About health insurance
CMS: Medicare Advantage plans with 4 or more stars skyrocket in 2022 compared to 2021: “Nearly 70% of Medicare Advantage (MA) plans that offer prescription drug coverage will have a star rating of four or more stars in 2022, a massive increase from 49% of plans in 2021, new federal data show.”
Cigna to sell its life, accident and supplemental benefits business in 7 countries to Chubb for $5.75B: “Cigna will divest its life, accident and supplemental benefits business in seven countries to insurance company Chubb in a deal valued at $5.75 billion, the insurer announced late Thursday.
Those business lines operate in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, New Zealand, Taiwan and Thailand, as well as a joint venture in Turkey. The two companies expect the deal to close in 2022, pending regulatory approvals and closing conditions…
The insurer said it plans to put the proceeds largely toward share repurchases.”
About Covid-19
Merck seeks FDA approval for antiviral COVID pill: “The emergency use authorization application comes after the company this month released the results of a clinical trial, in which the drug was shown to reduce the risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19 by around 50%.
In June, the Biden administration agreed to buy about $1.2 billion worth of molnupiravir. The company said it expects to produce 10 million total doses of the drug by the end of 2021.”
Updated COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel’s Statement on the Prioritization of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Monoclonal Antibodies for the Treatment or Prevention of SARS-CoV-2 Infection When There Are Logistical or Supply Constraints: “The purpose of this statement is to provide guidance on which individuals might receive the greatest benefit from anti-SARS-CoV-2 mAb therapy when logistical or supply constraints make it impossible to offer the therapy to all eligible patients, and triage becomes necessary. Only when it becomes necessary to triage the use of the anti-SARS-CoV-2 mAbs, the Panel suggests:
Prioritizing the treatment of COVID-19 over PEP of SARS-CoV-2 infection; and
Prioritizing anti-SARS-CoV-2 mAb therapy for unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated individuals and vaccinated individuals who are not expected to mount an adequate immune response (e.g., individuals who are immunocompromised or on immunosuppressive medications or individuals aged ≥65 years).”
About the public’s health
Landlord Behavior After Receiving Pediatrician-Generated Letters to Address Poor Housing Conditions:“Between April and October 2019, 233 of 2480 (9%) families who were screened for social determinants of health needs had poor housing conditions. Of these families, 127 (55%) requested and received a physician-generated letter advocating for housing repairs…
Of the 35 families (36%) who reported giving the letter to their landlords, 31 (89%) reported that the landlord acted to resolve the issue, and 26 (74%) reported complete resolution of the concern…[Emphasis added]
For the 149 families who had a subsequent follow-up visit, there was no significant difference in those without poor housing conditions between families who did vs did not receive letters (44 of 61 [72%] vs 63 of 88 [72%]).”
Appeals court reinstates Texas’s six-week abortion ban, two days after it was lifted: “The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit granted a request filed Friday afternoon by the Texas attorney general to temporarily suspend a judge’s order blocking the law, which has halted most abortions in the state…
A three-judge panel of the conservative-leaning court gave the Justice Department until 5 p.m. Tuesday to respond to the appeal.”
Former CDC director: Low sodium salt could save millions of lives: Nothing new, just a strong reminder of this easily-treatable problem.
”Eating too much salt can kill you. Excessive salt intake will cause an estimated 1.6 million deaths worldwide this year. Four out of five of these deaths will occur in low- and middle-income countries, and nearly half will be among people younger than 70.
These deaths from excessive salt intake are preventable. In most countries, daily salt intake is far above the 5-gram daily upper limit recommended by the World Health Organization; the global average, 10.1 grams of salt, is double this amount.”
About healthcare IT
ONC announces new interoperability program for federal partners: “The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has rolled out a new initiative that seeks to standardize the healthcare data sets federal agencies with specific needs that aren’t being addressed by the current baseline.
Called USCDI+, the initiative builds on the U.S. Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI), the first version of which was adopted as part of the ONC’s 21st Century Cures Act Final Rule.
This new process will support federal partners ‘who have a need to establish, harmonize and advance the use of interoperable datasets that extend beyond the core data in the USCDI in order to meet agency-specific programmatic requirements,’ ONC wrote in an announcement blog post.”
Teladoc takes its primary care service nationwide with Aetna slated to roll out in early 2022: “The telehealth giant piloted its virtual primary care program, called Primary360, in 2019 with the aim of early detection of chronic disease. The service now offers 70 distinct diagnoses such as hypertension and diabetes, Teladoc CEO Jason Gorevic said during a J.P. Morgan virtual presentation in January.
Teladoc says it has signed several Fortune 1000 employers onto the new primary care service, with other large employers and health plans such as Aetna launching nationwide in early 2022.
The company is pitching Primary360 as a way to expand access to primary care in the U.S.”