About the public’s health
FDA says Pfizer coronavirus vaccine contains extra doses, expanding nation’s supply: The miracle of Hanukkah is that oil in the re-dedicated Temple’s Menorah was only supposed to last one day, but instead lasted eight days. As shortages of the COVID-19 vaccine have become a problem, this announcement is welcome news.
“The government’s existing supply of the first authorized vaccine can be stretched further after pharmacists began to notice that vials contain more than the expected five doses.
The FDA is in touch with Pfizer about how to handle this issue, the agency said. In the meantime, regulators say those extra doses from a single vial can be used.” The extra amounts are more than usually exists in multidose vials.
FDA advisers recommend second coronavirus vaccine, with agency action expected soon: “Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine got the greenlight from a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee Thursday, paving the way for authorization of a second shot aimed at slowing a pandemic that has killed nearly 310,000 people in the United States.
The panel voted almost unanimously — 20 in favor, with one abstention — that the benefits of the highly effective vaccine outweighed its risks for people 18 years of age and older. The FDA plans to authorize the vaccine Friday, according to knowledgeable individuals who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the schedule.”
.Allergists' Group Offers Advice on Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine: “The American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force is now offering guidance about the risk of an allergic reaction for people who receive the vaccine, as the U.S. rollout begins…
People with common allergies to medications, foods, inhalants, insects and latex are not more likely than the general public to have an allergic reaction to the Pfizer vaccine. The benefits and risks of the vaccine should be explained to these patients, the task force said.
The vaccine should be given in a health care setting where anaphylaxis can be treated. All people who receive the vaccine must be monitored for at least 20 to 30 minutes after injection for any harmful reactions. Anaphylactic reactions should be treated immediately, with epinephrine as the first-line therapy.
The vaccine shouldn't be given to people with a known history of a severe allergic reaction to polyethylene glycol, a component of the vaccine known to cause anaphylaxis, according to the task force.”
How Effective Is the Mask You’re Wearing? You May Know Soon: “A division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working to develop minimum filter efficiency standards, and labels showing which products meet them, for the vast and bewildering marketplace for masks and other face coverings.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a division of the C.D.C. known as NIOSH, has been quietly writing guidelines with an industry-standard-setting organization, ASTM International (formerly the American Society for Testing and Materials), that are expected to be made public next month.”
U.S. HHS to give $4.5 billion more to pandemic-hit healthcare providers: “HHS said the funding would meet close to 90% of the losses healthcare providers have reported from the COVID-19 pandemic in the first half of the year.
Payment distribution began on Wednesday and will continue through January 2021, the department said.”
About healthcare IT
Highmark Health Partners With Google Cloud to Raise Standard for Customer and Clinician Engagement in Health: “In its efforts to reinvent the health care experience and enrich the relationship between people and their clinicians, Highmark Health and Google Cloud today announced a six-year strategic partnership to build and maintain the innovation engine behind Highmark's Living Health model.
The Living Health model is designed to eliminate the fragmentation in health care by re-engineering the healthcare delivery model with a more coordinated, personalized, technology-enabled experience. In addition to offering seamless, simpler and smarter interactions with patients, the Living Health model is designed to free clinicians from time-consuming administrative tasks while providing them with timely data and actionable information about each patient. Living Health is not just focused on improving the patient-clinician relationship, it is about changing the way health care delivery operates.”
Just what the doctor ordered: Mental health and wellness apps: “Kaiser Permanente physicians and therapists now have the ability to refer their patients to evidenced-based mental health and wellness apps through the organization's electronic health record system. With a simple referral to an app, Kaiser Permanente patients can begin using it on their own or under the guidance of a clinician — at no cost.”
10 health IT acquisitions over $100M in 2020: A year-end summary.
About pharma
Most doses of Lilly, Regeneron's COVID-19 antibody treatments are going unused: “Moncef Slaoui, chief scientific advisor to the US government's Operation Warp Speed programme, estimates that only 5% to 20% of the roughly 65,000 doses of COVID-19 antibody treatments shipped to states around the country every week end up going to patients. He suggested this was disappointing because these therapies, viewed as a potential ‘bridge’ to avert serious coronavirus illness until vaccines become widely available, could cut hospitalisations by half if given early enough in the course of infection…
Slaoui attributed the surplus of unused doses to the challenges of administering the antibody drugs, which is done by intravenous infusion in a hospital or outpatient setting, within a few days of patients contracting COVID-19, before they might feel sick. States and healthcare organisations have to set up safe places for patients to receive the treatment. Moreover, if patients are not getting tested or do not obtain their test results within a short window after they fall ill, they cannot benefit from the drugs.”
About health insurance
Intermountain, UnitedHealthcare launch ACO: “Through the ACO, Salt Lake City-based Intermountain and UnitedHealthcare will work together to coordinate care for the health insurer's Medicare Advantage members, 136,000 of which live in Utah. For eligible members who receive care from Intermountain primary care physicians, UnitedHealthcare will tie the physicians' payment to the health outcomes experienced by its members.”
About healthcare professionals
CommonSpirit, Morehouse medical school launch initiative to increase Black doctors nationwide: “CommonSpirit Health and the Morehouse School of Medicine announced a 10-year, $100 million partnership to develop and train more Black physicians in an effort to address one of the underlying causes of health disparities…”
About healthcare spending
National Health Care Spending In 2019: Steady Growth For The Fourth Consecutive Year: This article is the annual breakdown of healthcare costs reported in Health Affairs. It is by subscription, but if you can get a copy it is always worthwhile. Here is the abstract:
”US health care spending increased 4.6 percent to reach $3.8 trillion in 2019, similar to the rate of growth of 4.7 percent in 2018. The share of the economy devoted to health care spending was 17.7 percent in 2019 compared with 17.6 percent in 2018. In 2019 faster growth in spending for hospital care, physician and clinical services, and retail purchases of prescription drugs—which together accounted for 61 percent of total national health spending—was offset mainly by expenditures for the net cost of health insurance, which were lower because of the suspension of the health insurance tax in 2019.”