From Washington, DC,
- The Washington Examiner reports,
- Debate within the intelligence community over the origins of COVID-19 ran much deeper than previously known, particularly within the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency.
- Three scientists at the National Center for Medical Intelligence, a branch of the Defense Intelligence Agency, conducted a scientific investigation in the summer of 2021, concluding that COVID-19 was likely manipulated in a biolaboratory. But the information was suppressed by the Pentagon and not included in White House briefings on the virus, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.” * * *
- “The National Center for Medical Intelligence examines global health threats, including infectious diseases and bioweapons, to determine what threats could endanger troops. The agency received a significant boost in funding in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center as the threat of biowarfare increased in the 21st century.
- “Three scientists at the medical intelligence center determined through genetic testing that a segment of the novel bat coronavirus, known as the spike protein, had been manipulated to infect human cells. They argued these changes indicated that Chinese scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were engaging in gain-of-function experiments to see if they could make the virus more dangerous for humans.” * * *
- “Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has promised to pick up where the House investigation left off and said he plans to use his new chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to delve deeper into what happened at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and what occurred behind closed doors within federal public health agencies.”
- NCQA shares its insights about a December 9, 2024, White House listening session concerning the ongoing opioid crisis.
- Federal News Network lets us know,
- “With an incoming presidential administration and a new Congress both starting up at the beginning of 2025, there are many unknowns about what’s to come for the federal workforce.
- “But at least one thing is for certain — telework for the federal workforce will remain a high-priority topic for agencies, employees, lawmakers, unions and many others.
- “Already, key Republicans in Congress are looking ahead to further investigations into telework options for federal employees. House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) announced plans to hold a hearing on federal telework once the 119th Congress begins.”
From the public health and medical research front,
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today,
- “Due to the holidays, a short summary of this week’s respiratory virus illness findings is presented here, and updated data are provided in subsequent pages. No additional data summaries will be provided this week. Regular updates will resume on Friday, January 3, 2025.
- “COVID-19, seasonal influenza, and RSV activity continue to increase across the country.
- ‘COVID-19
- “COVID-19 activity is increasing in most areas of the country, with high COVID-19 wastewater levels and increasing emergency department visits and laboratory percent positivity. Based on CDC modeled estimates of epidemic growth, we predict COVID-19 illness will continue to increase in the coming weeks as it usually does in the winter.
- “There is still time to benefit from getting your recommended immunizations to reduce your risk of illness this season, especially severe illness and hospitalization.
- “CDC expects the 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine to work well for currently circulating variants. There are many effective tools to prevent spreading COVID-19 or becoming seriously ill.
- “Influenza
- “Seasonal influenza activity continues to increase across the country. Additional information about current influenza activity can be found at: Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report | CDC
- “RSV
- “RSV activity is high and continues to increase in most areas of the country, particularly in young children. Emergency department visits and hospitalizations are increasing in children and hospitalizations are increasing among older adults in some areas.
- “Vaccination
- “Vaccination coverage with influenza and COVID-19 vaccines are low among U.S. adults and children. COVID-19 vaccine coverage in older adults has increased compared with the 2023-2024 season. Vaccination coverage with RSV vaccines remains low among U.S. adults. Many children and adults lack protection from respiratory virus infections provided by vaccines.”
- The University of Minnesota CIDRAP adds,
- “The genetic analysis of the H5N1 avian flu virus in specimens from the nation’s first severely ill hospitalized patient in Louisiana reveals mutations that may enable upper-airway infection and greater transmission, concludes a technical summary from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- ‘But the authors of the report, released late yesterday afternoon, say the risk of an influenza pandemic amid the ongoing outbreak remains low.
- “In related news, Los Angeles County and Stanislaus County this week announced their first human H5N1 cases in two dairy workers. Both workers had mild symptoms and are recovering after receiving antiviral drugs. No related cases have been identified.
- “California, which has reported a total of 37 cases, recently announced a public health emergency for H5N1 to free up more resources with the virus now spreading to dairy farms beyond the Central Valley and further south.
- “The US total for human cases is now at 65.”
- The Washington Post reports,
- “Whooping cough continues to surge in the United States, with reported cases soaring to more than 32,000 this year — nearly five times the 6,500 cases recorded during the same period last year — marking the highest levels in a decade.
- “Health experts cite as main culprits for the increase waning vaccination rates and a loss of broad immunity tracing to coronavirus lockdown protocols.
- “The disease, caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis, is highly transmissible from person to person through the air. Because of their immature immune systems, infants younger than 1 year old are at highest risk of contracting whooping cough — also known as pertussis — and are at most significant risk of severe illness.
- “Vaccination rates with the DTaP shot — which protects against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis — declined from March through September 2020 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. But because people were following pandemic protocols such as masking and social distancing, cases did not soar. Some children who missed getting their shots during that period may never have received them, experts have said.”
- The Wall Street Journal informs us about “What Your ‘Face Age’ Can Tell Doctors About Your Health Scans of face photos are estimating people’s ‘biological age’ and even predicting how long they’ll live.”
