J.D. Power: More patients seeking health, wellness services at pharmacies

 The number of people seeking care in a retail setting continues to grow, a new survey shows.

J.D. Power released its 2021 U.S. Pharmacy Study on Wednesday, where it found that 51% of customers at retail pharmacies used health and wellness services in the past year.

By comparison, 48% said the same in 2020's report and 43% said they used such services in 2019, J.D. Power said.

James Beem, managing director of healthcare intelligence at J.D. Power, told Fierce Healthcare that while the healthcare industry as a whole saw a boost in consumer perception due to the pandemic, the tides were already shifting in the retail space.

"It's really around cost, convenience and there's a perception of quality now that's new," he said. "I think the models are starting to evolve to be more clinically driven, and any time that's the case, the consumers put their trust in the quality and clinical guidance."

The study also found that customers who used such services rated their pharmacies more highly and spent more money. Patients who used health and wellness services on average spent $5 more at their pharmacy compared to patients who did not, J.D. Power.

Satisfaction scores and Net Promoter Scores also increased notably when patients used health and wellness services, according to the report.

In addition to seeking services at pharmacies, a growing number of customers are also embracing digital channels for engaging with retail healthcare services, according to the study. J.D. Power found that 26% of brick-and-mortar customers and 27% of mail-order customers had accessed their pharmacy's app.

In addition, user satisfaction with pharmacy apps is greater than member satisfaction with health plan apps, J.D. Power said.

Beem noted pharmacy services are a strong fit for these platforms. For example, it's simple enough for a customer to understand and adapt to text reminders for prescription refills.

"It's far and away the leader when it comes to digital in our J.D. Power portfolio," Beem said.

https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payer/j-d-power-number-patients-seeking-health-wellness-services-at-pharmacies-rise

Community Heath posts $58M loss for H1 2021 as system recovers from pandemic impact

 Hospital chain Community Health Systems posted a $58 million net loss for the first half of the year as the system’s volumes continue to recover to pre-pandemic levels.

However, Community Health Systems did post $6 million in net income for the second quarter, rebounding from a $64 million loss in the first quarter of 2021. The system posted net operating revenues of $3 billion for the second quarter, roughly in line with the revenues it generated in the first quarter.

“As COVID-19 cases declined during the second quarter, we experienced a solid rebound of non-COVID-19 patient volume,” said Tim Hingtgen, the system’s CEO, in a statement.

Overall CHS posted $6 billion in net revenue for the first half of the year, an 8.6% increase compared with $5.5 billion for the first half of 2020.

The hospital chain is still fighting to increase patient admissions that plummeted at the onset of the pandemic. Hospitals across the country were forced to shutter or postpone elective procedures to preserve capacity to fight COVID-19 and saw outpatient volumes decline as patients were afraid of contracting the virus.

Admissions increased 5.1% and adjusted admissions by 8.7% for the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2020, CHS said.

In the second quarter, admissions increased by nearly 5% and adjusted admissions by 15.7% compared to the second quarter of 2020 when the pandemic’s effects took hold.

“On a same-store basis, net operating revenues increased 30.2% for the three months … compared with the same period in 2020,” CHS’ release on the earnings said.

CHS is the latest system to post earnings in the second quarter due to hikes in admissions. HCA Healthcare posted a $1.2 billion profit for the second quarter after seeing a 20% boost in its volumes.

https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/hospitals/chs-posts-58m-loss-for-first-half-2021-as-system-recovers-from-covid-19-pandemic-impact

CDC: Nearly 67% of U.S. Counties Have Substantial, High COVID-19 Transmission

 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday that 66.6% of U.S. counties had transmission rates of COVID-19 high enough to warrant indoor masking and should immediately resume the policy.

The transmission rate was up from 63.4% as of Tuesday. In total, 49.9% of U.S. counties have high COVID-19 community transmission rates and 16.7% have substantial rates, the CDC said. The CDC reversed its mask guidance policy for vaccinated Americans on Tuesday.

