The Food and Drug Administration has recommended that the new fall COVID-19 booster be directed at the KP.2 strain. This is a pivot from earlier this month, when the FDA had suggested it would recommend the vaccine be designed for the earlier generation JN.1 strain, which is decreasing in frequency. COVID-19 vaccination is associated with protection against severe illness, hospitalization, death and Long COVID. Neither nasal vaccine nor combined COVID-flu vaccine is likely to be available before fall, 2025.
Employers can encourage their employees and families to get vaccinated this fall to protect their own health, avoid time away from work and workplace exposure, and protect public health.
Some experts are predicting a COVID-19 spike this summer, and wastewater levels are up in all regions of the country. Employers can expect more time away from work, although hospitalizations are not yet rising. I’ll be continuing to wear a mask on public transportation
The Associated Press reports that Attorneys General in at least six states are pursuing criminal prosecution against companies providing “stem cell therapy” for arthritis and other illnesses. They note that the FDA has not approved stem cell therapy for treatment of any musculoskeletal ailment.
There are companies that sell stem cell therapy to employers. They often claim that their therapy can help members avoid more invasive and expensive orthopedic surgery, although most trials suggesting effectiveness were poorly designed and studies with double blind placebo have not shown statistically significant benefits.
3. Higher cost sharing could decrease access to naloxone (Narcan)
Researchers in JAMA used a national prescribing database to project how increased cost sharing could change access to naloxone (Narcan). They found that an increase of $10 in cost sharing would likely result in a 3.1% increase in abandonment rate at the pharmacy in the commercial (employer covered) population. Naloxone to reverse narcotic overdose can save lives, and more abandoned prescriptions could lead to more deaths. Here is a link to a post regarding PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) to prevent HIV infection. Here, too, higher cost sharing is associated with lower utilization. Here is a link to a post on establishing recovery-friendly workplaces.
4. Remote radiation therapy physician consults were safe and climate friendly
Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York treated 2,817 radiation oncology patients with fully remote physician consultations from Fall, 2020 to Fall, 2022, and published a summary of their findings in JAMA Network Open this week. Radiologist oncologists worked remotely, and had initial consultation and radiation planning meetings virtually, which allowed patients to avoid a trip to the medical center. Patients continued to come into centers for their radiation therapy treatments.
The authors said that patients were satisfied; 98% said satisfaction was “good” or “very good.” There were few adverse events that caused patient harm. Most patients reported that they were fine with either in-person or remote consultations, but of those with an opinion more than twice as many preferred remote consultation visits.
Out of pocket cost savings was $466 per patient, which demonstrates that transportation and parking costs are a significant burden for cancer patients. The researchers calculated that this initiative prevented 174 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. This expands the range of care for which providers can be remote and could help increase access for patients who live distantly from medical centers.
