About the public’s health
Genomic evidence for reinfection with SARS-CoV-2: a case study:”The patient had two positive tests for SARS-CoV-2, the first on April 18, 2020, and the second on June 5, 2020, separated by two negative tests done during follow-up in May, 2020. Genomic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 showed genetically significant differences between each variant associated with each instance of infection. The second infection was symptomatically more severe than the first.” And in a related article: Dutch researchers report first death from COVID-19 reinfection: “An elderly woman in the Netherlands has died after getting COVID-19 a second time, researchers reported on Monday. It’s the first time a death has been reported from reinfection with coronavirus.
The patient was an 89-year-old woman who was being treated for Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, a rare type of white blood cell cancer which is treatable but incurable”
.Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine study paused due to unexplained illness in participant: The exact nature of the illness has not yet been revealed.
CMS Takes Action to Protect Integrity of COVID-19 Testing: “The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking every action to ensure U.S. laboratories are fit to deliver reliable, accurate and timely patient test results for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by confirming Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA) certifications are up- to-date. A recent record check by CMS resulted in the issuance of 171 cease and desist letters to facilities that did not have proper CLIA certifications in place.”
Dr. Fauci says U.S. faces ‘a whole lot of trouble’ as coronavirus cases rise heading into winter: “The U.S. reported more than 44,600 new cases on Sunday and the seven-day average rose to over 49,200 new cases per day, up more than 14% compared with a week ago, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Average daily cases were up by more than 5% in 36 states and the District of Columbia, CNBC’s analysis shows.
Similarly, the number of people currently hospitalized with Covid-19 rose by at least 5% in 36 states, according to CNBC’s analysis of data from the Covid Tracking Project, a volunteer project founded by journalists at The Atlantic magazine.”
Economy-Sensitive Conditions: Are Some Pediatric Hospitalizations Triggered By Economic Recessions?:”…a 1 percent increase in unemployment was associated with a 5 percent increase in hospitalizations for substance abuse, a 4 percent increase for diabetes mellitus, and a 2 percent increase both for children with medical complexity and for poisoning and burns. Mean pediatric all-cause hospitalizations increased by 2 percent for every 1 percent increase in unemployment…”
The COVID-19 Pandemic and the $16 Trillion Virus: Economists David Cutler and Lawrence Summers estimate the cost of the COVID-19 crisis will be $16.12Trillion, with about half attributable to loss of GDP.
Excess Deaths From COVID-19 and Other Causes, March-July 2020:”Although total US death counts are remarkably consistent from year to year, US deaths increased by 20% during March-July 2020. COVID-19 was a documented cause of only 67% of these excess deaths.”
Proposal to hasten herd immunity to the coronavirus grabs White House attention but appalls top scientists: Three scientists with distinguished academic appointments are promoting a strategy, which they call Focused Protection. “Martin Kulldorff is an epidemiologist at Harvard University. Sunetra Gupta is an epidemiologist at the University of Oxford. Jay Bhattacharya is a physician and health economist at Stanford Medical School.” They “argue that their approach would decrease the undesirable public health effects of restrictions and closures, which disproportionately affect lower-income people. The declaration does not mention wearing masks, engaging in social distancing, avoiding crowds and indoor environments, or any of the other recommendations pushed by most government and scientific experts.” This policy “has been denounced by other infectious-disease experts and has been called ‘fringe’ and ‘dangerous’ by National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins.” Also opposing the approach is WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Found: genes that sway the course of the coronavirus: “…a U.K. group studying more than 2200 COVID-19 patients has pinned down common gene variants that are linked to the most severe cases of the disease, and that point to existing drugs that could be repurposed to help.”
About pharma
AstraZeneca, U.S. gov't sign deal for COVID-19 antibody treatment: “Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has reached a $486 million deal with the U.S. government to supply as many as 100,000 doses of its experimental COVID-19 antibody treatment, if it's ultimately approved.”
Walgreens COO says pandemic has been an 'accelerator' for VillageMD plans: “In the months after Walgreens announced a $1 billion partnership with VillageMD to build hundreds of primary care clinics next to its retail pharmacy stores, there are still only a few locations in Houston.
But that will be changing quickly, said Walgreens' co-Chief Operating Officer Alex Gourlay.
Within the next fiscal year, the company plans to have at least 40 locations open, Gourlay said, speaking at the HLTH 2020 virtual conference Monday. The company has previously said it expects to have at least 500 locations open within the next five years.”
About health insurance
Health Insurer Financial Performance Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic: Profitability has increase for insurers as the Medical Loss ratios have mostly dipped. The individual market MLR is steady at 72% while the Group and Medicare Advantage rates are 78% and 80%, respectively. Net income was not measured. (Recall MLR only includes specified patient care costs, not SG&A expenses.)
About healthcare IT
ROI for pop health IT still not quite in view: “A report from KLAS and CHIME finds that hospitals and health systems are still investing in population health management tools, but many are ‘becoming less optimistic’ about the near-term prospects for value-based reimbursement.”
Comcast's Quil Health launches in-home sensor technology for aging seniors: “Digital health company Quil Health is expanding its reach into home health care with a new sensor-based technology platform aimed at aging seniors and their caregivers.
Quil—the healthcare joint venture of telecom giant Comcast NBCUniversal and Independence Health Group—is offering new technology that combines ambient sensors and voice-activated technology in the home to help caregivers monitor patients' movements…”
IBM Watson launching blockchain 'health pass' to return to public spaces: “IBM's Watson Health division leveraged blockchain technology to develop its digital health pass to be used by employers, schools, stadiums or airline companies.
The digital tool was designed for an organization to establish their own criteria such as COVID-19 test results and temperature scans so that a verified health pass can be generated for an individual, IBM said…
he IBM Digital Health Pass will allow users to share their verified health pass without exposing any of the underlying data used to generate it to ensure privacy protections, the company said.
IBM Digital Health Pass uses IBM Blockchain and sophisticated cryptographic techniques so that data exchange can be verifiable and trusted, IBM said.”
New services and solutions company, Tegria, to streamline health care delivery: “Tegria, a new company designed to provide next generation technologies and services to the health care sector, launched today with support from Providence, one of the nation's largest health systems. Tegria combines select Providence investments and acquisitions into a comprehensive portfolio of solutions to accelerate technological, clinical and operational advances in health care.” This article is a great example of how a health system has branched into the IT sector as a diversification strategy.