Substantial transmission means at least 50 new cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days, while high transmission is more than 100 cases per 100,000 people over the last week.

In a toughening of guidance issued earlier this month, the CDC also recommended all students, teachers and staff at schools for kindergarten through 12th grade wear masks regardless of whether they were vaccinated.

U.S. coronavirus cases have been rising due to the highly contagious Delta variant, which was first detected in India but has quickly spread and now accounts for more than 80% of U.S. coronavirus cases.

However, the new CDC recommendations are not binding and many Americans, especially in Republican-leaning states, may choose not to follow them.

https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2021-07-28/cdc-says-nearly-67-of-us-counties-have-substantial-high-covid-19-transmission

Many GOP Governors Make Clear They Will Not Mandate Masks Or Vaccines

 Republican governors are starting to speak out against what is becoming almost daily flip-flopping by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), who is now once again advocating that everybody wear masks indoors. 

Several governors have said their respective states would break from the CDC's recommendation and not return to the mask mandates, according to the Hill. 

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts railed against the CDC:

“The CDC’s new guidance suggesting that vaccinated people wear masks indoors flies in the face of the public health goals that should guide the agency’s decision making. The State of Nebraska will not be adopting their mask guidance.”

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey also spoke out:

“Public health officials in Arizona and across the country have made it clear that the best protection against COVID-19 is the vaccine. Today’s announcement by the CDC will unfortunately only diminish confidence in the vaccine and create more challenges for public health officials — people who have worked tirelessly to increase vaccination rates.”

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said on Wednesday that the Delta variant has "changed the agency’s best understanding of the science of the virus".

And as soon as we tailor everything to one variant, it'll be on to the next, right?

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has said he “trusts parents to… make the best choices for their kids.” 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office also spoke out:

 “Gov. Abbott has been clear that the time for government mandating of masks is over — now is the time for personal responsibility. Every Texan has the right to choose whether they will wear a mask, or have their children wear masks.”

Texas had previously issued a mask mandate in 2020, requiring citizens to wear masks indoors for 250 days. After that, Abbott issued an executive order preventing local governments from issuing their own orders.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds also spoke out, calling the new rules “not grounded in reality or common sense.”

“I’m concerned that this guidance will be used as a vehicle to mandate masks in states and schools across the country, something I do not support,” she continued.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem also spoke out on Twitter:

 “The CDC shifts their position AGAIN. South Dakota’s cases remain low. If you’re worried about the virus, you’re free to get vaccinated, wear a mask, or stay home. But we won’t be mandating anything. And the CDC’s inconsistency doesn’t help the American people.”

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey also said she would not be taking additional steps to mandate the vaccine: 

“There are those who believe that government should mandate the vaccine or that we should bribe people to take it. That’s not going to happen in my state, no matter how many times the media ask me.”

Meanwhile the line from the Biden administration has been that the new rules will help “avoid the kind of lockdowns, shutdowns, school closures and disruptions we faced in 2020.”

"Unlike 2020, we have both the scientific knowledge and the tools to prevent the spread of this disease. We are not going back to that,” Biden said.

Maybe someone should get him a copy of USA Today:

Just remember, it's because of "science."

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/not-grounded-reality-many-republican-governors-make-clear-they-will-not-be-mandating-masks 

Facebook warns of significant slowdown in sales growth; mandates employee vax in US

 Facebook Inc said on Wednesday it expects revenue growth in the third and fourth quarters to “decelerate significantly,” sending the social media giant’s shares down about 5% in extended trading.

The company beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue, bolstered by increased advertising spending as businesses build their digital presence to cater to consumers spending more time and money online.

The company’s total revenue, which primarily consists of ad sales, rose to $29.08 billion in the second quarter from $18.69 billion a year earlier, beating analysts’ estimates of $27.89 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Facebook, like its peers, has seen increased demand for digital ads as the pandemic drove consumers to shop largely online, forcing several businesses to create online stores and markets using social media platforms.

