Monday Roundup

COVID-19 vaccine

Monday Roundup

David Ermer–Congress, COVID-19, COVID-19 testing, COVID-19 vaccine, Rx coverage, Telehealth, U.S. Healthcare–
Photo by Sven Read on Unsplash

Becker’s Health IT offers 20 bold health IT predictions for the next five years. Here are the FEHBlog’s favorites:

1. Joel Klein, MD. Senior Vice President and CIO of University of Maryland Medical System (Baltimore): I think at least half of all healthcare in America will be virtual within five years. There are two barriers:

• Payers. They might pay less but if they pay enough, it will be enough. If we can figure out how to solve emergency department visits with widespread, cost effective on-demand care, that will make a difference.
• ‘But I want to see my doctor.’ That might be true for some things, but the convenience factor (especially for tertiary care… especially for millennials…) once you really start doing it overwhelms most of the physical presence upsides.

Edward Lee, MD. CIO of The Permanente Federation (Oakland, Calif.): In five years, physicians will no longer need to manually document their notes into the EHR. Instead, artificial intelligence will capture all the pertinent information from the patient-physician encounter. This will enable physicians to spend quality time with their patients instead of worrying about writing their notes or placing orders in a computer system. Joy and meaning for physicians will increase, physician burnout will decrease, and above all, patient care will improve.

Michael Pfeffer, MD. Assistant Vice Chancellor and CIO of UCLA Health: Health IT will enable each patient to have a unified, interactive view of their health information regardless of place of care or type of clinical data (i.e. phenotypic, genomic, imaging). AI-based apps will help make sense of their data, taking into account social determinants of health and potential health disparities to improve health equity and health literacy. This intelligence will be paired with personal health preferences and data on health provider quality, access, pricing and satisfaction to help patients make truly informed decisions about their care.

Fierce Biotech reports that “Just under a week after it stopped its key phase 3 pandemic vaccine test [due to a safety concern], AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford have been given the green light to restart in the U.K.” What’s more

While AZ and Oxford have been highlighted as [COVID-19 vaccine] race leaders, so too have Pfizer and BioNTech, which said they now want to boost their phase 2/3 trial for one of their five mRNA vaccines, BNT162b2, from around 30,000 to 44,000.

Also over the weekend, the companies said they have asked the FDA for the extra participants in order to include a broader patient population and with plans to include adolescents as young as 16 and people with chronic, stable HIV (human immunodeficiency viruses), hepatitis C or hepatitis B infection to “provide additional safety and efficacy data.”

It said it’s on track to hit its original target of 30,000 patients this week; despite wanting more people, Pfizer said in a statement that it was still on course to deliver data by the end of next month.

CVS Health announced last week that in response to demand created by children returning to school, it has made “children age 12 years and older eligible for testing at the more than 2,000 test sites located at select CVS Pharmacy drive-thru testing locations, starting last Friday, September 11.”

In other news

  • The Washington Post reports that commuting in the Washington DC metropolitan area may not be back to normal until next summer.

Some 430 employers representing about 275,000 workers in the greater-Washington region — stretching from Baltimore to Richmond — participated in the survey conducted Aug. 10 to 28. Their responses offer a snapshot of what companies are thinking as they weigh resuming in-office operations.
A clear majority of Washington-area employers said they are adopting a phased approach to returning to the office, although many said they remain uncertain about the timing of that return. A third of the region’s employers said they don’t know whether they will have their workers back on site by next summer.

  • Govexec.com reports that “The Office of Personnel Management issued a proposed rule [today] that would enable federal agencies to appoint employees in STEM jobs, or positions on temporary or new projects or organizations, for a decade. OPM said the change would give agencies more flexibility when tackling long-term science, technology, engineering and mathematics projects and other non-permanent work. Current regulations require agencies to get special permission from OPM to keep any term employee on staff for longer than four years.” The public comment deadline is November 10, 2020.
  • The House Oversight and Reform subcommittee on government operations held a postal update hearing today. It turns out that the subcommittee’s objective was to be to call the Postmaster General’s qualifications into question. A bipartisan Postal Service Board of Governors selects the Postmaster General, rather than following the usual Presidential appointment followed by Senate confirmation route.

