About Covid-19
Hospitals no longer required to report COVID-19 data to CDC “Per guidance documents from the Department for Health and Human Services released in November, April 30 is the last day hospitals must report their COVID-19 data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC's) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN).”
About hospitals and healthcare systems
How Safe is Your Hospital? FYI- Latest Leapfrog Group survey.
Tenet posts $2.2B net income in Q1 “Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare posted a net income of $2.2 billion in the first quarter of 2024 up from $143 million posted in the same period last year, according to its April 30 financial report.”
About pharma
FTC adds diabetes and weight loss drugs to its ‘junk’ patent crusade After warning drugmakers in September that it wouldn’t hesitate to take legal action against “junk” patent listings, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sent warning letters to 10 manufacturers on Tuesday disputing the accuracy or relevance of more than 300 patents listed in the FDA’s Orange Book.
Letter recipients include AstraZeneca and Novo Nordisk over patents for their obesity and type 2 diabetes injectable drugs, including the latter’s Ozempic (semaglutide), as well as Amphastar Pharmaceuticals and its type 1 diabetes treatment Baqsimi (glucagon). The biotech gained the nasal spray from Eli Lilly last year in a deal potentially worth over $1 billion.
Drugmakers now have 30 days to withdraw or amend the questioned patent listings, or certify that each is compliant with regulations.”
CVS reports $1.1B income in Q1, cuts earnings guidance “CVS Health cut its earnings guidance for 2024 based on rising medical costs.
CVS Health reported $1.1 billion in net income in the first quarter of 2024, according to its latest earnings documents, published May 1…
The healthcare giant revised its 2024 earnings per-share guidance to at least $5.64 from at least $7.06. This is the second time CVS has cut its earnings guidance this year based on rising medical cost trends, especially among the Medicare Advantage population.”
Pfizer plans direct-to-consumer platform for Covid and migraine treatments “Pfizer is developing an online platform for patients to order medicine including anti-Covid drug Paxlovid and a migraine nasal spray, according to people familiar with the matter, in the latest push by drugmakers to cut out industry middlemen and sell straight to consumers. The website, which is expected to launch later this year, would connect customers in the US with independent telehealth consultants to prescribe the medications, while a drug-dispensing partner would fill and ship the prescriptions, the people said.”
About the public’s health
Mortality and morbidity ramifications of proposed retractions in healthcare coverage for the United States “…raising Medicare age eligibility and the addition of work requirements for Medicaid qualification have been proposed, while termination of continuous enrollment for Medicaid was recently effectuated. Here, we assess the potential impact on mortality and morbidity resulting from these policy changes. Our findings indicate that the policy change to Medicare would lead to over 17,000 additional deaths among individuals aged 65 to 67 and those to Medicaid would lead to more than 8,000 deaths among those under the age of 65.”
The Women’s Health Initiative Randomized Trials and Clinical Practice “To inform clinical practice about the health effects of menopausal hormone therapy, calcium plus vitamin D supplementation, and a low-fat dietary pattern, the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) enrolled 161 808 postmenopausal US women (N = 68 132 in the clinical trials) aged 50 to 79 years at baseline from 1993 to 1998, and followed them up for up to 20 years…
For postmenopausal women, the WHI randomized clinical trials do not support menopausal hormone therapy to prevent cardiovascular disease or other chronic diseases. Menopausal hormone therapy is appropriate to treat bothersome vasomotor symptoms among women in early menopause, without contraindications, who are interested in taking hormone therapy. The WHI evidence does not support routine supplementation with calcium plus vitamin D for menopausal women to prevent fractures or a low-fat diet with increased fruits, vegetables, and grains to prevent breast or colorectal cancer. A potential role of a low-fat dietary pattern in reducing breast cancer mortality, a secondary outcome, warrants further study.”
Healthy lifestyle could counteract effects of life-shortening genes “An unfavorable lifestyle was associated with a 78% heightened risk of death, regardless of genetic determinants. But a favorable lifestyle could potentially mitigate the genetic risk of premature death by approximately 62%…”