In hurricane news,
- The New York Times reports,
- “The Daytona Beach plant that makes nearly a quarter of the IV fluids used in the United States is intact in the wake of Hurricane Milton’s tear across Florida, according to a company spokeswoman.
- “The site, operated by B Braun Medical, gained prominence this week as a backup source for IV solutions because Hurricane Helene had flooded a major producer of the fluids in North Carolina and left hospitals from California to Virginia with diminishing supplies.
- “Company workers and officials from the federal Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response took pre-emptive measures before Milton arrived, loading trucks full of finished IV medical products to ship them out of the storm’s reach through the night Tuesday.
- “Allison Longenhagen, a company spokeswoman, said on Thursday that the manufacturing and distribution site at Daytona Beach was intact, and would reopen on Friday.”
- Healthcare Dive adds,
- Hurricane Milton hit Florida’s West Coast hard Wednesday night as a Category 3 storm, bringing torrents of rain and tornadoes that caused millions to lose power and triggered widespread destruction to roads and water and sewage services.
- While the region’s hospitals were largely ready for storm due to legacy hurricane preparations, health systems are still grappling with critical infrastructure outages and are making “hour-by-hour” calculations on whether to evacuate more patients, according to Mary Mayhew, CEO and president of the Florida Hospital Association.
- Per MedTech Dive,
- “Baxter said Wednesday it would increase allocation levels of certain IV fluids as the U.S. manages supply shortages after the company’s largest manufacturing plant was damaged by Hurricane Helene.
- “The company increased allocation levels of its “highest demand” IV fluids from 40% to 60% for direct customers and from 10% to 60% for distributors, effective Wednesday, according to the update. Baxter also increased the allocation level of IV solutions and nutrition products for designated children’s hospitals to 100%.
- “Baxter said its goal is to restart production at the North Carolina facility in phases and “return to 90% to 100% allocation of certain IV solution product codes by the end of 2024.”
From Washington, DC,
- Fierce Healthcare lets us know,
- “Just 40% of Medicare Advantage prescription drug plans offered in 2025 achieved a score of four stars or higher, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) revealed Oct. 10.
- “It is the third consecutive year the portion of MA plans offering four-star plans or greater decreased, with 68% of plans meeting the threshold in 2022. Last year 42% of plans achieved at least a four-star rating.
- “Weighted by enrollment, 62% of enrollees are currently in contracts with a four-star rating or better. In 2022, 90% of enrollees were in at least a four-star plan.
- “These star ratings impact the 2026-year quality bonus payments, which has significant financial repercussions to MA plans. They are rated on 40 measures in Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MA-PD) plans, 30 measures for MA plans and only 12 measures in solely prescription drug plans.
- Federal News Network tells us,
- “The final piece of the puzzle fell into place Thursday morning for calculating the 2025 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security and federal retirement benefits.
- “Starting in January, many federal retirees will see a 2025 COLA of 2.5% added to their Social Security benefits and federal retirement annuities — but not everyone will receive the full adjustment.
- “Retirees in the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) usually receive a smaller cost-of-living adjustment each year for their annuities, though the exact difference depends on how big the COLA is in a given year:
- “COLA is over 3%: FERS annuitants receive 1% less than the full COLA
- “COLA is between 2% and 3%: FERS annuitants receive a 2% COLA
- “COLA is less than 2%: FERS annuitants receive the full COLA
- For 2025, based on those specifications, FERS retirees will receive a “diet” 2025 COLA of 2% for their retirement benefits beginning in January.
- Tammy Flanagan, writing in Govexec, provides “a checklist to help [federal and postal employees and retirees] prioritize as [they] sort through your federal retirement and insurance benefits.”
- Modern Healthcare reports,
- “Healthcare companies pursuing mergers and acquisitions will be required to submit additional information about their proposals under a final rule approved by the Federal Trade Commission Thursday.
- “The final rule amends the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act form, which had not been updated for 46 years. When the rule goes into effect, likely early next year, healthcare companies involved in M&A proposals must list acquisitions that occurred within the last five years, disclose private equity and minority stakeholders with decision-making authority and report supplier relationships shared by the merging parties to the FTC, among other requirements.”
- Bloomberg informs us,
- Johnson & Johnson did not wrongly manipulate bankruptcy rules when it filed an insolvency case in Texas and not its home state of New Jersey, a federal judge ruled, increasing the odds the consumer health giant can settle claims its baby powder gave women cancer.
- Judge Christopher Lopez said Thursday he’ll keep a J&J subsidiary in his Houston courtroom, dismissing claims the company improperly skirted a federal appeals court for New Jersey that has twice stopped its bid to end thousands of talc injury lawsuits.
- “I want to assure everyone that they are going to get a fair trial in front of me,” Lopez said.