Thursday Miscellany

David Ermer–Congress, COVID-19 testing, COVID-19 vaccine, U.S. Healthcare–
Photo by Juliane Liebermann on Unsplash

The Wall Street Journal reports that the entire Senate Republican caucus, with the exception of Sen. Rand Paul, voted for the scaled down $500 billion (is that an oxymoron?) COVID-19 relief bill, but the bill failed to receive the 60 votes necessary for cloture because the Democratic caucus lined up in opposition. So we have another political issue for the election.

Thankfully, the Congress and the White House have agreed on a continuing resolution to fund the federal government into the new federal fiscal year. The House will be holding votes next week so the FEHBlog expects that the House will pass the continuing resolution and then peace out for the campaign trail. The Senate will hang around as long as it can to approve more nominations. Following the election Congress will hold a lame duck session at which point another COVID-19 relief bill is likely to be enacted.

In healthcare news —

  • The National Academies of Sciences has a detailed web page about social determinants of health that is worth a look.
  • Humana has launched value based hearth surgery and shoulder replacement programs. “””The value-based care models are part of a portfolio of payment bundles created by Humana including a Maternity Episode-of-care Model and an Oncology Model of Care. Humana also offers a Hospital Incentive Program for acute care inpatient admissions. About 2.4 million MA members and 115,000 commercial members are enrolled in value-based models, Humana has said.”
  • Fierce Biotech reports that quick, inexpensive saliva based COVID-19 tests are being piloted at Heathrow Airport in London, England. Send the tests over here.
  • The Wall Street Journal informs us that “health experts say it’s increasingly likely that several [COVID-19] vaccines could pass muster in clinical trials and become available in phases over a period of weeks and months.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent documents last week to state officials that lay out various scenarios, including availability of a limited number of doses of two vaccines by the end of October with more doses by the end of the year. The CDC document doesn’t name the two vaccines that could become available but describes characteristics that match those of the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.

Experts say multiple vaccines will be needed because no single company can make enough for the whole world. Several companies have signed contracts with the federal government to supply at least 100 million doses of each vaccine in the U.S., and are planning to produce larger global supplies.

Progress.

Midweek update

David Ermer–CDC, Congress, COVID-19 vaccine, OPM, Telehealth–
OPM Director Nominee John Gibbs (Senate video / Federal Times)

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held a confirmation hearing for OPM Director nominee John Gibbs this afternoon. Here’s are links to Mr. Gibbs’ testimony and a Federal News Network article on the hearing. The Committee will vote on whether to advance Mr. Gibbs’ nomination to the full Senate at a business meeting scheduled for next Wednesday October 16.

The Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee heard testimony today from the NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins and the U.S. Surgeon General Vice Admiral Jerome Adams on the topic of vaccines. U.S. News and World Report highlights an important segment of Dr. Collins’s appearance before the Committee.

AstraZeneca announced on Tuesday that its late-stage [COVID-19] vaccine study was being put on hold due to a “potentially unexplained illness” in one of the participants.

“With an abundance of caution at a time like this, you put a clinical hold, you investigate carefully to see if anybody else who received that vaccine, or any other vaccines, might have had a similar finding of a spinal cord problem,” Collins said.

Those who are concerned about the safety of the approval process should be reassured by the development, Collins said. “If it turns out that that is a real consequence of this vaccine and can be shown to be cause and effect then all the doses that are currently being manufactured for that will be thrown away because we do not want to issue something that is not safe,” Collins said. He added that the U.S. is investing in six vaccine candidates “because of the expectation that they won’t all work, although it would be lovely if they did.”

AstraZeneca was one of the nine drugmakers to pledge on Tuesday to uphold standards for science and safety in their pursuit of a coronavirus vaccine.

Healthcare Finance reports on America’s Health Insurance Plan comments on how health insurers can aid the COVID-19 vaccine distribution process. For example,

Insurers can use their member data to help identify which people meet the criteria to be eligible for the vaccine, according to the best available evidence. Outreach efforts must adhere to patient privacy requirements, AHIP said.

