About healthcare costs
Milliman Medical Index: Cost of healthcare for a family of four decreases for first time in report history, to $26,078 in 2020, but costs are projected to rebound in 2021: “For the first time in the 16-year history of the MMI, healthcare costs decreased by 4.2% as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on restated claims data, healthcare costs for a hypothetical family of four in 2020 were $26,078, compared to $27,233 in 2019.
’Eliminated care in 2020 more than offset the cost of COVID-19 testing and treatments,’ said Dave Liner, co-author of the MMI. ‘In fact, all categories of healthcare costs – inpatient, outpatient, and professional and other services – were lower in 2020 compared to 2019, except for prescription drug costs.”
About healthcare IT
Increasing Telehealth Utilization and Digital Contact Help Health Plans Score Points with Members During Pandemic, J.D. Power Finds: “The following are key findings of the 2021 study:
Digital contact and telehealth adoption increase significantly: Telehealth utilization increases 27 percentage points, with 36% of U.S. health plan members saying that they accessed telehealth services, up from just 9% a year ago. Digital contact with insurers also has increased, with 32% of members saying they connected with their health plans via web, mobile app or text message in the past year.
Overall satisfaction, Net Promoter Score© and trust increase: Overall satisfaction improves 10 points year over year, up from a 6-point increase in 2020 and a 1-point increase in 2019. The year-over-year rise in satisfaction has been driven largely by significant improvement in scores in the cost, information and communication and website factors/subfactors. Net Promoter Scores1also improve, having risen 7 points during the past two years. Similarly, perceived levels of trust in health plans have increased 2 percentage points during the past two years.
Member contact significantly higher among younger generations: Members of Gen Z2 and Gen Y have the highest levels of contact with their health plan, with 62% of Gen Z and 52% of Gen Y members accessing their health plan’s customer service channel at least once during the past year. That number falls to 49% among Pre-Boomers/Boomers. While contact lifts satisfaction for all members, the effect is 20 points higher among Gen Y/Z members than among older members.
Despite improvement, many had no engagement with their health plan: More than one-third(37%) of health plan members had no engagement with their health plan. Nearly half (44%) of Pre-Boomers/Boomers had no engagement with their health plan, the highest percentage of any generational group.”
Frazier Healthcare Partners brings in $1.4B to invest in healthcare IT, data analytics: FYI
Digital physicians network Doximity files for a $100M IPO: “It plans to list under the symbol DOCS, but has yet to select an exchange. No pricing terms were disclosed in the filing.”
About Covid-19
The E.E.O.C. explains how companies can mandate vaccines for workers.: “Companies can require vaccines only of employees returning to the workplace, and not those who work outside the office, the E.E.O.C. said in guidance released on Friday. But doing so still counts as a mandate, so companies must give the same legally required considerations that companywide vaccine requirements would entail, like making accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act for employees who can’t receive the vaccine. That means allowing for exceptions for those who may be unable to take the vaccine for health reasons, like an allergy.”
KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor: May 2021: “The latest KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor shows continued steady progress in vaccine uptake, with 62% of U.S. adults saying they’ve gotten at least one dose of a vaccine (up from 56% in April) and the share saying they will “wait and see” down slightly from 15% to 12%. This leaves few remaining eager to get vaccinated, while the shares saying they will get vaccinated “only if required” (7%) or will “definitely not” get a vaccine (13%) essentially unchanged over the last several months…
One potential avenue for further increasing vaccine uptake is full FDA approval of one of the vaccines currently authorized for emergency use, with about one-third (32%) of unvaccinated adults saying such approval would make them more likely to get vaccinated. In addition, one in five (21%) employed adults who have not gotten a vaccine say they would be more inclined to do so if their employer gave them paid time off to get vaccinated and recover from side effects.”
The name game for coronavirus variants just got a little easier: From the WHO: “Each variant will be given a name from the Greek alphabet, in a bid to both simplify the public discussion and to strip some of the stigma from the emergence of new variants…
Under the new scheme, B.1.1.7, the variant first identified in Britain, will be known as Alpha and B.1.351, the variant first spotted in South Africa, will be Beta. P.1, the variant first detected in Brazil, will be Gamma and B.1.671.2, the so-called Indian variant, is Delta.”
