Throughout 2022, APTA Magazine is spotlighting some of the capstone projects of APTA's Centennial Scholars Program. In 2021, the program built a cadre of future leaders at the component and national levels, supporting APTA's quest for a diverse and prepared leadership pool.
The scholars, supported by their sponsoring stakeholders and guided by mentors, designed and completed capstone projects that address a need identified by their sponsor.
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APTA and Patient, Provider Groups Continue PTA Differential Push
In a joint letter to congressional leaders, APTA and 11 other groups urge adoption of legislation to address the PTA payment cut.
A dozen organizations including APTA have joined together to press Congress to take action on the 15% payment cuts rolled out this year for services delivered by PTAs and occupational therapy assistants under Medicare. In a letter to congressional leaders, the groups write that "there could not be a worse time than now" to carry out the payment differential, and they urge support for a bill that would mitigate some of the most damaging parts of the differential system.
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From Facility to Home: How Healthcare Could Shift by 2025
McKinsey Insights | February 1, 2022
When patients enter a healthcare facility, their primary aims are to become well again and to go home. While increasing disease burden and rising healthcare costs in the United States have already contributed to a boost in Care at Home services, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a catalyst to truly reimagine their future.1
Based on a survey of physicians who serve predominantly Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) and Medicare Advantage (MA) patients, we estimate that up to $265 billion worth of care services (representing up to 25 percent of the total cost of care) for Medicare FFS and MA beneficiaries could shift from traditional facilities to the home by 2025 without a reduction in quality or access. 2 That number represents a three- to fourfold increase in the cost of care being delivered at home today for this population, although how the shift will affect reimbursement rates is not yet clear. What’s more, Care at Home could create value for payers, healthcare facilities and physician groups, Care at Home providers, technology companies, and investors. It also could improve patients’ quality of care and experience.
That said, several factors could affect adoption of these services. We outline those factors below, along with actions that stakeholders can take to address them. We also discuss why Care at Home services are rising, how Care at Home could create value for stakeholders and lead to higher-quality care for patients, areas where care could shift from traditional facilities to the home, and strategies for successfully adopting Care at Home.
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The Power of Boosters
The Wall Street Journal
The C.D.C. has begun to publish data on Covid outcomes among people who have received booster shots, and the numbers are striking:
- Weekly Average Deaths per 100,000 (From Oct. to Nov. 2021)
- Unvaccinated 7.8
- Vaccinated, No Booster .6
- With Booster .1
Based on U.S. Jurisdictions / Source C.D.C
This data underscores both the power of the Covid vaccines and their biggest weakness — namely, their gradual fading of effectiveness over time, as is also the case with many other vaccines. If you received two Moderna or Pfizer vaccine shots early last year, the official statistics still count you as “fully vaccinated.” In truth, you are only partially vaccinated.
Once you get a booster, your risk of getting severely ill from Covid is tiny. It is quite small even if you are older or have health problems.
The average weekly chance that a boosted person died of Covid was about one in a million during October and November (the most recent available C.D.C. data). Since then, the chances have no doubt been higher, because of the Omicron surge. But they will probably be even lower in coming weeks, because the surge is receding and Omicron is milder than earlier versions of the virus. For now, one in a million per week seems like a reasonable estimate.
That risk is not zero, but it is not far from it. The chance that an average American will die in a car crash this week is significantly higher — about 2.4 per million. So is the average weekly death rate from influenza and pneumonia — about three per million
With a booster shot, Covid resembles other respiratory illnesses that have been around for years. It can still be nasty. For the elderly and immunocompromised, it can be debilitating, even fatal — much as the flu can be. The Omicron surge has been so terrible because it effectively subjected tens of millions of Americans to a flu all at once.
For the unvaccinated, of course, Covid remains many times worse than the flu.
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