Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule with updates on policy changes for Medicare payments under the Physician Fee Schedule, going into effect on January 1, 2021. This final rule includes updates to payment policies as well as new guidelines and regulations related to telehealth. To keep our readers informed on how to be best prepared for the coming year, this blog will offer some highlights on the 2021 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule.

Luckily, 2020 is coming to an end… and many of us are probably ready to happily put it behind us. But what’s in store for us in the year to come? After all the things 2020 has put us through, many of us can’t help but look at 2021 with a mixture of skeptical anxiety and hopefulness. Because the truth is that we have no idea whether things are going to get better or worse… but we hope better. To help our readers understand what they should look forward to in the new year, here is a list of things specialty practices should expect in 2021.

Staffing shortages are nothing new. While staffing problems have definitely been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the truth is that a serious nursing shortage had already existed in the United States for a number of years. According to one study, more than one million additional nurses were going to be needed by 2020 in order to hold off worsening the trend. Those needs were not met. And now, in order to stop this shortage from growing further, an additional 11 million nurses will need to join the workforce over the next six years.

In the few years prior to 2020, patient portal adoption among patients lagged in comparison to its level of adoption among healthcare providers. According to a 2017 GAO report, at that time, 87 percent of providers had implemented patient portals. However, only 30 percent of their patients accessed those portals. As it has been for other healthcare technologies, such as telehealth, the COVID-19 pandemic has also become a catalyst for more widespread portal adoption by patients.

In the chaotic initial weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of small businesses (including many specialty practices) in the U.S. found themselves forced to close their doors. To retain staff and avoid furloughs, many specialty practices had no choice but to submit applications to secure Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, offered by the Small Business Administration (SBA), that would make it possible for them to keep paying their employees during a period when revenue was reduced to almost nothing.

On October 30, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the publication of its final 2020-2025 Federal Health IT Strategic Plan. Developed by the HHS ONC in collaboration with 25 federal organizations and formed with input from 100 public comments, this plan outlines federal goals and objectives for Health Information Technology (Health IT) and focuses specifically on the access of individuals to their electronic health information.

According to a report from Grandview research, the market for patient engagement solutions is expected to grow by 4x between now and 2026, reaching $56.92 billion USD. Patient engagement has become increasingly important in recent years, driven by a number of factors. First and foremost, you have two young and tech-savvy generations (millennials and Gen Z) coming into adulthood and expecting more personalized online options from their care providers. At the other end of the generational spectrum, there is the last of a large aging population of baby boomers entering their later years, many of whom desire to “age in place” without losing the personal touch they’ve come to expect from their care providers. In response to the surging demand these factors have caused, the healthcare industry is experiencing a boom in patient engagement solutions.

Effective communication is a key component to the successful delivery of care. Without it, care quality is impaired. Since communication in a practice is essential to facilitating care delivery, patient satisfaction and the productivity of healthcare personnel—within all healthcare environments—there should be active communication between all members of a practice. However, some practices still struggle to communicate effectively with patients, thus preventing a smooth experience.