The world’s largest social network’s revenue from advertising rose 56% to $28.58 billion in the second quarter ended June 30, Facebook said.

The company said it expects Apple’s recent privacy change, requiring iPhone app developers to begin asking users’ permission to collect certain data for ads, to impact in the third quarter. Facebook has argued Apple’s recent requirement that iPhone app developers begin asking users’ permission to collect certain data for ads would harm its business and hurt small companies that rely on personalized advertising.

Monthly active users came in at 2.90 billion, up 7% from the same period last year but missing analyst expectations of 2.92 billion and marking the slowest growth rate in at least three years, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Net income rose to $10.4 billion, or $3.61 per share, from $5.18 billion, or $1.80 per share, a year earlier. Analysts had expected a profit of $3.03 per share.

https://www.reuters.com/article/facebook-results/update-4-facebook-warns-growth-to-slow-significantly-mandates-vaccine-for-u-s-staff-idUSL4N2P43YX

California Sees COVID Cases Rising In Most Heavily Vaccinated Counties

 Some might have been surprised to see California on Dr. Anthony Fauci's map of high-risk areas where the new federal indoor mask mandates must be obeyed. The Golden State was deemed more high risk than Texas. Indeed, scientists are finding that despite its high vaccination rates, California is seeing more COVID cases than it should.

California and its big coastal cities have embraced vaccines in their effort to beat back the COVID pandemic. But a Bay Area News Group analysis shows that not only are cases rising fast, they are rising in areas where there are more fully vaccinated people. Some of these counties have both among the highest vaccination rates, and the highest new-case rates.

Notice that five of these counties have both a higher percentage of their eligible residents fully vaccinated and a higher average daily case rate than the statewide average. They include: LA, San Diego, Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco. The five counties with falling case rates are Modoc, Glenn, Lassen, Del Norte, San Benito, and they, coincidentally, have below-average vaccination rates.

Source: Mercury News

As to what might be causing this, experts point to two things: the extraordinary ease with which the virus' now-dominant delta strain spreads, and the fact that no vaccine offers complete protection.

"I am not so surprised that transmission rates are not neatly tracking immunization rates," said Dr. Stephen Luby, a medical professor specializing in infectious diseases at Stanford University.

"There are a number of issues that contribute to transmission," Luby said. "In high density urban settings, for example, even with a higher level of vaccine coverage, there can still be a lot of exposure to unvaccinated folks and potentially to folks who are vaccinated but are asymptomatically shedding the delta variant."

Reports of the vaccines' effectiveness against the delta variant have been mixed. In Israel, the Ministry of Health suspects the protection afforded by the Pfizer jab might be as low as 64%.

LA was the first major city to reimpose an indoor mask mandate, while California and NYC have both ordered all public workers, including police and teachers, to get vaccinated, or face constant testing and masking.

Of course, not everybody believes the CDC's new measures are the best strategy. Dr. Scott Gottlieb said earlier that the delta "surge" will pass in the US within two or three weeks.

https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/california-counties-see-covid-cases-rising-most-heavily-vaccinated-counties

Exact Sciences lowers screening revenue forecast

 2021 Outlook

• The company anticipates revenue of $1,705-$1,745 million, including Screening revenue of $1,100-$1,125 million, Precision Oncology revenue of $530-$540 million, and COVID-19 testing revenue of $75-$80 million.
• Updated guidance is an increase from previously expected revenue of $1,690-$1,735 million, which included Screening revenue of $1,125-$1,150 million, Precision Oncology revenue of $515-$525 million, and COVID-19 testing revenue of $50-$60 million.
• Lower Screening revenue expectations are primarily due to the one-time downward revenue adjustment of $12.1 million referenced above and COVID-19 dynamics negatively impacting the business, including reduced physician office access for our field sales teams and fewer patient wellness visits.

https://stockhouse.com/news/press-releases/2021/07/28/exact-sciences-announces-second-quarter-2021-results