Health

Essential health care industry news & intel to start your day.
April 19, 2021
Twitter Email
 

Top Stories

  • Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, said he expects the pause on Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout to be lifted Friday, when an advisory group to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reconvenes to discuss the shot. Fauci predicted the vaccine will continue to be used with “some sort of warning or restriction or risk assessment,” and said it’s highly unlikely “they just cancel it.” (The Washington Post)
  • More than half of all U.S. adults have received at least one COVID-19 shot, while about a third are fully vaccinated, according to CDC data. Beginning today, all adults nationwide are eligible for vaccination, with all states meeting an eligibility deadline set by President Joe Biden earlier this month. (NPR News)
  • Four drugmakers — Johnson & Johnson, Teva Pharmaceutical Ltd., Allergan and Endo International PLC — are set to go to trial today over their role in the opioid crisis, with four California communities alleging the companies downplayed the risks of addiction to push painkiller sales. The California trial, along with others in West Virginia and New York, could prompt pharmaceutical companies to finalize multibillion-dollar settlements with state and local governments. (The Wall Street Journal)
 

Chart Review

 
 

What Else You Need to Know

Coronavirus
 

Data gap threatens to complicate Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause

Erin Banco et al., Politico

The current investigation could intensify concerns by state officials that the public will lose overall confidence in Covid-19 vaccines.

 

‘We Were Flying Blind’: A Dr.’s Account of a Woman’s J.&J. Vaccine-Related Blood Clot Case

Denise Grady, The New York Times

The disorder is rare, but so severe that the vaccine is on hold while experts weigh the risks and alert doctors and patients about symptoms and treatment.

 

J&J Covid-19 Vaccine Pause Driven by Risk of Mistreating Blood Clots

Thomas M. Burton and Betsy McKay, The Wall Street Journal

U.S. health authorities came close to simply warning about a blood-clotting risk from Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, but decided to recommend pausing use out of concern doctors would improperly treat the condition, people familiar with the matter said.

 

Why the Vaccine Safety Numbers Are Still Fuzzy

Margot Sanger-Katz and Alicia Parlapiano, The New York Times

Putting a risk in context: The rate of blood clots is extremely low, but the pause in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine could reveal more cases.

 

‘Ripe for fraud’: Coronavirus vaccination cards support burgeoning scams

Dan Diamond, The Washington Post

At least 129.5 million Americans have gotten at least one or both doses of a coronavirus vaccine and have received a free proof-of-vaccination card with the logo of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as officials push to inoculate the nation.

 

N.I.H. awards $33 million to fund research on coronavirus testing in schools.

Emily Anthes, The New York Times

The National Institutes of Health is investing $33 million in research projects run by institutions around the country that could help officials safely reopen schools serving vulnerable students and under-resourced rural, urban and Native American communities.

 

Covid-19 ‘Challenge Trial’ Will Purposely Reinfect Adults

Jenny Strasburg, The Wall Street Journal

University of Oxford scientists plan to reinfect dozens of adult volunteers with the coronavirus in the second U.K. clinical trial to study deliberate Covid-19 infection in quarantine—this time among people who have already recovered from the virus.

 

Covid Survivors May Require Just One Shot of a Two-Dose Vaccine

Carey Goldberg, Bloomberg

The issue of giving only a single dose to people who have had Covid has become all the more urgent since safety concerns have been raised about Johnson & Johnson’s and AstraZeneca’s vaccines.

 

The Covid-19 Plasma Boom Is Over. What Did We Learn From It?

Katie Thomas and Noah Weiland, The New York Times

The U.S. government invested $800 million in plasma when the country was desperate for Covid-19 treatments. A year later, the program has fizzled.

 

How Safe Are You From Covid When You Fly?

Mika Gröndahl et al., The New York Times

How air flows in planes is not the only part of the safety equation, according to infectious-disease experts: The potential for exposure may be just as high, if not higher, when people are in the terminal, sitting in airport restaurants and bars or going through the security line.

