About the public’s health
Feasibility of Separate Rooms for Home Isolation and Quarantine for COVID-19 in the United States: “More than 1 in 5 U.S. homes, housing about one quarter of all Americans, lack sufficient space and plumbing facilities to comply with recommendations to isolate or quarantine to limit household spread of COVID-19. This proportion is particularly high among homes occupied by minority and poor individuals and among apartments…”
Poll: 3 In 4 Americans Support Mask Requirements: According to a NORC-AP poll: “Three out of four Americans, including a majority of Republicans, favor requiring people to wear face coverings while outside their homes, a new poll finds, reflecting fresh alarm over spiking coronavirus cases and a growing embrace of government advice intended to safeguard public health.”
COVID-19 screening strategies that permit the safe re-opening of college campuses: Note, this article has not yet been peer reviewed. This simulation was a cost-effectiveness analysis of “campus screening using tests of varying frequency (daily-weekly), sensitivity (70%-99%), specificity (98%-99.7%), and cost ($10-$50/test)…Across all scenarios, test frequency exerts more influence on outcomes than test sensitivity. Cost-effectiveness analysis selects screening every {2, 1, 7} days with a 70% sensitive test as the preferred strategy for Rt = {2.5, 3.5, 1.5}, implying a screening cost of {$470, $920, $120} per student per semester. Conclusions & Relevance: Rapid, inexpensive and frequently conducted screening (even if only 70% sensitive) would be cost-effective and produce a modest number of COVID-19 infections. While the optimal screening frequency hinges on the success of behavioral interventions to reduce the base severity of transmission (Rt), this could permit the safe return of student to campus.”
Over half of U.S. companies plan virus contact tracing for employees: survey: In this study by Mercer of more than 300 companies, “54% are planning to implement a contact tracing program or had already started one…
Among those who responded, the survey found that 42% of companies said they are using existing employees to do contact tracing and 9% are training employees now. In addition, about 4% said they will be hiring more staff and/or a vendor for their contact-tracing efforts, and about 3% plan to use a smart phone app or wearable device to track employee contacts.”
About health insurance
Another Problem on the Health Horizon: Medicare Is Running Out of Money: Medicare Trustees recently said the hospital trust fund will go bankrupt in 2026 (unchanged from previous estimates). Dr. David Shulkin (former undersecretary for health at the Department of Veterans Affairs and now now a senior fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania) did his own projections. “Given even a conservative estimate of how many workers and businesses would not be contributing payroll taxes that finance Part A spending, he said, the trust fund could become insolvent as early as 2022 or 2023.”
About pharma
Roche suffers double whammy as biosimilars, COVID-19 joined hands in weak quarter: The three drugs are Avastin, Rituxan and Herceptin. The first half of year impact is $2.3 billion.
About healthcare IT
Lessons from year one of Blue Shield of California's Wellvolution program: The article provides encouragement for other insures who want to implement similar programs.
“Over the past year, Blue Shield of California has grown its Wellvolution digital and community health network into the largest in the nation.
The platform includes close to 60 digital apps and covers services at 30,000 locations. About 26,000 Blue Shield members are currently enrolled in Wellvolution, the insurer said. Through the platform, members are matched with customized programs and digital coaching for a number of health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, obesity and behavioral health needs.”