Virtual Care News

Johnson & Johnson Vaccine on Pause; Microsoft, Google Make Healthcare Plays

CDC and FDA have paused the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after six rare cases of blood clotting have emerged. Meanwhile, tech giants Microsoft and Google are looking to expand their healthcare presence.

Coronavirus vaccine

Source: Getty Images

By Kyle Murphy, PhD

Johnson & Johnson Vaccine on Pause

- CDC and FDA are reviewing data involving six reported cases of a severe and rare kind of blood clot in individuals who received the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) COVID-19 vaccine. This comes after more than 6.8 million doses of the vaccine have been distributed across the country. Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis was observed in combination with low levels of blood platelets among women between 18 and 48. Symptoms occurred 6 to 13 days after vaccination. The FDA has recommended a pause in the use of this vaccine. READ MORE

Google Dips Toes into Healthcare Again

Google could be getting back in the medical records game, with the tech giant testing out key patient data access preferences potentially in hopes of building something akin to Apple Health Records. Specifically, Google is asking users how they would like to view, organize, and share their own health records. The study will engage individuals receiving care from community and academic medical centers in Northern California, Atlanta, and Chicago. Participating healthcare organizations must use Epic Systems EHR and patient users must use Android phones. READ MORE

SNFs Slated to Receive Increase in Medicare Reimbursement

CMS has proposed a $444 million increase in Medicare payments to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) in the federal fiscal year 2022. The rule released late Thursday would update the Medicare payment rates under the prospective payment system for SNFs starting Oct. 1, 2021, and make several changes to the new Patient Driven Payment Model and SNF Quality Reporting and Value-Based Purchasing Programs. The approximate 1.3 percent boost in Medicare prospective payment system rates in FY 2022 reflects a 2.3 percent market basket update, less a 0.8 percentage point forecast error adjustment and a 0.2 percentage point multifactor productivity adjustment. READ MORE

Microsoft Acquires Nuance in $16-Billion Deal

Microsoft has announced that it will acquire Nuance Communications, Inc., a leading provider of conversational artificial intelligence and cloud-based ambient clinical intelligence. Microsoft will acquire Nuance for $56.00 per share, about 23 percent above its closing deal. The transaction is valued at $19.7 billion, which includes Nuance’s net debt. Mark Benjamin will remain the CEO of Nuance, reporting to Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Cloud & AI at Microsoft. The deal is intended to close this calendar year. The acquisition builds on Microsoft’s efforts to offer healthcare-specific cloud capabilities to support customers and partners as they respond to new opportunities and disruption. READ MORE

ACA Growing Pains Negatively Impact Families

Approximately 5.1 million individuals are caught in the Affordable Care Act’s “family glitch,” according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) analysis. Under the Affordable Care Act, an employee may qualify for subsidized marketplace coverage if their employer-sponsored health plan’s premium costs more than 9.83 percent of their household income. However, only the cost of the individual employee’s coverage is taken into account. Dependents are excluded from the calculation. READ MORE

Acute DtC Telehealth Shows Benefits for Patient Care

Patients who accessed care for upper respiratory infections through direct-to-consumer telemedicine platforms were more likely to have follow-up appointments than patients who had their initial visit in-person, according to a University of Michigan study that suggests potential setbacks of on-demand telemedicine. The research published in Health Affairs questions whether shifting to direct-to-consumer telehealth services for initial care is successful in reducing acute care costs. Researchers analyzed data from a large insurer for over 28,700 direct-to-consumer virtual visits and 57,400 in-person visits for acute respiratory infections from 2016 to 2019. READ MORE

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