Theme for Cinco de Mayo — Ball of confusion that’s what the world is today. The Temptations (1970)

The American Hospital Association reported today that hospitals are losing $50.7 billion monthly from March through June due of course to the COVID-19 emergency. That’s a lot more than the $175 billion that Congress has appropriated so far for grants to hospitals and other healthcare providers. The FEHBlog doubts that most hospitals have strong balance sheets. No wonder health plans are stepping up to offer support as noted on Sunday.

Healthcare Dive discusses a study that reminds us about the large extent to which private payers including FEHB plans subsidize hospitals and other providers due to the insufficient payments from Medicare. “It’s unlikely Washington would take concrete measures to shrink hospitals’ toplines during the pandemic.”

Fierce Healthcare informs us that after reaching out to 500,000 Medicare Advantage members Humana has decided to waive Medicare Advantage member cost sharing for primary and behavioral healthcare this year whether the care is delivered in office or virtually. “William Shrank, M.D., chief medical officer at Humana, told FierceHealthcare that the insurer is tracking member behavior in this area and has gathered plenty of anecdotal evidence that patients are deferring potentially necessary care due to the pandemic.”

Catalyst for Health Reform has created a new state by state report card on healthcare price transparency laws. “Sixteen states [including the FEHBlog’s home state of Maryland] received passing grades this year, up from only seven when CPR last graded states in 2017.”