- J&J is offering more than $8 billion to settle the litigation, a proposal the company has said is supported by roughly 83% of the women who voted on it. The settlement is being offered through a corporate shell J&J created to absorb the cancer claims and file bankruptcy, a controversial legal tactic known as the Texas Two Step.
- The American Hospital Association News points out,
- “The Health Resources and Services Administration Oct. 9 announced it will award nearly $19 million to 15 states for identifying and implementing maternal health strategies. The funds are part of HRSA’s Enhancing Maternal Health Initiative and will support State Maternal Health Innovation programs to help identify key drivers of maternal mortality in each state, develop strategies and implement new interventions to address those issues. The state programs have implemented a range of interventions to address maternal health challenges, which include early identification and treatment of hypertension to reduce preeclampsia and other risks, providing mobile simulation trainings to prepare health care providers for a range of adverse labor events, expanding access to trainings to rural and frontier hospitals that do not have a dedicated obstetrics department, and creating resources to improve first responders’ ability to respond to patients with substance use disorder during and after pregnancy.”
From the public health and medical research front,
- The International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans lets us know,
- “Today is World Mental Health Day, a time to recognize the importance of mental health and to reaffirm commitments to improving mental health through education, awareness and advocacy. Many plan sponsors look toward mental health trends to stay informed on strategies for their workforce. Read on for key takeaways from a recent International Foundation webcast on 2024 mental health trends.
- “The after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in increases in mental health needs across North America. In a 2024 survey from Gallup, U.S. adults reported how they thought mental health issues are handled compared to physical health issues: 38% reported “much worse,” 37% reported “somewhat worse,” and 15% reported “about the same.” The same survey indicates a perception that mental health conditions, including depression and anxiety, have increased over the past five years.
- “According to a report from SunLife Canada, employers are seeing a rise in mental health care costs, including short- and long-term disability claims. The increased costs are sparking conversations about mental health treatment and leading employers to improve their employee benefits offerings to address mental health care.”
- Per a U.S. Department of Agriculture press release,
- BrucePac, a Durant, Okla. establishment, is recalling approximately 9,986,245 pounds of ready-to-eat (RTE) meat and poultry products that may be adulterated with Listeria monocytogenes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.
- The ready-to-eat meat and poultry items were produced from June 19, 2024, to October 8, 2024. These products were shipped to other establishments and distributors nationwide then distributed to restaurants and institutions. Information regarding product labels and the list of products will be provided when available.
- The products subject to recall bear establishment numbers “51205 or P-51205” inside or under the USDA mark of inspection.
- The American Hospital Association News notes,
- “The National Institutes of Health Oct. 10 released results of a study that found that infection from COVID-19 in the first wave of the pandemic appeared to significantly increase the risk of heart attack, stroke and death for up to three years for unvaccinated individuals. When infected, those individuals had double the risk for cardiovascular events, and people with severe cases had nearly four times the risk. The study also is the first to show that increased risk of heart attack and stroke in people with severe COVID-19 may have a genetic component involving blood type. It is unclear if the risk of cardiovascular disease is or may be persistent for people who have had severe COVID-19 from 2021 to the present, NIH said.”
- The Wall Street Journal reports,
- “Researchers are making progress toward vaccines that train healthy people’s immune systems to eliminate signs of cancer before it develops.
- “Vaccines are in early trials for people with inherited genetic mutations that put them at a greater risk. Other shots are designed to destroy precancerous lesions to stop full-blown disease.
- “It’s the future of cancer prevention,” says Dr. Ajay Bansal, a gastroenterologist at the University of Kansas Cancer Center.” * * *
- “Many consider cancer vaccines to be a form of immunotherapy, a kind of treatment that has revolutionized cancer care by using the immune system to beat back cancer cells. Some of those therapies release the brakes on the immune system. Cancer vaccines, by contrast, are meant to boost the immune response and direct it where to go.
- “Cancer cells and even pre-cancer cells know how to hide from the immune system,” says Dr. Neeha Zaidi, a medical oncologist at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. “It needs that help from a vaccine.”
- The National Institutes of Health’s Director, writing her in blog, tells us,
- “Developing a new drug from scratch can take a decade or more. But sometimes promising treatment options come from repurposing existing drugs for completely different medical conditions. I’m happy to share a new example of this: a cancer drug called pomalidomide that was found in a clinical trial to be safe and effective for treating a blood disorder called hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT).
- “HHT is an inherited blood vessel disorder that can cause excessive or even life-threatening bleeding. The disease is rare, affecting about 1 in every 5,000 people worldwide, but because HHT is poorly understood and often misdiagnosed, its true incidence is likely greater. Most people with HHT experience recurrent severe nosebleeds, often in combination with mental health disorders such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as other health conditions. HHT can also worsen with age and impact quality of life.
