About Covid-19
Mask mandate extended for air travel and public transit through May 3 “Masks will continue to be required until at least May 3 when flying commercially and in other transportation settings, including on buses, ferries and subways, while health officials monitor an uptick in coronavirus cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.”
The world surpasses half a billion known coronavirus cases, amid concerns about testing ”The number of new cases reported around the globe each day has been declining for some time now; the average over the past week has been about 1.1 million cases a day, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. That’s about 32 percent fewer than two weeks ago.
But over the course of the pandemic, countries with limited public health resources may only have detected and confirmed a tiny fraction of the cases in their populations. And more recent figures may miss many at-home rapid test results that are never officially reported.”
Delta Air Lines drops health insurance surcharge for unvaccinated employees “Delta Air Lines ended its $200 monthly health insurance surcharge for unvaccinated employees, CEO Ed Bastian said during an earnings call April 13.
Delta dropped the insurance surcharge this month. The policy was announced in August 2021 and took effect in November 2021.”
This change might presage other companies’ actions.
About health insurance
Marketplace Premiums Continue to Decline As Competition Rises From the RWJF: “Key Findings
Premiums for benchmark plans in the marketplace fell 1.8 percent nationally in 2022, following declines of 3.2 percent in 2020 and 1.7 percent in 2021. These trends contrast with premium increases in employer-sponsored plans of 3.6 percent in 2021 and 3.9 percent in 2020.
Most states saw reductions in marketplace premiums, but premium prices varied considerably across states. Eleven states had average benchmark premiums of more than $500 a month for a 40-year-old nonsmoker, while six states had premiums less than $365 per month for similar individuals.
Regions with higher unemployment rates saw higher premium increases.
The number of insurers participating in the marketplace increased from 198 to 288 between 2020 and 2022 in the regions analyzed. Additionally, increases in the number of insurers in a marketplace correlated with lower premium increases. Health premiums in markets with only one insurer were $189.50 higher, on average, relative to markets with five or more insurers.”
Judge tosses Cigna lawsuit from shareholders over loss of $1.85B termination fee in failed Anthem merger “A Delaware judge dismissed a lawsuit from Cigna shareholders April 7 that claimed executives with the company fumbled a $1.85 billion termination fee following the failed $54 billion merger with Anthem in 2017…
The lawsuit alleged that Cigna President and CEO David Cordani, six board members, Cigna's attorney and Teneo consultants spread misinformation, undermined the proposed merger and violated their fiduciary duties. Shareholders also claimed that Mr. Cordani sabotaged the proposal because he would not remain CEO of the new company.
The chancery court ruled that stockholders did not prove it would have been pointless to demand an investigation of damage claims by the payer's board.”
Optum Ventures invests in personal assistant service for aging adults “Optum Ventures is investing in senior care startup DUOS to help fuel the company's growth and build out its technology capabilities.
Launched in 2021, New York-based DUOS helps place expert personal assistants, called “Duos," into the homes of seniors. The company works directly with consumers as well as with payer and provider organizations.”
About hospitals and healthcare systems
Hospital Cost Tool “The National Academy for State Health Policy’s (NASHP) Hospital Cost Tool (HCT) dashboard aims to provide state policymakers and researchers with analytical insights into how much hospitals spend on patient care services, and how such costs relate to the hospital charges (list prices) and actual prices paid by health plans. The dashboard reports on a range of measures for hospital revenue, costs, profitability, and break-even points across over 4,600 hospitals nationwide for the period from 2011 through 2019. The dashboard offers options to view data at the hospital, state, and health system levels. The underlying HCT dataset includes approximately 60 variables extracted and calculated using data from the national Healthcare Cost Report Information System (HCRIS) as the main data source. Hospitals in this dataset represent approximately 70 million patient discharges and $49 billion hospital net income in the most recent reporting year.”
Fascinating data base and worth "playing” with entries.
Hospitals challenge Lown Institute's community benefits rankings A followup to yesterday’s article. Read the article for details, but briefly, Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the AHA, “said the report ignores certain categories of community investment, such as researching lifesaving treatments and cures and training and educating the healthcare workforce.”
Comment: Hospitals receive research grants for new technology development and graduate medical education payments.
Providence Health & Services Agrees to Pay $22.7 Million to Resolve Liability From Medically Unnecessary Neurosurgery Procedures at Providence St. Mary’s Medical Center “Providence Health & Services Washington (Providence) has agreed to pay $22,690,458 to resolve allegations that it fraudulently billed Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health care programs for medically unnecessary neurosurgery procedures…
Between 2013 and 2018, Providence St. Mary’s employed neurosurgeons identified in the Settlement Agreement as Dr. A and Dr. B. Providence St. Mary’s paid neurosurgeons based on a productivity metric that provided them a financial incentive to perform more surgical procedures of greater complexity. Between 2014 and 2018, Dr. A was one of the highest producing neurosurgeons in the entire Providence system. Between 2014 and 2017, based on the productivity metric, Providence paid Dr. A between $2.5 million and $2.9 million per year.”
About pharma
GSK adds to cancer portfolio with deal to buy Sierra Oncology “GlaxoSmithKline entered into an agreement to buy Sierra Oncology for $55 per share in cash, representing an equity value of around $1.9 billion, the companies announced Wednesday. The deal, which is expected to close by the third quarter, will bolster GlaxoSmithKline's oncology portfolio with the addition of the experimental drug momelotinib.
