Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Two Hospital Systems Create Coalition With Home Health Care Providers
Modern Healthcare: Intermountain, Ascension Push For Permanent CMS Home Care Reimbursement Changes
Two large hospital systems are partnering with several home-based care companies to form a coalition to lobby Congress to make permanent COVID-19 era changes to CMS home healthcare reimbursement. Intermountain Healthcare and Ascension are forming the Moving Health Home Coalition with several home-based care companies including hospital-at-home provider Dispatch Health, home-based complex care provider Signify Health, home health provider Elara Caring, value-based complex care provider Landmark Health and senior home care service provider Home Instead. The coalition has five big policy priorities that it will lobby Congress and other policymakers to open up home-based care reimbursement after the pandemic has ended. (Gillespie, 3/3)
Crain's Chicago Business: Michigan Company Agrees To Acquire Chicago's Mercy Hospital
Flint, Mich.-based Insight has entered into a non-binding agreement to acquire Mercy Hospital & Medical Center on Chicago’s Near South Side. The deal is pending regulatory approval, but if it goes through, it would keep open a safety net facility that had threatened to close. Under the deal, terms of which are still being negotiated, a unit of the biomedical technology company, called Insight Chicago, would operate Mercy as a full-service, acute care hospital, Mercy said in a statement today. Insight intends to file an application with the state later today, the statement says. Mercy Hospital's current owner, Trinity Health, still aims to open a separate outpatient center in the area later this year. (Goldberg, 3/3)
Axios: Centene CEO Michael Neidorff Made $59 Million In Pandemic Year
Michael Neidorff, CEO of health insurance company Centene, made almost $59 million in 2020, according to calculations from the company's preliminary financial documents. That amount was roughly 1.5 times more than what Neidorff made in 2019. Neidorff's compensation is an early sign of how corporate executives, especially those in health care, reaped large, stock-heavy paydays during the coronavirus pandemic, despite the broader economic turmoil. (Herman, 3/4)
Axios: Virtual Doctor's Visits And Digital Health Tools Take Off In Pandemic
Telemedicine and other health-related technologies have gotten huge boosts over the past year as COVID-19 upended how patients receive medical attention. Virtual doctor's appointments and therapy sessions will likely be the norm, even after more people are vaccinated. (Hart, 3/4)
