Social Determinants of Health

Pharmacists and other non-physician care managers can improve the quality of diabetes care in the primary care setting, but structural issues make it difficult to fully leverage their potential, according to research published in the July issue of the journal Health Affairs.

“We need to have a different way of taking care of people with a chronic illness,” said Thomas Bodenheimer, a professor emeritus of family and community medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who spoke at a Health Affairs briefing on July 19. The briefing convened several researchers who published diabetes-focused articles in the journal’s July issue.

Although the prediabetes prevalence rate increased by 4.8 percentage points between 2010 and 2020, access to the National Diabetes Prevention Program remained limited, with only 3% of people with prediabetes participating in the program, according to a recent Health Affairs study. The researchers estimated 13.5% prevalence of diagnosed prediabetes and 30% of potentially undiagnosed prediabetes in 2020, using two national surveys.

The National Diabetes Prevention Program — an intensive 12-month, group-based, lifestyle intervention to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes — remained underused and undersupplied. Only 5% of patients diagnosed with prediabetes were referred to such a program. In general, men were more likely to be referred but less likely to participate than women.

In a series of articles in the July issue of the health policy journal Health Affairs, researchers evaluated diabetes care in the United States through several lenses, including care management, prevention, interventions, health equity, quality measures and value-based payment design. Several of them also spoke at a July 19 policy briefing in which a key message was that the fragmented U.S. health system is contributing to a plateau in improving diabetes care — and value-based diabetes payment programs may be causing still more fragmentation.

Despite remarkable advances in clinical understanding and treatments for diabetes, the U.S. has stagnated over the past decade in preventing and managing the condition, said Mohammed Ali, a professor in the Hubert Department of Global Health at Emory University. Ali served as the theme advisor for Health Affairs’ diabetes-focused issue and also was a co-author of the issue’s overview article, “Diabetes And The Fragmented State Of US Health Care And Policy.”

Medicare Advantage members can experience markedly different outcomes in measures related to prescription drugs based on race and/or ethnicity that ultimately impact their overall quality of care, according to the CMS Office of Minority Health’s latest report on health disparities in MA. The report, “Disparities in Health Care in Medicare Advantage by Race, Ethnicity, and Sex,” was funded by CMS and conducted by RAND Health Care’s Quality Measurement and Improvement Program. The report authors studied both the 2021 Medicare Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) survey and the 2021 Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS), highlighting disparities in several clinical areas. In addition to the prescription drug measures illustrated in the graphics below, the report also covered other clinical care measures such as cancer screening rates and patient experience measures including the ease of getting medical appointments and customer service experiences.

When it comes to medication adherence rates, disparities among racial and ethnic groups pose a common challenge to health plans. But leaders in the Medicare Advantage space are working to disrupt the status quo with patient-centric, data-driven solutions that are helping to bridge the gap.

A recent initiative at SCAN Health Plan, a not-for-profit insurer serving 270,000 MA members in Arizona, California and Nevada, sought to narrow the gap between member groups by engaging in a top-down endeavor that wrapped in multiple departments, from human resources to pharmacy. “Our goal was to improve adherence,” relays Romilla Batra, M.D., chief medical officer with SCAN, “and to reduce gaps among African American and Latinx [members].”

With a focus on value-based care, health equity and social determinants of health, Delaware this month selected three managed care organizations to serve some 280,000 Medicaid and CHIP recipients through the statewide Diamond State Health Plan and DSHP Plus managed care programs. Incumbents AmeriHealth Caritas and Highmark Health Options Blue Cross Blue Shield were both selected for the new pacts, while Centene Corp.’s Delaware First Health will round out the trio of plans, the state’s Dept. of Health and Social Services (DHSS) said on July 12.

Delaware’s Medicaid managed care program, comprised of DSHP and DSHP Plus, is currently operating under the authority of a Section 1115 demonstration waiver that was most recently extended through Dec. 31, 2023. It provides integrated physical health, behavioral health and long-term services and supports (LTSS) to eligible Medicaid and CHIP enrollees.

Health insurers, states and the federal government are beginning to take more seriously health inequities, according to experts who spoke with AIS Health, a division of MMIT, as the issue becomes a hot topic due to the health and financial costs caused by disparities in health care access and outcomes.

Health inequities related to race, socioeconomic status and sex/gender account for $320 billion in annual health care spending for five high-cost diseases, according to a Deloitte report released on June 22. Deloitte actuaries project that could increase to $1 trillion by 2040 and lead to an average $2,000 increase in health spending per person in the U.S. if those issues are not addressed. The researchers examined the costs of health inequities related to the treatment — or lack thereof — of breast cancer, diabetes, colorectal cancer, asthma and coronary heart disease.

Only days before the end of CMS’s Oncology Care Model (OCM), the agency unveiled a successor that will start next year. While oncologists have been overall positive about the new program, they still have had some complaints.

Offered through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), the Enhancing Oncology Model (EOM) is a five-year, value-based, patient-centered care model that will start on July 1, 2023. Participants may include oncology physician group practices, private payers, Medicare Advantage plans and state Medicaid agencies. The application submission period started when the voluntary model was introduced on June 27 and will close Sept. 30.

By no later than 2024, California will allow residents aged 26-50 with any immigration status to enroll in Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program — making the state the first in the nation to allow all undocumented residents to enroll in safety-net insurance programs. State officials estimate that Medi-Cal enrollment statewide could grow by more than 700,000 as a result of the expansion, and follows a similar move last year to expand Medi-Cal eligibility to undocumented Californians aged 50 and over, a cohort of about 185,000 people, according to the office of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

That enrollment surge will likely come at the same time as state agencies and managed care organizations wind down record Medicaid enrollment backed by pandemic relief funds and the national suspension of eligibility redeterminations required by the federal pandemic response measures. The CEO of the state’s largest MCO, L.A. Care, tells AIS Health, a division of MMIT, that the insurer is staffing up to address the administrative challenges — and said the expansion should improve health outcomes for a group of residents who are underserved and disadvantaged by the current setup.

Mobile health clinics can help health care organizations achieve their business objectives and reduce disparities in care, according to a report released on July 6. The researchers involved in the project tell AIS Health, a division of MMIT, that insurers and other payers can benefit by helping care for people who otherwise would not receive treatments and reduce overall spending by improving people’s health over the short and long term.

The report was sponsored by the Mobile Healthcare Association, a nonprofit trade group, and Mobile Health Map, an initiative led by Harvard Medical School and MHA to provide an online resource to track, research and analyze mobile health clinics. The researchers conducted interviews via telephone or video conferencing with 25 health care leaders, including executives at Harvard Medical School, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.