• 9/07 - Orange County ZOOM Table - Discussion Topic: "How COVID Expedited AI in Healthcare" - Featured Member Presenter: Ed Buckley, CEO of Select Data


• 9/13 - Silicon Valley ZOOM Table - Discussion Topic: "Lessons Learned Investing in the Future of Healthcare" - Featured Member Presenter: George Carpenter, President of CGI Biomed Investments


• 9/15 - Bay Area IN-PERSON Table (at Cal State East Bay, downtown Oakland) - Discussion Topic: "When $10 Million Isn't Enough" - Featured Member Presenter: Debbie Toth, President and CEO of Choice in Aging


• 9/16 - Los Angeles ZOOM Table - Discussion Topic: "The Employer's Role in Developing Workers' 'Brain Skills'" - Featured Member Presenter: Mark Heinemeyer, CEO of PRODEO, LLC


• 9/20 9-11 a.m. - "AFTER THE SALE" ABL MEMBERSHIP-WIDE ZOOM EVENT, featuring...

• Biospectal CEO Shares 4 Ways Tech Can Help Manage Healthcare Data
• Greg Buchert, MD, Judges Pitch Competition for Life Science Startups
• Change Healthcare Provides Info on Transparency in Coverage Final Rule, Electronic Prescribing for Controlled Substances Mandate, & More
• Choice in Aging Heralds Upcoming Bedford Block Party on Sept. 24 + "Dishing with Debbie"
• Cigna Grows ACA Marketplace Presence
• Elemeno Health Lauded by SJF Ventures Following $7 Million Investment
• FOMAT Launches Clinical Research Ambulance to Reach Underserved Communities
• HumanGood Awarded $12 Million from Department of Treasury
• Illumination Foundation Co-CEO Discusses Using Health-Related Data to Improve Care for Homeless
• Kaiser Permanente Plans Inland Empire Expansion + Finds Fewer Hospitalizations for Home-Based Cardiac Rehab Patients
• Mazzetti Shares What Healthcare Orgs Need to Know About Inflation Reduction Act
• MedWand Solutions Now Commercially Available + Featured in Industry Journals
• Mission Hospice Announces Fall Gala in October
• National Healthcare and Housing Advisors Launched by Paul Leon
• Nelson Hardiman Delves into the Inflation Reduction Act's Impact on Healthcare
• Nubratori RX Achieves #988 on INC. 5000 List
• Parentis CEO Tarek El Nabli Nominated for Innovator Award + Pop-in Care Offers "Service Bundles"
• PreludeDx Announces Preferred Provider Agreement with Three Rivers & Galaxy Health
• Providence Digital Innovation Group Explains Why Healthcare Needs a Flywheel
• Royal Ambulance Team Members Win Stars of Life Award
• Satellite Healthcare Shares Study Results on Patient Activation Among Hemodialysis Patients
• Select Data Provides Insights on Outsourced Coding, Reducing Staff Turnover & OASIS.E
• WestFax Announces New Integration with PaperCut
• Wipfli to Present Webinars on Healthcare & Cybersecurity

• Eckert & Ziegler Teams with PRECIRIX, NAID/NIH & European Defense Fund
• GIDEON on: Predicting the Future with GIDEON Data + Monkeypox Outbreak

Eckert & Ziegler (EZ) and Belgian biotech company PRECIRIX NV have signed an agreement for the supply of Actinium-225, used as an active substance in cancer treatment. This gives PRECIRIX priority access to EZ's high-purity, non-carrier-added Actinium-225, which is used for the labeling of trial drugs in radionuclide therapy.
AND, EZ affiliate Myelo Therapeutics GmbH announced that the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of NIH, extended their contract to advance the development of the new chemical entity Myelo001 to mitigate acute radiation syndrome.
PLUS, Myelo Therapeutics was selected to receive grants from the European Defense Fund worth approximately 17 million Euro for the development of its medical countermeasure against acute radiation syndrome. (Frank Yeager, ABL-Tech SGV)

"If you want to study the past then GIDEON is a great place to do so," the company declared recently. "The question is, what would you do with over 750,000 data points, dating back to the 17th Century? A team of researchers answered in an interview: Predicting the Future with GIDEON Data.
MEANWHILE, GIDEON's recent webinar is available to watch on-demand: Imported Diseases: Ongoing Monkeypox Outbreak and Salmonellosis in a Chocolate Egg. (Uri Blackman, ABL-Tech WLA)

