High Cost Drives A Third Of Rural Americans To Skip Medical Care

The Hill: More Than A Third Of Rural Americans Skip Needed Care Because Of Cost: Study
More than one third of Americans living in rural areas skipped medical care they needed due to the costs, according to a new study. The Commonwealth Fund’s 2020 International Health Policy Survey found that 36 percent of rural Americans did not get the care they needed due to costs, which is more than double the rate for rural residents in six of the other countries the study looked at. Less than 10 percent of rural residents in the United Kingdom, Norway and Sweden reported that they did not get medical care due to costs. (Sforza, 7/25)

Axios: Data Du Jour: Rural Americans Likelier To Pass On Needed Care Due To Expense
The U.S. outranks other developed nations in the percentage of rural adults who skip medical care because they can't afford it, per a new Commonwealth Fund analysis of 11 high-income countries. About 15%, or nearly 46 million people, live in outlying areas in the U.S., and rural Americans have poorer health outcomes than their urban counterparts, in part due to access issues. (Dreher, 7/25)

Axios: Americans Are Going Abroad For Affordable Fertility Treatments
Faced with steep health care costs in the U.S., an increasing number of women are going abroad for fertility treatments, including egg freezing and IVF. The number of women seeking to freeze their eggs surged after the onset of the pandemic, but sky-high costs, coupled with a lack of insurance coverage, have put some fertility treatments out of reach for many people. (Saric, 7/25)

St. Louis Public Radio: BJC-St. Luke’s Merger Could Lead To Higher Health Costs
The proposed merger between two of Missouri’s largest health care systems could result in higher prices for patients, according to researchers and health economists. St. Louis-based BJC Healthcare and Kansas City-based St. Luke’s Health System announced the merger earlier this year but plan to maintain their own headquarters, location and branding. The Federal Trade Commission will need to approve the $10 billion merger for it to go through. (Fentem, 7/25)

In other health industry news —

Modern Healthcare: AMA, AHIP, NAACOS Release Data-Sharing Guide For Value-Based Care
The American Medical Association, the insurance trade group AHIP and the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations jointly released recommendations to facilitate data sharing among participants in value-based care arrangements on Tuesday. The three organizations described the guidelines as the first product emerging from their partnership. (Berryman, 7/25)

AP: 911 Workers Say Centers Are Understaffed, Plagued By Burnout
Emergency call center workers say their centers are understaffed, struggling to fill vacancies and plagued by worker burnout, according to a national survey released Tuesday. (Lauer, 7/25)

Bloomberg: Eli Lilly’s Diabetes Drug Mounjaro Sees Shortage Of Higher Doses
Shortages of Eli Lilly & Co.’s Mounjaro have expanded to include all of the higher doses, showing just how strong demand is for the drug before it even gets formal approval for use in obesity. Just last month, US regulators said that three of the higher doses of Lilly’s drug were experiencing “intermittent backorders” through July due to increased demand. The latest update adds a fourth dose to that list and extends issues with another, higher-dose option through September, according to a Food and Drug Administration website. Only the two lowest doses of the drug remain fully available. (Muller and Cattan, 7/25)

Stat: Truvian Presents Data For Its Desktop Blood-Testing Device 
Truvian Health, a San Diego blood diagnostics company, shared data on Tuesday showing that its benchtop instrument’s results are largely consistent with those generated by large central laboratories. But while the results lend support for the company’s vision of decentralized and widely available clinical testing, they also resurface questions about the value of an approach widely associated with the now defunct and notorious Bay Area startup Theranos. (Wosen, 7/25)

On financial matters —

The Boston Globe: Biogen To Cut About 1,000 Jobs As It Prepares For Rollout Of Alzheimer’s Drug
Biogen said Tuesday it will cut about 1,000 jobs, roughly 11 percent of its global workforce, as part of a plan to lower costs as the Cambridge biotech starts to roll out the new Alzheimer’s drug it codeveloped and prepares for the possible approval of a treatment for depression next week. Biogen, which had 8,725 employees worldwide at the end of last year, didn’t specify where the cuts will take place. But chief executive Christopher Viehbacher told reporters after the company’s second-quarter earnings call that “there will be an impact in Massachusetts, and it’s a little too early yet to say exactly how many.” (Saltzman, 7/25)

