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The Justice Department charged a lab’s former owner with paying kickbacks and bribes for unnecessary genetic cancer screening referrals, allegedly bilking Medicare out of $53 million.
Daniel Hurt, who owned labs in Houston, Florida and California, allegedly submitted 350,000 fraudulent claims to Medicare from January 2019 to October 2021. Hurt, who allegedly received at least $26.9 million of the $53.3 million in Medicare reimbursement, hid the payments in sham marketing contracts, authorities claimed.
Hurt also faces fraud charges in pending cases in Pennsylvania and Florida federal courts.
Medicare made $25.7 billion in improper payments in 2020, according to a 2021 Health and Human Services DepartmentOffice of Inspector General report. Authorities have been cracking down on teleheatlh and genetic testing schemes, charging 36 people in July who allegedly orchestrated telehealth fraud.
For the first time on record, regular cannabis usage has surpassed cigarette use in the U.S., according to a new Gallup poll. Marijuana use has increased dramatically over the past half-century and is currently the highest Gallup has ever recorded.
Of the American adults who participated in the poll, around 16% said they currently smoke marijuana, while nearly half said they have tried it at some point in their lifetime. When the question was first asked in 1969, only 4% of respondents said they had tried it.
That same year, 40% of respondents said they had smoked cigarettes in the same week. But during the past decades, cigarette use has decreased among Americans.
In the poll conducted last month, only 11% of respondents reported being smokers —the lowest recorded since Gallup began collecting data in 1944. That’s a significant decrease from even the previous year, when 16% of respondents reported smoking cigarettes in the past week. In the 1950s, 45% of adults polled said they smoked cigarettes. [reworked this just a bit]
In 2019, 83% of respondents believed smoking was “very harmful” to adults who smoke, and another 14% said it is “somewhat harmful.” In 2013, more than nine in 10 respondents said smoking caused cancer and 91% of smokers polled in 2015 said they wish they had never started smoking.
“Smoking cigarettes is clearly on the decline and is most likely to become even more of a rarity in the years ahead,” Gallup senior scientist Dr. Frank Newport said. “This reflects both public awareness of its negative effects and continuing government efforts at all levels to curtail its use.”
Meanwhile, Americans’ views on the impact of marijuana are less negative — 62% of adults aged 18-34 and 53% of those aged 35-54 said that marijuana has positive effects on those who use it, according to another Gallup poll conducted in July. And 49% of respondents said marijuana has a positive effect on society.
Young Americans are smoking cannabis at the highest rate, with nearly a third of respondents under the age of 35 saying they smoke marijuana. But of that age group, only 8% are smoking cigarettes at least once a week.
Although marijuana for recreational use is still illegal in over half of U.S. states, it is now legal in some form in 38 states, which may be a contributing factor to its rise in popularity. And the number of cannabis consumers will likely continue to rise as more states legalize the drug, an idea supported by 68% of U.S. adults, according to Gallup — a record high.
“It should be noted, some authorities argue that marijuana is quite dangerous, particularly for young adults, and it is possible that attitudes toward its use could change if focus on the downsides of marijuana increases in the years ahead,” Newport said.
Alcohol continues to be by far the most used substance, with about 45% of respondents reporting they had a drink within the past week. This trend has “remained relatively constant over the years,” according to Gallup.
Natacha Larnaud
Natacha Larnaud is a social TV producer for CBS News.
Highmark Health’s insurance arm boosted the integrated health system’s finances during the first six months of the year amid investment losses, inflation, and rising labor and supply costs.
Pittsburgh-based Highmark suffered a $174 million net loss on operating revenue of $13 billion for the first two quarters, the not-for-profit company reported Tuesday.
Highmark Health Plan generated the majority, or $11 billion, of the company’s revenue and announced for a more than $450 million operating gain driven by the closing of the Health Now insurer and purchase of the remaining 50% of Gateway Health Plan last year. The insurance operation, which counts 6.8 million members across four states, also benefited from a decline in utilization early in the year during the COVID-19 omicron surge, Chief Operating Officer Karen Hanlon said. The insurance division likewise buoyed the company’s performance in the first quarter.
“As capacity opens up and becomes available, we’re certain that we will see utilization move back closer to pre-pandemic levels,” Hanlon said. “But I don’t believe that will be an overnight thing. It’ll be a little bit more gradual as some of the staffing challenges get addressed.”
Provider capacity challenges could impact Highmark’s Medicare Advantage star ratings for the coming year, Hanlon said. The company’s 256,000 Medicare Advantage members rated their experience in the plan lower compared than during previous years, Hanlon said.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services relaxed Medicare Advantage plans’ star reporting requirements for the past two years as part of pandemic relief, which led to a record number of insurers receiving the highest ratings on the five-point scale. Cigna and Centene also recently said they expect their star ratings to decline once CMS resumes its pre-pandemic scoring methodology. New scores are set to be released ahead of Medicare open enrollment, which begins Oct. 15, but CMS has not disclosed how it will calculate ratings for this year.
“It’s difficult with the access issues that are out there within the provider community,” Hanlon said. “The insurance customer, of course, doesn’t distinguish between, ‘What did the insurance company do and help me with?’ and ‘What’s the provider doing and helping me with?’ when they’re filling out surveys. Questions around access are challenged across the industry.”
Highmark’s Allegheny Health Network health system benefited from a slight increase in patient visits, with outpatient registrations excluding vaccinations up 12%, physician visits up 3%, emergency room visits up 13% and childbirths up 6%. Inpatient discharges and observations were down 2%, however.
Inflation and rising costs for labor and supplies led the 14-hospital chain to report $2 billion in revenue and a loss before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $71 million.
“Some of the macroeconomic factors—the labor and supply chain challenges, inflation—we will be facing those just like every other provider system,” Chief Financial Officer Saurabh Tripathi said. “The investment markets are so volatile, it’s hard to predict the next day, let alone the year. But we have a very strong balance sheet and very strong investment portfolio, so we are not worried about short-term losses.”
