Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Medicare Patients See General Practitioners Like Private Insurance Holders
Modern Healthcare: Medicaid Enrollees Report More Overnight Hospital Stays Than Uninsured, Privately Insured
Medicaid members were as likely as those with private coverage to have seen a general practitioner in 2019, despite being less likely to have a usual place for receiving medical services, according to a new report from the Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program Payment Access Commission. Ninety percent of individuals with private coverage said they had a usual source of care, compared with 86.5% of Medicaid beneficiaries, according to MACPAC's analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey data from 2019. (Tepper, 11/29)
Reuters: Celltrion Signs COVID-19 Antibody Therapy Supply Deals With Europe
South Korean biotech company Celltrion's (068270.KS) distribution arm has signed supply deals for its monoclonal antibody to treat COVID-19 with nine European countries, Celltrion Healthcare (091990.KQ) said on Tuesday. The European Commission earlier this month approved the company's antibody therapy Regkirona, granting marketing authorisation for adults with COVID-19 who are at increased risk of progressing to a severe condition. (Cha, 11/30)
Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealthcare Underpaid TeamHealth Clinicians, Jury Finds
UnitedHealthcare has lost a round of its legal bout with TeamHealth, a Las Vegas jury decided Monday. The UnitedHealth Group subsidiary underpaid TeamHealth for emergency services, the court ruled in a decision that accepts the private equity-backed provider group's allegations that the nation's largest insurer shortchanged clinicians. The provider group demanded $10.5 million in restitution for the underpayments. The jury awarded TeamHealth $2.65 million in compensatory damages and is considering how much punitive damages UnitedHealthcare must also pay. (Tepper, 11/29)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Penn Extends Deal With IBC To Cut Red Tape And Treat Patients Better
Patients with breast cancer at Penn Medicine won’t need precertification for radiation therapy if they have Independence Blue Cross insurance. They can start right away, under a pact that was extended Monday between the region’s largest insurer and its biggest health system. The arrangement “improves access, it improves coordination for Penn and the patient. It improves the overall experience. No waiting,” Richard Snyder, IBC’s chief medical officer, said Monday, describing a highlight of the agreement, which was extended for three years. (Brubaker, 11/30)
Modern Healthcare: UC Davis, Amazon Partner On Digital Health Equity Innovation
UC Davis Health has opened a cloud innovation center in partnership with Amazon Web Services, the not-for-profit academic health system announced Monday. UC Davis Health, a Sacramento-based health system that's part of the University of California, Davis, is the latest to join Amazon's cloud innovation program open to not-for-profit organizations, educational institutions and government agencies. UC Davis Health's center will solicit project ideas from clinicians, patients and the community focused on digital health equity and accessibility. The health system will make the project's findings available to the public to enable others to build on its work. (Kim Cohen, 11/29)
In health industry leadership news —
Crain's Cleveland Business: Dr. Akram Boutros To Retire As MetroHealth CEO At End Of 2022
Dr. Akram Boutros will retire as president and CEO of MetroHealth at the end of 2022 after leading the public health system since 2013, he announced on Monday, Nov. 29. Boutros was brought into the system to help transform MetroHealth and establish long-term sustainability and has since "exceeded the board's, employees' and the community's expectations," MetroHealth board chair Vanessa Whiting, who served on the search committee that hired Boutros, said in a news release. (Coutré, 11/29)
Boston Globe: Alnylam's New CEO Hopes Appointment Inspires Underrepresented Groups
Before she accepted a recent offer to become chief executive of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Yvonne Greenstreet consulted two women she respects, her mother and her daughter. Miranda Greenstreet, 88, is from the West African nation of Ghana and often blazed trails, her daughter said. She married a white Englishman whom she met in the 1950s when they were students at the London School of Economics. Later, she set up an institute that promoted adult literacy in Ghana. When Yvonne Greenstreet called to ask if she should take the job, she recalled, her mother didn’t hesitate, saying, “Is there a choice?” (Saltzman, 11/29)