Insurers can coordinate across partners such as public health officials for data sharing regarding their members’ vaccine status, encouraging data to be shared with state or regional databases (Immunization Information Systems).

“Health insurance providers play an important role ensuring that people receive the vaccines that are recommended for them, and have experience conducting outreach to their members to inform them of the vaccines that are recommended for them and how they can get them,” AHIP said. This may include reminders to ensure they receive multiple doses of a vaccine when needed.”

The Health Affairs Blog experts offer five recommendations on how to better integrate telehealth with primary care.

RecommendationsRepresentative Open-Text Survey Responses
Harmonize the reimbursement criteria “Some insurance companies are paying less than in-person visits for telehealth visits from Day 1. Small practices, like usual, have been left to themselves for the most part.”“Primary care is extremely challenging with the constant change in protocols, the uncertainty and enormously confusing insurance schemes.”
Create billing codes or payment models for the additional work required to offer telehealth “Insurance companies not reimbursing telephone visits at a rate that supports the level of work done on a telephone visit.”“Elderly patients have no access or are unable to access virtual – more work, have to teach them how to take BP, some hard of hearing, etc.”“I am more stressed out doing telehealth, as we spend time to fix internet, video, and voice. There are calling issues, so it’s more time consuming.”
Provide coverage for at-home monitoring devices “I need blood pressure cuffs and glucometers covered by insurance for home monitoring.” “I will do tele health… provided patients have equipment.”“Patients lack thermometers, blood pressure cuffs, and pulse oximeters.”
Incentivize the development of and access to, patient- and provider-centered telehealth technology “Telehealth information technology platform is NOT user friendly.”“Difficult to properly diagnose with telehealth. Have been using photos from patients to supplement but still not really sufficient.”“Our patients are low-income with language barriers. Requiring third party interpreter by speaker phone takes extra time and reduces quality of care.”
Review, revise, and communicate telehealth malpractice policies  “I am not going to practice telehealth; it is not reliable and may increase malpractice cases.”“I’m very concerned about being sued for managing the patients over telehealth especially since many are requesting opioids.”“Malpractice premiums are a major barrier for telehealth.”

Source: Authors’ analyses of data from surveys administered to primary care providers in New York City from April to July 2020.

Weekend update

David Ermer–Congress, COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine, U.S. Healthcare, Uncategorized–
Photo by Dane Deaner on Unsplash

The FEHBlog hopes that all of his readers are enjoying the Labor Day Weekend. The FEHBlog whose home state Maryland was removed from the COVID-19 travel ban list for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut last month skedaddled up to the Nutmeg State to visit family and friends. He is headed back to his Bethesda hacienda inside the Capital Beltway tomorrow morning.

The House of Representatives and the Senate have full committee schedules in the week ahead. The Senate will also engage in floor business this week while the House will not resume floor votes until next week.

The FEHBlog was pleased to read this Wall Street Journal report that

Several drug makers developing Covid-19 vaccines plan to issue a public pledge not to seek government approval until the shots have proven to be safe and effective, an unusual joint move among rivals that comes as they work to address concerns over a rush to mass vaccination.

A draft of the joint statement, still being finalized by companies including Pfizer Inc., PFE -0.11% Johnson & Johnson JNJ -0.64% and Moderna Inc. MRNA -3.45% and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, commits to making the safety and well-being of vaccinated people the companies’ priority. The vaccine makers would also pledge to adhere to high scientific and ethical standards in the conduct of clinical studies and in the manufacturing processes.

As President Reagan would say trust but verify.

Health Payer Intelligence provides a 2020 perspective on health plan network centers of excellence. Centers of excellence generally are payer designated facilities that have worthy track records in costly surgeries like transplants. The article explains how payers have branched out this approach to other medical specialties:

Payers can boost their quality of care by working with a COE with particular specialty care providers. For example, Premera Blue Cross recently expanded its own COE strategy in order to improve its quality of care for radiology. Previously, radiology was not part of Premera Blue Cross’s COE strategy, but the payer recognized the need for better quality of care around this service.