Highmark’s diversified business arm, which includes the HM Insurance Group stop-loss business, United Concordia Dental insurance and enGen technology operations, added another $100 million to the company’s operating earnings.
Situated on 11.84 acres, the project will include three single-story buildings each with 16 beds. Services will include medical screening, psychiatric and risk screening, psychological/biological/social evaluation, treatment, and peer support.
More than 1 million construction workers across the U.S. won’t have to comply with a federal COVID-19 vaccination requirement, but an appeals court cleared the way for President Joe Biden‘s administration to potentially enforce the mandate on some federal contractors.
Biden’s Office of Management and Budget said Monday that federal attorneys were still reviewing the ruling issued Friday and that no immediate steps have been taken to implement it.
The vaccine requirement for employees of federal contractors has been on hold nationwide since a U.S. district judge in Georgia issued an order in December barring its enforcement.
A split ruling by a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta lifted that nationwide injunction but continues to bar enforcement of the vaccine mandate against seven states that sued — Georgia, Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia. It also bars enforcement against members of Associated Builders and Contractors — which joined the lawsuit — or any of their subcontractors on federal projects.
The association, which has about 21,000 member companies employing more than 1 million workers, called the ruling a “huge victory” even though it narrows the scope of the previous injunction.
“A lot of the contractors were concerned about the record-keeping” and the potential to lose workers, said Ben Brubeck, the association’s vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs. “There’s a lot of employees who didn’t want to get vaccinated in the construction industry.”
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Taking into account previous court orders stemming from lawsuits by other states, the vaccine mandate now is blocked for federal contracts involving half the states but allowed in the other half. It’s unclear whether, when or how Biden’s administration will seek to enforce the mandate.
The contractor requirement had been part of Biden’s broader plan to fight COVID-19 by boosting vaccination rates. Separate orders had mandated vaccinations for healthcare employers participating in Medicare or Medicaid and had mandated employers with at least 100 workers to either require vaccinations or make employees wear masks and get regularly tested for COVID-19.
The vaccine mandates spawned a bevy of lawsuits, primarily from Republican-led states, but also from some employers. The U.S. Supreme Court in January blocked the vaccine requirement for large private employers but allowed it to proceed for most healthcare workers.
In requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for federal contractors, Biden’s administration contended that a federal procurement law gives the president broad authority to implement workplace safety guidelines. The appeals court panel disagreed and said Biden likely exceeded his authority. But it said the lower court judge also pushed the boundaries of judicial power by applying an injunction nationwide instead of limiting it only to those involved in the lawsuit.
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The appellate decision was written by Circuit Judge Britt C. Grant, who was appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump in 2018. Senior Circuit Judge J. L. Edmondson, an appointee of former Republican President Ronald Reagan, concurred in the decision.
Senior Circuit Judge R. Lanier Anderson III, an appointee of former Democratic President Jimmy Carter, wrote that he believes Biden had the legal authority to issue the vaccine requirement.
Not far from the U.S. border, hundreds of men, women and children waited in an hours-long line in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, for a chance to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
“This line is here almost every day,” Dr. Victor Treveño said.
Treveño works on the other side — in Laredo, Texas — but is leading a bi-national effort to distribute donated vaccines here.
“And the reason for that is we’re one community and whatever affects them affects us and vice versa…we’re both communities are 150 miles away from major cities so we have to tend to our needs locally,” he said.
So the team, with the approval of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, devised a way to bring people to a secure spot along the port of entry. The spot was chosen because the U.S. doesn’t want to export vaccines that were paid for by U.S. tax dollars.
But, many of the vaccines being distributed were just days away from expiring, with no takers. So doctors on the U.S. side took them to where there are plenty of takers. Especially eager to get them are parents with children under 5, who aren’t yet eligible for the vaccine in Mexico.
Josefina Guerra was in line with her two grandchildren. She told CBS News they were there to get their second shot.
Once parked, Treveño joined other doctors and nurses on the bus, where the shots — and crying — began, followed by gratitude from adults who got the shot too, like Guerra.
Guerra said she has hypertension and diabetes, so the vaccine is very important to her.
On the way back, some of the kids showed off their arms, where they got their shot. One child said he didn’t cry, and that he was strong because he plays baseball.
Nuevo Laredo Mayor Carmen Lilia Canturosas said the childrens’ vaccinations have given her city a milestone: they’re the first area in all of Mexico to vaccinate children ages 6 months to 12 years.
The bi-national program has vaccinated 250,000 people in a little more than a year.
“I like it, it’s very satisfying,” Treveño said. “we do because there’s a need, we have a need, and we step up to the plate.”
Federal officials are “cautiously optimistic” as monkeypox cases decline, even as health officials announced the first pediatric case in New York City.
The patients turning up at clinics often have a range of symptoms that are not typical of the infection. Some of the infected seem to have no symptoms at all.
No foreign visitors to the U.S. are urged to quarantine in the U.S. after arriving, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, as part of new COVID-19 travel guidance published this week by the agency.
The updated recommendations for domestic and international trips are the latest round in a sweeping overhaul launched earlier this month by the CDC, which agency officials have touted as an effort to streamline its COVID-19 guidance across the board.
The first recommendations revised earlier this month were for schools. Other changes are expected to be published in the coming days for several other settings, including for hospitals, nursing homes and jails and prisons.
The agency had previously said that travelers from abroad who were not up to date on getting their COVID-19 vaccine booster shots should “stay home and self-quarantine for a full 5 days after travel.”
Now, similar to the changes it announced in its other community guidance, the agency’s new travel advice has stripped out all mention of its quarantine recommendations.
Instead, the CDC says all travelers should take steps like getting tested three days after their trip and monitor for COVID-19 symptoms, regardless of their vaccination status.
The agency’s travel recommendations no longer make any distinction between whether travelers are “up to date” on their COVID-19 vaccines.
The updated guidance still includes an urging that all people “wear high-quality masks in indoor public transportation settings at this time” – a recommendation the agency has continuously made since a federal court blocked the CDC’s order requiring masks in transit in April.
