About Covid-19
KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor - April 2021: “The share of adults who say they’ve gotten at least one dose of a vaccine or intend to do so as soon as possible inched up from 61% in March to 64% in April, while the share who want to “wait and see” before getting vaccinated – a group that had been steadily decreasing in size since over several months – remained about the same in April (15%) compared to March (17%). Among Republicans, a group that has been slower to embrace the vaccine, over half now say they’ve gotten at least one dose or will do so as soon as they can. The share of Republicans who say they will “definitely not” get vaccinated decreased from 29% in March to 20% in April but remains substantially larger than the share among Democrats or independents…
Among those who are open to getting vaccinated but have not yet tried to get an appointment, reasons range from safety concerns to logistical barriers to questions about eligibility, and vary widely by vaccination intention. Those who say they want the vaccine as soon as possible mainly cite logistical concerns and information needs; those in the wait and see group mainly express safety concerns or a lack of research, and those who say they’ll get the vaccine only if required mainly say they don’t feel they want or need the vaccine. By contrast, when those who say they will “definitely not” get vaccinated are asked if there is anything that might change their mind, the answer is a resounding ‘no.’”
HHS announces $250M in new funding to get COVID-19 vaccines to medically underserved areas: “The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced $250 million in new funding to create a community-based workforce that can help get people in medically underserved areas vaccinated for COVID-19.”
Pfizer Pursuing COVID-19 Vaccine Full Approval This Month: “Pfizer said it plans to file for full approval of its COVID-19 vaccine by the FDA later this month — an approval that would allow the companies to market the vaccine directly to consumers and allow the product to stay on the market beyond the pandemic.
The FDA granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the vaccine, co-developed with BioNTech, on Dec. 11, 2020, for individuals 16 years of age and older, but the authorization is only good through the end of the public health emergency.”
US backs temporary waiver of IP rights for COVID-19 vaccines: “The US will support a proposal to temporarily lift intellectual-property (IP) protections for COVID-19 vaccines, joining an effort to increase supply and access of the inoculations around the world. …
The news sent stock prices of major COVID-19 vaccine developers on a downward slope, with Moderna, BioNTech and Novavax shares falling as much as 9.7%, 8.9% and 11%, respectively. Meanwhile, Pfizer shares slipped as much as 2.6%, a day after saying it expects its BioNTech-partnered coronavirus vaccine to reach sales of $26 billion this year.”
Children Now Account For 22% Of New U.S. COVID Cases. Why Is That?: “The number of children contracting COVID-19 in the U.S. is much lower than the record highs set at the start of the new year, but children now account for more than a fifth of new coronavirus cases in states that release data by age… Just one year ago, child COVID-19 cases made up only around 3% of the U.S. total…
Experts link the trend to several factors – particularly high vaccination rates among older Americans.”
Moderna says Covid booster shot generates promising immune response against variants found in South Africa, Brazil: “It found the booster dose increased neutralizing antibody responses against the original virus as well as B.1.351 and P.1, two variants that have since spread to other countries, including the U.S…
The preliminary results, which Moderna says will be published online, have not yet been peer-reviewed.”
Moderna pulled in $1.7B with its COVID-19 vaccine rollout, but it's just getting started: “With additional supply agreements under its belt, Moderna now predicts its vaccine will generate $19.2 billion by year’s end. In comparison, rival drugmaker Pfizer posted $3.5 billion in COVID-19 vaccine sales during its first quarter and also upped its anticipated 2021 revenues to a whopping $26 billion.”
About pharma
Report Says Almost 3,500 Gene, Cell and RNA Therapies in Drugmaker Pipelines: “Cancer drugs still lead research and development, with nearly 1,200 therapies in development for the first quarter of 2021, according to the report. Next in line after oncology are treatments for neurological disorders, with 35 drugs in the pipeline from the preclinical to preregistration stages.”
Evaluation of Drug Trials in High-, Middle-, and Low-Income Countries and Local Commercial Availability of Newly Approved Drugs: “This cross-sectional study found that 5 years after their approval in the US, 15% of novel drugs (5 of 34 drugs) were approved in all countries where they were tested; among 70 countries contributing research participants, 7% (5 countries) received market access to the drugs they helped test within 1 year of US approval and 31% (22 countries) did so within 5 years. Approvals were faster in high-income countries, and access was lowest in African countries.”
AbbVie's Humira regains top pharma TV spender spot, while sibling brands Rinvoq and Skyrizi tag along: “AbbVie's Humira drop didn’t last long. While the blockbuster immunology med dropped out of the No. 1 pharma TV spending spot in March, it bounced right back in April.
AbbVie spent almost $23 million on national media buys for Humira, according to real-time TV ad tracker iSpot.tv, which landed it squarely atop the list again—just as it has quite reliably over the past five years.”
About the public’s health
Don't pass the salt - WHO issues benchmarks for sodium content in food: “The new WHO benchmarks, for 64 food and drink categories, are aimed at guiding health authorities in its 194 member states in talks with the food and beverage industry.
For example, potato crisps should contain a maximum of 500 mgs of sodium per 100g serving, pies and pastries up to 120 mgs and processed meats up to 360 mgs, according to its benchmarks.”