Modern Healthcare: Universal Health Services Raises 2023 Earnings Outlook
Universal Health Services is upping its 2023 guidance range after posting a strong first half of the year. The for-profit health system said Tuesday it is revising its adjusted earnings per share outlook for the year to $9.85 to $10.50, compared with $9.50 to $10.50. (Hudson, 7/25)

Modern Healthcare: Teladoc Health Q2 Earnings Show Growth
Teladoc Health elevated key guidance following revenue gains in the second quarter, the virtual care company announced Tuesday. Revenue rose 10% to $652.4 million as integrated care membership grew 7% during the second quarter, Teladoc reported. Although the company recorded a $65.2 million net loss, or 40 cents per share, Teladoc advised investors that it had raised its low-end revenue and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization guidance for the year. (Turner, 7/25)

Modern Healthcare: General Catalyst-Backed Hippocratic AI Lands New Partners
Hippocratic AI, a generative artificial intelligence company focused on healthcare, said Monday it has raised $15 million in funding and added 10 healthcare partners. Launched by venture capital companies General Catalyst and Andreessen Horowitz in May, Hippocratic AI is setting out to build a large language generative AI model for healthcare across various sectors, said co-founder and CEO Munjal Shah. (Turner, 7/25)

Reuters: GE HealthCare Says Alzheimer's Drug Approval To Drive Imaging Equipment Sales
GE HealthCare Technologies Inc (GEHC.O) said on Tuesday that the commercial launch of Alzheimer's treatment and related testing for patients would help drive demand for its imaging equipment at hospitals and medical centers next year. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed broader coverage for a type of brain scan used in identifying a key Alzheimer's disease protein to determine patients' eligibility for the new treatment. (Mandowara, 7/25)

Reuters: GSK Raises 2023 Outlook Boosted By Vaccine, HIV Drug Sales
GSK raised its full-year profit and sales guidance on Wednesday after its second-quarter earnings beat expectations, helped by strong sales of its shingles vaccine Shingrix and HIV medicines. The strong results may further help revive investor confidence in CEO Emma Walmsley, coming a year after the company spun off its consumer health business, Haleon, in its most radical shake-up in 20 years. (Fick and Anil Kumar, 7/26)

In news on health care staff —

Stat: Asian American Doctors Largely Left Out Of Leadership 
For 15 years, orthopedic surgeon Charles S. Day has been working to highlight the striking lack of diversity in his field, publishing studies showing orthopedics had the fewest Black, Hispanic, and female residents of any surgical specialty. Day himself is Asian American, a group that’s abundant in medicine. But as he dug further, his datasets and personal experiences began to collide. He found that white doctors were more than four times as likely as their Asian American colleagues to be promoted to medical school department chair positions in a wide array of medical specialties, and that Black and brown doctors were more than twice as likely as Asians to be promoted. (McFarling, 7/26)

Politico: Nurses Union Strike Sends Notice To RWJ University Hospital
Nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J., sent a notice to the hospital on Monday that they plan to strike, according to a union president and the hospital. The union opted for an 11-day notice, putting a work stoppage on track to begin Aug. 4, according to United Steel Workers Local 4-200 President Judy Danella. While a minimum 10-day notice is required, Danella said that the steelworkers typically send an 11-day notice. (Han, 7/25)

News Service of Florida: Citing Nursing Shortage, State Seeks Stay Of Judge's Order On Kids With 'Complex' Conditions
The state wants a federal judge to put on hold a ruling aimed at keeping children with complex medical conditions out of nursing homes, saying a shortage of nurses would make it “impossible” to comply with a key part of the decision. Attorneys for the state filed a motion for a stay Friday, a week after U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks ruled that Florida has violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and needs to make changes to help children receive care in their family homes and communities instead of nursing homes. The state is seeking a stay while it challenges Middlebrooks’ ruling at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. (Saunders, 7/24)