Accessibility and Usability of State Health Department COVID-19 Vaccine Websites-A Qualitative Study: “State health department COVID-19 vaccine website accessibility and usability challenges create frustration, may promote health disparities, and contribute to overall ineffective and inequitable distribution. Accessibility issues included a lack of support for smartphone access, English-only text, and poor readability. Usability issues compound the problems by failing to provide critical information, such as the last time or date the site was updated, web-based scheduling, a wait-list or follow-up process, and requiring users to check multiple locations for availability.”
Covid-19 vaccines burnt as shelf-life complicates global rollout: “Inefficiencies in the global distribution of vaccines and the relatively short shelf-life of the leading jabs have meant that doses have arrived in some countries too late for the shots to be used. The southern African nation of Malawi publicly burnt almost 20,000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine last month, despite having one of the lowest vaccination rates in the world.”
Covid-19 cases and deaths in the US will fall over the next four weeks, forecast predicts: “The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is predicting that Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths will fall over the next four weeks. The CDC ensemble forecasts conclude that there will be a total of 596,000 to 606,000 Covid-19 deaths by June 19.
As of Friday, Covid-19 has killed at least 593,364 people and infected more than 33 million in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The improved outlook can be attributed to the continuing efforts by states to get people vaccinated. Already, 10 states have reached the Biden administration's goal of vaccinating 70% of adults by July 4 with at least one dose.”
Samsung Biologics looking to offer "end-to-end" mRNA vaccine production next year: “According to the company, the addition will allow it to provide ‘end-to-end mRNA vaccine manufacturing services, from bulk drug substance to aseptic fill/finish, including labeling and packaging, as well as cold-chain storage.’”
HHS launches $50M venture capital partnership to develop tech for pandemic response: “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Tuesday a public-private partnership with nonprofit organization Global Health Investment Corporation to develop and commercialize technologies and medical products that aid the U.S. in responding effectively to future health security threats.
BARDA Ventures, the venture arm of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), is spearheading the initiative and plans to provide GHIC with a minimum of $50 million over five years with potential for up to $500 million over 10 years.”
COVID-19 Guidance for Hospital Reporting and FAQs For Hospitals, Hospital Laboratory, and Acute Care Facility Data Reporting Updated May 27, 2021: Implementation Date: June 10, 2021: “The below changes will have an implementation date of Thursday, June 10, 2021.
Influenza fields (fields 33-38) are now OPTIONAL. Notably, after October 1, 2021 the fields may become mandatory again in some form when acute respiratory illness activity is anticipated to increase.
Fields for inventory and usage for Therapeutic B (bamlanivimab when administered alone,
fields 39c-d) are now OPTIONAL. This is consistent with the FDA revocation of the emergency use authorization for bamlanivimab when administered alone2 on April 16, 2021.
About the public’s health
74th World Health Assembly: The WHO conducted this event the past weekend. A large number of issues (from addressing SDOH to coordinating global pandemics) were discussed. Check the website and daily updates for resolutions. "The one recommendation that I believe will do most to strengthen both WHO and global health security is the recommendation for a treaty on pandemic preparedness and response," [WHO Director-General] Tedros said. "This is an idea whose time has come."
Nestlé document says majority of its food portfolio is unhealthy: “Internal company presentation acknowledges more than 60% of products do not meet ‘recognised definition of health.’”
Biden Budget Requests Steep Increases for NIH, CDC, SAMHSA: “The NIH's discretionary budget authority would rise by about 22%, or $9.03 billion, to $50.5 billion in fiscal 2022, which starts in October, from $41.5 billion in the current budget year, fiscal 2021.
The budget authority for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would rise by $1.5 billion (about 21%) to $8.54 billion, and that for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) would rise by $3.72 billion (about 63%) to $9.59 billion.”
In a related article: Biden's $6T budget: 7 takeaways for healthcare leaders
About healthcare professionals
Bill proposes allowing more foreign physician residents: “Lawmakers reintroduced a plan to allow more international physician candidates attend residency in the U.S. and stay in the country after their training if they agree to work in underserved areas.
