About Covid-19
FDA authorizes Moderna and Johnson & Johnson boosters and says people can get a shot different from their original dose: “The decision by the Food and Drug Administration paves the way for boosters of all three authorized shots to be available to a wide swath of the U.S. population and promises to ease the logistics of the booster campaign for pharmacies and clinics offering vaccines.”
Booster shots could soon be recommended for people as young as 40, source says: “‘I believe it will happen,’ the source familiar with the plan told CNN's Elizabeth Cohen, adding that there is ‘growing concern within the FDA’ that US data is beginning to show more hospitalizations among people under age 65 who have been fully vaccinated.”
J&J says COVID-19 vaccine added $502 million to Q3 sales: The article also has a breakdown of other revenue-producing products.
About healthcare IT
Patients say telehealth is OK, but most prefer to see their doctor in person: In “a poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard that surveyed patients in August and September. Around 42% of respondents said someone in their household had used telehealth. Of those, 82% reported satisfaction, yet nearly two-thirds — 64% — would have preferred to see their nurse or doctor in person.”
A survey of U.S. public perspectives on facial recognition technology and facial imaging data practices in health and research contexts: “Our findings indicate that while a majority of research participants might be comfortable with facial images and facial recognition technologies in healthcare and health-related research, a significant fraction expressed concern for the privacy of their own face-based data, similar to the privacy concerns of DNA data and medical records. A nuanced approach to uses of face-based data in healthcare and health-related research is needed, taking into consideration storage protection plans and the contexts of use.”
Public Health Data Exchange, Health Equity Require Team Effort: “RWJF… announced $50 million in funding for a range of initiatives centered on a national interoperability infrastructure for public health data exchange. Funding will address the following:
A grant of $11.5 million to transform local data ecosystems to eliminate systemic racial, structural, and bureaucratic barriers in public health data;
A grant of $10 million to support community-academic partnerships with historically black colleges and universities in the Gulf Coast region to expand the interpretation of data to transform local public health data systems; and
A grant of $10 million to advance policies to promote more meaningful, nuanced data disaggregation beyond broad racial/ethnic categories to raise awareness about the need to address health disparities.”
Microsoft links with Cerner, Epic to unveil 5 telehealth capabilities: “Microsoft has unveiled several capabilities for virtual healthcare visits, which can be used through Epic and Cerner EHR, according to an Oct. 19 Microsoft Teams blog post.”
For example: “Patients and clinicians can launch telehealth visits through the Microsoft Teams EHR connector for Cerner. Clinicians can launch visits from Cerner PowerChart. The Microsoft Teams EHR connector is also available for patients whose providers use Epic [and] Microsoft will allow clinicians to have scheduled queuing for virtual visits.”
CMS Selects 4 States for ACO-Based Rural Telehealth Delivery Model: “The Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services will provide funding to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), South Dakota’s Department of Social Services, Texas’ Health and Human Services Commission and the Washington State Healthcare Authority to implement the Community Health Access and Rural Transformation (CHART) model. Those organizations will develop telehealth and other services through an ACO transformation tracks that leverages value-based payment models.”
About health insurance
Three articles in the news today about administrative simplification in healthcare. The first one is from McKinsey and the other two appeared in JAMA Network.
Administrative simplification: How to save a quarter-trillion dollars in US healthcare
Administrative Simplification and the Potential for Saving a Quarter-Trillion Dollars in Health Care
Administrative Expenses in the US Health Care System:Why So High?
Bipartisan senators fire warning shot against any cuts to Medicare Advantage: “The group of 13 senators—including seven Democrats, five Republicans and one independent—wrote a letter Friday to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure on building progress for the program. But the senators warned Brooks-LaSure of any cuts to the program.”
ACA extras would cost $553B, extend coverage to 4 million people, budget office says: “A letter from the Congressional Budget Office found that expanding the ACA — including tax credits, eligibility and Medicaid programs in holdout states — would cost $553 billion.
The price tag would extend coverage to 4 million people, according to the Oct. 19 letter.”
Q3 report shows Anthem profits up 580%: 5 things to know: “The insurer recorded $1.51 billion in profits, anchored by an 16 percent increase in operating revenue to $35.5 billion.”
About the public’s health
Incidence of Cigarette Smoking Relapse Among Individuals Who Switched to e-Cigarettes or Other Tobacco Products: “In this cohort study of a representative sample of US adults, 9.4% of respondents who smoked cigarettes became recent former smokers 1 year later. Switching to any tobacco product including e-cigarettes was associated with an 8.5% increase in relapse to smoking over the next year; this increase in relapse was similar to that seen in individuals who switched to other tobacco products…
Switching to e-cigarettes is not associated with relapse prevention for cigarette smoking in US adults.”[Emphasis added]