Healthcare reform

Venatorx Pharmaceuticals Announces First Patient Dosed in Phase 1 Study of VNRX-9945 for the Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection

Retrieved on: 
Monday, June 28, 2021
Women, Other Science, FDA, Research, General Health, MEN, Family, Public policy, Government, Consumer, Pharmaceutical, Oncology, Healthcare reform, Children, Infectious diseases, Baby, Maternity, LGBTQ+, Clinical trials, Biotechnology, Health, Science, Medical specialties, Clinical medicine, Medicine, Hepadnaviridae, Infectious causes of cancer, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis, Antiviral drug, Transmission of hepadnaviruses, Viral hepatitis

Venatorx Pharmaceuticals today announced that the first patient was dosed in a Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating VNRX-9945, a highly potent, broadly active viral replication inhibitor for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.

Key Points: 
  • Venatorx Pharmaceuticals today announced that the first patient was dosed in a Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating VNRX-9945, a highly potent, broadly active viral replication inhibitor for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.
  • We believe combination regimens that include VNRX-9945 have the potential to lead to said functional cure in chronic HBV patients.
  • In addition, Venatorx is in Phase 1 with its first antiviral compound (VNRX-9945), a Hepatitis B virus inhibitor.
  • Capsid assembly modulators have a dual mechanism of action in primary human hepatocytes infected with hepatitis B virus.

SCAN Health Plan Chief Medical Officer Testifies Before Congress

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, June 24, 2021
Professional services, Managed care, Other Health, Health, General Health, State, Local, Healthcare reform, Public policy, Congressional News, Views, Public policy, Government, Insurance, Managed care, SCAN Health Plan, Medicare Advantage, Medicare, Health, United States

Romilla Batra, M.D., chief medical officer of SCAN Health Plan, testified today before the U.S. House Committee on Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health about the importance of enabling Medicare Advantage plans to offer flexible benefits that address social determinants of health (SDOH).

Key Points: 
  • Romilla Batra, M.D., chief medical officer of SCAN Health Plan, testified today before the U.S. House Committee on Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health about the importance of enabling Medicare Advantage plans to offer flexible benefits that address social determinants of health (SDOH).
  • Not surprisingly, individuals with unmet SDOH needs generally have higher medical utilization and poorer health outcomes, she said.
  • SCAN Health Plan is one of the nations largest not-for-profit Medicare Advantage plans, serving more than 220,000 members in California.
  • Independence at Home, a SCAN community service, provides vitally needed services and support to seniors and their caregivers regardless of plan membership.

Centauri Health Solutions Achieves HITRUST CSF® Certification of its Risk Adjustment and Quality Platform

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, June 24, 2021
Software, Managed care, Networks, Professional services, Data management, Technology, Healthcare reform, Hospitals, Security, Insurance, Health, Public policy, Government, HITRUST

Centauri Health Solutions, an innovative provider of healthcare technology and services, announces its Risk Adjustment and Quality software and service platform has renewed the Certified status for information security by HITRUST, a certification previously achieved in 2018.

Key Points: 
  • Centauri Health Solutions, an innovative provider of healthcare technology and services, announces its Risk Adjustment and Quality software and service platform has renewed the Certified status for information security by HITRUST, a certification previously achieved in 2018.
  • HITRUST CSF Certified status demonstrates that Centauris Risk Adjustment and Quality platform has met key regulations and industry-defined requirements and is appropriately managing risk.
  • This distinction covers the Centauri Advance (Risk Adjustment), Centauri Relay (Submissions), Centauri Ascent (Quality) and Centauri Insights (Risk and Quality analytics) products, which were designed to natively integrate the components of risk and quality program compliance management, with the ability to be deployed as a single enterprise solution or leveraged independently, depending on client need.
  • Centauri Health Solutions provides services and solutions to payors and providers across all healthcare programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, Commercial and Exchange.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans’ Administrative Cost Growth Decelerated in 2020

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Managed care, Accounting, Congressional News, Views, General Health, Professional services, Public policy, Government, Healthcare reform, Consumer, Health, Public policy, Other Health, Other Professional Services, Other Consumer, Insurance, Human resources, Finance, Consulting, Health maintenance organizations, Healthcare reform in the United States, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Insurance in the United States, Medicare, Blue Shield, Health

In 2020, Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans costs increased by 5.2% per member, down from 6.6% and 6.7% in 2019 and 2018, respectively.

Key Points: 
  • In 2020, Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans costs increased by 5.2% per member, down from 6.6% and 6.7% in 2019 and 2018, respectively.
  • Navigator excerpts from the 2021 Blue Cross Blue Shield Plan edition of the Sherlock Benchmarks.
  • Surveyed Plans comprise 61% of the members of Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans not served by publicly-traded companies.
  • Besides the Blue Cross Blue Shield universe, other universes include Independent/Provider-Sponsored plans, Medicare plans and Medicaid plans.

ACRO Applauds Release of Cures 2.0 Draft Legislation

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Public policy, Government, Healthcare reform, Health, Public policy, Clinical trials, General Health, Diana DeGette, 21st Century Cures Act, Fred Upton, Legislatures, Acro, Members of the United States Congress, Legislators

The Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO) congratulates Representatives Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Fred Upton (R-MI) on the release of the Cures 2.0 discussion draft, an update to the landmark 21st Century Cures Act.

