Thursday Miscellany

Mental health care

Thursday Miscellany

David Ermer–CDC, Congress, COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine, Electronic health records, Mental health care, U.S. Healthcare–
Photo by Josh Mills on Unsplash

The Hill reports

White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha issued a dire warning Thursday that the U.S. will be increasingly vulnerable to the coronavirus this fall and winter if Congress doesn’t swiftly approve new funding for more vaccines and treatments.

In an Associated Press interview, Jha said Americans’ immune protection from the virus is waning, the virus is adapting to be more contagious and booster doses for most people will be necessary — with the potential for enhanced protection from a new generation of shots.

STAT News offers this ray of sunshine

Epidemiologist David Dowdy of Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health said that, despite the case increases, hospitalization and death rates overall remain relatively low compared with earlier periods in the pandemic — a reflection of how much immunity there is in the population.

“In some ways, this is encouraging, in that we’re starting to see a divergence between the number of cases and the number of hospitalizations and deaths,” Dowdy said. “But it’s also a little bit discouraging that we’ve been through all this and we’re still seeing a flat line and an uptick in the number of people getting admitted to the hospital and in people dying.”

In the FEHBlog’s view, the coordinator should stop fighting the Delta pandemic by focusing attention on better government distribution of Pfizer’s Paxlovid, which can cure the Omicron if taken timely. Kaiser Health News discusses this continuing and vexing distribution problem.

Unquestionably a need to focus attention on vaccinations and boosters remains essential. Govexec and Kaiser Health News ask why one-third of Americans over 65 have not received the first booster. Nearly all Americans over 65 are fully vaccinated. The article explains

People 65 and older account for about 75% of U.S. covid deaths. And some risk persists, even for seniors who have completed an initial two-dose series of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine or gotten one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Among older people who died of covid in January, 31% had completed a first vaccination round but had not been boosted, according to a KFF analysis of CDC data

FEHB plans are well-positioned to help with this effort, given their demographics.

In other virus news, the American Hospital Association tells us

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday updated its testing guidance for clinicians treating children with hepatitis of unknown cause. The agency is investigating 109 potential hepatitis cases of unknown cause in U.S. children since last October, including five deaths. More than 90% of the patients were hospitalized, 14% received liver transplants and more than half had a confirmed adenovirus infection, but officials still don’t know the actual cause of their hepatitis and cautioned that it may take time to assess the evidence and learn more. Potential cases also have been reported in the United Kingdom and other countries. 

Following up on last night’s hospital system merger news, Healthcare Dive reports

The Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health merger is likely to get a close review from the Federal Trade Commission as the Biden administration has taken a tougher stance on healthcare consolidation, antitrust and legal experts say. * * *

“I don’t think anything of this size in a healthcare transaction today is going to get rubber stamped,” said Bill Horton, a partner at Jones Walker who focuses on healthcare transactions. * * *

“Historically, the FTC concern in hospital and healthcare institution mergers has been the geographic overlap,” Horton said.

Advocate Aurora and Atrium do not have any geographic market overlap. The systems span six separate states through the Midwest and South.

“It doesn’t raise the same red flags, but it doesn’t mean that it gets waved through,” said Leemore Dafny, a Harvard Business School professor and former deputy director of healthcare and antitrust at the FTC.

The FTC is likely to examine whether the two systems negotiate with the same insurers even if they’re in different geographic locations, Dafny said.

From the interoperability front, Health Data Management offers an interesting take on government efforts to meet lofty public health goals for Data Modernization Initiative.

From the mental health care front, and to end on a high note, Health Payer Intelligence informs us

Consumers reported having positive experiences with their employer-sponsored mental and behavioral healthcare coverage during the coronavirus pandemic, a survey conducted on behalf of AHIP discovered.

“Health insurance providers are working every day to support Americans by helping them find the mental health support and counseling they need at a price they can afford,” Matt Eyles, president and chief executive officer of AHIP, said in a press release.

Midweek update

David Ermer–COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine, Federal employment benefits, Mental health care, NCQA, OPM, Rx coverage, U.S. Healthcare–
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

From the Omicron and siblings front

The American Hospital Association informs us

COVID-19 vaccinations prevented an estimated 107,000 Medicare hospitalizations between January and May 2021, resulting in $2.6 billion in savings for Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans, according to a new report by the Department of Health and Human Services. The report estimates the impact of COVID-19 vaccination during a five-month period shortly after the first vaccine was authorized and recommended for health care workers and elderly people in long-term care facilities. Future analyses will examine hospitalizations prevented by vaccination during the delta and omicron waves, HHS said.

Bloomberg Prognosis tells us

Pfizer Inc. executives said patients who suffer a relapse in Covid-19 symptoms after taking a full course of Paxlovid should take more of the treatment, though current U.S. guidelines limit use to five consecutive days.

“Paxlovid does what it has to do: it reduces the viral load,” Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said in an interview. “Then your body is supposed to do the job.” But for unknown reasons, the CEO said, some patients aren’t able to clear the virus with the first course of treatment.

In cases where virus levels do rebound, Bourla said, “then you give a second course, like you do with antibiotics, and that’s it.”

As noted in the article, the fly in the ointment is that the FDA emergency use authorization does not expressly approve a second course of the medication.

From the Rx coverage front

MedCity News reports on Bristol Myers Squibb’s (BMS) NEX-T program to improve CAR-T treatments.

The company has described NEX-T as changes to manufacturing driven by the translational insights it has gleaned from treating thousands of patients with its CAR T therapies. In addition to a faster turnaround time, the strategy is intended to reduce the costs of the overall process.

One of the key goals for the next-generation of cell therapies is treating solid tumors.

Another strategy that BMS is pursuing is going after two targets with a single therapy, reducing the risk that a tumor escapes from the treatment

Looking at the flip side of this coin, Forbes reports

Health plans and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) that manage drug costs speaking at this year’s Asembia Specialty Pharmacy Summit in Las Vegas say specialty drugs now account for 50% or greater of the total prescription spending they manage. In some cases, employer clients are seeing specialty costs account for 60% or even greater of their total drug spending.

“It really is frightening for our clients,” Lucille Accetta, senior vice president of pharmacy benefit management and specialty product development at CVS Health told hundreds of attendees at the Asembia event, which runs through Thursday and drew more than 5,000 people from the healthcare industry. “We have to be the best purchaser for our clients.” * * *

To reign in the costs of prescription drugs while maintaining access to life-saving treatments, health plans and pharmacies say they are more closely monitoring patients as soon as they are on the drug, said Rina Shah, group vice president of pharmacy operations and services at Walgreens.

The Forbes article adds

Abarca Health [is] an independent PBM that manages more than $5 billion in drug costs annually for more than four million Americans has executives at this week’s Asembia meeting talking up its efforts to better manage specialty pharmacy costs.

