About the public’s health
STAT-Harris Poll: Most Americans won’t get a Covid-19 vaccine unless it cuts risk by half:The latest poll on this issue: “Six in 10 Americans said they are somewhat or very likely to get a Covid-19 vaccine if doing so would lower the risk of becoming infected by about half, according to a new survey from STAT and The Harris Poll. The poll also found that more Americans say they are likely to get a vaccine, practice social distancing, and wear a mask if they or someone they know has contracted Covid-19.”
Association of Racial/Ethnic and Gender Concordance Between Patients and Physicians With Patient Experience Ratings:”In this study, higher Press Ganey survey scores were associated with racial/ethnic concordance between patients and their physicians; thus, efforts to improve the patient experience among racially/ethnically discordant patient-physician dyads may be necessary to improve health care delivery.”
These are the top coronavirus vaccines to watch: This article is the latest in periodic updates from The Washington Post.
About health insurance
Medicare beneficiaries can get monoclonal antibody COVID-19 treatments at no cost: “Medicare beneficiaries won't have to pay out-of-pocket for monoclonal antibody treatments of COVID-19 for the duration of the public health emergency, the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid announced…”
Biden Plan to Lower Medicare Eligibility Age to 60 Faces Hostility From Hospitals: The article is a good summary of this proposal and potential problems with and barriers to its enactment.
CVS Health invests nearly $9 million for new Orlando affordable housing: “CVS Health, the corporation that emerged from a drug-store chain, is investing $8.7 million to help build affordable housing in Orlando, officials announced Tuesday.
The project — Fairlawn Village — is a $24 million, 116-unit affordable housing complex that is part of the city of Orlando’s master plan for the Mercy Drive corridor, an area once dominated by blight.”
Hospitals have set up most of these housing programs…this spin is a bit unusual.
Virginia physician convicted on 52 charges related to billing fraud scheme:”A federal jury convicted Javaid Perwaiz, MD, on Nov. 9 of 52 counts related to his scheme to perform unnecessary hysterectomies and other surgeries on women and bill insurers for the procedures, according to the Department of Justice.
According to court records, Dr. Perwaiz billed government and commercial insurers for millions of dollars of surgeries that were not medically necessary for his patients between 2010 and 2019. In many cases, Dr. Perwaiz allegedly told patients they needed the surgeries to avoid cancer to get them to agree to the procedures.
Evidence presented at trial also showed that Dr. Perwaiz falsified records for his obstetric patients so he could induce their labor early to ensure he would be able to conduct and be reimbursed for the deliveries, according to the Justice Department.”
It is very disturbing that he was found out by insurance fraud and not with quality review by peers.
About healthcare providers
Direct primary care provider acquires 230 clinics, changes name: “Paladina changed its name to Everside after completing the acquisition of Charlotte, N.C.-based Healthstat's 230 clinics. Everside now operates 350 health clinics in 32 states and has partnerships with several health systems, including Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health and St. Louis-based SSM Health.”