Harvard Business Review recently released its annual ranking of the 100 “Best-Performing CEOs in the World,” and the list includes nine CEOs in the health care industry. Health care CEOs who made the list lead companies in the pharmaceutical, life sciences, and other health-related sectors. (Source: Harvard Business Review, November-December 2019)
Public Comment Period for Council on Pennsylvania Reform Recommendations
This summer Pennsylvania Governor Wolf announced the creation of the Council on Reform, aimed at providing policy recommendations on vulnerable populations, with a report due by the end of the year. The Council recently released its draft recommendations. Recommended policies range from focusing on prevention in the child welfare system to increasing home visiting services for women and children. The recommendations are now open for a 45-day public comment period with a deadline of December 16.
Click here to provide comments or recommendations.
CMS Issues Final Rule on Hospital Price Transparency, Pushes Effective Date to 2021
After months of feedback from payers and providers unhappy with a proposal to mandate price transparency in healthcare, the Trump administration unveiled its final rule on the topic.
- The final rule on hospital price transparency is effective January 1, 2021, which is a year later than originally proposed
- A separate proposed rule would also impose price transparency requirements on health insurers.
The final rule gives CMS additional enforcement and auditing capabilities, including the potential for monetary finds of $300 per day. Read the full story…
Research Reveals Big Shift in Employment Trends in Appalachia
The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) released Industrial Make-Up of the Appalachian Region, a new report examining employment and earnings across the Region. Drawing on data from 15 industry sectors, the report catalogs how the Region’s industrial make-up and earnings compare to that of the country as a whole. The report primarily focuses on the period from 2002–2017 — the years immediately before, during, and after the Great Recession – and finds that employment growth varies across the Region. Overall, while post-Recession employment growth has been positive in Appalachia, it lags behind the growth that was experienced by the country as a whole. The report also finds an overall employment shift across the Region towards professional & technical services; health & social services; and tourism-related jobs.
Among the Report’s key findings: from 2012 to 2017, employment across all industries in Appalachia grew 4.7 percent. While growth was positive, employment nationwide grew 9.6 percent during the same time period. From 2012 to 2017, the fastest growth in employment occurred in Appalachia’s South Central and Southern subregions, at 6.6 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively. In 2017, the five industries with the largest employment shares in the Region were professional & technical services (12.1 percent), health and social services (11.6 percent), retail and trade (11.1 percent); state and local government (11.1 percent); and manufacturing (10 percent). In 2017, 10 percent of Appalachia’s total employment was in the manufacturing industry, a larger share than the country as a whole (6.8 percent).
Centers For Disease Control and Prevention Finds Excess Deaths Occurring in Rural Areas
Abstract
Problem/Condition: A 2017 report quantified the higher percentage of potentially excess (or preventable) deaths in nonmetropolitan areas (often referred to as rural areas) compared with metropolitan areas. In that report, CDC compared national, regional, and state estimates of potentially excess deaths among the five leading causes of death in nonmetropolitan and metropolitan counties for 2010 and 2014. This report enhances the geographic detail by using the six levels of the 2013 National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) urban-rural classification scheme for counties and extending estimates of potentially excess deaths by annual percent change (APC) and for additional years (2010–2017). Trends were tested both with linear and quadratic terms.
Period Covered: 2010–2017.
Description of System: Mortality data for U.S. residents from the National Vital Statistics System were used to calculate potentially excess deaths from the five leading causes of death among persons aged <80 years. CDC’s NCHS urban-rural classification scheme for counties was used to categorize the deaths according to the urban-rural county classification level of the decedent’s county of residence (1: large central metropolitan [most urban], 2: large fringe metropolitan, 3: medium metropolitan, 4: small metropolitan, 5: micropolitan, and 6: noncore [most rural]). Potentially excess deaths were defined as deaths among persons aged <80 years that exceeded the number expected if the death rates for each cause in all states were equivalent to those in the benchmark states (i.e., the three states with the lowest rates). Potentially excess deaths were calculated separately for the six urban-rural county categories nationally, the 10 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services public health regions, and the 50 states and District of Columbia.
