Here is a Summary of this week’s annual JP Morgan Conference
About the public’s health
Biden unveils $1.9 trillion relief package: 10 things to know: This article is a good, concise summary of last night’s speech by the President-elect. For more details, see: Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid relief plan calls for stimulus checks, unemployment support and more
Ex-FDA chief David Kessler to lead COVID-19 vaccine efforts as head of Operation Warp Speed: The rumor of the appointment has been confirmed.
SIU researchers discover new, dominant variant of US COVID-19 virus: “A team led by a researcher at Southern Illinois University Carbondale has discovered a new variant of the COVID-19 virus that is specific to and dominant in the United States, adding to the growing list of mutations such as those discovered in the United Kingdom and South Africa. It might be more easily transmissible than other variants, and its impact on vaccines is uncertain.”
CDC warns highly transmissible coronavirus variant to become dominant in U.S.: “The highly contagious variant of the coronavirus first seen in the United Kingdom will become the dominant strain in the United States within about two months, its rapid spread heightening the urgency of getting people vaccinated, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted Friday in its most sobering warning yet about mutations in the virus.
In every scenario explored by the CDC, the U.K. strain, which British researchers estimate is roughly 50 percent more transmissible than the more common coronavirus strain, will account for a majority of cases in the United States by some point in March.”
Comparison of Saliva and Nasopharyngeal Swab Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing [NAAT] for Detection of SARS-CoV-2: “In the primary analysis, the saliva NAAT pooled sensitivity was 83.2% (95% credible interval [CrI], 74.7%-91.4%) and the pooled specificity was 99.2% (95% CrI, 98.2%-99.8%). The nasopharyngeal swab NAAT had a sensitivity of 84.8% (95% CrI, 76.8%-92.4%) and a specificity of 98.9% (95% CrI, 97.4%-99.8%). Results were similar in secondary analyses.
These results suggest that saliva NAAT diagnostic accuracy is similar to that of nasopharyngeal swab NAAT, especially in the ambulatory setting. These findings support larger-scale research on the use of saliva NAAT as an alternative to nasopharyngeal swabs.”
SARS-CoV-2 serological tests can generate false positive results for samples from patients with chronic inflammatory diseases: “The majority of the verified serological assays were sensitive to interfering antibodies in samples from patients with chronic inflammatory diseases and therefore may have poor specificity in this context. For these patients, the risk of false positivity should be considered when interpreting results of the SARS-CoV-2 serological assays.” The problem was most pronounced in sero-positive rheumatoid arthritis.
Dollar General Will Pay Workers to Get a Covid-19 Vaccine: The problem with this strategy is that some people perceive the vaccine is dangerous if someone is offering to pay them to get it.
Companies scramble to expand coronavirus vaccine supply: Finally, some good news: “Production of the two coronavirus vaccines authorized in the United States is accelerating, even as companies with experimental vaccines nearing the end of trials struggle to meet ambitious manufacturing targets.
That means the United States should have 200 million doses each from the companies with authorized shots, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna — enough to guarantee that more than 70 percent of adults will be able to get the two-shot vaccination by the end of July.”
However: Vaccine reserve was already exhausted when Trump administration vowed to release it, dashing hopes of expanded access
Matching Sinopharm, fellow Chinese biotech Sinovac sees 78% COVID-19 vaccine efficacy: “A little over a week after Sinopharm nabbed the world’s first full approval from Chinese regulators on a 79% efficacy showing for its COVID-19 vax, fellow Chinese native Sinovac, using similar tech, has shown pretty much the same numbers.”
Under the Gun: We need to remember another pandemic. “Over 30,000 Americans die every year of firearm-related injuries, and this number is continuing to rise. In 2017 approximately 40,000 died from a gun injury, a 2.9% increase from 2016. In comparison, deaths related to motor vehicle collisions have fallen, decreasing from one year to the next. Firearm-related deaths now outnumber motor-vehicle deaths for the first time in some states. In the past, the approach to gun violence and other crimes focused on increased law enforcement presence and policing. Public health interventions focused on improving social support for hard-hit communities were rare.”
About healthcare IT
CVS Health launches Symphony™ to support senior safety at home and enhance caregiver peace of mind: “The center of the Symphony ecosystem is the voice-activated Smart Hub which enables hands-free calls with caregivers or emergency responders, while also monitoring motion, temperature, and air quality within the home.
Symphony features a free app for caregivers that provides alerts for falls or other emergencies and assists with facilitating care coordination. Additionally, smart algorithms within the app track and alert caregivers when normal conditions, such as average room temperature or air quality, are disrupted, suggesting when the caregiver may want to check in with their loved one.”
About pharma
The era of bipartisan work on lowering drug prices might be over: The Democrats have always wanted direct negotiations with manufacturers, while Republicans preferred marketplace solutions (like competition). This issue is a perfect example of a shared goal whose accomplishment is deadlocked by tactical differences.