 

‘They Just Feel That They’ve Been Violated’

Bryce Covert, The Atlantic

The COVID-19 crisis is nearing its end. But the nurses and home health aides who saw us through it may never recover.

 
General
 

In Q&A, Vice President Harris calls for urgent action on the Black maternal health crisis

Nicholas St. Fleur, Stat News

Breaking new ground for a vice president, Kamala Harris is calling for sweeping action to curb racial inequities in pregnancy and childbirth.

 

Biden Administration Ends Limits on Use of Fetal Tissue for Research

Apoorva Mandavilli, The New York Times

The decision reverses Trump administration rules and allows scientists to use tissue derived from elective abortions to develop treatments for diseases including cancer and AIDS.

 

Civil rights and Black health organizations press Biden administration to ban menthol cigarettes

Laurie McGinley, The Washington Post

Civil rights organizations and African American health groups ramped up pressure on the Biden administration to ban menthol cigarettes, accusing the tobacco industry of targeting Black communities for decades and demanding government action on what they said was an urgent social justice issue.

 

Do Brain Implants Change Your Identity?

Christine Kenneally, The New Yorker

As neural devices proliferate, so do reports of personality changes, foundering relationships, and people who want to leave their careers.

 
Payers
 

Tennessee block grant ‘a much better way’ than Biden Medicaid spending plan, Blackburn says

Cassidy Morrison, Washington Examiner

Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn criticized the Biden administration’s push to expand Medicaid as a means of improving rural access to healthcare, arguing instead for a block grant financing system endorsed by conservatives for its potential to lower state spending.

 

Payers, providers clash over telehealth reimbursement as Congress mulls changes

Jessie Hellmann and Nona Tepper, Modern Healthcare

As members of Congress decide how to expand access to telehealth after the pandemic, one of the biggest questions has centered around how much Medicare providers should be paid for virtual care.

 
Providers
 

House Passes Bill to Tackle Violence in Health-Care Workplaces

Andrew Kreighbaum, Bloomberg Law

House lawmakers Friday passed a bill targeting violence involving health-care and social service workers.

 

Hospitals face specialty pharmacy challenges with insurer competition

Lisa Gillespie, Modern Healthcare

Health systems are increasingly opening their in-house specialty pharmacies to drive better patient outcomes and bolster potential revenue, but they face stiff competition from payers who also see the same opportunity and have the power to keep their members’ costly and complex drugs within subsidiaries and affiliates.

 

The lobbying juggernaut the American Hospital Association is losing its top advocate at a critical moment for the industry

Rachel Cohrs, Stat News

Tom Nickels helped build the American Hospital Association into one of the biggest lobbying forces in Washington. He was the industry’s dealmaker on every big health policy battle of the last 25 years, from the fight over the Affordable Care Act to the creation of Medicare’s drug benefit to the deficit reduction frenzy of the 1990s.

 

After a year of pandemic-delayed medical treatments, doctors are seeing more cases of advanced illnesses.

Bruce Alpert, The Washington Post

With medical visits picking up again among patients vaccinated against covid-19, health providers are starting to see the consequences of a year of pandemic-delayed preventive and emergency care as they find more advanced cancer and rotting and damaged teeth, among other ailments.

 
Health Technology
 

Bright Health scoops up telehealth startup

Nona Tepper, Modern Healthcare

Bright Health has acquired a telehealth company that provides virtual care software to nearly 60 health systems nationwide.

 
Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives
 

Americans Need Relief from Big Pharma’s Out-of-Control Prescription Prices

Lauren Aronson (Executive Director, The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing), Morning Consult

Earlier this month, the principal trade group representing Big Pharma launched a new branding campaign touting drug companies’ role during the pandemic. While we can all be thankful for the vaccines and treatments that save lives and support a return to daily life, policymakers should not allow this smokescreen to divert attention from the industry’s pricing practices, which have continued apace during the pandemic and demand attention.

 

Drug Safety Is FDA’s Job, Not CDC’s

Scott Gottlieb, The Wall Street Journal

Clear lines of authority would make it easier to resolve the Johnson & Johnson complications.

 
Morning Consult