MHE January 2022

Most (54%) respondents indicated that they believe the FDA made a mistake when it approved the controversial Alzheimer’s drug in June 2021.

Telehealth, efforts to address social determinants of health and a focus on health disparities are likely to be among the top priorities in population health this year.

Forty percent of the respondents to our annual State of the Industry survey expect vertical integration of providers to increase this year.

Walmart seems to be pulling back and opioid litigation looms.

The biggest concern of the respondents to our State of the Industry survey was misinformation about vaccines on social media.

The company is expanding the reach of Amazon Care and partnering with health systems and senior living companies to support at-home care.

For many people, telehealth is an inviting option. But some insurers are offering health plans that make it the main way by which people receive primary care.

Cost pressures may increase as the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund runs low, but the reliance on telehealth that the pandemic wrought is likely to continue, especially for mental health services.

A large majority of respondents see a future of endemic COVID-19, but the survey also identified some confidence that the current crop of vaccines will protect against new variants.

Results of our survey show some tempering of expectation for addressing healthcare disparities and what can be accomplished this year.

But the future of value-based care in oncology is uncertain with no certain successor to the Oncology Care Model in sight.

Remote care technology and drug price limits garnered the most votes for having the biggest effect on the cost and delivery of U.S. healthcare.

Most of the respondents to our question about optimism of notable improvements in healthcare were in the mild middle.

This year’s State of the Industry focused on the year ahead.

2021 was a year in which investigators, government officials and drug companies overcame immense challenges to develop successful vaccines against COVID-19. That spirit of innovation is expected to carry over into this year.

U.S. healthcare is the most expensive healthcare in the world. Many of the policies and programs designed to rein in those costs have been predicated on the idea that information about quality and price would make Americans more discerning shoppers of healthcare — and with that shopping would come some market discipline.

CMS has started to experiment with a value-based version of Medicare Advantage that allows plans to tweak their offerings in various ways to see whether they might improve outcomes.