The company’s Assura solution launched earlier this year “guarantees the net cost of drugs, including specialty medications, by offering an annual fixed per script cost for a health plan’s entire population,” Abarca said in announcing the new pricing solution earlier this year. The guarantee, Abarca CEO Jason Borschow says, is adjusted each year based on drug benefit coverage changes.

From the healthcare business front

Healthcare Dive informs us

Even as COVID-19’s benefit waned, new plan members across multiple product lines helped drive CVS to $2.3 billion in profit in the first quarter, slightly higher than the $2.2 billion brought in at the same time last year.

In results published Wednesday, the company beat Wall Street expectations on earnings and revenue, with a topline of $76.8 billion, up 11% year over year.

Fierce Healthcare explains how CVS has shifted from a retail to a digital marketing focus.

The Wall Street Journal reports

Moderna Inc. MRNA 5.81% said that its first-quarter revenue and profit tripled from a year earlier on higher sales of its Covid-19 vaccine and that a fall booster-shot campaign could drive continued sales gains.

The biotechnology company’s revenue topped $6 billion in the period ended March 31, beating analyst expectations and rising from $1.94 billion a year earlier, driven almost entirely by sales of its messenger RN

Moderna Inc. MRNA 5.81% said that its first-quarter revenue and profit tripled from a year earlier on higher sales of its Covid-19 vaccine and that a fall booster-shot campaign could drive continued sales gains.

The biotechnology company’s revenue topped $6 billion in the period ended March 31, beating analyst expectations and rising from $1.94 billion a year earlier, driven almost entirely by sales of its messenger RNA-based vaccine, branded as Spikevax. * * *

Moderna is the latest drugmaker to show surging sales due to demand for Covid-19 vaccines and treatments, following recent reports fromEli Lilly & Co., Merck & Co. and Pfizer Inc.

From the health risks front, MedPage Today explains that

Seven risk factors, some modifiable and some not, accounted for the vast majority of risk for first-time acute myocardial infarction (MI) in young adults, according to a case-control study.

The seven factors — diabetes, depression, hypertension, smoking, family history of premature MI, low household income, and hypercholesterolemia — were responsible for 83.9% of the total acute MI risk in young women and 85.1% of the risk in young men, reported Harlan Krumholz, MD, SM, of Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues.

The UPI reports

Older adults who obtain a flu shot are less likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke and are at lower risk for death from heart-related health events in the year after getting vaccinated, an analysis published Friday found.

Just under 4% of older adults vaccinated against the seasonal virus experienced a “cardiovascular event” within the next year compared to just over 5% of those who did not receive the shot, data published Friday by JAMA Network Open showed.

From the meetings department,

  • HHS provides a readout of a high-level meeting among Labor Department, health insurance and business executives “to discuss compliance with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, adequacy of in-network providers and mental health and substance use disorder treatment during the pandemic, as the nation observes Mental Health Awareness Month.”
  • The National Committee for Quality Assurance reviews the presentations at last week’s Quality Talks conference.

From the federal employee benefits front, FedWeek discusses OPM’s planned improvement to processing retirement applications as unveiled in the Fiscal Year 2023 budget document. Processing federal retirement benefits will be a heavy lift for OPM until Congress simplifies the pension calculation.

Monday Roundup

David Ermer–ACA, COVID treatment, COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine, Mental health care, Rx coverage, SCOTUS, U.S. Healthcare–
Photo by Sven Read on Unsplash

The President has declared May 1 through May 7 to be Public Service Recognition Week. OPM explains

Celebrated annually during the first week of May since 1985, Public Service Recognition Week (PSRW) (external link) is time set aside to honor the men and women who serve our nation as federal, state, county and local government employees. 

Throughout the country, mayors, governors, agency leaders, communities and public service organizations participate in PSRW by issuing proclamations; hosting award ceremonies and special tribute events; and delivering messages about the value of public service.

To that end, Govexec reports the President took the time today to virtually award Presidential Rank Awards to 230 senior federal employees from 37 agencies.

Speaking directly to the career civil service, Biden said: “Over the last 15 months you’ve helped us deliver so much to the American people,” such as the getting Americans vaccinated against COVID-19, delivering economic relief checks, caring for veterans, implementing the infrastructure package and working to restore the public’s faith in government and democracy. He gave a big “thank you” to them as well as their families. 

The FEHBlog heartily agrees.

From the Omicron and siblings front, WebMd informs us

The FDA’s independent panel of advisors will meet in June to discuss the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for children under age 5, as well as the Novavax vaccine for adults, according to an FDA announcement released Friday.

On June 7, the FDA’s vaccine committee will review the Novavax shot, which could become the first new COVID-19 vaccine to hit the U.S. market in more than a year. The shot is already authorized in more than three dozen countries, including across Europe.

The FDA has also selected three possible dates — June 8, 21, and 22 — to discuss the shots for kids under age 5. The dates are tentative because the companies haven’t completed their submissions, the agency said.

The FEHBlog is pleased to read about these developments because the Novovax shot which uses a traditional vaccination approach may be acceptable to the vaccine inquisitive and the country needs a vaccine for younger children.

STAT News adds

Pfizer released news late Friday that Paxlovid, the antiviral currently subject to a big push from the U.S. government, failed to prevent people living with Covid patients from catching the infection.

The news is one of several bad headlines for the new Covid pill, but one experts say doesn’t affect the medicine’s primary use: treating people who are already sick.

Paul Sax, clinical director of the division of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said he would “absolutely” prescribe Paxlovid to people at high risk of severe disease who have Covid. “Without hesitation,” he said. “Because the net benefit in the high risk study was extremely high.”

From the Affordable Care Act front, Health Affairs Forefront has posted the second part of Katie Keith’s three-part series on last week’s HHS final 2023 notice of ACA benefit and payment parameters. The second part concerns changes specific to the ACA marketplace or exchange plans.

From the Rx coverage front, Health Affairs informs us

UnitedHealthcare is restricting insurance coverage of Aduhelm across all of its health plans, saying the drug “is unproven and not medically necessary for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease due to insufficient evidence of efficacy,” according to the company’s new policies.

Physicians who plan on giving Aduhelm to UnitedHealthcare patients will need to obtain prior approval from the insurance company, effective June 1. Patients also need to be in an approved clinical trial.

UnitedHealthcare’s decision follows Medicare, which said last month it would only pay for the costly infusion drug for patients who participate in a clinical trial. UnitedHealthcare is the largest Medicare Advantage insurer in the country, covering 8 million people older than 65 and people with disabilities, making this policy particularly important for older Americans on those private plans.

The FEHBlog expects UHC’s announcement to be the tip of the eventual iceberg of similar Aduhelm coverage decisions.

Following up on previous stories mentioned in the FEHBlog, the Wall Street Journal reports

Online pharmacy company Truepill Inc. said it is temporarily halting prescriptions for Adderall and other controlled substances used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and partner Cerebral Inc. told its clinicians to direct those orders to patients’ local pharmacies.

