A major insurer is reexamining its policy on emergency department visits, but the move is drawing some controversy. I’m Jeff Lagasse with Healthcare Finance News, and we’ll drill deeper into that development and others in this week’s Top Stories.
UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest insurer, made waves this week by instituting a policy that could allow it to retroactively deny emergency department claims. Healthcare Finance News reports (https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/unitedhealthcare-looks-retroactively-deny-emergency-room-claims) that claims determined to not be a true emergency will be subject to no or limited coverage beginning June 1. The move drew backlash from the American Hospital Association, which said it could have a detrimental effect on patient health and outcomes, particularly in the midst of a pandemic, and Twitter reacted negatively, with many saying it could inspire hesitancy in patients even for events that are true emergencies, such as heart attacks. ED misuse is a problem, however, costing the U.S. healthcare system roughly $32 billion annually.
In the newest iPhone operating system, Apple is adding real-time assessment of walking stability and fall risk, additional context for lab test results, new tools for tracking health trends for individuals as well as caregivers, and new integrations with major EHR vendors. As we see in MobiHealthNews, (https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/apple-adds-walking-stability-family-and-provider-health-sharing-and-more-wwdc-2021) the biggest update is a new biomarker called Walking Steadiness, which uses the iPhone’s built-in motion sensors and data from the Apple Heart and Movement studies to create a biomarker that can tell a user if their gait begins to deteriorate. It also includes videos on how to improve walking steadiness. Apple Watch, meanwhile, is adding updated mindfulness and meditation features, new workout types and respiratory rate tracking in the sleep app.
Finally this week, Mount Sinai Health System has teamed with Health IT vendors Caregilityand Language Line to help cater to patients with limited English proficiency, or LEP. According to HealthcareITNews, https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/mount-sinai-eases-translation-200-languages-through-its-epic-telehealth-platform) Caregility offered the option for the provider to dial a phone number to Language Line and have the external vendor join the video visit with audio. Mount Sinai created dedicated toll-free telephone lines for the top five languages – Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Russian and Bengali – and another one for the remaining languages. The dedicated telephone lines are answered directly by interpreters, reducing the connectivity time to less than 10 seconds. The solution went live in October.
I’m Jeff Lagasse, and this has been Top Stories.