From Washington, DC,

• The U.S. Supreme Court granted the federal government’s request to direct three U.S. Courts of Appeals to vacate decisions they made in cases involving the federal government employee Covid vaccine mandate on the ground that the President had withdrawn the mandate. In short, the Court held that the cases are moot.

• Bloomberg reports,
  • “Employer groups are lining up behind legislation headed to the House floor that would prevent medical groups owned by hospitals from charging more for services than private providers. 
  • “The Lower Costs, More Transparency Act (H.R. 5378) includes provisions that would require “site-neutral” payments for drug administration in off-campus hospital outpatient departments. The measure, which has bipartisan support, could come to a vote in the House as early as Monday. 
  • “Although the measure only applies to Medicare, employers say site-neutral payments could spill over to reduce costs for commercial plans. They argue the additional fees hospital-owned practices are charging aren’t necessary for services that can be safely performed in a doctor’s office, while hospitals counter that the legislation will lead to reduced oversight and lower quality of care.” * * *
  • The American Hospital Association blasted site neutral proposals.

• P.S. The House of Representatives passed H.R. 5378 by a bipartisan 320-71 vote.

• According to a press release, “AHIP is pleased to announce the appointment of Mike Tuffin as its next President and CEO, effective January 8, 2024. Tuffin returns to AHIP having served as its Executive Vice President for Public Affairs from 2003 to 2012. He succeeds Julie Simon Miller, AHIP’s General Counsel, who has served as Interim CEO since September 2023.” Good luck.

• The Sequoia Project is releasing five new TEFCA resources. TEFCA will be the long-overdue backbone for connecting the country’s various electronic health record networks.

• Mercer Consulting discusses Rx legislative activity to watch in 2024.

From the public health front,

• Beckers Hospital Review tells us,
  • “Data from the CDC and anecdotal reports form hospital officials suggest respiratory syncytial virus infections have peaked in the U.S., allaying concerns that the nation could see simultaneous surges of COVID-19, flu and RSV.
  • “We think we’re near the peak of RSV season or will be in the next week or so,” CDC Director Mandy Cohen, MD, told NBC News in a Dec. 1 report. 
  • “National data aligns with that forecast. Weekly emergency department visits for RSV had been on the rise since September. Now, they may be coming down again, CDC data indicates. There were 22,321 ED visits for RSV for the week ending Dec. 2, the latest for which data are available. That’s down from 23,500 in the previous week. PCR test positivity rates also fell slightly to 11.7 from 12.7 in the previous week.” 

• The Washington Post adds,
  • “Up to 5.4 million people in the United States already have been sick with the flu this fall, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency also estimates that flu has caused as many as 55,000 hospitalizations and 4,600 deaths from Oct. 1 through Dec. 2.
  • “As flu season progresses, usually peaking between December and February, the CDC plans to update its tally of flu-related cases weekly. The flu, or influenza, is a highly contagious respiratory infection caused by viruses that spread from person to person, often via droplets expelled through coughing or sneezing.
  • “The flu, like colds and other respiratory illnesses, is more common in cold weather as people tend to spend more time indoors, where viruses can pass more easily from person to person. Also, health experts believe the flu virus survives better in cold weather and cold, dry air weakens people’s resistance.”

• The CDC has posted the latest COVID statistics.

• The AP reports,
  • “Health officials on Friday released the first nationally representative estimate of how many U.S. adults have chronic fatigue syndrome: 3.3 million.
  • “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s number is larger than previous studies have suggested, and is likely boosted by some of the patients with long COVID. The condition clearly “is not a rare illness,” said the CDC’s Dr. Elizabeth Unger, one of the report’s co-authors. 
  • “Chronic fatigue is characterized by at least six months of severe exhaustion not helped by bed rest. Patients also report pain, brain fog and other symptoms that can get worse after exercise, work or other activity. There is no cure, and no blood test or scan to enable a quick diagnosis.”

• Beckers Hospital Review informs us,
  • “Patients taking Novo Nordisk’s weight loss drug Wegovy in 2021 and 2022 were three times more likely to continue taking the medication a year later compared to older weight loss therapies, according to a study published Dec. 6 in Obesity. 
  • “Researchers from Cleveland Clinic evaluated about 1,000 EHRs between January 2015 and July 2023 among patients who were taking anti-obesity medications. The EHRs were collected from a large health system in Ohio and Florida. 
  • “The weight loss drug with the highest adherence was Wegovy (semaglutide), with 40% of Wegovy patients still filling prescriptions after a year. In comparison, the adherence of orlistat, liraglutide, naltrexone-bupropion and phentermine-topiramate after 12 months ranged between 0% and 19%.” 

• The American Medical Association lets us know what doctors wish their patients knew about pickleball injuries.

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

• MedCity News identifies five trends shaping healthcare business strategies for 2024.
  • M&A
  • Generative AI
  • Workforce Challenges
  • Outsourcing
  • Affordability

• Per Fierce Healthcare and because many FEHB plans offer global coverage
  • “More than half of global health insurers are expecting significant increases in healthcare costs over the next several years, according to a new report.
  • “Analysts at advisory firm WTW surveyed 266 insurers across 66 countries and found that 58% are bracing for “higher or significantly higher” cost increases in the three upcoming years. The report found that global medical costs increased by 10.7% in 2023, a record high and up from a 7.4% increase in 2022.
  • “The average cost trend insurers expect is 9.9% next year, which accounts for variations in rates between regions. For example, the estimated rate of cost increases decreased from 10.9% in 2023 to 9.3% in 2024, while it’s projected to rise from 11.3% in 2023 to 12.1% in 2024 in the Middle East and Africa, according to the report.”

• Fierce Healthcare also reports,
  • “Healthcare technology giant Epic is leveraging its massive clinical research database, with data on 226 million patients, to develop a next-generation decision support tool for clinicians.
  • “Elevance Health, formerly Anthem and the nation’s second-largest insurer, leverages its clinical data platform, called Health OS, and artificial intelligence to help providers close gaps in care and reduce burdensome paperwork, according to CEO Gail Boudreaux.
  • “The insurer’s goal is to break down data silos and integrate data on patients’ physical, mental and social health into a longitudinal patient record within electronic health record (EHR) systems, Boudreaux said during the Forbes Healthcare Summit this week in New York City.”

• Beckers Hospital Review identifies the eight most influential drugs approved by the FDA this year, according to GoodRx, while the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER)
  • “published its latest report on Unsupported Price Increases (UPI) of prescription drugs in the United States. Among the top 10 drugs with net price increases in 2022 that had substantial effects on US spending, ICER determined that eight lacked adequate new evidence to support any price increase. The analysis also found that one of three Medicare Part B drugs with high list price increases in 2021 lacked adequate supporting new evidence, directly raising annual out-of-pocket expenses for Medicare patients by up to $680 per year.”

• Beckers Payer Issues offers seven prior authorization updates.

• Beckers Hospital Review identifies nine hospitals already cleared to administer the new CRISPR treatment for sickle cell anemia that FDA approved last week. Also, “[re]ad more about the treatment and experts’ reactions here.”