- “However, recent findings from an NIH-supported clinical trial, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, show that daily treatment with pomalidomide in people with HHT led to a significant reduction in nosebleed severity. Compared to trial participants taking a placebo, those taking pomalidomide needed fewer blood or iron transfusions and reported improvements in their quality of life. Because of these results, the trial was stopped months ahead of schedule, having found sufficient evidence that the treatment was safe and effective.”
- Per MedPage Today,
- “Medicare annual wellness visits were associated with a 21% increase in mild cognitive impairment diagnoses.
- “Those with a wellness evaluation received a diagnosis 76 days earlier than others.
- “Findings suggest the Medicare wellness visit policy may help identify cognitive impairment earlier.”
From the U.S. healthcare business front,
- Modern Healthcare reports,
- “CVS Health is moving ahead with expansion plans for Oak Street Health, even as the company reportedly considers a restructuring in the coming months.
- “CVS is conducting a strategic review, according to media reports citing people familiar with the matter and is weighing options for separating some of the company’s businesses, which include its retail pharmacy, insurance arm Aetna, pharmacy benefit manager CVS Caremark and primary care provider Oak Street.
- “A spokesperson said CVS is sticking with its previously announced expansion plan for Oak Street but did not respond to questions about how many clinics it has opened this year. As of August, Oak Street had opened 16 clinics in 10 states since December, with aggressive plans to open another 38 or so clinics by the end of the year.”
- Per Fierce Healthcare,
- “Henry Ford Health has launched a population health subsidiary to help manage high-risk patients’ conditions and reduce costs tied to preventable hospitalizations or readmissions.
Troy, Michigan-based Populance is described by the nonprofit health system as an extension of the “dozens” of case management programs it and its insurance subsidiary, Health Alliance Plan, have designed over the past two decades. - “Those programs—often designed with value-based care strategies in mind—will be supported at Populance with health analytics capabilities to help spot and address high-risk patients, the system said.
- “Because we know this approach to population health management works—for our patients, our members and our physicians—we want to make these services available to other physicians, health systems and health plans to create healthier, more equitable outcomes in all the communities we serve,” Robin Damschroder, president of value-based enterprise and chief financial officer at Henry Ford Health, said in a release.”
- “Henry Ford Health has launched a population health subsidiary to help manage high-risk patients’ conditions and reduce costs tied to preventable hospitalizations or readmissions.
- RAND issued a paper titled “The Expense of Heath Care Explained: What Americans Need to Know.”
- “Health care costs remain a critical concern for policymakers, providers, and patients alike. As voters head to the polls, the effectiveness of recent policies like the No Surprises Act and Medicare drug price negotiations are just beginning to be felt. Meanwhile, other major concerns loom, including how to deal with massive consolidation across the health care industry, and the complex dynamics of drug pricing, as well as burnout and other forces leading to shortages of health care providers.
- “We asked three experts on the economics of health care to explain some of the financial and public policy forces at work. Cheryl Damberg holds the distinguished chair in Health Care Payment Policy and is director of the RAND Center of Excellence on Health System Performance. Andrew Mulcahy is a senior health economist at RAND who focuses on payments for health care services and prescription drugs. Erin Taylor is a senior policy researcher at RAND who is currently co-project director of the evaluation of the Medicare Part D Senior Savings Model.”
- Per BioPharma Dive,
- Within the pharmaceutical industry, a multibillion-dollar race is underway to top Novo Nordisk’s and Eli Lilly’s in-demand obesity drugs.
- Dozens of companies, large and small, have set out to test experimental medicines they claim could be more potent, convenient or have fewer side effects than Novo’s Wegovy and Lilly’s Zepbound. But those two companies are already hard at work with successors of their own.
- The next six months figure to be an important preview. Data are expected for a number of drugs that are already, or are shaping up to be, contenders in this high-stakes competition. The readouts will be closely watched, as they will set expectations for how the obesity drug market — currently a duopoly between Lilly and Novo — will look in the future.
- The article tells you what to expect.
- The Washington Post reports,
- “Amazon plans to expand its drug delivery business as the company seeks more ways to insinuate itself into the daily lives of everyday Americans. The move would see the largest online retailer in the United States compete more directly with pharmacy retailers like CVS and Walgreens.
- “Next year, Amazon customers in 20 cities — including Dallas, Minneapolis and Philadelphia — will be able to get Amazon Pharmacy medications delivered by the company, Amazon Pharmacy VP Hannah McClellan Richards said Wednesday. And a growing number of those deliveries will be completed within less than 24 hours, the company said.
- “Richards said Amazon will double the number of cities with same-day delivery of medications next year, in part by building pharmacies in existing same-day delivery facilities that are “integrated directly into Amazon’s core logistics network.”