July 12, 2024

Hello NAW Subscribers -

I hope you like this issue of National Accounts Weekly.

Sincerely,

John Pritchard

President of ANAE

Publisher of The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

Vizient announces new agreement with RWJBarnabas Health

Vizient announced a new customer agreement with RWJBarnabas Health for a suite of data-enabled solutions and services in spend management and quality performance improvement. The agreement includes access to Vizient's industry-leading contract portfolio of medical devices, supplies and pharmaceuticals as well as analytics-enabled solutions to drive operational and clinical efficiencies.

"We are excited to welcome RWJBarnabas Health and share our comprehensive data-driven performance improvement resources," said Rand Ballard, chief customer officer, Vizient. "Working together, our expert-led solutions help providers meet their financial, market and quality improvement goals."

In addition to Vizient's contract portfolio, the agreement provides solutions to improve management in clinical operations resources, workforce optimization support and access to Vizient aggregations groups for increased savings.

Participation in the Vizient Clinical Data Base will enable RWJBarnabas Health to benchmark quality and financial performance with peer healthcare organizations. Using Vizient's Operational Data Base will provide comparative operational insights to reduce costs and pinpoint top performance.

"We are deeply committed to providing high quality care and value in operational performance across the system," said John Doll, chief operating officer, RWJBarnabas Health. "The Vizient benchmarking tools, including the Clinical Data Base, are providing us with real-time data from which we are better able to make more informed decisions with the goal of increasing quality and performance."

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Cedars-Sinai appoints new president, CEO

Cedars-Sinai has named Peter L. Slavin, MD, as the next president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai Health System, effective Oct. 1.

Slavin succeeds Thomas M. Priselac, who is retiring after 30 years as president and CEO and 45 years of total service to Cedars-Sinai. Slavin served as president of Massachusetts General, one of the largest hospitals in the U.S., from 2003 to 2021. He led major growth in the hospital’s clinical care mission, research funding, scientific impact, workforce development and fundraising.

Chevron deference could affect federal healthcare agencies

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling overturning the Chevron deference and stripping power from federal agencies to interpret and enforce regulations may put a closer microscope on federal healthcare agencies. Under the 40-year legal precedent, courts are required to determine whether an agency’s interpretation of an ambiguous law is reasonable, which has given agencies ability to push regulatory priorities. But now, Chevron is overturned and no longer permissible under the Administrative Procedure Act and courts do not have to defer to reasonable agency interpretations.

CMS, as well as other federal healthcare agencies, may have a microscope on it moving forward with more scrutiny on provider reimbursement cuts, drug pricing regulation and other issues.

From Here to There

From his vantage point as president of Advantus Health Partners and Chief Supply Chain Officer of Bon Secours Mercy Health, Dan Hurry believes the financial squeeze that U.S. healthcare providers have experienced over the last few years is unsustainable. New advances in technology are being introduced to the market – robotics, novel drugs, surgical tools and procedures – but the way providers get reimbursed remains the same.

“When you squeeze or remove margin, it naturally creates a pinch on what we do in supply chain,” Hurry said. “How do we manage that? How do we get around it?”

Today’s leaders need to be more thoughtful and comprehensive of how they view the supply chain’s impact on the continuum of care. It will take a shift in thinking from contract management to true supply chain management.

How do we get there? Hurry provides a few ideas in a recent discussion with The Journal of Healthcare Contracting.

DiaCarta, Capstone Health Alliance collaborate to bring diagnostic tests to enhance patient care

DiaCarta has established a strategic collaboration with Capstone Health Alliance. This new collaboration brings together powerful technologies to enhance patient care. DiaCarta’s key product portfolio includes its trailblazing RadTox™ test, a blood test that monitors tumor response & progression following cancer treatment by monitoring changes in cell free circulating DNA (cfDNA) levels. This serves to personalize radiation and chemotherapy, mitigate adverse events, and enhance patient care. The state of Florida has deployed the RadTox™ test statewide to be performed between Radiotherapy or Chemotherapy doses for real time detection of treatment response or resistance.

The Oncuria bladder cancer tests are designed for the detection of bladder cancer, monitoring of bladder cancer recurrence, and revolutionizing the prediction of BCG therapy response for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) patients, empowering clinicians with personalized treatment strategies. The VEXAS syndrome test is a groundbreaking, highly sensitive test that is used to diagnose a rare autoimmune condition that causes inflammation throughout the body caused by a mutation in the UBA1 gene. The ColoScape™ Colorectal Cancer Mutation Detection Blood Test detects methylations highly specific to CRC and associated genetic mutations with high sensitivity to advanced adenomas.

COVID activity remains low despite increased ED visits, hospitalizations

As of June 29, emergency room visits for COVID-19-related illnesses have increased 18.4% and hospitalizations have increased 13.3% from the previous week, the CDC found. According to the CDC and Becker’s Hospital Review, on June 28, the CDC warned that a summer surge may be coming ahead of summer holidays. However, on July 5, the CDC reported the amount of respiratory illness causing people to seek healthcare was low nationally with no jurisdiction experiencing moderate, high or very high activity. Although COVID activity has increased since April and May, it remains low.

The CDC’s most recent data shows that variants KP.3, KP.2, LB.1 and KP.1.1 are the top four subvariants of the JN lineage of the virus currently infecting individuals across the U.S. The five states with the highest increases in COVID-19 ED visits as of June 29 are: Nebraska: 82.1% Georgia: 57.3%, Idaho: 56.6%, Louisiana: 39.4%, and West Virginia: 34.9%.