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The Health and Human Services Department found that Medicare visits held via telehealth increased 63-fold from 2019 to 2020 as a result of flexibilities put into place due to the COVID-19 public health emergency, according to a new HHS study released Friday. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will use the report's results to inform future Medicare telehealth policy, CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in a news release. Providers have been eager to see how lawmakers and policymakers will regulate telehealth once the PHE ends. Medicare payment advisors have suggested a temporary extension of flexibilities to allow time to study telehealth's impacts. (Broderick and Goldman, 12/3)

When the pandemic lockdowns slammed society’s doors closed in March 2020, the leaders at McLean Hospital’s Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Institute in Massachusetts needed a new plan. Some of the care they delivered so carefully wasn’t safe in person anymore. By the end of April, McLean had overhauled its approach, launching services online for people in need of partial hospitalization. Three thousand miles away, a similar experiment played out on the same timeline at UCLA’s Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Intensive Treatment Program, where patients came for more dedicated help when lighter-touch treatments weren’t working. (Aguilar, 12/6)

Medicare’s rules for signing up have put 68-year-old Scarlet Poulet in an unenviable situation. The New Orleans resident, who is recovering from cancer, has been enrolled in Medicare Part A (hospital coverage) since 2018 when she reached the eligibility age of 65. Yet due to how Medicare interacts with insurance through an employer — coverage she lost in August — Poulet is now not allowed to sign up for Part B (outpatient care) until January. That’s when a three-month enrollment window opens for beneficiaries who didn’t enroll when they were supposed to. Even then, however, Poulet’s Part B coverage would not start until July due to Medicare rules — and she could face life-lasting late-enrollment penalties. (O'Brien, 12/5)

Colorado hospitals were less likely to be hit by Medicare penalties for having too many patients boomerang back than were all U.S. facilities, though close to one in three will still get less money from the federal government next year. The penalties, which have been levied for eight years, deduct a certain percentage from the payments a hospital receives from Medicare if their patients are more likely than average to need hospital care again quickly. (Wingerter, 12/6)

Members of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East reached tentative three-year contract agreements this week with the operators of 249 nursing homes in the metropolitan area, just in time to avert a 24-hour strike planned for Wednesday. The deal hinges on a pledge by Gov. Kathy Hochul to devote up to $35 million per year in state funding to reimburse anticipated cost increases for the union’s health benefits fund, leaders in the nursing home industry said. The fund, which pays members’ health insurance claims, had been a major sticking point in the monthslong negotiations, Crain’s Health Pulse previously reported. (Kaufman, 12/3)

A federal judge on Thursday denied UnitedHealth Group's motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging the healthcare giant failed to effectively oversee management of its retirement plan for its 200,000 employees and their families. Judge John Tunheim of the U.S. District Court of Minnesota ruled that a plan participant's claims were strong enough to move forward. Her complaint highlighted that UnitedHealth Group's 401(k) plans underperformed compared with industry benchmarks over the course of 11 years. Kate Snyder sued UnitedHealth in April, seeking class-action status. She accused the healthcare giant, its board of directors, former CEO David Winchmann and the company's employee benefit plan investment and administrative committees of violating their fiduciary duty under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act. (Tepper, 12/3)

Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth and University Hospitals each are adjusting or scaling back the scheduling of some non-urgent procedures in response to the latest surge in the number of COVID-19 patients, the health systems announced in a joint statement Friday, Dec. 3. "Patient and caregiver safety remain our highest priority," reads the statement. "This action frees resources for patients with immediate and life-threatening needs and manages the demands on frontline caregivers, who have served with distinction throughout the pandemic." (Coutré, 12/3)

A new group of New Hampshire health care workers is hoping to start conversations about climate change in the doctor’s office and with state leaders. A recent report from the World Health Organization called climate change the “single biggest threat facing humanity.” And New Hampshire’s Department of Health and Human Services says climate change will likely affect health in the Granite State, from heat injuries to asthma to infections disease. New Hampshire Healthcare Workers for Climate Action is hoping to mobilize support for climate solutions by educating health professionals and state leaders on how climate change could impact our health. (Hoplamazian, 12/5)

Cain A. Hayes, the new chief executive of Point32Health, describes himself as the kind of person who gets energy from being around others. But given the complicated state of the world during the COVID pandemic, Hayes began his job when nearly all of his employees were working from home. In this unusual environment, Hayes, a seasoned executive and newcomer to Massachusetts, is responsible for bringing together two of the state’s best-known health insurers — Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care — and leading the company created earlier this year through their merger. The company, Point32Health, didn’t exist when employees were last in the office. (Dayal McCluskey, 12/5)

The metaverse, the digital world’s Next Big Thing, is touted as the internet domain where animated avatars of our physical selves will be able to virtually do all sorts of interactivities, from shopping to gaming to traveling — someday. Wonks say it could be a decade or longer before the necessary technologies catch up with the hype. Right now, though, the health-care industry is utilizing some of the essential components that will ultimately comprise the metaverse — virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and artificial intelligence (AI) — as well as the software and hardware to power their applications. For example, medical device companies are using MR to assemble surgical tools and design operating rooms, the World Health Organization (WHO) is using AR and smartphones to train Covid-19 responders, psychiatrists are using VR to treat post-traumatic stress (PTS) among combat soldiers, and medical schools are using VR for surgical training. (Woods, 12/4)

KHN: Journalists Explore Health Care Disparities And Policy Pitfalls 

KHN Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony discussed how Black entrepreneurs in the medical-technology industry are looking to fill health care gaps on Newsy on Wednesday. ... KHN Colorado correspondent Rae Ellen Bichell discussed covid-19 sick leave programs on KUNC’s “Colorado Edition” on Wednesday. ... KHN correspondent Aneri Pattani discussed the unintended consequences of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s policies regarding medications for substance abuse on the podcast “Scope of Practice” on Wednesday. (12/4)