“Establishing COEs around the highest quality radiology practices ensures patients are on the most direct treatment path back to health and reduces the high costs associated with misdiagnoses, which are surprisingly common,” explained the press release. At least a third of MRIs and CT scans produce erroneous diagnoses, the release stated.

Healthcare Dive reports that MEDPAC, a nonpartisan legislative branch agency that provides the U.S. Congress with analysis and policy advice on the Medicare program, has concluded that COVID-19 cash from the federal government saved most hospitals from the bleakest financial forecasts made last April. MEDPAC “Commissioners at Thursday’s meeting commended the administration for the speed of getting loans and grants out the door to providers, but said it was time for an in-depth review to make sure the money went to where it was needed most.”

Federal News Network provides an update on the Administration’s plan on the President’s payroll tax deferral program.

All active-duty military members as well as federal civilian employees will be subject to the president’s upcoming payroll tax deferral, a senior administration official told Federal News Network Friday evening.

The president’s payroll tax deferral, which the administration said all payroll providers will launch in unison later this month, has left federal employees, their unions and members of Congress scrambling this week for more details about the policy and its impact on the workforce.

The changes in payroll tax deductions are temporary, and federal employees will have to pay back deferred taxes starting in January. They’ll have until April to do so before penalties and interest may accrue, the IRS has said.

The FEHBlog congratulates OPM’s “Human Resources Solutions because its “USA Staffing® Onboarding platform is the winner of the 2020 Igniting Innovation Awards, hosted by the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC). The awards recognize groundbreaking technologies that enhance services for citizens and government operations. USA Staffing Onboarding won with 68% of the vote. * * * Designed to efficiently onboard new hires in ordinary times, this fully online, automated solution proved instrumental in helping Federal agencies adapt to COVID-19.”

Tuesday Tidbits

David Ermer–AHRQ, CDC, Congress, COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine, Federal employment benefits, OPM, Telehealth–

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management released its first of four Benefit Administration letters for the upcoming Federal Benefits Open Season which which will run from Monday, November 9, 2020 through Monday, December 14, 2020. Here are links to the BAL, a sample email to employees and a Venn diagram displaying the interlocking aspects of the health, dental, vision, and flexible benefits programs that participate in this Open Season. The FEHBlog expects that COVID-19 public health emergency will tamp down the traditional Open Season health fairs. It will be an interesting experiment to see whether this change impacts the volume of plan changes one way or the other.

In anticipation of FDA approval of COVID-19 vaccine(s), an expert panel formed by the National Academies of Science has issued for public comment draft recommendations for staging an equitable distribution of the vaccines according to a STAT News report. A public hearing on the draft recommendations is scheduled for tomorrow. This report then goes to the Centers for Disease Control which has an Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The staging offered in the recommendations makes sense to the FEHBlog, e.g., first responders first etc.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Americans should add strong ventiliation to the Covid-19 prevention toolbox along with mask, social distancing, etc.

After urging steps like handwashing, masking and social distancing, researchers say proper ventilation indoors should join the list of necessary measures. Health scientists and mechanical engineers have started issuing recommendations to schools and businesses that wish to reopen for how often indoor air needs to be replaced, as well as guidelines for the fans, filters and other equipment needed to meet the goals.

There’s a recently renovated office building near the FEHBlog’s offices in downtown DC that has a big outside sign stating that its ventilation services are tops and known to be anti-COVID. The FEHBlog will retry to remember to post a picture of the sign later this week.

Becker’s Health IT discusses a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed rule issued yesterday. “The Medicare Coverage of Innovative Technology proposed rule would speed up the FDA approval process for Medicare coverage of new medical technologies. * * * Often referred to as the “valley of death,” for innovative medical tech products, the lag time between the FDA’s approval and Medicare establishing coverage prevents seniors from accessing these new technologies during the coverage determination process.” Ouch.

Speaking of innovation, Econtalk podcast host and economist Russ Roberts speaks this week with author Matt Ridley about his fascinating book titled “How Innovation Works.” Check it out.

