About Covid-19
Wisconsin Supreme Court to hear ivermectin treatment case “The Wisconsin Supreme Court will determine whether a court can compel a hospital to provide ivermectin as treatment for COVID-19.
A Dec. 23 article published on the AMA website detailed a lawsuit filed against a Wisconsin hospital. After a patient was forced to be intubated, the patient's nephew tried to compel physicians to give his uncle ivermectin, a treatment experts say is ineffective against COVID-19. His uncle has since recovered and was released from the hospital…
Wisconsin law does not require physicians to provide treatment that medical evidence suggests will not benefit patients and may cause harm, the brief said. Ivermectin is not approved or recommended by the CDC or FDA for treating COVID-19, and the National Institutes of Health, World Health Organization and the drug's manufacturer, Merck, say there is insufficient evidence to support using ivermectin to treat COVID-19.”
My non-legal opinion is that the court will dismiss the case outright in favor of physician judgement and federal approval of treatments. On the other hand it may sidestep the issue and dismiss the case, saying that it is moot because the patient recovered and does not need currently require treatment.
Imagine the consequences if the court rules for the plaintiff…bring in the leaches!
About health insurance/insurers
Cost-Sharing Reform for Chronic Disease Treatments as a Strategy to Improve Health Care Equity and Value in the US The authors make the point that out-of-pocket expenses are not likely to reduce demand, since those with chronic diseases need the treatments. Further, cost sharing can only hurt- contributing to lower compliance due to high expenses.
Performance of Physician Groups and Hospitals Participating in Bundled Payments Among Medicare Beneficiaries “Findings This cohort study with a difference-in-differences analysis found that physician group practices participating in bundled payments had associated savings with surgical but not medical episodes, whereas participating hospitals had savings associated with both episode types.
Meaning The findings of this cohort study suggest that policy makers should consider the comparative performance of participant type when designing and evaluating future bundled payment models.”
Beneficiary Switching Between Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage Between 2016 and 2020 “While switching rates from MA to TM exceeded those for TM to MA in 2016, this pattern was reversed from 2017 through 2020. In 2020, TM-to-MA switching rates were almost 4 and 2.5 times higher than switching rates from MA to TM for Medicare only and Medicare-Medicaid enrollees, respectively. As a result, switching accounted for a growing share of new MA enrollment growth, increasing from 49% in 2016 to 67% in 2020.
While switching rates were not substantively different by sex, they generally declined with age. Switching patterns by mortality status also changed materially. In 2016, beneficiaries in their last year of life were more than twice as likely to disenroll from MA than from TM (5.4% vs 2.6%). By 2020, the trend had reversed (3.1% vs 5.1%).
Black and Hispanic beneficiaries generally switched at greater rates than White beneficiaries, and these differences have become more pronounced and were associated with the shift from TM to MA. By 2020, Black and Hispanic beneficiaries were more than twice as likely to disenroll from TM as White beneficiaries (13.4% and 13.5%, respectively, vs 5.9%). These switching patterns also persisted for beneficiaries during the last year of life.”
As MA is expected to exceed 50% of national Medicare enrollment next year, these findings are somewhat reassuring.
About hospitals and healthcare systems
INCREASE IN LENGTH OF STAY ADDS TO HOSPITALS' FINANCIAL STRAIN “To increase collections and build a stronger, more positive relationship with patients amid these struggles, revenue cycle leaders are putting the spotlight on the patient experience, but as staffing shortages hit organizations’ hard and patients’ length-of-stay grow, these goals seem more unattainable.
The average length-of-stay in hospitals has increased by about 19% for patients in 2022 compared to 2019, according to data from the healthcare consulting firm Strata Decision Technology.
These delays in hospitals’ ability to discharge patients, as well as the negative consequences on both patients and hospitals, was stressed in a recent report released by the American Hospital Association (AHA).”
About pharma
House investigation faults FDA, Biogen for Alzheimer’s drug approval A good summary of the Aduhelm fiasco: “ The biotechnology company Biogen and its regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, worked in concert, ignoring internal concerns from the company and skirting the agency’s own written guidance, to allow the Alzheimer’s treatment Aduhelm to receive accelerated approval and hit the market at a cost to patients of $56,000 a year, according to a scathing report released Thursday by two House committees.”
Also, see: FDA, Biogen, and an Alzheimer’s drug approval: 8 key takeaways from congressional investigation
About health technology
Trade Commission Sides with AliveCor, Orders Halt in Imports of Certain Apple Watches “The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has affirmed its June initial decision and has once again sided with AliveCor that Apple infringed on AliveCor’s wearable electrocardiogram (ECG) device patents, potentially halting importation of certain Apple watches.
The cease and desist order sets a bond of $2 per unit of infringing Apple watches imported or sold during the required 60-day period during which President Biden must review the decision. If President Biden takes no action, the ITC’s final ruling will stand.”
About healthcare finance
10 biggest health funding rounds of 2022 FYI
10 largest hospital groups and their 2022 credit ratings FYI
Biggest health deals of 2022 FYI
Biggest is not always wisest. let’s look at these over the next year.