BREAKING NEWS: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died this evening. Republicans vow to fill her seat as soon as possible. The immediate health implication is what will happen to the vote on the ACA after election day. If no one is confirmed by then, the Court could be deadlocked at 4-4.
For your enjoyment
Alligator on gas snaps up Ig Nobel prize: Amusing information about this year’s Ig Nobel winners.
About the public’s health
C.D.C. Testing Guidance Was Published Against Scientists’ Objections: “A heavily criticized recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month about who should be tested for the coronavirus was not written by C.D.C. scientists and was posted to the agency’s website despite their serious objections, according to several people familiar with the matter as well as internal documents obtained by The New York Times.”
And then today: CDC reverses controversial guidance, saying tests are for anyone who contacts someone with Covid-19: “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday reversed a heavily criticized guidance it issued last month about who should be tested for the novel coronavirus. The agency updated its recommendation to call for testing anyone — including people without symptoms — who has been in close contact with someone diagnosed with covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.”
Rapid test for Covid-19 shows improved sensitivity: “A CRISPR-based test developed at MIT and the Broad Institute can detect nearly as many cases as the standard Covid-19 diagnostic…
The new test, known as STOPCovid, is still in the research stage but, in principle, could be made cheaply enough that people could test themselves every day.”
Adult Obesity Prevalence Maps: This CDC study examines obesity using discriminators of race, age, education and geography. The trend is not encouraging. For example: “All states and territories had more than 20% of adults with obesity.”
About hospitals and health systems
FTC’s Bureau of Economics to Expand Merger Retrospective Program: “The Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Economics has announced a revamped Merger Retrospective Program, which will expand and formalize the Bureau’s retrospective research efforts that have already produced studies analyzing the effects of a range of consummated mergers over the last 35 years.
Merger retrospective analysis seeks to determine, after the fact, whether a merger has affected competition in one or more of the markets impacted by the merger. The analysis can shed light on whether the agency’s threshold for bringing an enforcement action in a merger case has been too permissive. It can also assess the performance of a pricing pressure index, merger simulation model, or other tools used to predict the effects of a proposed merger.”
These enhanced reviews will especially affect hospitals mergers.
Poison Pill Quiets Hospitals on Defying Price Transparency Rule: “Hospitals that threatened to defy the federal government’s requirement to disclose their negotiated prices with insurers by Jan. 1 are reconsidering after a harsh new penalty—possible loss of Medicare payments—was buried in a subsequent regulation.
Some had considered not complying, protesting that disclosing prices is costly and would put some of their business practices in jeopardy. The fine set out by the initial price transparency regulation was $300 a day, whereas major hospitals project their initial costs of complying at $500,000 a year, or more than $1,300 a day, according to the American Hospital Association.
However, a recent yearly payment rule said that hospitals that don’t provide their median negotiated rates with Medicare Advantage private insurance plans could be denied any Medicare payment. That would make a rebellion difficult: A 2019 analysisfound about 18% of hospital revenue came from Medicare, according to Definitive Healthcare.”
About healthcare IT
Expanding the Use of Telehealth for Medicare Recipients During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The article is a good summary of what has happened recently with use of telemedicine in the Medicare population. And speaking of growing telehealth: Telehealth company Amwell spikes in public debut with outsized $742M IPO:”Telehealth company Amwell saw its stock spike 42% in its first day of trading Thursday after raising an outsized initial public offering.
Buoyed by strong demand for IPOs, Amwell raised $742 million Wednesday with the sale of 41.2 million class A shares at $18 apiece. That's a marked increase from plans last week to sell 35 million shares at $14 to $16 a share, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).”
Security Risk Assessment Tool: “The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), in collaboration with the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR), developed a downloadable Security Risk Assessment (SRA) Tool to help…healthcare providers conduct a security risk assessment as required by the HIPAA Security Rule and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS) Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program.”
MassMutual Explores Health Data from Wearables: “Just like car insurance companies offer discounts to drivers who allow monitoring of their safe driving habits, health and life insurance companies may one day offer discounts to those who comply with good health habits.
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company or MassMutual is one of them. This century-plus old company is looking to pioneer the analytics of health data from wearable devices to predict long term mortality risk -- whether someone will die in 20 years or 30 years or more. Those with healthy habits could earn a health discount on their premiums.”
About pharma
Biogen stands to lose billions in Tecfidera sales next year, analyst says after new court ruling: The article highlights the value of brand protection in the biopharma sector.
”Defending its blockbuster multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera from generics hasn't been easy for Biogen lately, and the painful trend continued this week with a court ruling that clears the way for more copycat drugs to launch.After the Delaware patent court loss this week, multiple generics will likely roll out soon, Bernstein analyst Ronny Gal predicts—and when they do, they'll siphon off most of Tecfidera's $3 billion-plus in U.S. sales.”
Trump keeps claiming he lowered prescription drug prices. But that is largely not true: This article is the fact-checked version of the President’s claims to have lowered pharma costs.
Seattle Genetics and Merck Announce Two Strategic Oncology Collaborations: “The companies will globally develop and commercialize Seattle Genetics’ ladiratuzumab vedotin, an investigational antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting LIV-1, which is currently in phase 2 clinical trials for breast cancer and other solid tumors…Under the terms of the agreement, Seattle Genetics will receive a $600 million upfront payment and Merck will make a $1.0 billion equity investment in 5.0 million shares of Seattle Genetics common stock at a price of $200 per share. In addition, Seattle Genetics is eligible for progress-dependent milestone payments of up to $2.6 billion.
Separately, Seattle Genetics has granted Merck an exclusive license to commercialize TUKYSA® (tucatinib), a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor, for the treatment of HER2-positive cancers, in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America and other regions outside of the U.S., Canada and Europe. Seattle Genetics will receive $125 million from Merck as an upfront payment and is eligible for progress-dependent milestones of up to $65 million.”
About health insurance
Trump says his terrific health-care plan is finally here. That would be news to his health advisers: The headline speaks for itself. Reminds me of NIxon’s “secret plan” to end the Vietnam War, which he said he would announce after his election.
Nationwide Evaluation of Health Care Prices Paid by Private Health Plans: From the RAND Corporation: “In 2018, across all hospital inpatient and outpatient services, employers and private insurers included in the report paid 247 percent of what Medicare would have paid for the same services at the same facilities. This difference increased from 224 percent of Medicare in 2016 and 230 percent in 2017…
High-value hospitals — those offering low prices and high safety — do exist. In at least some parts of the country, employers have options for high-value facilities that offer high quality at lower prices. However, there is no clear link between hospital price and quality or safety.”