Cerebral, an online mental-health company based in San Francisco that describes Truepill as its preferred pharmacy, informed its clinicians of Truepill’s decision in a Friday email viewed by The Wall Street Journal. The email said Truepill would no longer support mailing Schedule 2 controlled substances, including Adderall and Vyvanse, “to any of their customers.”

Truepill said that, “out of an abundance of caution,” it is temporarily pausing all fulfillment of Schedule 2 substances while it evaluates appropriate next steps. It said Schedule 2 substances such as Adderall make up less than 1% of its total prescription volume. Truepill didn’t provide a list of other partners affected by its decision.

Some of the nation’s largest pharmacies have blocked or delayed prescriptions over the past year from clinicians working for telehealth startups that have sprung up to treat ADHD, according to pharmacies and people familiar with the issue.

The Journal reported last week that pharmacies including Walmart Inc., CVS Health Corp. and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. have blocked or delayed prescriptions for companies treating ADHD online or have blocked individual prescribers, according to people familiar with the issue.

That was the right outcome as far as the FEHBlog is concerned.

In U.S. Supreme Court news, Business Insurance reports “Private plaintiffs cannot be reimbursed for emotional distress damages under the 1973 Rehabilitation Act and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled” last Thursday in the linked opinion. The Affordable Care Act provision at issue is the ACA’s convoluted individual non-discrimination provision, Section 1557.

From the healthcare business front, Fierce Healthcare tells us

Outpatient volumes and revenue for hospitals and health systems showed a robust rebound in March as expenses eased due to fewer extremely sick patients, a new report said. 

Consulting firm Kaufman Hall released its latest hospital flash report Monday (PDF) detailing the impact of system finances for the month of March. A key takeaway from the report is that while actual hospital margins were negative for the third month in a row, outpatient revenues had a massive bump.

“While the road to recovery remains long for many hospitals, these trends indicate some pressures of the pandemic may be lifting,” said Erik Swanson, senior vice president of data and analytics with Kaufman Hall, in a statement. 

From the mental healthcare front,

Fierce Healthcare reports

Mental health concerns are on the rise across the board, and especially among Blacks, seniors, young adults and LGBTQIA people, a new survey finds.

CVS Health and Morning Consult polled more than 2,200 adults in early April and found that 59% of respondents have experienced challenges with their mental health or that of a friend or family member. That is a 9% increase over 2020 survey data.

More than half (57%) of people surveyed who identify as LGBTQIA expressed concern about their own mental health, 20 percentage points higher than other groups included in the study. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of those aged 18 to 34 said they experienced such concerns either themselves or for a friend or family member, up 12 percentage points from 2020.

The survey also found an 11 percentage point increase in mental health concerns among Black respondents compared to pre-COVID levels. A double-digit increase was also found among people over age 65; about 40% reported mental health concerns for themselves or family and friends, up 10 percentage points from 2020.

AHIP describes ten ways that people can get the mental healthcare services that they need.

Midweek update

David Ermer–COVID-19, Mental health care, OPM, SDOH, Telehealth, U.S. Healthcare–
Thanks to Alexandr Hovhannisyan for sharing their work on Unsplash.

Today, the FEHBlog attended day one of the virtual OPM AHIP FEHB Carrier Conference. OPM informed carriers to expect a carrier letter on the No Surprises Act. OPM also presented panels delving into Biden administration initiatives described in the 2023 call letter. The second and final day is tomorrow.

The FEHBlog suggests that OPM resume the practice of including health plan and PBM representatives on its conference panels to provide more relevant perspectives on these initiatives.

From the Omicron front, the Wall Street Journal informs us

There’s a good chance you’ll get Covid more than once.

Covid-19 reinfections are more common and can happen within a shorter window of time than doctors previously thought possible, recent research suggests. More than half of people in the U.S. showed signs of having been infected at least once as of February, according to a report Tuesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. * * *

“On average at a population level, the people who get reinfected have milder symptoms,” says Francois Balloux, an infectious disease epidemiologist and director of the UCL Genetics Institute in London. “That doesn’t mean that some people might not have a worse infection the second or even third time.” 

From the SDOH front, Health Payer Intelligence tells us

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies have urged the healthcare industry to adopt national health equity data collection standards.

The companies released a paper that defines health equity and submits a proposed model for data collection standardization.

That is a valuable resource.

From the telehealth front, Healthcare Dive reports

Whether or not telehealth visits result in duplicative care — a hot topic on the Hill as Congress debates future telemedicine regulation — could depend on whether users have acute or chronic conditions, a new study suggests.

Researchers analyzed data from almost 41 million commercially insured adults, and found patients with acute conditions that had an initial telehealth visit were slightly more likely to have a follow-up encounter, emergency room visit or inpatient admission, compared to those who had an in-person visit.

However, patients with chronic conditions that had an initial telehealth visit were as or less likely to need follow-up care, than those with an initial in-person visit.

That’s practical information for you.

Healthcare Dive adds

Teladoc Health recorded a $6.6 billion impairment charge in the first quarter, reflecting the waning market value of its acquisition of chronic care company Livongo inked two years ago.

Teladoc, the largest virtual care company in the U.S., bought Livongo for $18.5 billion in cash and stock late 2020 in the biggest digital health deal to date. However, the merger has struggled, resulting in the large goodwill impairment charge for the Purchase, New York-based vendor.

The charge drove Teladoc’s net loss up to $6.7 billion in the quarter, a record for the company. That’s more than 33 times bigger than its loss of about $200 million during the same time last year; and about 16 times its full year 2021 net loss of $429 million.

Ouch.

The Wall Street Journal reports

Some of the nation’s largest pharmacies have blocked or delayed prescriptions over the last year from clinicians working for telehealth startups that have sprung up to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to pharmacies and people familiar with the issue.

The pharmacies in certain cases have expressed concerns that clinicians at Done Health and Cerebral Inc. are writing too many prescriptions for Adderall and other stimulants, the people said. The federal government considers the drugs controlled substances because of their potential for abuse and places them in the same category as cocaine.

From the mental health and substance use disorder front —

Fierce Healthcare calls attention to the fact

Mental and behavioral health conditions account for a growing segment of healthcare costs, and insurers have a significant opportunity to address these expenses and drive costs down overall, according to a new report [which is behind a Moody’s paywall].

Mental health conditions accounted for just 5.2% of healthcare spending in 2019, but the number of people with these conditions is expanding, particularly in the pandemic environment, according to a report from analysts at Moody’s Investors Service.

A recent study suggests that healthcare costs for people with behavioral health conditions are 3.5 times higher than for those without such conditions, according to the report. Annual healthcare costs for patients with behavioral health needs are $12,272, with just 7.9% of that specifically for the behavioral conditions.

The National Institutes of Health offers a Q&A with Dr. Rena D’Souza, the Director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.

