07 Oct Health Data News Roundup: SDOH, Data Analytics and Payer Effectiveness; Alignment Health Plan News; and Reducing the Cost of Care

Welcome to the Health Data Weekly News Roundup from IMAT Solutions. As the power of data continues to grow in the healthcare arena, today’s care organizations need to be on the forefront of all news and trends to help ensure that their data analytics efforts deliver accountable and informed care. Each week, we will provide you with the actionable news you need to meet these goals.

Study Supports Payers’ Efforts to Address SDOH Using Analytics
A new PwC report is calling for payers, healthcare providers, health systems and others to urgently and immediately address social determinants of health – through the use of effective data analytics.

Alignment Health Plan to Offer Concierge, Social Determinants of Health Benefits
Alignment Health Plan will offer qualified Medicare Advantage members concierge services and social determinants of health benefits in 2020. The Southern California-based Medicare Advantage plan will offer its members the ability to access board-certified doctors from video or telephone on-demand, day or night, through the ACCESS program.

UPMC Diabetes Wellness Program to Cut Drug Spending, Chronic Care
UPMC Health Plan’s new diabetes wellness program targets Medicare Advantage members with diabetes or at-risk of diabetes to help drive chronic care management at an affordable cost.

Pew Addresses Concerns with CMS’ Proposed Physician Fee Schedule
Pew Charitable Trusts wants to see strong medical device and EHR interoperability regulations in the physician fee schedule (PFS) and the merit-based incentive payment system (MIPS).

Cigna, Humana Expand MA Plans to Cover Social Determinants of Health
Cigna and Humana announced their 2020 Medicare Advantage plans will now include coverage for social determinants of health, demonstrating their commitment to tackling members’ risk factors outside of traditional medical care.

Driving Innovation in Provider-Payer Value-Based Care Relationships
Collaboration between providers and payers is key to developing new innovations in support of value-based care, according to a recent Health Payer Intelligence article.

Reducing The Cost of Care Requires Aligning Incentives of Providers, Payers and Patients
This month, Healthcare IT News, MobiHealthNews and Healthcare Finance News are all taking a deep dive look at how innovation can help to reduce the overall cost of care.