1. COVID
A new study of Italian healthcare workers shows that 2 or 3 doses of the vaccine (including booster shots) may cut the risk of long-term side effects from covid-19. The odds of long covid fell to 16% after a third dose. This is down from 30% after the first dose and 17.4% after two doses. Meanwhile, the FDA has authorized pharmacists to prescribe covid treatments. This will help expand treatment access, thus providing more health equity.
A new report from the Pew Research Center concludes that Americans are much less concerned about getting a severe case of COVID-19 than they were earlier in the pandemic. These numbers have drastically dropped in the recent months of April-May. This comes at a time when, in the past week, hospital admissions for covid-19 have been increasing. A significant reason for this is because of the subvariants. As of this week, subvariant BA.5 accounts for 54% of total COVID cases. 62% of survey respondents say that the country has not prioritized children's needs, students in K-12 grades.
2. Practice Management Updates
The healthcare sector added over 57,000 jobs in June, compared to just 15,000 in May. This is a significant increase in job gains amid the staffing shortage crisis. Nonetheless, physician turnover rates are increasing as many searches for better work-life balance. It was found that 43% of physicians switched jobs during the pandemic, 8% retired, and over 3% left healthcare and medicine.
Nearly 1 in 5 claims were denied by marketplace insurers in 2020. These marketplaces (from the ACA) were implemented to improve access to insurance coverage but have been just the opposite. There could be many reasons why claims are being denied. Still, the top contributors include paperwork errors and a lack of prior authorization.
3. Colorado Life Expectancy
For the second straight year, Colorado's life expectancy has dropped. There has never been a decline in life expectancy like this before. Health officials and the state health department claim the critical drivers for the decline were because of covid-19 and drug overdose death rates.