Health care industry insiders say that Amazon.com Inc.'s Aug. 27 deal to provide Halo fitness trackers to Sharp HealthCare indicates the retail and tech giant will make big bets on clinical and actuarial data analytics, AIS Health reported.

Sharp Chief Information and Innovation Officer Michael Reagin says that Amazon will provide the San Diego-based integrated plan and provider with about 500 of the wearable fitness trackers.

Although federal relief legislation tied to the pandemic required health insurers to waive cost sharing for COVID-19 testing, not treatment, many plans opted to do both anyway. In fact, a recent analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) found that 80% of enrollees in the individual and fully insured group insurance markets were in plans that voluntarily waived out-of-pocket costs for COVID-19 at some point during the pandemic, AIS Health reported.

Yet according to the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker analysis, published Aug. 20, 20% of individual and fully insured group plan enrollees are in plans where a cost-sharing waiver for COVID-19 treatment has already expired, and another 16% are in plans where the waiver is scheduled to expire by the end of September.

According to our recent payer coverage analysis for hormone receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HR+/HER2-) breast cancer treatments, combined with news from key healthcare influencers, market access is shifting in this drug landscape.

To help make sense of this new research, MMIT's team of experts analyzes the data and summarizes the key findings for you. The following are brief highlights. To read the full piece, including payer coverage, drug competition and prescriber trends, click here.

Even as the COVID-19 crisis continues, public health officials are warning that an influenza pandemic might emerge this fall or winter. A double pandemic would kill even more people than COVID-19 on its own and strain the already overworked health care system. To prevent that deadly combination, plans have stepped up their usual flu-season member outreach programs, particularly for seniors, AIS Health reported.

In the Aug. 21 edition of its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tied improved flu vaccination rates to reducing the strain that COVID-19 has put on the health care system.

The recent, sudden disruption of U.S. Postal Service (USPS) deliveries has caused concern about people receiving their medications later than they normally would. While news reports and statements by lawmakers indicate that many Americans have lost prescriptions in the mail or received them late, drug benefit and supply chain experts tell AIS Health the disruption to the most vulnerable patients served by specialty and mail order pharmacies should be minimal.

An Aug. 24 Axios-Ipsos poll shows that one in five Americans received medication through the mail during the preceding week. One in four of that group, or 5% of Americans overall, didn't receive their medication or got it late.

According to our recent payer coverage analysis for non-small cell lung cancer systemic therapy treatments, combined with news from key healthcare influencers, market access is shifting in this drug landscape.

To help make sense of this new research, MMIT's team of experts analyzes the data and summarizes the key findings for you. The following are brief highlights. To read the full piece, including payer coverage, drug competition and prescriber trends, click here.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has not caused employers to significantly alter their health care cost estimates for the coming year, it has unquestionably intensified their interest in embracing virtual care. Those are just a couple of the major findings from the Business Group on Health's 2021 Large Employers' Health Care Strategy and Plan Design Survey, AIS Health reported.

Notably, 80% of respondents said they believe virtual health will play a significant role in how care is delivered in the future, up considerably from 64% last year. Further, when asked about actions they were taking to ease the burdens of COVID-19 for employees, the largest share of respondents — 76% — said they "made changes to allow for better access to virtual care solutions."

According to our recent payer coverage analysis for ulcerative colitis treatments, combined with news from key healthcare influencers, market access is shifting in this drug landscape.

To help make sense of this new research, MMIT's team of experts analyzes the data and summarizes the key findings for you. The following are brief highlights. To read the full piece, including payer coverage, drug competition and prescriber trends, click here.

As visits to hospitals and outpatient clinics have become sources of anxiety for patients worried about exposure to the novel coronavirus, plans and providers alike have begun to make major investments in home care, AIS Health reported.

Humana Inc., for example, recently announced a $100 million investment in home primary care startup Heal Inc. Heal CEO Nick Desai says his company will aid Humana's long-term strategy to reduce the cost of care and improve quality.

According to our recent payer coverage analysis for Duchenne muscular dystrophy treatments, combined with news from key healthcare influencers, market access is shifting in this drug landscape.

To help make sense of this new research, MMIT's team of experts analyzes the data and summarizes the key findings for you. The following are brief highlights. To read the full piece, including payer coverage, drug competition and prescriber trends, click here.