About Covid-19
Can Rapid COVID Tests Reveal More Than a Positive/Negative Result? “…people can interpret their test results in two simple ways: time to test line appearance and test line darkness after 15 minutes, he explained.
The basics of these variations come down to showing how much viral load a person has at one point in time. A darker test line or a faster test line mean a higher viral load. Mina noted that a person with a dark line that appears quickly has a very high viral load, and he or she is likely near the peak of their infectiousness. Conversely, a lighter line that appears closer to the 10- to 15-minute mark means viral load is low.”
About health insurance/insurers
Employer plans are unsuitable for many Americans, survey finds “Four in 10 people insured by employer-provided health plans find their out-of-pocket costs are so expensive they need to dip into savings and take on debt, according to a nationwide survey of 2,500 Americans enrolled in employer-sponsored coverage.
Nearly half of the respondents said they would struggle to afford healthcare expenses should a medical emergency occur, or they were diagnosed with a chronic illness.”
Medicare Part B premiums to rise by 6 percent in 2024 “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the monthly Medicare Part A and B premiums for 2024 on Thursday, with the costs set to go up by 6 percent next year.
The premiums would increase by $9.80 from $164.90 to $174.70 in 2024 and the annual deductible for Medicare Part B beneficiaries will go up from $226 to $240 as well. This price increase comes after Medicare Part B premiums went down for the first time in more than 10 years in 2023.”
UnitedHealth Group posts $5.8B profit in Q3 The articles has data for both the parent and its two divisions.
Medicaid Enrollment and Unwinding Tracker “At least 8,696,000 Medicaid enrollees have been disenrolled as of October 11, 2023, based on the most current data from 50 states and the District of Columbia…
There is wide variation in disenrollment rates across reporting states, ranging from 66% in Texas to 11% in Illinois.”
About hospitals and healthcare systems
Kaiser Permanente reaches $200M settlement over behavioral health access “Kaiser Permanente has reached a $200 million settlement with the California Department of Managed Health Care to resolve deficiencies in its delivery and management of behavioral healthcare.
The $200 million settlement agreement includes a $50 million fine and requires Kaiser Permanente to take corrective action to repair Kaiser Foundation Health Plan's access and oversight of enrollees' behavioral healthcare. Kaiser Permanente also agrees to a $150 million investment, over five years, toward behavioral healthcare programs…”
Kaiser Permanente reaches tentative agreement with workers “After a historic strike, healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente and the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions announced Friday that they reached a tentative 4-year union contract agreement in the early hours of this morning.
The deal gives frontline healthcare workers the resources to do the job they love and keep patients safe, said Yvonne Esquivel, a pediatric medical assistant at Kaiser Permanente in Gilroy, California, in a statement issued by the coalition.”
Health Systems Invest in Capital Rx Pharmacy Benefit Manager “More than 10 health systems are participating in a $50 million investment round for pharmacy benefit manager and pharmacy benefit administrator Capital Rx.
Atlantic Health System, Banner Health, Hawai'i Pacific Health, Inova Health System, Lehigh Valley Health Network, Memorial Hermann Health System, Nebraska Medicine, Novant Health, Ochsner Health, and WellSpan Health, among others, as well as Transformation Capital, are involved in the funding round.”
The debate over adequacy of non-profit hospitals’ charitable services has resurfaced at the national level:
Sanders: Nonprofit hospitals 'should lose their tax-exempt status' if they 'refuse' to increase charity care “The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee chairman released a report Tuesday calling on Congress and the IRS to strengthen oversight on the community benefit and charity care spending necessary for nonprofit hospitals to retain their status.
The report also outlines the HELP Committee majority staff’s review of 16 major nonprofit health systems’ fiscal year 2021 financial statements, among which 12 dedicated less than 2% of their total revenue to charity care.”
The AHA responded: Results from 2020 Tax-Exempt Hospitals’ Schedule H Community Benefit Reports “Tax-exempt hospitals provided nearly $130 billion in total benefits to their communities in 2020 alone — the most recent year for which comprehensive data is available.”
The report does not say how much these hospitals received in tax benefits.
About pharma
Surescripts analysis finds e-prescribing by pharmacists on the rise “A new analysis finds that more pharmacists are electronically prescribing medications as they assist in managing chronic disease, which offers a peek at the next evolution in primary care.
The study, backed by health information network Surescripts, found that the number of prescribers in its network that were not traditional primary care providers grew by 12.1% on average each year between 2018 and 2022, while the number of clinicians who often provide primary care grew by less than 1%.
At the same time, providers of all kinds are concerned about the significant dearth in primary care. A recent survey shows that 73% of prescribers and half of pharmacists expressed worry about the number of primary care providers in their area, and, in rural regions, that jumps to 81% and 62%, respectively.”
Walgreens was in the news several times this week, notably for a strike and the appointment of a new CEO. See:
Walgreens taps former Express Scripts chief Wentworth as CEO
Walgreens walkout enters last day: 5 notes
Walgreens to cut $1B in costs, close 60 VillageMD sites
Pfizer inks another EpiPen antitrust settlement, this one worth $50M “Pfizer has agreed to pay $50 million to resolve a class-action, antitrust case which alleged the company teamed up with others to delay the entry of a generic version of the EpiPen allergy relief medicine.”
DEA, HHS issue 2nd extension of controlled substances via telehealth “The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is, for a second time, extending clinicians' ability to prescribe controlled substances using telehealth services, according to a revised rule the agency published.
