About the public’s health
White House Announces Effort to Beef Up Strategic National Stockpile: Instead of having 1 to 3 weeks’ worth of supplies in the stockpile, the plan is to expand to 90 days, including a billion N95 masks.
CDC Issues Tools To Guide Reopening Of Schools, Businesses, Transit: The CDC issued flow chart-like documents for each category of institution considering reopening. For example, “all workplaces [should] hold off on reopening unless they are ready to protect employees at higher risk for severe illness, including those 65 and older and people of all ages with underlying medical conditions.”
U.S. Likely to Get Sanofi Vaccine First If It Succeeds: “Americans will likely get Sanofi’s Covid-19 vaccine before the rest of the world if the French pharmaceutical giant can successfully deliver one. That’s because the U.S. was first in line to fund Sanofi’s vaccine research, Chief Executive Officer Paul Hudson said in an interview with Bloomberg News.” The announcement provoked outrage by French officials. Sanofi replied that there will be enough vaccine available so its home country need not worry.
NYU study flags false negatives from Abbott's portable coronavirus test, while FDA lists concerns: A new study measuring the performance of Abbott’s rapid, point-of-care coronavirus test found the device could miss nearly half of positive cases, depending on how the samples were handled and fed into the machine [emphasis added].” Abbott says the specimens were not processed properly, for example, some of the nasal swabs were put in transport media, when they were supposed to be inserted directly into the testing machine.
U.S. to Accuse China of Attempts to Hack Coronavirus Research: “The Trump administration is planning to issue a warning that hackers tied to the Chinese government are attempting to pilfer information from U.S. researchers working on the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine, according to a person familiar with the matter.” While I know there have been numerous hacking events over the years, the reasons for this one doesn’t make sense. Academic papers and public media of research studies have been flowing freely. Further, this area is one in which all they should have to do is ask, as it benefits us to provide the information.
The Association of Energy and Macronutrient Intake at Dinner Versus Breakfast With Disease-Specific and All-Cause Mortality Among People With Diabetes: The U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2003–2014: “Isocalorically replacing 5% of total energy at dinner with breakfast was associated with 4% and 5% lower risk of diabetes… and CVD [cardiovascular disease]…mortality, respectively.” In other words: “Higher intake of energy, total fat, and protein from dinner than breakfast was associated with greater diabetes, CVD, and all-cause mortality in people with diabetes.” The research recommends shifting calories from dinner to breakfast.
About health insurance
Employers Can Let Workers Change Health Plans Without Waiting: “Normally, strict rules prevent employees from changing health insurance plans in the middle of a year. But the I.R.S. is giving employers a way to let workers make changes without waiting for the usual enrollment period.
Under the new guidance, employers can let their workers drop out of their health insurance if they have another option, or sign up if they failed to earlier in the year. Workers could also be allowed to add more family members to their plan, or switch from one workplace plan to another.
The change doesn’t require employers to offer these options; they must opt in if they want to give their employees the added flexibility.”
About healthcare IT
Top 10 Routinely Exploited Vulnerabilities: The federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) published this list. It is not exclusive to healthcare organizations, but useful nevertheless.
About pharma
Coalition of U.S. Attorneys Announce $15.3 Million Settlement With Omnicare, Inc., a CVS Health Company, For Improper Dispensing of Controlled Substances: The headline is self-explanatory.
NIH to test hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin combination as potential COVID-19 treatment : Given all the preliminary evidence of no effect (or harm), I wonder if politics is motivating this study.
Pfizer plans to farm out manufacturing for some of its drugs to make way for COVID-19 vaccine: “Pfizer plans to outsource production of some of its drug portfolio to make way for a rapidly growing vaccine manufacturing effort…
The drugmaker will lean on its 200-strong network of contractors as part of a plan to ‘build a robust U.S.-based supply chain as well as one based in Europe,’ a Pfizer spokesperson said.”
About healthcare professionals
Small medical practices struggle to survive amid coronavirus pandemic: “A survey done by a Richmond-based advocacy group for primary care doctors, called the Larry A. Green Center, found that half the doctors who sought such loans [Paycheck Protection Act loans] were unsuccessful. Of 2,774 doctors who responded to the survey, 19 percent said they had to temporarily close their practices because of financial problems; 42 percent had to lay off or furlough staff. About 10 percent say they will have to close in the next month because of financial shortfalls.” At a time when we need primary care physicians more than ever, lack of support is forcing them out of business. At best they will be forced into the empty of healthcare systems and take a pay cut.
The COVID-19 pandemic is influencing consumer health behavior. What does this mean for healthcare providers?: Many articles have commented that spending on and use of healthcare services have not only decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic but will continue after the crisis eases. This study by PwC’s Health Research Institute takes a deeper dive into public opinion and details projected behavior divided by market segments of health status and healthcare beliefs.