“…it is however a bad day for science when truth is dominated by passions and expediency."
Sir William John Ritchie Simpson [1855-1931]
Public Health Expert and contributing founder of the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
About healthcare policy
Jay Bhattacharya, an NIH critic, emerges as a top candidate to lead the agency “When three academics in October 2020 insisted it was time to roll back coronavirus lockdowns — writing an open letter known as the Great Barrington Declaration that attracted hundreds of thousands of signatures — public health leaders rebuked their proposal as premature. Francis S. Collins, then director of the National Institutes of Health, privately dismissed the authors as “fringe” experts and called for a “take down” of their suggestions to reopen schools and businesses, according to emails subsequently released under the Freedom of Information Act.
Now, one of the authors of that declaration — Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University physician and economist — appears poised for a top government health role, perhaps as head of NIH itself…
The rise of Bhattacharya — from being scorned by the nation’s NIH director to possibly occupying his office four years later — reflects how the backlash to coronavirus policies has helped reshape conservative politics and elevate new voices. While Collins and other public health experts maintain that the Great Barrington Declaration’s ideas were rash and would have put vulnerable people at risk, many Americans have come to believe that school shutdowns and other pandemic-related policies lasted too long.”
Planned Parenthood, nonprofits condemn executive power granted in looming House bill “National healthcare groups have signed on in opposition to a House bill that would soon grant President Donald Trump the ability to undermine nonprofits and remove their tax-exempt status, civil liberty organizations claim.
These groups, led by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), say the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act introduces “broad and easily abused new powers for the executive branch” in a letter sent to congressional leaders in September.”
Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter Delivers Remarks on the Platformization of Health care A good summary about why the government has pressed antitrust actions in healthcare, The discussion may be moot as the Trump administration will probably cut back on antitrust actions.
See, also: A conversation with Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter on U.S. HealthCare
About health insurance/insurers
5 big changes to Medicare 2025 plans you should know during open enrollment Good review of the 2025 changes.
Survey Shows Health Plans Are Expanding Value-Based Arrangements to Deliver Higher-Quality, More Affordable Health Care [An AHIP survey] “Key findings from the survey include:
Continued growth in the adoption of VBC arrangements and shared risk arrangements. Across all lines of business, value-based arrangements grew by nearly 4 percentage points from 41.3% in 2022 to 45.2% in 2023. Shared risk arrangements also saw an increase, growing by 4 percentage points, from 24.5% in 2022 to 28.5% in 2023.
Medicare Advantage continues to lead the way. Medicare Advantage (MA) continues to lead innovation in this space with 64.3% of payments in 2023 flowing through value-based arrangements, compared to 42% for fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare. This is a 7.1 percentage point year-over-year increase for MA plans from 57.2% in 2022, compared with a 0.6 percentage point increase for FFS over 2022.
Commercial health plans continue making progress toward value-based adoption.Participation in commercial VBC arrangements grew from 34.6% in 2022 to 39.2% in 2023, a 5.1 percentage point increase. Adoption of downside risk arrangements in the commercial market also saw an increase of 5.1%.”
About hospitals and healthcare systems
Hospital financial stability in 2025: 8 predictions Good summary from Moody's Investor Services.
Caregiver-Reported Quality in Hospices Owned by Private Equity Firms and Publicly Traded Companies “Hospices owned by PEFs or PTCs performed significantly worse across CAHPS measures relative to not-for-profit and non-PEF/PTC for-profit agencies. Although prior research has highlighted poorer user experiences in for-profit vs not-for-profit hospices,1 this study found that PEF/PTC ownership was an especially problematic category of for-profit hospice.”
About the public’s health
Is it the flu or is it COVID? One at-home test can tell you “For the first time, new home tests — available at pharmacies without a prescription — can test for both the flu and COVID simultaneously.”
About healthcare IT
DEA extends telehealth prescribing flexibilities “The Drug Enforcement Administration extended the flexibilities enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic that allows healthcare providers to prescribe specific controlled substances via telehealth.”