The CDC last significantly updated its travel guidance in June, when the agency said it would no longer require negative COVID-19 tests before flights into the U.S.
The changes come as the latest COVID-19 wave driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron appears to be easing nationwide.
The pace of new COVID-19 hospitalizations has slowed nationwide off of a peak late last month and, for the first time in weeks, the agency is predicting that the pace of new COVID-19 deaths will likely slow.
Less than a quarter of Americans are now living in areas of “high” COVID-19 Community Levels, according to updated figures published by the CDC this week, where the agency urges all Americans to mask indoors. This is the smallest share of Americans living in areas of “high” COVID-19 since June.
Vaccination requirements
As of the latest update, the agency’s travel guidance continues to require that non-citizen international travelers prove they are fully vaccinated before flying into the country, with “only limited exceptions.”
A similar requirement imposed by the Department of Homeland Security remains in place indefinitely for people crossing land borders who are not U.S. residents or citizens.
The recommendation is among the few places on the CDC’s website where the agency still mentions the “fully vaccinated” threshold, which amounts to two doses of the Novavax, Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, or a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson Janssen vaccine.
Instead, the CDC has largely moved elsewhere in its guidance to urge Americans to “stay up to date” with their COVID-19 vaccinations, which for some older adults so far includes up to four doses – and may soon include a fifth, once federal health authorities sign off on the updated booster shots for this fall.
The Biden administration’s vaccination requirements on visitors from abroad have continued to be enforced since it was first levied last year, including recently to block star tennis player Novak Djokovic from flying to compete in the U.S. Open this year.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra is supposed to recertify to President Biden that the rules are still needed at the end of every calendar month.
The Biden administration still imposes COVID-19 vaccination requirements in other foreign entry rules as well, including for people seeking to immigrate to the U.S.
Alexander Tin
CBS News reporter covering public health and the pandemic.
Moderna is taking Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech to court, claiming the rival drugmakers copied its technology in developing their COVID-19 vaccine.
In documents filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts and in Germany, Moderna claims Pfizer and BioNTech violated its intellectual property rights on key parts of its messenger RNA technology, which it had patents on from 2010 to 2016.
Moderna pioneered the technology and invested billions of dollars in developing it, CEO Stephane Bancel said on Friday in a company statement.
“We believe that Pfizer and BioNTech unlawfully copied Moderna’s inventions, and they have continued to use them without permission,” Shannon Thyme Klinger, chief legal officer for Moderna, a biotechnology startup based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, also said in the statement.
Pfizer and BioNTech expressed confidence in the intellectual property behind their joint vaccine, saying it would fight the allegations.
While the vaccine partners have not yet fully reviewed the complaint, “we are surprised by the litigation given the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was based on BioNTech’s proprietary mRNA technology and developed by both BioNTech and Pfizer,” they said in a statement.
The decades of development behind mRNA vaccine technology
02:32
Moderna and Pfizer’s two-shot vaccines both use mRNA technology to help patients fight the coronavirus. Those vaccines work by injecting a genetic code for the spike protein that coats the surface of the coronavirus.
Both companies “took four different candidates into clinical testing, including options that would have steered clear of Moderna’s innovative path by using unmodified mRNA,” Moderna stated in its suit. “Ultimately, however, Pfizer and BioNTech discarded those alternatives and copied Moderna’s patented technology.”
Moderna is not asking that courts take the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine off the market or to stop future sales, in view of the public need for the vaccines. Moderna and Pfizer’s vaccines have been the mainstays of the U.S. effort to curtail the pandemic, with the virus killing more than a million Americans.
The Justice Department has intervened on a False Claims Act lawsuit against Cigna Corp. that alleges the insurer exaggerated the illnesses of its Medicare members to obtain higher payments from the federal government.
The whistleblower lawsuit, filed in 2017 in a New York federal court by a former service provider for Cigna’s Medicare Advantage subsidiary HealthSpring, accuses Cigna of bilking the federal government out of $1.4 billion by submitting improper diagnostic codes from 2012 to 2019. The codes were allegedly based on health conditions that did not exist in the patientor were not found in any medical record.
Earlier this month, the court granted the Justice Department’s motion to partially intervene in the case, specifically onthe allegations that Cigna billed Medicare for risk-adjustment payments based on diagnoses that lacked the testing, imaging or other necessary clinical steps. The Medicare Advantage beneficiaries did not receive any medical treatment for these conditions during home visits or from any other medical provider over the course of a year, the DOJ alleges.
Cigna did not immediately return requests for comment. The company said when the case was unsealed in August 2020 that the allegations were unjustified.
The Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, initially declined to intervene in February 2020 but reserved the right to join the lawsuit at a later date “upon a showing of good cause.” The DOJ has until Sept. 30 to file its own complaint. The federal government intervenes on whistleblower cases less than 25% of the time.
DOJ joined lawsuits alleging similar Medicare Advantage fraud against insurers UnitedHealth Group and Anthem in 2017 and 2020, respectively. The federal government intervened in September in a FCA case against Independent Health and now-defunct DxID, alleging the New York health insurer and data mining company conspired to upcode risk scores. Each case is pending.
Also last year, the DOJ consolidated six alleged Medicare Advantage fraud cases against Kaiser Permanente health plans. Northern California-based health system Sutter Health agreed to pay $90 million in August 2021 to settle a case involving similar fraud claims.
The federal government pays Medicare Advantage plans a monthly per-member rate, based on the health status of beneficiaries. Beneficiaries who have more health issues receive a higher risk score, which translates to higher federal payments.
Improper payments to those plans exceeded $16.2 billion in 2020, according to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data. That represented 6.8% of all Medicare Advantage payments in 2020, the agency found.
Meanwhile, both insurers and providers are reportedly investing more in their billing and coding departments as they look to maximize reimbursement.
Washington — First lady Jill Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday with an apparent “rebound” infection and will return to isolation, her office said in a statement.