Amazon will shutter Amazon Care, the virtual and in-home health service, by the end of this year. Initially rolled out as an internal healthcare offering for Amazon's employees, today Amazon Care is available to the employees of half a dozen corporate customers. Workers were told the service was shutting down because those customers did not see the value in the service, a source said. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/24/amazon-care-telehealth-shutting-down/)
To understand where Amazon is headed next in healthcare, the industry is looking for clues from a different direction: Amazon's acquisitions. Amazon is in the process of acquiring primary care start-up One Medical for $3.9 billion, although regulators said Friday they are taking a closer look at the deal. While the e-commerce giant's exact path into healthcare is unclear, Amazon has shown sustained interest in providing home healthcare for seniors, and selling telehealth and mental health services to employers. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/04/amazon-care-health-one-medical/)

Healthcare providers face a tsunami of cybersecurity threats and they are inflicting significant damage. The FBI reported that 40+ million patient records were compromised by hackers in 2021. That means compromises have more than tripled since 2018. Worse yet, the average cost of a healthcare security breach is by far the highest among all sectors. According to IBM, that per-incident cost rose a startling 29.5% from $7.13 million in 2020 to $9.23 million in 2021. No other sector's per-incident costs come close. In fact, the sector with the second highest per-incident costs - financial services - actually saw its per-incident cost decrease from $5.85 million to $5.72 million. (https://www.changehealthcare.com/insights/healthcare-it-consulting-services-protect-against-cybersecurity-threats)

In a recent Wall Street Journal article - Profit From America's Healthcare Bloat, analysts including Ryan Daniels at William Blair see value-based care expanding in the coming decade as pressure to reduce healthcare costs grows. The changes might gradually help turn the tide on healthcare costs, but for medical providers they are a big headache. Realigning a large medical practice to a new business model can be cumbersome. Doctors go to school to treat patients, not to deal with revamping their actuarial models or upgrading their IT systems. Some groups wind up partnering, or selling themselves to a larger business like UnitedHealth Group Inc.'s Optum, which can help move providers to value-based care. Others who choose to remain independent are turning to companies like Privia or Agilon, which focuses on the Medicare population. (https://www.wsj.com/articles/profit-from-americas-healthcare-bloat-11662300000?mod=hp_lista_pos4)

A new report from the Medical Group Management Association found that value-based care only accounts for a small portion of medical revenue in most specialties. Data from the survey found that revenue from value-based contracts accounted for 6.74% of total medical revenue in primary care specialties, 5.54% in surgical specialties, and 14.74% in nonsurgical specialties. Across all practices, the median revenue amount from value-based contracts was $30,922 per provider. The survey also provided key benchmarks for quality measures, based on covered lives attributed under value-based contracts. Median quality measure performance was 3% for hospital admission rate, 11% for 30-day readmission rate, 27% for emergency department utilization rate, and 1% for 30-day postoperative infection rate. (https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/value-based-care-still-small-fraction-medical-revenue-mgma-finds)

The trend of "quiet quitting" has recently gained traction on social media, referring to a phenomenon in which workers reduce their enthusiasm at work and stick to the minimum expectations of their role. Some professionals, including Generation Z workers, have embraced the concept as an increased form of work-life balance, and others see it as a lesser-version of actually quitting. According to Jeremy Sadlier, executive director of the American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration, it is greatly concerning that the effects of quiet quitting in healthcare have a direct connection to patient care, quality and safety. An April Gallup poll found that 34% of U.S. employees were actively engaged at work in 2021, compared to only 32% this year. Healthcare professionals saw the largest dip in engagement, with their engagement scores dropping nine points year over year. (https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/workforce/what-does-quiet-quitting-look-like-at-hospitals.html)

About 243 million square feet worth of office leases - approximately 11% of the country's total leased office space - is set to expire across the country this year, a 40% increase from 2018 and the highest since property manager JLL began tracking the data in 2015. This year won't be an outlier, either, the volume of lease expirations is projected to exceed 200 million square feet annually through 2025. At the same time, office occupancy - according to the weekly occupancy report from Kastle Systems, which monitors card swipes in office buildings - is still in the 40% range in some of the biggest markets in the country. Given the slow pace of Return to Office, leaders will have to figure out how many employees they want back In the office full-time, and how many can stay home or work hybrid [as they renegotiate their leases]. (https://www.kornferry.com/insights/this-week-in-leadership/return-to-office-the-moment-of-truth)

