About the public’s health
Covid in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count: “At least 826 new coronavirus deaths and 54,512 new cases were reported in the United States on Oct. 13. Over the past week, there have been an average of 52,156 cases per day, an increase of 21 percent from the average two weeks earlier.” And in a related article: Coronavirus cases are rising in U.S., sparking worries the next big wave has begun
Rapid New Covid-19 Test From Access Bio Cleared in U.S.: “A new 10-minute Covid-19 test that doesn’t need added equipment to process has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, manufacturer Access Bio, Inc.said on Tuesday.” The test will cost less than $20.
New poll shows Black Americans see a racist health care system setting the stage for pandemic’s impact: A new nationwide poll by The Undefeated and the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) found that 7 in 10 African Americans believe that people are treated unfairly based on race or ethnicity when they seek medical care. It’s a feeling born of unequal history and intensified by the coronavirus pandemic, which is disproportionately ravaging Black lives both physically and economically.” These findings tie into another study by the same organizations: Half of Black adults say they won’t take a coronavirus vaccine:”Overall, 65% of Black adults said they are not too confident or not at all confident that the development of a coronavirus vaccine is taking the needs of Black people into account.”
Pfizer to enroll kids as young as 12 in COVID-19 vaccine study: The headline speaks fro itself.
About health insurance
Hospitals can't use CARES Act grants to repay Medicare loans, HHS says: The headline speaks for itself.
Medicare Preparing Rule to Ensure Swift Access to Covid Vaccine: “The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has a plan to ensure full payment for and speedy access to new Covid-19 vaccines and treatments for Medicare beneficiaries, agency Administrator Seema Verma said Tuesday at a virtual conference.Although Congress has made clear it wants Medicare to cover the cost of a Covid-19 vaccine without cost-sharing, Verma said it can take one to three years to work out payment issues for vaccines and other treatments…”
UnitedHealth Group rakes in $3.2B in Q3 profit: A followup to yesterdays post about health insurance profitability.
Verma says value-based care models haven't made good return on investment: “She did not elaborate on which models specifically did not perform well.
However, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Director Brad Smith pointed in a separate speech last month to bundled payment models that tie Medicare payments together for certain procedures into one bundle for a total cost of care. Smith said that the bundled models did not lead to significant quality and savings improvements, but he said the models did spur transformation among providers.
Smith said that models which focused on a global budget fared much better, giving Maryland’s Total Cost of Care model as an example. Under the model, Maryland has a per capita limit for Medicare costs in the state.
Verma also gave praise to CMS’ Pathways to Success model that overhauled the program managing accountable care organizations (ACOs).
Pathways required ACOs to take on financial risk at a shorter period than the Medicare Shared Savings Program created under the Obama administration. This meant that ACOs had to pay back Medicare if it did not meet certain savings targets.”
About pharma
7 health systems form specialty pharmacy alliance: “Seven health systems are uniting to form the Health System Owned Specialty Pharmacy Alliance, or HOSP, to advocate for health system-owned specialty pharmacies.
The group will advocate for the interests of integrated specialty pharmacies and promote best practices to deliver the best patient care and patient outcomes, the organization said in a news release.”
Study of Lilly's COVID-19 antibody LY-CoV555 paused over potential safety issue : No other information is available about this action.
J&J Strikes $5B Deal Pushing 3,000 Opioid Suits Toward End: “Johnson& Johnson on Tuesday disclosed that it's offering up to $5 billion to end a nationwide torrent of litigation accusing it of contributing significantly to America's opioid addiction crisis, a 25% increase on an earlier settlement proposal.”
About healthcare IT
Dispute between telehealth giants heats up as Teladoc sues Amwell for patent infringement: “Teladoc has accused Amwell of infringing on its patents related to telehealth carts, a digital scope and stethoscope, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.”
Google, Optum, Microsoft team up on $13M challenge to prevent next pandemic: “The Trinity Challenge, initially announced in September, will offer about $13 million in funding to recognize and reward insights and innovations across areas including economics, behavioral sciences and epidemiology. Founding members of the challenge span the public, private and social sectors including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Facebook, Tencent, GlaxoSmithKline, Cambridge University, Imperial College London and Northeastern University…
Solutions for identification could include building early-warning systems and developing new technologies to identify threatening pathogens before they cause great harm…”
About healthcare quality
Misclassification of Hospital Performance Under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program [HRRP]: “In this cross-sectional study of hospitals that participated in the HRRP in fiscal year 2019, the percentages of hospitals that should have been penalized by the program, but were not, was 20.9% for acute myocardial infarction, 13.5% for heart failure, and 13.2% for pneumonia. In contrast, the percentages of hospitals that were incorrectly penalized was 10.1% for acute myocardial infarction, 10.9% for heart failure, and 12.3% for pneumonia….
These findings suggest that the hospital-level 30-day RSRR measure may not reliably distinguish hospital performance in the HRRP. This has important implications for CMS value-based programs that use risk-standardized outcomes to evaluate and compare hospital performance.”