About the public’s health
Covid-19 has killed 250,000 people in the US. That's 10 times the deaths from car crashes in a year: The headline speaks for itself. In a related article: 3 million Americans currently contagious with coronavirus: analysis.
Oxford Covid vaccine could build immunity in older people – study: “The ChAdOx1 nCov-2019 vaccine has been shown to trigger a robust immune response in healthy adults aged 56-69 and over 70…
According to the researchers, the trial demonstrated similar immune responses across all three age groups – 18-55, 56-69, and 70 and over.” The results are from a Phase 2 study.
More people are getting COVID-19 twice, suggesting immunity wanes quickly in some: This report contrasts with the one posted yesterday that immunity can last years. Obviously there is a range of immune responses.
Mysteries of COVID Smell Loss Finally Yield Some Answers: An understandable explanation of this symptom from Scientific American. The short version: “Disruption of the olfactory epithelium could explain the loss of smell. Yet it remains unclear whether the damage is done by the virus itself or invading immune cells…”
A covid-fighting tool is buried in your phone. Turn it on.: “About 100 million Americans now have the ability to get pop-up notifications from local health authorities when they’ve personally spent time near someone who later tested positive for the coronavirus.
But exposure notifications only work if you and the people around you turn them on. Yes, you!
There’s early evidence this anonymous smartphone technology works — but so far isn’t helping very many Americans…”
The Coronavirus Is Airborne Indoors. Why Are We Still Scrubbing Surfaces?: ”Hand washing with soap and water for 20 seconds — or sanitizer in the absence of soap — is still encouraged to stop the virus’s spread. But scrubbing surfaces does little to mitigate the virus threat indoors, experts say…”
INSIGHT - COVID toll turns spotlight on Europe's taboo of data by race:”Many European countries avoid breaking down data along racial or ethnic lines out of concern over privacy or discrimination, but COVID-19's outsized impact on Black and Asian people has exposed flaws in the approach, some scientists and activists said.
They want more comprehensive data collection across the continent to improve understanding about how and why COVID-19 affects different communities, and thereby help countries tailor testing and care to better protect them.”
Azar expects 40M COVID-19 vaccine doses ready to distribute by end of December: “Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar expects 40 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines will be ready for distribution by the end of December as providers must gear up now to allocate the doses.
Azar gave an update on vaccine distribution as part of Operation Warp Speed on Wednesday.”
About healthcare IT
2020 HIMSS Cybersecurity Survey: A great source of information from a survey of 168 cybersecurity experts. Some of the findings:
• “Most organizations are experiencing significant security incidents. Significant security incidents are the norm.
• Phishing is the most common type of significant security incident. Phishing is the number one type of significant security incident; most phishing is either general phishing or spear-phishing occurring via e-mail.
• Top threat actors include online scam artists and cybercriminals. Online scam artists (e.g., phishers) and cybercriminals are targeting many healthcare organizations.
• Financial information is king. Threat actors typically seek the following: (i) financial information, (ii) employee information, and (iii) patient information.
•Initial hook is by phishing. Phishing e-mail is the typical initial point of compromise.
• Workforce members are the first line of defense. Internal security teams and internal personnel, including non-IT professionals, typically report significant security incidents to the organization.
• Disruption is the Primary Impact. Disruption of information technology (“IT”) operations and business operations are typical outcomes of cyber-attacks. Disruption of clinical care or damage or destruction of clinical care systems and devices also occurs.”
Virtual Healthcare Use Among Medicare Advantage Members Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An insightful analysis of virtual healthcare use in the senior market.
“Mental health conditions and/or substance use disorders were the largest group of primary diagnoses treated virtually, with growth in virtual services of more than 5,000 percent in 2020 compared to 2019.
Older members (ages 75+) used a smaller share of virtual services in March-May 2020 than would be expected based on their 2019 in-person utilization, but still used substantially more virtual services in 2020 than in 2019.”
Bayer initiates new G4A Digital Health Partnerships Program: “Bayer will support five new startup companies as part of the company’s G4A Digital Health Partnerships Program. Focus will be on fostering the development of a digital health ecosystem, while driving forward integrated healthcare solutions in the fields of cardiometabolic and renal diseases, oncology, and women’s health. The participating digital healthcare companies were selected by Bayer from over 400 applications from over 65 countries based upon current and future strategic fit, development stage and assessment.”
Read the article for more in formation about the five companies.
About health insurance
Review of Contract Year 2021 Medicare Advantage supplemental healthcare benefit offerings: This report was prepared by Milliman and assessed the growth of MA supplemental benefits for contract years 2019-2021. The following categories all increased in frequency: Adult Day Health Services, Home-Based Palliative Care, In-Home Support Services, Support for Caregivers of Enrollees, and Therapeutic Massage.”
Appeals court sides with hospitals in latest challenge of DSH payment calculations: “A federal appeals court upheld a ruling that would allow hospitals to calculate their disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments using Medicaid patients as well as patients eligible for treatment under experimental Medicaid ‘demonstration projects’ approved by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The opinion, issued Friday, upheld the decision of a lower court that sided with 10 Florida hospitals seeking to include days of care funded by Florida’s Low Income Pool, an approved Medicaid demonstration project. Through the pool, the state and federal governments jointly reimbursed hospitals for care provided to uninsured and underinsured patients.”
About pharma
Judge Strikes Opioid Claims Against Prescribers: “The Ohio federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation over the opioid crisis on Wednesday struck pharmacies' claims that third-party healthcare workers were liable for writing opioid prescriptions, saying they're using previously rejected arguments.”