About healthcare IT
April data breaches double March numbers: “In March, there were 1,116,997 health records compromised in data breaches at 36 organizations.
In April, that number nearly doubled to 2,121,186 health records affected at 41 organizations.
March's numbers tripled those affected in February, when just 351,709 health records were compromised, signalling that cyberattacks on healthcare organizations are not slowing down.”
Cerner's net earnings increase 17% in Q1: “Cerner reported $172.3 million in net earnings for the first quarter of 2021, up 17 percent from $147.2 million during the same period last year.”
About the public’s health
US birth rate falls to lowest point in more than a century: “The U.S. birth rate fell 4% last year, the largest single-year decrease in nearly 50 years, according to a government report being released Wednesday.
The rate dropped for moms of every major race and ethnicity, and in nearly every age group, falling to the lowest point since federal health officials started tracking it more than a century ago.”
The implications are immense…including future scarcity of employees and their contribution to the much larger older population’ s Social Security and Medicare Part A (not to mention general taxes).
Vitamin, Mineral, and Multivitamin Supplementation to Prevent Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer: From the USPTF:
The USPSTF recommends against the use of beta-carotene or vitamin E supplements for the prevention of cardiovascular disease or cancer.
The USPSTF concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of the use of multivitamin supplements (other than beta-carotene or vitamin E supplements) the prevention of cardiovascular disease or cancer.
About Covid-19
Pfizer says it will seek clearance in September for its vaccine to be used in children aged 2 to 11: The headline is the message.
And in a related article: Pfizer hikes outlook as COVID-19 vaccines sales forecast to hit $26 billion this year
About pharma
Ex-Theranos CEO's Defense Emerges In Pre-Trial Battle“Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes' wire fraud defense surfaced Tuesday when her attorneys urged a California federal judge to allow jurors at her upcoming criminal fraud trial to hear that exaggeration is part of Silicon Valley's startup culture…”
So lying is OK if everyone is doing it?
About medical devices
NIH-backed device is first to offer long-term wireless monitoring of Parkinson's patients' brain activity: “The system includes a neurostimulation device implanted on a patient’s chest, with thin wires connected to electrodes in the brain. Those electrodes track brain activity and transmit the collected data to a nearby pocket-sized device. The receiver, in turn, uploads the data via Bluetooth to a tablet and cloud-based server.
Working in the opposite direction, neurologists can analyze the data to adjust the electrical signals sent to the brain through the electrodes. Those signals regulate activity in the motor control areas of the brain, offering a treatment option for neurological disorders that affect movement such as Parkinson’s.”
About healthcare professionals
A Primary Care Physician for Every American, Science Panel Urges: “The federal government must aggressively bolster primary care and connect more Americans with a dedicated source of care, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine warn in a major report that sounds the alarm about an endangered foundation of the U.S. health system…
he authors recommend that all Americans select a primary care provider or be assigned one, a landmark step that could reorient how care is delivered in the nation’s fragmented medical system.
And the report calls on major government health plans such as Medicare and Medicaid to shift money to primary care and away from the medical specialties that have long commanded the biggest fees in the U.S. system.”
HMOs have been working this way for decades. Procedural specialists will not let the dollars shift to primary care physicians in either fee for service or traditional Medicare or Medicaid.
About quality and safety
CEO Coalition Sets New Safety Standard for Healthcare Workers: “To catalyze a future in which all care team members feel protected and safe at work, 10 health system CEOs from across the United States joined forces to declare a renewed commitment to improving safety, well-being, and equity for all who work in healthcare…
The CEO Coalition’s Declaration of Principles expands the definition of safety to include safeguarding psychological and emotional well-being of team members, promoting health justice by declaring equity and anti-racism as core components of safety, and ensuring physical safety, which includes a zero-harm program to eliminate workplace violence, both physical and verbal.”
About payers
Request to Delay Mandatory Reporting of eCQMs and MIPS CQMs and Implement Changes to theMedicare Shared Savings Program Quality Overhaul: The twelve organization members of the National Association of ACOs have asked CMS to delay and modify some of the reporting requirements “in the Final 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Rule (CMS-1734-P), as published in the Federal Register on December 28, 2020.” Read the letter with its rationale and 6 suggestions.