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In a review of 65 studies from around the world, pooled data indicate that one in five healthcare workers (HCWs) have experienced moderate depression, anxiety, and/or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study published this week in PLOS One. The study covered patients in 21 countries, most commonly in East Asia (46 studies, with 43 in China), the Middle East (7), and Europe (5). More than 97,000 HCWs were included, of whom 45% were nurses, 27% were physicians, 11% were other medical workers, and 1% were administration and support staff. (3/12)

Walking through the COVID-19 critical care unit, Cheryl Bittel thought back to what the last year has been like. The word that kept coming up: a war zone. “We went through a war zone chaos, just supplies everywhere, to being so much better,” said Bittel, a clinical nurse specialist and interim nurse manager, about the ways they’ve adapted through lessons learned. (Watson, 3/13)

KHN: Covid Cases Plummet 83% Among Nursing Home Staffers Despite Vaccine Hesitancy

Joan Phillips, a certified nursing assistant in a Florida nursing home, loved her job but dreaded the danger of going to work in the pandemic. When vaccines became available in December, she jumped at the chance to get one. Months later, it appears that danger has faded. After the rollout of covid vaccines, the number of new covid cases among nursing home staff members fell 83% — from 28,802 for the week ending Dec. 20 to 4,764 for the week ending Feb. 14, data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services shows. (Bailey and Dubnow, 3/15)

More than 1.1 million patients had data exposed in healthcare data breaches reported to the federal government last month. Nearly 6.9 million patients have had data exposed in breaches reported so far in 2021. Healthcare providers, insurers and their business associates reported 74 breaches in January and February combined, marking the second-highest number of breaches reported in the first two months of the year since HHS' Office for Civil Rights began maintaining its breach database in 2010. It follows 2020, when organizations reported 96 breaches in the same period. (Kim Cohen, 3/12)

Providers and payers that expanded their cooperative efforts since COVID-19 struck are likely to continue on that path, and so are those who pulled back from each other in the past year. That in turn is shaping how payers and providers approach upcoming contract negotiations, experts say. “The payers who really stepped up and were willing to help and form a partnership this past year will be included in ongoing discussions around how we best manage both longitudinal care and acute needs across the country and potentially around the world,” said Wesley Wolfe, senior director of payer contracting at Cleveland Clinic. “Those payers who were very transactional may have less influence,” he said. (Wild, 3/13)

Hospitals successfully lobbied to get a House vote next week to prolong a temporary boost in Medicare payments through December, though the measure’s fate in the Senate is unclear. Congress voted last year to increase health care providers’ Medicare payments by 2% to help cushion their bottom lines during the Covid-19 pandemic, but that relief is set to expire at the end of March. Hospitals have been aggressively lobbying for an extension. (Cohrs, 3/12)

KHN: The Boom In Out-Of-State Telehealth Threatens In-State Providers

When the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation began offering telehealth services in Montana in early February, the nation’s largest nonprofit addiction treatment provider promised quality care for far-flung residents without their even having to leave home. That promise was what Montana and more than 40 other states had in mind when they temporarily relaxed rules restricting telehealth services and allowed out-of-state providers to hold remote patient visits for the duration of the covid-19 pandemic. (Volz, 3/15)

Jump-starting an annual tug-of-war over who can treat patients, a Senate panel has approved a bill that would authorize optometrists to perform some laser surgeries and prescribe opioids for patients. The vote, however, came amid heavy opposition from physicians and suggestions from some Republican lawmakers that they were only voting for the bill out of deference to bill sponsor Manny Diaz Jr., a Hialeah Republican who is chairman of the Senate Health Policy Committee. (Sexton, 3/13)

With supporters saying the proposal would help fund a new campus to treat cancer patients, a Senate committee Thursday unanimously approved a measure that would provide millions of additional dollars each year to Moffitt Cancer Center. The bill (SB 866), sponsored by Sen. Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater, would change a formula for distributing cigarette tax revenues. (3/13)

After a rocky start marked by losses, legal challenges and a general feeling of uncertainty, health insurers are increasingly expanding their footprint on Affordable Care Act exchanges. During its investors day on March 8, Cigna announced that it plans to double its geographic coverage on the individual market to 20 states by 2025. UnitedHealthcare and Aetna are also reentering the space. While a few regional insurers entered the ACA for the first time in 2021, the majority of payers getting back into the exchange are larger and for-profit insurers, according to Ceci Connolly, president of the Alliance for Community Health Plans, adding competition to the long-time regional holdouts. (Tepper, 3/12)