About healthcare professionals
2020 Physician Compensation Report: Overall, huge differences still persist between cognitive and procedural specialties. Lots of details in this study worth considering.
About hospitals and healthcare systems
Universal Health Services, Inc. Reports 2020 Third Quarter Financial Results: “Universal Health Services, Inc. announced today that its reported net income attributable to UHS was $241.3 million, or $2.82 per diluted share, during the third quarter of 2020, as compared to $97.2 million, or $1.10 per diluted share, during the comparable quarter of 2019. Net revenues increased 3.2% to $2.913 billion during the third quarter of 2020 as compared to $2.822 billion during the third quarter of 2019.”
Hospital Bankruptcy Surge Looms as Virus Rages, Stimulus Lapses: Despite the above story: “Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, providers were pushed to their breaking points, especially those in rural areas. At least 30 hospitals entered bankruptcy in 2019, and at least three dozen have done the same so far this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.”
Ascension expands pharmacy services: This move continues a trend of hospitals into this sector.
”Ascension Rx—the newly launched model for its nationwide pharmacy—presents specialty treatment packaging and supply, infusion remedy and medicine administration, together with monetary assist coordination. A brand new specialty pharmacy in Austin, Texas is slated to open subsequent spring, which can present prior authorization, treatment administration help for suppliers and affected person consults with scientific pharmacists, amongst different wraparound providers.
Ascension, which has greater than 140 hospitals throughout 19 states, can be engaged on a centralized nationwide mail order pharmacy service, executives mentioned.”
About the public’s health
Internal Documents Reveal COVID-19 Hospitalization Data The Government Keeps Hidden: “NPR has obtained documents that give a snapshot of data the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services collects and analyzes daily. The documents — reports sent to agency staffers — highlight trends in hospitalizations and pinpoint cities nearing full hospital capacity and facilities under stress. They paint a granular picture of the strain on hospitals across the country that could help local citizens decide when to take extra precautions against COVID-19.
Withholding this information from the public and the research community is a missed opportunity to help prevent outbreaks and even save lives, say public health and data experts who reviewed the documents for NPR.”
Flu vaccine may lower risk for severe COVID-19, study suggests: “People who received the flu vaccine in the year before testing positive for COVID-19 are nearly 2 1/2 times less likely to be hospitalized with a severe form of the disease than those who were not vaccinated, an analysis published Wednesday by the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine found.
In addition, those vaccinated against the flu within a year of being diagnosed with COVID-19 were more than three times less likely to be admitted to an intensive care unit because of the new coronavirus, according to researchers at the University of Florida.”
Fauci says first U.S. COVID-19 vaccines could ship late December or early January: “Based on current projections from vaccine front-runners Moderna Inc and Pfizer Inc, Americans will likely know ‘sometime in December whether or not we have a safe and effective vaccine,’ Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a live chat on Twitter and Facebook.”
Death Rates Have Dropped for Seriously Ill Covid Patients:”…as the virus continued its rampage over the summer and fall, infecting nearly 8.5 million Americans, survival rates, even of seriously ill patients, appeared to be improving. At one New York hospital system where 30 percent of coronavirus patients died in March, the death rate had dropped to 3 percent by the end of June.
Doctors in England observed a similar trend.”
Vaccine Makers Can Skip U.S. Inspections: “FDA regulations don’t require what’s known as a pre-approval inspection for products seeking emergency use, said Jerry Weir, director of the Division of Viral Products in the FDA’s vaccines office. Weir spoke last week at a meeting of FDA advisers to discuss standards for Covid-19 vaccines…
FDA’s Weir said vaccine developers seeking an emergency authorization will have to submit complete details of their manufacturing process and show they’ve established a quality control unit.”
Some vaccines are being manufactured by newer companies without extensive manufacturing experience, like Moderna. Also, some newer techniques are being used for vaccines, such as RNA-based antigens. The last thing we want is for the public to lose confidence in vaccines from lack of quality oversight. See a related article: Sanofi, SK flu shots halted in Singapore as South Korea post-vaccination deaths climb to 59: “Singapore has temporarily pulled its backing for SK Bioscience’s SKYCellflu Quadrivalent and Sanofi Pasteur’s VaxigripTetra, the Ministry of Health said Sunday. Among the seven brands administered to people who died in South Korea, these two are the only ones also available in Singapore…
As of Monday, at least 59 people, mostly in their 70s and 80s, have died in South Korea following flu vaccination, up from 46 Saturday. That’s among more than 14.7 million people who have been inoculated this season.”
Vaccine bond sale raises $500m to fund immunisation programmes: “The money was raised for Gavi, the UN-backed vaccines alliance, by a financing vehicle, the International Finance Facility for Immunisation. The deal on Thursday attracted more than $1.5bn of orders for the three-year debt, and offered investors a yield of 0.44 per cent.”
Unions Sue OSHA For Rule Protecting Health Care Workers:”A coalition of nurses' and teachers' unions asked the Ninth Circuit on Thursday to make the U.S. Department of Labor move forward with a long-delayed rule to protect health care workers from infectious diseases as U.S. coronavirus cases surge.
