HHS further delays rule that could void thousands of regulations: “HHS will further delay the start date on a rule that would require the department to eliminate existing regulations after 10 years unless the department reviewed them and could justify keeping the regulation in place, according to an March 3 Federal Register notice.
The Securing Updated and Necessary Statutory Evaluations Timely, or SUNSET rule, was finalized by HHS a day before President Joe Biden's inauguration. The policy was slated to take effect in March 2021, but HHS postponed the final rule until March of this year.
Now, the rule will be delayed by another six months to Sept. 22, pending judicial review, HHS said.”
About Covid-19
More than 90% of U.S. population in areas where masks not needed -CDC: "The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday said some 93% of the U.S. population live in locations where COVID-19 levels are low enough that people do not need to wear masks indoors…
When it announced the revised guidelines, the CDC said about 70% of U.S. counties and 72% of the U.S. population were in communities where indoor face coverings are no longer recommended. The CDC plans to update its county ratings weekly.
The agency said on Thursday that 85.4% of counties now rank as low or medium risk and 92.9% of the population lives in those counties.”
Health care workers don unnecessary protective gear. The CDC and WHO need to update their PPE guidance: “Having taken care of hundreds of Covid-19 patients, we would have no concern about entering a patient’s room without an isolation gown, because this infection is transmitted through the air via droplets and aerosols, not by touching a contaminated surface. Although hand washing is always an important part of infection prevention efforts, contamination of one’s clothes, hair and shoes have never been shown to be a problem.
It makes no sense for health care workers to gown up to go into the rooms of Covid-19 patients they often have fleeting contact with.
The CDC also needs to dial back on its messaging that cleaning surfaces and using hand sanitizer will decrease the risk of Covid transmission, when there is no evidence to support either.”
The authors stress that the needless PPE use also adds to a problem of medical waste.
About health insurance
CMS URGES STATES TO TAKE IT SLOW —In a Thursday letter, Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services Director Daniel Tsai cautioned states not to rush through the process of determining whether Medicaid enrollees are still eligible for their health coverage when the pandemic ends. Many state officials and Medicaid advocates have long worried about what will happen when the redetermination process resumes…
Some highlights:
A new timeline: Federal health officials had planned to give states 12 months to complete their work. Now, they’re being given 14 months — 12 months to start the renewals and an extra two months to wrap up.
A request for data: States would be required to submit data monthly over 14-months to demonstrate their progress toward completing the redetermination process.
A word of caution: Federal health officials warn states that, if they don’t stick to CMS’ timeline and try to rush through the redetermination process, they might face corrective action.”
Seeking to Shift Costs to Medicare, More Employers Move Retirees to Advantage Plans: “Over the past decade, an increasing number of employers have taken a similar deal, using the government’s Medicare Advantage program as an alternative to their existing retiree health plan and traditional Medicare coverage. Employers and insurers negotiate behind closed doors to design a private Medicare Advantage plan available only to retirees from that employer. Then, just as it does for private individuals choosing a Medicare Advantage plan, the federal government pays the insurer a set amount for each person in the plan.
Experts say this arrangement often saves the employer money because the federal payment reduces the employer’s share of the cost of coverage…
The number of beneficiaries in employer-sponsored Medicare Advantage plans has soared from about 1.6 million in 2008 to more than 5 million last year, according to CMS…”
About hospitals and healthcare systems
Court Tosses Medicare Reimbursement Boost for Low-Wage Hospitals: “Congressionally required adjustments in Medicare reimbursements designed to account for regional differences in labor costs cannot be further adjusted to give an extra boost to low-wage hospitals, a federal district judge ruled.
The lawsuit was filed by a group of hospitals challenging a 2019 regulation issued to address wages disparities among hospitals. The hospitals claimed they would receive reduced reimbursements as a result of the regulation.”
About pharma
Robotic pill can orally deliver large doses of biologic drugs: Biologics cannot be given orally because they are digested before the active ingredients are absorbed. “Now, NIBIB [National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering]-funded researchers are developing a robotic pill that, after swallowing, can deliver biologic drugs into the stomach, which could potentially revolutionize the way that certain conditions are treated…
Once the pill has been swallowed and makes its way into the stomach, it uses its weighted bottom to orient itself properly, so that its injection mechanism is flush against the stomach wall. After a few minutes, a carbohydrate pellet at the top of the pill dissolves, activating a spring and enabling a needle to inject the biologic drug into the stomach tissue. Then, a second, newly exposed pellet dissolves, freeing the spring and retracting the needle back inside the pill, allowing for safe passage of the device through the gastrointestinal tract…
In their study, reported in Nature Biotechnology, the authors loaded their robotic pills with one of four biologic drugs—insulin; a glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) analog (also used for the management of diabetes); adalimumab (brand name Humira®, an immunosuppressive drug used for a variety of conditions, including arthritis and Crohn's disease); or epinephrine (for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions or asthma attacks).”
About the public’s health
Study finds drinking wine with meals was associated with lower risk of type 2 diabetes:
“Research Highlights:
A study including nearly 312,000 current drinkers suggests consuming moderate amounts of alcohol (no more than 14 grams per day for women and 28 grams per day for men), especially wine, with meals was associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Lower type 2 diabetes risk occurred only when people drank alcohol with meals, not when alcohol was consumed alone.
Only moderate amounts of alcohol had a positive impact on the development of type 2 diabetes – up to one glass of wine daily for women and up to two glasses daily for men.
The American Heart Association recommends that adults who do not drink alcohol should not start. Among adults who drink alcohol regularly, they should talk with their doctors about the benefits and risks of consuming alcohol in moderation. Experts caution these results are not a reason for nondrinkers to start consuming alcohol.”
The Association Between E-Cigarette Use and Prediabetes: Results From the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2016–2018: “We defined sole E-cigarette users as current E-cigarette users who are never combustible-cigarette users, and dual users were defined as both current E-cigarette and combustible-cigarette users…
In this representative sample of U.S. adults, E-cigarette use was associated with greater odds of prediabetes. The results were consistent in sole E-cigarette users.”
About healthcare IT
Microsoft closes on $16 billion acquisition of Nuance : “The deal, which was announced last year, helps Microsoft Corp. get more entrenched into hospitals and the health care industry through Nuance’s widely used medical dictation and transcription tools. The acquisition is Microsoft’s second-largest after its $26 billion purchase of career networking service LinkedIn in 2016.”
Health information exchanges boost physician referrals 46%: study: “A study from the New York-based University at Buffalo School of Management analyzed datasets from 22,000 Medicare beneficiaries in Western New York from 2009 to 2012 to examine the impact of health information exchanges on patient referral.
Researchers found that physicians who joined an exchange experienced a 44 percent to 46 percent increase in the rate of referrals to and from other members.”