About Covid-19
Association of Receiving a Fourth Dose of the BNT162b Vaccine With SARS-CoV-2 Infection Among Health Care Workers in Israel “In this multicenter cohort study of 29 611 health care workers in Israel, the breakthrough infection rate among those who received 4 doses was 6.9% compared with 19.8% in those who received 3 doses.”
About health insurance
National Uninsured Rate Reaches All-Time Low in Early 2022 From HHS: “The nation’s uninsured rate declined significantly in 2021 and early 2022, reaching an all-time low of 8.0 percent for U.S. residents of all ages in the first quarter (January-March) of 2022, based on new data from the National Health Interview Survey.
Approximately 5.2 million people – including 4.1 million adults ages 18-64 and 1 million children ages 0-17 – have gained health coverage since 2020.”
Read the announcement for more details.
The Senate passes help for veterans exposed to toxins, after a reversal drew fury “The U.S. Senate, in a bipartisan 86-11 vote, approved a measure to provide health care and benefits for millions of veterans injured by exposure to toxins, from Agent Orange in Vietnam to burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Known as the PACT Act, the bill no longer would force generations of veterans to prove that their illness was caused by toxic exposures suffered in the military in order to get VA coverage. It had been hailed as the largest expansion of care in VA history, and was expected to cost $280 billion over a decade.
The House passed the measure in July. President Biden, who supports the PACT Act, is expected to sign it into law.”
Part D premiums to decline by 2% in 2023: CMS “The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said Friday that it expects the average premium to decrease to $31.50 in 2023, or about 1.8% from the 2022 rate of $32.08.
The projected monthly premiums are based on bids to CMS from Part D plan sponsors, the agency said.”
Understand that these figures are averages. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation: “The average Medicare beneficiary has a choice of 54 Medicare plans with Part D drug coverage in 2022, including 23 Medicare stand-alone drug plans and 31 Medicare advantage drug plans.”
About pharma
The web is home to an illegal bazaar for abortion pills. The FDA is ill-equipped to stop it. An important investigative piece in Politico. At the center of the problem is the fact that: “Of the roughly 35,000 online pharmacies worldwide, 95 percent operate illegally, according to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy.”
Civica launches 1st drug At a cost 95 percent less than Medicare's prices, nonprofit generic drug company Civica premiered its first drug Aug. 3 with a treatment used for prostate cancer that has spread.
The abiraterone acetate 250 milligram tablets are $160 for a month's supply, and Civica recommends pharmacies selling the product cap prices at $171 per bottle, according to a press release.”
For comparison, GoodRx sells the same medication for as low as $185.40.
CVS beats the Street with $2.95B in profit for Q2 “CVS Health beat the Street in the second quarter with $2.95 billion in profit, according to its earnings report released Wednesday morning.
That's a notable increase from the $2.8 billion in the company posted in the prior-year quarter. The healthcare giant also surpassed analysts' expectations with $80.6 billion in revenue for the quarter…
At the company's Aetna subsidiary, revenues were $22.8 billion, up nearly 11% year over year thanks to growth across all of its product lines…
Revenues at Caremark were up 11.7% compared to the second quarter of 2021, reaching $42.8 billion…
CVS Pharmacy also saw its revenues increase year over year, according to the report, reaching $26.3 billion. Growth in the retail segment was driven primarily by increased prescription and front store volume…”
Eli Lilly Must Pay $61M For False Medicaid Rebate Calculation “Illinois federal jury hit Eli Lilly and Co. with a $61 million verdict Wednesday after finding that the drug manufacturer deliberately shorted the Medicaid program by leaving retroactive drug price increases out of the metrics it was required to include for drug rebate calculations.”
About the public’s health
Isolation and Prevention Practices for People with Monkeypox The latest advice from the CDC.
Justice Department sues Idaho to reverse 'near-total' abortion ban “HHS issued guidance last month saying physicians in hospitals that participate in Medicare have an obligation under the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) to provide abortions as part of emergency care such as for ectopic pregnancies.
But the DOJ is arguing that the Idaho law, which goes into effect Aug. 25, prohibits all abortions and conflicts with EMTALA.”
Improving Representation in Clinical Trials and Research: Building Research Equity for Women and Underrepresented Groups “At the request of Congress, Improving Representation in Clinical Trials and Research: Building Research Equity for Women and Underrepresented Groups identifies policies, procedures, programs, or projects aimed at increasing the inclusion of these groups in clinical research and the specific strategies used by those conducting clinical trials and clinical and translational research to improve diversity and inclusion. This report models the potential economic benefits of full inclusion of men, women, and racial and ethnic groups in clinical research and highlights new programs and interventions in medical centers and other clinical settings designed to increase participation.”
