Tuesday’s Tidbits

David Ermer–Uncategorized–

The Federal Times reports that OPM is conducting its third survey (since 2014) of federal agency employee wellness programs. The survey is called WellCheck. How the FEHBlog wishes that OPM would do a better job coordinating the wellness programs of federal agencies and the FEHBP.

Health IT Security reports that the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, which currently is funded with health plan dollars, approved a new policy last week that “requires researchers who receive PCORI funds to share their data sets and documentation for reanalysis and reuse.”  

The data sharing policy is the latest in a series of initiatives that PCORI has undertaken to support the transparency and broader availability of research results. The institute’s earlier policy on peer review and public release of research findings ensures that all results from PCORI-funded studies, whether positive or negative, undergo a review and are made publicly available on PCORI’s website in a final research report. 

PCORI noted that it also develops brief summaries of all the studies and posts them as public and professional abstracts on the website. In addition, through its public access policy, PCORI covers the costs for journals to make papers presenting the final results of PCORI-funded studies freely available to the public. 

The FEHBlog is not a fan of the ACA’s bells and whistles like the PCORI. 
In other news, Fierce Healthcare informs us that “A group of healthcare organizations have teamed up to build a new payment model designed to promote long-term addiction recovery.” The Addiction Recovery Medical Home (ARMH) model

includes elements of fee-for-service payment and risk-based payment, and pushes for greater integration of behavioral health services into traditional healthcare services. Integrated care, [Facing Addiction EVP Greg] Williams said, is key to promoting recovery long-term, as it ensures patients with substance abuse disorders are connected to the appropriate care, and that different providers are communicating more effectively with one another. 

Good luck with that. Treatment is where health plans serve a role in addressing the opioid crisis.

Finally Healthcare Dive reports that Walgreens, the large pharmacy chain, “is acquiring pharmacy patient prescription files and pharmacy inventory of 185 Fred’s stores located across 10 Southeastern states for $165 million.  Fred’s retail operations will remain at most of those locations and the company will continue to operate 162 pharmacies across nearly 600 stores. Pharmacy staff at the closing locations can apply for available positions at Walgreens, the company said. Fred’s stores are heavily concentrated in the southeast. Healthcare Dive analogizes this transaction to CVS Health replacing the company pharmacies inside Target stores earlier this decade.