Reports

Millions of Americans are experiencing social isolation and loneliness, which has a significant impact on health and wellbeing. Studies have demonstrated life longevity, physical, and mental health conditions are all negatively impacted when an individual is socially isolated or lonely.1 Social isolation and loneliness are also costly issues, with significant economic impacts. A 2017 study identified an estimated $6.7 billion in additional annual federal spending for Medicare due to a lack of social contacts among older adults.2 For these reasons, social isolation is emerging as a preeminent health and social policy issue.

WellSky presents a new white paper addressing CMS's proposed Access Rule, which would require the implementation of an incident management system for Medicaid waiver programs to safeguard beneficiaries. This white paper will provide guidance on how to: Simplify reporting of incidents from multiple sources, Triage, investigate, and mitigate incidents efficiently, Standardize critical incident definitions across your network, and Automate the process to ensure timeliness The white paper also describes how to achieve comprehensive oversight by linking several state programs and healthcare providers to a single incident management system.

The report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ ASPE features key findings from the first year of implementing IRA provisions regarding Medicare drug coverage. The report also includes information on the IRA implementation timeline, and highlights from research reports on the impact of the IRA on the following: caps on out-of-pocket costs for insulin; access to vaccines without cost-sharing; provisions regarding drugs covered under Medicare Part B; and Medicare Part D benefit redesign and out-of-pocket cap.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) July 21st report, “Use of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccines in Older Adults: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — United States, 2023 (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (2023;72:793–801)," describes the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendation that adults aged 60 and older may receive a single dose of the RSV. Beginning in May 2022, the ACIP Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccines Adult Work Group met to review available evidence regarding the safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy of these vaccines among adults aged ≥60 years. On June 21, 2023, ACIP voted to recommend that adults aged ≥60 years may receive a single dose..

To aid federal agencies prepare for future public health emergencies, the GAO released a report detailing findings and recommendations from the agency’s COVID-19 oversight reports spanning from April 2022 through April 2023. This report includes several key data updates and five enclosures that summarize and highlight standalone reports issued from April 2022 through April 2023 on public health preparedness, improper payments and fraud, vulnerable populations, distribution of federal COVID-19 funding, and COVID-19 and the economy...

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has collaborated with the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago to curate a comprehensive data analysis report regarding Elder Financial Exploitation (EFE) losses experienced by adults over the age of 60. They found that victims of EFE in the United States lose $28.3 billion a year, and about 72% of the losses arise from fraud by people the victims know personally....

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) posted an expanded Report to Congress for Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) in Medicaid. This new report supplies data from the Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) from 2018-2021. This report provides a detailed analysis of Medicaid coverage of NEMT such as the types of medical services accessed when using NEMT by beneficiary subgroup, a comparison by delivery model of the volume of NEMT services used by states, and monthly trends in the use of NEMT versus telehealth services.

On June 15th, MedPAC released its June 2023 “Report to the Congress: Medicare and the Health Care Delivery System”. Each June, as part of its mandate from the Congress, MedPAC reports on issues affecting the Medicare program as well as broader changes in health care delivery and the market for health care services. The report includes ten chapters. Examples of information addressed in the report includes the following: High prices of drugs and biologics covered under Medicare Part B. Due to an increase in Medicare Part B drug spending between 2009 and 2021, the Commission recommends three policies designed to improve Medicare's Part B drug payment system and reduce spending growth for Part B drugs....

The CMS OMH report, “Disparities in Health Care in Medicare Advantage Associated with Dual Eligibility or Eligibility for a Low-Income Subsidy and Disability”, presents summary information on the performance of Medicare Advantage plans on specific measures of quality of health care reported in 2021, which corresponds to care received in 2020. Specifically, this report compares the quality of care for four groups of Medicare Advantage enrollees that are defined based on the combination of two characteristics: (1) dual eligibility for Medicare and Medicaid or eligibility for a Part D Low-Income Subsidy (LIS) and (2) disability...

The United Health Foundation recently released the 2023 Senior Report, an annual review of the health of the nation’s older adults and a critical tool to help guide individuals, community leaders, and policymakers to make decisions that are informed by reliable data. The report highlights successes and challenges older adults face in a broad range of health measures to help provide a portrait of the health and well-being of older adults throughout the United States. To accomplish this, the 2023 Senior Report collects data on many health measures, including race/ethnicity, gender, rural/urban geography, income, education, and more.