About healthcare quality
Califf: Current evidence generation system in clinical research needs an overhaul “Clinical research in the US needs an overhaul to better optimize health outcomes in a way that matches advances in biomedical science, according to a recent perspective authored by US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert M. Califf, published in Clinical Trials journal…
Califf outlined several areas where a new evidence generation system could improve these problems. Specific areas for improvement include better integration of high-quality data from clinical trials, electronic health records, and wearable devices/sensors; focusing clinical research operations to involve patients and clinicians on the front line; and creating a system of responsible data sharing with ethical constructs.”
About health insurance/insurers
Elevance Health to acquire Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana “Elevance Health has inked a deal to acquire Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, with the Pelican State insurer joining the Anthem Blue Cross affiliated plans.
The acquisition builds on an existing partnership between the two insurers, according to the announcement. The two jointly own Healthy Blue, a plan that serves Medicaid and dual-eligible beneficiaries.”
About hospitals and healthcare systems
Organization and Performance of US Health Systems “In 2018, health system physicians and hospitals delivered a large portion of medical services. Performance on clinical quality and patient experience measures was marginally better in systems but spending and prices were substantially higher. This was especially true for small practices. Small quality differentials combined with large price differentials suggests that health systems have not, on average, realized their potential for better care at equal or lower cost.”
This important article adds a lot to the existing evidence on lack of benefits for mergers.
See, also, the editorial: Health Systems—The Present and the Future
About pharma
Amazon Pharmacy Introduces RxPass: Unlimited Prescription Medications for Only $5 a Month, Delivered Free to your Door—Available Exclusively for Prime Members “Amazon today announced RxPass, a new Prime membership benefit from Amazon Pharmacy that offers patients affordable access to commonly prescribed generic medications that treat more than 80 common health conditions. With RxPass, Prime members can receive all of their eligible medications for one flat, low monthly fee of $5, and have them delivered free of charge. There are no hidden fees and no markups to the $5 per month subscription. RxPass is available starting today in most U.S. states.”
Optum Rx Launches Price Edge to Automatically Provide Members the Best Available Prescription Drug Price “Optum Rx, UnitedHealth Group’s (NYSE: UNH) pharmacy services company, has launched Price Edge, a tool that seamlessly compares available direct-to-consumer pricing for traditional generic drugs with insurance pricing to ensure members always get the lowest prescription drug price. Price Edge is being offered to all Optum Rx clients.
Compared to most direct-to-consumer prescription drug prices, Optum Rx already offers a lower price nearly 90% of the time and Price Edge ensures a competitive consumer price on generic drugs with every transaction. Price Edge scans available prices and automatically provides the lowest available pricing to the member. If there is a lower cost to the member outside of their insurance benefit, Price Edge automatically applies that price.
Unlike other direct-to-consumer pharmacy solutions or cash market pricing, transactions initiated through Price Edge count toward the member’s deductible and out-of-pocket maximum.”
Sanofi Offers Cablivi Inpatient Warranty for Worsened or Non-Responsive Patients “Sanofi has offered a warranty on its drug, Cablivi (caplacizumab-yhdp), offering to pay the cost of six doses of the drug if the patient doesn’t respond, or 12 doses of the drug and the hospital stay if the patient’s condition worsens while on the drug…
The company will pay for six doses if treatment is discontinued because the patient still had low platelet counts after four days of combined treatment with Cablivi, plasma exchange and immunosuppressive therapy. The company will pay for the inpatient stay if the patient experienced a new drop in platelet count after initial platelet count normalization.”
Comment:The story is not the company or product, but another example of value-based guarantees in the pharma industry. What is unusual is the offer to pay for the hospitalization.
About the public’s health
US Life Expectancy in 2021 Lowest Since 1996 “Life expectancy in the US decreased by about a half year between 2020 and 2021, from 77 years to 76.4 years, according to final 2021 mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Life expectancy in 2021 was at its lowest level since 1996. The report attributed the drop mainly to increased deaths from COVID-19 and drug overdoses.”
Racial Health Equity and Social Needs Interventions “Question To what extent do studies of social needs interventions explain how race and ethnicity are conceptualized and used in analyses of intervention outcomes?
Findings Of the 152 studies conducted in multiracial or multiethnic populations within this review of a scoping review, 44 studies included race or ethnicity in their analyses, but these analyses were informative in only 21 studies (14%). Only 4 (9%) were conceptually thoughtful about what race or ethnicity means.
Meaning Social needs interventions have a unique opportunity to advance racial health equity if more attention is focused on conceptualization and use of race in intervention design and analysis.”
About healthcare personnel
Stanford Medical School exits US News rankings, crafts its own system “Approximately one week after Boston-based Harvard Medical School withdrew from U.S. News & World Report's rankings, Stanford (Calif.) School of Medicine has done the same.
Lloyd Minor, MD, Stanford School of Medicine's dean, announced the decision in a Jan. 23 letter to the community.”