About the public’s health
Discriminative Accuracy of Plasma Phospho-tau217 for Alzheimer Disease vs Other Neurodegenerative Disorders: This blood test could be very useful distinguishing Alzheimer’s from other types of dementia. The research concluded: “Among 1402 participants from 3 selected cohorts, plasma P-tau217 discriminated AD from other neurodegenerative diseases, with significantly higher accuracy than established plasma- and MRI-based biomarkers, and its performance was not significantly different from key CSF- or PET-based measures. Further research is needed to optimize the assay, validate the findings in unselected and diverse populations, and determine its potential role in clinical care.”
Geographic Variation in Overscreening for Colorectal, Cervical, and Breast Cancer Among Older Adults:”In a large, nationally representative, cross-sectional telephone survey with 176 348 participants, more than 45% of older adults in the US reported being screened for colorectal, cervical, or breast cancer after the recommended upper age limit, and overscreening for cervical and breast cancer was more common in metropolitan areas. Life expectancy was not associated with overscreening.”
There May Be 6 Types of COVID-19: Results in a preprint indicate there may be 6 distinct types of COVID-19 clinical illness.
“The six symptom groups in a sequence from least to most severe are:
Headache, loss of smell, muscle pains, cough, sore throat, chest pain, no fever.
Headache, loss of smell, cough, sore throat, hoarseness, fever, loss of appetite.
Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, diarrhea, sore throat, chest pain, no cough.
Headache, loss of smell, cough, fever, hoarseness, chest pain, fatigue.
Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion, muscle pain.
Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion, muscle pain, shortness of breath, diarrhea, abdominal pain.”
'Spectacular': Trump praises doctor who dismissed face masks after viral video: I thought this story was from The Onion. Just read it and see if you are amused or appalled.
Outcomes of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Patients Recently Recovered From Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): “In this cohort study including 100 patients recently recovered from COVID-19 identified from a COVID-19 test center, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging revealed cardiac involvement in 78 patients (78%) and ongoing myocardial inflammation in 60 patients (60%), which was independent of preexisting conditions, severity and overall course of the acute illness, and the time from the original diagnosis…
These findings indicate the need for ongoing investigation of the long-term cardiovascular consequences of COVID-19.”
A desk-based job may lower the risk of cognitive decline: “The research study found that that those with desk jobs — which are typically sedentary roles — have a lower risk of cognitive decline. Moreover, people with lifelong desk-based careers were most likely to be among the study’s top 10% of cognitive performers.
Conversely, people whose jobs involve manual work have nearly three times the risk of developing poor cognition.”
The researchers warn that: “The relationship between inactivity and cognition is strongly confounded by education, social class and occupation. Physical activity during leisure may be protective for cognition, but work-related physical activity is not protective. A greater understanding of the mechanisms and confounding underlying these paradoxical findings is needed.”
Minnesota Republican county official resigns after posting image comparing mask wearing to Nazi Germany: And we wonder why we are still having a pandemic? “A Minnesota Republican Party county official has resigned after posting an image on Facebook comparing mask mandates to Jews being forced to wear Stars of David in Nazi Germany, the state party said on Tuesday.”
US officials: Russia behind spread of virus disinformation: ”Russian intelligence services are using a trio of English-language websites to spread disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic…
Two Russians who have held senior roles in Moscow’s military intelligence service known as the GRU have been identified as responsible for a disinformation effort meant to reach American and Western audiences, U.S. government officials said…
Between late May and early July, one of the officials said, the websites singled out Tuesday published about 150 articles about the pandemic response, including coverage aimed either at propping up Russia or denigrating the U.S.”
Young people are infecting older family members in shared homes:”…evidence is growing that young people who work outside the home, or who surged into bars and restaurants when states relaxed shutdowns, are infecting their more vulnerable elders, especially family members.”
Preliminary Medicare COVID-19 Data Snapshot: This CMS website provides “current” demographic data about Medicare patients (including Medicare Advantage) with COVID-19 infections. YTD through June 20 there were 550,000 affected Medicare beneficiaries.
XPrize launches $5M COVID-19 testing competition backed by Amazon, Google, Anthem:”XPrize has launched a Rapid Covid Testing competition that will award $5 million to teams that develop faster, cheaper and easier-to-use COVID-19 testing methods at scale.”
