Becerra Outlines Health Equity Gains, Plans at HHS

February 10, 2022 - The first year of the Biden Administration can be characterized by an emphasis on health equity, according to Xavier Becerra, the Secretary for the Department of Health & Human Services. And that’s expected to be the case moving forward, as Becerra outlined a few plans for the department at the Health Affairs Briefing: Racism & Health Virtual Event.

Amazon expands its healthcare, telehealth reach

Amazon has unveiled plans to expand in-person and virtual care to 20 more cities in 2022. The company has also signed deals with Silicon Labs, TrueBlue, and Whole Foods Market to offer Amazon Care to their employees across the country.

The company offers a range of urgent and primary care services, including COVID-19 and flu testing, vaccinations, treatment of illnesses and injuries, preventive care, and prescription delivery.

The healthcare services span both virtual and in-person and at-home options, which Amazon said is a key feature of its consumer-centered plan.

"Patients are tired of a healthcare system that doesn't put them first. Our patient-centric service is changing that, one visit at a time," said Kristen Helton, director of Amazon Care, in a post online. "We've brought our on-demand urgent and primary care services to patients nationwide." READ MORE.

HHS Spent first year dedicated to health equity

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During a live event hosted by Health Affairs, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra outlined some of the key efforts the department made regarding health equity, dropping gains in health insurance coverage, extended Medicaid coverage for pregnant individuals, and COVID-19 vaccinations.

“We have done some really hard work to reach all communities and to deal with the disparities that we see often caused by racism and we're going to continue to do more,” he stated. “We know that this is something that pervades our healthcare system, and the Biden Harris administration has made it a priority to center equity in our COVID-19 response and in all we do on healthcare.”

Moving forward, the department will zero in on other social determinants of health limiting health equity, like environmental equity and educational attainment, Becerra added. READ MORE.

Epic proves dominant once more in KLAS rankings

EHR vendor giant Epic Systems has been awarding the best overall software suite in the Best in KLAS rankings for the 12th year in a row, and it has also received top honors for the best patient portal for the fifth year in a row.

Epic scored 87.7 for its overall software suite performance.

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Following Epic, MEDITECH Expanse scored 82.9, Cerner scored 72.4, CPSI Evident Thrive scored 69.8, and Allscripts scored 66.5.

“The Best in KLAS report and the awards it contains set the standard of excellence for software and services firms,” Adam Gale, president of KLAS Research, said in a statement. “Vendors who win the title of Best in KLAS should celebrate and remember that providers now accept only the best from their products and services.” READ MORE.

Pfizer sets sites on EUA for COVID-19 vaccine for young kids

Pfizer is lobbying the FDA for an emergency use authorization for the first two doses of what would likely be a three-dose COVID-19 vaccine regimen for young kids.

The companies expect to complete the submission in the coming days. The authorization would include the first two three-microgram doses of a planned three-dose primary series in this age group. Novavax will submit data on the third dose at least eight weeks after completion to FDA as well.

“A hospitalizations of children under 5 due to COVID-19 have soared, our mutual goal with the FDA is to prepare for future variant surges and provide parents with an option to help protect their children from this virus,” Albert Bourla, chairman and CEO of Pfizer, said in the announcement.

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“If two doses are authorized, parents will have the opportunity to begin a COVID-19 vaccination series for their children while awaiting potential authorization of a third dose,” Bourla continued. READ MORE.

Payers wade into the patient privacy debate

AHIP has shared its goals and priorities for upholding health IT security and privacy around consumer data in two press releases issued by the AHIP board of directors and the organization’s chief medical officers leadership team.

Specifically, AHIP said patients should have access to their own data; that all entities handling patient data should adhere to HIPAA; that race and ethnicity data should support health equity; that health IT handling patient data should have privacy failsafes; and that it should be illegal to sell consumer healthcare data without consumer consent.

“As new technologies emerge and the health care system continues to evolve, these priorities reaffirm AHIP and our members’ commitment to enhancing patients’ access to actionable health information while keeping their personal data secure,” Matt Eyles, president and CEO of AHIP, said in a statement. READ MORE.

API security key as healthcare cyberattacks continue

As more organizations rely on APIs to run critical functions, ensuring API security in healthcare is crucial to preventing cyberattacks, according to new research from Cequence.

Cequence’s analysis of API usage patterns from June to December 2021 found that health monitoring API usage rose by a staggering 941 percent. Developers are also increasingly favoring APIs to improve user experience.

“As the digitization of commerce happened, we started to see APIs utilized in new ways. Data is moved around allowing for additional analytics and trends to be realized. The same thing is happening in healthcare,” Jason Kent, hacker in residence at Cequence, told HealthITSecurity. “Patients wanted real-time, hands-on data, so healthcare organizations began making things more connected.” READ MORE.