J&J, without details, makes case for a coronavirus booster shot
A second shot given six months after the first appears to provide a bigger immune response, the company said, a finding J&J aims to take to regulators in the U.S. and elsewhere.
UPS delivers COVID-19 vaccines via temperature-controlled drone
The first delivery will go from Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist in North Carolina to one of the health system’s family medical practices.
Florida Blue parent GuideWell to acquire Puerto Rico’s BCBS carrier
One aim of the deal is to provide a more competitive Medicare Advantage product in Florida and Puerto Rico, executives outlined in a letter to other Blue Cross Blue Shield CEOs.
Hospital volume recovery on shaky ground amid delta, Kaufman Hall reports
Outpatient revenues fell 2% in July from June while inpatient revenues grew as a portion of overall revenue, according to the survey.
Nevada awards Medicaid contracts to 4 insurers
It’s a big contract win for Molina, which will join three other incumbents in the state: UnitedHealthcare, Centene and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Medicaid, ACA policies for COVID-19 kept rate of uninsured steady, researchers find
The uninsured rate remained at 11% from March 2019 to April 2021, thanks to a freeze in Medicaid disenrollment and increased ACA subsidies, according to a report from the Urban Institute.
Unvaccinated COVID-19 hospitalizations costing US healthcare system billions, KFF says
Roughly 113,000 of the 185,000 inpatient stays with a COVID-19 diagnosis, or about 61%, could have been prevented by vaccination in June and July, researchers estimated.
Health systems need to provide policymakers with audited financial statements: report
An examination of 50 health systems points to the uneven distribution of federal coronavirus relief funds as a consequence of not having nuanced financial information readily available, Harvard and the Urban Institute researchers said.
Google disbands health unit as chief departs for Cerner
The dissolution of the health-specific division is the latest of a number of rolled back initiatives from tech giants in the space.
FDA grants full approval to Pfizer, BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine
The long-awaited decision could strengthen the case for vaccine mandates as public health officials seek to boost rates of immunization amid a wave of COVID-19 cases.