More than $500,000 in antibiotic spend eliminated while reducing C. diff infections. Presented by Inovolan

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Featured Story   mRNA Flu Vaccines Are Coming to a Pharmacy Near You The regulatory decision Moderna received FDA approval for mFLUSIVA, a messenger RNA vaccine developed for seasonal influenza. For those age 50 to 64, the regulatory decision is a standard approval. For those age 65 and older, it’s an accelerated approval that requires a post-marketing confirmatory study. This FDA decision comes about six months after the agency refused to even review the vaccine. It's the FDA’s first approval of an mRNA vaccine for flu. How it works Like the Moderna vaccines approved for Covid-19 and respiratory syncytial virus, mFLUSIVA delivers mRNA that gets the protein-making machinery in cells to code for a protein that triggers an immune response. For Moderna’s flu vaccine, that protein is hemagglutinin, which is expressed on the surface of influenza viruses. Moderna’s new flu vaccine covers three flu strains. Why this matters Traditional flu vaccines are made in a monthslong process that requires selection of the strains well in advance of flu season. By the time the season starts, the prevalent strains may have mutated. That happened last year, rendering flu vaccines less protective. Moderna’s vaccines don’t require a long manufacturing lead time and the nature of mRNA technology enables quick changes to respond to a viral mutation or even a pandemic. Analysts say those features could lead Moderna to capture a significant share of the multi-billion dollar seasonal influenza market. Soundbite “Although longer term, we believe that with Moderna’s ability to manufacture updated mFLUSIVA strain vaccines in materially shorter time frames than traditional protein-based vaccines, better coverage, vaccine efficacy, and ultimately greater market share can be garnered by Moderna,” the William Blair analysts Myles Minter and John Boyle wrote in a note sent to investors.  —By Frank Vinluan Sponsored   More than $500,000 in antibiotic spend eliminated while reducing C. diff infections. Presented by Inovolan See the surveillance approach that catches risks before it becomes an outcome. Read Story Top Stories   How UnityPoint Health Is Trying to Make Clinicians’ Jobs Easier Doctors were charting on their laptops at their kids' baseball games before UnityPoint Health started rethinking how AI fits into clinical work. Now, ambient scribing, chart summarization and real-time capacity tracking are among the tools UnityPoint is using to pull clinicians away from administrative work and back toward patients, according to Gregory Johnson, the health system's chief medical officer. Below are some of the tactics he highlighted during an interview last month. —Clinical documentation tech: Like many health systems, UnityPoint has deployed ambient scribes to transcribe patient conversations directly into the chart so that physicians can focus on providing care instead of typing. Johnson noted that doctors are no longer "attached to the keyboard,” which helps boost job satisfaction and retention. The health system is exploring expanding this type of tech to nurses as well, he added. —Speeding up chart review with AI: UnityPoint uses Evidently’s AI software for chart summarization. Physicians prompt the system to surface the most relevant information from a patient's chart quickly, which has cut down the time they spend digging through records, Johnson explained. —Real-time capacity and transfer management: The health system has deployed AI tools to help staff have a better view of capacity across the whole system — including its operating rooms, infusion spaces and procedural areas — in real time. Johnson said these solutions are doing a good job of helping clinicians expend less energy on logistics and patient placement. —Reducing alert fatigue: Johnson named alert fatigue as a key driver of burnout. To combat this, UnityPoint tries to prioritize tools that decrease noise rather than add another layer of notifications for clinicians to sift through, he said. —Easing physical strain on non-bedside staff: Johnson pointed out a less obvious AI use case that UnityPoint is exploring — leveraging AI to reduce the ergonomic toll on sonographers, high attrition because "their arm and shoulder give out" from the repetitive motion the job requires.  — By Katie Adams Report: What Employers Think About ICHRAs The skinny A little over a third of employers are considering Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements (ICHRAs) as a potential option for health benefits, but there are challenges to adoption, a new survey reveals. Lack of awareness The survey was conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute with support from Morgan Health and received responses from 984 employers. An ICHRA allows employers to provide tax-free reimbursements to employees for qualified medical expenses (such as premiums) versus providing a traditional group plan. They’ve been a major topic of discussion in the healthcare industry due to their potential to offer employees more flexibility with their health benefits. The survey found that awareness about ICHRAs is a major barrier to adoption. About 6 in 10 employers said they are at least somewhat familiar with ICHRAs. Awareness was especially low among small employers not currently offering health coverage, with 55% of these employers unaware that ICHRAs are an option. However, once small businesses became aware of ICHRAs, they had more interest: one in four not currently offering insurance showed a preference for ICHRA over a traditional group plan. Soundbite “There's just increasing pressure on these small businesses. … Cost escalation is a problem for larger businesses as well, but for the smaller businesses, it's more existential because they just don't have the margins or the resources to be able to support this kind of cost escalation, and that's really why we are focused on ICHRA as one of the possible ways that businesses can access less expensive, strong insurance product,” said Dan Mendelson, CEO of Morgan Health, in an interview. — By Marissa Plescia The Healthcare Leaders Driving Change Need to Get Better at Explaining It Be visible Every change in healthcare has people behind it who decided to make it happen. Their visibility and credibility shape what the idea can become. Leaders who are visible and specific earn trust for the ideas they’re asking people to believe in. Leadership needs to explain what they built, why it matters, and what problem it solves. Be strong Healthcare leaders have the numbers: outcomes data, patient satisfaction scores, retention figures, cost savings, quality metrics, care gap reductions. Most organizations have more data than they have put to work in their communications. The gap is between the number and the story. An adherence improvement of 23 percent is a metric, but when put in the context of a care team that stopped losing patients to fragmented care and started seeing patient outcomes improve, it becomes something a board member, a prospective partner, or a job candidate can carry with them. Be consistent Visibility is a pattern of presence. Over time, that consistency builds credibility and trust with the people who matter most to the organization. The moves that compound over time are practical ones. Contributed articles in trade publications put a leader’s thinking in front of audiences already paying attention to that topic. Conference speaking builds an association between a name and a point of view that lasts beyond the event itself — and LinkedIn, used with a consistent voice and a clear perspective, gives an audience a reason to stay in the conversation. Internal communications matter here as well. How a leader talks about change inside an organization has a direct effect on whether employees trust the direction they are being asked to move in. Credibility does not stop at the company’s public edge. — By MedCity Influencer Katie Radel Video   Video: What did UHC CEO say in unprecedented meeting with reporters? Debunked: UnitedHealthcare invited reporters and influencers to their Minnesota HQ. Why? Hear the exchange between MedCity editor and the UnitedHealthcare CEO.

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INVEST Digital Health Conference Returns with Focus on Consumers Scheduled for October 29 at Pegasus Park in Dallas, the theme of the INVEST Digital Health conference will be consumers in healthcare from d2c diagnostics to GLP-1 drugs and wearables. Register today! Debunked Episode 29: CMS GLP-1 Drug Pilot Program, RPM Strategy Raise Questions At MedCity News’ inaugural Bullseye conference in Chicago, Debunked Podcast co-hosts Arundhati Parmar and Samir Batra discussed recent CMS actions and Mayo Clinic’s former research director, who has filed a complaint against the medical center over how it’s deploying AI. Should You Centralize Cold Chain Fulfillment? Only If You’ve Solved Distribution First Cold chain is a logistics problem — not just a throughput problem. Pharmacies must rethink their strategy, not just automate it.

White Paper   Moving Beyond Reactive Healthcare: 5 Traits of Successful Healthcare Organizations Sponsored by League This new white paper highlights how healthcare organizations are transforming the way they manage untenable healthcare costs with innovative tech collaborations, from maternal health to improving the way they care for high-risk patients to developing AI tools in-house targeting internal needs.  View Now

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