About Covid-19
HHS finalizes end of COVID-19 vaccination rule for hospitals “The federal government is formally withdrawing the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees of CMS-certified healthcare facilities that was enacted in November 2021 and moving to treat the virus, from an oversight standpoint, more like the flu.”
Estimates of SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence and Incidence of Primary SARS-CoV-2 Infections Among Blood Donors, by COVID-19 Vaccination Status — United States, April 2021–September 2022 “By the third quarter of 2022, an estimated 96.4% of persons aged ≥16 years in a longitudinal blood donor cohort had SARS-CoV-2 antibodies from previous infection or vaccination, including 22.6% from infection alone and 26.1% from vaccination alone; 47.7% had hybrid immunity. Hybrid immunity prevalence was lowest among adults aged ≥65 years.”
About health insurance/insurers
UnitedHealth offers over $3 bln for home health firm Amedisys “UnitedHealth Group on Monday made a surprise $3.26 billion all-cash offer to acquire Amedisys Inc, pitting itself against another healthcare company set to buy the home health and hospice care firm…
UnitedHealth, through its Optum unit, offered to pay $100 per share in cash, just a month after Amedisys agreed to be bought by Option Care Health Inc for $97.38 per share in an all-stock deal.”
Google, Humana adding secure insurance cards to digital wallet “Google is adding health insurance cards to its digital wallet to make it easier for patients to furnish that information to healthcare providers.
The tech giant is working with Humana to develop a digital version of the payer's cards to save to Google Wallet.”
Health Insurance For People Younger Than Age 65: Expiration Of Temporary Policies Projected To Reshuffle Coverage, 2023–33 “The Congressional Budget Office estimates that in 2023, 248 million people in the US who are younger than age sixty-five have health insurance coverage (mostly through employment-based plans), and twenty-three million people, or 8.3 percent of that age group, are uninsured—with significant variations in coverage by income and, to a lesser extent, by race and ethnicity. The unprecedented low uninsurance rate is largely attributable to temporary policies that kept beneficiaries enrolled in Medicaid and enhanced the subsidies available through the health insurance Marketplaces during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the continuous eligibility provisions unwind in 2023 and 2024, an estimated 9.3 million people in that age group will transition to other forms of coverage, and 6.2 million will become uninsured. If the enhanced subsidies expire after 2025, 4.9 million fewer people are estimated to enroll in Marketplace coverage, instead enrolling in unsubsidized nongroup or employment-based coverage or becoming uninsured. By 2033 the uninsurance rate is projected to be 10.1 percent, which is still below the 2019 rate of about 12 percent.”
About pharma
Women more likely than men to skip or delay medications due to cost, CDC report finds “The finding came from the CDC’s National Health Interview Survey, an annual survey in which tens of thousands of people in the U.S. are asked questions about their health-related experiences.
It found that in 2021, 9.2 million adults ages 18 to 64 — about 1 in 10 — reported skipping, delaying or using less medication than prescribed over the past year to save money. Women led men when it came to this nonadherence: 9.1% versus 7%.”
The article explores possible reasons for this finding.
Inflationary Rebates For Generic Drugs Sold Through Medicaid Saved Billions During 2017–20 The authors “ found that nearly half of generic drugs were subject to inflationary rebates during the period 2017–20, offsetting 2–12 percent of the $53.6 billion in generic drug spending during that time. Rebates were larger among non–orally administered drugs and those with the highest prices. Generic inflationary rebates offset substantial Medicaid spending during that period, suggesting that many generic prices increased above inflation despite the new policy. This might change now that inflationary rebates have been expanded to Medicare under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, although additional policies that ensure competitive markets would better protect all US patients from rising generic drug prices.”
About healthcare IT
Pharma giant Bayer moves deeper into digital health with new business unit “Pharma giant Bayer is launching a precision health unit as it ramps up its investment in consumer-facing digital health tools.
The company will prioritize developing products that enable people to take greater control of their own personal health through digital solutions that facilitate more informed choices based on personal insights and novel delivery mechanisms, the company said in a press release.”
The Digital Front Door 2023: The State of Patient Access Most survey respondents – patients and providers – indicate that the healthcare access experience is the same or worse than it was over the past 12 to 24 months. Despite the relatively positive progression of responses from 2020 to 2022, the level of expectation appears to have escalated in the post- pandemic environment. Calling the patient access experience ‘the same’ following unprecedented pandemic chaos is a sign that more work is needed and ‘worse’ is troubling since much effort and budget have been spent to make improvements. Interestingly, more providers than patients view access as being worse (47% compared to 21%) and better (27% compared to 17%), which may indicate the business objectives tied to improving patient access – such as accurate information intake, fewer cancellations, more patient volume handled more efficiently, better up-front collection rates – are either not yet meeting expectations or are starting to show promise. Conversely, many more patients (62%) felt access to healthcare is ‘about the same’ than did providers (25%). Providers leaned more into’“worse’ or ‘better,”’underscoring that not much has stayed the same for healthcare workers over the past few years.”
About health technology
More than 400 Grail patients incorrectly told they may have cancer “According to an internal company document seen by the Financial Times, 408 patients were incorrectly told they had a signal in their blood suggesting they could have cancer. Grail said the letters were sent “in error” by its telemedicine provider PWNHealth and that its staff had moved swiftly to contact affected customers to reassure them their test results were wrong.”