In other news

  • EHR Intelligence reports “Following vote in the House of Representatives to remove the bill prohibiting the use of federal funds for the adoption of a national patient identifier (NPI), the Premier Healthcare Alliance and the Patient ID Coalition call on the US Senate to also lift the ban.” Good luck.
  • FYI, here’s a link to Treasury Secretary’s Steven Mnuchin’s testimony before the COVID-19 subcommittee of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. The federal employee press does not suggest that fireworks exploded at the hearing.
  • The Department of Health and Human Services announced today that “The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), HHS, and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together on the Rural Telehealth Initiative, a joint effort to collaborate and share information to address health disparities, resolve service provider challenges, and promote broadband services and technology to rural areas in America.” Perhaps another silver lining in the COVID-19 cloud.
  • And then another. The HHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality explains that

There is evidence that people who receive longer-term treatment with medications for addiction treatment (MAT) have better outcomes. But, keeping people with OUD on MAT is challenging. Now, the COVID-19 pandemic may be making retention of patients in MAT even more difficult.

Fortunately, we can report some good news that should help us fight the opioids epidemic even as we try to maintain safe distance. It appears that people with OUD will stay in treatment when given support remotely as they do in person—a major benefit that appears to be emerging during the COVID pandemic.

Midweek Update

David Ermer–CDC, COVID-19 testing, COVID-19 vaccine, Medicare, Rx coverage–

It’s another rainy night in Bethesda.

Fierce Pharma reports that “the U.S. has ordered 800 million doses [of various COVID-19 vaccines currently in phase 3 testing] for a country with a population of about 330 million, likely under the assumption that some vaccines won’t make it through clinical testing. The government is “assembling a broad portfolio of vaccines to increase the odds that we will have at least one safe, effective vaccine as soon as the end of this year,” HHS secretary Alex Azar said in a statement.”

The Wall Street Journal informs us that

Doctors, nursing homes and federal officials are scrambling to get rapid-response Covid-19 antigen testing supplies from the two companies that secured emergency approval to produce them, as cases continue to rise in the U.S.

Rapid-response antigen tests make up a small but growing area of Covid-19 testing in the U.S. and are seen as helpful in tamping down outbreaks because they offer faster results than many molecular tests that must be sent to labs for processing. The tests search for virus proteins while other tests look for the virus’s genetic material.

Quidel Corp. QDEL 4.36% and Becton Dickinson & Co., the only companies that so far have federal emergency authorization to supply such diagnostic tests, also make machines that process them. The boxlike test-analyzers, which before the pandemic processed tests for ailments such as the flu, are found in doctors’ offices and nursing homes, allowing facilities to avoid shipping samples to commercial labs for processing. They can deliver results in about 15 minutes and process dozens of samples an hour.

Quidel is struggling to produce enough analyzers to meet demand, while Becton Dickinson’s challenge is making enough tests, the companies say. * * *

Public health officials have raised some concerns that rapid antigen tests deliver false-negative results at a higher rate than other tests. But federal officials have said that, as these tests become more widespread, they appear equal in sensitivity to the more broadly used polymerase chain reaction diagnostic tests.

Perhaps Kodak can help (FEHBlog humor).

Fierce Healthcare lets us know that “According to the J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Pharmacy study, the expansion of pharmacy companies into the primary care realm has driven ‘significant increases in both satisfaction and consumer spending.'” On a related note, Forbes reports that “CVS Health is back on track with the rollout its new health hub concept to 1,500 stores across the U.S. within the next two years despite the continuing spread of the coronavirus strain Covid-19. CVS Health currently has 205 HealthHubs opened in 22 states. “CVS HealthHubs dedicate more than 20% of the store to health services that include new durable medical equipment, supplies and various new product and service combinations. CVS is adding thousands of new personal care items as well as additional services at its MinuteClinics in the HealthHub stores.”

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced today its proposed national coverage decision that would allow local Medicare administrative contractors to make the initial decision on whether to cover an artificial heart or a ventricular assist device for Medicare beneficiaries with end stage heart disease. Currently the devices are treated as experimental treatments that CMS can cover on an exception basis. The CMS announcement explains that 6.5 million Americans “are living with heart failure.” A CMS decision whether or not to finalize the proposal will be made within 60 days following the end of the 30 day public comment period which began today.