The legislation was reintroduced Thursday and would increase the number of slots in the Conrad 30 program. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) first introduced the bill in 2019 with bipartisan support, but it failed to pass the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Minor changes were made to the bill to drum up a broader coalition of supporters, including reauthorizing the Conrad 30 program for three years following the bills enactment, language clarifying hospital malpractice concerns, and a mandate that directs U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and HHS to keep track of how the J-1 visa program is being used by states.”
Physician assistant title change opposed by American Osteopathic Association: “A recent push to change physician assistants' professional title could cause confusion about medical roles and undermine the importance of a physician-led care team model, thereby threatening patient safety, the American Osteopathic Association said May 28.
On May 24, the American Academy of Physician Assistants voted to adopt "physician associate" as the official title for the PA profession. The change comes about three years after the academy hired a healthcare marketing research and branding firm to determine the best title and marketing strategy for the profession.”
About health insurance
Democrats plot Medicaid expansion backdoor in red states refusing program: “However, the new effort carries risks that Democratic lawmakers, White House officials and health care advocates have been struggling to resolve in behind-the-scenes discussions over the past few months, say people involved in those talks. One challenge is designing a program that won’t invite backlash from a health care industry ready to battle Democrats on other sweeping changes. Another concern is inadvertently rewarding states that blocked Medicaid expansion for years. Any plan would also come with a steep price tag.”
Putting Medicare Spending for COVID-19 Into Perspective: “The researchers' analysis indicated, perhaps surprisingly, that COVID-19 did not have a major financial impact on Medicare in 2020. They found that the average cost of treatment was considerable among those who were hospitalized, but the costs for milder cases—which represented the majority—were relatively small. In total, the study estimated that traditional Medicare spending for COVID-19–related hospital and outpatient care was $6.3 billion, or $5334 per person presenting for treatment of COVID-19. The estimate does not include spending for patients in Medicare Advantage plans because Medicare Advantage claims data are not available.”
About pharma
White House urges court to toss lawsuit preventing states from importing prescription drugs: “The Biden administration on Friday asked a federal court to toss a lawsuit that is seeking to prevent states from importing cheap prescription drugs from Canada.
The White House said in a court filing that a lawsuit being brought by pharmaceutical companies was premature since no decision has yet been formalized over whether to give the green light to any import programs.”
ViewPoints: Post-pandemic, half of doctors would like to see fewer drug sales rep meetings: “In the current climate, half of the doctors we surveyed said they are not prioritising meetings with sales reps at all (16%) or are only making this a low priority (34%).
By comparison, 42% of respondents said meeting drugs reps is of moderate priority to them at the moment, but just 8% described these interactions as a high priority.”
About healthcare devices
Wyss Center Earns CE Mark for Brain-Computer Interface Software:”The Wyss Center has earned CE mark certification for its NeuroKey brain-computer interface (BCI), a neural signal processing software platform that works with implantable devices.
The software decodes neural signals acquired from implanted electrodes in the patient’s brain and runs an auditory feedback speller that prompts the user to select letters to form words and sentences.”
In a related article: FDA Issues Guidance on Implanted Brain-Computer Interface Devices: “Sponsors need to ensure that the failure of any single component of the implanted BCI device doesn’t cause an unacceptable risk during use, the agency advised.
Developers also need to consider electrical safety and electromagnetic compatibility, because the implanted devices may expose the operator and patient to electrical energy hazards, the FDA said.”
Abbott takes an ax to sales forecast as COVID testing dries up faster than expected: “While the need for lab-based PCR tests has dropped steadily since the start of the year, Abbott had anticipated demand to remain high for its rapid, point-of-care tests—such as its card-based BinaxNow antigen diagnostic—thanks to continued coronavirus surveillance and screening programs meant to help people return to work or school.
However, the success rates of today’s vaccines have led many to forgo testing altogether.”
About healthcare quality
Association of Low-Value Care Exposure With Health Care Experience Ratings Among Patient Panels: “Do primary care professional (PCP) patient panels who receive more low-value care rate their health care experiences more favorably?…
With 1 exception (waiting room time), all observed associations between low-value care exposure and health care experience ratings (overall health care, timely access to nonurgent care, timely access to urgent care, personal physician, and interactions with personal physician) were small and/or lacked statistical significance.”