Healthcare News from My Inbox
Various articles which may interest Angry Bear readers.
Supply chain disruptions may last into 2023 & more (beckersasc.com)
Seven Supply Chain by Beckers ASC Review. For example: “Many companies that pivoted their business plans early in the pandemic to respond to shortages of medical supplies are now facing severe financial consequences.”
I Got Moderna. Can I Boost With Pfizer? | MedPage Today
With FDA authorizing boosters for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty) for certain groups, recipients of the Moderna vaccine are wondering if they can crossover to Pfizer for a third dose.
Experts are quick to point out that there are no data to guide that decision — and that no federal health agency explicitly recommends doing so.
In addition, Moderna’s booster application is in the FDA’s hands, so an authorization may not be far away.
Pfizer to Request COVID-19 Vaccine Approval for Kids (medscape.com)
Pfizer-BioNTech plans to ask for authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine for kids under 12 soon, which could make the shot available to ages 5-11 this fall.
“I think we are going to submit this data pretty soon. It’s a question of days, not weeks,” Albert Bourla, PhD, chairman and CEO of Pfizer, said on ABC News’s This Week on Sunday.
“And then it is up to the FDA to be able to review the data and come to their conclusions and approve it or not,” he said. “If they approve it, we will be ready with our manufacturing to provide this new formulation of the vaccine.”
What Are the Components of Value-Based Care? | Health Care Delivery Models | AMA Health Systems Science | AMA Ed Hub (ama-assn.org)
Explain the concept of value and how it applies to health care. This module introduces learners to the concept of high-value care (HVC) as the best care for the patient – high quality (outcomes, safety, service), delivered at a reasonable cost. Learners will explore the value equation as a tool to measure value (the quality of care divided by the total cost of patient care over time).
I have issues with value based pricing of care, procedures, pharma, etc. One issue is the conflation of cost and price. They are not the same although they are used interchangeably. How does one measure value? It is open to interpretation. I wrote about two drugs in the past, Rituxan and Humira both of which were claimed to have greater value based upon new uses. The ICER which evaluates these new uses rejected the price increases as being unsubstantiated by the evidence provided. These were 2 of 9 drugs evaluated for price increases of over 100 other drugs by the ICER.
Physician compensation decreased for these 9 specialties (beckersasc.com)
Given the financial blow the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt to many areas of healthcare, it may be no surprise total that salaries (income) for some medical specialties declined over the past year.
COVID-19 Creates Dire US Shortage of Teachers, School Staff (medscape.com)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — One desperate California school district is sending flyers home in students’ lunchboxes, telling parents it’s “now hiring.” Elsewhere, principals are filling in as crossing guards, teachers are being offered signing bonuses and schools are moving back to online learning.
Mask Wars | NEJM
More graphical history at the NEJM site. This article is a freebie and open to all.
The Atlantic Daily: The Booster Rollout Is Fracturing the Pandemic Even More – The Atlantic
This pandemic was always a patchwork, and the individual experience continues to fray even further as boosters roll out. Now your eligibility for shots varies based on things not only like age and risk, but also vaccine brand. To add to the confusion, the rollout process has been downright messy. More fragmentation lies ahead.