About the public’s health
Covid-19 Vaccines Won’t Come With Copays, U.S. Health Official Says:”The U.S. government will pay for the vaccines and their distribution, and is working with commercial health insurers to offer the shots free of charge and without a copay, according to Paul Mango, deputy chief of staff for policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.”
2020’s Best & Worst States for Health Care: WalletHub’s annual report. At the top are Massachusetts and Minnesota. At the bottom are Georgia and Louisiana. Read the full article for the methodology.
HHS invests $6.5 million in diagnostic labs to expand COVID-19 testing:”The U.S. government is investing $6.5 million in two diagnostic laboratories to increase the country’s COVID-19 testing capacity and perform an additional 1 million tests each week by early October.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Thursday the funding would enable the selected companies - Aegis Sciences Corp and Sonic Healthcare USA, a unit of Sonic Healthcare Ltd - expand capacity by increasing staffing and infrastructure.”
Top U.S. health official says COVID vaccines unlikely to be approved before November: NIH director Francis Collins “does not believe any potential COVID-19 vaccines backed by Operation Warp Speed are unlikely to be approved before November or December, given the time needed for large-scale clinical trials…”
Guideline: The American Thoracic Society provides recommendations on initiating pharmacologic treatment for tobacco-dependence: “The guideline panel formulated five strong recommendations and two conditional recommendations regarding pharmacotherapy choices. Strong recommendations include using varenicline rather than a nicotine patch, using varenicline rather than bupropion, using varenicline rather than a nicotine patch in adults with a comorbid psychiatric condition, initiating varenicline in adults even if they are unready to quit, and using controller therapy for an extended treatment duration greater than 12 weeks. Conditional recommendations include combining a nicotine patch with varenicline rather than using varenicline alone and using varenicline rather than electronic cigarettes.”
Systematic review with meta-analysis of the accuracy of diagnostic tests for COVID-19:
The takeaways:
RT-PCR followed by CT shows high sensitivity for detecting COVID-19.
Immunological tests should use a combination of IgG and IgM.
The genes E and RdRp present high analytical sensitivity to detect the virus.
Assays for molecular diagnosis should employ 2-target systems.
Studies of diagnostic tests for COVID-19 are of moderate methodological quality.
RT-PCR remains the gold standard for the diagnosis of COVID-19 in sputum samples. However, the combination of different diagnostic tests is highly recommended to achieve adequate sensitivity and specificity.
Mental Health, Substance Use, and Suicidal Ideation During the COVID-19 Pandemic — United States, June 24–30, 2020: From the CDC: “Overall, 40.9% of 5,470 respondents who completed surveys during June reported an adverse mental or behavioral health condition, including those who reported symptoms of anxiety disorder or depressive disorder (30.9%), those with TSRD symptoms related to COVID-19 (26.3%), those who reported having started or increased substance use to cope with stress or emotions related to COVID-19 (13.3%), and those who reported having seriously considered suicide in the preceding 30 days (10.7%).”
About hospitals and health systems
13 hospital construction projects costing $1B or more: Amazing that there are this many projects of this size given the economy.
Fitch maintains stable rating outlook for US nonprofit hospitals: “Fitch Ratings has maintained its stable rating outlook for US nonprofit hospitals and health systems and said it expects to keep it stable for the remainder of the year.
While the rating outlook remains stable, Fitch revised the sector outlook to negative in March due to adverse effects from the pandemic and said it will maintain the negative sector outlook. Sector outlooks reflect business and economic conditions and while often correlated with rating outlooks they are more sensitive to changes in the economy.”
About health insurance
Oklahoma withdraws Medicaid block grant proposal: The state was going to be the first to test this method of payment being promoted by Republicans.