Axios Vitals: HIPAA's test

Plus, only fraction of Hep C patients get treatment | Wednesday, August 10, 2022

Open in app View in browser   Presented By PhRMA   Axios Vitals By Tina Reed · Aug 10, 2022 🐪 Good morning, Vitals readers. Today's newsletter is 965 words or a 4-minute read. 🥵 ICYMI: As the climate heats up and temperatures reach dangerous levels more frequently, cities are starting to launch full-service "climate resilience hubs," Axios' Jennifer Kingson writes.     1 big thing: HIPPA faces test in new abortion reality Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios   Doctors are weighing the legal risks of turning over ultrasounds and other personal health records if prosecutors or law enforcement demand the information to enforce state abortion bans, Axios' Oriana Gonzalez reports. Why it matters: The new post-Roe landscape is testing the suitability of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPPA. The landmark federal privacy law restricts how health providers share medical information, but it doesn't prevent them from sharing it with law enforcement. Catch up quick: In Texas, anti-abortion lawyers have started filing pre-lawsuit petitions to depose providers in order to get information regarding abortions, the Texas Tribune reported. Many providers may not know how to handle such requests. "We are in such uncharted territory when it comes to this type of issue that providers really don't have guidance," said Samantha Deans, associate medical director for Planned Parenthood of South, East and North Florida. Go deeper: In general, providers are required to have the patient's authorization to disclose their information. However, there are some exceptions. If a request for a patient's information is "accompanied by a court order or a grand jury subpoena, then HIPAA permits a covered entity to disclose ... the minimum necessary amount of information to respond to that request," said Scott Weinstein, a partner at the law firm McDermott Will & Emery who specializes in health privacy and security. But the law does not mandate providers to hand over a patient's records. They can still refuse to do so. Worth noting: Prosecutors and law enforcement still have other avenues if they're rebuffed by providers. HIPAA, which was enacted in 1996, didn't anticipate the advent of technology like period-tracking apps. It will likely take some sort of congressional action to protect a patient's digital footprint. The bottom line: In today's world, HIPAA falls short of truly protecting patient records. Advocates say that means the Biden administration needs to tighten federal laws that govern how a patient's information is disclosed. Share this story.     2. Few people with hepatitis C get treatment Data: CDC; Chart: Erin Davis/Axios Visuals Only a fraction of the more than 2 million American adults with Hepatitis C are getting antiviral treatments, even when their insurance will pay for it, Axios' Arielle Dreher writes about a Centers for Disease Control report out Tuesday. Why it matters: Hepatitis contributes to about 14,000 U.S. deaths a year, and the opioid crisis and the unsanitary use of needles by drug users have driven a spike in cases. Just one in three people with diagnosed hepatitis C who have private insurance started treatment after diagnosis, and just one in four people with Medicare and Medicaid did so in that same timeframe. Younger adults, under the age of 40, are accessing treatment at the lowest rates, which concerns health officials since this is the group most likely to spread hepatitis C. "Availability and accessibility of treatment are not the same," Jonathan Mermin, CDC director for hepatitis prevention, told reporters Tuesday. Go deeper.     3. Results elusive in long COVID studies There are 26 clinical trials underway to find an effective treatment for long COVID, but many of them are too small or lack the necessary control groups to give clear results, according to Nature. What they're saying: "If you look at long COVID at this moment in time, I'd paint a slightly 'Wild West' and desperate picture really," says immunologist Danny Altmann at Imperial College London, per Nature. Funding from the U.S. and U.K. has largely gone toward research characterizing the condition, rather than treatments, he said. Be smart: Long COVID has proved to be a difficult disorder to define, prompting researchers to repurpose older drugs developed for other conditions. Studies struggle to even pin down how commonly it occurs. And doctors have been baffled by how it behaves. "We've ended up seeing a lot of patients with mild or moderate, mostly stay-at-home infections that came in with a wide range of symptoms. It was bizarre," Bradley Sanville, a pulmonary and critical care physician who is part of the UC Davis Post-COVID-19 Clinic, told me this spring for an Axios Deep Dive about long COVID. The bottom line: Even so, researchers do appear to be narrowing in on the pathology underlying long COVID which could ultimately lead to more researchers launching new trials, Ledford writes.     A message from PhRMA Government price setting won't work for most patients     Over 50% of what you pay for medicines goes to middlemen like PBMs, insurers, government and others. And 80% of the pharmacy market is controlled by just three PBMs. Congress should address the real drivers of health care costs, not threaten future treatments and cures. Stand up for patients.     4. Most vaccinated over 50s will get a booster: poll Data: University of Michigan; Chart: Kavya Beheraj/Axios Most people older than 50 who've already gotten at least one COVID shot plan to get an updated booster if they're released as expected this fall, according to the latest University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging. Why it matters: The findings offer a hint at the potential uptake for reformulated shots that better protect against the Omicron variant — at least among older adults. Recent Axios-Ipsos polling suggests vaccinated Americans ages 50+ are more likely than younger Americans to say they will seek out an annual booster. Details: The poll, taken in late July at the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, found that 68% of those 65 and older said they were very likely to get an updated shot. In comparison, 55% of those ages 50 to 64 said they were very likely to get one. Zoom in: The poll also found a stark difference between the two age groups when it came to their plans to get a flu shot this fall. 74% of people over 65 said they were very likely to get a flu shot while less than half (46%) of people ages 50 to 64 said they'd get one.     5. Catch up quick Residents wait in line at a San Francisco hospital to receive a monkeypox vaccination Tuesday. Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images   💉 The FDA issued an emergency use authorization Tuesday for the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine to allow intradermal injection for people 18 years and older who are at high risk for infection. (Axios) 💰 Failure to include a monthly $35 insulin cap in the climate and health care bill that passed the Senate last weekend could especially affect Latinos. (Axios) 👉 Monkeypox was likely circulating for years before this outbreak, experts explain. (WSJ)     A message from PhRMA Government price setting or the moonshot to end cancer? We can't do both     The majority of cancer R&D takes place after the initial approval of a medicine. Here's the deal: There is a better way to lower costs without risking new treatment options. Government price setting jeopardizes this critical innovation. Learn more.   Why stop here? Let's go Pro. 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