Vital Signs, a newsletter from AdvancedMD, brings the healthcare industry’s top trends and insights to your inbox every month.
Last month, the healthcare industry gained new insights on everything from the national health spend and physician burnout rates to rising operational costs for medical groups and salary trends for RNs and LPNs. Lawmakers debated the benefits and challenges of value-based care and the director of health policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce argued for telehealth policy extensions as a path toward improving access to mental health care. It was a busy month!
Here’s a quick recap of everything we learned:
- The CMS estimates that the national health spend reached $4.8 trillion last year, due largely to the record number of Americans with health insurance.
- A new survey from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) reveals more than 60% of medical group owners plan to add Advanced Practice Providers (APP) to their staff this year, bringing on nurse practitioners, physician assistants and other APP roles to help with increased patient volumes.
- Many healthcare leaders are trying to solve the labor shortage by raising salaries. In fact, during the past five years, median compensation for RNs rose by nearly 20% while LPN salaries rose 22%.
- During a recent meeting held by the Health Subcommittee of the House Ways & Means Committee, lawmakers and healthcare experts discussed the benefits and challenges of value-based care.
- Another MGMA survey found that operational costs have increased this year for more than 90% of the medical group owners surveyed.
- A recent report from the FTC found that six pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) control 94% of prescriptions filled in the U.S., leading to unfair contract terms and limited access to lower-cost competitors.
- In a recent op-ed for Healthcare Dive, the director of health policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says it’s time lawmakers reauthorize telehealth extensions to improve mental healthcare access.
- In 2022, 53% physicians experienced at least one symptom of burnout according to the American Medical Association, but that number dropped to 48% last year.
Vital Signs is brought to you by AdvancedMD. It’s our way of helping you keep up on the trends and insights shaping our industry. Each month, we will send you a roundup of healthcare headlines so that you are in-the-know when it comes to the topics that matter most to you, your staff, and patients.