About Covid-19
Less than a third of parents say they'd let their child get Covid-19 vaccine right away, survey finds: “CNN reported that only about 29% of parents of children under 18 said they would get their child vaccinated against COVID-19 "right away" as soon as the child was eligible, according to Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) survey of 2097 adults published Thursday.
An additional 32% said they would wait to see how the vaccine is working before getting their child inoculated, while 15% of parents said their child would be vaccinated only if their school requires it and 19% said they definitely would not let their children get the vaccine, according to KFF.”
Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is 96% effective in teens: ”Evidence that Moderna's vaccine is effective in teens comes as rival Pfizer is expected to receive federal authorization by early next week to use its COVID-19 vaccine in adolescents. Federal approval of one or more vaccines against the disease could enable many American middle and high school students to be vaccinated before the start of the 2021-22 school year.”
Pfizer COVID vaccine protects against worrying coronavirus variants: “People in Qatar who received two doses of the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine were 75% less likely to develop a case of COVID-19 caused by B.1.351 than were unvaccinated people, and had near-total protection from severe disease caused by that strain.”
‘It’s pretty marginal’: Experts say Biden’s vaccine waiver unlikely to boost supply quickly: “The Biden administration’s support of a petition to ease patent protections for vaccines elevated the global battle against the coronavirus as a central plank of U.S. foreign policy, but myriad hurdles remain before that stance could become international policy — if ever.
As a result, it could be months, or longer, before the World Trade Organization reaches an agreement to temporarily waive the protections and years before countries build factories and amass the materials and expertise to produce the vaccines, experts say.”
WHO grants emergency use authorization for Chinese-made Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine: “The step means that the vaccine, developed by Sinopharm with the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, can be used to bolster WHO-backed efforts such as the Covax initiative to share doses equitably around the world.”
Salesforce, Google, Facebook. How Big Tech Undermines California’s Public Health System: Great piece of investigative journalism from Kaiser Health News (KHN): “California Gov. Gavin Newsom has embraced Silicon Valley tech companies and health care industry titans in response to the covid-19 pandemic like no other governor in America — routinely outsourcing life-or-death public health duties to his allies in the private sector.
At least 30 tech and health care companies have received lucrative, no-bid government contracts, or helped fund and carry out critical public health activities during the state’s battle against the coronavirus, a KHN analysis has found. The vast majority are Newsom supporters and donors who have contributed more than $113 million to his political campaigns and charitable causes, or to fund his policy initiatives, since his first run for statewide office in 2010.”
About hospitals and health systems
Hospitals get 1st CMS warning on price transparency failure: “CMS said it began proactive audits of hospital websites and reviewed complaints submitted to its website after Jan. 1, but didn't issue its first round of warning letters until April.
Hospitals will have 90 days to address the findings in the noncompliance letter from CMS. The agency will then re-review upon expiration of that 90-day window. If the hospital is still not in compliance, it may receive a second warning letter or it may be sent a request for a corrective action plan, CMS said.”
Hospitals lose jobs for 4th straight month: “Hospitals lost 5,800 jobs in April, marking the fourth month of job loss this year, according to the latest jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The April count compares to 600 hospital jobs lost in March, 2,200 jobs lost in February and 2,100 jobs lost in January. Before January, the last job loss was in September, when hospitals lost 6,400 jobs.
Overall, healthcare lost 4,100 jobs last month — compared to 11,500 jobs added in March — and employment in the industry is down by 542,000 since February 2020.
Within ambulatory healthcare services, dentist offices saw 3,700 added jobs; physician offices saw 11,300 job gains; and home healthcare services lost 6,700 jobs in April.
Nursing and residential care facilities lost 19,500 jobs last month, compared to 3,200 jobs lost the month prior.”
In a related article: Best U.S. States for Healthcare Jobs in 2021: Massachusetts heads the list, Wyoming is at the bottom.