New research recently published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation found that doubling to quadrupling the minimum amount of weekly physical activity recommended for U.S. adults may substantially lower the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and other causes. The study found people who followed the minimum guidelines for moderate or vigorous long-term, leisure physical activity lowered their risk of dying from any cause by as much as 21%. But adults who exercised two to four times the minimum might lower their mortality risk by as much as 31%. (https://www.heart.org/en/news/2022/07/25/getting-more-exercise-than-guidelines-suggest-may-further-lower-death-risk)

The U.S. authorized the first major makeover of the Covid-19 vaccines last week in an effort to stem an expected tide of infections and hospitalizations this fall. But it's unclear how much protection the new booster shots will provide. The FDA and the CDC cleared the shots without any data from clinical trials that are testing the reformulated doses in humans. The new boosters, authorized for people ages 12+, target the highly contagious and immune-evasive omicron BA.5 subvariant that has caused a wave of breakthrough infections over the summer. The shots also target the original strain of the virus that first emerged in Wuhan, China, in 2019. The nation's top health officials acted with urgency this summer to ensure the new boosters would roll out in time for the fall, worried that the waning effectiveness of the old vaccines is creating an opening for omicron to cause another wave of hospitalizations this winter. (https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/03/covid-19-omicron-shots-available-but-their-effectiveness-is-unclear-.html)
MEANWHILE, Paxlovid Is Far More Effective in Seniors Than in People Under 65, Study Finds: Taking the antiviral treatment Paxlovid can reduce a person's chances of getting seriously ill from COVID-19. But while seniors tend to get impressive protection from the pills, younger people derive little benefit, finds new research. People who were 65 or older had a 73% lower chance of being hospitalized for COVID-19 and about a 79% lower chance of dying of the disease, compared to people in the same age group who did not take Paxlovid. But people ages 40 to 64 experienced no statistically significant drop in the risk of hospitalization or death. (https://time.com/6208336/paxlovid-effective-older-adults/)

California Governor Newsom recently announced the award of $694 million for 35 projects that will create 2,500+ new units in 19 communities throughout the state. In total, California's nation-leading Homekey program has funded more than 200 projects statewide - creating 12,500+ permanent and interim homes for people exiting homelessness. (https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/08/24/in-los-angeles-governor-newsom-announces-694-million-in-homekey-awards-to-create-more-than-2500-new-homeless-housing-units-statewide/)
ALSO, the California Department of Social Services announced that five organizations were awarded a total of $47 million in grants to create more residential care options for seniors and adults with disabilities, including people at risk of or experiencing homelessness. These grants are the first to be awarded through the new Community Care Expansion - Capital Expansions Grants Program administered by the California Department of Social Services to help address historic gaps in the state's behavioral health and long-term care continuum. (https://www.cdss.ca.gov/Portals/13/Press%20Releases/2022/CDSSNewsRelease-HousingGrants.pdf)

Governor Gavin Newsom recently announced the appointment of public health leader Dr. Diana Ramos as California Surgeon General. Dr. Ramos has more than three decades of cross-cutting experience and expertise with a focus on health equity and reproductive health. She currently serves at the California Department of Public Health's Center for Healthy Communities, where she oversees the state's public health and prevention programs. The California Surgeon General is a key spokesperson on public health issues throughout the state and advises the Governor on efforts to address health risks and challenges as effectively and as early as possible. (https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/08/25/governor-newsom-appoints-dr-diana-ramos-as-california-surgeon-general/)

The Department of Veterans Affairs says it will start providing abortions in certain circumstances, even in states where it's illegal or restricted. The new policy came in response to the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which allowed state governments to decide whether to permit abortions. Since then, a number of states have implemented full bans on the procedure or drastically limited it. Now, the VA says it's stepping in to offer abortions in order to protect the health and lives of veterans in places where they can no longer access such reproductive care. Under a new interim final rule, pregnant veterans and VA beneficiaries will be able to get abortions if their life or health would be in danger if the pregnancy went to term. Patients whose pregnancies were the result of rape or incest will also be eligible for abortions. (https://www.npr.org/2022/09/03/1120965553/the-va-says-it-will-provide-abortions-in-some-cases-even-in-states-where-its-ban)

