About health insurance
What COVID means for voluntary benefits might surprise you: The leader of Willis Towers Watson’s voluntary benefits practice, Mark Hebert, “has seen ‘tremendous'‘ growth in voluntary benefits in the last several years.” Such benefits include hospital indemnity, critical illness and accident/injury insurance, pet insurance, identity theft insurance, and legal insurance. “Research from Willis Towers Watson shows that 12% of employers surveyed by the consulting firm have enhanced voluntary benefits in the wake of COVID. Just 1% say they’ve reduced voluntary plans, although the vast majority haven’t made any changes.”
About the public’s health
239 Experts With One Big Claim: The Coronavirus Is Airborne: “…in an open letter to the W.H.O., 239 scientists in 32 countries have outlined the evidence showing that smaller particles can infect people, and are calling for the agency to revise its recommendations. The researchers plan to publish their letter in a scientific journal next week.”
Zoonoses: beyond the human–animal–environment interface: “World Zoonoses Day on July 6 marks the day, in 1885, when a young boy received the first vaccine against rabies—a zoonosis, a disease caused by a pathogen transmitted from animals to humans.”
6 COVID-19 Social Determinants of Health Payers Pivoted to Meet: Interesting article that outlines how payers are addressing issues ranging from housing to food to employment.
To prep for a complicated flu season, FDA greenlights CDC’s combined influenza & COVID-19 test: “The FDA issued a new emergency authorization to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for a combination influenza and COVID-19 diagnostic test—as the U.S. prepares to enter its annual flu season later this year in the midst of a global pandemic.
The test is designed to help tell the difference between patients with one of the two diseases, who may present with similar respiratory symptoms. It’s the third diagnostic authorized by the FDA for this purpose, following panels from Qiagen and BioFire Diagnostics, which also cover additional viruses.”
Trial of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine delayed, investigators say, but July start still possible: “Moderna did not respond to multiple emails asking about how long the delay will last, the nature of the protocol changes, or whether they have anything to do with the vaccine’s safety or manufacturing.” This vaccine was supposed to be the soonest to market.
Rush to reopen led to spikes in cases that threaten to overwhelm hospitals in some states, officials say: “‘We’re right back where we were at the peak of the epidemic during the New York outbreak,’ former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb said on ‘Face the Nation’ on CBS. ‘The difference now is that we really had one epicenter of spread when New York was going through its hardship, now we really have four major epicenters of spread: Los Angeles, cities in Texas, cities in Florida, and Arizona. And Florida looks to be in the worst shape.’”
About healthcare IT
Telehealth can be life-saving amid COVID-19, yet as virus rages, insurance companies look to scale back: The headline tells the story. The article has many examples of this cutback.
About healthcare quality
Hospital ratings often depend more on nice rooms than on health care: Nice summary of the fact that patients’ assessment of the technical quality of care and appreciation for the amenities do not jibe.
About pharma
Treatment with Hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin, and Combination in Patients Hospitalized with COVID-19: This study from Henry Ford Health System showed that “use of hydroxychloroquine alone and in combination with azithromycin was associated with a significant reduction in-hospital mortality compared to not receiving hydroxychloroquine.” The result is contrasted with the lack of benefit in a large NY study because that latter “study included patients who were initiated on hydroxychloroquine therapy at any time during their hospitalization. In contrast, in [the Henry Ford] patient population, 82% received hydroxychloroquine within the first 24 hours of admission, and 91% within 48 hours of admission. Because treatment regimens [in the NY study] likely varied substantially (including delayed initiation) across the 25 hospitals that contributed patients to the study, it is not surprising that the case-fatality rate among the New York patients was significantly higher than in our study.” It was a bit unusual that none of this study’s patients had a common hearth rhythm disturbance common in other studies. The authors caution that their “results should be interpreted with some caution and should not be applied to patients treated outside of hospital settings. Our results also require further confirmation in prospective, randomized controlled trials that rigorously evaluate the safety, and efficacy of hydroxychloroquine therapy for COVID-19 in hospitalized patients.”
About healthcare technology
StartUp Health’s 2020 Midyear Funding Report Shows a Robust, Diversified Health Innovation Market: Despite (or perhaps because of) the COVID-19 pandemic, “total health innovation funding for the first half of 2020 hit $9.1B, up nearly 19% compared to the same period in 2019…
At 377 deals, 2020’s midyear deal totals exceeded 2019…” The article also lists the top deals so far this year; a diversified list from different health sectors.