About Covid-19
Experimental Pfizer pill prevents Covid hospitalizations and deaths: “The Pfizer medicine, known by the code name PF-07321332 or simply ’332, reduced hospitalization by 89% compared to placebo when given with the HIV drug ritonavir within three days of symptom onset. The medicine also reduced the chance that patients would die. There were 7 deaths out of 385 patients in the placebo group, and none in the 389-patient group that received the medicines. Pfizer plans to market ‘332 under the brand name Paxlovid.”
Pandemic marked by premature deaths, lost years of life: “More than 28 million extra years of life were lost among 31 high- and upper-middle–income countries, and 33 nations saw declines in life expectancy, amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, concludes a study yesterday in BMJ.”
Study into gene that affects Covid severity should be treated with caution: “In the second wave of the pandemic those with Pakistani backgrounds were more than twice as likely to die from Covid-19 than those from white European backgrounds. For those of Bangladeshi heritage the risk was three- to four-fold…
Now, it seems, part of the explanation could be genetic. A gene has been found that alters the way that cells in the lining of the lungs respond to the Covid-19 infection…
The University of Oxford scientists behind the study estimate that the high-risk gene is carried by about 60% of those with south Asian heritage, compared with 15% of those with white European backgrounds and just 2% of those with black African or Caribbean heritage.”
Moderna cuts forecast for COVID-19 vaccine sales: “Moderna downgraded the 2021 sales expectations for its COVID-19 vaccine Spikevax to between $15 billion and $18 billion, from $20 billion projected in August, saying it will have fewer doses for delivery this year. The disclosure, made during its third-quarter earnings call on Thursday, sent shares tumbling as much as 17%….
Moderna explained that its output has been affected by ‘longer delivery lead times for international shipments and exports that may shift deliveries to early 2022, temporary impact from expansion of fill/finish capacity and ramp-up of product release to market.’
By contrast, Pfizer earlier this week raised the sales projection for its BioNTech-partnered coronavirus vaccine Comirnaty for the third time this year, saying it now expects sales of $36 billion from the shot, reflecting the delivery of 2.3 billion doses.”
Antibody Titers Before and After a Third Dose of the SARS-CoV-2 BNT162b2 [Pfizer] Vaccine in Adults Aged ≥60 Years: “This study found that a third BNT162b2 dose in adults aged 60 years and older was associated with significantly increased IgG titers after 10 to 19 days, with no major adverse events.”
LumiraDx’s COVID-19 Antigen Test Expands Indication to Asymptomatic People: “The FDA has granted an expanded Emergency Use Authorization for LumiraDx’s COVID-19 antigen test to include testing of asymptomatic people.
In asymptomatic individuals, the 12-minute test was 82.1 percent agreement on positive results and 100 percent agreement on negative results, when compared with results from a laboratory polymerase chain-reaction test, according to the UK-based company.”
More than 10K patients contracted COVID after visiting a hospital for other care: “More than 10,000 patients were diagnosed with COVID in a U.S. hospital last year after they were admitted for something else, according to federal and state records analyzed exclusively for KHN. The number is certainly an undercount, since it includes mostly patients 65 and older, plus California and Florida patients of all ages.”
U.S. cancels multimillion-dollar deal with coronavirus vaccine maker whose plant ruined Johnson & Johnson doses: “The federal government has canceled a deal worth $628 million with Emergent BioSolutions, the Maryland-based vaccine manufacturer that was a vanguard of the Trump administration’s program to rapidly produce vaccines to counter the coronavirus pandemic.
The company disclosed the development on Thursday in a conference call discussing its latest financial results. The cancellation comes after Emergent’s manufacturing facilities in Baltimore were found to have produced millions of contaminated vaccine doses this spring, prompting a months-long shutdown.”
DeSantis says OSHA rules on vaccines, masks are federal overreach. Florida’s suing: “Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday he would join a lawsuit with Georgia, Alabama and private plaintiffs seeking to nullify a rule by President Joe Biden’s administration mandating coronavirus vaccines or testing in large workplaces. At a news conference in Tallahassee, DeSantis said the rule was an example of federal overreach. The federal government does not have the power to hand down health mandates, DeSantis argued, nor does it have the power to enforce its rule with fines as high as $13,653 per violation. He also argued that a rule that has been coming for close to two months and which requires workers to be vaccinated by Jan. 4 can hardly be a response to an ‘emergency.’”
A doctor spread COVID misinformation and renewed her license with a mouse click: “For much of the pandemic, Dr. Lee Merritt has appeared on talk shows and in lecture halls to spread false information about COVID-19.
Among her claims: that the SARS-CoV2 virus is a genetically engineered bioweapon (the U.S. intelligence community says it's not). And that vaccination dramatically increases the risk of death from COVID (data show an enormous drop in risk for those who take the vaccine). The entire pandemic, she says in public lectures, is a vast global conspiracy to exert social control.
And yet, in October, she was able to renew her medical license in the state of Nebraska. Documents obtained through a public records request by NPR showed it took just a few clicks: 12 yes-or-no questions answered online allowed her to extend her license for another year. Critics say that Merritt's renewal is another example of how the nation's state medical boards are failing to protect the public from a small minority of doctors spreading COVID falsehoods.”
