Conspiring Against Competition Illegal Corporate Price-Fixing in the U.S. Economy “Large companies operating in the United States have, since the beginning of 2000, paid $96 billion in fines and settlements to resolve allegations of covert price-fixing and related anti-competitive practices in violation of antitrust laws…
Of the $96 billion in penalties, over one-third ($33 billion) was paid by banks and investment firms, mainly to resolve claims that they schemed to rig interest-rate benchmarks such as LIBOR. The second most penalized industry, at $11 billion, is pharmaceuticals, due largely to Price-fixing happens most frequently in business-to-business transactions, though the higher costs are often passed on to consumers. Apart from finance and pharmaceuticals, the industries high on the penalty list include: electronic components ($8.6 billion in penalties), automotive parts ($5.3 billion), power generation ($5 billion), chemicals ($3.9 billion), healthcare services ($3.5 billion), and freight services ($3.4 billion). Information technology’s total is relatively low, at $1.7 billion, apparently reflecting that industry’s heavy reliance on advertising rather than revenue from users.”
About Covid-19
FDA okays second omicron booster for people at high risk from covid “The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday cleared the way for people who are at least 65 years old or immune-compromised to receive a second updated [bivalent] shot against the coronavirus, an option designed to bolster protection for the most vulnerable Americans even as the pandemic recedes.”
Universal Masking in Health Care Settings: A Pandemic Strategy Whose Time Has Come and Gone, For Now A thoughtful article on when there is a need to mask- and when there is not a need.
About health insurance/insurers
HHS Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2024 Final Rule You should at least skim this document- paying attention to the topic categories.For a summary of some of the topics see this article.
About hospitals and healthcare systems
59 health systems that got the highest price transparency scores, 11 with the lowest FYI
CFO Signals™ 1Q 2023 From Deloitte consulting. Though not a healthcare-specific report, one finding very applicable to the field stood out: “Despite continued reports of layoffs across industries, retention and talent availability and hiring continue to dominate CFOs’ list of internal worries.”
About pharma
Markups for Drugs Cost Patients Thousands of Dollars From an AHIP study: “Costs per single treatment for drugs administered in hospitals (2019-2021) were an average of $8,200 more than those purchased through specialty pharmacies. Drugs administered in physician offices were an average of $1,500 higher than specialty pharmacies.”
The article has specific drug examples.
Added Therapeutic Benefit of Top-Selling Brand-name Drugs in Medicare “Question What was the added therapeutic benefit of the 50 top-selling drugs in Medicare in 2020, as assessed by key non-US health technology assessment (HTA) organizations?
Findings More than half of top-selling drugs in Medicare did not receive a moderate or high added therapeutic benefit rating by the national HTA organization of France, Germany, or Canada; these 27 drugs accounted for $19.3 billion net spending, or 11% of Medicare net prescription drug spending in 2020.
Meaning Many top-selling Medicare drugs provided low added benefits; this information can contribute to price negotiation under the Inflation Reduction Act.”
GSK bets on cough drug with $2bn deal for Canadian biotech “GSK has agreed to buy Canadian biotech Bellus Health in a $2bn deal, its largest acquisition since the UK drugmaker spun off its consumer health division last year. The deal is designed to bolster GSK’s drug pipeline by adding Bellus Health’s speciality medicine for a debilitating and persistent cough, a condition that GSK says affects 10mn people. It is the latest in a series of deals from GSK to replenish its drug pipeline ahead of the expected loss of exclusivity on its HIV drug dolutegravir towards the end of the decade. The purchase of Bellus follows the $1.9bn acquisition of Sierra Oncology and a deal worth up to $3.3bn for vaccine maker Affinivax last year.”
About the public’s health
Screening for Skin CancerUS Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement “The USPSTF concludes that the evidence is insufficient to determine the balance of benefits and harms of visual skin examination by a clinician to screen for skin cancer in asymptomatic adolescents and adults.”
About healthcare IT
HHS Cybersecurity Task Force Provides New Resources to Help Address Rising Threat of Cyberattacks in Health and Public Health Sector “On April 17, 2023, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 405(d) Program announced the release of the following resources to help address cybersecurity concerns in the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) Sector:
Knowledge on Demand – a new online educational platform that offers free cybersecurity trainings for health and public health organizations to improve cybersecurity awareness.
Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices (HICP) 2023 Edition – a foundational publication that aims to raise awareness of cybersecurity risks, provide best practices, and help the HPH Sector set standards in mitigating the most pertinent cybersecurity threats to the sector.
Hospital Cyber Resiliency Initiative Landscape Analysis – a report on domestic hospitals’ current state of cybersecurity preparedness, including a review of participating hospitals benchmarked against standard cybersecurity guidelines such as HICP 2023 and the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework (NIST CSF).
About healthcare personnel
FCC Chairwoman Calls for Reclassification of 911 Operators The FCC is calling on the OMB to reclassify 911 operators as first responders and not office administrative staff. It is hoped that such a change will help with recruiting and retention, perhaps by increasing salary categories.
About health technology
Direct-from-blood culture metagenomic [Metagenomics is the study of microbes in their natural living environment] sequencing provides accurate antimicrobial resistance predictions faster than routine methods This abstract was just presented at European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Copenhagen. “Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a major challenge when treating bloodstream infections. Beyond identifying species, clinical metagenomics may offer valuable information to predict AMR in a timely and accurate manner…
We demonstrate that metagenomic sequencing can provide rapid and actionable AMR predictions to treat bloodstream infections earlier than conventional laboratory tests.”
Comment: This technique can provide rapid, precise information about infecting bacteria and their sensitivities to treatment.