Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday (8.16.2021) signed into law a legislative package aimed at addressing the cost of prescription drugs. 

One law establishes a prescription drug repository program, which will allow unexpired and unopened prescription and over-the-counter medications to be returned to pharmacies and reused for eligible populations.

"(The program) opens up another avenue for Illinois healthcare to be able to help those who are underinsured or unemployed and not able to afford their medication,” Garth Reynolds, executive director of the Illinois Pharmacists Association, said in a statement.

Pritzker also signed a proposal that requires pharmacies to provide customers with the retail price of a prescription drug, in writing and electronically, prior to purchase and make it clear if a customer's cost-sharing price for a prescription exceeds the current pharmacy retail price.

"(The bill) establishes truth and transparency for the pharmaceutical industry," said Senate sponsor Scott M. Bennett, D-Champaign.

Both laws take effect Jan. 1, 2022.

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Illinois is the first state to require regular Alzheimer’s disease training for licensed healthcare professionals, after Gov. JB Pritzker greenlit the proposal Monday at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield.

The law, effective Jan. 1, 2023, requires providers with direct patient interaction with adults older than 25 to complete at least a one-hour course in diagnosis, treatment and care of Alzheimer’s and other dementias.

"Early detection is key to treatment,” House sponsor Rep. Kathleen Willis. D-Northlake, said in a statement. She said 230,000 Illinois residents are living with Alzheimer’s.

And he approved a measure, effective immediately, requiring that long-term care facilities and hospitals, upon request, facilitate at least one daily phone or video call between a resident or patient and their family member during a public health emergency.

Delia Jervier, executive director of the Illinois chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, said the laws will help address disparities in care, as Black and Latinx residents are more likely to develop Alzheimer's than their white counterparts.

“Illinois is leading the nation as we seek to be a dementia-capable state until a cure or prevention is found,” Jervier said.

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Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have developed a new sample preparation method to detect SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The method bypasses extraction of the virus' genetic RNA material, simplifying sample purification and potentially reducing test time and cost. The method is the result of a collaboration among researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI), the NIH Clinical Center (CC), and the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NID CR).

Diagnostic testing remains a crucial tool in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Standard tests for detection of SARS -CoV-2 involve amplifying viral RNA to detectable levels using a technique called quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR). But first, the RNA must be extracted from the sample . Manufacturers of RNA extraction kits have had difficulty keeping up with demand during the COVID-19 pandemic , hindering testing capacity worldwide. With new virus variants emerging, the need for better, faster tests is greater than ever.

A team led by Robert B. Hufnagel, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the NEI Medical Genetics and Ophthalmic Genomic Unit, and Bin Guan, Ph.D., a fellow at the Ophthalmic Genomics Laboratory at NEI, used a chelating agent made by the lab supply company Bio-Rad called Chelex 100 resin to preserve SARS-CoV-2 RNA in samples for detection by RT-qPCR.

"We used nasopharyngeal and saliva samples with various virion concentrations to evaluate whether they could be used for direct RNA detection ," said Guan , the lead author of a report on the technique, which published this week in iScience. "The answer was yes, with markedly high sensitivity. Also, this preparation inactivated the virus, making it safer for lab personnel to handle positive samples."

See full article here. 

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The COVID-19 pandemic has swept the nation, killing more than  186,000 residents and staff of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. The AARP Public Policy Institute, in collaboration with the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University  in Ohio, created the AARP Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard to provide four-week snapshots of the virus’ infiltration into nursing homes and impact on nursing home residents and staff, with the goal of identifying specific areas of concern at the national and state levels in a timely manner. 

This dashboard has tracked five categories of impact since summer 2020 as well as vaccination rates of nursing home residents and health care staff for the last two months and is updated every month to track trends over time.

Read more here>

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Racial and ethnic disparities in maternal mortality — deaths related to pregnancy or childbirth — in the United States may be larger than previously reported, suggests a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. By re-examining information on death certificates from 2016 and 2017, researchers found that the maternal mortality rate among non-Hispanic Black women was 3.5 times higher than among non-Hispanic white women. Previously, standard analyses had indicated a 2.5-times-higher death rate for Black women.

The new analysis also revealed that these disparities were concentrated among a few causes of death. Postpartum cardiomyopathy (disease of the heart muscle) and the blood pressure disorders preeclampsia and eclampsia were leading causes of maternal death for Black women, with mortality rates five times higher than those for white women. Pregnant and postpartum Black women were two to three times more likely than white women to die of hemorrhage (severe bleeding) or embolisms (blood vessel blockages).

For full article> 

To download a PDF copy of the article, click here.

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Federal lawmakers announced last month plans to launch a new bipartisan caucus intended to address social determinants of health.

Co-chairing the caucus is U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Moline, who recently told Health News Illinois it has been an issue of long-time interest for her. 

The co-chairs include US Representatives Tom Cole (OK-04), G.K. Butterfiled (NC-01), and Markwayne Mullin (OK-02). 

The Congressional Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Caucus will explore opportunities to improve the impact of services delivered to address social determinants with the support of federal funding. It will work to amplify evidence-based approaches to holistic well-being. 