Earlier this week the Centers for Disease Control announced their “Hear Her” campaign to reduce maternal mortality.

Over 700 women die each year in this country from problems related to pregnancy or delivery complications. Every death is a tragedy, especially when we know that two thirds of pregnancy-related deaths could be prevented. As many as 50,000 women experience severe, unexpected health problems related to pregnancy that may have long-term health consequences.

CDC’s Division of Reproductive Health is committed to healthy pregnancies and deliveries for every woman. The Hear Her campaign supports CDC’s efforts to prevent pregnancy-related deaths by sharing potentially life-saving messages about urgent warning signs.

Women know their own bodies better than anyone and can often tell when something does not feel right. The campaign seeks to encourage partners, friends, family, coworkers, and providers—anyone who supports pregnant and postpartum women—to really listen when she tells you something doesn’t feel right. Acting quickly could help save her life.

How true. This campaign deserves support from health plans as well as healthcare providers.

Thursday Miscellany

David Ermer–Congress, COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine, Federal employment benefits, U.S. Healthcare–

The Wall Street Journal reports that

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday that if they don’t reach a deal by Friday with Mrs. Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), they saw little point in continuing the daily negotiating sessions they have been conducting for nearly two weeks.

The quartet was expected to meet again early Thursday evening.

Democrats said Thursday that the slow pace of progress in the talks stems from a central clash over how much assistance the federal government should provide.

The President has stated that he plans to issue executive orders providing COVID-19 emergency relief if a compromise is reached.

Today the President signed an executive order directing administrative action to “reduce our dependence on foreign manufacturers for Essential Medicines, Medical Countermeasures, and Critical Inputs to ensure sufficient and reliable long-term domestic production of these products, to minimize potential shortages, and to mobilize our Nation’s Public Health Industrial Base to respond to these threats.” That seems sensible. Here’s a link to a Wall Street Journal article on the executive order. The Journal explains that “The order seeks to reverse the practice in recent decades of moving drug manufacturing outside of the U.S. That shift is partly because of more favorable tax rates, cheaper labor and friendlier environmental regulations, industry officials say.”

On the miscellany front —

  • The Federal Times reports that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management is poised to publish an interim final rule implementing the new paid parental leave program for federal employees. The program takes effect on October 1, 2020, and the interim final rule will be published in the Federal Register on August 10, 2020.

The act enables federal employees to substitute 12 weeks of paid leave for the same amount of time of unpaid leave authorized under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.

But not all of the circumstances covered by unpaid leave apply to the new paid leave provisions.

Federal employees covered by the act may only take paid parental leave after the birth or placement of a child and may only do so within a 12-month window of that birth or placement.

  • Health Payer Intelligence reports on a Blue Cross study discussing payer strategies to improve sagging colorectal cancer screening rates in our country. OPM scores FEHB plans on the NCQA’s HEDIS measure for this preventive care measure. The article explains

“A major barrier to preventative screening is attitudinal – stemming from misperceptions surrounding discomfort, lack of risk awareness, and general fear of negative results,” [BCBSA Vice President Reed] Melton said. “Payers can start by working to change those perceptions and provide accurate, accessible resources to better inform the public.”

Payers can act on the information that this report unveiled by making colorectal cancer information—including screening information and other data—available to members online. This is a strategy that many Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies are already implementing.

  • Last week the FEHBlog called attention to successful COVID-19 vaccine tests performed on monkeys. One group of monkeys was given the experimental vaccine and the other group wasn’t. However, both groups were exposed to COVID-19 which increases the reliability of the testing. A friend of the FEHBlog shared a link to the 1 Day Sooner site. 1 Day Sooner proposes that human volunteers engage in the same type of testing which are known as challenge trials. ” Human challenge trials deliberately expose participants to infection, in order to study diseases and test vaccines or treatments. They have been used for influenza, malaria, typhoid, dengue fever, and cholera. Researchers are exploring whether human challenge trials could speed up the development of a vaccine for COVID-19, saving thousands or even millions of lives.” Who knew? Certainly gutsy. In any event, the FEHBlog shares a monkey’s picture today in gratitude to their efforts to protect fellow primates.

