About health insurance
COMPETITION in HEALTH INSURANCE: A comprehensive study of U.S. markets: A well-worth reading annual report from the AMA that has state and local data on the top two health plans in each area and their market shares. From a national viewpoint: “73% (280) of MSA-level markets were highly concentrated. In 91% of markets, at least one insurer had a market share of at least 30%, and in 46% of markets, one insurer had a share of 50% or more.”
AmeriHealth Caritas launches new subsidiary focused on the social determinants of health: “Philadelphia-based insurer AmeriHealth Caritas is launching a subsidiary aimed at addressing the social determinants of health.
Social Determinants of Life Inc. aims to invest in, deploy and support solutions to help people build resilience and improve their life outcomes, according to an announcement. Alongside the launch, the company unveiled its first investment—a $29 million series B in Wider Circle, a California-based startup that designs tech-enabled health programs and peer-to-peer social networks.”
NAACOS [The National Association of ACOs] CMS must provide upfront funds, raise benchmarks to help ACOs close health equity gaps: “‘ACOs are already beginning to do the work of addressing [social determinants of health] to improve quality and control costs for the patients they serve,’ according to the report. ‘However, they cannot be broadly effective or achieve desired outcomes without the proper funding and support.’
More funding is needed to support an expansion of ACO social services that can address social determinants of health, the paper said.”
Uninsured Adults Remain Unaware of ACA Coverage, Subsidy Options: “Nearly half of all uninsured, nonelderly Americans (48.2 percent) had heard of the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. Around seven in ten individuals in the nonelderly, uninsured population reported that they had not heard any information or only a little information about the health insurance subsidies that are available to qualifying uninsured groups.” See the Urban Institute report for more details.
7 hospitals tagged by OIG for billing errors this year: Worth a quick read to see what the problems were…and what to avoid in the future.
CMS' final payment rules take effect Oct. 1: 21 things to know: A lot to digest but it is a great summery of all the upcoming changes.
About Covid-19
YouTube is banning prominent anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content: “YouTube is taking down several video channels associated with high-profile anti-vaccine activists including Joseph Mercola and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who experts say are partially responsible for helping seed the skepticism that’s contributed to slowing vaccination rates across the country.
As part of a new set of policies aimed at cutting down on anti-vaccine content on the Google-owned site, YouTube will ban any videos that claim that commonly used vaccines approved by health authorities are ineffective or dangerous.”
N.Y. governor expands healthcare worker eligibility as hospitals suspend, fire unvaccinated staff: “New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order expanding healthcare worker eligibility requirements, an effort to head off potential staffing shortages fueled by the state’s new COVID-19 vaccination requirements.
The six-page order (PDF) allows out-of-state and out-of-country healthcare workers to practice in New York and lowers the barrier for those who have retired or are behind on registrations to rejoin the medical workforce during the course of ‘a statewide disaster emergency.’”
At the Vatican, a new mandate for employees — with no exemptions: “The Vatican City State said Tuesday that it would soon begin requiring all employees — including the highest members of the Catholic Church — to show proof of vaccination or of a recent negative coronavirus test. Those without the proper certificates, the Vatican said, will be considered unjustly absent’ — and will be paid no salary.
measures apply to a relatively small number of people, the firm stance also amounts to a symbolic message for Catholics across the world, some of whom have debated the question of vaccination exemptions on religious grounds.”
Intranasal Corticosteroids [INCS] Are Associated with Better Outcomes in Coronavirus Disease 2019: “INCS therapy is associated with a lower risk for COVID-19-related hospitalization, ICU admission, or death. Future randomized control trials are needed to determine if INCS reduces the risk for severe outcomes related to COVID-19.”
Highly-vaccinated, but more cases than ever: Singapore shows the world what ‘endemic’ COVID might look like: Interesting read and perhaps an aspiration of what the US could do if all the people were willing to cooperate.
About the public’s health
Nearly $1 billion in American Rescue Plan funds will renovate health centers: ”Health centers will use this funding for COVID-19-related capital needs, constructing new facilities, renovating and expanding existing facilities to enhance response to pandemics, and purchasing new equipment, including telehealth technology, mobile medical vans and freezers to store vaccines, HHS said.
The funds will be awarded to health centers that serve medically underserved and other vulnerable populations and communities, which are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and other health conditions. By constructing new facilities or renovating and expanding existing facilities, health centers will ensure that these communities will have more equitable access to high-quality primary healthcare.
More than 91% of health center patients are individuals or families living at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines and nearly 63% are racial/ethnic minorities.”
