Healthcare spending tidbits:

• Fierce Healthcare reports on an AHIP sponsored study estimating COVID-19 spending by health plans through next year. The projected range is dramatic which illustrates that while we may be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, we are still in the tunnel.
• Beckers Hospital Review informs us “Emergency department volume fell 49 percent between January and April, with facilities in urban areas seeing the largest drop, according to an analysis from the Emergency Department Benchmarking Alliance.” Let’s hope that patient habits of addressing urgent care changed too.
• Of the three spending tidbits the FEHBlog’s favorite is this Health Payer Intelligence article an about out of network spending study. “While overall out-of-network or potential surprise billing is slightly declining, out-of-network healthcare spending is on the rise for laboratory tests and hospitalists—particularly in pathology, a recent Health Affairs study found.” The article reminded me that before the great hunkering down Congress was expected to address surprise billing by the end of May. It’s now early June. Whoops.

In other tidbits —

• Fierce Healthcare reports on a change of leadership at the American Medical Association. “Susan Bailey, M.D., the new president of the American Medical Association (AMA), called for physicians to advocate at the highest levels of government and insurance companies for support needed ‘to sustain private practice during a pandemic that threatens its very survival.'” Good luck Dr. Bailey.
• Govexec.com discusses the pace of federal government office reopenings. The FEHBlog was more taken with this Wall Street Journal article on how larger employers are applying technology to reopen their offices safely.