About health insurance
UnitedHealth Group Reports Third Quarter Performance: Updating yesterday’s post about increased revenue, UnitedHealth reported “earnings of $3.30 per share and adjusted earnings of $3.51 per share declined 10%, while care patterns disrupted by the pandemic moved closer to normal levels.”
Competition shrank in majority of health insurance markets where it is scarcest: “Between 2014 and 2019, the share of markets that were highly concentrated increased from 71% to 74%. Moreover, more than half (52%) of the markets that were highly concentrated in 2014 grew even more concentrated by 2019.”
CMS adds 11 new telehealth services to Medicare coverage: These services have been approved during the Covid pandemic. And in a related article: Blue Cross Blue Shield covers telemedicine permanently for federal workforce program.
FDA decision to stop quick review of lab developed tests [LDTs] raises payment concerns for labs:The FDA announcement “last week that it will no longer review COVID Emergency Use Authorization [EUA] submissions for laboratory-developed tests has created new uncertainty for laboratories amidst an already tumultuous environment.”
The decision “raises questions around reimbursement and liability protections for those tests moving forward. It could also impact the ability of new lab developed tests to compete in the market. That's because an EUA, which the new LDTs won't have, are seen by many clinicians and payors as a mark of quality.
Gen Re Announces U.S. Medicare Supplement Market Survey 2019 Results: “Key results from this year’s survey include:
Across all participants, $23.3 billion in total Medicare Supplement in-force premium was reported for 2019, an increase of 5.8% over reported results for 2018.
For companies actively selling and reporting premium and lives for both 2017 and 2018, sales premium and lives grew by 21.0% and 12.8%, respectively.
Lapse rates averaged 10.6% for open blocks of business and 14.0% for closed blocks in 2019.
Plan G was the most popular plan sold in 2019, accounting for 54.2% of new sales premium and 55.5% of new lives. [See the Medicare section of the Book for explanations of the different supplement choices.]
Nearly 61% of the active companies who participated in the survey report selling Medicare Supplement plans on a direct-to-consumer basis (via phone, mail, online or a combination of these methods where a traditional agent receiving traditional paid compensation is not involved), and 6% are looking to develop this capability.”
About pharma
Walgreens Boots Alliance Reports Fiscal Year 2020 Results: Highlights:
“Sales increased 2.0 percent to $139.5 billion, up 2.5 percent on a constant currency basis
Operating income decreased 73.7 percent to $1.3 billion; Adjusted operating income decreased 24.9 percent to $5.2 billion, down 24.8 percent on a constant currency basis
EPS decreased 88.0 percent to $0.52; Adjusted EPS decreased 20.8 percent to $4.74, down 20.6 percent on a constant currency basis; reflecting an estimated adverse COVID-19 impact of approximately $1.06
Net cash provided by operating activities was $5.5 billion, a decrease of $109 million compared with fiscal 2019; Free cash flow increased 5.6 percent to $4.1 billion”
Rite Aid unveils new strategy, revamped stores to remain competitive with CVS, Walgreens: “The revamped stores, some of which will open this month, will feature a pharmacy that looks more like an Apple Store Genius Bar, virtual care rooms that will enable consumers to remotely connect with care teams and a new assortment of products with a focus on both traditional medicine and alternative ‘remedies’ like essential oils…”
About healthcare IT
Press Ganey acquires Doctor.com and majority stake in Binary Fountain:”Boston-based patient experience company Press Ganey acquired Doctor.com, a marketing automation platform for medical practices.
It also acquired a majority stake in Binary Fountain, which has an online reputation management platform.
The combination of the two solutions will make its healthcare consumerism platform the largest in the industry… The platform will be aimed at helping health providers drive digital patient acquisition, retention and reputation management…”
Mayo Clinic, startup launch 'health passport' app with initial focus on COVID-19: “Mayo Clinic is partnering with Los Angeles-based Safe Health Group… The venture will focus on testing for STDs and common ailments but will initially target COVID-19 through symptom tracking and testing by linking consumers, clinicians and test distribution into one digital solution, called HealthCheck.
HealthCheck is a smartphone and desktop app that's designed to provide real-time health status verification while also protecting consumer privacy, much like a health passport…”
Federal Electronic Health Record Connects With More Community Partners: “The Federal Electronic Health Record Modernization (FEHRM) program office announces the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) significantly expanded their joint health information exchange (HIE) network with the private sector on Oct. 9 after connecting with the CommonWell Health Alliance.
CommonWell brings a nationwide network of more than 15,000 hospitals and clinics to the 46,000 community partners already part of the joint HIE.”
Alexa, do I have COVID-19?: A fascinating article from Nature that updates the emerging science of disease detection by voice recognition technology.
About hospitals and health systems
15 hospital building projects costing $1B or more: It is amazing that this much major construction is going on not only during the COVID-19 pandemic, but also as payment mechanisms are changing, e.g., more telemedicine and risk-based payments.
About the public’s health
COVID-19 in New Zealand and the impact of the national response: a descriptive epidemiological study: A great case study of successful handling of the COVID-19 pandemic: “Here, we investigate the impact of national suppression strategies on the epidemiology of the first wave of COVID-19 in New Zealand and measures of response performance.” Early shutdowns, quarantines and case tracing were among the key successful actions.