Day: January 21, 2021

The majority of 21 shipments of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday were spoiled en route to Michigan, likely delaying the state’s vaccination efforts this week, the Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday.

The vaccine’s distributor, McKesson Corp., notified the state that the majority of the 11,900 doses in the shipments got too cold and are now unusable. The Moderna vaccine is stored and shipped at roughly 4 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. Once on site, the vaccine can be kept at temperatures between 36 degrees and 77 degrees Fahrenheit for up to six hours before being administered to a patient.

The vaccine shipments are equipped with a temperature monitoring device to ensure safe transport. The reason for the temperature drop is currently unknown and under investigation by McKesson, the state said in a press release.

Most of the nearly 12,000 doses were resent on Monday night, the state said, with the rest shipped Tuesday. An additional six shipments were held back to ensure there were no temperature issues, which may delay vaccinations at an additional six vaccine sites this week, MHHS said in the release.

“We are committed to accelerating vaccine delivery as we work to reach our

Two large studies give a much sharper picture of which inherited mutations raise the risk of breast cancer for women without a family history of the disease, and how common these flawed genes are in the general population.

Doctors say the results published Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine can help women make better decisions about screening, preventive surgery or other steps.

Although this sort of genetic testing isn’t currently recommended for the general population, its use is growing and many people get it from tests sold directly to consumers.

The new work shows that the risk conferred by some genes “is very high,” Mary-Claire King wrote in an email. King, a University of Washington scientist, had no role in the new studies but discovered the first breast cancer predisposition gene, BRCA1.

“The lives of many women could be saved if all women were offered the opportunity to learn if they carry mutations in these genes before they are diagnosed with cancer,” she wrote.

The American Cancer Society estimates that 276,000 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in the United States last year. The new work suggests that at least 13,800 of them occur in women with

President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed several executive orders that would impact the healthcare industry.

In addition to several actions to address the COVID-19 pandemic, Biden ordered federal agencies to review and possibly revise policies to advance racial equity and prevent and combat discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

The orders define “equity as the consistent and systematic fair, just and impartial treatment of all individuals, including individuals who belong to underserved communities, such as Black, Latino, Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and other persons of color; LGBTQ+ persons; people with disabilities; religious minorities, persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise affected by persistent poverty or inequality,” Biden’s transition team said in a statement.

The president also directed federal officials to end former President Donald Trump’s plan to exclude non-citizens from the census and congressional apportionment, which could shape policy and how federal dollars are spent on healthcare and healthcare-related programs like Medicaid and social services. Biden also preserved and strengthened protections for young immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and reversed the travel ban from mostly majority-Muslim countries.

The American Medical Association supported the executive orders

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A pharmacy responsible for distributing the coronavirus vaccine to Ohio nursing homes failed to document storage temperatures for leftover shots, resulting in 890 doses being wasted, the state Health Department said Wednesday.

The agency said it suspended SpecialtyRx in Columbus from the distribution system and ordered it not to administer any of the wasted doses. The pharmacy was not part of the federal distribution program that includes national chains like Walgreens and CVS.

SpecialtyRx received an initial 1,500 doses of the Moderna vaccine late last year for distribution to eight nursing homes and had 890 leftover, the Health Department said.

The company, due to receive a shipment of second-shot doses, was exploring a transfer of the 890 leftover shots to another provider but failed to properly record the minimum and maximum refrigerator and freezer temperatures for the doses each day, the state said.

The doses are considered wasted because the monitoring wasn’t done properly, said Melanie Amato, a Health Department spokesperson. The nursing homes that received the initial doses must work with other providers — likely local health departments — for the second shots.

An official with New Jersey-based SpecialtyRx said Wednesday she wasn’t aware of

Elizabeth Richter will serve as acting administrator for CMS, according to the agency’s website on Wednesday.

The career civil servant previously served as CMS’ deputy center director, leading policy development and operations management for Medicare’s fee-for-service program since 2007. She has held several roles focused on Medicare payment issues since she joined the agency in 1990.

Healthcare insiders have waited with bated breath for Biden to announce his pick for CMS administrator. But he hasn’t done it yet, even though the agency’s Medicare and Medicaid programs cover nearly 1 in 3 Americans. CMS’ budget is more than $1 trillion, accounting for over a quarter of federal spending.

Richter will likely provide a steady hand on the tiller until Biden nominates a candidate to be confirmed by the Senate. But CMS probably won’t make any major policy decisions or roll out big, new initiatives until someone permanently takes over the agency.

Micky Tripathi, chief alliance officer at population health software company Arcadia, has been named chief of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

He previously served as president and CEO of the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, which wound down its operations last year, and founding president

Community Health Systems’ $1.8 billion high-yield bond offering—its second drive-by transaction in as many months—signals a gradual rebound for the hospital chain.

Franklin, Tenn.-based CHS both launched and priced the offering in a single day, a move known as a drive-by on the junk bond market, just as it did in December. The junior priority secured notes due 2029 garnered a CC rating from Fitch Ratings.

The low rating indicates a very high credit risk, but the transaction aligns with Fitch’s prediction in November that CHS is on the upswing from its purchase of Health Management Associates in 2014.

“It’s definitely positive in that it’s going to extend their debt maturity profile and lower interest expense,” said Megan Neuburger, a managing director with Fitch Ratings who covers investor-owned healthcare companies like CHS.

CHS originally capped the Jan. 19 offering at $750 million, but tacked on an extra $1 billion later in the day due to strong investor demand. The proceeds of the 2029 notes will be used to pay off CHS’ junior-priority secured notes due 2023.

It’s not uncommon in the healthcare industry to see quick transactions like this one, Neuburger said.

The bond markets performed fairly well despite