“The First Lady has experienced no reemergence of symptoms, and will remain in Delaware where she has reinitiated isolation procedures,” communications director Kelsey Donohue said in a statement. “The White House Medical Unit has conducted contact tracing and close contacts have been notified.”
The first lady first tested positive last week and was in isolation in South Carolina for five days. She experienced mild, cold-like symptoms and was treated with the antiviral drug Paxlovid, which has been linked to rebound infections. She joined President Biden in Delaware on Sunday following two negative tests.
The president also experienced a rebound case last month, when he tested positive again several days after leaving isolation. The president returned on Wednesday to the White House, where he is set to announce his plan to cancel up to $20,000 in debt for millions of Americans with federal student loans.
Mr. Biden tested negative for COVID-19 on Wednesday morning, a White House official said.
“Consistent with CDC guidance because he is a close contact of the First Lady, he will mask for 10 days when indoors and in close proximity to others,” the official said. “We will also keep the President’s testing cadence increased and continue to report those results.”
Azusa, California — As the new school year kicks off in Azusa, California, there’s a new COVID-19 reality and fresh hope.
Diane and Raul Ramirez say there’s no substitute for their kids being back in the classroom full-time after two years of uncertainty.
“It’s exciting to be able to try and finally get back to normal,” Diane Ramirez said. “I feel like we need to start getting back into the routine again.”
This year, school districts nationwide have dropped testing requirements and nearly 96% no longer require masks, according to Burbio’s school tracker data.
The lesson now is safety, says Azusa Unified School District nurse Melissa Lofton.
There are numerous sanitizing stations throughout the school buildings and the district used federal funds to improve ventilation in every classroom. If a student tests positive, Lofton said they won’t send the class home, but will notify families.
“Living with COVID now, I think, is doable,” Lofton said. “Keeping students in school has really helped with mental health and emotional well-being.”
That’s echoed by parents like Reenia Covington, who said she’s “happy the kids are back with their friends at school, with teachers.”
“This is where they need to be,” Covington said.
Lofton says parents should stay vigilant — good hygiene like hand washing is key, and at the very first sign of illness, keep kids home and test frequently.
Anthony Fauci did not set out to become a political lightning rod. But, as Sheryl Gay Stolberg explains, he couldn’t escape becoming a polarizing figure in Donald Trump’s Washington.
Medicare Advantage carriers’ interest in purchasing the nation’s largest home risk-assessment provider underscores the importance home visits play in maximizing the companies’ payments.
CVS Health, UnitedHealth Group and Option Care Health, along with Amazon, are reportedly bidding for Signify Health, a digital health company that specializes in at-home healthcare evaluations. UnitedHealth has submitted the top bid at more than $30 a share, with Amazon’s offer close behind, unidentified sources told Bloomberg News. Signify’s board is scheduled to meet Monday to discuss the bids, and final bids are due Sept. 6, the news outlet reported.
Shares of Signify opened at $29.71 Monday, up nearly 40% from Friday’s close of $21.20 a share. Shares closed at $27.99.
“The home is the next clinical battlefront—who’s going to own it, and who’s going to play in it,” said Tom Kiesau, who leads the digital transformation practice at the Chartis Group, a healthcare consulting firm
Signify, Amazon, UnitedHealth Group, Option Care Health and CVS Health declined to comment.
Under the Medicare Advantage program, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services pays insurers a flat fee to cover patients based on their medical condition, which insurers measure through risk codes. Signify Health is the largest U.S. health risk assessment provider and generated 84% of its $246.2 million in revenue from home services during the second quarter. The three largest Medicare Advantage carriers—UnitedHealthcare, CVS Health’s Aetna and Humana—are Signify Health’s biggest customers, according to Cowen, a healthcare consultancy.
UnitedHealthcare, the largest Medicare Advantage carrier with 6.9 million members, “certainly would not want Medicare Advantage competitor CVS having clinical data for UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage patients,” Cowen healthcare analyst Gary Taylor wrote in a research note Monday. CVS Health’s Aetna is the third-largest Medicare Advantage insurer with 3.2 million members.
A UnitedHealth Group deal for Signify Health could pose antitrust concerns because the two companies lead the health risk assessment market, the Cowen analysts wrote. Signify will perform 2.4 million home visits this year, and UnitedHealth Group 2 million, according to Cowen.
Home-based assessments are not without controversy.
Health risk assessments “may be particularly vulnerable to misuse by Medicare Advantage companies” since they are often performed by health insurance companies or by vendors that insurers hire, according to a report published last year by the Health and Human Services Department’s Office of the Inspector General. Federal auditors last year accused UnitedHealthcare of overstating patients’ health conditions to inflate payments by $3.7 billion in 2016.
UnitedHealthcare disputed the findings.
Federal auditors are also investigating Aetna for inflating Medicare Advantage risk codes.
Last month, Amazon’s lofty ambitions for its role in the U.S. healthcare industry took a step forward with the announcement of its planned $3.9 billion acquisition of One Medical, a publicly traded, membership-based primary-care practice offering virtual and brick-and-mortar services to commercially insured and Medicare patients. One Medical’s $2.1 billion acquisition of Iora Health in June 2021 added 31,000 Medicare Advantage and ACO Reach patients to the company’s membership rolls.
“Amazon is arguably the most deep pocketed of possible acquirers in the healthcare space, and their involvement could push acquisition prices higher and/or create a more competitive bidding environment,” Credit Suisse analyst A.J. Rice wrote in an analyst note Monday. “Given the general focus on ‘Big Tech’ amongst antitrust regulators, this transaction could come under scrutiny as well, even without there being market overlap in the traditional sense.”
For a technology company moving into healthcare, acquiring Signify Health could strengthen relationships with healthcare organizations in the company’s customer base, said Nathan Ray, a partner in consultancy West Monroe’s healthcare and life sciences practice.
For insurers, an acquisition could expand their clinical care offerings. UnitedHealth Group in March announced a $5.4 billion plan to acquire home health and hospice provider LHC Group. Aetna partnered with Landmark Health in September 2020 to offer New York members home care services.
