About Covid-19
White House: No plans to change definition of 'fully vaccinated': “‘Individuals are considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19 if they've received their primary series, that definition is not changing,’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said at a press briefing.
She said that the CDC is instead using the term ‘up to date’ to encourage people to get boosters.”
Pfizer to supply U.S. with 10 mln more courses of COVID-19 pills: “The Biden administration doubled its order for Pfizer Inc's oral COVID-19 antiviral treatment, the company and the White House said on Tuesday, providing the government a total of 20 million courses as it fights a record surge in COVID-19 cases.”
Unions go to court to get OSHA to release permanent COVID-19 protection standard: “The AFL- CIO, National Nurses United and other major unions filed a petition Wednesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals to force the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to make a permanent COVID-19 protection standard in place of the temporary measure installed last June.
Unions say a permanent standard that details minimum standards for equipment and staffing numbers is vital as the omicron variant has helped fuel surges of COVID-19 across the country.”
Omicron Causes Delay of FDA Inspections, as Well as Planning of In-Person Foreign Inspections: “The FDA has announced that due to the fast-spreading Omicron variant of COVID-19, it will postpone the planning of prioritized surveillance foreign inspection assignments that were scheduled to begin in February 2022, as well as postponing nonmission-critical work.”
About the public’s health
Cancer Incidence, Mortality, Years of Life Lost, Years Lived With Disability, and Disability-Adjusted Life Years for 29 Cancer Groups From 2010 to 2019: “In this systematic analysis, there were 23.6 million new global cancer cases in 2019 (17.2 million when excluding those with nonmelanoma skin cancer), 10.0 million cancer deaths, and an estimated 250 million disability-adjusted life years estimated to be due to cancer; since 2010, these represent increases of 26.3%, 20.9%, and 16.0%, respectively. Absolute cancer burden increased in all SDI [Sociodemographic Index] quintiles since 2010, but the largest percentage increases occurred in the low and low-middle SDI quintiles…
The study results suggest that increased cancer prevention and control efforts are needed to equitably address the evolving and increasing burden of cancer across the SDI spectrum.”
See Figure 2 for “Cancer Group Rankings by Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) in 2019 and Percentage Change From 2010 to 2019.”
Trajectories of Prescription Drug Misuse Among US Adults From Ages 18 to 50 Years: “US adults born from 1965 to 1996 had high exposure to controlled medications, yet little is known about how this exposure has affected them over time. Prescription drug misuse (PDM) has increased among adults in the past 2 decades, with related increases in emergency department visits, overdoses, and deaths…
This cohort study included 11 cohorts of adolescents who were followed up longitudinally from age 18 years (study start, 1976-1986) to age 50 years (2008-2018) in the Monitoring the Future (MTF) study, which included a national multistage random sample of US 12th grade students.”
”In this cohort study of 26 575 individuals followed up from ages 18 to 50 years, nearly half of respondents reported prescription drug misuse. All prescription drug misuse trajectories had significantly increased odds of developing substance use disorder symptoms in adulthood, especially later peak trajectories, and baseline characteristics associated with prescription drug misuse trajectories included belonging to more recent cohorts, binge drinking, cigarette smoking, and using marijuana.”
One criticism is that 79.3% of study participants were white.
2022’s Best and Worst Cities for Active Life Style: At the top are San Francisco and Chicago. At the bottom are Winston-Salem (99) and North Las Vegas (100).
Pharmacists can give flu shots in states where they're not licensed, HHS says: “HHS is permitting pharmacists and qualified pharmacy interns to administer flu vaccines in states where they are not licensed or certified, effective Jan. 7.
HHS released an amendment to the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act for Medical Countermeasures Against COVID-19, allowing licensed pharmacists and pharmacy interns in good standing to prescribe, dispense and administer flu shots in any state. Pharmacists may also order vaccines in states where they're not licensed.”
