About Covid-19
Moderna pays US government $400M 'catch-up payment' under new COVID-19 vaccine license “In Moderna's earnings release Thursday, the company said it recently paid the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) a $400 million ‘catch-up payment’ under a new royalty-bearing license agreement between the parties.
The payment is part of a license agreement between Moderna and NIAID inked late last year. With the deal, Moderna is paying the U.S. government to access ‘certain patent rights concerning stabilizing prefusion coronavirus spike proteins,’ Moderna Chief Financial Officer Jamie Mock said on a conference call Thursday.
Going forward, Moderna agreed to pay NIAID “‘ow single-digit royalties’ on COVID-19 vaccine sales, Mock added.”
About health insurance/insurers
Evaluation of Potentially Avoidable Acute Care Utilization Among Patients Insured by Medicare Advantage vs Traditional Medicare “This cross-sectional study of more than 10 million beneficiaries found that patients who experienced an ambulatory care−sensitive condition and were covered by Medicare Advantage were less likely to be hospitalized and more likely to be discharged directly from the ED or have an observation stay than were patients with traditional Medicare.”
How to Create a Better Consumer Market for U.S. Health Care Price transparency alone will not reduce patient costs. Given that not all services are “shoppable,”the authors recommend these measures:
1. Specify standardized services. Medical care providers should be forced to specify their prices for a list of standardized, consumer-focused bundles of services tied to full episodes of clinical interventions.
2. Make provider participation mandatory.
All providers should be required to participate in this bundled pricing system to ensure the market is populated with multiple options for patients.
3. Make the same prices available to everyone. The prices posted for these services should be “walk up” prices available to all patients, irrespective of their insurance status.
4. Ensure consumers reap the benefits. For price competition to work as planned, consumers must appreciate that price shopping can be financially rewarding. Currently, insurance designs stifle incentives for consumers by making them largely price insensitive. After they have already paid the required copay and deductible, the insurer typically pays the full cost, so the consumer is not concerned about shopping for the best price.”
About pharma
Characteristics of Prior Authorization [PA] Policies for New Drugs in Medicare Part D “In this cross-sectional study of drugs approved 2013 to 2017, 40% had PA criteria that placed conditions on formulary coverage beyond the FDA indication. Specific criteria varied considerably between insurers, which may increase the administrative burden on clinicians and beneficiaries seeking to consider PA policies when choosing among Part D plans or switching between insurers. More consistency in how plans implement PA in Part D could improve the experiences of patients and clinicians.”
Novartis to pay $30 mln to health plans, consumers over Exforge antitrust claims “Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG has agreed to pay $30 million to settle claims by health plans and consumers that it schemed to delay the U.S. launch of generic competition for its Exforge hypertension drug…
The deal is part of a broader $245 million settlement to end the entire litigation, including claims by drug wholesalers and retailers, which Novartis announced in December. The drugmaker at the time did not say how the money would be broken down.”
About the public’s health
Norovirus spurs rise in ED visits “Norovirus outbreaks have emerged across the U.S., U.K. and Canada in recent weeks, as cold weather brings people into closer contact indoors. The CDC tracks norovirus outbreaks across 14 states, though this data has not been updated since early January. In the week ending Jan. 2, there were 25 outbreaks, up from 14 the same period a year prior.”
Comment: Even though Covid-19 infections are waning, this outbreak provides the opportunity to make sure hand washing is still routine.
Estimates and Projections of the Global Economic Cost of 29 Cancers in 204 Countries and Territories From 2020 to 2050 “The estimated global economic cost of cancers from 2020 to 2050 is $25.2 trillion in international dollars (at constant 2017 prices), equivalent to an annual tax of 0.55% on global gross domestic product. The 5 cancers with the highest economic costs are tracheal, bronchus, and lung cancer (15.4%); colon and rectum cancer (10.9%); breast cancer (7.7%); liver cancer (6.5%); and leukemia (6.3%). China and the US face the largest economic costs of cancers in absolute terms, accounting for 24.1% and 20.8% of the total global burden, respectively. Although 75.1% of cancer deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, their share of the economic cost of cancers is lower at 49.5%. The relative contribution of treatment costs to the total economic cost of cancers is greater in high-income countries than in low-income countries.”
Heart Attack Deaths Fell for Americans Over Past 20 Years “Age-adjusted rates of heart attack fell by an average of over 4% per year across all racial groups over the two decades.
In 1999, there were about 87 deaths from heart attack per 100,000 people. By 2020, there were 38 deaths per 100,000 people.
Black Americans still had the highest death rates from heart attack, with 104 deaths per 100,000 people in 1999 and 46 deaths per 100,000 in 2020. Death rates from heart attack were lowest among Asians and Pacific Islanders.
