How The Pandemic Reshaped Health Care Costs And Practices
"Skyrocketing" healthcare costs during the pandemic cause concern while health systems' charity-care spending dropped. And telehealth changes could become permanent. And the FDA approves the first personalized cell treatment for patients with multiple myeloma.
Modern Healthcare:
'Skyrocketing Healthcare Costs' During The Pandemic Inspire Academic Workers To Organize
A faculty petition at The New School in New York denouncing "skyrocketing healthcare costs" during the pandemic has attracted the support of more than 600 signatories, reflecting the growing calls among workers, particularly academics, to increase transparency of the price self-insured employers pay for healthcare. "Did self-insured employers make money? The short answer is yes, in the same way that health plans made a ton of money because of all the deferred care," said Adam Block, a New York-based health economist and former CMS regulator. (Tepper, 3/26)
Modern Healthcare:
COVID-19 Curbed Health Systems' Charity-Care Spending In 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic sunk hospital volumes in 2020. For most of the country's largest health systems, fewer patients meant providing less free or discounted care. A Modern Healthcare analysis found the top 15 not-for-profit health systems by revenue for which data were available dedicated 1.4% of expenses in calendar 2020 to charity care, the industry's term for free or reduced-price services for patients who meet financial eligibility criteria. That's compared with 1.6% in calendar 2019. Those 15 health systems spent an average of $203.7 million on charity care in calendar 2020, compared with $216.5 million in 2019. (Bannow, 3/26)
The Star Tribune:
COVID-19 Pandemic Fuels Telehealth Expansion
The use of electronic devices in patient care, known as telehealth, has long held promise as the next big thing in the industry, but not until the coronavirus hit, raising a host of safety concerns, did it become commonplace. Nearly 30% of health care visits are now conducted electronically, much of it made possible because federal and state regulators, as well as insurance providers, responding to the pandemic emergency, relaxed some of the rules and requirements that made it more difficult to use telehealth. (Howatt, 3/28)
In other pharmaceutical and health industry news —
Los Angeles Times:
A Beloved L.A. Hospital Is About To Close. Why No One Could Save Olympia Medical Center
The announcement of Olympia Medical Center’s sale and closure came on New Year’s Eve. Before the clock struck midnight, the community began mobilizing against it. City Council members wrote letters, healthcare workers signed petitions, and union groups staged protests in the days and weeks that followed. By the end of January, the L.A. County Emergency Medical Services Agency had passed a resolution calling on officials to keep its doors open for at least another six months. None of it worked. (Smith, 3/28)
Stat:
FDA Approves First Personalized Cell Therapy For Multiple Myeloma
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first personalized cell therapy to treat patients with advanced multiple myeloma. It will be marketed under the brand name Abecma by its makers, Bristol Myers Squibb and Bluebird Bio. Multiple myeloma is a cancer that forms in plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that helps fight infections. In people with multiple myeloma, malignant plasma cells accumulate in the bone marrow, where they crowd out healthy blood cells, causing tumors, kidney damage, bone destruction, and impaired immune function. (Feuerstein, 3/26)
Modern Healthcare:
Jeb Bush, Marilyn Tavenner Getting In On Healthcare SPAC Frenzy
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush and former CMS administrator Marilyn Tavenner are joining forces to lead a new healthcare blank check company. Both will serve on the board of Jackson Acquisition, a so-called special purpose acquisition company that's filing to go public through a financing mechanism that avoids the traditional initial public offering process in favor of raising the money in a faster, quieter format. The firm, based in Alpharetta, Ga., seeks to raise up to $300 million through its IPO. Bush will lead the company as board chairman. Its executive team consists of CEO Richard Jackson and CFO Douglas Kline, who hold the same titles at Jackson Healthcare, a healthcare staffing firm that drew more than $1.4 billion in revenue in 2020. (Bannow, 3/26)
Stat:
Canada Says Drug Spending Keeps Rising Due To Expensive Specialty Meds
As Canadians brace for new rules to address prescription drug spending, a government report found sales of patented medicines rose a “modest” 3.5% in 2019 and that prices were stable, but a growing number of increasingly expensive, specialized treatments are driving overall costs higher. Such medicines — such as biologics and cancer therapies — now account for approximately half of all sales of patented medicines in the country, a “dramatic” increase from 10% less than a decade ago, the report found. In 2009, only one of the top 10 selling patented medicines cost more than $1,000 a year. By 2019, seven of the top 10 had annual treatment costs exceeding $10,000 annually. (Silverman, 3/26)
KHN:
Scientists Seek Covid Treatment Answers In Cheap, Older Drugs
Could a decades-old antidepressant be a secret weapon against covid? A few scientists think so, after two small studies showed that fluvoxamine, typically prescribed for obsessive-compulsive disorder, prevented serious illness in all participants who took the pills soon after developing symptoms. It’s an exciting notion: A $10, two-week course of this drug could reduce death and hospitalizations. The drug could be used to fight ongoing outbreaks in the United States and would be a particular godsend for lower-income countries that may have to wait years for vaccines against the virus. But fluvoxamine, as well as other old drugs showing potential against covid, face hurdles to full evaluations. (Landhuis, 3/29)
