About the public’s health
Potential for False Positive Results with Antigen Tests for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2 - Letter to Clinical Laboratory Staff and Health Care Providers: “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is alerting clinical laboratory staff and health care providers that false positive results can occur with antigen tests, including when users do not follow the instructions for use of antigen tests for the rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2.” This FDA notice contains recommendations for minimizing this problem.
These are the top coronavirus vaccines to watch: This article is a really good summary by The Washington Post. Ten are in Phase III testing.
Pfizer to bypass gov't, use its own network to ship COVID-19 vaccine: “The pharma company will seek to ensure ‘end-to-end visibility and control’ in its distribution of millions of doses of its vaccine, once it's approved for use in the United States, according to Pfizer Vice President for Biopharma Global Supply Chain Tanya Alcorn.
Alcorn said rather than tap healthcare logistics provider McKesson, as recommended by federal regulators, the serious challenges involved in doling out a vaccine requires Pfizer to keep tight control of distribution.”
Special Diets Among Adults: United States, 2015–2018: From the CDC:
”Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
In 2015–2018, 17.1% of U.S. adults aged 20 and over were on a special diet on a given day.
More women were on a special diet than men, and more adults aged 40–59 and 60 and over were on a special diet than adults aged 20–39.
More non-Hispanic white adults (17.8%) were on a special diet than non-Hispanic black (14.7%) and non-Hispanic Asian (14.9%) adults.
The most common type of special diet reported among all adults was a weight loss or low-calorie diet.
From 2007–2008 through 2017–2018, the percentage of adults on any special diet, weight loss or low-calorie diets, and low carbohydrate diets increased, while the percentage of adults on low-fat or low-cholesterol diets decreased.”
Climate change: US formally withdraws from Paris agreement: “After a three-year delay, the US has become the first nation in the world to formally withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.
President Trump announced the move in June 2017, but UN regulations meant that his decision only takes effect today, the day after the US election.
The US could re-join it in future, should a president choose to do so.”
California dialysis measure fails, mixed results for tobacco taxes in state-level ballot measures: Here are some health-related ballot decisions from yesterday’s state election proposals.
About healthcare IT
2020-2025 Federal Health IT Strategic Plan: This document is a detailed outline of the mission, vision and goals for the Office of the National Coordinator for the next five years.
Pediatrician Electronic Health Record Time Use for Outpatient Encounters: “Pediatric physicians spent an average of 16 minutes per encounter using their EHR. Chart review (31%), documentation (31%), and ordering (13%) functions accounted for most of the time. The distribution of time spent by providers using their EHR is highly variable within subspecialty but is similar across specialties.”
Interview with current Administrator of The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on how the pandemic bolstered digital health use: Among the key points is: “Before the pandemic, 14,000 Medicare beneficiaries used telehealth weekly—but from mid-March to early-July, over 10 million beneficiaries received care via telehealth.”
About health insurance
New York ER docs sue UnitedHealth for alleged underpayments: The story is state-specific but the issue has been in the news around the country.
The feds paid $1.5B to states to cover uninsured COVID-19 costs. These states got the most: “The federal government has paid out $1.5 billion to cover the testing and treatment of uninsured COVID-19 patients, and states with high uninsured rates are getting the most dollars…
The state with the highest COVID-19 reimbursement per person was New Jersey with $586 per case.”
DC Circ. Judge Dubious Of Medicare Overpayment Rule Fight: “ A D. C. Circuit judge didn't seem swayed Tuesday by UnitedHealthcare Insurance Co. 's push to affirm a lower court order vacating a Medicare Advantage overpayment rule with multibillion-dollar implications for reimbursement as she pressed an attorney for the country's largest seller of private Medicare policies to explain why the rule is unlawful.”
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announces 51 direct contracting entities:”Direct contracting is the next CMMI model and is based on Next Generation, Medicare Shared Savings and Medicare Advantage plans…
The 51 direct contracting entities serve beneficiaries in 39 states as well as in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.”
About pharma
McKesson Indicates Opioid Settlement Could Reach $21 Billion: “McKesson and two other U.S. drug distributors could pay an estimated $21 billion to resolve thousands of state lawsuits over their alleged role in fueling the opioid addiction epidemic, according to McKesson’s latest quarterly report.”
About medical devices
FTC OKs Stryker's $4B Wright Medical Deal, With Divestitures “The Federal Trade Commission is requiring medical device company Stryker Corp. to divest all its ankle replacement and finger joint implant products before going forward with its slated $4 billion acquisition of rival Wright Medical Group NV, the agency said Tuesday, in an effort to quell antitrust concerns stemming from the proposed merger. The FTC said Stryker will have to divest its ankle and finger joint businesses to DJO Global Inc. and give the company transition assistance so it can become an ‘independent, viable, and effective competitor’ in those markets.”
About healthcare professionals
Association Between Industry Payments to Physicians and Device Selection in ICD Implantation: “Patients were more likely to receive ICD or CRT-D [implantable cardioverter-defibrillator or cardiac resynchronization therapy-defibrillator, respectively] from the manufacturer that provided the highest total payment to the physician who performed an ICD or CRT-D implantation than each other manufacturer individually.”
Trends in Industry Payments to Physicians in the United States From 2014 to 2018: “Open Payments, a federal transparency program reporting industry-physician financial relationships since 2013, was established out of concern for undue industry influence on health care decision-making and costs…
Annual payment values decreased for physicians receiving lower-value total payments (≤$50 000), potentially due to transparency, organizational restrictions on industry interactions, or decreased direct-to-physician marketing.Physicians receiving higher-value total payments (>$50 000) continued to receive similar or greater amounts, perhaps reflecting evolving industry strategy that concentrates payments, for which greater return on investment is anticipated.”