About employer-sponsored care
2021 Large Employers’ Health Care Strategy and Plan Design Survey: This survey includes businesses with 9 million employees. Among the key findings:
More than ever, employers consider healthcare strategy and integral part of workforce strategy.
The top three areas on which employers are focusing are: virtual care; expand access to behavioral health services; and high cost claims.
About health insurance
Supreme Court to hear arguments on pivotal case that decides fate of ACA after election: “The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a lawsuit over the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on Nov. 10, a week after the presidential election.” The appearance was going to be after the election, so this news just sets a date.
HHS Quietly Makes It Easier to Sign Up for Obamacare: “The Department of Health and Human Services recently changed a question on the application for Affordable Care Act insurance to indicate that losing coverage since the start of the year allows people to sign up outside of the normal open enrollment period, according to people following ACA coverage.
Previously, the application for such coverage on the federal HealthCare.gov website used in 38 states asked if people had lost their coverage in the last 60 days—and the agency hasn’t made any announcement of the change."
About emerging technology
Research delivers new insight into how skin can regenerate after severe burns or injuries: By altering a burn’s microenvironment, certain regenerative cells’ genes can be turned on to promote normal skin healing instead of scarring. The article has an easily understandable explanation of how this process works.
About pharma
Drugmakers Take Own Steps to Narrow Drug Discount Program: “The program, known as 340B, requires drug companies to offer steep discounts on their products to hospitals with primarily low-income patients. Patients can also get the discounts at multiple pharmacies as long as they are associated with the 340B hospital.
AstraZeneca PLC will limit discounts to the hospitals themselves and only one pharmacy per 340B facility, the company said this week. And starting Oct. 1, Novartis will require 340B facilities to submit drug claims data to a third-party vendor to ensure they aren’t getting duplicate discounts…
The latest actions mirror similar changes Sanofi, Merck & Co. Inc., and Eli Lilly and Co. made earlier this summer.”
Drug costs for COVID-19 patients plunge at U.S. hospitals, but may rise: “Research by the health data firm IllumiCare and exclusively shared with Reuters found that hospitals spent $1,090 per COVID-19 patient on medication in July. That was down from $3,011 in May among more than 50 hospitals in 10 states that were analyzed.
Several factors drove down the number. The average length of stay for COVID-19 patients declined by nearly 30%, from 9.6 days in April to 6.8 days in July, the hospital data show. And the number of medications used dropped by 22%, from nearly 20 individual drugs in April to 15.4 drugs in July.”
Takeda to sell OTC drug business to US private equity firm for $2.37B: “Japan-based Takeda Pharmaceutical will sell its over-the-counter drug business to Blackstone Group, a U.S. private equity firm, for $2.37 billion…”
Democrats say the Postal Service is delaying prescription deliveries, but pharmacies don't agree: The headline speaks for itself. This issue is the other side of the politics of slowing down the mails.
About the public’s health
Pharmacists can give childhood shots, U.S. officials say: “Pharmacists in all 50 states are now allowed to give childhood vaccinations under a new directive aimed at preventing future outbreaks of measles and other preventable diseases.
Alex Azar, the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, took the step using emergency powers he has during the U.S. coronavirus epidemic, which was declared a public health emergency. The directive announced Wednesday will temporarily preempt restrictions in 22 states starting this fall.
The move is designed to help prevent vaccination rates from falling during the pandemic, Azar said.”
COVID Testing Choke Points: An interesting article with useful graphics that looks at testing logistics and bottlenecks.
About diagnostics
FDA Removes Need for Confirmatory Testing for 23andMe Pharmacogenetics Report: “California-based genetic testing company 23andMe has received an expanded 510(k) clearance from the FDA for its pharmacogenetics report for clopidogrel, a drug prescribed for certain heart conditions, and citalopram, a depression med.” The significance is that a strictly family-search/ancestry company is now a legitimate genetic testing firm.