Midweek Update

David Ermer–ACA, Congress, COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine, Telehealth, U.S. Healthcare–

The Wall Street Journal reports this evening that “White House and Democratic negotiators emerged frustrated from their [latest COVID-19 relief bill} meeting Wednesday. White House officials said Democrats were dragging their feet on talks, and Democrats countered that Republicans were thinking too small.” “Absent an agreement [by this Friday, [Treasury Secretary Steven] Mnuchin said, “We’ll have to look at the president taking actions under his executive authority.”

On the vaccine front —

  • Kaiser Health News reports that obese people are less responsive to vaccines than other folks. ” Dr. Timothy Garvey, an endocrinologist and director of diabetes research at the University of Alabama, was among those who stressed that, despite the lingering questions, it’s still safer for obese people to get vaccinated than not. “The influenza vaccine still works in patients with obesity, but just not as well,” Garvey said. “We still want them to get vaccinated.” FEHBP plans typically offer effective coaching problems to help plan members with weight reduction.
  • On the brighter side, the Wall Street Journal reports that “Researchers and companies developing Covid-19 vaccines are taking new steps to tackle a longtime challenge: Those who need the vaccines most urgently, including Black and Latino people, are least likely to participate in clinical trials to determine whether they work safely.” Health plans may be able to offer support here to researchers.

Publicly traded healthcare companies have been report second quarter results recently. Healthcare Dive reports that “All of the nation’s largest insurers, Anthem, Centene, Cigna, Molina, UnitedHealth Group (which operates UnitedHealthcare) and CVS (which owns Aetna), all reported a surge in second quarter profits due to lower medical usage among members.” To the extent that these profits stem from health insurance premiums, the ACA’s requirement that health insurers rebate premium income when they fall below the minimum medical loss ratio threshold (80% for individual coverage and 85% for group coverage) is designed to prevent excess profits.

  • For more details on second quarter results CVS Health and Humana reported today. Becker’s Hospital Review inform us about other major insurer results here.

Forbes advises us that according to a recent study, deferral of care during the great hunkering down in March and April caused a concerning drop in new cancer diagnoses. “This report demonstrates that our initial response to the pandemic of limiting so-called elective screening and diagnostic tests has consequences,” said Craig Bunnell, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Chief Medical Officer. “The true incidence of these cancers did not drop. The decline clearly represents a delay in making the diagnoses, and delays matter with cancer,” Bunnell added. But physicians are keen to stress that for symptoms that cannot wait such as anything which might indicate cancer, people must not hesitate to seek medical care, despite the pandemic. “We need to safely perform these diagnostic tests and the public needs to not think of them as optional. Their lives could depend on them,” said Bunnell.

How true. Becker’s Hospital Review provides additional perspective on this issue by publishing a Census Bureau ranking of the states by the estimated percentage of deferred care due to the COVID-19 emergency.

Nationwide, 40 percent of Americans are still delaying care, according to a survey from the U.S. Census Bureau. The agency launched its Household Pulse Survey April 23, polling roughly 1 million Americans weekly on how the pandemic is affecting their household. Over the past 12 weeks, the percentage of U.S. adults delaying care has hovered around 40 percent with little fluctuation.

Finally, there was a big healthcare industry transaction announced today. STAT reports that “telemedicine provider Teladoc Health has reached an agreement to buy the diabetes coaching company Livongo in an $18.5 billion deal.” Both companies are publicly traded. The Wall Street Journal explains that

Under the deal, each share of Livongo will be exchanged for 0.5920 shares of Teladoc, plus cash consideration of $11.33 for each Livongo share. Upon completion of the merger, existing Teladoc shareholders will own 58% of the combined company, and existing Livongo shareholders will own 42%. The transaction is expected to close by the end of this year.