The White House requested $47 billion in emergency funding Sept. 2 to support response efforts for the war in Ukraine, COVID-19, monkeypox and natural disasters. The Biden administration is asking Congress to consider the requests as part of a short-term spending bill to fund the U.S. government after the current spending package expires Sept. 30. Two healthcare takeaways:
>> COVID-19 funding. The White House is requesting $22.4 billion to support ongoing pandemic response activities, including stockpiling tests and accelerating research on next-generation vaccines. The request comes after Congress failed to reach a deal on additional COVID-19 funding this summer, spurring the government to shift funding away from testing and end its program that shipped free rapid tests to Americans. If more funding is not secured, the U.S. government will be forced to forgo buying and distributing free COVID-19 vaccines by January, officials said.
>> Monkeypox funding. The Biden Administration is also seeking $4.5 billion to fund monkeypox response efforts. About $3.9 billion would cover monkeypox vaccines, tests and treatments in the U.S., while $600 million would be used to support global monkeypox efforts. More than 19,000 monkeypox cases had been confirmed in the U.S. as of Sept. 1, according to the CDC. (https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/white-house-seeks-47b-in-emergency-funding-2-healthcare-takeaways.html)

The head of nation's top public health agency recently announced a shake-up of the organization, intended to make it more nimble. The planned changes at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - CDC leaders call it a "reset" - come amid ongoing criticism of the agency's response to COVID-19, monkeypox, and other public health threats. The changes include internal staffing moves and steps to speed up data releases. (https://www.kxly.com/i/cdc-director-announces-organization-shake-up-aimed-at-speed-2/)

HHS will provide approximately $11 million to support the first U.S.-based fill and finish manufacturing of JYNNEOS - a vaccine approved to prevent smallpox and monkeypox - at Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing (GRAM) in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The agreement between the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the HHS Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), and GRAM aids the company in accelerating the fill and finish manufacturing qualification and production in its recently expanded facility. The funding will allow GRAM to purchase additional equipment necessary for JYNNEOS production and recruit and train additional staff to operate the line. With BARDA's support, vaccine production at the facility is expected to be underway later this year, "months ahead of the 9-month schedule typical for this type of work." (https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2022/08/29/hhs-funds-us-based-production-of-smallpox-and-monkeypox-vaccine.html)

CMS announced that the Medicare Shared Savings Program, through its work with Accountable Care Organizations, saved Medicare $1.66 billion in 2021, compared to spending targets, while continuing to deliver high-quality care. This marks the fifth consecutive year the program has generated overall savings and high-quality performance results. Shared Savings Program ACOs are groups of doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare providers who collaborate to give coordinated high-quality care to people with Medicare, focusing on delivering the right care at the right time, while avoiding unnecessary services and medical errors. When an ACO succeeds in both delivering high-quality care and spending healthcare dollars more wisely, the ACO may be eligible to share in the savings it achieves for the Medicare program (also known as performance payments). (https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2022/08/30/medicare-shared-savings-program-saves-medicare-more-than-1-6-billion-in-2021-and-continues-to-deliver-high-quality-care.html)

On August 19, the Departments of HHS, Labor, and the Treasury issued a long-awaited Final Rule on the Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) Process under the No Surprises Act (NSA). The Final Rule modifies the weight given to the information that IDR entities must consider in deciding payor-provider payment disputes under the NSA, it also imposes new requirements for plans and issuers to supply a disclosure when they downcode claims governed by the NSA. Read More: https://kslawemail.com/128/9408/pages/article1.asp?sid=70699854-251c-413c-9ff0-38e5d8f6e1cc

On August 23, Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) announced he was launching an inquiry into potentially deceptive marketing tactics by organizations offering Medicare Advantage benefits and Part D prescription drug programs. Senator Wyden's inquiry comes following information from CMS in its final rule earlier this year that marketing complaints more than doubled from 2020 to 2021 and that many of those complaints were related to third-party marketing organizations. Senator Wyden sent letters to 15 state insurance commissioners and state health insurance assistance programs requesting data about Medicare Advantage marketing complaints and other information. (https://kslawemail.com/128/9430/pages/art2.asp?sid=81abdba5-cc11-43e8-82a5-4679f749d4cb)

