About Covid-19
China’s disappearing data stokes fears of hidden Covid wave “China is under-reporting coronavirus cases and fatalities, obscuring the scale and severity of the health crisis just as the world’s most populous country enters its deadliest phase of the pandemic, analysts warn. Official statistics on Friday revealed no new deaths and only 16,363 locally transmitted coronavirus cases in China, less than half the peak caseload reported last month.”
About health insurance/insurers
Employers estimate health benefits costs will rise 5.4% next year: Mercer “Analysts at Mercer polled more than 2,000 employers representing 124 million full-time and part-time employees and found that they expect benefits costs to increase by 5.4% next year. And they're expecting faster cost growth to continue in the near future, according to the survey.”
Florida physician gets 40 months for kickbacks, bribes “The former owner of a Sarasota, Fla.-based pain management clinic was sentenced to 40 months in prison for his role in a $4.5 million fraud scheme involving the fentanyl spray Subsys.
Steven Chun, MD, 59, was sentenced after being found guilty on six counts related to receiving kickbacks, according to a Dec. 7 Justice Department news release. Dr. Chun was found guilty in May along with Insys Therapeutics sales representative Daniel Tondre.
he Justice Department said Insys, through Mr. Tondre, marketed Subsys to Dr. Chun by holding sham speaker events, paying him between $2,400 to $3,000 per event in return for him writing prescriptions for greater quantities and higher doses of the spray than necessary.”
3 providers to pay $22.5M to settle Medicaid fraud allegations in California “Three providers will pay out $22.5 million across two separate settlements to resolve false claims allegations in California, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.
Dignity Health and two Tenet Healthcare subsidiaries will settle allegations that they violated both federal and state false claims laws by submitting fraudulent claims to California's Medicaid program, Medi-Cal. Dignity Health will pay $13.5 million to the U.S. government and $1.5 million to the state to resolve the allegations.
About hospitals and healthcare systems
Hospitals in the US are the fullest they’ve been throughout the pandemic – but it’s not just Covid
“Hospitals are more full than they’ve been throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a CNN analysis of data from the US Department of Health and Human Services. But as respiratory virus season surges across the US, it’s much more than Covid that’s filling beds this year.
More than 80% of hospital beds are in use nationwide, jumping 8 percentage points in the past two weeks.”
U of Michigan Health to acquire, invest $800M in 6-hospital system “The University of Michigan Health's board of regents on Dec. 8 approved a proposed agreement that would see it acquire Lansing, Mich.-based Sparrow Health System to become a $7 billion-health system with more than 200 sites of care.
Ann Arbor-based University of Michigan Health said it will inject $800 million into Sparrow, a six-hospital system, through facility projects, operations and strategic investments over eight years.”
About pharma
Gov. Jared Polis submits proposal to import prescription drugs from Canada “Gov. Jared Polis is taking action to try to save Coloradans money on their prescription medications. He submitted a proposal to the FDA to import prescription drugs from Canada on Monday.
This is the first step in getting approval to operate Colorado's ‘Canadian Drug Importation Program.’ The plan aims to save Coloradans an average of 65% on imported medication.
That could result in $53 to $88 million saved each year.”
Complementary and Alternative Medicines in the Management of Heart Failure: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association An excellent review. Go to the end and look at the Figure.
Homeopathic Products The FDA just updated its guidance on these products. In short: “Products labeled as homeopathic and currently marketed in the U.S. have not been reviewed by the FDA for safety and effectiveness to diagnose, treat, cure, prevent or mitigate any diseases or conditions.”
"While products labeled as homeopathic are generally labeled as highly diluted, some of these products have been found to contain measurable amounts of active ingredients and therefore could cause significant patient harm. Additionally, FDA has tested products that were improperly manufactured, which can cause incorrect dilutions and increase the potential for contamination. Further, some products labeled as homeopathic are marketed to treat serious diseases or conditions.”
About the public’s health
Texas state court throws out lawsuit against doctor who violated abortion law “A judge in San Antonio has thrown out a lawsuit filed against a Texas abortion provider who intentionally violated a controversial state abortion law.
The law, known as Senate Bill 8, allows anyone to bring a lawsuit against someone who “aids or abets” in an abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. On Thursday, state District Judge Aaron Haas in Bexar County said people who have no connection to the prohibited abortion and have not been harmed by it do not have standing to bring these lawsuits.
Thursday’s ruling sets an important precedent but does not overturn the law, said Marc Hearron, senior counsel for the Center for Reproductive Rights.”
EU Approves Takeda’s Dengue Vaccine “The European Commission (EC) has approved Takeda’s dengue Qdenga vaccine for individuals four years and older in preventing dengue, a mosquito-borne disease that can cause severe bleeding and shock.
The approval was supported by results from multiple clinical trials in which the vaccine prevented 80 percent of symptomatic dengue cases at 12 months after vaccination.”
HHS, Providers Drop Trump Health Worker Conscience Rule Appeals “The Second Circuit Thursday ended a fight over a Trump administration rule that threatened to strip health-care entities of federal money if they disciplined workers for refusing to provide services that violate their moral or religious beliefs.
The federal appeals court certified the parties’ stipulation withdrawing their challenge of a decision that vacated the rule from its review. The rule was touted as a means of strengthening health-care workers’ conscience rights, but never took effect, due to litigation that resulted in its invalidation.”
About healthcare IT
A Twitter data tracker inhabits tens of thousands of websites “Tens of thousands of websites belonging to government agencies, Fortune 500 companies and other organizations host Twitter computer code that sends visitor information to the social media giant, according to research first reported by The Cybersecurity 202 [Washington Post]. And virtually none of them have used a Twitter feature to put restrictions on what the company can do with that data, said digital ad analysis firm Adalytics, which conducted the study.”
Read the study! Many healthcare organizations are affected, including HHS.
More than 620,000 patients' data breached in CommonSpirit ransomware attack, new report shows “More than 620,000 patients of Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health had their data breached in the recent ransomware attack on the nation's second-largest nonprofit health system, according to a report to the HHS Office of Civil Rights.
That cyberattack led to widespread IT outages and appointment disruptions across the health system's nationwide network of hospitals beginning in early October.”
About healthcare finance
Deal volume remains resilient despite headwinds From PwC: “For select sectors, M&A volume retreated when compared to the historic levels experienced in 2021; however, the health services sector continued an impressive display of volume level through the last 12 months (LTM) ending November 15.
While traditional buy-side activity comprised a portion of this volume, an upcoming PwC study has identified the role divestitures can play in creating value in the healthcare sector.
PwC anticipates increased divestitures activity within health services for 2023 based on a variety of economic, regulatory and overall strategic repositioning.”