About health insurance
Big payers ranked by Q2 revenue FYI
About hospitals and healthcare systems
RURAL HOSPITALS AT RISK OF CLOSING “More than 600 rural hospitals – nearly 30% of all rural hospitals in the country – are at risk of closing in the near future.” The article gives insightful details.
How US News' 20 Honor Roll hospitals fared with CMS star ratings this year The answer is that except Barnes-Jewish hospital in St. Louis (#11 and 3 stars), all have 4 or 5 stars.
About pharma
A New Therapeutic Drug for Alzheimer’s Disease without Inflammatory Side Effects “Although Aduhelm, a monoclonal antibody targeting amyloid beta (Aβ), recently became the first US FDA approved drug for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) based on its ability to decrease Aβ plaque burden in AD patients, its effect on cognitive improvement is still controversial. Moreover, about 40% of the patients treated with this antibody experienced serious side effects including cerebral edemas (ARIA-E) and hemorrhages (ARIA-H) that are likely related to inflammatory responses in the brain when the Aβ antibody binds Fc receptors (FCR) of immune cells such as microglia and macrophages…
To overcome these problems, a team of researchers at KAIST in South Korea has developed a novel fusion protein drug, αAβ-Gas6, which efficiently eliminates Aβ via an entirely different mechanism than Aβ antibody-based immunotherapy. In a mouse model of AD, αAβ-Gas6 not only removed Aβ with higher potency, but also circumvented the neurotoxic inflammatory side effects associated with conventional antibody treatments. Their findings were published on August 4 in Nature Medicine.”
About the public’s health
Has the treatment gap for opioid use disorder [OUD] narrowed in the U.S.?: A yearly assessment from 2010 to 2019 “Adjusted estimates suggest past-year OUD affected 7,631,804 individuals in the U.S. in (2,773 per 100,000 adults 12+), relative to only 1,023,959 individuals who received MOUD [medication for OUD] (365 per 100,000 adults 12+). This implies approximately 86.6% of individuals with OUD nationwide who may benefit from MOUD treatment do not receive it. MOUD receipt increased across states over the past decade, but most regions still experience wide gaps between OUD prevalence and MOUD receipt.”
About healthcare personnel
63 healthcare orgs call on Congress to extend, expand visa waiver for international medical graduates “The two letters, sent to the House and Senate’s Judiciary Committee leaders late last week, address the Conrad 30 Waiver Program.
The program allows foreign students who come to the U.S. for medical training to forego visa requirements that would force them to return to their home country for at least two years…
The healthcare industry has already been straining for years under the weight of a widespread workforce shortage, but the issue is only expected to worsen due to heightened post-pandemic demand, the organizations told committee leaders.”