Patients Panic As Financial ‘Life Raft’ Becomes Unmoored
Russell Desmond received a letter a few weeks ago from the American Kidney Fund that he said felt like “a smack on the face.” The organization informed Desmond, who has kidney failure and needs dialysis three times a week, that it will no longer help him pay for his private health insurance plan — to the tune of about $800 a month. “I am depressed about the whole situation,” said the 58-year-old Sacramento resident. “I have no clue what I’m going to do.” (Ibarra, 11/13)
Kaiser Health News: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: Mom Vs. Texas In A Fight To Get Kids’ Hearing Aids Covered
When Stephanie Wittels Wachs found out that health insurance in Texas didn’t cover hearing aids for kids, she lobbied to change Texas law. And she won. But the process took more than two years. “You’re constantly just like bugging everyone you know, like, ‘Please call! Please text! Please call! Please email!’” Wittels Wachs said. “You just become like this broken record.” (Weissmann, 11/14)