“M&A can be very fluid,” CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call. “You don’t necessarily design exactly how these deals go and what gets announced. We are committed to extending our health services in categories, and we are very encouraged and confident that we’ll take the next step on this journey by the end of this year.”
Offering treatment in residents’ homes serves as a cheaper alternative to hospital-based care. Acquiring a care delivery provider also offers health insurance companies a new revenue stream that is not limited under federal medical loss ratio requirements. If insurers can refer members to home health professionals owned by the same parent company, they can essentially pay themselves for providing the care, further sidestepping MLR requirements.
Signify Health could be a “nice Lego in a number of groups’ different strategies,” Ray said.
Signify plans to lay off 500 workers beginning Oct. 1. The company said the layoffs were connected to its decision to exit the episodes-of-care business, in which it partnered with payers to participate in value-based care programs. Signify Health reported a $490 million net loss during the second quarter, driven by $519.9 million the company spent to exit this line of business.
UnitedHealth Group and Humana, the second largest Medicare Advantage insurer with 5.1 million members, could decline to work with Signify Health if CVS Health or another competitor acquires it, according to Cowen.
Consumer Reports is advising people against eating any Wendy’s sandwich or salad with romaine lettuce until more is known about a strain of E. coli that has sickened 37 people, hospitalizing 10.
The non-profit advocacy group cited its food safety experts in urging a cautious approach until the fast-food chain can confirm the source of the pathogen and details how it plans to address the problem.
“E. coli can be especially harmful to young children, infants, older persons and those with a compromised immune system,” James Rogers, CR’s director of food safety and testing, said Monday in a statement. “The goal is to minimize your risk of getting it, and until we know more about its source, it’s safest to avoid consuming Wendy’s sandwiches served with lettuce and any Wendy’s salad containing romaine lettuce.”
While the source of the outbreak is unclear, many of the 37 people who recently contracted E. coli reported eating lettuce at a Wendy’s location in Michigan, Ohio or Pennsylvania before getting sick, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday.
“Romaine lettuce served on burgers and sandwiches at Wendy’s was one of the most common ingredients eaten among the menu items, but investigators continue to analyze data at the ingredient level to determine if there are any other possible foods that could be the source of the outbreak,” the agency said.
Larger outbreak?
Fifteen of those who fell ill live in Michigan, 19 are from Ohio, two are from Pennsylvania and one is from Indiana, according to the CDC. Of the 26 of those who were interviewed as part of an agency probe, 22 said they ate at a Wendy’s in the week before they got sick.
But the actual number of those sickened in the outbreak is likely higher than reported and could include more than four states, the CDC noted.
Reached for comment, a Wendy’s representative said the company is cooperating with public health officials investigating the outbreak. The company also has discarded and replaced the sandwich lettuce at some eateries in the region where people were stricken.
“The lettuce that we use in our salads is different, and is not affected by this action,” Wendy’s said.
Romaine lettuce and other greens like spinach and clover sprouts have been involved in at least 17 E. coli outbreaks around the U.S. between 2006 and 2019, according to the CDC.
Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy’s and its franchisees operate about 7,000 restaurants worldwide.
Washington — First lady Jill Biden has tested negative for COVID-19 and will leave isolation five days after first testing positive, her office said Sunday.
“After isolating for five days and receiving negative results from two consecutive COVID-19 tests, the First Lady will depart South Carolina later today for Delaware,” Elizabeth Alexander, the first lady’s communications director, said in a statement.
Biden had been isolating in South Carolina since last Tuesday, when she tested positive toward the end of a family vacation. President Biden, who recently overcame two bouts of COVID-19, tested negative for the virus and briefly returned to Washington before departing for Delaware.
The first lady is double-vaccinated and received two boosters, her office said last week. She experienced mild “cold-like” symptoms and was treated with the antiviral medication Paxlovid.
The president first tested positive for COVID-19 on July 21 and isolated at the White House while the first lady remained at the couple’s residence in Delaware. He emerged from isolation six days later, but developed a “rebound” case on July 30, forcing him to isolate again until Aug. 7.
He was considered a close contact of the first lady last week, and the White House said he would wear a mask while in close proximity to others for the next 10 days.
Nicotine gummies could be toxic and even deadly if consumed by kids under 6, warn federal regulators, who call the fruit-flavored candies a “public health crisis just waiting to happen” among American youth as a new school year begins.
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday issued a first-of-a-kind warning to one maker of nicotine gummies, calling the products particularly troublesome because they resemble kid-friendly food or candy and could potentially “cause severe nicotine toxicity or even death among young children.”
An FDA-funded study recently found nicotine candies to be the second-most popular tobacco product among high school students in Southern California, with e-cigarettes placing first.
“Nicotine gummies are a public health crisis just waiting to happen among our nation’s youth, particularly as we head into a new school year,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, M.D., stated. “We want parents to be aware of these products and the potential for health consequences for children of all ages – including toxicity to young children and appeal of these addictive products to our youth.”
Headlines: E-cigarettes, gun legislation, and Surfside anniversary
01:28
The agency won’t stand by as the “illegal products infiltrate the marketplace,” the commissioner added.
The FDA’s warning letter was addressed to Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based VPR Brands, which had marketed its square-shaped gummies as made with “tobacco-free nicotine.” The vaping company and others in recent years have made the claim in reference to synthetic nicotine.
The company had not received FDA authorization to market a tobacco product as legally required, the FDA said.
Reached by telephone, a company employee declined to comment. However, the website devoted to its Krave nicotine gummies brand on Friday marked the product as discontinued.
The company advertised its gummies as each containing 1 milligram of nicotine, or 12 milligrams for each tin. Ingesting 1 to 4 milligrams of nicotine is enough to be toxic for a child under 6, depending on weight, the FDA said. Further, nicotine is highly addictive and exposure to it during adolescence can harm the developing brain, the agency noted.
The FDA in July unveiled plans to ban Juul e-cigarettes, but its order was postponed after the popular vaping company took the agency to court.
Public health officials are investigating a growing number of illnesses linked to E. coli bacteria in Michigan and Ohio, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week. At least 29 cases have been reported so far, and CDC says the number is expected to increase.
