About health insurance/insurers
Biden administration reinstates LGBTQ+ protections in health care “The Biden administration announced Friday it is reinstating federal protections for LGBTQ+ people seeking health care that had been unraveled during the Trump administration.
The move comes after years of legal disputes and pressure from activists to protect patients who are undergoing gender affirming treatment or who received abortions from being denied other forms of health care. Conservatives oppose the rules prohibiting discrimination, contending they would force providers to provide services against their religious beliefs.”
About hospitals and healthcare systems
43 health systems ranked by long-term debt FYI
About pharma
Cardinal Health Reaffirms Fiscal 2024 non-GAAP EPS Guidance and Long-term Targets Amidst Nonrenewal of OptumRx Customer Contracts “Cardinal Health announced today that its pharmaceutical distribution contracts with OptumRx, which expire at the end of June 2024, will not be renewed…
Sales to OptumRx generated 16% of Cardinal Health's consolidated revenue in fiscal year 2023.”
The contract is going to McKesson.
WHAT 2,500+ PATIENT GROUPS SAY ABOUT PHARMA IN 2023/4 Comment: Interesting survey, given the negative attention Congress has paid to this sector. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the favorability rating was 60%. The last survey showed it decreased to 57%, still an historically high ranking. What is very interesting is the approval rating is higher than each EU country (except Austria), Sweden, the UK and Ireland.
About the public’s health
Updates on Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) “The FDA has received additional results from an initial limited set of geographically targeted samples as part of its national commercial milk sampling study underway in coordination with USDA. The FDA continues to analyze this information; however, preliminary results of egg inoculation tests on quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)-positive retail milk samples show that pasteurization is effective in inactivating HPAI.
This additional testing did not detect any live, infectious virus. These results reaffirm our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe.”
Respiratory Syncytial Virus vs Influenza Virus Infection: Mortality and Morbidity Comparison Over 7 Epidemic Seasons in an Elderly Population “This study included the largest cohort of patients infected with RSV aged >75 years documented in-depth thus far. RSV shares a comparable mortality rate with influenza but is associated with higher rates of consolidative pneumonia, hospitalization, ICU admissions, and extended hospital stays.”
More reasons to get RSV immunization.
Antimicrobial-resistant hospital infections remain at least 12% above pre-pandemic levels, major US study finds “Latest report on the status of antimicrobial resistance in US hospitals finds that during the COVID-19 pandemic, hospital-acquired antimicrobial-resistant infections increased by 32%, and they still remain at least 12% above pre-pandemic levels.”
About healthcare IT
FTC Finalizes Changes to the Health Breach Notification Rule [HBNR] “The HBNR requires vendors of personal health records (PHR) and related entities that are not covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to notify individuals, the FTC, and, in some cases, the media of a breach of unsecured personally identifiable health data. It also requires third party service providers to vendors of PHRs and PHR related entities to notify such vendors and PHR related entities following the discovery of a breach.”
See the notice for more details.
About health technology
Philips shares surge after $1.1bn settlement over sleep apnoea devices “Dutch group Philips has agreed to settle litigation linked to its machines that treat night-time breathing problems for $1.1bn, ending a long-running legal battle and sending its shares up as much as 37 per cent on Monday. The Amsterdam-listed group said it had reached a deal with plaintiffs in the US to end “uncertainty” from the litigation, without admitting liability in personal injury claims and a medical monitoring class action suit. In 2021, Philips recalled certain machines used to treat sleep apnoea after it was found that foam used in the devices could break down and be inhaled or swallowed, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.”
FDA finalizes rule to bring lab-developed tests into the regulatory fold “At its heart, the 528-page final rule looks to make clear that in vitro diagnostic tests are to be considered medical devices like any other under the Federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act, the decades-old law that grants the agency its authorities.
In the past, the FDA made allowances for tests that were developed for limited use within a laboratory, and did not require them to clear the agency’s review process. Commonly referred to as LDTs, they were originally categorized as a product with lower risks compared to mass-marketed diagnostic kits, because they were typically produced in small volumes using common lab equipment.”