About healthcare IT
Assessment of the Feasibility of Using Noninvasive Wearable Biometric Monitoring Sensors to Detect Influenza and the Common Cold Before Symptom Onset: “In a cohort study of 31 participants inoculated with H1N1 and 18 participants with rhinovirus, infection detection and severity prediction models trained using data on wearable devices were able to distinguish between infection and noninfection with 92% accuracy for H1N1 and 88% accuracy for rhinovirus and were able to distinguish between mild and moderate infection 24 hours prior to symptom onset with 90% accuracy for H1N1 and 89% accuracy for rhinovirus…
This study suggests that the use of wearable devices to identify individuals with presymptomatic acute viral respiratory infection is feasible; because wearable devices are common in the general population, using them for infection screening may help limit the spread of contagion.”
FDA clears wireless, blood pressure-monitoring finger sensor from Caretaker Medical: “The FDA has cleared a next-generation system to continuously monitor patients’ blood pressure while they’re undergoing surgery without the use of inflatable cuffs or invasive arterial catheters.
Attached wirelessly around the patient’s finger, Caretaker Medical’s VitalStream device aims to catch the changes in blood pressure that may occur during an operation and alert surgeons to any sudden drops or deteriorations that may complicate the patient’s recovery.
By using a low-pressure finger sensor to measure each heartbeat, the noninvasive system can deliver ICU-grade patient tracking in a variety of settings with little training and integrate with a hospital’s monitoring and records systems.”
Health systems-backed Truveta lands investment from Microsoft, cloud partnership: “The software giant also is investing an undisclosed amount in Truveta, which is backed by 17 healthcare systems, including Providence, Novant Health, Northwell Health and Trinity Health.
Truveta has access to health data representing 15% of the U.S. through its health system partnerships. By tapping Microsoft's Azure cloud platform, Truveta and the technology giant will work together to build up Truveta’s customer base and health system membership.
Truveta will also become a Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare partner and enable Microsoft to build up its offerings for healthcare customers.”
Amazon taps VR, voice assistant startups and 8 others for inaugural digital health accelerator: “For its first healthcare accelerator program, Amazon's cloud division tapped a diverse group of startups working in virtual reality, voice assistant technology, remote monitoring and social determinants of health.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced in June a healthcare accelerator to help incubate early-stage digital health companies that can collaborate with the tech giant's healthcare customers and partners.
The aim, Amazon said, is to connect growth-stage digital health solutions with AWS’ healthcare provider organizations to accelerate care in the cloud and for potential pilots and collaborations between providers and companies.
The 10 companies were selected from 427 applications from 31 countries around the world by a panel from AWS and KidsX, a pediatrics digital health accelerator launched from Children's Hospital Los Angeles and a partner on AWS' accelerator program.”
About pharma
Mass General Brigham vetoes controversial Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm after internal review: “Mass General Brigham is the latest big-name health system to announce it will not be treating its patients with Biogen’s Aduhelm, the controversialAlzheimer’s disease drug cleared by the Food and Drug Administration in June.”
Amicus spins off gene therapy unit in $600M SPAC deal as CEO becomes chief at Caritas: “Amicus has endured a tough few years of pipeline flops and a roller coaster stock ride, but now it’s riding the special purpose acquisition company wave, spinning off its gene therapy unit in a $600 million deal.
The pact sees Amicus’ gene therapy business bought out by ARYA Sciences Acquisition Corp IV, a SPAC sponsored by Perceptive Advisors. Caritas gets around $400 million in funding to start with, while Amicus adds about $200 million in private funding from ‘leading biotechnology investors.’”
J&J Wins Multiplaintiff Mo. Talc Trial After High Court Setback: “A Missouri state jury on Monday rejected claims that Johnson & Johnson's flagship talcum powder caused the ovarian cancer in three women, the state's first multiplaintiff talc verdict since the U. S. Supreme Court passed on the company's challenge to such trials.”
Cherokee Nation Inks $75M Opioid Deal With Distributors: “The Cherokee Nation announced Tuesday that it's reached a $75 million settlement with AmerisourceBergen Corp. , Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp. over claims that the companies contributed to the opioid epidemic. According to a statement by the Cherokee Nation, the deal will see the funds distributed over 6½ years, and it represents the largest settlement in its history.”
About healthcare finance
Health-Care Deals Stay Strong in August Amid Covid-19 Surge: “Overall, August saw 252 deals, bringing the monthly average for the year to 243, a sharp increase over 2020’s average of 161…
The life sciences and health-care information technology sectors led the way during August, with 53 and 36 closed and announced transactions, respectively.”