About Covid-19
WHO: XBB.1.5. COVID-19 variant spreads faster, isn't more dangerous “The World Health Organization said the Omicron XBB.1.5. COVID-19 variant, known for its resistance to antibodies, does not have any known mutations that cause more harm to people than the other variants.
’XBB.1.5. does not carry any mutation known to be associated with potential change in severity,’ according to a WHO risk assessment released Wednesday.”
About health insurance/insurers
UnitedHealth kicks off Q4 earnings, reports $4.8B in profit for the quarter “UnitedHealth Group beat the Street yet again in the fourth quarter, posting $4.8 billion in profit, according to its earnings report released Friday morning.
The healthcare giant's $82.8 billion in fourth-quarter revenue also surpassed Wall Street's expectations, according to analysts at Zacks Investment Research. Both figures were up from the prior-year quarter, where UnitedHealth reported $73.7 billion in revenue and $4.1 billion in profit.
For the full year 2022, UnitedHealth Group brought in $324.2 billion in revenue and $20.1 billion in profit. By comparison, the company reported $287.6 billion in revenue and $17.3 billion in profit for full-year 2021.”
Read the article and earnings report for UnitedHealthcare and Optum performances.
About healthcare quality and safety
The Joint Commission elevates health care equity standard to National Patient Safety Goal “The Joint Commission announced it is elevating Leadership (LD) Standard LD.04.03.08 – which addresses health care disparities as a quality and safety priority – to a new National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) for all critical access hospitals and hospitals, as well as some ambulatory care organizations and behavioral health care and human services organizations that provide certain services, effective July 1, 2023.
Current requirements for Joint Commission-accredited organizations will not change. The intent behind the standard and associated elements of performance will remain the same; however, they will now be stated as NPSG Goal 16. The purpose of NPSGs is to improve patient safety – focusing on significant problems in health care and specific actions to prevent and solve them.”
About pharma
California Lawsuit Accuses Drugmakers of Insulin Overcharging “California is suing the United States' leading insulin makers and pharmacy benefit managers, accusing them of using their market power to overcharge patients for the life-saving drug, the state's attorney general announced on Thursday.
The lawsuit, filed in California Superior Court in Los Angeles, targets Eli Lilly and Co, Novo Nordisk A/S and Sanofi SA, which together make more than 90% of the insulin drugs sold globally.
It also names the three largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) - UnitedHealth Group Inc's Optum unit, CVS Health Corp's CVS Caremark and Cigna Corp's Express Scripts. PBMs maintain the lists of drugs covered by health insurance plans and negotiate prices with manufacturers, and the top three account for about 80% of the market.”
Estimates of Medicaid and Non-Medicaid Net Prices of Top-Selling Brand-name Drugs Incorporating Best Price Rebates, 2015 to 2019 “In this cross-sectional study of 18 top-selling brand-name drugs, excluding 1 anomaly, Medicaid average net prices declined from 2015 to 2019. Simultaneously, for non-Medicaid payers, net price increased more than previously published marketwide growth rates, raising the importance of restraining drug price growth in non-Medicaid markets. Rigorous and transparent methods to estimate Medicaid discounts are imperative to understand patterns in Medicaid and non-Medicaid prices and develop policies that better align drug prices with clinical benefits”
Therapeutic Value of Drugs Frequently Marketed Using Direct-to-Consumer Television Advertising, 2015 to 2021 “Fewer than one-third of the most common drugs featured in direct-to-consumer television advertising were rated as having high therapeutic value, defined as providing at least moderate improvement in clinical outcomes compared with existing therapies. Manufacturers’ television advertising spending on included products rated as low therapeutic value was $15.9 billion from 2015 to 2021.”
About the public’s health
Cancer statistics, 2023 Annual report from The American cancer Society: “In summary, although cancer mortality rates continue to decline, future progress may be attenuated by rising incidence for breast, prostate, and uterine corpus cancers, which also happen to have the largest racial disparities in mortality.”
Vaccination Coverage with Selected Vaccines and Exemption Rates Among Children in Kindergarten — United States, 2021–22 School Year “During the 2021–22 school year, coverage decreased again to approximately 93% for all state-required vaccines. The exemption rate remained low (2.6%). An additional 3.9% without an exemption were not up to date with measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. Despite widespread return to in-person learning, COVID-19–related disruptions continued to affect vaccination coverage and assessment for the 2021–22 school year, preventing a return to prepandemic coverage.”
About health technology
Exclusive: Illumina to face EU fine of 10% of turnover over Grail deal -sources “U.S. life sciences company Illumina is likely to face a fine of 10% of its global annual turnover, the maximum penalty, for closing its takeover of Grail without waiting for EU antitrust approval, people familiar with the matter said.
Last month Illumina defended its case before senior European Commission and national competition officials at a closed hearing but failed to convince them, the people said.”