About Covid-19
A meta-analysis of the associations between insufficient sleep duration and antibody response to vaccination “Highlights
—Insufficient sleep (<6 hours/night) around vaccination reduces the antibody response
—The reduction is similar to the waning of COVID-19 vaccine antibodies over 2 months
—The association seems robust in men, but more data are needed in women
—Optimizing sleep duration around the time of vaccination may boost antibody response”
COVID-19 and Outpatient Antibiotic Prescriptions in the United States: A County-level Analysis “[Overall] antibiotic prescribing fell 26.8% in 2020 compared to prior years…
The positive association of COVID-19 cases with prescribing for all ages and the negative association for children indicates increases in prescribing occurred primarily among adults. The rarity of bacterial co-infection in COVID-19 patients suggests a fraction of these prescriptions may have been inappropriate. Facemasks and school closures were correlated with reductions in prescribing among children, possibly due to the prevention of other upper respiratory infections. The strongest predictors of prescribing were prior years’ prescribing trends, suggesting the possibility that behavioral norms are an important driver of prescribing practices.”
About health insurance/insurers
Inside the mind of criminals: How to brazenly steal $100 billion from Medicare and Medicaid “Taxpayers are losing more than $100 billion a year to Medicare and Medicaid fraud, according to estimates from the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association.”
The article provides examples of the ease with which fraud is committed.
Consistency of Physician Data Across Health Insurer Directories “In examining directory entries for more than 40% of US physicians, inconsistencies were found in 81% of entries across 5 large national health insurers. These results were driven by inconsistencies in addresses among physicians listed as practicing at multiple locations, which is concordant with prior research suggesting that most address errors stem from group practices reporting all physicians at all practice locations to insurers, irrespective of each individual physician’s practice locations.”
About hospitals and healthcare systems
Hospital Vitals: Financial and Operational Trends “The latest Hospital Vitals report — published in partnership with the American Hospital Association (AHA) — shares year-end 2022 data from 1,300+ hospitals and health systems. Key findings comparing hospitals’ 2022 performance to 2019 include:
—Total Contract Labor Expense skyrocketed 257.9%
—Contract Labor FTEs jumped 138.5%
—Median Contract Wage Rate paid to staffing firms rose 56.8%
—Emergency Overtime Hours per ED Visit increased 22%”
Patient Safety Excellence Award 2023 View hospitals by state.
About pharma
Novo Nordisk follows Eli Lilly's lead, slashing insulin prices in the US “On Tuesday, the Danish company said it would reduce the list price of its NovoLog insulin by 75% and slice the cost of Novolin and Levemir by 65%. The cuts will kick in on Jan. 1 of 2024, the drugmaker said.
The company also will drop the price of its unbranded biologics to match the reduced prices of the branded insulins.”
Why wait so long?
United States Files Complaint Alleging that Rite Aid Dispensed Controlled Substances in Violation of the False Claims Act and the Controlled Substances Act “ ‘We allege that Rite Aid filled hundreds of thousands of prescriptions that did not meet legal requirements,’ said Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta. ‘According to our complaint, Rite Aid’s pharmacists repeatedly filled prescriptions for controlled substances with obvious red flags, and Rite Aid intentionally deleted internal notes about suspicious prescribers. These practices opened the floodgates for millions of opioid pills and other controlled substances to flow illegally out of Rite Aid’s stores.’”
About the public’s health
EPA proposes rules to limit ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water “The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing the nation’s first-ever drinking-water standards for a group of human-made chemicals — commonplace in consumer items — that pose a greater danger to human health than scientists once thought.
The proposal could force water utilities to spend billions of dollars to comply with the EPA’s planned limits on polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, even though those limits are less stringent than advisory levels for safe consumption the agency set last year. Officials say that small and rural utilities will have access to federal subsidies and assistance, blunting the financial impact of the rule, if enacted.”
About healthcare personnel
Docs diverge on DTC, with survey showing support among the young “Among the healthcare professionals who see value in DTC marketing, more than 50% of the respondents said increased patient knowledge of medications helps with diagnosis and 70% said it boosts treatment adherence. The upshot? Campaigns that create informed patients could potentially improve outcomes.
Support diverges by age. Two-thirds of people aged 25 to 34 have no issues with the practice, compared to less than 40% of practitioners aged 45 and older. The data suggest views on DTC ads are shifting.”
Poll Finds More Americans Worried About Health Care Understaffing “More than a third (35%) of people noticed or had been affected by health care staffing shortages at the time of the February poll, up from 25% last November, noted Kathy Steinberg, vice president of media and communications research at the Harris Poll.
By comparison, 24% had been affected by staffing shortages in education in February, up from 17% in November.”
About health technology
Apple AirPods could be getting health features soon “Apple's AirPods and AirPods Pro might be used to monitor heart rates and characterize blood flow in consumer's ear skin, Apple Insider reported March 12.
Apple has filed patents and patent applications for a biometric sensing capability for the AirPods package, according to the report, suggesting that the company might use the device's ear and a photoplethysmogram sensor to monitor health conditions.”
About healthcare finance
Seeking to boost shareholder returns, Novartis readies new $11B buyback round “Novartis is preparing to kick off a share buyback round aimed at repurchasing up to 10 billion Swiss francs ($11 billion) worth of company shares in the next three years.
The new initiative, greenlighted at Novartis’ annual general meeting last week, will see the Swiss pharma buy up to 10% of its own registered stock.”