Tuesday’s Tidbits

David Ermer–Congress, COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine, Mental health care, Telehealth, U.S. Healthcare–
Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

Over 275 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the United States and 47.5% of the U.S population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine ,and 37.5% of the total U.S. population has been fully vaccinated. The Wall Street Journal reports today that

Covid-19 vaccines are showing up in unlikely places—on public transportation, at churches and in factories. Shots are also being offered in restaurants, casinos and ballparks. These pop-up locations represent a bid by health advocates and community leaders to reach a group of unvaccinated individuals less likely to make headlines: the ambivalent.

From the American Medical Association front

  • The AMA continues to rail against health insurer requests for prior authorizations.
  • In contrast the AMA is now a fan of telehealth as long as health insurers pay adequately for it.

“Here are the top five services physicians surveyed say they want to offer after the COVID-19 pandemic has ended, along with the percentage who said they wanted to continue each service:

  • Chronic disease management—73%.
  • Medical management—64%.
  • Care coordination—60%.
  • Preventative care—53%.
  • Hospital or emergency department follow-up—48%.

“Physicians also identified what they anticipate to be the barriers to maintaining telehealth after the public health emergency. No. 1 on that list? About 73% of physicians worry there will be low—or no—payment.”

STAT News reports that the House Oversight and Reform Committee bludgeoned prescription drug manufacturer Abbvie’s CEO over its pricing practices particularly for its blockbuster drug Humira during a hearing held today.

Three powerful Democrats wrote to the Federal Trade Commission Tuesday urging them to investigate whether drug maker AbbVie violated the law in trying to keep cheaper versions of its blockbuster drug Humira off the market.

The surprise announcement came in the first minutes of a Tuesday hearing held by the House Oversight Committee investigating the company’s pricing practices. AbbVie’s CEO Richard Gonzalez is testifying.

“I sent a letter to the FTC today … asking for a formal inquiry into whether AbbVie’s anticompetitive practices violated the law,” said the committee’s chair, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.). The letter was also signed by the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y), and the chair of that committee’s antitrust subcommittee, Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.).

From the tidbit front

  • The Internal Revenue Service released guidance for employers on the American Rescue Plan’s subsidization of COBRA continuation coverage for employees who lose their health coverage due to an involuntary termination or reduction in hours.
  • The Department of Health and Human Services announced that its “Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is distributing $3 billion in American Rescue Plan funding — the largest aggregate amount of funding to date for its mental health and substance use block grant programs. The Community Mental Health Services Block Grant (MHBG) Program and Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant Program (SABG) will disperse $1.5 billion each to states and territories (with the latter also awarding money to a tribe). This follows the March announcement of supplemental funding of nearly $2.5 billion for these programs.”
  • The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released a new final recommendation that persons aged 45 through 49 should receive screening for colorectal cancer. This supplements USPSTF’s current recommendation that persons aged 50 to 75 received this testing. The new recommendation will become a mandate on FEHB carriers and other group health plans to provide in-network coverage with no member cost sharing for this service for the lower aged cadre beginning January 1, 2023.
  • In 2019 the FEHBlog heard a hospital system executive vociferously object to Medicare’s new site neutrality policy under which Medicare pays the same rate whether the service is rendered inpatient or outpatient. It occurred to the FEHBlog that this site neutrality rule may lower healthcare costs. Needless to say, a trade association lawsuit challenged the rule, and the government won before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Healthcare Dive reports that Justice Department is opposing the American Hospital Association’s petition for U.S. Supreme Court review of the D.C. Circuit ruling.