The DOL's Occupational Safety and Health Administration bungled its obligation to protect health care workers from workplace hazards by failing to issue a rule after more than a decade of uneven development, the unions said in their petition for a writ of mandamus to the Ninth Circuit.”
Survey: Majority of U.S. Adults Concerned About Medical Bankruptcy, Debt:”56% of U.S. adults said they were either somewhat or very concerned that a health situation in their household could lead to bankruptcy or debt. 28% of U.S. adults carry medical debt. 32% of U.S. adults have $500 or less in savings for medical bills…
Of those who reported having medical debt, 65% had debts exceeding $1,000.”
BCBS of Illinois to pay hospitals $100M to improve health equity: “The program's first priority is to support hospitals with the highest concentration of BCBSIL members who are at risk of contracting COVID-19. Hospitals that join the equity program must commit to reducing health disparities for BCBSIL patients over the next three years. BCBSIL said it will add to and replace existing bonus structures with the new program, and about $100 million in funding will go to hospitals that participate in the program.”
About healthcare IT
Artificial intelligence model detects asymptomatic Covid-19 infections through cellphone-recorded coughs:”In a paper published recently in the IEEE Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology, the team reports on an AI model that distinguishes asymptomatic people from healthy individuals through forced-cough recordings, which people voluntarily submitted through web browsers and devices such as cellphones and laptops.”
Early results from DETECT study suggest fitness trackers and smartwatches can predict COVID-19 infection: “Examining data from the first six weeks of their landmark DETECT study, a team of scientists from the Scripps Research Translational Institute sees encouraging signs that wearable fitness devices can improve public health efforts to control COVID-19.
The DETECT study, launched on March 25, uses a mobile app to collect smartwatch and activity tracker data from consenting participants, and also gathers their self-reported symptoms and diagnostic test results. Any adult living in the United States is eligible to participate in the study by downloading the research app, MyDataHelps.”
CMS Finalizes Calendar Year 2021 Payment and Policy Changes for Home Health Agencies and Calendar Year 2021 Home Infusion Therapy Benefit: Of significance is the permanence of coverage for telehealth. “Home health agencies (HHAs) can utilize telecommunications technologies in providing care to beneficiaries under the Medicare home health benefit, as long as any provision of remote patient monitoring or other services furnished via a telecommunications system or audio-only technology are included on the plan of care. The use of such telecommunications technology or audio-only technology must be tied to the patient-specific needs as identified in the comprehensive assessment. CMS will not require a description of how such technology will help to achieve the goals outlined on the plan of care; rather, documentation in the medical record should explain how such services will help facilitate treatment outcomes.”
Allscripts Announces Third Quarter 2020 Results: “GAAP net income in the third quarter of 2020 totaled $1 million compared with net loss of $6 million in the third quarter of 2019. Non-GAAP net income in the third quarter of 2020 was $33 million compared with $28 million in the third quarter of 2019.
GAAP earnings per share in the third quarter of 2020 was $0.00 compared with loss per share of $0.03 in the third quarter of 2019. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share in the third quarter of 2020 were $0.20 compared with $0.17 in the third quarter of 2019.” Revenue decreased 9.5% compared to the same period last year.
CERNER REPORTS THIRD QUARTER 2020 RESULTS IN LINE WITH COMPANY EXPECTATIONS: “On a U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) basis, third quarter 2020 net earnings were $357 million and diluted earnings per share were $1.16. Third quarter 2019 GAAP net earnings were $82 million and diluted earnings per share were $0.26.
Adjusted Net Earnings for third quarter 2020 were $222 million, compared to $212 million of Adjusted Net Earnings in the third quarter of 2019. Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share were $0.72 in the third quarter of 2020, in line with the Company’s expectations and up 9 percent compared to $0.66 of Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share in the year-ago quarter.” Revenue fell 3% from the same period last year.
About pharma
REGN-COV2 INDEPENDENT DATA MONITORING COMMITTEE [IDMC]RECOMMENDS HOLDING ENROLLMENT IN HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS WITH HIGH OXYGEN REQUIREMENTS AND CONTINUING ENROLLMENT IN PATIENTS WITH LOW OR NO OXYGEN REQUIREMENTS: “…based on a potential safety signal and an unfavorable risk/benefit profile at this time, the IDMC recommends further enrollment of patients requiring high-flow oxygen or mechanical ventilation be placed on hold pending collection and analysis of further data on patients already enrolled. The IDMC also recommends continuing enrollment of hospitalized patients requiring either no or low-flow oxygen as the risk/benefit remains acceptable in these cohorts. Finally, the IDMC recommends continuation of the outpatient trial without modification.”
Moderna gearing up for COVID-19 vaccine launch as it takes in $1.1 billion in supply deposits:The headline speaks for itself.
About health care technology
Medtronic to pay over $9M to settle false claims suit:”Medtronic has agreed to pay a total of more than $9 million dollars to settle allegations that it paid kickbacks to a South Dakota neurosurgeon, federal prosecutors announced today.
The Minnesota-based medical devicemaker is accused of violating the False Claims Act and failing to accurately report to CMS payments it made to Dr. Wilson Asfora, allegedly to induce him to use one of its implantable devices. Medtronic also allegedly held more than 100 events over a nine-year period at a restaurant owned by Asfora.”