About health insurance/insurers
Value-Based Contracting in Clinical Care “We found saturation of the quality measure environment as a possible explanation: average physicians were incentivized to meet 57.08 different quality measures annually.”
Comment: Accrediting organizations require many of these measures, so contracting health plans have no choice but to require them.
About pharma
US will still pay at least twice as much after negotiating drug prices “A Reuters review of publicly available maximum prices set by other wealthy nations - Australia, Japan, Canada and Sweden - show that they have negotiated far lower prices for the same drugs.” The graphic is especially illustrative of the wide differences.
Antibiotic Prescribing for Respiratory Tract Infections in Urgent Care: A Comparison of In-Person and Virtual Settings “Antibiotic prescriptions were more common in virtual versus in-person urgent care, including among physicians who provided care in both platforms. This appears to be related to the high rate of sinusitis diagnosis in virtual urgent care.”
Comment: Would there be a role for enhanced virtual simulation education?
About the public’s health
The effect of exposure to radiofrequency fields on cancer risk in the general and working population: A systematic review of human observational studies “Highlights
—Exposure to RF from mobile phone use likely does not increase the risk of brain cancer.
—RF from broadcasting antennas or base stations likely does not increase the risk of childhood cancer.
—Occupational exposure to RF may not increase the risk of brain cancer.”
Coronavirus vaccines, once free, are now pricey for uninsured peopleCoronavirus vaccines, once free, are now pricey for uninsured people “The federal Bridge Access Program covering the cost of coronavirus vaccines for uninsured and underinsured people ran out of funding. Now, Americans with low incomes are weighing whether they can afford to shore up immunity against an unpredictable virus that is no longer a public health emergency but continues to cause long-term complications and hospitalizations and kill tens of thousands of people a year.”
Comment: Vaccinations are not just an individual problem but a public health issue. The same logic applies to providing care for those in this country illegally.
Supreme Court allows HHS to divert funds over abortion referrals “The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for the Biden administration to strip millions of health-care dollars from Oklahoma over its refusal to direct patients to information about abortions — a federal requirement that the state says would be at odds with its strict ban on terminating pregnancies.”
About healthcare IT
FDA's drug center to consolidate AI efforts under single council “The FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) is consolidating its artificial-intelligence-related activities under a single AI Council, in part in response to efforts from the Biden administration to ensure the safety and security of machine learning software.”
About health technology
Association Between False-Positive Results and Return to Screening Mammography in the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium Cohort “Women were less likely to return to screening after false-positive mammography results, especially with recommendations for short-interval follow-up or biopsy, raising concerns about continued participation in routine screening among these women at increased breast cancer risk.”
Comment: In addition to the cost and anxiety of false positives, add another factor- reduced followup.