About Covid-19
Moderna seeks FDA nod for booster shot aimed at Omicron BA.4, BA.5 “Moderna In on Tuesday sought U.S. authorization for its COVID-19 booster shot tailored against the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron and said if cleared it would be ready to deliver the doses in September.
Its application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is based on pre-clinical data for the so-called bivalent dose that contains the dominant BA.4/BA.5 variants along with the original coronavirus strain.
Pfizer COVID shots appear 73% effective in children under 5 The headline is the story
House investigates Trump’s ‘inappropriate’ pressure on FDA during the pandemic “The 69-page report found that the Trump White House “exerted extreme and inappropriate pressure” on FDA and former FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn to not only reauthorize hydroxychloroquine’s EUA, but deliver misleadingly positive news about convalescent plasma on the eve of the 2020 Republican National Convention, and to block the issuance of Covid-19 vaccine guidance, which the agency had to unilaterally release to require additional safety data.”
About health insurance
Michigan governor orders all payers to lower 2023 rates “Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer sent a letter Aug. 18 to the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services that requires all payers in the state to lower their already filed 2023 health insurance rates.
Ms. Whitmer said the order comes after the Inflation Reduction Act extended ACA premium subsidies through 2025.
’The new law extended insurance premium subsidies, which are currently saving hundreds of thousands of Michiganders nearly $800 a year,’ she wrote in the letter. ‘Today, I am instructing DIFS to require all insurers that offer coverage on HealthCare.gov to submit revised rates that reflect the cost savings as a result of enhanced subsidies.’”
Fascinating! Could this action be the harbinger of other state-based rate reductions?
Cancer Now Top Driver of Employer Health Care Costs From the Business Group on Health: “Cancer has overtaken musculoskeletal conditions as the top driver of large companies’ health care costs, according to the Business Group on Health’s 2023 Large Employers’ Health Care Strategy and Plan Design Survey.
While the top three conditions fueling health care costs remained the same from last year – they include cardiovascular disease, in addition to cancer and musculoskeletal conditions – 13% of employers said they have seen more late-stage cancers and another 44% anticipate seeing such an increase in the future, likely due to pandemic-related delays in care.”
Common mistakes and helpful tips for parties initiating an IDR dispute More information from CMS on the Independent Dispute Resolution process for surprise bills.
About hospitals and healthcare systems
Mercy Mourns the Passing of Sister Mary Roch Rocklage “Sister Mary Roch Rocklage, the modern day foundress of the Mercy health care system who served the ministry for 65 years, passed away on Tuesday, August 23, 2022 following a long illness she endured with grace and tenacity. She was 87.”
You should read the entire obituary- she was such an important force in the healthcare field.
UPMC's 6-month operating income drops 86% alongside $866M investment loss “The Pennsylvania-based organization reported Tuesday nearly $12.5 billion in total operating revenues and over $12.4 billion in total operating expenses during the first half of 2022, yielding a net operating income of $82 million (0.7% operating margin).
Year over year, those numbers reflect a 2.5% increase in revenues, a 6.7% increase in expenses and an 86.4% plummet in operating income following the prior year’s 5% operating margin.
The negative pressure on operations came from the provider side of UPMC’s business. Its six-month operating margin fell $577 million compared to the year prior for a $101 million loss.”
Merger with SCL Health spurs Intermountain to $2.7B in net income “Dive Brief:
Intermountain Healthcare reported net income of $2.7 billion in the first six months of the year, despite a heavy loss on investments and flagging operating income.
The 46% year-over-year jump in net income for the Utah-based nonprofit was spurred by more than $4 billion in contribution from its merger with SCL Health that closed in April, according to recent financial documents.
By comparison, Intermountain brought in annual net income of $1.2 billion in 2020, $1.1 billion in 2019 and $599 million in 2018.”
About the public’s health
Life expectancy drops by almost 2 years “Overall life expectancy in the United States dropped by 1.8 years from 2019 to 2020, new data shows. The decline affected all 50 states and Washington, D.C., according to a new National Vital Statistics report [see Figure 4 for state-by-state statistics on these decreases], and ranged from as little as 0.2 years in some states to as many as 3 years in others…
The drop is the largest year-to-year change in more than 75 years…”
The study is full of statistics and mathematical models, but does not offer an explanation for the findings.
Judge in Texas blocks Biden administration emergency abortion guidance “A federal judge in Texas blocked the Biden administration late on Tuesday from enforcing new guidance in the Republican-led state requiring hospitals to provide emergency abortions to women regardless of state bans on the procedure…
The judge declined to enjoin the guidance nationwide and instead only barred HHS from enforcing it and its interpretation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act in Texas and against two anti-abortion groups of doctors.”
The federal government claims EMTALA mandates treatment in emergencies- including providing abortion services.