MHE February 2022

EmsanaRx, a pharmacy benefit manager launched by the Purchaser Business Group on Health, started operations in January.

Adoption of digital health technologies came fast and furious in the pandemic, but now it’s up to insurers and patients to figure out the best recipe for a mix of remote and in-person care.

In the sixth year of Medicare’s Independence at Home Demonstration program, the initiative saved $41 per member per month, an amount that CMS says was not statistically significant and was lower than the savings the program produced in earlier years.

The Community Aging in Place—Advancing Better Living for Elders (CAPABLE) program developed at the university’s nursing school is designed to keep older people who are frail, have chronic medical conditions or can’t complete activities of daily living in their homes by providing care and help from conventional healthcare professionals — nurses, occupational therapists — but also from people who can do minor house repairs.

Keeping older people in their homes has cost and care advantages. Yet Medicare and Medicaid are still geared toward paying for care in institutionalized settings.

Recent treatment may affect the antibody response, particularly among those with hematologic cancers.

“Long COVID” is more likely to affect older people and those who have been hospitalized, but younger people with milder symptoms are not immune to lingering symptoms. One plausible explanation is that the infection results in the activation of autoantibodies.

Advantages may run into entrenched interests.

Special purpose acquisition companies took off as investment vehicles in healthcare. Increased regulatory oversight and some flagging stock prices may cool off the trend.

A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that all the responding programs had at least one initiative to expand behavioral health services.

The U.S. maternal mortality rate has been increasing and is the highest among comparable developed countries.

Drug manufacturers are developing long-acting, injectable HIV drugs for both treatment and prevention.