JPM24: Top trends for payers, providers and health tech companies to watch A good summary of this annual conference.
About Covid-19
COVID hospitalizations increase for 9th straight week: CDC “For the week ending Jan. 6, weekly COVID hospitalizations rose to 35,801. This marks the ninth straight week of increases, but remains lower than hospitalizations recorded at the same time last year.
Nearly 40% of all counties in the U.S. are in the medium category for hospital admission levels, meaning hospitals are seeing 10.0 to 19.9 new admissions for COVID-19 per 100,000 people in the past week.”
About health insurance/insurers
2024 Medicare Advantage Landscape Easy-to-read update with good graphics.
About pharma
Medicare Patients on Pricey Drugs Are Saving Big This Year “Changes brought about by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act mean that people on Part D plans now pay no more than roughly $3,300 on drugs annually—a number that could shift a bit based on whether they take brand or generic medications. In 2025, that cap will change again to a flat $2,000.”
Comment: The article does not comment on who pays the extra amounts and what the effect on premiums will be.
About the public’s health
Flu activity dipped slightly nationwide, but experts say the virus isn't done with us yet “As many as 40 children and teenagers, including five babies younger than 5 months old, have died from the flu so far this season, as the virus continues to spread at high levels across most of the United States.
For the first time in months, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday a slight dip in how many people are getting the flu or being hospitalized from it, although experts warn that the virus isn't done yet.”
Analysis of Breast Cancer Mortality in the US—1975 to 2019 “Improvements in treatment and screening after 1975 were associated with a 58% reduction in breast cancer mortality in 2019, from an estimated 64 deaths without intervention to 27 per 100 000 women (age adjusted). Approximately 29% of this reduction was associated with treating metastatic breast cancer, 25% with screening, and 47% with treating stage I to III breast cancer.”
About healthcare IT
Towards Conversational Diagnostic AI Fascinating article about how a Large Language Model (LLM) based AI system can be successfully used to interact diagnostically with patients.
About health technology
Apple may evade import ban by nixing pulse ox sensor from Apple Watch, Masimo says In an attempt to avoid another pause on sales of its smartwatches equipped with blood oxygen sensors—which are the subject of a patent infringement case brought by Masimo—Apple in late December submitted to U.S. Customs and Border Protection a redesign of those Apple Watches that could exempt them from an import ban imposed by the U.S. International Trade Commission…
They do so by completely removing the devices’ pulse oximetry technology, according to the document, a letter from Masimo’s attorney that was filed in federal appeals court Monday.”
About healthcare finance
Medline Industries, LP completes acquisition of United Medco “Medline’s acquisition of United Medco sparks a significant milestone in the growth of Medline’s Health Plans business. The transaction will augment the company’s distribution capabilities and member engagement solution offerings to Medicare Advantage, Managed Medicaid and commercial insurance markets.
United Medco is a segment-leading supplemental benefits administrator focused on serving the Medicare Advantage, Managed Medicaid and commercial insurance markets.”