Under the guidelines developed during the pandemic, a patient can be prescribed a controlled substance, ‘even if the patient isn’t at a hospital or clinic registered with the DEA,’ according to the HHS. This was initially extended through Nov. 11, 2023, but the Oct. 10 revision has pushed that date to now expire on Dec. 31, 2024.”
About the public’s health
Influenza Vaccine for 2023-2024 You should read this article to find out which vaccine is appropriate for you.
Cannabis Commercialization Linked to More Hospitalizations “In a repeated cross-sectional analysis that included some 26.9 million individuals, researchers found that the rate of hospitalizations due to cannabis increased 1.62 times between 2015 and 2021.
The rate of hospitalizations increased most precipitously after commercialization, including a 40% increase in hospitalizations for cannabis-induced psychosis.”
About healthcare IT
Analysis of Devices Authorized by the FDA for Clinical Decision Support [CDS] in Critical Care “While many prediction models might offer CDS for patients with critical illness, our review of the database revealed that only 10 AI/ML [Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning] CDS devices have received FDA authorization. The clinical evidence for these devices ranged from completely absent to peer-reviewed assessment of model performance, and most of the devices authorized through the 510(k) pathway relied on equivalence to non-AI/ML predicates. Furthermore, at least 1 high-profile and widely implemented model did not appear to have received FDA authorization. While this study was limited to critical care, these findings highlight the need to update regulatory requirements to align with current knowledge about using AI/ML systems across many clinical practice settings.”
And in a related article: FDA Establishes New Advisory Committee on Digital Health Technologies
“ …the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the creation of a new Digital Health Advisory Committee to help the agency explore the complex, scientific and technical issues related to digital health technologies (DHTs), such as artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), augmented reality, virtual reality, digital therapeutics, wearables, remote patient monitoring and software.
The Digital Health Advisory Committee will advise the FDA on issues related to DHTs, providing relevant expertise and perspective to help improve the agency’s understanding of the benefits, risks, and clinical outcomes associated with use of DHTs. The committee should be fully operational in 2024.”
Kaiser Permanente, UPMC among 13 major health systems to sign interoperability pact with VA “Kaiser Permanente, UPMC, Intermountain Health, Mass General Brigham and several others have agreed to the pact, which the VA encourages other systems to join as well.”
DEA extends pandemic rules for telehealth prescribing through 2024 as agency irons out new policies “The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said Friday it will extend telehealth flexibilities that enable clinicians to virtually prescribe controlled medications to their patients through 2024 as it mulls permanent policy changes.”
AHA asks CMS to stop telehealth rule “During the pandemic's public health emergency, CMS removed a rule that clinicians delivering telemedicine from their homes list their addresses on enrollment and claims forms. But that flexibility is scheduled to end Dec. 31.”
Beyond Hype: Getting the Most Out of Generative AI in Healthcare Today “Generative AI can increase productivity and cost efficiency, but only 6% of health systems currently have a strategy.”
About healthcare personnel
Healthcare job cuts up 121% year over year “Healthcare/products companies and manufacturers, including hospitals, announced 52,611 job cuts from January through September this year, a 121 percent increase from the 23,850 cuts announced in the same period last year.”
Survey: The Majority of New Physicians Receive Over 100 Job Solicitations but Many Would Not Choose Medicine Again “Despite a plethora of jobs to choose from, close to one-third of medical residents (30%) said they would not choose medicine if they had their careers to do over again, the highest number recorded by the survey since its inception. Like many more seasoned physicians, the majority of residents surveyed have experienced feelings of burnout. Eighty-one percent of residents surveyed said they sometimes, often or always experienced feelings of burnout during their training. Close to one-half (45%) said they often or always experienced feelings of burnout.”
Striking Healthcare Workers Return to Work—Without New Contracts “Striking Kaiser Permanente workers returned to work Saturday but without new contracts, ending the largest healthcare strike on record as their unions and employer continued to bargain.
Negotiations are scheduled to pick up again Thursday.”
About health technology
Illumina ordered by EU antitrust regulators to sell Grail “U.S. genetic testing company Illumina has been ordered by EU antitrust regulators to sell cancer test maker Grail after it completed the deal before securing their approval.”
FDA Gives De Novo Authorization for DNA Test for Hundreds of Cancer Variants “The Common Hereditary Cancers Panel can also help identify potentially cancer-associated hereditary variants in individuals with already-diagnosed cancer. The first of its kind to be granted FDA marketing authorization, the test evaluates DNA to identify variants in 47 genes known to be associated with an elevated risk of developing certain types of cancer.”
New ‘brain atlas’ maps the highly complex organ in dazzling detail “Scientists on Thursday unveiled the most detailed and complex portrait yet of the human brain in a dazzling catalogue of more than 3,000 types of brain cells that collectively give rise to emotion, thought, memory and disease.
The painstaking work is part of the Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) initiative, a $3 billion government-funded effort to develop tools and technology to understand and map the human brain. The results, published in 21 papers across multiple journals, are starting to open up the black box of the brain by providing an initial parts list for the most complex organ scientists have ever studied.”
About healthcare finance
GSK signs £2.5bn shingles vaccine deal with China’s Zhifei “GSK has signed a deal with Zhifei, China’s largest vaccine company by revenue, as the British drugmaker aims to double global sales of its shingles vaccine by 2026. The UK-based pharmaceutical company said Zhifei had agreed to buy £2.5bn worth of GSK’s bestselling shot, Shingrix, which is targeted at older adults, over three years.”