Results: The number of potentially excess deaths among persons aged <80 years in the United States increased during 2010–2017 for unintentional injuries (APC: 11.2%), decreased for cancer (APC: −9.1%), and remained stable for heart disease (APC: 1.1%), chronic lower respiratory disease (CLRD) (APC: 1.7%), and stroke (APC: 0.3). Across the United States, percentages of potentially excess deaths from the five leading causes were higher in nonmetropolitan counties in all years during 2010–2017. When assessed by the six urban-rural county classifications, percentages of potentially excess deaths in the most rural counties (noncore) were consistently higher than in the most urban counties (large central metropolitan) for the study period. Potentially excess deaths from heart disease increased most in micropolitan counties (APC: 2.5%) and decreased most in large fringe metropolitan counties (APC: −1.1%). Potentially excess deaths from cancer decreased in all county categories, with the largest decreases in large central metropolitan (APC: −16.1%) and large fringe metropolitan (APC: −15.1%) counties. In all county categories, potentially excess deaths from the five leading causes increased, with the largest increases occurring in large central metropolitan (APC: 18.3%), large fringe metropolitan (APC: 17.1%), and medium metropolitan (APC: 11.1%) counties. Potentially excess deaths from CLRD decreased most in large central metropolitan counties (APC: −5.6%) and increased most in micropolitan (APC: 3.7%) and noncore (APC: 3.6%) counties. In all county categories, potentially excess deaths from stroke exhibited a quadratic trend (i.e., decreased then increased), except in micropolitan counties, where no change occurred. Percentages of potentially excess deaths also differed among and within public health regions and across states by urban-rural county classification during 2010–2017.
Interpretation: Nonmetropolitan counties had higher percentages of potentially excess deaths from the five leading causes than metropolitan counties during 2010–2017 nationwide, across public health regions, and in the majority of states. The gap between the most rural and most urban counties for potentially excess deaths increased during 2010–2017 for three causes of death (cancer, heart disease, and CLRD), decreased for unintentional injury, and remained relatively stable for stroke. Urban and suburban counties (large central metropolitan and large fringe metropolitan, medium metropolitan, and small metropolitan) experienced increases in potentially excess deaths from unintentional injury during 2010–2017, leading to a narrower gap between the already high (approximately 55%) percentage of excess deaths in noncore and micropolitan counties.
Public Health Action: Routine tracking of potentially excess deaths by urban-rural county classification might help public health departments and decision-makers identify and monitor public health problems and focus interventions to reduce potentially excess deaths in these areas.
Read the full report here: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/ss/ss6810a1.htm
Sex Trafficking Summit Warns of Epidemic
STATE COLLEGE — When Kendra Aucker, CEO of Lewisburg’s Evangelical Community Hospital, first learned about the pervasiveness of sex trafficking along the Route 15 corridor where her hospital is located, she was shocked enough to order all 2,000 hospital employees to undergo training so they could recognize trafficking victims when they encountered them and deal with them properly.
Pennsylvania Governor Wolf Announces Veterans’ Trust Fund Grant Opportunities
Governor Tom Wolf announced on November 12, 2019 that the 2019-20 Veterans’ Trust Fund (VTF) is accepting grant applications for programs and services benefiting Pennsylvania veterans. The Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA) will award up to $800,000 in VTF grants to non-profit organizations, veteran service organizations and county directors of veteran affairs across the state. Grant applications must be received no later than 3 p.m. EST on Wednesday, December 18, 2019.
“Pennsylvania has always held its service members in high regard because of their tremendous sacrifices in defense of our nation and commonwealth,” said Gov. Wolf. “Pennsylvanians routinely contribute to the Veterans’ Trust Fund to show their gratitude and continued support. This fund would not be successful, and our veterans would not be as cared for without these generous donations.”
