It is National Rural Health Day which HHS’s Health Resources and Services Administration is proud to celebrate.

The Defense Department reports on yesterday’s Operation Warp Speed press conference. The Wall Street Journal adds that

Initially, people will be vaccinated at hospitals and large medical centers because supplies will be limited, said Marion Whicker, deputy chief of supply, production and distribution at Operation Warp Speed, the federal initiative to speed development of Covid-19 drugs and vaccines. “When you see vaccines start to equal or exceed demand is when you’ll see it out of the pharmacies,” said Ms. Whicker.

According to Endpoint News, “BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin told CNN Wednesday that they and Pfizer plan to file for an emergency use authorization for their jointly developed vaccine on Friday [/ tomorrow].

The Wall Street Journal further reports on the COVID-19 front that

U.S. hospitals say they are facing the pandemic’s largest surge armed with treatment improvements that allow them to save lives, care for more patients and accelerate the recovery of coronavirus sufferers.

HCA Healthcare Inc., one of the nation’s largest hospital chains with 186 hospitals, has more intensive-care capacity as the sickest patients recover more quickly. At the Mayo Clinic’s hospital in Rochester, Minn., coronavirus patients now stay a median of five days, half as long as in March. The time Covid-19 patients spend at Advocate Aurora Health’s 26 Midwestern hospitals has fallen 25% on average since May.

The shift could be a result of several factors and more study is needed, said doctors and researchers. But the results are consistent with anecdotal reports from doctors saying that new tools and a better understanding of how Covid-19 attacks the body are helping to improve medical outcomes.

Also HHS announced today launching

a pilot program with five states to use portable, cartridge-based COVID-19 molecular test kits that provide rapid results. The pilot program will assess how to best integrate diagnostic technology developed by Cue Health, Inc., into strategies for disease surveillance and infection control in institutions such as nursing homes.

Used successfully as the primary molecular point-of-care (POC) test to control the spread of COVID-19 within in the National Basketball Association “bubble,” as well as by leading healthcare providers in the U.S., the nasal swab POC test generates results in about 20 minutes. Currently, molecular COVID-19 tests provided by HHS must be sent to a laboratory for interpretation, which can take two to three days.

The Centers for Disease Control and the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association and the American Nursing Association are encouraging Americans to curb holiday travel and scale back holiday gatherings due to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases. That’s a useful message for health plans circulate to members and employees.

Following up on this week’s launch of Amazon’s online Pharmacy, the Drug Channels blog comments that

This announcement is much less disruptive than it appears to be. Amazon is copying the GoodRx discount card model—including GoodRx’s partnership with Express Scripts. At the same time, Amazon is launching a mail pharmacy that will accept insurance and be in PBM pharmacy networks. Amazon’s actions are another negative headwind for retail pharmacies, but not a fatal blow to the system. Perhaps Amazon will one day become a true disrupter. For now, Amazon is choosing to join the drug channel, not fundamentally change it.

Healthcare Dive lets us in other expert insights on this development.

In other prescription drug coverage news, the Wall Street Journal reports this evening that

The Trump administration is planning on Friday [/ tomorrow] to roll out two final rules aimed at lowering drug prices—one curbing rebates paid to middlemen in Medicare and another pegging the prices of certain prescription drugs in the U.S. to their prices in other developed countries, according to a person familiar with the planning. The plans, slated to be announced in the White House Rose Garden, have been a signature pledge of President Trump’s since his 2016 election campaign. Both rules are expected to be final, meaning they have completed the required public comment period and can take effect immediately.

“Immediately” in this setting would not prevent the incoming Biden Administration from putting the brakes on the iniative without trouble, in the FEHBlog’s opinion.

In other news —

• According to a press release, “The Sequoia Project, a non-profit and trusted advocate for nationwide health information exchange, patient identity management experts collaborated with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) to apply A Framework for Cross-Organizational Patient Identity Management for the payer community and develop person matching strategies. Today, The Sequoia Project published Person Matching for Greater Interoperability: A Case Study for Payers which demonstrates high matching accuracy rates, and provides actionable insights for improving person identity matching across the payer community, a critical component of successful health information exchange and interoperability.” Helpful.
• According to Fierce Healthcare, “While insurers are set to weather COVID-19’s financial storm, an inability to keep up with how the pandemic is changing healthcare will be credit-negative in the long term, according to a new report from Moody’s Investors Service. The coronavirus pandemic has put a spotlight on chronic conditions, the need for continued investment in telehealth and virtual care and the drive toward value-based care, according to the report. Health plans that are able to adapt to these changing trends are far better positioned for long-term success, Moody’s said.”