About Covid-19
Biden Administration Announces Launch of First Federally-Supported Test to Treat Site “Today, Rhode Island will officially launch the nation’s first federally-supported Test-to-Treat site at a clinic in Providence. Federal reimbursement will now allow individuals who test positive for COVID-19 at the clinic to immediately receive an assessment from a medical provider and get oral antiviral treatments—if prescribed—all in one convenient location that serves some of the state’s highest-risk and hardest-hit populations. The clinic also currently offers vaccination, meaning that federal support will help enhance this site into being a true one-stop shop for individuals to protect themselves and their communities from COVID-19…
The Administration will open federally-supported Test-to-Treat sites in New York and Illinois in the coming weeks, and is working with other regions like Massachusetts and New York City to enhance existing state-led efforts to increase access to oral antivirals like Paxlovid.”
Vaccines offer little protection against long Covid, study finds “The Covid vaccines, while holding up strong against hospitalization and death, offer little protection against long Covid, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Nature Medicine…
Compared to an unvaccinated individual, the risk of long Covid in a fully vaccinated individual was cut by only about 15 percent, the study found.”
To put the findings into perspective: Vaccination significantly reduces the chance of getting Covid-19 infection. If you are infected, vaccination also significantly reduces the chance you will get a serious illness or die. But if you do get a Covid-19 infection, previous vaccination reduces your chances of getting “long Covid” by 15%.
About health insurance
CMS extends annual postpartum Medicaid, CHIP coverage to 4 states “The Biden administration has approved four states—Florida, California, Oregon and Kentucky—to expand Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage to up to a year postpartum.
The announcement on Wednesday brings the final number of states choosing to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage to seven overall.”
Normalizing Utilization and Pivot to Value-Based Care Delivery Models Present Opportunities for Employer-Sponsored Health Plans, J.D. Power Finds “Following are key findings of the 2022 study:
Overall satisfaction flat year over year: Overall satisfaction has increased 17 points (on a 1,000-point scale) during the past five years, but there is no change in 2022 from 2021, due in part to declines in satisfaction in customer service and dissatisfaction with coverage options and desired network providers.
Responsiveness and innovation drive higher satisfaction: The average overall satisfaction score among members who describe their health plan as being “responsive” is 847, which is 346 points higher than among those who describe their health plan as being “slow.” Similarly, the satisfaction performance gap between plans that are perceived as “innovative” (873) and those perceived as “conventional” (604) is 269 points.
Call center talent in crosshairs: Customer service call center performance among health plans declines overall in several metrics; including an index score decline of 5 points year over year (791 from 796). Members indicate putting more effort into calls handled by a customer service representative, citing examples of having to repeat information and not having their questions, requests or problems resolved in a timely manner. Phone hold times have increased an average of 52 seconds, or 15% year over year, while knowledge and clarity of information provided has declined.
Opportunities continue to leverage digital solutions and tools to improve care delivery: Although engagement activity has remained relatively consistent, members have declining satisfaction with text messaging support (-14 points), website (-6) and mobile app (-6). Consistent with this finding, just 22% of members describe their health plan as being “innovative,” a number that has not changed in the past three years.”
About pharma
Importation of Prescription Drugs Final Rule This FDA document provides guidance only for importation of drugs from Canada.
”Essentially, eligible prescription drugs are those that could be sold legally on either the Canadian market or the American market with appropriate labeling.
The final rule excludes certain types of drug products from eligibility: controlled substances, biological products, infused drugs (including peritoneal dialysis solutions), drugs that are inhaled during surgery, drugs that are injected intravenously (into a vein), intrathecally (into the spinal fluid), or intraocularly (into the eye), drugs that are subject to a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS), and drugs that are not subject to certain provisions of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act. For a drug product not excluded by the final rule, FDA will determine whether the product can be imported safely in the context of a specific SIP [Section 804 Importation Program] on a product-by-product basis.”
About the public’s health
Oklahoma governor signs the nation's strictest abortion ban “Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on Wednesday signed into law the nation's strictest abortion ban, making the state the first in the nation to effectively end availability of the procedure.
State lawmakers approved the ban enforced by civil lawsuits rather than criminal prosecution, similar to a Texas law that was passed last year. The law takes effect immediately upon Stitt's signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion providers have said they will stop performing the procedure as soon as the bill is signed.”
About healthcare IT
Anthem Looks to Fuel AI Efforts With Petabytes of Synthetic Data “Anthem Inc.’s chief information officer says he is working with Alphabet Inc.’s Google Cloud to create a synthetic data platform that will let the health insurance company better detect fraud and offer personalized care to its members.
Anil Bhatt said the plan is to use algorithms and statistical models to generate approximately 1.5 to 2 petabytes of synthetic data, including artificially generated data sets of medical histories, healthcare claims and other key medical data, created in partnership with Google Cloud.”
About healthcare personnel
PROVIDER PAY AND THE DEMIC: REALIZING RECOVERY From the MGMA: “Primary care, surgical specialist, and nonsurgical specialist physician compensation, as well as advanced practice provider (APP) compensation, increased from 2020 to 2021. In particular:
—The area with the biggest percentage decline in median total compensation in the first year of the pandemic — nonsurgical specialist physicians — saw a 3.12% increase from 2020 and a 1.79% increase over 2019’s level.
—Surgical specialist physicians, who had the second-largest drop in compensation from 2019 to 2020, rebounded with a nearly 4% increase from 2020 to 2021, as median total compensation reached $517,501 last year.
—Primary care physicians saw compensation gains slightly behind those seen in 2020, with median total compensation reaching $286,525 in 2021…
With the first quarter of 2022 in the books, medical groups are signaling some optimism, with 85% reporting their year-to-date visit volumes are at or above 2021 levels.”