About Covid-19
White House extends COVID-19 public health emergency once again “The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Wednesday officially renewed the ongoing public health emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic amid concerns over a more transmissible viral mutation and broad pandemic fatigue.
The announcement by HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra marks the 12th renewal of the COVID-19 public health emergency, which was first declared by former HHS Secretary Alex Azar in January of 2020.
Each public health emergency declaration lasts for 90 days before expiring or getting renewed. While it is not required by any laws or department rules, Becerra has publicly committed to giving state governments and health care stakeholders a 60-day notice if plans to allow the declaration to expire.”
Long covid outcomes at one year after mild SARS-CoV-2 infection: nationwide cohort study “This nationwide study suggests that patients with mild covid-19 are at risk for a small number of health outcomes, most of which are resolved within a year from diagnosis.”
About health insurance/insurers
A record 15.9M people enrolled in ACA marketplace plans so far, CMS says “A record 15.9 million people have enrolled for insurance coverage on the Affordable Care Act marketplace through Jan. 7, representing a 13% increase over last year and setting a new record, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.”
About hospitals and healthcare systems
The Safety of Inpatient Health Care “In a random sample of 2809 admissions, we identified at least one adverse event in 23.6%. Among 978 adverse events, 222 (22.7%) were judged to be preventable and 316 (32.3%) had a severity level of serious (i.e., caused harm that resulted in substantial intervention or prolonged recovery) or higher. A preventable adverse event occurred in 191 (6.8%) of all admissions, and a preventable adverse event with a severity level of serious or higher occurred in 29 (1.0%). There were seven deaths, one of which was deemed to be preventable. Adverse drug events were the most common adverse events (accounting for 39.0% of all events), followed by surgical or other procedural events (30.4%), patient-care events (which were defined as events associated with nursing care, including falls and pressure ulcers) (15.0%), and health care–associated infections (11.9%).
Conclusion: Adverse events were identified in nearly one in four admissions, and approximately one fourth of the events were preventable. These findings underscore the importance of patient safety and the need for continuing improvement.”
Investment Value Declines Erode Not-for-Profit Hospitals’ Liquidity “Not-for-profit hospitals’ financial reserves have declined from 2021 peaks as a result of investment losses and increased liquidity demands to cover rising expenses, Fitch Ratings says. Not-for-profit hospitals generally have strong liquidity relative to debt repayment obligations and business risk, but recent unrestricted liquidity erosion is expected to bring balance sheet metrics more in line with pre-pandemic historical averages. Lower liquidity and lower operating margins could begin to have a negative effect on hospitals’ credit profiles.”
About pharma
Spotlight On: The drugs that will shape 2023 A great short review.
Mark Cuban's pharmacy partners with 3rd PBM “Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs Co. and pharmacy benefit manager RxPreferred Benefits partnered to bring Mr. Cuban's online pharmacy to employers and their members part of the PBM, the two companies said Jan. 11.”
About healthcare personnel
New York City nurses end strike as tentative agreements reached “ Nurses at the hospitals reached tentative deals that improve staffing ratios, the union said in a Jan. 12 news release.
At Mount Sinai, the tentative contract includes "wall-to-wall safe staffing ratios for all inpatient units with firm enforcement" to ensure improved staffing levels, the union said. At Montefiore, the tentative contract includes new staffing ratios in the emergency department.
The tentative contract at Montefiore also includes a 19.1 percent wage increase compounded over three years, as well as increases in registered nurse and nurse practitioner staff.”
About health technology
Upstart Element ratchets up race for cheaper DNA sequencing with a $200 genome “…genomics startup Element Biosciences on Wednesday announced it can now read a whole human genome for as little as $200…
Element’s announcement, made during the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, comes after Illumina and Ultima made commitments to bring the cost of reading a whole genome down to $200 and $100, respectively. But neither company has delivered on those plans just yet, whereas Element’s reduced price is immediately available on an instrument it launched last year.”
Use of Recalled Devices in New Device Authorizations Under the US Food and Drug Administration’s 510(k) Pathway and Risk of Subsequent Recalls “Findings In this cross-sectional analysis of 156 cases of 510(k)–authorized devices with Class I recalls from 2017 through 2021, 44.1% used predicates with Class I recalls. In addition, 48.1% of these devices were subsequently used as predicates to authorize descendant devices later subject to Class I recalls. The risk of a Class I recall was 6.40 times higher for descendants that used predicates with Class I recalls than for devices using Class I recall–free predicates.
Meaning Stronger safeguards are needed to prevent problematic predicate selection and ensure patient safety.”