RB: Thanks for joining me, Rena. Many people might not recognize the relevance of oral health in opioid use and pain. Can you give us some examples of NIDCR HEAL projects and recent findings?

RD: Rebecca, thanks for the opportunity to have this conversation. Managing and treating dental, oral, and craniofacial pain is central to NIDCR’s vision to improve oral health and well-being for all people. So there’s an obvious connection. NIDCR HEAL projects include research to discover new, non-addictive ways to prevent and treat orofacial pain disorders such as temporomandibular disorders, inflammatory and neuropathic pain, and oral cancer-associated pain. NIDCR HEAL researchers are also in the early stages of developing a material that can seal surgical wounds and deliver pain medicine on-site to help reduce the need for opioids after oral surgery. In addition, our institute is interested in how socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, and other social determinants of health play a role in chronic pain, pain management, and patient outcomes.

This work is necessary to tackle our opioid epidemic.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced the availability of “new, free informational resources that inform Americans of their rights under law on coverage for mental health benefits.”

“The following resources have been posted on SAMHSA’s website:

  1. “Know Your Rights: Parity for Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Benefits,” an updated trifold pamphlet explaining mental health parity, detailing what it means to the consumer, and listing the protections the parity law provides.
  2. “Understanding Parity: A Guide to Resources for Families and Caregivers,” which provides an overview of parity geared toward parents, family members or caregivers with information and tools to help them obtain behavioral health services for children or family members in their care.
  3. “The Essential Aspects of Parity: A Training Tool for Policymakers,” which provides state regulators and behavioral health staff an overview of mental health and substance use disorder parity and how to implement and comply with the federal parity law regarding employer-sponsored health plans and group and individual health insurance.”

Tuesday’s Tidbits

David Ermer–CDC, COVID treatment, COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine, Medicare, Mental health care, U.S. Healthcare, Uncategorized–
Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

From the Omicron and siblings front —

The American Hospital Association informs us

The share of the U.S. population with antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 virus in their bloodstream increased from 34% in December 2021 to 58% in February 2022, including 75% of children, according to a study released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study tested blood samples during the COVID-19 omicron period for antibodies produced in response to infection but not in response to COVID-19 vaccines. Children had the highest rates of infection-induced antibodies and adults 65 and older the lowest, with the greatest increases over the period in age groups with the lowest COVID-19 vaccination coverage. 

“Vaccination remains the safest strategy for preventing complications from SARS-CoV-2 infection, including hospitalization among children and adults,” the authors said. 

and

Starting this week, the Administration will allow all pharmacies in the federal pharmacy program to order free oral antiviral treatments directly from the federal government, the White House announced today. The Administration hopes to double the number of participating pharmacies to 40,000 in the coming weeks, and to launch new Test-to-Treat locations that offer the Pfizer and Merck pills, which the Food and Drug Administration authorized in December to treat COVID-19 in patients at risk of progressing to severe disease. Pharmacies also can continue to receive the pills through their state or territorial health department. The Administration said it is working to improve the Test-to-Treat patient experience, including through telehealth options; and to provide more guidance on COVID-19 treatments to prescribers and clinicians.

The New York Times adds more details to this AHA blurb. In short, “experts say that efforts to reach at-risk Americans remain complex and inefficient.”

Medscape adds “Contrary to popular belief, no association appeared between the number of intensive care unit beds and COVID-19 deaths, based on a review of data from all 50 states between March 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021.”

The Wall Street Journal further reports

Pfizer Inc. and partner BioNTech SE asked U.S. health regulators to authorize a booster dose of its Covid-19 vaccine for children 5 to 11 years old.

The request Tuesday to the Food and Drug Administration comes after the companies said earlier this month that a third shot safely generated a strong immune response in the youngsters, including significantly increased antibody levels against the Omicron variant. 

A thumbs-up from the FDA would expand eligibility of boosters to the roughly 28 million children in the U.S. Booster doses are now available for people as young as 12 years old in the U.S., and regulators recently greenlighted second boosters for people who are 50 years old and up or who have weakened immune systems. 

In FEHB news, OPM issued a paper describing the 2021 highlights of OPM’s FEHB Plan Performance Assessment system. In the FEHBlog’s view, OPM’s PPA system could be improved by (1) seeking plan input on all PPA changes, including, for example, the benchmark change to ALOB and (2) implementing changes for the first measurement year following the change, not the year in which the change is made. Both of these changes are consistent with federal administrative law, in the FEHBlog’s opinion. Also, OPM should use the carrot incentive more than the stick.

In healthcare business news,

Healthcare Dive tells us

Hospitals are experiencing a “massive surge” in expenses for items such as labor, drugs and supplies amid rising inflation, the American Hospital Association said in a report on Monday.

Labor is a particular stressor, making up more than half of hospitals’ total expenses. Overall, hospital labor expenses per patient increased almost 20% from 2019 to 2021, the AHA said. 

The powerful hospital lobby urged Congress to help address these headwinds by adding money to the provider relief fund and creating flexibility on advanced Medicare repayments, among other items.

Medpage Today informs us

Nearly three-fourths of U.S. physicians opted for employment with hospitals, health systems, or other corporate entities, such as private equity firms and health insurers in the pandemic era, according to a new report.

In 2021, 73.9% of physicians were hospital- or corporate-employed, up from 69.3% at the start of 2021, 64.5% at the start of 2020, and 62.2% at the start of 2019, according to the nonprofit Physicians Advocacy Institute (PAI) and consulting firm Avalere. That equates to 484,100 employed physicians, up from 423,800, 391,000, and 375,400 at the start of 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively.

Perhaps these two trends are related? On the one hand, more physician employees create more hospital expenses. On the other, a hospital receives additional health plan payments for services provided by physician employees. In all likelihood, the revenue exceeds the expense in this case.

From tidbits department,

  • AHRQ reports on “Geographic Variation in Inpatient Stays for Five Leading Mental Disorders, 2016–2018.”

CAQH CORE, the author of national operating rules for the HIPAA-covered administrative transactions, recently released new operating rules to enhance information exchange and healthcare operations related to benefits coverage and supplemental documentation. * * *

The new CAQH CORE Attachments Operating Rule aims to improve the exchange of attachments, a long-standing industry issue. The guidelines will establish key infrastructure and data content requirements, helping providers send electronic health plans documentation to support a claim or prior authorization in a uniform format, the press release stated.

Reassociation or linking the attachment with the original prior authorization request or claim submission is one of the most significant pain points in the attachment workflow, CAQH CORE added.

The new guidelines also offer updates to enhance the exchange of critical eligibility and benefit information related to telemedicine, prior authorization, remaining coverage benefits, procedure-level information, and tiered benefits between health plans and providers.

The second newly released rule, the CAQH CORE Eligibility & Benefits Data Content Rule, intends to enhance provider knowledge regarding their patients’ coverage, leading to more timely care and accurate billing.

Finally, CAQH CORE revised its rules for infrastructure, which now calls for greater health plan system availability and less frequent periods of downtime.