Eli Lilly chips $30M into VC fund aimed at minority-owned healthcare companies: ”The company invested $30 million in Unseen Capital Health Fund, a venture fund aimed at supporting founders of early-stage healthcare companies who are Black or of other racial minorities, Lilly announced on Friday. In addition to identifying, funding and supporting minority-led businesses, the fund will also target companies working on solutions for marginalized communities.
Unseen Capital is already investing in companies and plans to top out its fund at $100 million.”
How a gene linked to the circadian clock could point to new prostate cancer treatments: ”Studies have shown that disruptions in circadian rhythms caused by chronic sleep deprivation and other lifestyle-related issues are linked to an increased incidence of some cancers, including prostate cancer.
Researchers at Sidney Kimmel Cancer - Jefferson Health (SKCC) analyzed that connection and landed on a circadian clock gene that seems to play a major role in prostate cancer progression. They believe their findings could inspire new treatments that target the gene, which is called CRY1, they reportedin the journal Nature Communications.”
Trump administration will let nearly all doctors prescribe addiction medicine buprenorphine: “The change will allow almost all physicians to prescribe the addiction drug buprenorphine, regardless of whether they’ve obtained a government waiver. Previously, doctors had to undergo an eight-hour training and receive the license, known as the “X-waiver,” before they could prescribe buprenorphine. For years, addiction treatment advocates have argued that tight buprenorphine regulations prevent thousands of doctors from providing high-quality addiction care.”
Evaluation of Aspirin Use With Cancer Incidence and Survival Among Older Adults in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial: “In the current study, any aspirin use and aspirin use at least 3 times/week was associated with improved bladder and breast cancer survival. Associations between aspirin use and incidence of any of the investigated cancers or between aspirin use and esophageal, gastric, pancreatic, or uterine cancer survival were not observed.”
About health insurance
CMS Axes MFAR For Good: “CMS on Thursday officially killed its controversial Medicaid fiscal accountability regulation after putting it on ice in September. The Trump administration proposed the rule in November 2019 because it worried that states were gaming the state-federal Medicaid financing system to collect additional federal dollars. But a wide range of stakeholders opposed the rule, including providers, state regulators and governors, patient advocacy groups and some members of Congress. That's because it would have ramped up federal oversight of how states fund their Medicaid programs and possibly led to significant funding cuts.”
CMS finalizes changes to marketplace, payment notice for 2022: “In a final rule [to be published in the Federal Register January 19] released today, for 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will reduce the user fee for qualified health plans sold through a federally-facilitated exchange from 3% to 2.25% of premium. This is an additional reduction beyond the 0.5 percentage point reduction in the user fee rate included in the 2020 payment notice.
CMS also is finalizing a reduction in the user fee for issuers offering plans through state-based exchanges that use the federal platform from 2.25% to 1.75% of premium. In years past, including 2020 and 2021, this provision has been key to reducing insurance premiums to deliver an 8% average premium reduction across states with exchanges using HealthCare.gov since the 2018 coverage year.
CMS expects to continue reviewing comments and finalizing other proposed policies in a second final rule to be published at a later date.“
DOJ recovers $1.8B from healthcare false claims cases: 4 things to know: “The Department of Justice obtained more than $2.2 billion in fraud and false claims settlements and judgements in fiscal year 2020, and the bulk of those recoveries came from matters that involved the healthcare industry.”
MedPAC to recommend 2% payment boost for hospitals next year: “The commission said it wants to give the payment boost to both acute-care and long-term care hospitals. The 2 percent payment increase will result in about a $750 million to $2 billion increase in acute-care hospital spending for Medicare and about $50 million for long-term care hospitals.
MedPAC also plans to recommend no change to the payment rate for physicians in 2022 and a 5 percent decrease for home health firms and inpatient rehabilitation centers.”
These recommendations are advisory ,so they are highly subject to lobbying and other political pressures.
About healthcare quality
Information Sharing Practices Between US Hospitals and Skilled Nursing Facilities to Support Care Transitions: “In this study, US SNFs reported significant shortcomings in the completeness, timeliness, and usability of information provided by hospitals to support patient transitions. These shortcomings are likely associated with a suboptimal transition experience. Shared clinicians represent a potential strategy to improve information sharing but are costly. New payment models such as accountable care organizations may offer a more scalable approach but were only associated with more timely sharing.”
This study found what many clinicians already knew from experience.
About healthcare marketing
NRC Health 2021 Healthcare Consumer Trends Report: Interesting consumer insights across several topics. For example, one interesting finding was: “Year over year, indifference to brands is increasing among healthcare consumers, with percentages of consumers who stated ‘no preference’ increasing from 31% in 2018 to 36% this year. This means that more than a third of consumers currently show no particular preference for a healthcare brand.
As may be expected, the pandemic has only exacerbated these trends. In the wake of COVID-19, 45% of consumers report that they have already changed their healthcare brand preference, and 62% expect their brand preferences to change once the pandemic has ended.” [Emphases in the original]