The CDC says it has not yet identified the food that is causing the “fast-moving outbreak.” It urged anyone with symptoms of an E. coli infection to report them to their local health departments. Fever, diarrhea, vomiting, dizziness, and dehydration are some signs of the infection.
The onset of symptoms typically happens three or four days after a person ingests the bacteria, and most people who get sick will recover without treatment within seven days, the CDC said.
Of the 29 cases so far linked to the current E. coli outbreak — 15 in Michigan and 14 in Ohio — nine people required hospitalization. No deaths have been reported.
E. COLI OUTBREAK: At least 29 people sick from E. coli in Michigan & Ohio. If you have symptoms of E. coli, write down what you ate the week before you got sick, report your illness to health department, & answer questions about your illness if they call. https://t.co/ARu54vuGUipic.twitter.com/lGusW70CIV
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services issued its own announcement about rising E. coli illnesses in the state, and said it has partnered with local health departments in Kent, Ottawa and Oakland counties to investigate the cause.
Nearly 100 cases were reported to the state health department since the beginning of August, according to the announcement, which is roughly five times the number of cases reported over the same time period last year. Lab testing indicates some of the current cases are related to one another, the health department said. However, it emphasized that the investigation underway in Michigan is still “in the early stages.”
“While reports of E. coliillness typically increase during the warmer summer months, this significant jump in cases is alarming,” Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, the chief medical executive at Michigan’s health department, said in a statement. “This is a reminder to make sure to follow best practices when it comes to hand hygiene and food handling to prevent these kinds of foodborne illness.”
A spokesperson at the Ohio Department of Health said cases reported in the state have come from Clermont, Cuyahoga, Franklin, Wood, Lorain, Lucas, Mahoning and Summit counties, according to CBS affiliate WBNS, adding that four of the nine cases requiring hospitalization are in Ohio.
Like health officials in Michigan and Ohio, the CDC is encouraging people to take extra precautions when handling food to reduce their risks of consuming or spreading E. coli. Washing hands, utensils and surfaces that may come into contact with food; washing produce; separating raw foods from cooked ones; and refrigerating anything perishable is recommended. Health officials also recommend using a thermometer to make sure foods are cooked at a temperature high enough to kill the germ.
One of the most recent major E. coli outbreaks happened toward the end of 2019, when almost 200 people across more than half of U.S. states became ill after eating contaminated romaine lettuce. Months after giving the public the green light to consume the lettuce again, regulators at the Food and Drug Administration said cow feces, as a result of “the proximity of cattle to produce fields” likely contributed to the contamination.
Incensed when two others won the Nobel Prize for the science behind the invention, he took out a newspaper ad that called his exclusion a “shameful wrong that must be righted.”
U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois have since put pressure on Walgreens to revise that policy to ensure customers’ privacy is respected. The senators sent a letter to Brewer in late July and asked for a meeting.
Protecting customer privacy is a challenge, experts say. Workers who don’t want to complete a sale must be trained to quickly and discreetly hand off that sale to a co-worker who will finish the transaction without missing a beat and without drawing attention. The maneuver should be as seamless as when an underage grocery store cashier calls an older colleague to ring up an alcohol sale.
Walgreens should be well-versed in managing customer privacy, particularly after the onslaught of demand and long lines it worked through during the initial rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines, experts say. But ratcheted-up emotions around the abortion issue have gotten in the way. Consumer brands increasingly confront political and social issues in their business, and success or failure in handling them comes down to proper employee training.
“It’s really important to remind employees, ‘We’re not a red company or a blue company, we’re a company that serves our community,’ ” says Dennis Culloton, CEO and president of Culloton + Bauer Luce, a public affairs firm specializing in crisis communications and reputation management. “Everyone needs to understand that walking in.”
Consistency is key, too, and Walgreens’ policy seems “pretty loosey goosey,” says Dan Cotter, a Chicago attorney at Howard & Howard. If a worker decides they are morally opposed to selling a product to someone who is in a legally protected group, it could lead to discrimination lawsuits.
“Any of this stuff has to be consistently applied so they’re not triggering discriminatory behavior,” he says. “If Walgreens doesn’t train for that, I think that’s the real risk.”
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But executing closely choreographed handoffs at the cash register will be difficult at a time when stores are often short-handed due to a shortage of workers across the economy. A lack of staff has forced some Walgreens outlets to close early. If only two people are working in a given store at a given time, discreetly summoning a co-worker to complete a sale could be difficult.
Inevitably, Walgreens will find itself in this situation again, says Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Brewer must also prepare shareholders for the possibility of Walgreens ending up in a firestorm. She needs to show the company isn’t “floundering around” but is anticipating such a reaction and has a plan.
“Being a healthcare company from 2022 on puts you in the center of social political battles,” Gordon says. “Two years ago, you could be criticized for being too expensive or for not having your locations in healthcare deserts, and all of that’s still true. But now you’re in the middle of one of the most highly charged social battles the country faces.”
The toll of nuclear war would be instantly catastrophic for those who are within the immediate path of the weapons. But a new study shows just how deadly the scope of such a war would be.
A nuclear blast would cause worldwide famine, according to the study, published in Nature Food on Monday, as massive amounts of soot would block sunlight, disrupt climate systems and limit food production.
“[It] would be a global catastrophe for food security,” the authors said.
Even a relatively small nuclear conflict, such as one between India and Pakistan, would be devastating, researchers found. A week-long nuclear war involving about 100 weapons and the release of 5 Tg, about 11 billion pounds, of soot would kill 27 million people directly. The study said after two years, with international trade at a halt and a 34.7ºF temperature drop, the famine it creates would kill 255 million people, assuming that the rest of the population got the minimum food needed to survive, about 1,999 calories per capita per day.
The largest scenario examined, a week-long war involving 4,400 weapons and 150 Tg, or 330.6 billion pounds, of soot – such as one that would occur between the U.S., its allies and Russia – would kill 360 million people directly – and more than 5 billion from starvation, the study said. The density of the soot would reduce global temperatures by more than 58ºF.