Up to a total of $150,000 in grant funding is available for new, innovative or expanded programs or services operated by the county directors of veterans affairs or the Pennsylvania Association of County Directors of Veterans Affairs. The areas of emphasis for applicants in this category are veterans’ outreach and veterans’ court programs.
Up to $650,000 in VTF funding is available to veteran service organizations with 501(c)(19) status and non-profit organizations with a mission of serving Pennsylvania veterans granted 501(c)(3) status under the Internal Revenue Code. Funding priorities for applicants in this category are homelessness, behavioral health initiatives and Veterans’ Courts.
Eligible applicants from either category may also submit applications for programs addressing newly identified, unmet or emerging needs of veterans and their families.
Since the grant program began in 2013, 155 grants totaling $3,732,860 have been awarded to organizations providing services to veterans in Pennsylvania.
“The Veterans’ Trust Fund is a tremendous program that enables us to grant donated money to organizations that provide direct positive effects on our veterans lives,” said Maj. Gen. Anthony Carrelli, Pennsylvania’s adjutant general. “Donating to the fund is a great option for anyone who wants to do more for Pennsylvania’s veterans. These grants supplement other federal and state programs directing more assistance towards our veterans.”
The VTF is funded by generous Pennsylvanians who voluntarily donate when applying for or renewing driver’s licenses, photo IDs or motor vehicle registrations; purchase Honoring Our Veterans license plates; or make private donations.
The Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs is authorized to solicit and accept donations to the VTF on behalf of the commonwealth. Tax-deductible donations can be made online at www.donate.dmva.pa.gov or mailed to: PA Veterans’ Trust Fund, Edward Martin Hall, Bldg. 0-47, Fort Indiantown Gap, Annville, PA 17003-5002.
To learn more about the VTF and the grant application process, visit www.vtf.pa.gov or follow DMVA on Facebook at www.facebook.com/padmva.
ARC: Investing in Economic Diversity with POWER
In October 2019, the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) announced 54 new grants, totaling a $44.4 million investment, to help diversify the economy in the Region’s coal-impacted communities via ARC’s POWER Initiative. This week, representatives from most of these projects were in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for a two day training focusing on grant implementation, monitoring and evaluation; project sustainability; communications; and legal issues. During the convening, this new cohort of grantees developed stronger networks to set their projects up for success. Since 2015, ARC’s POWER Initiative has invested over $190 million in 239 projects touching 326 coal-impacted counties across Appalachia. Together, these investments are projected to create or retain more than 23,000 jobs, and leverage more than $811 million in additional private investment into Appalachia’s economy. A list of all of ARC’s POWER investments is available at www.arc.gov/power.
ARC’s POWER Initiative will continue in the next fiscal year, pending Congress’ final appropriation for fiscal year 2020. Meanwhile, ARC is preparing a Request for Proposals (RFP), scheduled for release in early December. Applications for funding will be due in March, 2020. To help prospective applicants prepare strong applications in response to the forthcoming RFP, ARC staff and other experts will be hosting a series of POWER Application Workshops in Pennsylvania (December 11); Ashland, Kentucky (January 15); and Johnson City, Tennessee (January 28). Each workshop will run from 9am–3pm and is free to attend, although pre-registration is required at www.arc.gov/power.
Preventable Deaths
U.S. residents living in rural areas of the country were more likely to die from preventable causes than those living in urban areas from 2010 to 2017, according to a CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report released during the week of November 4, 2019. Overall, the researchers found heart disease, cancer, unintentional injury, chronic lower respiratory disease, and stroke ranked as the five leading causes of death in the United States in 2017. (Source: CBS News/WCBI, 11/8)
Hospital Safety Grades
The Leapfrog Group released its Fall Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades, giving about one-third of hospitals an “A,” but giving more than 40% of hospitals a “C” or lower. Leapfrog also published an infographic that looked at the rates of avoidable deaths at hospitals for each grade. (Source: HealthLeaders Media, 11/7)