Thursday Miscellany

David Ermer–CDC, COVID-19, COVID-19 testing, COVID-19 vaccine–

Fierce Biotech reports on other successful double blind studies of COVID-19 vaccines on non-human primates / monkeys. It’s interesting and encouraging that the manufacturers are taking varied approaches to COVID-19 vaccine development. Thanks monkeys.

The Department of Health and Human Services has launched a public service advertising campaign asking COVID-19 survivors to donate plasma for the convalescent plasma treatment nearing FDA emergency authorization. That may be a good initiative for health plans and providers to promote as well.

Bear in mind this Wall Street Journal article reminding COVID-19 survivors that the length of time that the body’s antibodies protects survivors from COVID-19 reinfection is as yet unknown.

USA Today offers a hopeful article about the ongoing development of rapid, inexpensive at-home COVID-19 testing. What’s more, “The XPRIZE, a nonprofit that designs and hosts public competitions, announced Tuesday that it would split a $5 million prize among five winners who can produce a test that delivers results in as little as 15 minutes and costs less than $15.”

HR Dive discusses the impact of recent CDC changes its COVID-19 self quarantine guidelines for non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients on employer return to work policies. As with most COVID-19 personnel issues, it’s complicated.

Tuesday Tidbits

David Ermer–Congress, COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine, Federal employment benefits, HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules, Medicare, U.S. Healthcare, Uncategorized–

Following up on last Friday’s and Sunday’s posts on the President’s executive orders on drug pricing, here for greater perspective is a link to a Fierce Healthcare article offering the positions of the health insurance and PBM industry trade associations’ positions on the orders. Essential Hospitals lets us know that the text of the fourth international pricing index executive order has not yet been made public.

The Wall Street Journal reports that “Eastman Kodak Co. has won a $765 million government loan under the Defense Production Act, the first of its kind. The purpose: to help expedite domestic production of drugs that can treat a variety of medical conditions and loosen the U.S. reliance on foreign sources. * * * Kodak’s loan has terms similar to a commercial loan and must be repaid over 25 years, [Kodak CEO Jim] Continenza said. He said Kodak will produce “starter materials” and “active pharmaceutical ingredients” used to produce generic medicines. “We have a long, long history in chemical and advanced materials—well over 100 years,” Mr. Continenza said. He added that Kodak’s existing infrastructure allows the company “to get up and running quickly.”

On the COVID-19 front —

  • Federal News Network informs us that

About 4,000 federal employees have filed workers’ compensation claims with the Labor Department due to COVID-19. 60 people have filed death claims. Labor projects COVID-19 claims among federal employees may reach 6,000 in the coming weeks. The department’s inspector general says the division that handles federal employee claims is anticipating a strain in resources due to demand and social distancing mandates. It has alternative staffing plans if COVID-19 compensation claims continue to surge. Labor says it’s accepted over 1,600 federal employees claims so far. Over 2,300 are unadjudicated.

  • The Society for Human Resource Management brings us up to date on the Senate majority’s new $1 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, the HEALS Act.
  • The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services released “an early snapshot of the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the Medicare population. The data shows that older Americans and those with chronic health conditions are at the highest risk for COVID-19 and confirms long-understood disparities in health outcomes for racial and ethnic minority groups and among low-income populations.” A large cadre of the Medicare population of course is also enrolled in the FEHBP so this data is worth a gander.
  • The National Institutes of Health announced the successful results of a double blind study of the Moderna / NIAID COVID-19 vaccine on non-human primates / rhesus macaques. As noted yesterday that vaccine entered phase 3 human trials this week.

In other news —

  • Becker’s Hospital Review identifies the highest ranking hospital in each State as found in U.S. News and World Report.
  • NPR discusses two new studies suggesting that the risk of Alzheimer’s disease can be reduced by taking flu and pneumonia vaccines.
  • HHS’s Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) which enforces the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules announced that “Lifespan Health System Affiliated Covered Entity, a non-profit health system based in Rhode Island, has agreed to pay $1,040,000 to the OCR and to implement a corrective action plan to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules related to the theft of an unencrypted laptop [thereby evidently allowing access to protected health information on over 20,000 patients in 2017].