Maverick's Update

We seem to be fresh out of original ideas. The film and tv writer strike (that actors may join) means that filming creative, new movies and TV shows is impossible right now. So we are stuck with sequels of Indiana Jones, Avatar, and the relentless Spiderman series. Health policy is similarly situated, as we explain below in the One Thoughtful Paragraph.

Even health information policy news is a sequel this week:

• The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report — a sequel to its past recommendations to HHS — identifying its deficiencies in preparing for public health emergencies, including implementing a nationwide interoperable network of systems. Helpfully, the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health plans to hold a hearing next week on a proposal about how to better collect and share public health data to respond to public health emergencies.
• On June 8, 2023, CMS announced the best name for a new payment model yet — “Making Care Primary” — a cleverly-named sequel to previous primary care models. Launching on July 1, 2024, the multi-year model will test out prospective payments in eight states that improve care management and care coordination and leverage community-based connections to address health-related social needs (housing and nutrition). CMS will begin accepting applications in late summer 2023.
• For years, Altarum has been publishing monthly Health Sector Economic Indicators (like a tv series) that sometimes culminate in a big trend report (like a feature film). This year’s feature film includes a mysterious twist (if you can get past the pesky math that Altarum is so good at): it is a happy story about how our national health care costs are going down, but poor data makes it unclear to our heroes whether our costs declined for good or bad reasons. Stay tuned for the sequel.

One Thoughtful Paragraph