About Covid-19
FDA advisers back updated COVID vaccine targeting dominant variant “Advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday unanimously recommended that updated COVID-19 shots being developed for a fall vaccination campaign target one of the currently dominant XBB coronavirus variants.
The panel voted 21-0 in favor of XBB-targeted shots, and the committee's discussion indicated that the XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant would be preferred.
FDA official Dr. Peter Marks indicated the agency was likely to settle on XBB.1.5, which manufacturers suggested could be ready for inoculations soonest.”
About health insurance/insurers
High Court Backs Broad FCA Dismissal Authority For Gov't The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the federal government has the authority to dismiss whistleblower False Claims Act cases it initially declines to intervene in, but said it must reasonably explain why it is seeking to dismiss the suit.
Humana joins UnitedHealth in rising medical cost warning “Humana is anticipating its medical loss ratio will be at the top end of its full-year projected range of 86.3 percent to 87.3 percent, according to a June 16 SEC filing.
The company said the expectation is primarily driven by ‘higher than anticipated non-inpatient utilization trends, predominantly in the categories of emergency room, outpatient surgeries and dental services, as well as inpatient trends that have been stronger than anticipated in recent weeks, diverging from historical seasonality patterns.’”
About hospitals and healthcare systems
Premier Inc. carving off non-healthcare group purchasing business in $800M cash deal “Premier Inc. announced Wednesday a definitive agreement to offload its non-healthcare group purchasing operations for about $800 million cash, a deal that aims to satisfy stockholders and allow the company to focus its attention on growth in its core healthcare business.
The deal with fellow group purchasing organization (GPO) OMNIA Partners is expected to close in early August subject to regulatory approval and other conditions.”
About pharma
Walgreens inks another deal for clinical trials business as CVS exits research recruitment “Retail pharmacy giant Walgreens inked another partnership to recruit participants for research as it continues to build out its clinical trials business.
The company signed a deal with biotech startup Freenome to advance clinical trials of its blood-based tests for the early detection of cancer.
It marks the sixth contract that Walgreens has publicly disclosed for its year-old clinical trials business unit. The pharmacy chain launched the unit back in June 2022 as the company's healthcare ambitions continue to grow.”
About the public’s health
Public Health Reporting, Data Sharing Nearly Ubiquitous in Hospitals “ Public health reporting by acute care hospitals has seen significant improvement, reaching a 96 percent participation rate in 2022. This is an increase from the previous year, according to the 2022 American Hospital Association (AHA) Information Technology published by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health IT.”
National, State-Level, and County-Level Prevalence Estimates of Adults Aged ≥18 Years Self-Reporting a Lifetime Diagnosis of Depression — United States, 2020 From the CDC: “During 2020, 18.4% of U.S. adults reported having ever been diagnosed with depression; state-level age-standardized estimates ranged from 12.7% in Hawaii to 27.5% in West Virginia. Model-based age-standardized county-level prevalence estimates ranged from 10.7% to 31.9%, and there was considerable state-level and county-level variability.
What are implications for public health practice?
Decision-makers can use these estimates to guide resource allocation to areas where the need is greatest, possibly by implementing practices such as those recommended by The Guide to Community Preventive Services Task Force and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.”
About healthcare IT
Accuracy of a Generative Artificial Intelligence Model in a Complex Diagnostic Challenge “A generative AI model provided the correct diagnosis in its differential in 64% of challenging cases and as its top diagnosis in 39%. The finding compares favorably with existing differential diagnosis generators.”
And in a related article: When AI Overrules the Nurses Caring for You Well worth the read if you can access The Wall Street Journal.
Digital health should brace for 'significant amount of churn' as hospitals reconsider COVID-era tech contracts “A substantial number of hospitals are ready to rip and replace digital tools such as telemedicine and remote patient monitoring platforms that were rapidly adopted with the onset of the pandemic as many three-year contracts will soon expire…
Panda Health’s March survey polled 100 hospital and health system executives on how the pandemic influenced their adoption of digital health offerings…
Nearly half said they were either ‘not satisfied’ or ‘moderately satisfied’ with their current platform, and 30% said those contracts are set to expire between now and the end of 2024.”
About health technology
Americans’ use of healthcare wearables expanding rapidly, survey says “Dive Brief:
U.S. consumers doubled their use of wearable healthcare devices, including smartwatches, wearable monitors and fitness trackers, between 2020 and 2021, according to a new survey from AnalyticsIQ.
Among wearable monitors, blood pressure devices were the most popular, used by 59% of survey respondents, followed by sleep monitors (21%) and ECG monitors (11%). Biosensors such as glucose monitors, hormone monitors, fall detectors and respiratory monitors were used by 8% of consumers in the survey, followed by use of smart clothing items at 6%.
The wearable biosensors niche alone grew from $150 million globally in 2016 to $25 billion in 2021, the data analytics firm said.”