About healthcare IT
Study rates every state’s telehealth laws for patient access and ease of providing services: The study looks at eight dimensions that facilitate telehealth care. For example: “Only three states — Arizona, Florida, and Indiana — allow all providers to easily practice telehealth across state lines. Forty-seven others have arbitrary barriers in place that limit patients’ access to specialists and available appointments based purely on residency.”
Hackers hit Broward Health network, potentially exposing data on 1.3M patients, staff: “The southeast Florida health system, which operates more than 30 healthcare locations in Broward County, disclosed it was hit with a cyberattack on Oct. 15, 2021, when an intruder gained unauthorized access to the hospital's network and patient data through a third-party medical provider, according to a statement posted to the health system's website Saturday…
Broward Health said it waited months to notify victims and make the breach public because the DOJ told them to hold off on sending out breach notification letters to preserve an ongoing law enforcement investigation…”
Ciox Health data breach affects AdventHealth, Northwestern and 30 more providers: “Health information management company Ciox Health has notified 32 providers of an email security incident affecting their patients' protected health information.
The company said an unauthorized person accessed a Ciox employee's email account between June 24, 2021, and July 2, 2021, and they may have downloaded emails and attachments in the account.”
The article lists clients affected by the breach.
Stryker ponies up $3B to buy Vocera and amp up its digital communications: “The care coordination provider found new value during the COVID-19 pandemic, when clinicians and surgeons needed to find new ways to connect with their patients remotely and also to streamline their efforts to help meet the high demand for real-time, personal interactions.
Stryker said it plans to wield Vocera’s portfolio—which includes smartphone apps and workflow analytics software as well as its own hand-held communications hardware for hospital staff—to link up the medtech’s various data-generating medical devices.”
About pharma
Amgen chooses Generate in $1.9B biobucks deal to churn out up to 10 multispecific drugs: “The pair announced the deal Thursday morning, which includes $50 million upfront for the initial five program, with an option to collaborate on five more. Amgen will pay up to $370 million in milestones and also royalties for each resulting program from the pact, with a total potential transaction value of $1.9 billion in biobucks for Generate. Specific indications or disease areas were not disclosed in the announcement.”
Pfizer and BioNTech team up to develop mRNA-based shingles vaccine: “Pfizer and BioNTech have chosen to target shingles, for which GSK had a vaccine approved in 2017. GSK’s Shingrix is more than 90 per cent effective but the UK drugmaker has struggled to increase production to meet demand. Pfizer and BioNTech hope that a shot based on mRNA technology will be easier to scale up than Shingrix, which is a protein-based vaccine with an adjuvant.”
About health insurance
Complaints about medical billing: As previously reported, federal Surprise Medical Bill provisions became effective January 1. This CMS website allows patients to submit a complaint about such a bill.
North Carolina Physician Indicted for Adulterating Medical Devices for Reuse on Patients, Fabricating Records, and Other Charges: “A federal grand jury returned an indictment today charging a Raleigh woman with Adulteration of Medical Devices, Paying Illegal Remunerations, Making and Using Materially False Healthcare Documents, Mail Fraud, and Conspiracy.
According to the Superseding Indictment, between 2014 and 2018, Anita Louise Jackson, 58, billed Medicare more than $46 million for allegedly rendering more than 1,200 incidents of “balloon sinuplasty” services to more than 700 patients. Her practice, Greater Carolina Ear, Nose, and Throat (GCENT), received more than $5.4 Million for the services. During portions of this same time period, Jackson was the top-paid provider of balloon sinuplasty services in the United States, despite the location of her practice outside of a major metropolitan area. Jackson profited substantially from these billings to the Medicare program.”
About healthcare personnel
Governor Hochul Announces Direct Payments to Healthcare Workers as Part of $10 Billion Healthcare Plan: “Governor Kathy Hochul today announced a $10 billion multi-year investment in healthcare, the largest in State history, to rebuild and grow the healthcare workforce and strengthen the healthcare system as part of the 2022 State of the State. The plan will invest $10 billion in New York State’s healthcare sector, including more than $4 billion to support wages and bonuses for healthcare workers, and will invest in the healthcare workforce development pipeline to meet the current and increasing demand for medical professionals.”