The nation is slowly recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, but are we prepared for future public health emergencies? I’m Jeff Lagasse with Healthcare Finance News, and we’ll dive into that and more in this week’s Top Stories.
Being ready for any future potential pandemics has emerged as a strategic concern in American healthcare, but a new report suggests there's more work to be done to ensure preparedness. According to Healthcare Finance News (https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/oig-says-cms-lacks-authority-ensure-hospital-safety-during-pandemics), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General delivered a report this week claiming that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services lacks adequate authority to ensure hospitals are adequately prepared for the next pandemic. Early on, the agency hadn’t been able to determine that all accredited hospitals had updated their emergency preparedness plans, and lacked authority to require targeted infection control surveys. OIG recommended that CMS make regulatory changes to patch these blind spots.
Direct-to-consumer virtual health company Ro announced plans this week to buy at-home diagnostic company Kit for an undisclosed sum, marking the company’s second acquisition in two months. As we see in MobiHealthNews (https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/ro-purchases-home-diagnostic-company-kit-marking-its-second-ma-two-months), Kit has developed a system that allows patients to self-administer an at-home sample collection. Before taking the sample, patients are asked to download the corresponding app, which contains step-by-step videos on how to administer the test and offers on-demand support. When the acquisition is complete, Ro will be able to offer the at-home diagnostic through its consumer-facing platform. The plan is for Kit to continue as an independent service that can serve B2B customers such as life insurance companies.
Finally this week, it appears that telehealth usage is starting to decline as the pandemic wanes. HealthcareITNews reports (https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/report-telehealth-use-beginning-taper) that telehealth use is declining in most states, though not all, as New Mexico and Washington have reported increases. South Dakota, Louisiana, Mississippi and California have seen the sharpest declines as demand for behavioral health, one of the key drivers of telehealth demand, begins to taper.
I’m Jeff Lagasse with Healthcare Finance News, and this has been Top Stories.