About Covid-19
Cases of BQ.1, BQ.1.1 COVID variants double in U.S. as Europe warns of rise “U.S. health regulators on Friday estimated that BQ.1 and closely related BQ.1.1 accounted for 16.6% of coronavirus variants in the country, nearly doubling from last week, while Europe expects them to become the dominant variants in a month.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said the variants are likely to drive up cases in the coming weeks to months in the European region.
The two variants are descendants of Omicron's BA.5 subvariant, which is the dominant form of the coronavirus in the United States. Regulators in Europe and the U.S. have recently authorized vaccine boosters that target it.”
Among Seniors, a Declining Interest in Boosters “Although Americans over 65 remain the demographic most likely to have received the original series of vaccinations, at 92 percent, their interest in keeping their vaccinations up-to-date is steadily declining, data from the C.D.C. shows. To date, about 71 percent have received the first recommended booster, but only about 44 percent have received the second.”
About health insurance/insurers
Elevance Health CEO says company is now the nation's largest commercial insurer “Elevance Health, formerly Anthem, is now the largest commercial health insurer in the nation by total membership, according to the company's CEO, Gail Boudreaux.
’Over the past year, we've grown to serve 2.2 million more consumers, with both our commercial and government businesses delivering robust growth that solidifies our position as the largest carrier by U.S.-based medical membership,’ she said during a call with investors Oct. 19.
As of Sept. 30, total membership at Elevance was 47.3 million, an increase of 4.9 percent year over year. Total commercial and specialty membership was 31.4 million, and government was nearly 15.9 million. Elevance has 11.3 million Medicaid members and 1.97 million Medicare Advantage beneficiaries.”
About healthcare IT
Highmark steps up coverage of prescription digital therapies as companies see momentum in the payer market “Pittsburgh-based Highmark plans to expand insurance coverage for some prescription digital therapeutics cleared by the Food and Drug Administration, marking a major step forward for app makers in the market.”
About health technology
Medtronic to spin out respiratory, patient monitoring divisions amid flagging ventilator sales “Medtronic laid out plans to spin out its patient monitoring and respirator businesses into a separate company, pitching it as a global player with devices across the hospital and the home spanning $2.2 billion in annual sales.
The new enterprise will shepherd the medtech giant’s Puritan Bennett brand of ventilators—which had once seen wide demand during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, though sales have since dramatically declined—as well as Medtronic’s connected bedside monitors, pulse oximetry sensors and anesthesia hardware.”
Oxford Nanopore debuts portable version of its high-throughput DNA sequencer “The company’s PromethION 2 Solo is described as a portable device, about the size of a large book, that can deliver high-yield sequencing at an affordable rate. It uses the same sequencing hardware as its larger PromethION predecessors, which run 24 or 48 flow cells.
With its hardware starting at $10,455, Oxford Nanopore said in its announcement that the Solo can deliver comprehensive human genomes for less than $1,000 apiece—or for between $300 and $600 each when operating in bulk and connected to the company’s larger flow cell equipment.”