About the public’s health
Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker: From the NY Times…A great article on the vaccine development and what companies are at what stages in their clinical trials.
Democrats seek investigation into Pentagon’s coronavirus fund following Washington Post article: “Congressional Democrats sharply criticized a Defense Department decision to repurpose a $1 billion coronavirus fund into an economic stimulus for defense contractors, a change the lawmakers say violated congressional intent…
The funds, set aside under the Cares Act economic stimulus package passed in March, were given to the Pentagon to ‘prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.’ But the Defense Department decided to divert most of that funding toward long-standing defense concerns such as drone technology, body armor and dress uniforms. The decision was made in consultation with the White House Office of Management and Budget, as well as other federal agencies, according to a defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations.”
FDA poised to announce tougher standards for a covid-19 vaccine that make it unlikely one will be cleared by Election Day: The headline speaks for itself.
U.S. News and Aetna Foundation release 2020 Healthiest Communities rankings:At the top is Los Alamos County, New Mexico. Check the article to get the compete list.
Massive genetic study shows coronavirus mutating and potentially evolving amid rapid U.S. spread:”Scientists in Houston on Wednesday released a study of more than 5,000 genetic sequences of the coronavirus, which reveals the virus’s continual accumulation of mutations, one of which may have made it more contagious.
That mutation is associated with a higher viral load among patients upon initial diagnosis, the researchers found.
The new report, however, did not find that these mutations have made the virus deadlier or changed clinical outcomes. All viruses accumulate genetic mutations, and most are insignificant, scientists say.”
Vitamin D Deficiency in Adults: Screening: In draft statement the “USPSTF concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening for vitamin D deficiency in asymptomatic adults.”
Trump Administration Dips Into Protective Gear, CDC Funds to Fund Vaccine Push:”The Trump administration has shifted billions of dollars previously allocated to public-health programs into its Operation Warp Speed vaccine push, reflecting the U.S. government’s increasing focus on a medical solution to ease the Covid-19 pandemic…
One of the biggest transfers came in August, with $6 billion pulled from $16.7 billion that had been allocated to the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile, which buys, holds and distributes crucial medical supplies in times of national crisis. The money had originally been meant to replenish stocks of medical protective gear, ventilators, and Covid-19 testing supplies, all of which have experienced shortages at points during the pandemic.”
Most KN95 masks fall short of U.S. standards for effectiveness, ECRI finds: “Up to 70% of KN95 masks manufactured in China do not meet U.S. standards for effectiveness, an analysis by ECRI found.
ECRI, a patient safety organization, said it found 60% to 70% of imported KN95 masks do not filter 95% of aerosol particulates despite the standard the KN95 mask name suggests. ECRI tested nearly 200 masks from 15 different manufacturer models purchased by some of the largest health systems in the U.S.”
About health insurance
Repeal of the McCarran-Ferguson Act would undermine states’ authority and harm millions of Americans: This article is AHIP’s response to the House passage of a bill to remove anti-trust immunity for the insurance industry.
Trump administration reimposes 'public charge' rule following court victory: “Under the the rule, any immigrant who receives at least one designated public benefit — including Medicaid, food stamps, welfare or public housing vouchers — for more than 12 months within any three-year period will be considered a “public charge” and will be more likely to be denied a green card.
The rule would make it easier for immigration officials to deny entry or legal status to people likely to rely on government assistance.”
OIG: Coding errors led to $14M in overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans: “Incorrect diagnosis codes from providers led to a $14 million windfall for some Medicare Advantage plans, a federal watchdog found.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General audited diagnosis codes for strokes as part of an investigation into codes that are at a high risk of being miscoded. The result was that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services made an estimated $14.4 million in inaccurate payments in 2015 and 2016.”
ASCs projected to save Medicare more than $73B in next decade: analysis: “Ambulatory surgery centers reduced Medicare costs by nearly $29 billion between 2011 and 2018 by providing services in a lower-cost setting than hospital outpatient departments, according to a new analysis.
The report also estimates ASC's saved Medicare $4.2 billion in 2018, the latest data available.”
About healthcare IT
FDA Launches the Digital Health Center of Excellence: “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it is launching the Digital Health Center of Excellence within the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH). The launch of the Digital Health Center of Excellence is an important step in furthering the agency’s overarching dedication to the advancement of digital health technology, including mobile health devices, Software as a Medical Device (SaMD), wearables when used as a medical device, and technologies used to study medical products.”
Economic impact of clinical decision support [CDS] interventions based on electronic health records: “Twenty-seven studies are investigated in this review. Of those, twenty-two studies indicate a reduction of healthcare expenditure after implementing an EHR based CDS system, especially towards prevalent application areas, such as unnecessary laboratory testing, duplicate order entry, efficient transfusion practice, or reduction of antibiotic prescriptions. On the contrary, order facilitators and undiscovered malfunctions revealed to be threats and could lead to new cost drivers in healthcare.”
Microsoft makes big play for healthcare cloud business in competition with Google, Amazon: “Microsoft's new cloud service designed specifically for healthcare will be generally available October 30…The Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare service bring together existing services such as Teams, Azure IoT and chatbots to help healthcare organizations manage operations.
Microsoft, Google and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are all pushing deeper into healthcare in a battle to provide cloud computing and data storage technology to hospitals.”
Epic EHR 1st to integrate with Microsoft Teams for telehealth: The headline speaks for itself.
Hospitals and health systems
Ascension records $1B annual loss: “After factoring in nonoperating items, including losses from investments of $410.2 million, Ascension reported a net loss of $1.04 billion in fiscal 2020. A year earlier, the health system reported investment gains of $1.1 billion and net income of $1.23 billion.
The health system said its charity care costs climbed 9.8 percent year over year to $665 million. The increase was primarily attributable to more patients qualifying for financial assistance, Ascension said.”
About pharma
GoodRx raises $1.1B in IPO as it sell shares above target: “The GoodRx IPO began trading Wednesday at $46 per share, 39% above its $33 per share offering price. GoodRx stock rose above $49 per share in early afternoon action, Investors.com reported. That boosted the consumer healthcare technology firm's market cap to about $12.7 billion.”
About healthcare quality
Updated Core Measures Focus on Improving Patient Care, Reducing Burden, and Eliminating Redundancies:”Today, the Core Quality Measures Collaborative (CQMC) released four updated core measure sets covering specific clinical areas as part of its mission to provide useful quality metrics as the nation’s health care system moves from one that pays based on volume of services to one that pays for value…
The four updated core measure sets released today cover:
Gastroenterology
HIV and Hepatitis C
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Pediatrics”