About Covid-19
52% of Americans think COVID-19 PHE still needed “Fifty-two percent of Americans think a public health emergency should still be in effect for COVID-19, according to a new survey from Morning Consult.
Morning Consult conducted the survey from Dec. 14-19 with 2,210 adults, posting the question, "In your opinion, do you think a public health emergency should be in effect currently for COVID-19?"
Responses broke down as follows:
Yes, definitely: 23 percent
Yes, probably: 29 percent
No, probably not: 21 percent
No, definitely not: 17 percent
Don't know or no opinion: 10 percent”
About health insurance/insurers
Trends in Reported Health Care Affordability for Men and Women With Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance [ESI] Coverage in the US, 2000 to 2020 “A higher proportion of women than men with ESI reported that they were unable to afford needed health care, although the proportion experiencing unaffordability was low except for dental care. Lower income and higher health care needs among women could be driving sex differences in reported affordability. For both women and men, the trends (for most services) changed from increasing unaffordability to decreasing and then to increasing again. Although the Affordable Care Act extended ESI coverage to uninsured young adults through its dependent coverage provision, eliminated cost sharing for preventive services, and implemented maternal care coverage, rising health care costs, growth in high-deductible plans, and increased out-of-pocket health care expenditures may have contributed to increased unaffordability in recent years.”
Humana, TriWest tapped for $136B Tricare managed care contracts “Humana Military and TriWest Healthcare Alliance have been awarded the Defense Department's Tricare managed care support contracts.
Humana Military was awarded the $70.9 billion East Region contract, according to a Dec. 22 news release from the department. This is the sixth time Humana has been selected for a Tricare contract dating to 1996, according to a news release from the company.
TriWest Healthcare Alliance was awarded the $65.1 billion West Region contract, according to the Defense Department release…
The new contracts begin in 2024, according to the Defense Department. The nine-year contracts are the longest in the program's history, according to Humana.”
About hospitals and healthcare systems
Big Nonprofit Hospitals Expand in Wealthier Areas, Shun Poorer Ones A really good investigative journalism piece from The Wall Street Journal.
"Many of the nation’s largest nonprofit hospital systems, which give aid to poorer communities to earn tax breaks, have been leaving those areas and moving into wealthier ones as they have added and shed hospitals in the last two decades.
As nonprofits, these regional and national giants reap $8.8 billion from tax breaks annually, by one Johns Hopkins University researcher’s estimate. Among their obligations, they are expected to provide free medical care to those least able to afford it.
Many top nonprofits, however, avoid communities where more people are likely to need that aid, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of nearly 470 transactions. As these systems grew, many were more likely to divest or close hospitals in low-income communities than to add them.”
About pharma
FDA grants fast-track review for over-the-counter overdose drug “The nonprofit pharmaceutical company Harm Reduction Therapeutics on Monday said in a release the FDA had granted it priority review for a new drug application for RiVive, a naloxone nasal spray for emergency overdose treatment.”
About healthcare IT
Philadelphia-area Company To Pay $45 Million Whistleblower Settlement For Outsourcing Heart Monitoring To India “A Philadelphia region company has agreed to pay $44.875 million to settle allegations that it defrauded U.S. taxpayers by outsourcing critical remote medical services to technicians in India who were not properly trained.
The fraud allegations against Malvern, Pa.-based BioTelemetry, Inc., now a Royal Philips company, emerged through a whistleblower lawsuit brought by Ross Feller Casey, LLP, of Philadelphia, on behalf of former company employees.”
About healthcare personnel
Trends in Labor Unionization Among US Health Care Workers, 2009-2021 “In this cross-sectional study of 14 298 US health care workers, the prevalence of reported labor unionization was 13.2%, with no significant change from 2009 through 2021. Reported membership or coverage by a labor union was significantly associated with higher weekly earnings and better noncash benefits but greater number of weekly work hours.”