About Covid-19
Early Estimates of Bivalent mRNA Booster Dose Vaccine Effectiveness in Preventing Symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection Attributable to Omicron BA.5– and XBB/XBB.1.5… “Using spike (S)-gene target presence as a proxy for BA.2 sublineages, including XBB and XBB.1.5, during December 2022–January 2023, the results showed that a bivalent mRNA booster dose provided additional protection against symptomatic XBB/XBB.1.5 infection for at least the first 3 months after vaccination in persons who had previously received 2–4 monovalent vaccine doses.”
About health insurance/insurers
Biden-Harris Administration Announces Record-Breaking 16.3 Million People Signed Up for Health Care Coverage in ACA Marketplaces During 2022-2023 Open Enrollment Season “…the Biden-Harris Administration announced that a record-breaking more than 16.3 million people have selected an Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace health plan nationwide during the 2023 Marketplace Open Enrollment Period (OEP) that ran from November 1, 2022-January 15, 2023 for most Marketplaces.”
About pharma
Meet the 3 PBMs partnered with Mark Cuban's pharmacy “After Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co. rerouted plans and partnered with a pharmacy benefit manager in September, the 1-year-old online pharmacy has grabbed two similar deals.
The company chose Rightway, EmsanaRx and RxPreferred Benefits because ‘they pass through our pricing as is,’ Mr. Cuban told Becker's. On the company's site, Cost Plus calls itself ‘unPBM’ because there are ‘no rebates or off-shore entities to be found here.’”
Walgreens Weighs $2 Billion Sale of Pharmacy Automation Unit iA “Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. is weighing a sale of its pharmacy automation business, which could fetch up to $2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
The company, which is working with an adviser, is preparing to start a sales process in the next month or so for iA, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the matter is private. The unit is expected to draw interest from rival health-care companies and private equity firms, the people said. No final decision has been made and Walgreens could opt to keep the business, they added.”
After nearly 4 years of deliberation, FDA punts on how to regulate CBD “The FDA is giving up on trying to figure out a way to regulate CBD on its own. The agency announced Thursday that it is formally calling on Congress for help — and, according to one official, looking for guidance on other hemp products like Delta 8 THC, too.”
Orphan Drug Exclusivity Regulations Will Remain As Is, Says FDA “The FDA said it will keep in place its regulations on orphan drug exclusivity rather than altering them in response to a pivotal U.S. appeals court ruling.
The agency said it plans to continue to tie orphan drug exclusivity to the uses or indications for which the orphan drug was approved rather than considering allowing for more expansive marketing rights.”
About the public’s health
Predictive Accuracy of Stroke Risk Prediction Models Across Black and White Race, Sex, and Age Groups “Findings In this retrospective study of predictive accuracy that included 62 482 participants, existing stroke-specific risk prediction models and novel machine learning techniques did not significantly improve discriminative accuracy for new-onset stroke compared with the pooled cohort equations. All algorithms exhibited worse discrimination in Black individuals than in White individuals. Calibration was most accurate using the Reasons for Geographical and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) model based on self-reported risk factors.
Meaning Results indicate the need to expand the pool of risk factors and improve modeling techniques to address observed racial disparities and improve model performance for predicting new-onset stroke.”
Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics—2023 Update: A Report From the American Heart Association Summaries of all chapters at the beginning of the paper are a helpful guide to this extensive report.
About healthcare personnel
'Operation Nightingale': Feds charge 25 in sweeping nurse diploma scheme “Twenty-five people have been charged for their alleged participation in a coordinated scheme to sell aspiring nurses thousands of fake nursing degree documents, the Justice Department said Jan. 25.
The scheme involved selling more than 7,600 fraudulent diplomas and transcripts from three now shuttered nursing schools in Florida to aspiring nurses who had not actually completed the necessary coursework to graduate or sit for the National Council Licensure Examination. Aspiring nurses would allegedly pay $10,000 or more for the fake diplomas, which fast-tracked the process for them to take the NCLEX test and gain licensure. Once licensed, applicants allegedly used the fake documents to secure employment ‘with unwitting healthcare providers throughout the country,’ officials said.”
Institutional Variability in Representation of Women and Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups Among Medical School Faculty “Findings In this cross-sectional study of faculty from 144 US medical schools from 1990 to 2019, the median representation quotient for women increased from 0.42 to 0.80. The median representation quotient for URM increased from 0.16 to 0.24, but the trend was not significant, and variability across institutions was high.
Meaning These findings suggest that representation of women in academic medicine increased over time, whereas URM experienced only modest increases in representeation with wide variability across institutions.”
About health technology
The Power 500 Healthcare Technology Companies of 2023 FYI (Categories include IT)