Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Healthcare Providers Demand Stricter Rules For Medical Record Sharing
The Washington Post: The Security Gaps Behind Alleged Schemes To Capture Health Records
Ricky Lott received a notice in the mail this year that left him distressed. A cluster of companies he never heard of — with odd names like GuardDog and Mammoth — may have obtained his digital medical records. Treatment details, lab results, notes from his doctor visits — mass amounts of his sensitive information — appeared to have been accessed from the Illinois health system where he receives care. Lott, an employee of a Chicago bike-share company, was stunned. The last thing he expected, he said, was for details of his high blood pressure and back surgery to be circulating in unknown corners of the internet. (Rowland, 5/12)
Modern Healthcare: Health Systems Redefine Physician Leadership Roles
Physician leaders inside health systems are seeing their roles shift as they take on more duties, leaving them less time for leadership. Their roles increasingly have become more focused on the financial priorities of their organizations, according to a survey of 70 chief medical officers, chief clinical officers and chief physician executives by executive search firm WittKieffer. The research comes as hospitals and health systems looks for ways to cut costs and use artificial intelligence and other technologies to handle some administrative and clinical duties. (DeSilva, 5/12)
Modern Healthcare: Mayo Clinic CEO Dr. Gianrico Farrugia To Step Down This Year
Mayo Clinic President and CEO Dr. Gianrico Farrugia will exit his role this year. Mayo’s board has started the leadership transition process and plans to announce a successor in November, according to a Tuesday news release. Farrugia, who became president and CEO of the 16-hospital nonprofit health system in January 2019, will step down at the end of 2026. (Kacik, 5/12)
Regarding healthcare technology —
Modern Healthcare: AHA, West Health Institute Launch Hospital Technology Accelerator
Hospitals and health systems are getting access to a healthcare accelerator program, typically considered the domain of startups and tech companies. The American Hospital Association and West Health Institute have undertaken a three-year initiative to help health systems and hospitals implement technologies, with a focus on virtual care, electronic health record optimization and artificial intelligence. West Health, a nonprofit focused on lowering healthcare costs, has contributed $12 million to the program. (Famakinwa, 5/12)
Modern Healthcare: Olympus’ Bob White On AI, Robotics And Ambulatory Surgery Centers
Olympus Corp. has widened its focus from selling devices and like other medtech companies, seeks to be a partner with its provider customers. The maker of gastroenterology devices also is pushing deeper into robotics. Last week, it announced an exclusive global distribution agreement with EndoRobotics, a manufacturer of robot-assisted technologies. In July, Olympus unveiled a partnership with investment firm Revival Healthcare Capital, co-founding Swan EndoSurgical to develop a gastrointestinal robotic system. The company is scheduled to report earnings Tuesday. (Dubinsky, 5/12)
Modern Healthcare: OpenEvidence’s Travis Zack On Winning Over Clinicians With AI
When OpenEvidence launched in 2021, its goal was to help doctors have easier access to medical information. The artificial intelligence clinical decision support platform has since broadened its ambitions and added products. In March, OpenEvidence introduced Coding Intelligence, a feature to automate the medical billing process. Last year, the company released OpenEvidence Visits, a clinical notes assistant tool. (Famakinwa, 5/12)
Pharmaceutical updates —
CIDRAP: Nirsevimab May Protect Babies From Severe RSV Better Than Maternal Vaccination
Immunization with the long-acting monoclonal antibody nirsevimab may provide stronger protection against hospitalizations for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in infants than maternal RSV vaccination during pregnancy, though the difference appears to disappear when maternal vaccination occurs at least eight weeks before delivery. (Bergeson, 5/12)
CIDRAP: RTS,S Malaria Vaccine Averted 1 In 8 Deaths Among Eligible Kids In 3 African Nations Over 4 Years
An international group of researchers estimates that, despite only moderate uptake of three doses and low uptake of the fourth, the RTS,S/AS01E malaria vaccine saved the lives of one in eight eligible children in the first three African nations to offer the vaccine from 2019 to 2023. For the observational study, published late last week in The Lancet, the research team randomly assigned 158 administrative-unit clusters, each with a birth cohort of roughly 4,000 children, in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi to either roll out the RTS,S malaria vaccine in 2019 (79 implementation areas) or to implement it later (79 comparison [control] areas). (Van Beusekom, 5/12)
MedPage Today: Apixaban May Offer A 'Practical Alternative' For Dialysis Patients With Afib
Two anticoagulants showed similar safety and efficacy in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (Afib), according to a retrospective study of real-world data. Among 660 patients, the risks of five efficacy outcomes -- ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction, systemic thromboembolism, cardiovascular death, and a cardiovascular composite -- were comparable between those treated with apixaban (Eliquis) and warfarin (Coumadin) in an intention-to-treat analysis. (Monaco, 5/12)
Also —
MedPage Today: Autism-Vaccine Researcher Arraigned In The U.S.
Poul Thorsen, MD, PhD, a Danish researcher who co-authored key papers demonstrating no links between childhood vaccines and autism, was arraigned on federal wire fraud and money laundering charges after his extradition from Germany, the Department of Justice said. Thorsen was a co-author of a 2002 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that offered strong evidence based on a cohort of 500,000 Danish children that refuted the hypothesis that measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination caused autism. (George, 5/12)
