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The Latest Research, Commentary, And News From Health Affairs

May 9, 2021

Dear John,

Read on for highlights from Health Affairs this week.

Consolidation, Clinical Trials & More

The latest issue of Health Affairs features articles that address market
consolidation, the role of private equity financing, price competition
for drugs, and more. Read Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil's preview

for some highlights. Check out our table of contents

to see everything.

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Two new Considering Health Spending articles in this month's issue
found that vertical integration of physicians with hospitals increased
use of hospital testing and imaging services.

Christopher Whaley and coauthors found that vertical integration of
physician group practices with hospitals or health systems increases the
use of hospitals for common diagnostic imaging and laboratory tests and
increases Medicare reimbursement rates
.

Gary Young and coauthors examined magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
referrals for three common conditions. They found that "hospital
employment [of physicians] was associated with a substantially greater
likelihood of patients receiving MRI referrals in general
,
as well as-more important-inappropriate referrals."

Also in the May issue, Jenny Guadamuz and coauthors investigated whether
the availability and geographic accessibility of pharmacies varied by
neighborhood racial and ethnic composition in the thirty most-populous
cities in the US. They found that there are fewer pharmacies located in
predominantly Black and Hispanic/Latino neighborhoods

than in majority White or diverse neighborhoods.

As part of our new Age-Friendly Health
series, Nicholas Reed and
coauthors examined how hearing loss affects older adults' health
outcomes and quality of care
.

Rachel Werner and Norma Coe examined changes in nursing home staffing
during the COVID-19 pandemic
.
Although they found that the total number of hours worked by nursing
home staff declined during the  pandemic, there was a concurrent
decline in the average nursing home census during the same period. When
the decline in census was accounted for, nurse staffing hours per
resident day remained steady or increased slightly.

In May's Narrative Matters essay, Krista Lyn Harrison describes how
the hospice model fails when patients die more slowly than expected
.
"Hospice has become care for people dying fast, not for those trying to
live well while dying slow," Harrison writes as she recounts her
stepfather's experience in hospice with a neurodegenerative disease.

Gerard Silvestri and coauthors assessed differences in cancer survival

between uninsured patients younger than age sixty-five and Medicare
beneficiaries.

Analyzing Medicare data from 2000 through 2015, Meng Li and colleagues
found significant growth during that period in spending on targeted
therapies for breast cancer
.
  
Health Affairs Blog introduced a short series, "Envisioning A
Transformed Clinical Trials Enterprise For 2030
," with posts on
modernizing national patient experience surveys
, 
improving inclusive engagement in clinical trials
,
a person-centered perspective on communication
,
technological advances
,
and more.

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Understanding Private Equity Investment In Hospitals

****Listen to

**Health Affairs** Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interview Anaeze Offodile
from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center on the role of
private equity investments in health care.

Listen Here

Featured This Week

Consolidation, Private Equity, And More

Alan R. Weil

Higher Medicare Spending On Imaging And Lab Services After Primary Care
Physician Group Vertical Integration

Christopher M. Whaley, Xiaoxi Zhao, Michael Richards, and Cheryl L.
Damberg

Hospital Employment Of Physicians In Massachusetts Is Associated With
Inappropriate Diagnostic Imaging

Gary J. Young, E. David Zepeda, Stephen Flaherty, and Ngoc Thai

Podcast: Understanding Private Equity Investment In Hospitals

Alan Weil and Anaeze C. Offodile II

Fewer Pharmacies In Black And Hispanic/Latino Neighborhoods Compared
With White Or Diverse Neighborhoods, 2007-15

Jenny S. Guadamuz, Jocelyn R. Wilder, Morgane C. Mouslim, Shannon N.
Zenk, G. Caleb Alexander, and Dima Mazen Qato

Medicare Beneficiaries With Self-Reported Functional Hearing Difficulty
Have Unmet Health Care Needs

Nicholas S. Reed, Lama Assi, Wakako Horiuchi, Julie E. Hoover-Fong,
Frank R. Lin, Lauren E. Ferrante, Sharon K. Inouye, Edgar R. Miller III,
Emily F. Boss, Esther S. Oh, and Amber Willink

Nursing Home Staffing Levels Did Not Change Significantly During
COVID-19

Rachel M. Werner and Norma B. Coe

The Hidden Curriculum Of Hospice: Die Fast, Not Slow

Krista Lyn Harrison

Cancer Outcomes Among Medicare Beneficiaries And Their Younger Uninsured
Counterparts

Gerard A. Silvestri, Ahmedin Jemal, K. Robin Yabroff, Stacey Fedewa, and
Helmneh Sineshaw

Spending On Targeted Therapies Reduced Mortality In Patients With
Advanced-Stage Breast Cancer

Meng Li, Dana P. Goldman, and Alice J. Chen

Podcast: The Next Wave Of Federal Food Aid For Children And Families

Jessica Bylander and Leslie Erdelack

On The Blog This Week

The Final 2022 Payment Notice: Exchanges, Medical Loss Ratios, Special
Enrollment Periods, And More

Katie Keith

The Final 2022 Payment Notice: Risk Adjustment

Katie Keith

What We Need To Be Healthy-And How To Talk About It

John R. Lumpkin, Rocco Perla, Rebecca Onie, and Robert Seligson

Were COVID-19 Patients In The Wrong Hospital-Or The Wrong Community?
What Really Drove COVID-19 Outcomes In South Los Angeles

Elaine Batchlor

Transforming Clinical Trials: A New Vision For 2030

Marilyn Metcalf and Rob Weker

Listening To The Voice Of All Patients To Help Heal Health Disparities
In A Post-COVID-19 World

Francis Fullam, Robert Parrish, Nicole Cable, and Esther Burlingame

The 100th Anniversary Of A Vaccine Against A Deadly Disease: Not A Cause
For Celebration

Lena Faust and Leigh Raithby

Driving Towards More Inclusive Clinical Trials By 2030: Action Without
Strategy is Aimless, Strategy Without Action is Powerless

Silas Buchanan

Navigating Care Transitions From SNF To Home During A Pandemic-Lessons
Learned

Joan Guzik

A Future Of Trusted Clinical Trials: Communication Strategies To
Encourage Trust And Transparency

Brian Southwell

The Future of Clinical Trials: How Will New Technologies Affect The
Lives Of Participants?

Eric D. Perakslis, Andrea Coravos, and Sam Roosz

HealthCare.gov Special Enrollment Nears 1 Million, Final 2022 Guidance
Released

Katie Keith

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The Next Wave Of Federal Food Aid For Children And Families

Listen to Health Affairs' Leslie Erdelack and Jessica Bylander discuss
food insecurity and President Biden's latest efforts on federal food
aid.

Listen Here

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About Health Affairs

Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewed journal
at the intersection of health,
health care, and policy. Published monthly by Project HOPE, the journal
is available in print and online. Late-breaking content is also found
through healthaffairs.org , Health
Affairs Today , and Health
Affairs Sunday Update .  

Project HOPE is a global health and
humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local
health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has
published Health Affairs since 1981.

Copyright © Project HOPE: The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

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