Weekend reading

August 9, 2024

I took some time off this week, so new posts will return on August 16.  Last weekend, I completed my 27th Pan Mass Challenge, a 194-mile 2-day bike ride to raise money for cancer treatment and research. Details here. 

In the meantime, here are a few thoughts on weekend reading.  Early next week, I’ll re-post some past favorites. 

(A) There is more bird flu in humans than has been reported

KFF Health News reports that small studies of farmworkers have shown up to a 15% rate of avian influenza (bird flu) infection. Those who had antibodies generally had some upper respiratory or eye symptoms, and there is at least one case of a cafeteria worker with antibodies who did not have direct exposure to cows. Influenza experts fear that people who get avian and human influenza at the same time during the coming fall flu season could facilitate “gene swapping” that could make bird flu much more transmissible. Finland has started immunizing farmworkers, although there is no plan to do so (yet) in the United States. This will be a good year for employers to encourage influenza vaccines, even though they do not provide protection against avian influenza. 

(B) Cancer treatment hard to find in rural areas

KFF Health News also reported yesterday on “chemotherapy deserts” in rural areas, where some patients must travel hours to get their chemotherapy.  The article points out that such travel leads to more time away from work for patients and their family members, and that many with cancer in rural areas choose not to pursue treatment. Previous research has shown that 5-year cancer survival is worse for residents of rural areas regardless of socioeconomic status.  Employers can offer travel benefits and scheduling flexibility, although this is not nearly as good as cancer treatment available closer to home. 

(C) Many hospitals don’t treat premature babies who could be saved

The Wall Street Journal reports that less than half of neonatal ICUs in the US (45%) will resuscitate 22 and 23 week premature babies, even though more than half of these children would be likely to survive to home discharge, and after extensive medical care many of these would have normal childhoods. In some instances, a hospital that would have provided care for an extremely premature baby was just a few miles down the road. This represents enormous medical progress since my training, but can only help families treated at hospitals that will offer this treatment. Care of extremely premature infants is costly, and most stay for months in a NICU. Women with high risk pregnancies should be treated at a medical center equipped to care for an extremely premature infant. 

(D) The GLP-1 capital of the US is not Hollywood

Bloomberg reports that the highest per capita use of GLP-1 drugs for obesity is in Bowling Green, KY.  The drugs substantially change many people’s lives, although many employers including health systems have stopped covering them due to high costs.  The use of compounded GLP-1s, which have much lower costs, is booming. (This is a gift link which expires quickly)

(E) Denmark pushes for lower cost GLP-1 medications

Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic and Wegovy (both are the drug semaglutide), is based in Denmark.  Famously, the company now has a market capitalization higher than the gross domestic product of the country, and Novo was responsible for more than 100% of the growth in that country last year. Nonetheless, the public system that funds health care does not pay for semaglutide for obesity, and has been restricting use for diabetes due to cost.  KFF Health News describes the campaign to lower the cost of Ozempic in Denmark. 

Hope you have a great weekend!

Thanks for reading.  You can find previous posts in the Employer Coverage archive

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Illustration by Dall-E