Congratulations, all you wonderful readers. Because of our hard work as a united force, this healthcare newsletter is now featured on Feedspot’s Top 100 Healthcare Blogs, Websites, and Newsletters to Follow in 2019.

We come in at a smooth #117 on the list baby. #HonorableMention

5 Big Healthcare Stories

Week of March 25, 2019

1 Electronic Health Record Glitches

Not all what they’re chalked up to be.

So it turns out that electronic health records (“EHRs” – you know, the software that doctors are typing in while you spout off your list of medical emergencies at your annual wellness visit) are really good at causing headaches for everyone involved. An in-depth Kaiser report this week illustrated the multitude of errors that cause problems with EHR systems. In fact, 1 in 5 people surveyed by Kaiser found a mistake in their EHR, and of those who found problems, about half have incorrect medical histories. These types of errors could lead to major medical implications for those patients.

Administrative burden.

Electronic health records in THEORY sound amazing, but is it a pipe dream? In actuality, the Kaiser report highlights major problems with their implementation: patient harm tied to software glitches, fraud caused by up-coding, lack of inter-operability between different EHRs, and physician burnout from the administrative burnout of painstakingly filling out reports are all VERY extensive issues that directly lead to poor patient care. The FDA responded to the Kaiser report, stating that there needs to be ‘stricter scrutiny’ of EHRs. How about a centralized database, for starters?

2 Biogen’s Alzheimer’s drug fails

Oof.

Biogen’s much-hyped Alzheimer’s drug failed in late-stage clinical trials this week. It’s bad news all-around – no more groundbreaking treatments for this debilitating disease are in their pipeline, and investors in the biotech giant were hammered as well. The drug seemed poised for potential success after a promising Phase II study, but that hope came crashing down when an independent firm concluded that it was no more effective than the placebo at preventing the development of a brain protein that eventually leads to Alzheimer’s.

Lose-Lose.

Biogen’s drug pipeline is now in pretty dire straits, as it was…kinda counting on the Alzheimer’s thing to pan out. Their situation could be a good thing, though, for smaller biotech firms. Since Biogen needs to find other ways to generate growth, they might seek out smaller biotech firms with promising drug pipelines.

In other big biotech news, Pfizer spent a smooth $560 million for the rights to gene therapies being developed at Vivet Therapeutics. Gene therapy is a RED HOT space for biotech M&A right now. Maybe Biogen will follow the leader?

3 The Flu Season’s Late, Strong Surge

We ain’t done yet.

That’s what the H3N2 flu virus is saying, anyway. The CDC reported this week that the flu season is the strongest it’s ever been at this point in the year when compared to the last 20 YEARS. My doctor told me that this flu season’s been a bit wacky – strong to start, then waning in the middle, then strong again at the end (how’s that for investigative reporting?). At least the vaccine was pretty effective this year.

CHART CREDIT: Wall Street Journal, “The Flu Season Hasn’t Been This Bad This Late in 20 Years“

4 FDA approves first drug designed for Postpartum Depression

You’re One-of-a-kind.

This week, the FDA approved a one of a kind drug, brexanolone (who comes up with these, seriously?) designed specifically to treat postpartum depression in women. As one of the most common complications of childbirth, postpartum depression affects 400,000 women annually in the U.S. alone. The drug gets delivered intravenously (i.e., through a needle) and takes effect pretty much instantly, which is a MAJOR upgrade over the way that postpartum depression was treated previously (antidepressants take weeks to become effective). The drug was developed bySage Therapeutics, which stands to gain from this major medical advancement.

The big picture.

Different types of depression treatment advancements have been gaining traction this year, which is pretty cool. Here’s hoping these drugs contribute to helping the mental health crisis in America.

5 States are capping healthcare payments

Cost control.

In a bid to combat rising healthcare costs, several states are moving to control their state-wide employee healthcare plans (i.e., government workers) by capping hospital payments to Medicare payment rates – meaning that these plans would tether their payments to Medicare rates rather than negotiating with healthcare providers behind closed doors. For instance, North Carolina is aiming to reimburse hospitals at 182% of Medicare’s rate. Keep in mind that hospitals essentially make no money off of Medicare reimbursement, lose money on Medicaid reimbursement, and make most of their money on commercial insurance reimbursement. So the closer these states get to Medicare rates, the less profitable the hospitals in those states will become. On a somewhat related note, it’s worth pointing out that an analysis found that ‘Medicare for All’ would reduce hospital operating margins by more than 20%, so any cut to hospitals’ commercial reimbursements would really hurt hospital operations.

Capping the trend.

This idea of “capping” payments by drawing upon federal reimbursement rates isn’t new – we’ve seen it before in California with the newly revitalized dialysis bill, and now we’re seeing it with hospitals. As you can imagine, hospitals aren’t big fans of this proposal, and the payment cuts could cause many to close – especially in rural areas , where hospitals are ALREADY struggling as it is (as we so shrewdly touched on in our March 4th edition).

Quick Hits

Non-competes are an interesting point of conversation this week. An un-vaccinated student is suing the state of Kentucky because his school is limiting his activities. CVS has started selling cannabis-based products in 8 states. And Change Healthcare, a revenue-cycle management company, filed for a $100 million IPO under the ticker $CHNG (Anyone got any spare change? HA).

In a rare alliance, payers (insurance companies), employers, and Uncle Sam are linking arms to combat surprise billing practices at emergency rooms. On that note, Americans are struggling to regain their financial footing after debilitating medical bills. And the largest not for profit healthcare systems lost big $$$ on investments in 2018.

Medicare and Medicaid committees are taking an alarming note of proposed DSH cuts currently pushed by Congress (we touched on this debate in our January 11th edition’s 5th story). Finally, MedPAC wants to take a hack at post-acute care reimbursement (5% cuts for home health and inpatient rehab, $2 billion in cuts for skilled nursing)

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