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| Presented By Partnership for America's Health Care Future |
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| Axios Vitals |
| By Tina Reed ·Aug 05, 2021 |
| Good morning, Vitals readers. Today's newsletter is 968 words, or a 4-minute read. Situational awareness: A federal watchdog said it will review the FDA's accelerated approval pathway, including considering concerns raised from the approval of Biogen's Alzheimer's drug, Aduhelm. |
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| 1 big thing: Why vaccine passports are still just a dream |
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| Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios |
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| Several practical and technological hurdles will stand in the way of widespread "vaccine passports." Why it matters: COVID-19 vaccine mandates are quickly gaining steam, reviving interest in an easy, electronic way for people to verify that they're vaccinated. But the technology in some cases is still far from perfect, and some experts question how much it could really accomplish. The big picture: The CDC's paper vaccine cards may be the simplest way to prove that you've been vaccinated. Driving the news: New York City, the first city in the country to impose a vaccine requirement for many indoor businesses, will accept Excelsior Pass, an app developed for New York state, to verify people's vaccine status. - Plenty of glitches have been reported with the Excelsior app, keeping many who are vaccinated from verifying their status.
- The city also has its own passport app, called NYC COVID Safe, but it, too, has major technical limitations.
- "#NYCCovidSafe is a terrible piece of technology. If you don't believe me, then my name isn't Mickey," tweeted Albert Fox Cahn, who runs the nonprofit Surveillance Technology Oversight project, who verified his vaccination on the NYC app with picture of Mickey Mouse.
- It also places a relatively heavy burden on small businesses, said WebMD chief medical officer John Whyte. "How are owners, who don't have additional staff, expected to enforce it?"
Between the lines: New York also hasn't said how it will handle health or religious exemptions from the vaccination rules. Those same questions will dog any city or business looking to rely on vaccine passports. - Among the growing number of places showing interest in technology for vaccine verification are large companies looking for ways to quickly verify employees have been vaccinated or have a legitimate exemption, said Catesby Perrin, executive vice president of growth for biometric ID company CLEAR.
- But mandates are politically untenable in many places.
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| 2. Boosters (for some) may be coming soon |
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| Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios |
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| The Biden administration is actively working toward making a recommendation that certain immunocompromised people receive an additional dose of coronavirus vaccine, two sources familiar with the discussions tell Axios' Caitlin Owens. What we're watching: A recommendation is likely to come "very soon," according to a source familiar with internal discussions. A senior Biden official agreed that the recommendation is likely to be issued soon, but said there's no firm timeline. - Officials are working to move the recommendation through regulatory steps which involve the Food and Drug Administration. Officials are also working through which conditions will fall under the booster recommendation.
Go deeper. |
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| 3. Nursing homes' vaccine challenge |
| It's becoming more urgent to vaccinate the staff that care for vulnerable nursing home patients. But the industry, which has been plagued with workforce issues, faces a major challenge when it comes to mandating shots, the New York Times reports. By the numbers: Nursing homes had seen major drops in infections after becoming one of the major hotspots for cases and deaths earlier on in the pandemic. But those numbers have reversed in recent weeks, CDC data shows. What they're saying: "It's terribly frustrating," Mark Parkinson, CEO of the American Health Care Association, told the Times about the hesitancy of people to resist vaccines, including in the nursing home industry. "If everybody would get vaccinated this pandemic would end." The big picture: Nursing homes are just one of the industries that may face workforce challenges if they try to push vaccine mandates. Major companies, such as Amazon, are also grappling with concerns about retaining workers in a tight labor market amid vaccine mandates, Bloomberg reports. |
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| A message from Partnership for America's Health Care Future |
| Let's build on what's working, not increase costs |
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| A new report finds that opening up Medicare to younger Americans could increase Medicare expenditures by $82.9 billion in 2022 and cause the federal deficit to rise by billions, creating new costs that could result in higher taxes for American families. Get the facts. |
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| 4. The pandemic is now a "negative" for CVS |
 Data: Company filings; Chart: Axios Visuals Now that routine care is back, and COVID-19 hospitalizations are on the rise again, CVS Health executives said the pandemic has become a "modest negative" for the rest of 2021, Axios' Bob Herman reports. Driving the news: For every premium dollar that CVS Health's insurance arm, Aetna, collected in the second quarter, it reported Wednesday that it paid a little more than 84 cents to medical providers. That's a lot higher than Wall Street expected. - Health insurers were the main beneficiaries of the pandemic last year, as the widespread delay of doctor visits and procedures greatly offset what they had to pay for COVID-19 hospitalizations.
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| 5. Quote of the day |
| "Too many hospital mergers lead to jacked up prices and diminished care for patients most in need. It remains a mystery why these two hospital systems decided to pursue a highly suspicious merger in the middle of a global pandemic. The Court has hit pause on this merger, which the FTC alleges is unlawful. Hospital executives hatching merger plans should take note." — Statement from the Federal Trade Commission's Office of Public Affairs Director Lindsay Kryzak on the District Court of New Jersey's decision to grant a preliminary injunction halting Hackensack Meridian Health's proposed acquisition of Englewood Health. |
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| 6. Opioid use across America |
 Data: CDC; Chart: Axios Visuals Nearly a quarter of U.S. adults with chronic pain had used a prescription opioid in the past three months when surveyed in 2019, according to data published Thursday by the National Center for Health Statistics. Why it matters: Prescription opioid use for chronic pain management has been associated with an increased risk of misuse, addiction and death — have been the subject of massive class-action lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors, Axios' Marisa Fernandez reports. By the numbers: The findings show 28% of adults with Medicaid and 28% with Medicare had the highest use of prescription opioids. - Men and employed adults were less likely to have used a prescription opioid compared with women and unemployed adults, respectively.
- Adults 45–64 was the highest age group to use prescription opioids at 26%, while usage dropped off among adults aged 65 and over.
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| A message from Partnership for America's Health Care Future |
| Let's build on what's working, not increase costs |
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| Opening up Medicare to younger Americans could come with high costs and negative, unintended consequences for American patients. Our leaders need to focus on solutions that build on and improve what's working in health care, not add new costs and consequences. |
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