  • Health Payer Intelligence notes “Applying an out-of-pocket spending cap to Medicare Part D could be a tool for promoting health equity, according to an insight from Avalere.”

Tuesday’s Tidbits

David Ermer–AHRQ, COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine, Medicare, Mental health care, No Surprises Act–
Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

From the Omicron and siblings front —

STAT News tells us

Scientists around the world are discovering and tracking newer forms of the Omicron coronavirus variant, showing how even when a strain becomes globally dominant, it continues to evolve and can splinter into different lineages.

Case in point: Updated data released Tuesday showed that a burgeoning form of Omicron, called BA.2.12.1 —  itself a sublineage of the BA.2 branch of Omicron — now accounts for nearly one in five infections in the United States. It’s eating into the prevalence of the ancestral BA.2, highlighting the emergent virus’s transmission advantage over its parent. BA.2 now accounts for about 74% of cases, while the remaining 6% or so are from the BA.1 branch of Omicron, the first form of the variant that took over globally and whose prevalence has been falling as BA.2 became dominant.

The menagerie can be dizzying to track, especially because all these cases technically fall under the Omicron umbrella. But even as scientists closely monitor the divergence of Omicron, early signs suggest the different lineages don’t substantially differ in terms of how virulent they are or in their ability to evade the protection generated by immunizations. While some of the newer forms of the virus might be better spreaders than others, their emergence doesn’t necessarily result in huge increases in cases.

David Leonhardt adds in his New York Times morning column today

In several places where the number of cases has risen in recent weeks, hospitalizations have stayed flat. (In past Covid waves, by contrast, hospitalizations began rising about a week after cases did.) * * *

Even if hospitalizations do rise in coming weeks, a declining share of coronavirus cases that result in serious illness would be very good news, Dr. Craig Spencer, director of global health in emergency medicine at Columbia University, has pointed out.

I haven’t seen a Covid patient in the E.R. in weeks and go to work now expecting not to,” Spencer told me, “despite a swirl of Covid in the community.”

Among other things, a decoupling of cases and severe illness would mean that hospitals were less likely to become overwhelmed during future Covid surges. When hospitals avoid getting swamped, they can provide care to every patient who needs it — which becomes another factor that reduces bad health outcomes.

For these reasons, Mr. Leonhardt plans to shift his focus from new cases to new hospitalizations.

From the Covid vaccine front

Govexec explains

Because mRNA-based vaccines are a relatively new class of vaccines, they do not include the traditional adjuvants. The current mRNA vaccines used in the U.S. rely on small balls of fat called lipid nanoparticles to deliver the mRNA. These lipid molecules can act as adjuvants, but how precisely these molecules affect the long-term immune response remains to be seen. And whether the current COVID-19 vaccines’ failure to trigger strong long-lived antibody response is related to the adjuvants in the existing formulations remains to be explored.

While the current vaccines are highly effective in preventing severe disease, the next phase of vaccine development will need to focus on how to trigger a long-lived antibody response that would last for at least a year, making it likely that COVID-19 vaccines will become an annual shot.

STAT News adds

New data from Moderna offer hope that booster shots against Covid-19 could become at least somewhat more effective than they already are. But the data also point to how difficult it could be to determine exactly which Covid shots to give as annual boosters.

At a hearing of a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel earlier this month, experts fretted about exactly how governments should make decisions about the composition of annual boosters. And they were adamant that governments, not pharmaceutical companies, should be deciding the strain composition of the shots, as the World Health Organization does for influenza shots. But these data are a reminder that those decisions can be tough. What would experts do when faced with booster shots with several different compositions? Will adding new strains work similarly for different types of vaccines? There are a huge number of open questions.

There’s also the biggest problem with annual flu shots: People don’t get them. Even with the current Covid boosters, this has been true. Data presented to the FDA panel said that 217 million Americans are vaccinated about Covid. But only 90 million people have received a booster dose. How many will turn out for a new booster next year?

Look at this comparison of winter 2019-2020 flu vs. 2020-2021 Covid

2019 – 2020 Winter CDC Fluview 3/28/202020-2021 Winter COVID-1910/1/2020 to 3/21/2021
Flu Deaths                       24,000 COVID-19 Deaths               332,636 
Flu Cases             39,000,000 COVID-19 cases        22,399,598 
Deaths over total cases0.06%1.49%
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm

Who would look back on pre-Covid flu as the good old days? But comparatively, it is. We see millions more flu cases, but hundreds of thousands fewer flu deaths.

Kaiser Health News discusses the need for better ventilation in office buildings which could help tamp down Covid and flu cases. “The science is airtight,” said Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings program at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “The evidence is overwhelming.”

From the No Surprises Act front, Healthcare Dive reports

The online portal for resolving payment disputes between payers and providers for certain out-of-network charges is now open, the CMS said Monday. The portal initiates what’s known as the federal independent dispute resolution process, a key part of the No Surprises Act that outlaws balance bills in most cases. As a last resort, it allows payers and providers to resolve payment disputes using an arbitration style similar to the model adopted by Major League Baseball in salary negotiations.

From the transparency in coverage rule front, the Labor Department issued ACA FAQ 53 today. FAQ 53 provides guidance to health plans, including FEHB plans, on how to post three machine-readable pricing files on their website. The Labor Department will begin to enforce this requirement on July 1, 2022.

From the healthcare pricing front

Health Affairs reports

Commercial health plans pay higher prices than public payers for hospital care, which accounts for more than 5 percent of US gross domestic product. Crafting effective policy responses requires monitoring trends and identifying sources of variation. Relying on data from the Healthcare Provider Cost Reporting Information System, we describe how commercial hospital payment rates changed relative to Medicare rates during 2012–19 and how trends differed by hospital referral region (HRR). We found that average commercial-to-Medicare price ratios were relatively stable, but trends varied substantially across HRRs. Among HRRs with high price ratios in 2012, ratios increased by 38 percentage points in regions in the top quartile of growth and decreased by 38 percentage points in regions in the bottom quartile. Our findings suggest that restraining the growth rate of HRR commercial hospital price ratios to the national average during our sample period would have reduced aggregate spending by $39 billion in 2019.

Fierce Healthcare relates

Seniors save nearly $2,000 on average a year in total healthcare spending in Medicare Advantage (MA) compared to fee-for-service Medicare, a new study finds.

The study, published Tuesday, by the advocacy group Better Medicare Alliance finds that seniors spent $1,965 less including premiums and out-of-pocket costs on MA when compared to fee-for-service.

“We see particularly strong results for historically disadvantaged populations, including Black and Hispanic beneficiaries and those who are low-income,” said Allison Rizer, principal at the consulting firm ATI Advisory, which performed the study that examined 2019 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey data.

From the healthcare business front, Fierce Healthcare tells us

UnitedHealth Group executives said Thursday that its Optum Health subsidiary, which is one of the country’s largest physician groups, is building out value-based care partnerships at a faster rate than was expected.