About healthcare professionals
Recent Changes in Physician Practice Arrangements: Private Practice Dropped to Less Than 50 Percent of Physicians in 2020: Some highlights from this AMA report:
”2020 was the first year in which less than half (49.1 percent) of patient care physicians worked in a private practice—a practice that was wholly owned by physicians. This marks a drop of almost 5 percentage points from 2018, when 54.0 percent of physicians worked in physician-owned practices, and a drop of 11 percentage points since 2012. In 2020, almost 40 percent of physicians worked directly for a hospital or for a practice at least partially owned by a hospital or health system.
The shift toward larger practice size, which has been ongoing for many years, also appears to have accelerated between 2018 and 2020. The percentage of physicians in practices with at least 50 physicians increased from 14.7 percent in 2018 to 17.2 percent in 2020.
Fifty percent of physicians were employed, 44.0 percent had an ownership stake in their practice, and 5.8 percent were independent contractors in 2020. The employee percentage was up from 47.4 percent in 2018 and 41.8 percent in 2012.”
About healthcare IT
It's World Password Day: 10 tips and insights for hospital leaders: FYI
Proposed Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support, and Remove Barriers to, Coordinated Care and Individual Engagement: “…MGMA is concerned that providing increased access to protected health information (PHI) with fewer guardrails, particularly around organizations outside the purview of HIPAA, will have unintended consequences for the security and privacy of patient data. We are also cautious about increasing access rights in ways that have the potential to substantially increase the administrative burdens placed on medical practices or create scenarios in which medical practices are more likely to face penalties due to the infeasibility of complying with more stringent requirements.”
Read the entire letter from MGMA to Robinsue Frohboese, Acting Director of the Office for Civil Rights.
Majority of healthcare decision-makers prioritize virtual care delivery, says Philips report: “A whopping 89% of U.S. healthcare leaders say they're currently heavily investing in telehealth, though many expect to shift gears toward artificial intelligence in the future.”
About payers
US Health Insurer Margins Remarkably Stable in 2020; 2021 Uncertainty Remains: “The combined 2020 operating EBITDA margin was approximately 7.5% for the seven largest publicly traded health insurers in the U.S., essentially unchanged from 2019. Fitch Ratings originally anticipated that the pandemic’s impact on the sector would be manageable, but the actual level of stability in full-year operating performance was unexpected.Combined financial leverage declined modestly at YE 2020 compared with YE 2019, despite the fact that most insurers issued debt in 2020 and drew on credit facilities, primarily to pre-fund near-term maturities, redeem existing debt and bolster liquidity as capital market uncertainty increased.”
Changes in US Medicaid Enrollment During the COVID-19 Pandemic: “Medicaid enrollment increased as the US’s COVID-19 pandemic and economic shutdown began in March 2020, with approximately 5 million more people covered nationally by September 2020. This increase occurred in both expansion and nonexpansion states, as found in a previous shorter-term analysis, although we found evidence suggesting that growth was larger in expansion states. Enrollment simplification steps were not associated with Medicaid growth. Unexpectedly, we found that enrollment growth was greater in states with smaller changes in unemployment in 2020. This may indicate that Medicaid growth is associated with factors other than job loss, including reduced work hours making more people eligible, greater focus on health care during the pandemic, and the maintenance of effort requirement passed by Congress in March 2020, which offered states more funding in exchange for a requirement that they not disenroll anyone from Medicaid during the public health emergency.”
UnitedHealthcare To Offer New Post-Discharge Support for Retirees with Employer Group Medicare Advantage Plans: “UnitedHealthcare announced it will be launching UnitedHealthcare® Healthy at Home, a new offering designed to help retirees safely transition back home after being discharged from a hospital or skilled nursing facility.
UnitedHealthcare Healthy at Home, specifically created for its Group Retiree Medicare Advantage plans…
[Benefits will include:]
Post-Discharge Meal Delivery, which will provide up to 28 meals (two meals per day for two weeks) following all inpatient or skilled nursing facility discharges for retirees when referred by a UnitedHealthcare advocate. The most vulnerable members are proactively contacted by UnitedHealthcare advocates following their discharge to receive these services.
Post-Discharge Transportation, which will include up to 12 one-way rides to and from medically related appointments and to the pharmacy following every inpatient or skilled nursing facility discharge when referred by a UnitedHealthcare advocate.
In-Home Personal Care, which will provide up to six hours of in-home personal care following all inpatient and skilled nursing facility discharges. Retirees receive assistance with activities of daily living to support their recovery and follow-up care to help reduce the risk of hospital readmission.
Services will be available every time a retiree is discharged from a hospital or skilled nursing facility.”
Dignity Health hospital pays $10M to settle improper billing allegations: “The settlement resolves allegations that Dignity Health and Neurosurgical Associates billed Medicare for concurrent and overlapping surgeries in violation of federal regulations and reimbursement policies. Prosecutors claim that the surgeries were often doubly or triply concurrent.”
UPDATED Coronavirus tracker: 940K have signed up on Healthcare.gov during SEP[Special Enrollment Period]: The window continues through Aug. 15.