About Covid-19
Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine wins backing of CDC advisory panel “The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 12-to-0 to recommend the vaccine, with several members expressing hope that the vaccine’s makeup may persuade some people who have been reluctant to get vaccinated against Covid to finally roll up a sleeve. The vaccine is a recombinant protein product, developed with the same kind of approach that has been used for a number of vaccines over the years. Some people who have refused Covid vaccines have expressed hesitancy over the messenger RNA vaccines produced by Moderna and the Pfizer and BioNTech partnership.”
About health insurance
Americans Confused By Basic Health Insurance Terms But Happy With Their Plans “A recent Forbes Advisor survey of 2,000 Americans who have health insurance found that over three-quarters can’t identify the term “coinsurance” and nearly half incorrectly defined copayment and deductible. That’s just the beginning of their confusion about the U.S. health insurance system.
The survey also found fairly significant knowledge gaps about open enrollment, Health Savings Accounts and medical billing…
Although survey respondents are confused by medical bills and many don’t have a full grasp on health insurance terminology, the vast majority of those surveyed said they’re happy with their health plans.
That includes 91% of men who said they’re either very or somewhat happy with their health plan compared to 82% of women. Only 2% of men said they’re very or somewhat unhappy with their plan.”
US health insurers raise rates to match increase in usage”After putting off routine health care for much of the pandemic, Americans are now returning to doctors’ offices in big numbers — a trend that’s starting to show up in higher insurance rates across the country.
Health insurers in individual marketplaces across 13 states and Washington D.C. will raise rates an average of 10% next year, according to a review of rate filings by the Kaiser Family Foundation.”
Aiming to help small businesses, Maine will merge public health insurance markets “ The federal government has approved Maine’s plan to improve health insurance for small businesses through a change in the way the state offers coverage through the federal Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Maine plans to merge individual and small group coverage markets into a single, pooled market beginning in 2023. State officials believe the change will stabilize the health insurance market, and will extend federal funding through the Maine Guaranteed Access Reinsurance Association — which has stabilized Maine’s individual market since 2019 — to the small group market for the first time.”
This program is an example of an innovative state-based initiative.
About hospitals and healthcare systems
Minimum Staffing Requirements Could Cost Nursing Homes $10B Annually “Nursing homes would have to spend up to $10 billion per year and hire almost 188,000 nurses to comply with increased minimum staffing requirements, according to a report from the American Health Care Association (AHCA) and accounting and consulting firm CLA (CliftonLarsonAllen LLP).”
About pharma
Biogen agrees to pay $900 million to settle whistleblower case alleging kickbacks and sham speaking events “After a decade of legal squabbling, Biogen has agreed in principle to pay $900 million to settle a lawsuit filed by a former employee who alleged the company paid kickbacks to hundreds of physicians to boost sales of its multiple sclerosis drugs.”
However: Biogen Inc. (BIIB) Q2 Earnings and Revenues Surpass Estimates
About the public’s health
Officials reorganize HHS to boost pandemic response “The Biden administration is reorganizing the federal health department to create an independent division that would lead the nation’s pandemic response, amid frustrations with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The move elevates a roughly 1,000-person office within the department — known as the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, or ASPR — into a separate division, charged with coordinating the nation’s response to health emergencies, according to seven people briefed on the plan who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment, and a memo obtained by The Washington Post.”
FDA finds toxic arsenic, cadmium, lead in many baby foods “The Food and Drug Administration found significant levels of toxic heavy metals in the U.S. food supply during its ongoing monitoring efforts, the agency said in a new report. And baby foods were among the most contaminated for arsenic and lead.
The FDA's report analyzes the most recent data on nutrients and contaminants from its ongoing survey aimed at promoting food safety.”
Overdose death rate increased by 30% in 2020, a 'staggering' rise “The death rate increased most dramatically — 44% — among Black Americans, from 27 deaths per 100,000 in 2019 to 38.9 deaths per 100,000 in 2020.
Among American Indian and Alaska Native populations, the rate increased by 39%, from 26.2 deaths to 36.4 per 100,000.
Fatal drug overdoses increased among whites, too, though at a slower rate, at 22%. In 2019, 25.2 overdose deaths per 100,000 people occurred among white Americans, compared with 30.7 per 100,000 in 2020.”
About healthcare IT
Health Sector Suffered 337 Healthcare Data Breaches in First Half of Year “Fortified Health Security’s mid-year report on the state of healthcare cybersecurity observed slight shifts in healthcare data breach trends in the first half of 2022. The HHS Office for Civil Rights data breach portal showed that there have been 337 healthcare data breaches impacting more than 500 individuals each in the first half of this year, signifying a slight decrease from 368 at this time last year.”
US to return $500K healthcare providers paid in ransom to North Korea hackers “The federal government recovered $500,000 that two hospitals paid as ransom to North Korean hackers and plans to return the funds, according to a July 19 U.S. Justice Department statement.
Court documents show the hackers installed Maui ransomware on an unnamed Kansas-based medical center to encrypt files and servers. The hospital notified the FBI and paid $100,000 in bitcoin to regain computer access. Federal investigators traced the payment to China-based money launderers, according to the Justice Department.”
Empowering people to live a healthier day: Innovation using Apple technology to support personal health, research, and care Apple’s latest gameplay for healthcare initiatives.
About healthcare personnel
2022 Health Information Trends Usage, trust and impact among US adults “While health care providers are trusted a great deal or a lot by large majorities of the public and more so than non-provider information sources, the data show a decline in trust in PCPs and specialists and increases in trust in non-provider sources.
PCPs and specialists are still trusted by majorities of adults a great deal or a lot, however, this is significantly lower than in 2019 (PCPs: 78% vs. 83%; specialist: 76% vs. 80%).
During the same time period there has been an increase in the proportion who trust non-provider sources a great deal or a lot including internet searches (41% in 2022 vs. 33% in 2019), pharmaceutical companies (36% vs. 26%), patient advocacy groups or associations (35% vs. 28%), support groups (35% vs. 29%), and various types of media (broadcast: 26% vs. 19%; print: 26% vs. 20%; and social: 25% vs. 13%).”
About health technology
Roche's Alzheimer's blood test earns breakthrough label from FDA “The blood-based biomarker test has already garnered the FDA’s breakthrough device designation, Roche announced Tuesday. That label will speed up the test’s route through the review process on its way to a full-blown clearance.
The Elecsys Amyloid Plasma Panel measures the amount of phosphorylated tau 181 and apolipoprotein e4 in an individual’s blood sample, also known as pTau-181 and ApoE4, respectively. Elevated levels of pTau have been shown to correlate with the onset of Alzheimer’s, while the presence of the ApoE4 gene is believed to be among the strongest risk factors for the disease—though not all carriers of the gene go on to develop Alzheimer’s.
The test isn’t meant to be used as a standalone diagnostic for the disease, but rather as part of an overall assessment that also takes into account a patient’s clinical information and the results of additional testing.”