From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— The Wisconsin Hospital Association says the state’s health care workforce “must grow faster” to meet the needs of an aging population.
In its latest Wisconsin Health Care Workforce Report, the group says hospitals in the state are already seeing some signs of improvement “as vacancies lessen” and turnover stabilizes thanks to efforts to fortify the industry’s labor pool.
The report points to care providers working to retain existing workers, bring new workers into the field and “re-recruit those who left for what they thought might be greener pastures” in other industries. Still, WHA argues industry members, health care professionals and officials in government and education should seek to unlock the potential of health care teams to “sustain this comeback” despite demographic headwinds.
“They need to leverage innovative technologies to achieve greater efficiencies and create better connections with patients while removing regulatory barriers and constraints that inhibit entry into the workforce, impede care delivery and consume precious workforce time, energy and resources,” the group wrote.
WHA notes Medicare and Medicaid already make up nearly two-thirds of hospital revenues, and the growing portion of older Wisconsinites will continue to drive that trend. But the Medicaid program reimbursed Wisconsin hospitals 37% below the cost of providing care in 2023, while Medicare was 26% lower.
And while private health insurance reimbursement has previously helped to “bridge the shortfall,” WHA says insurance reimbursement has been lagging as costs rise for supplies, drugs and labor. The report also notes insurance premiums have been increasing faster than hospital prices — 6.7% versus 2.6% in 2023, respectively.
“This mismatch creates a confusing picture for employers who purchase health insurance for their workforce and for patients paying higher out-of-pocket costs, who attribute rising costs to hospitals, not to rising insurance premiums, co-pays and deductibles,” authors wrote.
Based on survey results from the WHA Information Center, hospitals employed about 88,000 workers across 18 patient care professions, which makes up about three-fourths of total hospital employment. This figure has grown by 8% since 2019, with gains across 13 of the professions tracked in the survey.
“The health care workforce continues to stabilize, but significant shortages remain—a status upgrade that could be reported this year as ‘serious, but stable,’” authors wrote.
See the report.
— Exact Sciences has rolled out an updated version of its Cologuard cancer test, which boasts a 40% reduction in “unnecessary” follow-up colonoscopies.
The Madison-based diagnostics company today announced the launch of Cologuard Plus, a noninvasive screening test that was created in partnership with Mayo Clinic. It includes new biomarkers for cancer, “improved” laboratory processes and greater stability for samples.
The new test has 95% sensitivity for detecting colorectal cancer. That’s compared to 71% for a standard fecal immunochemical test, or FIT, which checks for traces of blood in stool.
Over the past decade, the original Cologuard test has been used for more than 19 million screenings, and the company says the newer version will result in fewer false positives. A negative result with the Cologuard Plus test means there’s a 99.98% chance the patient doesn’t have colorectal cancer, according to the announcement.
Jake Orville, Exact Sciences’ executive vice president and general manager of screening, said Cologuard has driven an estimated 77% of the nationwide increase in colorectal cancer screening between 2018 and 2021.
“Cologuard Plus builds on the proven performance of Cologuard,” he said in a statement, adding the new test “delivers key enhancements to help improve patient care and streamline health care delivery, bringing us closer to eradicating this highly preventable and treatable disease.”
As with the first version of the test, it’s shipped directly to the patient’s home and integrates with an online platform called ExactNexus for ordering and getting results. The company says 79% of patients that have a positive result get a colonoscopy and 83% of patients complete repeat screening three years later — a key metric for cancer detection.
The announcement notes the original test will remain available as Exact Sciences “works to expand patient access” to the Plus version. The new test is approved by the FDA for average-risk patients aged 45 years and older and is covered by Medicare.
See more in the release below.
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– Exact Sciences: Launches the Cologuard Plus™ Test, Transforming Colorectal Cancer Screening