Sorrento picks up color-changing COVID-19 saliva test built by Columbia University fertility clinic:”Sorrento Therapeutics has picked up a saliva-based coronavirus test developed by fertility researchers at Columbia University that aims to provide an easy-to-read result in less than 30 minutes.
The entirety of the single-step test, to be dubbed COVI-TRACE, is contained within a small tube—it requires no laboratory equipment and can be used just about anywhere.”
Coronavirus tracker: Do-it-yourself vaccine raises questions; Sanofi's Dupixent 'resilience': This article is a really good update on COVID-19 over the past 10 days. It also mentions that: “A group of scientists in Boston formed a group to create a do-it-yourself experimental vaccine that's administered through the nose, raising legal and ethical questions, MIT Technology Review reports. At least 20 people have given themselves the unproven vaccine.”
About healthcare IT
Pharmacies are also sources of data breaches as evidenced by two stories in today’s news:
CVS Pharmacy loses 21,289 patients' information after vandalism: “CVS Pharmacy reported vandalism at stores in several markets between May 27 and June 8 resulted in the loss of some patient information.
The HHS Breach Portal shows the incident affected 21,289 individuals. The missing information included paper prescriptions, filled prescriptions that had been held in pharmacy waiting bins and vaccine consent forms. Information affected during the vandalism included names, birth dates, addresses, medication names and prescriber information in addition to information about primary care providers. CVS Pharmacy has notified impacted patients.”
Walgreens says 180 stores affected by potential patient data breach: “Walgreens has sent letters to customers telling them that stores nationwide were affected by a potential breach of patient data between May 26 and June 5 and their prescription information may have been compromised.
The company said that between those dates, thieves stole filled prescriptions and paper records with health information, potentially exposing data including customer names and ages, medication names and dosages, prescription numbers and prescriber names, health plan names and group numbers, and vaccination information, as well as patients' addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.”
IBM Report: Compromised Employee Accounts Led to Most Expensive Data Breaches Over Past Year: “IBM Security announced today the results of a global study examining the financial impact of data breaches, revealing that these incidents cost companies studied $3.86 million per breach on average, and that compromised employee accounts were the most expensive root cause.” However, healthcare breaches cost the most-$7.13 million.
About health insurance
Anthem earns $2.28B in Q2 profit as payers continue to see strong financial performance amid COVID-19: “Anthem's profits doubled year over year in the second quarter, reaching $2.28 billion, according to the insurer's earnings report released Wednesday morning.
In the second quarter of 2019, Anthem earned $1.14 billion in profits, making it the latest national health plan to report massive financial gains so far this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The COVID-19 Downturn Triggers Jump in Medicaid Enrollment:”Medicaid enrollment was 72.3 million in April, up from 71.5 million in March and 71 million in February, according to the latest enrollment figures released last week by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The increase in March was the first enrollment uptick since March 2017.
About half of the people enrolled in Medicaid are children.”
About pharma
House passes $3.2B FDA budget giving agency power to recall drugs: While only a House bill, if passed by the Senate as well, this measure could be one of the highest impact pharma laws in the decade. The reason is that currently, while the FDA can recall defective products, it cannot require that drugs be taken off the market.
Kodak Shifts Into Drug Production With Help of $765 Million U.S. Loan:”Eastman Kodak Co. has won a $765 million government loan under the Defense Production Act, the first of its kind. The purpose: to help expedite domestic production of drugs that can treat a variety of medical conditions and loosen the U.S. reliance on foreign sources.”
About hospitals and health systems
Systems are now reporting 2nd quarter results. They must repay federal loans and Medicare advances, so these reports must be viewed with caution. Among the reports:
UHS generates $251M in profits thanks to help from COVID-19 relief funds:”The system reported late Monday that its net revenue declined by 4.4% to $2.7 billion in the second quarter compared with $2.85 billion for the same time period in 2019. The earnings reflect other hospital systems that have relied on a massive $175 billion relief fund to help recover from losses sparked by COVID-19.
UHS found that the $251.9 million in profits was slightly above the $238.5 million it generated in the second quarter of 2019.”
HS generates $70M in profits in Q2, got $448M in COVID-19 relief funds:”Community Health Systems generated $70 million in profits in the second quarter of 2019 as government relief funding helped soften the blow of COVID-19…
The second-quarter earnings also represent a significant boost year over year, as CHS suffered a net loss of $167 million in the second quarter of 2019.
CHS generated net operating revenue of $2.5 billion for the quarter.”