The Wall Street Journal reports that a Wuhan physician Dr. Li who had issued public warnings about the Wuhan or novel coronavirus has died from the disease. Not the first nor the last physician to sacrifice his or her life in the interest of public health and patient care. RIP

Last March, the FEHBlog heard Dr. Amy Tuter, a retired obstetrician, speak on Econtalk about the need for maternal ICUs. Consequently, the FEHBlog was pleased to read this American Hospital Association news article about

Titus Regional Medical Center, Mount Pleasant, Texas

Since implementing best practices related to maternal hemorrhaging, Titus Regional Medical Center’s maternal morbidity rate related to blood loss has been reduced significantly. The hospital employs a stage-based approach to maternal hemorrhage, simulates for staff emergent hemorrhage situations and provides intense education regarding the physiology of a hemorrhage.

Bravo!

Finally Healthcare Dive reports that

• With the release of their fourth quarter earnings, Cigna executives touted the company’s ability to contain medical cost growth at 4% over 2019, continuing a streak.
• The payer’s medical loss ratio of 82.3% for the fourth quarter of 2019 beat Wall Street expectations even though it increased from the prior-year period. It’s still “an encouraging sign” given several misses from other payers, David Windley of Jefferies said in a recent note.

Cigna did pay a significant amount in Affordable Care Act driven rebates for 2018 according to an HHS report. (When looking at the chart remember that insurers pay rebates based on state level MLRs over a rolling three year period. Consequently there are several CIGNA entries.)