AHIP, together with the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations and the American Medical Association, released a playbook outlining voluntary best practices for implementing value-based care payment models designed to improve patient outcomes and lower health care costs. The best practices were divided into seven domains: patient attribution, benchmarking, risk adjustment, quality performance impact on payment, levels of financial risk, payment timing and accuracy, and incentivizing for value-based care practice participant performance.

The CMS has released a draft Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems rule for fiscal 2025. The draft proposes raising payments for hospitals that participate in the IPPS Quality Reporting Program and are meaningful EHR users by 2.6% next year, which is estimated to increase total hospital payments by $3.3 billion. Other proposals include raising payments for hospitals treating people who are homeless, increasing new technology add-on payments for novel gene therapies to treat sickle cell disease, and creating a separate payment for small hospitals maintaining a buffer stock of essential drugs.

The Leapfrog Group, Turquoise Health and the Health Transformation Alliance recognized 472 hospitals in 42 states for achieving excellent patient safety ratings and a high level of adherence to federal price transparency regulations. All of the hospitals received an A safety grade rating from Leapfrog and the highest score in federal price transparency from Turquoise.

Higher levels of arm and trunk fat were linked to greater cardiovascular disease and mortality risks for people with type 2 diabetes, according to a study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Researchers said higher levels of leg fat were associated with reduced CV and mortality risks.

A study found that pregnancy in some women was associated with to markers of accelerated cellular aging, and more pregnancies were linked to greater biological aging. The findings were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Health-related social needs, such as transportation problems and food insecurity, are the most common factors keeping women from getting mammograms, according to a CDC report based on 2022 data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. "Addressing SDOH and HRSNs and their drivers might increase the prevalence of receipt of mammography and other preventive health services," said the report's authors.

Elevance Health's Amerigroup Georgia and supplemental benefit administrator Avesis have partnered with Uber Health to launch a pilot initiative to address the maternal health crisis in Georgia. The program utilized federal qualified health centers, the Georgia Primary Care Association and other community health partners to provide a scale, $300 of Uber Eats vouchers, and two individualized nutritional counseling sessions to hundreds of Amerigroup's Medicaid beneficiaries.

Pfizer's RSV vaccine, Abrysvo, showed a strong immune response in adults ages 18 to 59 with health conditions such as asthma and diabetes, in their recent trial, with the company now planning on seeking expanded FDA approval for adults ages 18 and older. Pfizer has also filed for FDA approval to extend RSV vaccination to adults ages 50 to 59 at increased risk of disease.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that acetaminophen use during pregnancy was not associated with the development of autism or attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder in children based on sibling control analyses. Findings, based on over 2.48 million children, also found that using aspirin was associated with a lower risk, possibly because of its being used to treat pre-eclampsia and its complications.

The Environmental Protection Agency has announced limits to the amount of "forever chemicals" -- which are linked to increased cancer risks, among other health concerns -- in drinking water and estimates that the standard will reduce exposure to the chemicals for around 100 million people. The agency also has finalized rules meant to lower cancer cases by requiring more than 200 chemical plants across the US to reduce emissions of toxic air pollutants and perform air monitoring at their perimeters.

There have never been so many pathways to getting quality health care -- but barriers still exist. Pooja Mittal, DO, chief health equity officer for Health Net, joined AHIP's Robert Traynham for a conversation about health equity and Health Net's work, including a first-of-its-kind health improvement project in Los Angeles County that provides doulas for Black women through a community-based partnership. Watch today.

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