State medical boards said they would not allow renewals for such physicians, however, enforcement is obviously lax. Perhaps something akin to a “no fly list” is needed to flag such people.
About health insurance
Healthcare Affordability State Policy Scorecard: From Altarum. Massachusetts and R.I. are at the top, while Georgia and Texas are at the bottom.
Arkansas Man Charged in $100 Million COVID-19 Health Care Fraud Scheme: “According to court documents, Billy Joe Taylor, 42, of Lavaca, engaged in a scheme between February 2017 and May 2021 in connection with diagnostic laboratory testing, including urine drug testing and tests for respiratory illnesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, that were medically unnecessary, not ordered by medical providers, and/or not provided as represented. According to the indictment, Taylor controlled and directed multiple diagnostic laboratories, and used those labs to submit more than $100 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare. The indictment alleges that Taylor obtained medical information and private personal information for Medicare beneficiaries, and then misused that confidential information to repeatedly submit claims to Medicare for diagnostic tests that were not ordered by medical providers and were not actually performed by the laboratories.”
Health Insurance Trends-November 2021: A survey from eHealth.
Some highlights:
“83% of Medicare beneficiary survey respondents want the federal government to take direct action to lower the cost of prescription drugs by negotiating with pharmaceutical companies. This is true across
political lines, including strong majorities of Democrats (93%), Republicans (73%), and Independents (84%).
92% of Medicare beneficiaries would like to see dental, vision, and • hearing benefits added to traditional Medicare coverage, but only 50% feel the same if it would add to their costs.
When asked if they felt the health insurance options available to them addressed the specific medical needs of their racial or ethnic community, Hispanic respondents were least likely to say yes (41%), followed by Asian (45%), and Black (46%) respondents. By contrast, 58% of white respondents answered yes.
With an estimated 10,000 new Medicare beneficiaries every day, the number one place they go to learn about their Medicare coverage options is online.
69% of them want the freedom to look beyond government-run online marketplaces to shop for, compare, and enroll in coverage.
When it comes to health care innovation and technology, more than half (52%) of general population respondents say private enterprise does a better job than government. Only 18% say the government does a better job.”
About healthcare IT
How Likely Your State’s Businesses are to Recover from Cyberattacks: From a Verizon study. See the article for methodology and rankings. The best is Vermont and the worst is Delaware.
Alphabet launches AI drug discovery venture built on DeepMind's protein-folding expertise: “Google’s parent company Alphabet is diving into the drug discovery game with an artificial intelligence company built on the protein-folding simulation successes achieved at DeepMind.
The new Isomorphic Laboratories aims to deliver an ‘AI-first approach’ for tackling biopharma research, with the goal of serving as a commercial partner to drugmakers and figuring out how medicines will react within the body.”
Federal agencies rush to patch hundreds of cyber vulnerabilities within 6 months: “As hackers launched increasingly damaging threats against critical infrastructures such as hospitals, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is requiring all federal agencies to patch cyber vulnerabilities within six months, according to a Nov. 3 directive…
Under the binding operational directive, federal agencies must establish policies to remediate approximately 300 known exploited vulnerabilities known to CISA within 60 days. Federal agencies have two weeks to patch vulnerabilities discovered in 2021 and six months to patch vulnerabilities discovered prior to 2021.”
About hospitals and health systems
2021 State of Healthcare Performance Improvement: COVID Creates a Challenging Environment: A survey by KaufmanHall.
Highlights:
“100% of survey respondents face issues with clinical staff, including burnout, difficulty filling vacancies, wage inflation, and high turnover rates.
99% have experienced challenges in supply procurement, including shortages of key items and significant price increases.
92% are having difficulties attracting and retaining support staff, and almost 90% have increased base salaries .
75% have experienced adverse revenue cycle impacts during the pandemic, including a higher percentage of Medicaid patients and increased rates of denial .
54% identify a “pain point” at an investment (or subsidy) per physician of $250,000 or less. The average investment per physician at the end of Q2 2021 was $232,583 .
23% say that the ratio of administrative staff working remotely is likely to return to pre-pandemic levels. 66% said the ratio will remain at levels reached during the pandemic, and 11% said the percentage of staff working remotely will continue to increase.
22% have seen pediatric services return to pre-pandemic levels, while 16% say pediatric volumes remain below 75% of pre-pandemic levels. Cardiology and cardiovascular services have seen the most significant rebound, but even here, just 44% of respondents have seen a return to pre-pandemic levels.”
About diagnostics
Test determines antibiotic resistance in less than 90 minutes: “A technique that measures the metabolic activity of bacteria with an electric probe can identify antibiotic resistance in less than 90 minutes, a dramatic improvement from the one to two days required by current techniques.
This discovery means that doctors could quickly know which antibiotics will or won't work for a patient's life-threatening infection, a quandary that doctors face on a daily basis in hospitals around the world. A Washington State University research team reports on their work in the journal, Biosensors and Bioelectronics.”