About Covid-19
Local officials across U.S. are starting to reimpose Covid mask rules as delta variant takes hold: It’s not just LA.
And in a related article: Public health officials have tools to beat back Covid again. Does anyone want to use them?: “… in a number of others states — those where resistance to Covid control measures ran high — elected officials have put some of public health’s tools off limits. North Dakota enacted legislation barring health authorities from requiring anyone to wear a mask, for any reason. Montana banned the practice of quarantining people who have been in contact with a person infected with a transmissible pathogen — robbing health authorities of one of the oldest known disease control techniques.”
Two doses of Pfizer, AstraZeneca shots effective against Delta variant: study: More evidence on effectiveness of these vaccines: “Wednesday's study found that two doses of Pfizer's shot was 88% effective at preventing symptomatic disease from the Delta variant, compared to 93.7% against the Alpha variant, broadly the same as previously reported.”
About healthcare IT
Length and Redundancy of Outpatient Progress Notes Across a Decade at an Academic Medical Center: “In this cross-sectional study of nearly 3 million outpatient progress notes written across 46 specialties at an academic medical center, median note length increased 60.1% from 401 words in 2009 to 642 words in 2018 while median note redundancy (ie, the proportion of text identical to the patient’s last note) increased 10.9 percentage points from 47.9% in 2009 to 58.8% in 2018. Both increases were significant.”
The other problem is someone else often has to read these notes, so wasted time literally adds up.
VA pausing Cerner's EHR deployment through 2021: An update to the continuing debacle.
Humana responds to possible data breach of 3rd-party app on Medicare Advantage: “Humana became aware of a possible data breach of an unaffiliated third-party app that targeted Medicare Advantage members and agents, a spokesperson confirmed with Becker's July 22.
The app isn't owned or operated by Humana. The insurer said there wasn't any evidence to indicate that data was removed from its systems.”
About hospitals and health systems
10 numbers showing hospitals' financial recovery: “The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant revenue losses for hospitals as elective surgery volumes dwindled and reimbursement lagged. Despite this, hospitals recently have seen financial improvements. Here are 10 numbers that illustrate hospitals' financial recovery.”
Tenet posts $120M profit in Q2: “The for-profit hospital operator ended the second quarter of 2021 with revenue of $4.95 billion, up from $3.65 billion in the same period a year earlier. Tenet attributed the increase to several factors, including higher patient volumes. Same-hospital adjusted admissions were up 23.9 percent year over year in the second quarter.
After factoring in expenses, Tenet reported net income of $120 million in the second quarter of this year, up from $88 million in the same period of 2020.”
About pharma
Apotex to Settle Drug Price Dispute With Texas for $26 Million: “Canadian generics manufacturer Apotex has agreed to pay the state of Texas $26 million to settle charges that the company reported inflated drug prices to the state’s Medicaid program for more than 30 years.”
Biogen execs blame critics, the media for spurring 'misinformation' as Aduhelm launch lags expectations: This article provides the “other side to the story.”
Pharma pushes back on Congress' flirtation with delaying rebate rule to help pay for infrastructure: “A bipartisan group of senators is exploring how to pay for a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure package and one of the reported methods is to delay a rule that would eliminate the safe harbor for Medicare Part D rebates. The rule, which creates a new safe harbor for discounts offered at the point-of-sale, is expected to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2023.”
Pfizer funnels $1B into protein degrader Arvinas, with more in biobucks on the table: “Pfizer is doubling down on Arvinas. Three years after the duo inked a discovery and development deal, they’re adding commercialization to the mix. Pfizer is forking over $650 million upfront and investing $350 million in Arvinas to develop and commercialize the latter’s protein-degrading breast cancer drug.”
Mount Sinai genomics spinout goes public under $500M merger deal: “Stamford, Conn-based Sema4, a genomics company spun out of Mount Sinai Health System, completed its merger with special purpose acquisition company CM Life Sciences, the organizations announced July 22.”
About diagnostics
Quest Diagnostics sees ‘faster than expected’ return in base testing business as routine healthcare rebounds: “Quest Diagnostics reported ‘faster than expected recovery’ in its base businesses during the second quarter, the lab testing giant’s CEO, Steve Rusckowski, said Thursday.
The company posted $2.55 billion in net revenues, an increase of 39.5% over the same three months in 2020, when the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic began in earnest in the U.S. and prompted patients to defer trips to the clinic unless absolutely necessary.”
Abbott returns to pre-pandemic growth, clocking 11% sales bump from 2019 sans COVID testing revenues: “In total, Abbott raked in global sales of about $10.2 billion during the quarter, representing a 35% jump in organic growth from the same period in 2020. The diagnostics and medical devices segments fared especially well, registering organic raises of 57% and 45% year over year, respectively.
That growth in the diagnostics business stayed strong even with the removal of the $1.3 billion that flooded into the segment from sales of Abbott’s BinaxNOW, Panbio and other COVID testing kits. Sans those revenues, the company still clocked year-over-year organic growth of just over 37%.”
About health insurance
What country do you think this statement describes?:
”Under the current system, some people have to sell their homes to pay for spiralling [sic] care costs, while too many others without private means are not receiving the publicly funded care they need.”
Here is the answer.
Missouri Supreme Court rules in favor of Medicaid expansion: “Missouri's Supreme Court ruled that the state's August 2020 Medicaid expansion amendment did not violate the state constitution, reversing a lower court decision blocking the expansion.” The issue was whether an unfunded referendum by voters was still a requirement to implement the program.
CMS Announces Rate Changes; Physician Fee Schedule to Include RPM [Remote Patient Monitoring]: “CMS proposed updated payment rates for hospital outpatient and ambulatory surgical center services for calendar year 2022. Updates outlined in the proposal include:
Hospital price transparency for standard charges
Request for information for the Rural Emergency Hospital provider type outlined in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021
Changes to the hospital outpatient prospective payment system and ambulatory surgical center services payment rates
Updates to the inpatient only list for covered inpatient services
Implementation of the Radiation Oncology Model
Updated payment rates for outpatient drugs and non-opioid medications are also outlined in the rule as well as changes to covered procedure lists. The current proposal is open for a 60-day comment period with the final rule set to be issued in November.”
The official document is: Medicare Program: Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Systems and Quality Reporting Programs; Price Transparency of Hospital Standard Charges; Radiation Oncology Model; Request for Information on Rural Emergency Hospitals