500th Issue
About health insurance
Centene Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Magellan Health: ”Centene Corporation… and Magellan Health, Inc… announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Centene will acquire Magellan Health for $95per share in cash for a total enterprise value of $2.2 billion. The transaction, which was unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies, will broaden and deepen Centene's whole health capabilities and establish a leading behavioral health platform.”
Magellan has been used by a number of insurers for behavioral health services. Now we will need to see if others insurers will still contract with the company.
Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care officially come together: ”Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan announced their organizations have formally combined, effective January 1, 2021, having received all regulatory approvals.”
The partners claim: “Over time, more than $100 million in savings is anticipated through administrative synergies which will go directly to mitigating premium increases and member out-of-pocket burden.”
9th Circ. Revives Insurance Rule For Green Card Seekers: “The Ninth Circuit has revived President Donald Trump's proclamation requiring green card applicants to prove they will have access to health insurance, prompting a sharp dissent from one judge who slammed the order as an "unprecedented exercise of unilateral Executive power. ‘Leaning on the U. S. Supreme Court's ruling upholding the president's controversial travel ban, the federal appeals court held Thursday in a split decision that the Trump administration's rationale behind the proclamation — namely, that uninsured immigrants would cost the U. S. financially — was "adequate" to permit the entry bar.’”
Insurer Refuses to Keep Envision Clinicians in Their Network: “UnitedHealthcare has decided not to renew its longstanding partnership with Envision Healthcare in the midst of a national health crisis. This means Envision’s clinicians will not be part of United’s insurance plans starting January 1, 2021.
United’s decision comes at a time when Envision’s 25,000 clinicians have cared for approximately one out of every 10 hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Although Envision does not balance bill patients, it cannot prevent patients from receiving higher surprise bills from United, including bills related to COVID-19 care. While United waives patient cost sharing for in-network COVID-19-related care, United’s cost-sharing waiver does not apply to all out-of-network in-patient COVID-19 costs3. United’s COVID-19 coverage means that one in 10 patients who go to an emergency room may face a surprise gap in coverage.” United says that it was paying Envision’s physicians considerably above its median rates.
About the public’s health
A final EPA rollback under Trump curbs use of health studies: Under the guise of transparency, the Trump administration says that unless all study data is available for review, it will be barred from consideration for policy decisions. The problem is that many public health studies use data that has been “scrubbed” of personal identities; those studies will no longer be eligible for inclusion in those policy decisions.
Association of Cigarette and Electronic Cigarette Use Patterns With Levels of Inflammatory and Oxidative Stress Biomarkers Among US Adults: “In this nationally representative population study of adults, we observed no difference in inflammatory and oxidative stress biomarkers between exclusive e-ciga- rette users and nonusers (no cigarettes or vaping), and levels were lower in exclusive e-cigarette users relative to exclusive smokers. These findings are consistent with recent population studies of inflammatory biomarker4 and toxicant exposure5 in users of e-cigarettes and ciga- rettes and highlight the importance of completely re- placing cigarette smoking with e-cigarettes or quitting the use of both products for cigarette smokers to derive potential health benefits.”
About the public’s health
LA County Paramedics Told Not To Transport Some Patients With Low Chance Of Survival: ”Paramedics in Southern California are being told to conserve oxygen and not to bring patients to the hospital who have little chance of survival as Los Angeles County grapples with a new wave of COVID-19 patients that is expected to get worse in the coming days.
The Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency issued a directive Monday that ambulance crews should administer supplemental oxygen only to patients whose oxygen saturation levels fall below 90%.
In a separate memo from the county's EMS Agency, paramedic crews have been told not to transfer patients who experience cardiac arrest unless spontaneous circulation can be restored on the scene.”
This real-life case should provoke discussions of medical ethics.
BioNTech says no data to support delayed vaccine booster shot: “BioNTech and partner Pfizer warned on Monday that they had no evidence that their jointly developed vaccine will continue to protect against COVID-19 if the booster shot is given later than tested in trials.”
8 recently launched healthcare marketing campaigns: All are COVID-19 related.
How Eight Covid-19 Vaccines Work: I believe this article from the NY Times is open access. It is a great summary with graphics.
About pharma
PhRMA Denied Early Win In Drug Pricing Law Case: “A California federal judge has refused to grant the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America's bid to permanently block a state drug pricing law, shooting down the trade group's bid for an early win on its First Amendment and commerce clause claims. In a Dec. 30 decision, District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. denied PhRMA's motion that sought summary judgment on its First Amendment free speech and commerce clause allegations and also sought a permanent injunction against Senate Bill 17.”
Pfizer Introduces New Logo Playing Up Role in Drug Creation: “The logo, 18 months in the making, replaces the oval, pill-like shape that had enclosed the Pfizer name since 1948 with a helix design to the left of the company name. It retains current elements, including the name, font and blue color. The company is promoting the new design with an ad campaign.”
Feds tell pharma companies to pony up 340B discounts, but it's unclear whether they will: “The HHS’ new advisory opinion doesn’t carry the force of law, but instead communicates the agency’s views on the issue. Drugmakers, for their part, either say they're reviewing the opinion or plan to stick to their own new policies.”
About healthcare philanthropy
15 largest gifts to healthcare organizations in 2020: Read the article for details.