“While amounts of soot injection into the stratosphere from the use of fewer nuclear weapons would have smaller global impacts,” researchers said in their article, “once a nuclear war starts, it may be very difficult to limit escalation.”
Using climate, crop and fishery models, researchers found that the climatic impacts of soot from nuclear war would peak in the first few years but last for about a decade.
In the worst-case scenario, when 150 Tg of soot is unleashed, the global average calorie production from crops would decline by about 90% just three to four years after the nuclear war, the study found.
“The changes would induce a catastrophic disruption of global food markets,” the study says, “as even a 7% global yield decline compared with the control simulation would exceed the largest anomaly ever recorded since the beginning of Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) observational records in 1961.”
Lead author Lili Xia, a climate scientist at Rutgers University, told Nature that the situation would be “really bad.”
“A large percentage of the people will be starving,” they said.
Food intake (kcal per capita per day) in Year 2 after different nuclear war soot injections.
Nature Food
The findings are the result of looking at a range of scenarios. The scientists considered whether people would continue to farm animals or use any remaining crops to feed people instead. They also assumed that people would repurpose biofuel crops for human consumption, that food waste would be limited and that global food trade would halt as nations tried to save their own.
But not all nations of the world would face the same fate under the scenarios studied. Under the smallest nuclear war situation studied, researchers found that the Middle East, parts of Central America and parts of Asia would see some food deprivation to starving while most of the rest of the world would continue to have a normal food intake.
In the most extreme situation studied, every country aside from Australia, Argentina, Uruguay, Oman, Brazil, Paraguay and few others, would starve.
“The first time I showed my son the map, the first reaction he had is, ‘let’s move to Australia,'” Xia said.
Earlier this year, CBS News conducted a study that found 70% of adults are worried that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could trigger nuclear conflict. Those findings emerged after Russia’s foreign minister said the risk of nuclear conflict “should not be underestimated.”
That fear has only been stoked throughout the year. In July, Iran said it has the technical capacity to build a nuclear weapon, though it said it hasn’t yet done so, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he would use nuclear weapons in potential military conflicts with the U.S. and South Korea.
Nuclear weapons haven’t been used in a conflict since 1945, but currently, the U.S. and Russia have more than 1,500 nuclear weapons deployed and ready to fire.
Alex Wellerstein, historian and professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology, said that it’s not in the interests of U.S. enemies to get involved with such actions.
But, he said, it should still be a concern.
“Future problems are brewing,” he said. “I guarantee it.”
CBS Mornings’ Tony Dokoupil contributed to this story.
Li Cohen
Li Cohen is a social media producer and trending reporter for CBS News, focusing on social justice issues.
Turnover in healthcare leadership positions is up, with more executives looking to retire after years of COVID-19. At the same time, health systems have become more complex as they consolidate, requiring additional levels of experience.
Healthcare organizations face stiff competition in their search for executive talent as a result—leading decision-makers to boost compensation and shift resources toward emerging needs.
Nearly 40% of healthcare organizations said they have increased efforts to recruit more executives over the past year, according to consulting firm SullivanCotter, which provides data from more than 2,000 health systems, hospitals, medical groups and health plans of varying sizes for Modern Healthcare’s annual Management and Executive Compensation Survey.
“The pandemic created the perfect storm, requiring organizations to meaningfully address their evolving workforce and talent strategies … along with the overdue equity needs of their teams and patient populations,” said Jessica Homann, vice president at recruiting firm Furst Group.
Rising salaries
Health systems are willing to pay more for the best talent, as they work to balance the reality of a competitive market with ongoing financial pressures.
Median base salaries have increased for dozens of leadership positions, according to the SullivanCotter survey.
Human resources executives saw the highest bump in median base pay across all health systems, rising 7.3% from early 2021 to 2022.
At systems with less than $1 billion in net revenue, chief information officers—tasked with leading IT initiatives—had the highest year-over-year increase in median base salary at 8.4%.
Systems with between $1 billion and $3 billion in net revenue raised base pay the most for government relations executives, who act as policy liaisons for their employers’ interests.
New York, 16th of August 2022: Hoptroff, the timing solutions provider offering resilient, traceable, and precise time to organisations all around the world, has today announced Jack Daly as their Chief Revenue Officer.
Jack’s focus at Hoptroff will be taking ownership of global revenue strategy to drive and grow sales across all sectors and channels. He joins the team with over 30 years of proven executive sales leadership, and whilst continuing to grow our relationship with the financial services sector, he will also be developing revenue growth strategies for expansion into new markets such as media, gaming, IoT and blockchain. Jack previously led the global proactive data security sales teams for VikingCloud, a market leader in cyber security, managed service, and compliance. Prior to VikingCloud Jack was Chief Sales Officer at DefenseStorm, a company specialising in delivering cyber security, cyber compliance, and cyber fraud solutions to financial institutions.
Hoptroff Logo
Tim Richards, CEO of Hoptroff commented: “Hiring Jack as our Chief Revenue Officer is a crucial step in our rapid growth plan. Jack’s exceptional track record of international success is a brilliant addition to our business and sales team.
Jack has a keen eye for identifying new channels of revenue as we expand into new market sectors and will be managing the complete sales cycle from lead generation and relationship-building through to close.”
On his appointment, Jack said: “I’m excited to join the team at such a pivotal time in the business. Hoptroff continues to make great progress in the fintech sector, and I’m looking forward to consolidating this growth while working with the team to expand the product offering into new sectors.”
About Hoptroff:
Hoptroff is a plug-and-play software solution that provides precision timing for businesses globally, meeting their compliance obligations, improving operational efficiency, and reducing costs.
Our network-delivered solution provides compliance and security for global financial markets, media and broadcast, gaming, e-commerce, and distributed ledger technology.
It is highly resilient, secure, verified, auditable, quick, cost-effective to install, scale and maintain, and easy to use in real-time for compliance, ops, and senior management.