It's difficult to determine whether the decline is due to fewer heart attacks or better survival rates because of new diagnostic strategies and treatment options, according to the study authors.”
Americans do not believe the country is ready for another pandemic “Only three in ten (28%) Americans think that the country is adequately prepared to deal with another pandemic.
Just 41% say they trust the information on health topics they get from their state’s governor either a great deal or a fair amount.”
The entire survey is short but has lots of other good information. For example: “Americans view opioids, obesity, and guns as the main threats to public health at the moment. Yet, some leading causes of death like cancer or auto fatalities are further down the list.
Partisanship drives some of the attitudes about leading risks, with Republicans focused on opioids and obesity, while Democrats are more worried about gun deaths.”
About healthcare IT
CDC Foundation Convening Aims to Accelerate Public Health Data Modernization Through Public Private Partnerships “On February 27 and 28, 2023, the CDC Foundation will convene a joint event with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) with the objective to accelerate public health data modernization through public private partnerships.
Addressing health challenges requires bringing together cross-sector groups, and the CDC Foundation's CDC-ONC Industry Days event will inform non-government organizations about CDC's and ONC's plans for modernizing public health data and information systems. The event also will provide both virtual and in-person attendees with opportunities to discuss their services with CDC and ONC staff.”
CommonSpirit Health a model for social determinants data sharing via EHRs: ONC “Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health has robust data sharing and collection to address social determinants of health in the communities it serves, ONC said in a new report.
The health system's Connected Community Network tech platform makes referrals, helps coordinate care and tracks outcomes, integrating social care into everyday healthcare. Its Total Health Roadmap is a universal social needs screening and referral program for primary care patients. Its Homeless Health Initiative uses data sharing to address homelessness. And its Social Needs Analytics platform analyzes EHR data to identify areas for investment to counter injustices.”
And in a related article:
Accuracy of Electronic Health Record Food Insecurity, Housing Instability, and Financial Strain Screening in Adult Primary Care “Commonly used EHR-based social screening questionnaires underidentified patients with housing instability and financial strain compared with single-domain screening tools. This suggests that the primary goal of screening may not be achieved for these 2 risks. In contrast, EHR-based food insecurity screening was accurate.”
60% of Americans Would Be Uncomfortable With Provider Relying on AI in Their Own Health Care “Six-in-ten U.S. adults say they would feel uncomfortable if their own health care provider relied on artificial intelligence to do things like diagnose disease and recommend treatments; a significantly smaller share (39%) say they would feel comfortable with this.
One factor in these views: A majority of the public is unconvinced that the use of AI in health and medicine would improve health outcomes.”
The Public’s Use of Health Apps and Wearables Has Increased in Recent Years. But Digital Health Still Has Room to Grow Highlights: “The use of health apps has grown by 6 percentage points since December 2018, while wearables usage has grown by 8 points, per Morning Consult data.
Respondents said exercise or heart rate monitoring was the primary reason for using a health app.
Adults who don’t use wearables said cost was the primary reason.”
About healthcare personnel
The Health of US Primary Care: A Baseline Scorecard Tracking Support for High-Quality Primary Care “ABSTRACT: The 2021 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report Implementing High-Quality Primary Care: Rebuilding the Foundation of Health Care proposed the development of a scorecard to better monitor and ensure accountability for progress toward high-quality primary care in the United States. This first national primary care scorecard finds a chronic lack of adequate support for the implementation of high- quality primary care in the United States across all measures, although performance varies across states. The scorecard finds:
Financing: The United States is systemically underinvesting in primary care.
Workforce: The primary care physician workforce is shrinking and gaps in access to care
appear to be growing.
Access: The percentage of adults reporting they do not have a usual source of care is increasing.
Training: Too few physicians are being trained in community settings, where most primary care takes place.
Research: There are few federal funding opportunities for primary care research, with only 0.2% of National Institutes of Health funding allocated to primary care.
Given declining life expectancy, racial and ethnic health disparities, the current epidemic of mental health needs, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and other nationwide issues that primary care can help address, these findings represent an urgent call to policymakers and other stakeholders. It is time to accelerate adoption of policies that will demonstrably increase investment in high-quality primary care, create a robust primary care workforce, and enable analysis and learning around the impact of primary care.”
Advancing Shared Decision Making among Older Adults with Serious Health Conditions ”In keeping with its mission to advance cost transparency, FAIR Health has led grant-funded initiatives that have resulted in the addition of shared decision-making tools for various health conditions, educational content and resources to its free, national consumer website fairhealthconsumer.org (FAIR Health Consumer). The tools combine clinical information from EBSCO’s OptionGridTM decision aids and cost data from FAIR Health’s private healthcare claims database comprising over 40 billion claim records from 2002 to the present.”