In its earnings report, the healthcare giant said it initially projected that 500,000 new patients would be treated in value-based arrangements. It’s upping that projection to 600,000. Wyatt Decker, M.D., CEO of Optum Health, said on the company’s earnings call that reflects Optum’s efforts to invest in technology, analytics and building networks are paying off.

“What you’re really seeing is a result of almost 10 years of building a flywheel that now has significant momentum,” Decker said. “All of that continues to yield benefits and, frankly, growth.”

From the research front —

MedPage Today announced

The severity of multiple sclerosis (MS) was linked with geographic latitude, an observational study showed.

Among 46,000 MS patients living in temperate zones, more severe disease was seen in those who lived above 40° latitude, reported Tomas Kalincik, MD, PhD, of the University of Melbourne, Australia, and co-authors.

The association was driven mainly, but not exclusively, by ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation exposure contributing to both MS susceptibility and severity, the researchers wrote in Neurology.

AHRQ discusses a study on “Geographic Variation in Inpatient Stays for Five Leading Substance Use Disorders, 2016-2018.” There are interesting State variations.

Midweek Update

David Ermer–COVID vaccine mandate, COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine, Mental health care, U.S. Healthcare–
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

From the Omicron and siblings front —

The Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra renewed the declaration of a public health emergency due to Covid for another 90 days from April 16. Roll Call provides background on this expected decision.

Beckers Hospital Review summarizes an interview the White House’s new COVID-19 response coordinator, Ashish Jha, MD, recently gave to NPR. The article describes Dr. Jha as optimistic.

Roll Call also offers its perspectives on the CDC’s Covid vaccination strategy.

Some experts question boosting with vaccines modeled on the original virus as new variants sweep the globe. The immune system responds most quickly to variants it has already encountered, and evidence has shown that people infected with a significantly different variant of a virus can potentially suffer worse reactions when a new wave hits. 

But it’s not yet clear if this is the case with COVID-19 or whether the current vaccines have broad enough protection to neutralize this phenomenon, known as “original antigenic sin.” 

“Theoretically, repeated exposure to an older variant formula may drive our immune system to concentrate too much on old features and not on new features,” Katelyn Jetelina, an assistant professor at University of Texas Health Science Center, wrote in her Substack newsletter. “But despite some truly surprising evolutionary leaps of the virus (like Omicron) we have not seen any convincing evidence of OAS among humans, which is great news.”

There’s also disagreement in the medical community about whether more COVID-19 shots of any kind are necessary for the broader public beyond the elderly and high-risk. The debate has muddled the message on already confusing booster recommendations.

“The FDA and CDC have kind of come out with, like, a lukewarm, ‘Yeah, you can do this,’ as opposed to, ‘Run and do it now.’ And you know, that’s going to leave most people confused,” said Jen Kates, Kaiser Family Foundation director of global health and HIV policy. 

In this regard, the Wall Street Journal discusses “Why It Is Hard to Know Who Needs a Covid Booster: Mysterious T Cells: Vaccine experts aren’t certain who under 65 years should get a second booster–and when–because the response of T cells is poorly understood.”

Researchers and U.S. health officials measuring whether Covid-19 vaccines work have largely focused on the body’s first-line defense, called antibodies. The Food and Drug Administration recently cleared a second booster shot partly based on real-world research out of Israel showing the extra dose restored antibody levels that had waned and reduced risk of infections.

“You have T cells that are not waning to the same degree and are likely a big part of what’s going to keep you out of the hospital,” said John Wherry, director of the Institute for Immunology at the University of Pennsylvania.

The presence of T cells, vaccine experts say, might explain why many vaccinated people who tested positive for Covid-19 several months after their inoculations managed to avoid severe cases.

The T cells continue to work against the virus, according to the experts and studies, after antibodies have waned or lost effectiveness because of a variant. 

Some studies have found that T cells from Covid-19 shots persist for at least half a year after initial series of vaccination. A study by researchers at La Jolla Institute and published in the journal Cell in March found that the T cells lasted six months and were about 80% as effective against Omicron as other variants. 

Lingering T cells might reduce the need for many healthy people to get a second booster dose within months of their first, some vaccine experts say. In fact, there might be diminishing returns from getting boosters over time if T-cell levels eventually plateau or slowly drop over time as people get more shots, researchers say.

There is limited evidence to go on, however. * * * Dr. Wherry said his lab expects to publish data soon showing that T cells after the initial series of vaccines remain in the body for at least nine to 12 months. “We are building the plane as we’re flying,” Dr. Wherry said. 

From the Covid vaccine mandate for federal employees front, Govexec follows up on last week’s decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit lifting the preliminary injunction on that mandate. The FEHBlog noted earlier this week that the federal government has asked the Fifth Circuit to accelerate the effective date for that action. Govexec tells us that the plaintiffs’ attorneys have opposed the government’s motion and intend to petition the Court for a rehearing or a rehearing en banc.

The White House announced “Additional Actions in Response to Vice President Harris’s Call to Action on Maternal Health.” Of interest to FEHB carriers, the fact sheet explains

  • “Birthing-Friendly” Hospital Designation: CMS is proposing the “Birthing-Friendly” hospital designation to drive improvements in maternal health outcomes and maternal health equity. The “Birthing-Friendly” hospital designation would assist consumers in choosing hospitals that have demonstrated a commitment to maternal health. The Administration announced this new designation during the White House Maternal Health Day of Action Summit.
    • Initially, the designation would be awarded to hospitals based on attestation that the hospital has participated in maternity care quality improvement collaboratives and implemented best practices that advance health care quality, safety, and equity for pregnant and post-partum patients.
    • Data will be submitted by hospitals for the first time in May 2022, and CMS will post data for October to December 2021 in fall 2022. Criteria for the designation may be expanded in the future.

OPM’s call letter for 2023 benefit and rate proposals suggested that carriers keep an eye on this initiative.

Speaking of government initiatives, Federal News Network brings us up to date on the TEFCA initiative that would create a backbone for the country’s regional health data networks, among other data resources.

From the government reporting front, HR Dive informs us

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission today opened 2021 data collection reporting for its Employment Information Report (EEO-1), Standard Form 100, Component 1. The filing deadline is May 17, 2022, EEOC said.

Generally, private employers with at least 100 employees must submit an EEO-1 Component 1 report. So must federal contractors with 50 or more employees. 

The window for reporting has been shortened significantly compared to the last two years, with HR given a little over one month to complete the form.

Gee, the FEHBlog understood that the Covid public health emergency had been extended.

From the medical research from LifeSciences Intelligence reports

A major international study recently identified 75 genes associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, including 42 new genes not previously discovered. 

The study involving UK Dementia Research Institute researchers enrolled over 100,000 individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and over 600,000 healthy individuals across the UK, US, Australia, and Europe. Researchers studied the differences in their genetic makeup. 