Key Points: 
  • The Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO) congratulates Representatives Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Fred Upton (R-MI) on the release of the Cures 2.0 discussion draft, an update to the landmark 21st Century Cures Act.
  • The Cures Act took significant steps to modernize the clinical trial ecosystem, and ACRO welcomes this effort to build upon that progress.
  • Representing companies that provide services and technologies for a majority of clinical trials worldwide, ACRO was pleased to be an information resource for the 21st Century Cures Act in 2015, and we congratulate Representatives DeGette and Upton on the release of the Cures 2.0 discussion draft, said Doug Peddicord, ACROs Executive Director.
  • ACRO looks forward to working with Reps. DeGette and Upton, and their colleagues in the Senate, on advancing these solutions into law.

Newly Released Global Public Health Data Standard to Enable Vaccine Administration Data Interoperability

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, June 22, 2021
Technology, Biotechnology, Health, Other Health, Healthcare reform, Public policy, Government, Pharmaceutical, Research, Infectious diseases, General Health, Hospitals, Science, Data management, Public policy, Articles, Academic disciplines, Data management, Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium, Clinical data management, Clinical research, Non-profit technology, Vaccination, Vaccine, Public health, Dipak Kalra, Data definition specification

CDISC announced the release of a freely available standard that maps existing international standards to facilitate interoperability of data and metadata related to vaccine administration.

Key Points: 
  • CDISC announced the release of a freely available standard that maps existing international standards to facilitate interoperability of data and metadata related to vaccine administration.
  • Developed in partnership with the Global Information for Public Health Transformation (GIPHT), an initiative of the Learning Health Community , the Vaccination Administration Version 1.0 standard represents a minimum set of key data elements for electronically documenting vaccinations.
  • This global standard has been developed by consolidating key data element recommendations from the European eHealth Network , the World Health Organization and US Centers for Disease Control .
  • It is the belief of those participating in the GIPHT Initiative that any organization interested in promoting public health and sharing relevant vaccine administration data internationally should engage in a global solution and implement this standard.

AHF Files Federal Antitrust Lawsuit Against the PBM Prime Therapeutics

Retrieved on: 
Friday, June 18, 2021
Professional services, AIDS, Public policy, Government, Health, Healthcare reform, Legal, Pharmaceutical, Health sciences, Health care, Health, Symbols, Clinical pharmacology, Pharmacy, Specialty drugs, Pharmaceuticals policy, Pharmacy benefit management, Express Scripts, Medical prescription, Prescription drug

Prime is a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), a middle-man in the distribution system for prescription drugs in the United States.

Key Points: 
  • Prime is a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), a middle-man in the distribution system for prescription drugs in the United States.
  • Some of those people are patients of AHF pharmacies, and, in 2020, Prime processed almost 100,000 drug prescriptions for AHF patients.
  • In late 2019, Prime announced a new three-year collaboration with another PBM, Express Scripts, Inc.
  • In fact, it appears Prime is simply aligning its reimbursement rates with those of the other PBM, and doing so on an ongoing basis.

IMV Announces Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders Voting Results

Retrieved on: 
Friday, June 18, 2021
Biotechnology, Health, General Health, Healthcare reform, Pharmaceutical, Oncology, Other Science, Research, Public policy, Government, Science, Clinical trials, Medicine, Clinical medicine, IMV, Vaccine, Sedar, Immunotherapy, Drug delivery, Health care

Please refer to the Circular available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com for more information on the business transacted at the Meeting.

Key Points: 
  • Please refer to the Circular available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com for more information on the business transacted at the Meeting.
  • A report on voting results will also be filed on SEDAR.
  • IMV Inc. assumes no responsibility to update forward-looking statements in this press release except as required by law.
  • IMV is pioneering a new class of cancer immunotherapies and vaccines against infectious diseases based on the Companys proprietary drug delivery platform, DPX.

AHF Joins Coalition Demanding Rx Price Negotiation in ‘Build Back Better’ Law

Retrieved on: 
Friday, June 18, 2021
AIDS, White House, Federal Government, Public policy, Government, Healthcare reform, Health, Pharmaceutical, Health sciences, Pharmaceutical industry, Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical sciences, Health, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Drug pricing, AHF, Medication costs, Medication

AIDS Healthcare Foundation ( AHF ) joined over 103 labor unions and health care groups to demand the U.S. Congress include popular drug price reform in the so-called Build Back Better legislation to fund infrastructure spending.

Key Points: 
  • AIDS Healthcare Foundation ( AHF ) joined over 103 labor unions and health care groups to demand the U.S. Congress include popular drug price reform in the so-called Build Back Better legislation to fund infrastructure spending.
  • Hundreds of elected officials have campaigned on requiring the government to negotiate drug prices and provide protections for patients in need of affordable medicines.
  • The question is whether Congress will listen to drug company lobbyists or the people they took an oath to represent, said Hassell.
  • To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org , find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare
    View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210618005525/en/

 Coming Together: California Youth Connection and Foster Youth in Action Announce Merger Designed to Increase Capacity, Resources and Impact

Retrieved on: 
Friday, June 18, 2021
General Health, Family, Philanthropy, Consumer, State, Local, Healthcare reform, Public policy, Fund Raising, Foundation, Children, Health, Public policy, Government, Family, Foster care, Foster, CYC, Kinship and descent, Social institutions, Interpersonal relationships

California Youth Connection (CYC) and Foster Youth in Action (FYA) today announced their intent to merge, signaling the start of a new day for the youth-led foster care movement.

Key Points: 
  • California Youth Connection (CYC) and Foster Youth in Action (FYA) today announced their intent to merge, signaling the start of a new day for the youth-led foster care movement.
  • Since Foster Youth in Actions founding by California Youth Connection in 2008, both organizations have shared a deep commitment and passion for improving the foster care system.
  • This is truly a win-win-win situation, noted Liz Squibb, interim Executive Director of Foster Youth in Action.
  • Foster Youth in Action was founded in 2008 by young organizers and supporters with California Youth Connection (CYC).