The Biden-Harris Administration has proposed a new rule to overhaul the enrollment processes (simplify application and verification processes) for Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program, Basic Health Programs (BHPs), and eliminate arbitrary coverage caps for children in CHIP. Currently 88+ million people are enrolled in Medicaid, CHIP and BHPs [which are currently only available in New York and Minnesota]. This rule, if finalized, would standardize commonsense eligibility and enrollment policies, such as limiting renewals to once every 12 months, allowing applicants 30 days to respond to information requests, requiring prepopulated renewal forms, and establishing clear, consistent renewal processes across states.
Medicaid is the single largest health coverage program in the U.S., covering nearly one in four Americans and providing robust benefits with little-to-no out of pocket costs. Medicaid and CHIP provide 51% of our nation's children and youth - 40+ million - access to quality, affordable healthcare. The Administration is proposing to end lifetime benefit limits in CHIP and allow children to enroll in coverage right away by eliminating pre-enrollment waiting periods, consistent with nearly all other health coverage. The proposed rule would also permit states to transfer children's eligibility directly from Medicaid to CHIP when a family's income rises, preventing unnecessary redetermination processes from causing lapses in coverage.
The proposed rule also:
>> Proposes simplifications that would increase enrollment and retention for people age 65+, as well as those who have blindness or a disability.
>> Offers ways to simplify enrollment for Medicare Savings Programs (MSPs), which permit Medicaid to pay Medicare premiums or cost sharing for Medicare beneficiaries with lower incomes. A recent study estimated that only about half of eligible low-income individuals enrolled in Medicare were also enrolled in MSPs. The rule would automatically consider older adults for MSP enrollment when they apply for low-income subsidies to help pay for Part D Medicare coverage. (https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/biden-harris-administration-proposes-make-health-care-enrollment-easier-millions-americans)

CMS recently issued guidance in an informational bulletin that aims to strengthen the correlation between nursing home quality measures and reimbursement. In addition to directing CMS to take nursing home reform actions, the administration plans to improve the quality of care in nursing homes by [partial list]:
>> Seeking a $500,000,000 appropriation to HHS directing the agency to improve its inspection processes and procedures, and develop a database that tracks nursing home operators with known healthcare-related violations to increase transparency in nursing home reporting requirements;
>> Increasing enforcement activity and scrutiny of low performing nursing homes;
>> Recommending that CMS promulgate guidance prohibiting nursing home owners from entering into Medicaid provider agreements if they have a history of owning underperforming or non-compliant facilities and that CMS have the ability to initiate enforcement actions against owners after their nursing home facility closed;
>> Directing CMS to implement the results of its study examining the appropriate minimum staffing requirement for nursing homes. CMS will make this minimum staffing requirement a mandatory requirement for all nursing homes. (https://www.kslaw.com/news-and-insights/health-headlines-august-29-2022)

On August 1, 2022, CMS issued its annual Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Prospective Payment System Final Rule for FY 2023. In the Final Rule, CMS updated the IPPS and LTCH payment rates, modified the payment rules for direct graduate medical education to comply with a recent federal court decision, imposed a permanent 5% cap on year-to-year wage index losses, and adopted a new supplemental payment for tribal hospitals and hospitals located in Puerto Rico. (https://kslawemail.com/128/9370/pages/art1.asp?sid=60d2957b-f8ad-445c-8fe5-6e11804c1fb4)

Adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing impairment will be able to buy hearing aids directly from stores, pharmacies and online retailers - no prescription or doctor's appointment required - as soon as mid-October. That's thanks to a final rule recently issued by the FDA, following years of campaigning by lawmakers and advocates. It creates a new category of over-the-counter hearing aids, which the Biden administration says will make the devices more accessible and affordable for millions of Americans. (https://www.npr.org/2022/08/16/1117741695/over-the-counter-hearing-aids)

More than 200 million people take statins daily to lower their bad cholesterol (LDL). Unfortunately, a majority fail to stick with their daily pills, putting them at risk of heart disease. Verve, a biotech company formed by one of the top heart-disease experts, wants to change that with a single injection that would permanently reduce LDL. It's a treatment based on CRISPR technology. But unlike the traditional Crispr approach, which acts like a pair of scissors to make a cut to the DNA, Verve is employing a new technology known as base editing, which acts more like a pencil and eraser, substituting a single letter of DNA for another. The gene Verve seeks to edit, PCSK9, regulates LDL levels in the body. While the treatment is highly experimental and the chance of failure is high, early results look promising. (https://www.wsj.com/articles/ending-bad-cholesterol-with-a-single-injectionan-opportunity-for-the-brave-11660824001?mod=hp_minor_pos19)

Email: [email protected]