Earlier this year, Sierra reported that the Phase III MOMENTUM study of momelotinib in certain patients with myelofibrosis met all of its primary and key secondary endpoints, improving anaemia and other symptoms of the disease. Regulatory submissions for the orally bioavailable JAK1, JAK2 and ACVR1/ALK2 inhibitor are expected to be made in the US this quarter and in Europe in the second half of the year.”
Halozyme to Acquire Antares Pharma to Create a Specialty Product and Drug Delivery Leader “Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. and Antares Pharma, Inc. today announced that the companies have entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which Halozyme will acquire Antares for $5.60 per share in cash. The transaction, which values Antares at approximately $960 million, was unanimously approved by both the Halozyme and Antares Boards of Directors…
’The addition of Antares, particularly with its best-in-class auto injector platform and specialty commercial business, augments Halozyme's strategy, further strengthens our position as a leading drug delivery company and extends our strategy to include specialty products,’ said Dr. Helen Torley, president and chief executive officer of Halozyme.”
ICER finds bluebird's potential $2.1M gene therapy cost-effective as FDA adcomm scheduled for June The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) said Wednesday “that bluebird’s [the company does not capitalize its name] potential gene therapy for a rare blood disorder [beta thalassaemia, which is not very rare]— which goes before an FDA adcomm in June — could be cost-effective even though it may be one of the most expensive drugs to ever hit the US market.
At the proposed price of $2.1 million per treatment course (to be paid across five years, given treatment success), ICER said that all eligible patients could be treated with Zynteglo, or beti-cel, which is already approved in the EU, over that span without crossing the watchdog’s budget impact threshold of $734 million per year.”
About the public’s health
COVID-19, overdoses pushed US to highest death total ever “2021 was the deadliest year in U.S. history, and new data and research are offering more insights into how it got that bad.
The main reason for the increase in deaths? COVID-19, said Robert Anderson, who oversees the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s work on death statistics.
The agency this month quietly updated its provisional death tally. It showed there were 3.465 million deaths last year, or about 80,000 more than 2020′s record-setting total.”
In a related article: Changes in Life Expectancy Between 2019 and 2020 in the US and 21 Peer Countries “In this cross-sectional study, calculations of life expectancy based on official death counts revealed that US life expectancy decreased by 1.87 years overall, and by 3.70 years in Hispanic populations and 3.22 years in non-Hispanic Black populations. The decrease in life expectancy in peer countries was a mean of 0.58 years, with no country experiencing a decrease rivaling that of the US.”
STDs increased during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic “Reported cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the United States decreased during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, but most resurged by the end of that year. Reported cases of gonorrhea, syphilis, and congenital syphilis surpassed 2019 levels, while chlamydia declined (likely due to decreased STD screening and underdiagnosis during the pandemic). The data provide the clearest picture yet of COVID-19’s impact on the U.S. STD epidemic.”
Class Action Against Burger King Alleges Whoppers Packaging Contains Harmful Level of PFAS “On Monday, Azam Hussain filed a class action lawsuit in the Northern District of California against Burger King Corporation alleging unfair competition and fraud for the use of per- and polyfluoralkyl substances (PFAS) in its products packaging…
According to the complaint, the plaintiff has purchased products from Burger King including its popular Whopper product based on Burger King’s claims that the Whopper was safe for consumption and a sustainable product. However, Hussain argues that himself and other similarly situated consumers were harmed and deceived by Burger King’s false advertising due to the presence of PFASs in the Whopper’s packaging.”
Biden Administration Announces Boost for Rural Health Care in Midterm Election Push Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack “spoke to KHN ahead of an announcement Wednesday that the Agriculture Department has awarded $43 million in grants to 93 rural health care providers and community groups in 22 states. Biden administration Cabinet members are fanning out across the country to promote the benefits of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act and a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package to rural Americans.”
About healthcare personnel
Physician Partners of America to Pay $24.5 Million to Settle Allegations of Unnecessary Testing, Improper Remuneration to Physicians and a False Statement in Connection with COVID-19 Relief Funds “Physician Partners of America LLC (PPOA), headquartered in Tampa, Florida, its founder, Rodolfo Gari, and its former chief medical officer, Dr. Abraham Rivera, have agreed to pay $24.5 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by billing federal healthcare programs for unnecessary medical testing and services, paying unlawful remuneration to its physician employees and making a false statement in connection with a loan obtained through the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)…
The United States alleged that PPOA caused the submission of claims for medically unnecessary urine drug testing (UDT), by requiring its physician employees to order multiple tests at the same time without determining whether any testing was reasonable and necessary, or even reviewing the results of initial testing (presumptive UDT) to determine whether additional testing (definitive UDT) was warranted. PPOA’s affiliated toxicology lab then billed federal healthcare programs for the highest-level UDT. In addition, PPOA incentivized its physician employees to order presumptive UDT by paying them 40% of the profits from such testing in violation of the Stark Law…”
About health technology
Appeals court: J&J must pay $302M in pelvic mesh case “A California appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling that Johnson & Johnson must pay penalties to the state for deceptively marketing pelvic mesh implants for women, but reduced the amount by $42 million to $302 million.
Johnson & Johnson had appealed in 2020 after Superior Court Judge Eddie Sturgeon assessed the $344 million in penalties against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon.”