From the Omicron and siblings front —

The Wall Street Journal reports

The highly contagious Omicron BA.5 subvariant has taken over as the dominant version of the virus causing new Covid-19 cases in the U.S., the latest federal data show.

BA.5 represented nearly 54% of U.S. cases in the week ended July 2, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated Tuesday. It surpassed BA.2.12.1, the version of Omicron partly responsible for a persistent springtime surge in cases, which is now estimated to represent closer to one in four cases. 

Another version known as BA.4, which is closely related to BA.5, and also ramped up recently, represents nearly 17% of cases, the CDC estimates.

Virus experts believe BA.5 is particularly adept at evading immune protections built up from prior infections and vaccines, giving it an advantage as it takes over as the major subvariant. This adds to the possibility people will contract Covid-19 repeatedly while facing the risk of developing complications like long-running and sometimes debilitating symptoms.

The Journal also tells us

Covid-19 reinfections can bring some new risks of serious medical problems, hospitalization and death, a new study has found. 

Protection provided by vaccines and prior infection has greatly improved Covid outcomes since the pandemic’s early days, and reinfections are typically less severe than initial ones. Yet each new infection carries a risk of medical problems, including hospitalization, death and long Covid, according to preliminary data from a study of patients in the Veterans Affairs health system. 

This is a timely finding, doctors say, as more-infectious Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 proliferate and are expected to make reinfections more common. * * *

One caveat of the VA study is that their patients are older and tend to have multiple comorbidities, says Amesh A. Adalja, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, who wasn’t involved with the VA study. For instance, an otherwise healthy 18-year-old “is not likely to significantly add to their risk” in the same way as an older person with underlying health problems, says Dr. Adalja.

And VA patients who went to the doctor for a reinfection are also more likely to have had more symptoms than those who don’t seek medical care and aren’t captured in the study, Dr. Adalja notes. Still, “it’s better not to get reinfected than to be reinfected,” he says. “Reinfections are not something you want to have, even though they’re likely going to be ubiquitous.”

The National Institutes of Health informs us “COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in the United States between March 2020 and October 2021, according to an analysis of national death certificate data by researchers at the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health. The study appears July 5 in JAMA Internal Medicine.”

From the unusual viruses front, Becker’s Hospital Review reports

As of July 1, 460 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed across 31 states and Washington, D.C. That’s up from 351 cases as of June 29. 

California has the highest number of confirmed cases in the nation at 95, followed by New York, where 90 cases have been reported, according to the CDC. Globally, there have been more than 5,000 cases reported since May. 

The article offers readers three other monkeypox updates.

From the transparency front, Beckers Payer Issues reminds us that while the first stage of the transparency in coverage rule, which applies to the FEHB Program and private sector employer-sponsored health plans, will benefit governments and businesses, the next stage which takes effect on January 1, 2023, will benefit health plan members.

In 2023, payers must start providing an internet-based price comparison tool that allows members to receive an estimate of their cost-sharing responsibility for a specific item or service from a specific provider or providers for 500 items and services. That comparison tool must be provided for all services by 2024.

Provider price disclosure rules went into effect at the start of 2021, but the majority of facilities have not complied. CMS warned 342 hospitals they were not in compliance in February and fined the first health system in June for violations.

From the U.S. healthcare front, Beckers Hospital Review tells us

Merative, formerly IBM Watson Health, on June 30 released its 2022 rankings of the top hospitals and health systems in the U.S., in partnership with Fortune.

For the rankings, 2,650 short-term, acute care, non-federal U.S. hospitals were evaluated on measures assessing inpatient outcomes, extended outcomes, processes of care, operational efficiency, financial health, and patient experience using publicly available data.

This year’s study also incorporated a community health measure, which is equally weighted with other ranked measures.

Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia PA is the top major teaching hospital and St. David’s Medical Center in Austin TX is the top large community hospital in the rankings.

From the research front —

• BioPharma Dive discusses the top 10 biotech clinical trials to watch in the second half of 2022.

• The New York Times reports “Dementia cases are climbing along with an aging world population, and yet another much-anticipated Alzheimer’s medication, crenezumab, has proved ineffective in clinical trials — the latest of many disappointments. Public health experts and researchers argue that it is past time to turn our attention to a different approach — focusing on eliminating a dozen or so already known risk factors, like untreated high blood pressure, hearing loss and smoking, rather than on an exorbitantly priced, whiz-bang new drug.”

• The National Institutes of Health’s Director’s Blog informs us that “researchers have found that an approved drug for insomnia that works differently than other sleep medications could offer some needed help for the sleeplessness that affects those overcoming an opioid addiction. The drug, known as suvorexant (Belsomra ®), was provided in a study to people during and immediately after tapering off opioids, and it allowed them to sleep significantly more during this week-long period. Suvorexant also helped to reduce their opioid withdrawal and craving.”