About the public’s health
WHO recommends two doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine within 21-28 days: “People should get two doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine within 21-28 days, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, as many countries struggled to administer the jabs that can ward off the COVID-19 virus.”
Studies to see if Moderna COVID-19 vaccine doses can be halved may take two months:”Scientists at the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc may take about two months to determine whether doses of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine can be halved to double the supply of the shots in the U.S., according to the agency.”
Estimation of US SARS-CoV-2 Infections, Symptomatic Infections, Hospitalizations, and Deaths Using Seroprevalence Surveys: “The SARS-CoV-2 disease burden may be much larger than reported COVID-19 cases owing to underreporting. Even after adjusting for underreporting, a substantial gap remains between the estimated proportion of the population infected and the proportion infected required to reach herd immunity. Additional seroprevalence surveys are needed to monitor the pandemic, including after the introduction of safe and efficacious vaccines.”
WHO team blocked from entering China to study origins of coronavirus: “The World Health Organization said that China has blocked the arrival of a team investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, in a rare rebuke from the UN agency.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said two scientists on the United Nations team had already left their home countries for Wuhan when they were told that Chinese officials had not approved the necessary permissions to enter the country.
The arrangements had been jointly agreed with China in advance.”
US passes 21 million coronavirus cases and more than 130,000 people are in hospitals: “On a day the United States registered another record for Covid-19 patients in hospitals, the country passed 21 million cases of the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The US, with 21,007,694 cases as of Tuesday evening, has almost as many as the next three nations -- India, Brazil and Russia -- have combined.
The US has added 1 million cases in the past four days.
That's as the record number of hospital patients Tuesday topped 131,200, according to the Covid Tracking Project.”
Trump administration speeds up plan to deliver Covid shots in pharmacies: “Within the next two weeks, Operation Warp Speed, the federal government’s vaccine accelerator, estimates 3,000 to 6,000 pharmacies could begin administering Covid-19 shots, according to a senior HHS official. The administration announced in November that it would work with major pharmacy chains and independent community pharmacies to distribute vaccines but didn't lay out a timetable.”
About pharma
AmerisourceBergen to Buy Alliance Healthcare From Walgreens Boots for $6.5 Billion: “AmerisourceBergen Corp. on Wednesday said it agreed to buy the majority of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.'s Alliance Healthcare businesses for about $6.5 billion.
Amerisource, a Valley Forge, Pa., provider of pharmaceutical products, said it would pay $6.275 billion in cash and issue 2 million shares to Walgreens in exchange for European pharmaceutical wholesaler Alliance.
Amerisource said the deal extends its distribution presence and its global platform of higher-margin manufacturer services. Walgreens, based in Deerfield, Ill., said it plans to increase its focus on expanding its core retail pharmacy businesses.
Amerisource and Walgreens also agreed to extend and expand their U.S. commercial agreements through 2029. Walgreens currently owns a roughly 28% stake in Amerisource, according to FactSet.”
GoodRx: 589 drugs have already seen price hikes in 2021: “Since the start of the year, nearly 600 drugs have seen price hikes, according to new data from GoodRx.
So far in January, 589 drugs have had price increases, with an average jump of 4.2%. Of those, 582 are branded products and seven are generics, GoodRx found.”
CMS names an e-prescribing standard for prior authorization to expedite access to medications: “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has issued a final rule that, for the first time, is requiring that Part D prescription drug plans support a new electronic prior authorization transaction standard for their Part D e-prescribing programs.
This new electronic prior authorization standard is intended to allow prescribers to see that a drug is subject to prior authorization while they are prescribing it. This is meant to ensure that there are secure electronic transactions between prescribers and Part D plan sponsors, and that patients will not experience delays when picking up their prescriptions.
CMS will begin enforcing the requirements of this rule on January 1, 2022, although Part D sponsors may choose to implement the new transaction standard earlier. CMS said the action is part of its efforts to strengthen Medicare.”
Many health plans now must cover full cost of expensive HIV prevention drugs: “Starting this month, most people with private insurance will no longer have to decide whether they can afford to protect themselves against HIV. Most health plans must begin to cover the drugs without charging consumers anything out-of-pocket (some plans already began doing so last year).
Drugs in this category—Truvada, Descovy and, newly available, a generic version of Truvada—received an “A” recommendation by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Under the Affordable Care Act, preventive services that receive an ‘A’ or ‘B’ rating by the task force, a group of medical experts in prevention and primary care, must be covered by most private health plans without making members share the cost, usually through copayments or deductibles. Only plans that are grandfathered under the health law are exempt.”
For additional information on this ACA requirement, see: Affordable Care Act preventive items and services.
About hospitals and health systems
115 hospitals sue HHS over Medicare payment calculation: “A group of 115 hospitals sued HHS in an attempt to prevent the department from retroactively changing how it calculates Medicare Part A disproportionate share hospital payments for patients who were enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans under Part C of the Medicare Act.
The federal lawsuit was filed Jan. 4 by a coalition of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare and Irving, Texas-based Christus Health hospitals. The hospitals are states including California, Colorado, Utah and Florida.
The hospitals' lawsuit concerns a 2004 Medicare policy change that included a new methodology for allocating Medicare Part C days in the disproportionate share hospital calculation formula.
The U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled against HHS in several different actions brought by hospitals challenging the 2004 policy. The U.S. Supreme Court also recently upheld the appeals court decision, according to the complaint.
Despite those court rulings, HHS proposed in August 2020 to readopt the calculation policy and apply it retroactively.
In the lawsuit, the hospitals argue that HHS is disregarding the court decisions.”
CHI Franciscan, Virginia Mason officially merge: 5 things to know: “CHI Franciscan and Virginia Mason officially formed an 11-hospital health system Jan. 5. The system, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, will be part of Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health.”
Tenet, Methodist Le Bonheur call off sale of 2 hospitals after FTC's lawsuit: “Tenet Healthcare and Methodist Le Bonheur agreed to call off Methodist’s $250 million acquisition of two Memphis-area hospitals after the sale triggered a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission.”
About health insurance
UnitedHealth Group's Optum to buy Change Healthcare for $13B: “UnitedHealth Group's Optum unit has agreed to buy Change Healthcare for $7.84 billion in cash plus about $5 billion in debt, the companies said on Wednesday.
The acquisition will strengthen the insurer's portfolio of healthcare technology services and capabilities.
Change Healthcare will join with OptumInsight to provide software and data analytics, technology-enabled services and research, advisory and revenue cycle management offerings, the companies said in a press release.”