Notably, 60–80% of disease risk is based on genetics. Therefore, researchers must continue to uncover the biological causes and develop treatments for the millions of people affected globally.  

From the mental healthcare front, Beckers Hospital Review offers a suicide rate of each U.S. state and the District of Columbia in 2020, according to a ranking Kaiser Family Foundation released on April 12. The national age-adjusted suicide rate was 13.5 per 100,000 people in 2020. Wyoming had the highest rate and the District of Columbia the lowest.

Friday Stats and More

David Ermer–ACA, Congress, COVID vaccine mandate, COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine, Mental health care, Rx coverage–

Based on the Centers for Disease Control’s Covid Data Tracker and using Thursday as the first day of the week, here are the FEHBlog’s weekly charts of new Covid cases and deaths from the 27th week of 2021, a low points of cases and death, and the 14th week of 2022, another lull but not quite as low.

The CDC’s Weekly Review of its COVID statistics issued today notes “The current 7-day daily average for March 30–April 5, 2022, was 1,406. This is a 10.3% decrease from the prior 7-day average (1,567) from March 23–29, 2022.”

Here’s the FEHBlog’s weekly chart of Covid vaccinations administered and distributed since the beginning of the Covid vaccination era through this week, again using Thursday as the first day of the week.

The administration of Covid vaccines popped us this week. Over 75% of the U.S. population aged 18 and older are fully vaccinated. Nearly half (48.6%) of that cadre is boostered. The Weekly Review’s commentary discusses the importance of vaccinating children.

COVID-19 vaccines have undergone—and continue to undergo—the most intensive safety monitoring in U.S. history, and adverse events are rare. Vaccinating children is the single best way to protect them from severe illness associated with COVID-19. 

From Capitol Hill, the Wall Street Journal reports

Senators had also hoped to move forward on the coronavirus vaccines and treatments package, but progress quickly bogged down over Republican efforts to amend the bill to extend a pandemic-era immigration policy called Title 42—which allows Border Patrol agents to quickly turn away migrants at the southern border—with some Democrats siding with the GOP. Senators said they ran out of time, and the break could help end the logjam, even if it means the aid will need to wait at least several weeks.

“We’ll see where the discussions go, but my assumption is during the course of the break they’ll be some conversations between people who are interested in advancing it and see if we can make any headway on coming up with a process,” said Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.) on the Covid aid.

“I don’t think we’re leaving anything hanging up in the air that we’re not going to be able to continue to work with afterwards,” said Sen. Angus King (I., Maine), who caucuses with Democrats.

Congress is on State / District work periods for the next two weeks.

From the Rx coverage front, Health Affairs offers a fascinating article leading with an HHS Inspector General report on biosimilar drug use in the Medicare Part D program. The article blossoms into a broader look at biosimilar use in America. For example,

Last fall, two academics from the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics and the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy analyzed the available biosimiliars and found these were, on average, 30% less expensive than the underlying brand-name biologics. This represented a savings of about $665 off the average price.

Perhaps the biggest boost, though, will occur when biosimilar versions of Humira begin entering the U.S. market next year. This is expected to kick-start a wave of increased biosimilar usage between now and 2027, by which time the worldwide market should roughly double to $20 billion, according to Bernstein analyst Ronny Gal.

“The savings we identified with increased biosimilar use, while modest, could be significant once biosimiliar versions of Humira come on the market,” said [Melissa] Baker [from the HHS Office of Inspector Genera]. “Part D spending for Humira is in the billions of dollars.” The HHS OIG report noted that Humira and Enbrel accounted for more than $5 billion in Part D spending and nearly half of Part D spending on biologics in 2019.

From the Aduhelm front, Fierce Healthcare tells us

Leaders of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) sought to present a united front a day after CMS approved narrow Medicare coverage of the Alzheimer’s disease drug Aduhelm.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, M.D., and CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure issued a joint statement Friday to address criticism of CMS’ decision that Medicare only cover Aduhelm and similar products for beneficiaries in a qualifying clinical trial. Critics have charged CMS is trying to undermine the FDA’s approval decisions as the agency cleared the drug last year via accelerated approval.

“The work of both of our agencies is critical to ensure that medical products are available to people across the country,” the agency leaders said in a statement.

From the mental healthcare front, Health Payer Intelligence informs us

CVS Health and its payer arm, Aetna, aimed to make strides in the healthcare industry in 2021 by delivering affordable healthcare services to members, increasing access to virtual and mental healthcare, and implementing initiatives to advance health equity, according to the payer’s 2021 Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) report. The report reflects data from January 1 to December 31, 2021.

Well done.

Finally, the FEHBlog ran across this helpful Kaiser Family Foundation preventive services tracker website.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires new private health insurance plans to cover many recommended preventive services without any patient cost-sharing. For adults, the required services are recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) based on recommendations issued by the Institute of Medicine Committee on Women’s Clinical Preventive Services.  As new recommendations are issued or updated, coverage must commence in the next plan year that begins on or after exactly one year from the recommendation’s issue date.

This tracker presents up-to-date information on the adult preventive services nongrandfathered private plans must cover, by condition, including a summary of the recommendation, the target population, the effective date of coverage, and related federal coverage clarifications.

For more information, see the fact sheet Preventive Services Covered by Private Health Plans under the Affordable Care Act.

This tracker also applies to FEHB plans. Thanks, KFF.

Friday Stats and More

David Ermer–CDC, COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine, Mental health care, Rx coverage, Telehealth, U.S. Healthcare–

Based on the Centers for Disease Control’s Covid data tracker and using Thursday as the first day of the week, here are the FEHBlog weekly charts of new Covid cases and deaths from the 27th week of 2021 through the 13th week of 2022:

The CDC weekly review of its Covid data adds

Currently, there are 19 (0.59%) counties with a high COVID-19 Community Level, 146 (4.53%) counties with a medium Community Level, and 3,059 (94.88%) counties with a low Community Level. This represents a slight (−0.84%) decrease in the number of high-level counties, a moderate (−2.73%) decrease in the number of medium-level counties, and a corresponding (+3.57%) increase in the number of low-level counties. Twenty-seven (48.21%) of 56 jurisdictions had no high- or medium-level counties this week. To check your COVID-19 community level, visit COVID Data Tracker.

* * *

The current 7-day daily average [of new Covid hospital admissions] for March 23–29, 2022, was 1,564. This is a 15.8% decrease from the prior 7-day average (1,858) from March 16–22, 2022. * * *

The current 7-day moving average of new [Covid] deaths (627) has decreased 14.4% compared with the previous 7-day moving average (732).

Here’s a link to the FEHBlog’s weekly chart of new Covid vaccinations distributed and administered from the beginning of the Covid vaccination era until last Wednesday.

The CDC’s weekly review notes

As of March 30, 2022, the 7-day average number of adhttps://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.htmlministered vaccine doses reported (by date of CDC report) to CDC per day was 214,405, a 17.8% increase from the previous week.

