About Covid-19
Interim Clinical Considerations for Use of COVID-19 Vaccines in the United States Despite the title, the page has the updated recommendations by age (see Table 1.).
Covid kills nearly 10,000 in a month as holidays fuel spread, WHO says “Almost 10,000 coronavirus deaths were reported in December, and admissions to hospitals and intensive care units surged, World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said — with data indicating that holiday gatherings fueled increased transmission of the virus…
There was a 42 percent increase in hospitalizations and a 62 percent increase in ICU admissions from the previous month. Trends are based on data reported to the WHO from fewer than 50 countries, mostly in Europe and the Americas, said Tedros, who noted that this is not the full picture.”
About health insurance/insurers
Medicare Pay Cuts Sought for Nursing Homes, Home Health Agencies “The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission voted Thursday to recommend base payment rate cuts of 7% for home health agencies, 5% for inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and 3% for nursing homes. But the panel is urging Congress to increase Medicare payments to hospitals, doctors, and dialysis centers in 2025.”
About hospitals and healthcare systems
Medicare reimbursement hits new low Four things to know:
1. An AHA analysis published Jan. 10 shows that Medicare paid 82 cents for every dollar hospitals spent on care for Medicare patients in 2022 — the most recent year for which data is available.
2. Medicare underpayments to hospitals hit $99.2 billion in 2022, almost two and a half times the amount in 2012, according to the report.
3. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission noted that hospitals' overall fee-for-service Medicare margin dropped to a record low in 2022 and expects low fee-for-service Medicare margins to persist.
4. Hospitals' fee-for-service Medicare margin decline was driven by higher-than-expected inflation, reduced uncompensated care payments and the reinstatement of Medicare sequestration, according to MedPAC. One offsetting factor was higher payments for 340B drugs.”
About pharma
CVS to close dozens of pharmacies in Target stores by April “CVS Health Corp. plans to close dozens of its locations in Target Corp. discount stores as the drugstore chain grapples with rising costs in its pharmacy business.
A number of CVS’s 1,800 pharmacies in Target stores will be closed between February and April, a CVS spokesperson said, without specifying the exact count.”
About the public’s health
Chemicals Used in Plastic Materials: An Estimate of the Attributable Disease Burden and Costs in the United States “Plastics contribute substantially to disease and associated social costs in the United States, accounting for 1.22% of the gross domestic product [$226 billion-$289 billion]. The costs of plastic pollution will continue to accumulate as long as exposures continue at current levels. Actions through the Global Plastics Treaty and other policy initiatives will reduce these costs in proportion to the actual reductions in chemical exposures achieved.
About healthcare IT
Large language models to identify social determinants of health in electronic health records “Our models identified 93.8% of patients with adverse SDoH, while ICD-10 codes captured 2.0%. These results demonstrate the potential of LLMs in improving real-world evidence on SDoH and assisting in identifying patients who could benefit from resource support.”
About healthcare personnel
NP pay by specialty This list highlights how much primary care physicians need to pay to compete for NPs. This evidence counters those who say increased use of NPs or PAs is an easy solution to the primary care shortage.