From the Omicron front, MedPage Today reports that

While a large meta-analysis of studies on convalescent plasma use early in the pandemic turned up no survival advantage for the typical patient hospitalized for COVID-19, researchers have mined the dataset to predict who may benefit.

Eva Petkova, PhD, of NYU Grossman School of Medicine in New York City, and colleagues devised a simple and freely available tool called the Convalescent Plasma Benefit Index Calculator that allows doctors to input certain patient criteria to determine if their patient may benefit from convalescent plasma (age, oxygen need, blood type, and history of either diabetes, heart disease, or pulmonary disease).

Note: The FEHBlog has been intrigued by convalescent plasma treatments since reading John Barry’s The Great Influenza in early 2020. The FEHBlog currently is reading Gregory Zuckerman’s A Shot to Save the World which is equally fascinating.

The Wall Street Journal’s personal technology reporter Joanna Stern reviews the latest in at home Covid testing.

It’s Friday and you’ve got a scratchy throat and a mild headache. Time to play “Cold? Covid? Or Just Crazy?”—the only game more popular than Wordle. 

Or you could open up your medicine cabinet and power-on a small white box. Swab your nose with a Lego-like stick, then slide that into the illuminated gadget. About 20 minutes later, your iPhone buzzes: “COVID-19 Positive.”

The future? Nope, it’s already here. For the past few weeks, I’ve been testing the Cue Health Monitoring system and the Detect Covid-19 Test, two systems from health-tech startups that put lab-like molecular testing right on your bathroom counter. No driving to the testing center. No waiting in line. No anticipating the results for days.

* * *

Molecular tests’ biggest benefit: They can spot Covid earlier—anywhere from 6 hours to two days, depending on the variant and other factors. Dr. Mina, who previously served as an adviser to Detect, said they’re good “if you’re really symptomatic and you definitely want to know, ‘Is this Covid?’ ”

However, if you’re using a test to determine whether you can safely go out into the world—back to work, back to school—the cheaper rapid antigen test would be best. “The problem with a molecular test is that it’s so sensitive that it may detect dead fragments and not live virus,” said Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious-disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco.

Ms. Stern also explains in the article that the molecular test cost singificantly more than the rapid antigen tests.

Bloomberg released its latest Covid resilence ranking for 53 countries around the world.

The Covid Resilience Ranking is a monthly snapshot of where the virus is being handled the most effectively with the least social and economic upheaval. Drawing on 12 data indicators spanning virus containment, quality of healthcare, vaccination coverage, overall mortality and progress toward restarting travel, it captures how the world’s biggest 53 economies are responding to the same once-in-a-generation threat.

The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia rank one and two. The U.S. ranks 23 down 11 ranks since last month. The FEHBlog recalls that last Spring before Delta hit us, the U.S. ranked number 1 in this index. How the mighty have fallen.

From the No Suprises front

• The Affordable Care Act regulators today released 37 pages of helpful guidance about the No Suprises Act’s new federal independent dispute resolution process.

• Healthcare Leaders tells us that “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Inspector General, plans to conduct a nationwide audit to determine whether hospitals that received Provider Relief Funding complied with the billing requirements for COVID patients. This requirement stipulates that those hospitals must not pursue out-of-pocket payments from COVID patients whose bill exceeded “what the patients otherwise would have been required to pay” for in-network care. This audit will be based on the various federal Covid relief acts, not the No Surprises Act

From the Affordable Care Act front, the FEHBlog diligently has been on the lookout for the HHS announcement of 2023 out-of pocket cost-sharing limits for in-network care. The 2023 ACA Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters released December 28, 2021, advised that the announcement would be released in January. The regulators must have meant that future announcements would be released beginning in January 2024 because the FEHBlog discovered yesterday that the 2023 announcement was released on December 28, 2021.

The announcement reads in pertinent part that

Under 45 CFR 156.130(a)(2), for the 2023 calendar year, cost-sharing for self-only coverage may not exceed the dollar limit for calendar year 2014 increased by an amount equal to the product of that amount and the premium adjustment percentage for 2023. For other than self-only coverage, the limit is twice the dollar limit for self-only coverage. Under § 156.130(d), these amounts must be rounded down to the next lowest multiple of $50. Using the premium adjustment percentage for 2023 of 1.4408219719, and the 2014 maximum annual limitation on cost-sharing of $6,350 for self-only coverage, which was published by the Internal Revenue Service on May 2, 2013, the 2023 maximum annual limitation on cost-sharing is $9,100 for self-only coverage and $18,200 for other than self-only coverage. This represents an approximately 4.6 percent increase above the 2022 parameters of $8,700 for self-only coverage and $17,400 for other than self-only coverage.

And there you are, dear readers.

From the healthcare business front, Healthcare Dive informs us that

— HCA [Healthcare] announced plans to build five new hospitals in Texas in response to the growing population there, executives said Thursday during a call with investors.   

— The hospitals will serve as primary- and secondary-type hospitals with basic inpatient and outpatient services that will refer patients needing higher-acuity services to HCA’s other campuses. These new hospitals will be smaller facilities with about 50 to 75 beds, executives said Thursday.

— The new hospitals will be located in the areas of Dallas Fort-Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin.

Fierce Healthcare adds

Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare saw its revenue and profit grow year over year in the fourth quarter of 2021. 

The 182-hospital system reported revenue of $15.1 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, up from $14.3 billion in the same period of 2020. The for-profit hospital operator said same-facility admissions, emergency room visits and outpatient surgeries increased year over year, while inpatient surgeries declined. 

After factoring in expenses and nonoperating items, HCA’s net income in the fourth quarter of 2021 totaled $1.8 billion, up from $1.4 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. 

From the telehealth front, Fierce Healthcare reports that

As telehealth companies increasingly turn to chronic care management, Cigna’s MDLive is launching its own remote patient monitoring program.

The digital-first program will allow patients with chronic conditions to track biometrics like blood pressure and glucose levels, recording daily health information that they can review with MDLive providers during their visits.

* * *

Cigna expanded access to MDLive’s network of virtual primary care providers to all members of the insurer’s employer plans beginning January 2022.

The new patient health monitoring program will be available to all health plan clients of MDLive.