Congressional responsibility for programs to address social determinants is divided among many committees and delivered across multiple agencies. As such, we have convened the Congressional Social Determinants of Health Caucus to bring together members of Congress from disparate jurisdictions to highlight the opportunities for coordination to improve health outcomes and maximize existing and future federal investments in health, food, housing, transportation, and other important drivers of health. Leadership is needed to break down the barriers that impede better coordination between health and social services programs.

Specifically, the Congressional SDOH Caucus will:

• Shine a spotlight on how the COVID-19 PHE has had a disparate impact on certain populations and communities, including people with social needs;
• Convene bipartisan thought leaders to educate members on the evidence around social determinants, why it is necessary to explore, and what’s currently working;
• Collect input and feedback from community-based organizations, health, public health, and social service organizations, and state and local government leaders on how best to facilitate effective social determinant interventions, and how Congress can take action to advance this work; 
• Discuss bipartisan legislative efforts to address social determinant challenges across multiple committees of jurisdiction; and 
• Highlight priorities on behalf of interested members of Congress to external stakeholders and the Executive branch.

Call for Comments! Caucus Request for Information

The Congressional Social Determinants of Health Caucus is seeking feedback on challenges and opportunities related to social determinants of health. Please share feedback to the questions included in this form on challenges and opportunities, which will be shared with SDOH Caucus co-chairs.

Submissions are due by September 21, 2021.

LINK TO RFI

Contact

For questions or additional information on the Congressional SDOH Caucus, please contact Liam Steadman in Congresswoman Cheri Bustos’ office at Liam.Steadman@mail.house.gov, Shane Hand in Congressman Tom Cole’s office at Shane.Hand@mail.house.gov, Caitlin Van Sant in Congressman G.K. Butterfield’s office at Caitlin.VanSant@mail.house.gov, or Kaitlynn Skoog in Congressman Markwayne Mullin’s office at Kaitlynn.Skoog@mail.house.gov.

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Small business program funding from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, helps advance research on care interventions, diagnostic tools, and therapies for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. A new paper, published August 10 in Alzheimer’s and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, describes the impact and case studies of NIA’s $280 million investment in this research over the past 11 years through more than 600 grants to over 230 small businesses in 37 states.

“Small businesses play a crucial role in research to discover effective prevention and treatment strategies for Alzheimer’s and related dementias,” said NIA Director Richard J. Hodes, M.D. “This paper provides the historical context of NIA’s funding in this highly competitive area and features some of the successes made possible through our federal investment.”

NIA is the lead federal agency for Alzheimer’s and related dementias research. Alzheimer’s is a brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and, eventually, the ability to carry out the simplest tasks. While it is the most common cause of dementia in older adults, it is not a normal part of aging.

Full article here

Download PDF copy of article here. 

If you are interested in this topic, check out the video of the session on Nursing Home Residents (April 2021) here. 

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Be informed for the September 10, 2021 session with Maureen Benjamins, PhD and Fernando DeMaio, PhD regarding their new book:

Unequal Cities: Structural Racism and the Death Gap

in

America's Largest Cities

(Book Release September 7, 2021)

 

Suggested advance reading: 

Benjamins MB, Silva A, Saiyed N, DeMaio F. Comparison of All-Cause Mortality Rates and Black:White Inequities in Rates Across the 30 Most Populous  U.S.  Cities <https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2775299>. JAMA Network Open, 2020; 3(12):e2032086. doi:10.10001/jamanetworkopen.2020.32086.

More details and to register for the virtual session visit this page. 

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Check out the IOMC Awards open for nominations now!

- IOMC Humanitarian Global Health Award 

-The Portes/IOMC Award for Excellence in Prevention of Disease 

-The Innovations in Health Care/Health Care Delivery Award

Submissions due October 1, 2021 for the above rewards.

-The Henry P. Russe, MD Citation for Exemplary Compassion in Healthcare 

Due September 1, 2021

For full details and the nominations form, visit this page. 

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Watchful eye is needed here! Pediatric COVID-19 cases up 84%, report finds — 7 details (Becker's Clinical Leadership & Infection Control 8.6.2021)

About 72,000 children in the U.S. tested positive for COVID-19 in the week ending July 29, up 84 percent from the week prior, according to an Aug. 4 report from the American Academy of Pediatrics.   

The report is based on state-level COVID-19 data collected and shared by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association. 

Six more details: 

1. In the week prior to the one ending July 29, 39,000 pediatric COVID-19 cases were reported. 

2. Nearly 4.2 million children in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, representing about 14.3 percent of all cumulative cases. After the week ending July 29, when 72,000 new pediatric cases were reported, that rose to 19 percent. 

3. Children made up between 1.3 percent and 3.5 percent of total cumulative COVID-19 hospitalizations as of July 29. This figure is based on states that were reporting hospitalizations and mortality by age (23 states and New York City).

4. Between 0.1 percent and 1.9 percent of all pediatric COVID-19 cases led to hospitalization, based on data from 23 states and New York City. 

5. Among 43 states and New York City, which were reporting mortality data by age, less than 1 percent of all COVID-19 deaths were reported in children. 

6. Less than 1 percent of all COVID-19 cases in children resulted in death, based on an analysis of states that were reporting such data. 

Full article here> 

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