- “The FaceAge test is an artificial intelligence model trained on tens of thousands of photos from patients and public-image databases to look for signs of aging in the face. [Dr. Raymond] Mak and his team ran a study that found that the algorithm did a better job than doctors at predicting how long cancer patients would live.
- “Their hope is that one day, the tool could be a standard part of assessing health. Already, separate versions of face-age tests exist online where anybody can upload a selfie and get an estimate of their biological age.
- “Your face reflects the wear and tear of your lifetime,” says Mak, a radiation oncologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, who co-led the study alongside other Mass General Brigham researchers. “We viewed this as a way to quantify a doctor’s clinical intuition.”
- Per STAT News,
- “Blood stem cell transplants have been central players in treating blood cancers for decades. These procedures can improve patients’ chances of survival and can even offer the opportunity for a cure in some cases.
- “But over the last decade, physicians say they’ve started doing transplants for fewer cancer types, particularly lymphomas, and are instead reaching first for newer immune or targeted therapies that are safer and often more effective.
- “That’s progress that experts hope will continue. “I know from my days as a transplanter, there was nothing better than when a patient didn’t have to be transplanted,” said Andy Kolb, the president and CEO of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. “Because it’s toxic.”
- Per HealthDay,
- “When supplies of certain generic, platinum-based cancer chemotherapies dwindled in 2023, oncologists feared it might lead to under-treatment and many more cancer deaths.
- “Fortunately, that did not turn out to be the case, a new study published recently in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute shows.
- “When we looked at the data on prescribing practices over the shortage period, compared to the previous year, we found that although reporting of the shortages was widespread, it didn’t affect as many patients as we had feared,” said lead study author Dr. Jacob Reibel. He’s a third-year fellow in hematology-oncology at Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center in Philadelphia.”
From the U.S. healthcare business front,
- Modern Healthcare reports,
- “National health expenditures in 2025 are forecast to rise 2.2% over 2024 levels, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Office of the Actuary. But some analysts say the predictions should be taken with a measure of skepticism.
- “The predictions, released annually from CMS actuaries, project changes to healthcare spending by governments, businesses and households several years into the future. The report’s methodology acknowledges limitations, including relying on law and government policy in force at the time the projections were made.
- “The office, which is independent from CMS leadership, predicts personal healthcare spending — which includes provider and retail revenue from medical goods and services — will increase 2.3% in 2025.
- “Kevin Holoran, a senior director with data and analytics firm Fitch Group, said the projected 1.7% increase in spending on hospital care “feels a little low.” In December, Fitch Ratings released a 2025 outlook for nonprofit hospitals and health systems suggesting the sector would benefit from boosted cash flows and improved equity market returns.
- “The Office of the Actuary predicted a 4.5% increase in prescription drug spending. Fitch Senior Director Mark Pascaris — who, along with Holoran, is a lead nonprofit hospital analyst at the firm — said those projections are consistent with growth in the sector, which Fitch expects to continue in 2025. Actuaries’ predicted 3.7% boost in home healthcare spending also makes sense, Pascaris said.
- “The personal healthcare spending category additionally includes dental services; nursing home and continual care facilities; durable and non-durable medical products; other health, residential and personal care; and “other” professional services not included in the other subcategories.”
- and
- “Per diem nursing is replacing travel nursing as the preferred solution to providers’ staffing issues.” * * *
- “Many employers, including Franklin, Tennessee-based Community Health Systems and Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare have said they’ve lowered their contract labor costs. And a June survey from employment firm Incredible Health found 67% of health executives did not increase travel nurse positions in 2024. The survey also found nurse interest in travel work dropped by 22% in 2024.
- “Per diem nurses typically operate “on-demand,” picking up shifts for permanent staff who call out, are on a short leave or when a hospital needs extra help when a patient population is high. They are usually local residents and do not require long-term contracts, compared with travel nurses who often require relocation assistance and guaranteed pay regardless of whether a facility needs extra nurses.”
- The Healthcare Cost Institute updated its assessment of no value care in the employer sponsored and traditional Medicare health insurance markets.
- “In this brief, we calculated the prevalence and spending among a subset of “no value care” services between 2018 and 2022 among the employer-sponsored insurance and Traditional Medicare populations.
- “Vitamin D Screening in administrative claims accounted for nearly $708 million in ESI and $312 million in Traditional Medicare spending in 2022. In that year, we estimate that 23% of all Vitamin D Screenings had no evidence of clinical benefit in administrative claims data among those with Employer Sponsored Insurance, much higher than the estimated 4% no value tests among those with Traditional Medicare. The prevalence of arthroscopic knee surgeries for osteoarthritis amounted to $389 million in ESI and $30 million Traditional Medicare spending in 2022.
- “Our analysis focused just on these three services and, accordingly, does not speak to the prevalence of “no value care” in the employer-sponsored insurance and Traditional Medicare population broadly. Due to absence of clinical and health care operation data elements, we are not able to identify and measure most “no value care” or related challenges, such as medical mistakes, preventable infections, lack of care coordination, and lack of access to care.”
- Beckers Payer Issues explains why Premera Blue Cross wants its employees to get creative with artificial intelligence.