The top 20 private health insurance firms in the US, which control 66.2% of the industry, have invested at least $1.87 billion in social determinant of health programs such as housing, food security, employment, transportation, social and community context, and general SDOH from 2017 to 2021, according to research published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. The top six health insurers accounted for 72% of total SDOH spending, and the largest investment went to housing projects at $1.2 billion and food security at $238 million.

A Commonwealth Fund analysis showed a strong COVID-19 booster campaign could prevent almost 51,000 pediatric hospitalizations, including over 11,000 ICU stays, in the coming months if 80% of eligible people in the US get their booster shots by the end of this year. "Accelerated vaccination campaigns that achieve high coverage across all ages have the potential to prevent a possible imminent surge in COVID-19, protecting children both directly and indirectly and providing them with additional stability in terms of school attendance and other social engagement," the Commonwealth Fund noted.

The CDC's annual progress report on health care-associated infections shows the rates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, ventilator-associated events, central line-associated bloodstream infections and catheter-associated urinary tract infections reported by US hospitals all increased last year compared with 2020, while Clostridioides difficile infections dropped 3% and surgical-site infections held steady. "In 2021, many hospitals continued to face extraordinary circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic that may have reduced the implementation of standard infection prevention and control practices," the agency noted.

Reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 carries with it a significantly higher risk of hospitalization, serious illness, long COVID symptoms and death than an initial infection with the virus, according to a large study of US veterans' health data published in the journal Nature Medicine. Researcher Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly said the effect was seen in unvaccinated, vaccinated and boosted people.

Since expanding Medicaid coverage after the 2014 Affordable Care Act, metastatic cancer rates and cancer mortality have dropped 3.3% and 3.5% respectively, with no differences in the rates of localized cancers, which may be attributed to earlier treatment instead of screening, according to the data presented at the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology Quality Care Symposium. "Medicaid expansion has clearly saved thousands of lives that would have been lost to cancer, as this new study shows," said chief medical officer of ASCO Julie Gralow.

Soaring housing prices and other inflationary pressures are causing more people older than 60 to turn up at homeless shelters, exacerbated by long waiting lists to get into assisted-living housing. In Montana, advocates plan to lobby the state Legislature to make homeless shelters eligible for Medicaid funds, which would help older adults get benefits and find appropriate housing.

Eligible older adults who used Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to help cover food costs had an estimated two fewer years of memory decline than those who did not use the benefits, according to a study published in the journal Neurology. "Improving one's nutritional intake, general food security, all of these have been linked to better cognitive functioning," said researcher Adina Zeki Al Hazzouri. The study included 3,555 people ages 50 and older who had memory function tests every couple of years from 1996 to 2016.

Black and Hispanic people in substance use recovery programs are significantly less likely than white patients to receive a buprenorphine prescription for longer than the minimum recommended 180 days, but median treatment duration in 2020 was well below the recommendation for all groups, according to a research letter published in JAMA Psychiatry. The analysis, which covered 11 million buprenorphine prescriptions filled from January 2006 to December 2020, found white patients were far more likely to begin buprenorphine therapy and refill prescriptions than Black or Hispanic patients.

Testing of Moderna's updated bivalent booster vaccine revealed improved antibody responses against the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 SARS-CoV-2 variants compared with the original booster, as well as "robust neutralizing activity" against the emerging BQ.1.1 variant, the company announced. The results have not yet been peer-reviewed.

The CMS Office of Minority Health issued steps to address its plans to improve the quality, availability and completeness of health equity data across the agency's programs. The agency will collect new health equity elements across its programs, align health equity data to acceptable standards, gradually implement health equity scores and offer access to disaggregated data insights, among other strategies, according to Office of Minority Health Director LaShawn McIver.

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Join us on Friday, Dec. 2 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. ET for "Precise and Dynamic Value Based Care" as CitiusTech discusses VBC objectives such as higher provider- and patient satisfaction; and Wednesday, Dec. 7 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET for "Putting the Human in Health Care" as Vitality Group discusses barriers to health equity and the role of key stakeholders in finding solutions.