CDC’s COVID Data Tracker displays vaccination trends by age group, race/ethnicity, and urban/rural status. To see trends by age group and race/ethnicity, visit the Vaccination Demographic Trends tab. To see trends by urban/rural status, visit the COVID-19 Vaccination Equity tab.

The American Medical Association offers guidance to physicians concerning the FDA’s emergency authorization of a second Covid booster for Americans aged 50 and older.

HR Dive discusses what employers should take away from the Biden Administration’s updated approach to Omicron.

Here’s a link to the CDC’s weekly flu surveillance report or Fluview.

From the “and more” department —

  • HR Dive discusses what employers can do to help employees with adolescent children suffering from behavioral health issues. For example, because a shortage of child psychiatrists exists,

Telemental health programs offer convenient access (often at lower cost than in-person care) for many services—and some, like Brightline, are designed specifically for families of children with mental health needs. However, recent studies have shown that telehealth offerings are not being utilized as much for children as they are for adults, for rural populations as they are for urban ones, or for low-income communities as they are for wealthier ones. Clearly, there is an opportunity for employers to make vulnerable populations aware of the telemental health services available to them. 

  • BioPharma Dive identifies “Five FDA decisions to watch in the second quarter. Between April and June, the agency will advance key regulatory reviews in ALS and gene therapy as well as host an advisory meeting on cancer drugs.”

Thursday Miscellany

David Ermer–Congress, COVID treatment, COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine, Employee Wellness Programs, Federal employment benefits, Mental health care, OPM, Telehealth, U.S. Healthcare–
Photo by Josh Mills on Unsplash

From Capitol Hill

Roll Call tells us

Senators negotiating a COVID-19 supplemental funding package have an “agreement in principle” to provide roughly $10 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services to stock up on waning domestic supplies for combating the virus, according to Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.

Blunt, the top Republican on the Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee, said both parties have tentatively agreed to offsets for the $10 billion that would repurpose unspent funds from prior pandemic relief laws.

The offsets negotiators agreed to include $2.2 billion from unused grant funds for venues like zoos and theaters and $2 billion in untapped assistance to the aviation and manufacturing industry, Blunt said. His comments to reporters came after a Republican Conference lunch in which lead GOP negotiator Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah briefed his colleagues on the agreement in principle. 

Fierce Healthcare informs us

The House [of Representatives] passed a bill on Thursday that caps the out-of-pocket cost of insulin at $35 a month for beneficiaries in Medicare Part D and for certain group and individual plans.

The Affordable Insulin Now Act, which passed the House via a 232 to 193 vote, comes as work in the Senate continues on a bipartisan alternative that could bring additional changes. * * *

Private plans would also be required to offer first-dollar coverage of insulin without any deductible, according to an analysis from the Congressional Budget Office. 

The cap on cost-sharing for private insurance plans would implement in 2023.

The Hill offers a related article explaining why insulin prices are so “troubling” high.

HR Dive reports

Among the provisions of this month’s $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill, Congress included a revival of an exemption that allowed high-deductible health plans to cover telehealth before individuals meet their deductible.

The provision was originally created by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, which sunset at the end of 2021. The provision will resume April 1 but will again sunset at the end of this year.

From the Omicron and siblings front, the Wall Street Journal discusses the state of Covid treatments and offers its advice on who should seek out a second Covid booster besides the immunocompromised.

From the OPM front, Govexec projects OPM’s actions over the next 18 months based on the FY 2022 to FY 2026 strategic plan released last Monday. In short, “Hire, Hire, Hire.”

Govexec also discusses efforts underway by OPM, the Social Security Administration and the Thrift Savings Plan to improve the customer service experience of federal employees and retirees. Good luck with that.

From the research front the National Institutes of Health announced

Scientists have published the first complete, gapless sequence of a human genome, two decades after the Human Genome Project produced the first draft human genome sequence. According to researchers, having a complete, gap-free sequence of the roughly 3 billion bases (or “letters”) in our DNA is critical for understanding the full spectrum of human genomic variation and for understanding the genetic contributions to certain diseases. The work was done by the Telomere to Telomere (T2T) consortium, which included leadership from researchers at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health; University of California, Santa Cruz; and University of Washington, Seattle. NHGRI was the primary funder of the study.

Analyses of the complete genome sequence will significantly add to our knowledge of chromosomes, including more accurate maps for five chromosome arms, which opens new lines of research. This helps answer basic biology questions about how chromosomes properly segregate and divide. The T2T consortium used the now-complete genome sequence as a reference to discover more than 2 million additional variants in the human genome. These studies provide more accurate information about the genomic variants within 622 medically relevant genes. * * *

The now-complete human genome sequence will be particularly valuable for studies that aim to establish comprehensive views of human genomic variation, or how people’s DNA differs. Such insights are vital for understanding the genetic contributions to certain diseases and for using genome sequence as a routine part of clinical care in the future. Many research groups have already started using a pre-release version of the complete human genome sequence for their research.  

From the mental healthcare front, the American Hospital Association calls our attention to a new GAO report.

Consumers with health coverage experience challenges finding in-network mental health providers, who may not be accepting new patients or have long wait times to see them, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. Factors contributing to these challenges include low reimbursement rates for mental health services and inaccurate or out-of-date information on provider networks, GAO said. The report also looks at ongoing and planned federal efforts to address these challenges, for example by increasing the mental health workforce, mental health system capacity and oversight of health plan compliance with mental health parity laws.

This squib caused the FEHBlog to recall a comment that he heard at a conference — Four out of five doctors are in-network but only one out of five mental health providers are in-network with the notable exception of hub and spoke telemental services.

Yesterday the FEHBlog suggested that in return for three free primary care visits and three behavioral health visits, plan members should name and use their in-network primary care provider and primary mental health provider. The FEHBlog is sticking with this idea for the in-network primary care provider but he recognizes the idea may be premature for the in-network primary mental health provider. Of course, creating a looser standard for free mental health care compared to primary care is compliant with the federal health parity rule. The reverse would violate the often fuzzy non-quantitative treatment limitations created by the law.

From the miscellany department —

  • STAT News tells us “With Medicare expected to cover a projected 80 million people by 2030,He entrepreneurs and investors are cashing in on what analysts see as an inevitable shift in health care away from the hospital and into the homes of aging patients.” The publication identifies five related technology trends.
  • Fierce Healthcare reports “Virtual care startup Hims & Hers is teaming up with Carbon Health to offer patients in California with direct access to providers for in-person medical appointments at clinics. The collaboration will provide easy and comprehensive access to a broader range of care options through the Hims & Hers platform, company executives said.”
  • Health Payer Intelligence informs us “Large employers are investing more in their wellness program design in 2022 and their programs revolve around hybrid work environments, job satisfaction, and equity, the Business Group on Health found in a survey.”