For any media enquiries, please contact: Hoptroff@Championcomms.com
A case of polio was identified in Rockland County, New York and now the virus that causes the disease has been detected in New York City’s wastewater as well as two other counties’. The New York Health Department said this indicates the virus is being spread within local communities, and that hundreds of people could be infected.
Polio is “a serious and life-threatening disease,” the state health department said. It’s highly contagious, and people can spread the virus before they start showing symptoms — which can take as long as 30 days after becoming infected.
Until the recent uptick, the polio vaccine had virtually wiped out the disease for generations of Americans.
How do you know if you’ve been vaccinated against polio?
Polio in the U.S.
Outbreaks of polio killed thousands of people in the U.S before the introduction of the first polio vaccine in 1955. The disease spreads from person to person, usually through contamination from feces. In some cases it can infect a person’s spinal cord, causing limb weakness or paralysis that can leave a person unable to walk or breathe on their own.
Hospital staff examine a patient in a tank respirator, known as an iron lung, during the Rhode Island polio epidemic in1960.
CDC / Getty Images
The disease often affected children, and worried parents kept their kids home from public pools, movie theaters and other summer activities, when cases typically spiked.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt survived a bout of polio in 1921 and was left paralyzed. He founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, now known as the March of Dimes, which pioneered development of the polio vaccine.
In 1956, Elvis Presley encouraged young Americans to get the polio vaccine by getting his shot before the press, ahead of an appearance “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
Elvis Presley receiving a polio vaccination from Dr. Leona Baumgartner and Dr. Harold Fuerst at CBS Studio 50 in New York City in 1956.
Seymour Wally/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images
Thanks to a successful vaccination program, polio was officially declared eliminated from the United States in 1979.
How to determine your polio vaccination status
Every U.S. state has had a longstanding requirement for children to receive the polio vaccine before entering school, but there is no federal law that requires children to have certain vaccines in order to enter school.
For example, New York requires a minimum of seven vaccines for kids to attend pre-K — public or private — including the polio, tetanus, measles and hepatitis B vaccines. Several more vaccines or doses are required before entering higher grades.
Because of those childhood immunizations, public health officials presume most adults in the United States have immunity to polio.
To double-check which immunizations you have received, the CDC suggests asking parents or caregivers, locating old documents from your childhood, or even asking former schools, doctors and employers, as they may have kept a record of proof of immunization.
Children line up to get their polio vaccines at the Woodbury Avenue School in Huntington, New York, in the 1950s.
Walter del Toro/Newsday RM via Getty Images
The CDC recommends children get four doses of the polio vaccine — at ages 2 months, 4 months, 6–18 months, and 4–6 years. Some states only require three doses.
Most adults do not need the vaccine, as they were likely vaccinated when they were children. But the CDC says some adults at higher risk for polio — including health care workers who may be exposed to the virus, lab workers and people traveling to certain parts of the world where polio occurs — may want to consider vaccination. And of course, unvaccinated adults are considered high-risk.
Why is polio back?
One unvaccinated young adult in Rockland County, New York, who was previously healthy, developed paralysis in their legs and was confirmed to have polio, health officials said in late July. It was the first known case in the U.S. since 2013.
Though the virus has been eradicated in much of the world, cases still occur in several countries.
Poliovirus was found in wastewater samples from Rockland County and nearby Orange County, as well as New York City, indicating wider spread. Officials are still investigating its origin and it is unclear how many people may infected.
State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said the single case of polio is “just the tip of the iceberg.”
“Based on earlier polio outbreaks, New Yorkers should know that for every one case of paralytic polio observed, there may be hundreds of other people infected,” Bassett said in a statement Aug. 4. Officials are urging anyone unvaccinated to get immunized right away.
After reports of polio in New York, health officials in Canada said they would start testing wastewater in a number of cities, CBC News reports.
Earlier this year, polio was detected in sewage from London and health officials in the U.K. urged people who had not been fully vaccinated to get their shots, and announced they would offer boosters to children in London.
Last year, when a case of polio was discovered in an unvaccinated 4-year-old in Jerusalem, Israel’s Ministry of Health also advised anyone who hadn’t completed their vaccinations “to do so with all due haste.”
Caitlin O’Kane
Caitlin O’Kane is a digital content producer covering trending stories for CBS News and its good news brand, The Uplift.
The Food and Drug Administration said that traces of a potential carcinogen had been found in samples of a popular diabetes drug produced by Merck, the latest instance in which impurities were detected in top-selling pharmaceutical products.
Millions of people with Type 2 diabetes rely on the drug, sitagliptin, to keep high blood sugar levels in check. Merck markets the drug as Januvia and Janumet. Last year, sitagliptin generated more than $5 billion in revenue for Merck and was its third best-selling product.
Despite finding the impurities in some batches, the F.D.A. will allow Merck to continue selling the drug temporarily, saying the risks are outweighed by the immediate medical needs of patients. “It could be dangerous for patients with this condition to stop taking their sitagliptin without first talking to their health care professional,” the agency said in a statement.
Merck, which first detected the contamination and reported it to regulators, said it was trying to address the problem and would work with health authorities around the world. “We remain confident in the safety, efficacy and quality of our sitagliptin-containing medicines,” the company said, adding that it did not anticipate shortages of the drug, which the F.D.A. first approved in 2006.
The impurity, known as NTTP, belongs to the family of nitrosamine compounds that have in recent years been discovered in a number of medications. Since 2018, federal regulators have alerted the public about nitrosamine contamination in samples of the heartburn medication Zantac, the antibiotic rifampin and the smoking-cessation drug Chantix.
The F.D.A. has described NTTP as a “probable human carcinogen,” based largely on laboratory testing. The agency lacks data to evaluate the carcinogenic potential of NTTP directly and instead said it used information about a closely related compound to determine exposure limits. Scientists at the agency have set a lifetime exposure to nitrosamine in medication at 37 nanogram per day, though it will allow up to 246 nanograms in sitagliptin for the time being.
In its statement, the F.D.A. called the additional cancer risk “minimal.”
