Stay in the know with Becker's Hospital Review's weekly news roundup of the nation's biggest healthcare news. Here's what you need to know this week.
1. 15 dead as US flu season intensifies
There have been 15 deaths across nine states caused by the flu as of Dec. 20, according to the CDC, which said the percentage of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza was at the epidemic threshold. The flu is widespread in 36 states already, while regional flu activity was reported in 10 states. According to the CDC, the proportion of people seeing their healthcare provider in an outpatient setting for flu-like symptoms has increased to 5.5 percent from the baseline of 2 percent. Between Oct. 1 and Dec. 20, there were 2,643 lab-confirmed flu-associated hospitalizations across the country.
2. Alleged murder-suicide in N.H. hospital, officials say
A man walked into the critical care unit of Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, N.H., in the early morning Dec. 30 and shot and killed his wife before fatally shooting himself in what New Hampshire Attorney General Joseph A. Foster described as a murder-suicide, according to The Boston Globe. Gregory Walker, president of the hospital, said hospital policy prohibits anyone from bringing firearms into the facility. He declined to answer why or how long the woman had been hospitalized because of federal patient privacy laws and the homicide investigation. He called the shooting a "very sad" incident and provided patients and staff with crisis counselors for any emotional trauma.
3. VA reports data breach affecting 7,000 veterans
The Department of Veterans Affairs has reported a data breach after discovering a flaw in a patient database managed by a third-party vendor providing telehealth services exposed the personal information of more than 7,000 veterans, according to a Federal News Radio report. Potentially compromised information — including patient names, addresses, birth dates, phone numbers and VA patient identification numbers — was made available on the Internet. The contractor notified the VA of the potential security flaw in early November and the breach was confirmed after an investigation. The flaw has since been corrected, according to the report.
4. Accenture wins new $563M contract for HealthCare.gov
Accenture will continue its work on the federal online insurance exchange for the next five years, according to a Wall Street Journal report. In January, CMS selected Accenture to replace CGI Federal and oversee maintenance of HealthCare.gov following the glitch-ridden launch of the federal exchange in 2013. Under the new $563 million contract, Accenture will provide ongoing maintenance, software development and technology support for HealthCare.gov.
5. 87% of HealthCare.gov enrollees seeking financial assistance
A recent HHS report revealed 87 percent of people who used HealthCare.gov to sign up for health insurance plans in the first month of the 2015 open enrollment period selected a plan with financial assistance compared to 80 percent of enrollees over a similar period last year. The report also showed that during the first month of open enrollment, more than 4 million people signed up or re-enrolled in coverage using the federal and state marketplaces. Across the 37 states using the HealthCare.gov platform for 2015, 3.4 million people had selected a plan as of Dec. 15, and of those people, 1.6 million re-enrolled in a marketplace plan and 1.8 million signed up for a marketplace plan for the first time.
6. Medicaid payments to fall 43% for primary care after Dec. 31
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provision that bumped Medicaid primary care payments up to Medicare rates expired Dec. 31, leading to a 42.8 percent average drop in fees for Medicaid primary care services, according to a study from the Urban Institute. The two-year increases in Medicaid fees were funded by the federal government and gave physicians financial incentives to accept more Medicaid patients. Now, cuts may lead many physicians to stop accepting new Medicaid patients. In October, 15 states announced plans to continue the increase or part of it through state funds. However, these states only cover 15.6 percent of the nation's Medicaid beneficiaries.
7. Key observations on healthcare spending over the next 5 years
The National Health Expenditure Projections from 2012-2022 show healthcare spending growth over the next several years, according to a Yahoo News report. Spending on hospital care is expected to reach $973 million this year, and hospital care spending will be a trillion-dollar subsidy in the United States by 2015. According to the report, if current spending trends continue, healthcare spending will be 19.3 percent of the gross domestic product in 2023. While healthcare spending only rose 3.5 percent during the third quarter of 2014 over the same period last year — well below the 10 percent projections — the projected growth took into consideration 10 million new people gaining health insurance this past year.
8. Legal fight over Arizona Medicaid expansion will return to court
Republican state lawmakers' challenge to Medicaid expansion in Arizona will make its way back to court, according to The Arizona Republic. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled to allow a lower court, the Maricopa County Superior Court, to decide whether Medicaid expansion in the state was legally made into law. The Arizona Supreme Court made its ruling after Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) asked the court to reject the lawmakers' challenge. The issue at hand is the funding mechanism for the program and whether it violated the Arizona Constitution, according to the report. Arizona hospitals currently pay an "assessment," but lawmakers contend this is in fact a tax, which must have approval from a supermajority of the state legislature.
9. Is the Zimmer-Biomet acquisition unraveling?
Zimmer announced plans earlier this year to acquire Biomet for $10.35 billion in cash and $3 billion in common stock. However, the Department of Justice and Securities Exchange Commission are "conducting a probe" into bribe allegations against Biomet, alleging the company paid providers in Brazil and Mexican customs officials, according to a Med Device Online report. Biomet wants to settle the probe to "safeguard the merger with Zimmer," but the probe could result in stiffer penalties than originally thought. Biomet may face criminal charges and the company's participation in federal healthcare programs could be restricted if charges are brought against it. Zimmer may also need to restructure the deal and lower the price.
10. Many hospitals scrap New Year baby tradition
Patient safety and privacy concerns have led many hospitals and health systems to do away with the tradition of publicizing their first baby of the New Year, according to a USA Today report. Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems is one of them. CHS prohibited its 207 hospitals from publicizing the first baby of the year for 2015 as a safety precaution, although threats, abduction attempts and identity theft connected to such announcements are relatively uncommon, according to the report. Numerous organizations have weighed in on the tradition, such as the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which suggested healthcare providers get parental consent and eliminate identifying information from birth announcements or stop providing them to the media altogether.