Obviously today’s top story is the President and First Lady testing positive for SARS-CoV-2. His age and obesity make him at high risk for complications. She is 50 years old and, as far as we know, healthy. See: White House says Trump 'not incapacitated', working from isolation; Pence negative
Undoubtedly he will not be campaigning for at least the next couple weeks and the second presidential debate will be canceled (though not yet announced).
About the public’s health
Companies Ditch Plans for Rapid Coronavirus Spit Tests at Home: “E25Bio and OraSure, two companies pursuing rapid at-home coronavirus tests, have abandoned efforts to use saliva in their products. Their tests, which detect pieces of coronavirus proteins called antigens, will for now rely on shallow nose swabs instead.” But in a related article: OralDNA Labs Wins Emergency Authorization for COVID-19 Oral Rinse Test.
Trump’s ‘early’ travel ‘bans’ weren’t early, weren’t bans and didn’t work: A really good analysis of what we did, when we did it, and whom it affected. Not quite what the President claims.
US traffic deaths fell 2% in 2019; 3rd straight yearly drop: “The agency says deaths fell 2% last year, to 36,096. That’s 739 fewer than the 36,835 fatalities reported to the agency in 2019.
The decrease came even though vehicle miles traveled increased by nearly 1%, reducing the fatality rate to 1.1 per 100 million miles traveled. That was the lowest since 2014.” However, deaths have been up the past few months despite decreased travel.
About health insurance
Vulnerable Republicans break with Trump on ObamaCare lawsuit: “GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Cory Gardner (Colo.) Martha McSally (Ariz.) and Dan Sullivan (Alaska) voted to advance a Democratic-sponsored bill that would block the Justice Department from advocating in court for the invalidation of ObamaCare. The measure was supported by all Senate Democrats and just one other Republican…
Recent polls show Collins, Ernst, Gardner and McSally all trailing their Democratic challengers. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who is up for reelection in 2022, also voted for the measure…
The vote itself came about under unusual circumstances.
Usually, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) controls the floor schedule, but Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) caught Republicans by surprise Tuesday when he filed a procedural motion to bring the health care bill up for a vote when no GOP senator was on the floor to object…
the measure received 51 votes, falling short of the 60 votes needed to advance.”
MedPAC supports changes to the development of MA [Medicare Advantage] plan payment benchmarks: “The group was largely in favor of creating a new payment approach that calculates MA payments based on a blend of local and national spending as opposed to the current methodology, which sets benchmarks on a county-by-county basis.
The panel did not decide on how exactly to blend the Medicare benchmarks and has yet to formalize a recommendation to Congress. But the meeting underscored the panel’s desire to make reforms to the MA payment structure. MedPAC data show that MA plan payments are on average 2% higher than traditional Medicare.”
About healthcare professionals
Physician Work Hours and the Gender Pay Gap — Evidence from Primary Care: “Female PCPs generated less visit revenue than male colleagues in the same practices owing to a lower volume of visits, yet spent more time in direct patient care per visit, per day, and per year.”
U.S. HHS announces further $20 billion funding to healthcare providers:”The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday announced a fresh round of $20 billion funding for frontline healthcare providers dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new allocation will take into account financial losses and changes in operating expenses caused by the coronavirus, the agency said, adding that providers that have already received relief fund payments can also apply for more funds.”
About hospitals and health systems
Advocate Aurora, Beaumont cancel merger: “The merger plan faced criticism from some Beaumont physicians, nurses, and donors. In August, the Beaumont board of trustees confirmed it would delay a vote on the planned merger. The trustees decided to postpone the vote after seeing the results of a survey, completed by 1,500 of the system's 5,000 physicians, that revealed a lack of confidence in Beaumont's leadership and concerns about its proposed merger with Advocate Aurora.
In announcing the deal was canceled, Beaumont said it wants to focus on ‘local market priorities.’”
About healthcare IT
Digital health company Hims & Hers goes public in blank check deal: “Startup Hims & Hers is going public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in a blank check deal.
The three-year old telehealth company will merge with Oaktree Acquisition Corp. in a deal that will value the company at about $1.6 billion…
San Francisco-based Hims launched in November 2017 as a men's wellness brand offering skincare, hair-loss products and erectile dysfunction medication. It has since added a women’s health business, called Hers, focused on birth control, sexual health, and skin and hair care products.
The company now provides access to medical care and treatment for more than a dozen conditions with more than 50 products. It has scaled its business quickly and has facilitated more than 2 million telehealth consultations.”
6 things to know about telehealth medical malpractice concerns: A good, brief summary of this issue.
About pharma
Diabetes patients turn to underground insulin networks as Covid-19 exposes limits of copay caps: The story is about the high cost of insulin causing people to share their prescriptions with others. Apparently the medication is not yet “as cheap as water,” as the President claimed during Tuesday night’s debate.
Drug Pricing Investigation: From the Committee on Oversight and Reform, U.S. House of Representatives (Democrat’s report). Removing the political statements, here are some of the study’s conclusions:
A recent report found that drug companies have raised the list prices of more than 600 single-source brand name drugs by a median 21.4% between January 2018 and June 2020.
The Committee’s investigation… reveals new details about the specific tactics drug companies are using to raise prices, maximize profits, and suppress competition among other companies.
…drug companies are taking full advantage of the federal law that currently prohibits Medicare from negotiating directly with drug companies to lower prices. The drug companies are bringing in tens of billions of dollars in revenues, making astronomical profits, and rewarding their executives with lavish compensation packages—all without any apparent limit on what they can charge.
About medical equipment
Justice Department Opens Ventilator Antitrust Probe Focused on Medtronic: The story shows how complex these transactions can be.
“The probe is centered on a series of events that date to 2012, when Covidien PLC, a device maker that sold ventilators, bought Newport Medical Instruments, a small California-based manufacturer of ventilator systems, for $108 million.
Newport had secured a contract with the federal government in 2010 to develop and supply low-cost ventilators, but the project stalled after Covidien bought Newport, and the two sides eventually agreed to end the contract before any ventilators were delivered.
Nearly three years after Covidien bought Newport, Medtronic bought Covidien in a roughly $50 billion deal, inheriting Newport in the process. Both deals received antitrust clearance from the Federal Trade Commission.”