August 31, 2020
To our Network of ANAE Members & NAW Followers, please watch the video below for the NAW pub letter!
Register now for the webinar on healthcare supply chain after COVID-19
Join ANAE and The Journal of Healthcare Contracting for the 2nd Virtual Town Hall on September 2 at 2:00 PM ET.

We will discuss the effects of healthcare supply chain after COVID-19 and what suppliers can do to better support and partner with their customers in the future.

Host: John Pritchard, Publisher of The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

Panelists:
-Kreg Koford, SVP Supply Chain, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
-Amanda Chawla, VP of Supply Chain, Stanford Health Care
-Tony Johnson, Senior VP and Chief Supply Chain Officer, Baylor Scott & White
CMS to require positive COVID-19 test results for Medicare pay boost
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act provided a 20 percent add-on payment to the inpatient prospective payment system diagnosis-related group rate for treating patients diagnosed with COVID-19.

Until now, a physician's documentation that a patient has COVID-19 was sufficient to receive the add-on payment. However, recent guidance from CMS adds the requirement to have a positive COVID-19 laboratory test documented in the patient's medical record for the claim to be eligible for the add-on payment. 

The new requirement applies to admissions occurring on or after Sept. 1.
Top 7 NAW Articles of 2020
1. The No.1 hospital in each state for 2020-21 View article here

2. Regional chains Sentara, Cone to merge into 17-hospital, $11.5B system View article here

3. Ascension reports loss of $2.7B in Q1 View article here

4. Which hospitals have suspended elective surgeries? A list, state by state View article here

5. Selling post COVID; what’s the new normal? View article here

6. 15 things to know about Amazon's healthcare strategy heading into 2020 View article here

7. 10 health systems with strong finances View article here
Rural Hospitals Are Sinking Under COVID-19 Financial Pressures
As COVID-19 continues to spread, an increasing number of rural communities in the U.S. find themselves without their hospital or on the brink of losing already cash-strapped facilities, reports NPR.

Many of the losses are in Southern states, including Florida and Texas. One 2019 study found that death rates in the surrounding communities increase nearly 6% after a rural hospital closes — and that’s when there’s not a pandemic.
Premier urges providers to take advantage of PAMA deadline extension 
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) recently announced the extension of its Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA) compliance requirement to Jan. 1, 2022, giving providers the duration of 2020 and calendar year 2021 to prepare.

CMS expects providers to use this additional time to prepare for an effective PAMA-compliant CDS solution that aids in ordering appropriate advanced diagnostic imaging services for Medicare fee-for-service patients. 
Preparing for the upcoming flu season
The upcoming 2020-2021 flu season could be just as severe and particularly challenging, given the possibility of COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses.

Health systems’ supply chains play an important role in providing clinicians with the freedom to focus on care and not on supply chain activities. Here are four ways supply chain can provide them with a holistic flu program, encompassing prevention, diagnostics and treatment.
Abbott releases fast, $5 COVID-19 antigen test, free mobile app to display test results
Abbott has received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the FDA for its BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag Card rapid test for detection of COVID-19 infection.
The company says it will sell this test for $5.
Currently, AdvaMed estimates that test manufacturers are shipping about 1 million tests per day. Abbott will ship tens of millions of tests in September, ramping to 50 million tests a month at the beginning of October.

Abbott will also launch NAVICA, a complementary mobile app for iPhone and Android devices.
John Pritchard
Publisher of National Accounts Weekly


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