Weekend update

Congress remains out on the campaign trail until November 13.

The FEHBlog described the U.S. Justice Department's approval of the CVS Health / Aetna and Cigna / Express Scripts mergers as a big step but not the final step because the companies still have to deal with state approval. The Hartford Courant reports that New York State is considering blocking parts of the CVS Health / Aetna merger. A final decision is due no earlier than October 26.

Medcity News offers an interesting report on how Blue Cross plans are addressing social determinants of health. For example Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City is using Healthify's platform.  Healthify claims that it can "help healthcare organizations find community services, track social needs, and coordinate referrals with community partners to radically improve the health of the people we serve." Interesting.

Healthcare Dive reports that

•     A new Harvard University study casts doubt on the benefits of U.S. hospital accreditation by independent organizations.
•     Researchers looked at patient outcomes at 4,400 U.S. hospitals, 3,337 of which were accredited by the Joint Commission and 1,063 that underwent state-based review between 2014 and 2017. The study included about 4.2 million patients aged 65 and older who were admitted for 15 common medical and six common surgical conditions, as well as patients who completed the HCAHPS patient satisfaction survey.
•     While patients treated at accredited hospitals had slightly lower 30-day mortality rates than patients at state-reviewed hospitals (10.2% versus 10.6%), mortality rates for the surgical conditions were identical (2.4% versus 2.4%). Readmission rates for the medical conditions were significantly lower at accredited hospitals (22.4% versus 23.2%), but were slightly higher for the surgical conditions (15.9% versus 15.6%). The study was published online by BMJ.

Accreditation offers value to accredited bodies but it can't produce miracles. One of the most interesting studies that the FEHBlog noticed within the last year or so found that the 30 day period for readmission testing should be more like a week. After a week the hospital or health plan's responsibility for a readmission greatly diminishes.