About Covid-19
Ancestral SARS-CoV-2, but not Omicron, replicates less efficiently in primary pediatric nasal epithelial cells Many critics of Covid immunizations for the young base their arguments on low infection/severity rates in that population. This article explains why this finding was true for the delta variant, but emphasizes the protective mechanism does not hold for newer variants. Childhood Covid Immunization is, therefore, important.
About health insurance
Judge Approves Blue Cross’s $2.67 Billion Antitrust Settlement “A federal judge approved Blue Cross Blue Shield companies’ settlement of a sweeping antitrust suit filed on behalf of their customers, with the insurers agreeing to pay $2.67 billion and change certain practices that allegedly limited competition…
There are currently 34 companies that own Blue Cross Blue Shield health plans, with many operating as nonprofits. Together, the Blue insurers cover more than 100 million Americans…
The suit alleged that the companies acted like a cartel, illegally conspiring to divvy up markets and avoid competing against one another, driving up customers’ prices.
Under the settlement, the Blue insurers would drop a Blue Cross Blue Shield Association rule that limits the share of each company’s total national revenue that can come from business that isn’t under Blue brands.
That change could increase competition among the companies if they choose to expand their non-Blue lines of business in one another’s geographies, insurance experts said.”
About hospitals and healthcare systems
Third Semi-Annual Hospital Price Transparency Report August 2022 “Under the authority of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a federal hospital price transparency rule took effect January 1, 2021, requiring hospitals to post all prices online, easily accessible and searchable without having to submit personal identifying information. Prices are required to be in the form of:
• A single machine-readable standard charges file for all items and services for all payers and all plans as well as all discounted cash prices.
• A standard charges display with actual prices or a price estimator tool for the 300 most common shoppable services…
Of the 2,000 total hospitals reviewed, we found:
• Only 319 (16.0%) were complying with the rule.
• 101 hospitals (5.1%) did not post any standard charges file and were in total noncompliance.
• Although 793 (39.7%) of hospitals posted negotiated prices clearly associated with payers and plans, 407 of the 793 (51.3%) failed compliance because the majority of their pricing data was missing or incomplete.
• Of the three largest hospital systems in the country, HCA Healthcare and Ascension continued to flout the law with zero compliance, while 45 of 111 hospitals owned by CommonSpirit Health, the second largest hospital system, are now in compliance.”
ByteDance Pays $1.5 Billion for China Hospital Chain in Health Foray “TikTok owner joins tech giants in seeking growth in the area.” More evidence that cross category diversification in healthcare is international.
HCA Healthcare, J&J explore better outcomes, nurse training, early cancer detection in new partnership “HCA Healthcare and Johnson & Johnson outlined Tuesday morning three areas in which the former’s 35 million annual patient encounters and 93,000 nurses could benefit from the latter’s research and development knowhow.
First, the companies will be collaborating on a ‘scalable program’ to detect early-stage lung cancer among Black patients, kicking off with an early identification pilot program they will begin to build “in the coming months.”
Second, HCA will be incorporating Johnson & Johnson’s nursing resources within its facilities and affiliate Galen College of Nursing. The two will also jointly build nurse education programs intended to address health equity, build nurses’ skills and improve patient outcomes.
Finally, the hospital chain’s HCA Healthcare Research Institute will be working with Johnson & Johnson on various cardiovascular health research projects. Among those teased were a retrospective analysis of heart arrhythmia patients and an investigation on how digital health technology could impact coronary artery disease and peripheral artery disease outcomes.”
About pharma
In warranty program, Pfizer will refund up to $50K for patients who discontinue use of rare disease drug
Last year the pharma giant introduced its first warranty program, using it to promote lung cancer drug Xalkori. Now Pfizer has opened a similar program for newly approved Panzyga, which treats the rare disorder chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIPD).”
This trend of refunding costs for expensive, ineffective drugs is continuing.
Walmart has a new policy denying some telehealth prescriptions for controlled drugs. It's implicating patients in recovery “Walmart did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but one Walmart pharmacy employee confirmed the existence of the policy applicable to all Walmart and Sam’s Club pharmacies that began in July.”
BREAKING: Walgreens Fueled SF Opioid Epidemic, Judge Rules “ Pharmacy giant Walgreens dispensed hundreds of thousands of suspicious prescriptions for narcotic painkillers in San Francisco without proper screening and is liable for ensuing opioid problems in the Bay Area, a California federal judge ruled Wednesday. The ruling from U. S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer followed a bench trial earlier this year that initially featured several drug companies but gradually generated several settlements, leaving Walgreens as the sole defendant.”
Faced with thousands of opioid lawsuits, Endo says it will likely file for bankruptcy 'imminently' “The Dublin, Ireland-based company revealed in its Q2 results on Tuesday that it’s in talks with first lien creditors, and that ‘these negotiations will likely result in a pre-arranged filing under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code by Endo International plc and substantially all of its subsidiaries, which could occur imminently.’”
About the public’s health
China discovers potentially fatal new virus passed to humans from shrews “China has discovered a potentially fatal new virus that is believed to have been passed to humans by shrews, as reported Independent on Tuesday.
The Langya henipavirus has infected 35 people, although no one has died or suffered a serious illness, said Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control.
There is no vaccine and, in severe cases, it can have a fatality rate of up to 75%, according to the World Health Organization.”