About medical equipment
BD to spin off $1B diabetes care business into standalone public company: “After nearly a century spent building out its portfolio of insulin pens and syringes, BD is finally ready to let its diabetes care business leave the nest.
While reporting financial results for the second fiscal quarter of the year, during which revenues grew more than 15% to $4.9 billion, BD also laid out its plans to spin off its diabetes-focused segment.
The split is expected to be completed in the first half of 2022, after which the segment will become a completely separate, publicly traded company…”
About pharma
Industry Profile: Pharmaceuticals/Health Products: These companies spent about $92M on lobbying in the first quarter, on track to what would be a record year.
CVS Caremark 2020 Drug Trend Report: This report is from the PBM division of CVS. Some highlights:
—Specialty medications accounted for 52% of drug spending.
—98% of utilization increase is from conditions with new therapies and indications
—Five therapeutic categories drive 90% of specialty costs
FDA Hopes to Resume On-Site Inspections by September: “Under the most-likely scenario, the agency estimates that it can take care of 851 (26 percent) of the 3,229 human and animal medical product domestic inspections scheduled but not yet completed in the rest of fiscal 2021.”
USE AND ESTIMATED IMPACT OF MEDICATIONS THAT RAISE BLOOD PRESSURE AMONG US ADULTS WITH HYPERTENSION: NATIONAL CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY: “In this nationally representative study of US adults, nearly 1 in 5 with hypertension reported taking medications associated with BP elevation, many of which have therapeutic alternatives that are not associated with BP elevation. Attention to polypharmacy and prescribing cascades may be a promising approach to improving BP control and reducing medication burden.”
About health insurance
1 in 6 US workers say they keep unwanted jobs for health insurance: “The survey, conducted by West Health and Gallup, found that 16 percent of adult workers in the U.S. have stayed in jobs that they might have otherwise left because they do not want to lose their employer-sponsored health insurance.
Black workers were 50 percent more likely to find themselves in this situation. According to the survey, 21 percent of Black adults are currently in a job they want to leave but won’t out of fear of losing health insurance benefits, compared to 14 percent of white adults.”
American Antitrust Institute expresses concern about proposed Optum-Change Healthcare deal: The American Antitrust Institute (AAI) is warning that UnitedHealth Group's planned acquisition of Change Healthcare could stifle competition.
The nonprofit, which advocates for more aggressive antitrust enforcement from the feds, wrote in a letter (PDF) to the Department of Justice (DOJ) that the deal is "likely to harm competition and consumers."
For one, the merger would eliminate a key rival to UnitedHealth's Optum, which operates an analytics arm of its own, OptumInsight. The deal could also lead UHG to favor its own health plan, UnitedHealthcare, over other insurers that may contract with Optum for technology services.”
Cigna's Medicare Advantage enrollment up 11% year over year: “For the 2021 plan year, the insurer grew its county footprint by 22%, moving into five new states and 67 new counties…
Cigna reported $1.2 billion in profit for the first quarter of 2021, on par with the prior-year quarter and surpassing Wall Street analysts' projections.
Cigna also beat the Street on revenue for the quarter, according to Zacks Investment Research, posting $41 billion. That's also an increase over the first quarter of 2020, where Cigna reported $38.5 billion.”
About the public’s health
Sugar-sweetened beverage [SSB] intake in adulthood and adolescence and risk of early-onset colorectal cancer [EO-CRC] among women: “Higher SSB intake in adulthood and adolescence was associated with a higher risk of EO-CRC among women. Reduction of SSB consumption among adolescents and young adults may serve as a potential strategy to alleviate the growing burden of EO-CRC.”
About medical devices
Risk of Recall Among Medical Devices Undergoing US Food and Drug Administration 510(k) Clearance and Premarket Approval, 2008-2017: “This study suggests that high-risk medical devices approved via PMA [premarket approval] associated with a greater risk of recall than previously reported. Most recalls are for devices with 510(k) clearance, also raising safety concerns. Strengthening postmarketing surveillance strategies and pivotal trials may improve device safety.”