This site will help you connect to the (free) report. If you want to get directly to recommendations, scroll down to page 130.
See Lack of diversity in clinical trials costs billions of dollars. Incentives can spur innovation from STAT for an excellent summary.
About healthcare IT
Another class action over Meta's alleged patient data mining lists UCSF, Dignity Health as defendants “A second class action lawsuit has been filed against Facebook parent company Meta related to allegations of hospital website data collection, this time also listing UCSF Medical Center and Dignity Health as co-defendants.
Similar to the prior class action and research investigation from June…, the plaintiff outlined ‘illegal information gathering’ via a tracker called the Facebook/Meta Pixel embedded on hospitals' websites.”
About healthcare personnel
Physician Flash Report “Physician practices across the country remained busy throughout the second quarter of 2022. Patient volumes rose from first-quarter levels as physician productivity and revenues also increased.
However, higher volumes contributed to bigger investments/ subsidies to support physician practices. They also led to continued expense increases as practices contend with inflation and a tight labor market. Total Direct Expense per Physician Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) continued its upward trajectory, reaching a new two-year high.”
Inaccurate Cost Estimates Could Push 60% of Patients to Switch Providers “For “The Healthcare Conundrum: The Impact of Unexpected Patient Costs on Care,” a PYMNTS and Experian Health collaboration, we surveyed 2,483 consumers to learn about the effects of rising healthcare costs on patient care, including how accurate and timely cost estimates drive patient satisfaction and improve care.”
Highlights of the study:
—Three-quarters of millennials canceled a healthcare appointment after receiving a high cost estimate, as have 60% of consumers living paycheck to paycheck with issues paying their bills.
—More than two in five patients who received inaccurate cost estimates said they spent more on healthcare than they could afford.
—The average amount consumers paid for surprise medical bills is $675.
About health technology
Blood Test Could Provide Insight Into Patients' Metastatic Cancer So-called liquid biopsies are not new, but this research provided fascinating findings. Previously, all metastases were thought to be the same and, thus treated with a single approach. However the “researchers assessed all classes of genomic alterations and found that ctDNA [circulating tumor DNA] contains multiple dominant populations, indicating that most people with metastatic cancer have different metastases spread around the body. They found that the whole-genome sequencing process provides a host of information about these different metastases.
The research team used newly developed computer programs to provide information about the genetic makeup of each cancer population, which can tell researchers about a person's overall disease rather than about one metastatic tumor. In the future, this information could allow clinicians to make better decisions about managing a patient's cancer.”
New smartphone clip-on can detect Zika virus in blood samples “In a new study, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have combined their efforts to develop an instrument that can be clipped on to a smartphone to rapidly test for Zika virus in a single droplet of blood.”
Apple Watch Parkinson Disease Symptom Monitor Is Cleared “A program that uses motion sensors built into the Apple Watch to monitor symptoms of Parkinson disease gained FDA clearance.
In addition to recording tremors and uncontrolled body movements, or dyskinesia, the StrivePD software from Rune Labs tracks medication use, adverse events, and patient-reported outcomes such as mood and overall health. When integrated with the Medtronic Percept PC Deep Brain Stimulator, it may also gather detailed brain activity information, a company statement noted.”
PerkinElmer to rebrand as life-science-focused supplier, sell off other businesses in $2.45B deal “PerkinElmer is slimming down to focus solely on diagnostics and life sciences research, selling off its other businesses in a deal that will hand it $2.3 billion in cash. The funding is expected to allow the company to redouble its efforts in healthcare and attain a new name.
Through a sale to private equity firm New Mountain Capital, PerkinElmer is divesting its food safety, environmental testing and industrial quality assurance divisions, including its chromatography and mass spectrometry hardware made for use in forensics, semiconductor manufacturing, chemical production and more.
The transaction is slated to close in the first quarter of 2023, according to a press release.”
About healthcare quality
Quality Measures for Patients at Risk of Adverse Outcomes in the Veterans Health Administration: Expert Panel Recommendations “The systematic review identified 519 measure concepts, from which 15 domains and 49 measure concepts were proposed for expert panel consideration. After panel discussions and changes to measure concepts, the expert panel rated 63 measure concepts in 13 domains. The measure concepts with the highest median ratings focused on caregiver availability and support, COVID-19 vaccination, and pneumonia vaccination (all rated 9.0); housing instability (rated 8.5); and physical function, depression symptoms, cognitive impairment, prescription regimen, primary care follow-up after an emergency department visit or hospitalization, and timely transmission of discharge information to primary care (all rated 8.0). Recommendations to improve care included timely assessment of housing instability, caregiver support, physical function, depression symptoms, and cognitive impairment; annual prescription regimen review; coordinated transitions in care; and preventive care including vaccinations.”