on WCRI’s 38th Annual Issues & Research Conference, March 16-17, 2022. Mid-March is a great time to be in Boston!  Then again, pretty much anytime is.

Register here.

on NCCI’s latest update on claim frequency and severity – spoiler alert, frequency is still declining, although it’s hard to unpack the influence of COVID from structural drivers. Hat tip to Carolyn Wise and Kevin Fernes for their helpful research and cogent explanation of the data.

More surprisingly, severity – which is workcomp-ese for costliness – declined last year – for non-COVID claims.

Also notable – and consistent with what I predicted last year – COVID claims are way less costly – as in two-thirds less costly – than non-COVID claims (this isn’t about chest-pounding, rather pointing out that this was predictable – but few in the WC world have the health care/medical system insights to do so)

Also worthy of your attention, Chris Brigham MD is hosting a discussion of Post-Acute COVID via Webinar – registration is here and is complimentary.

Finally, in yet another example of the consequences of stupid, a physician who testified before Congress that Ivermectin would prevent COVID…wait for it…got COVID. As concerning, there have been 2021 1,810 cases of ivermectin poisoning in the U.S. in the first 10 months of this year, compared with 499 for the same period in 2019.

Three-quarters of a million of our friends, family, neighbors and coworkers have died of COVID.

That is a mind-blowing number, made personal because all of us know of someone who died of the disease or has a family member that did.

Remember 9/11 killed about 3,000 of us.

Of course, the unvaccinated are dying at a far higher rate than the vaccinated, and the vaccine divide is becoming more partisan by the day. Unvaccinated English people were 47 times more likely to die of COVID than those who had been fully vaxxed for more than three weeks. 

KFF’s survey reports the race/ethnicity vaccination gap has shrunk significantly, while the partisan divide has grown over time.

Today, the most significant factor determining vaccination status is political affiliation. 

What’s sad beyond belief is this…

That said, 6 out of 10 of those who identify as leaning or Republican have received at least one dose.

Thanks to Broadspire’s Marc Cunningham for hosting me on the Beyond the Claim podcast; Marc and I spoke about the impact of COVID on workers’ comp, the need for deeper understanding of medical drivers, and what the future holds.

Advocate Healthcare Aurora’s Teresa Clarke took the stage in the second episode, and dove deeper into COVID and healthcare. Teresa manages AHA’s work comp program, and has been in the trenches since day one of the pandemic.

Hat tip to Broadspire’s Chris Stephenson for handling all the heavy lifting on the pod.

Two new medications show a lot of promise in treating COVID. And no, neither are Ivermectin.

Pfizer’s Paxlovid is in the Emergency Use Authorization process; the Federal government is expected to contracted to buy 10 million doses of the medication.

When given within three days of symptoms, Pfizer’s antiviral reduced the rate of death and hospitalization by 89 percent for those at high-risk of developing severe illness.

Merck’s drug “reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by nearly half among higher-risk people diagnosed with mild or moderate illness.”

What does this mean for you?

Get vaccinated, because you might die if you don’t.

Well. that was welcome indeed.

Looks like the Dems in Congress have reached a deal on controlling (some) drug prices. As with all legislation, it is far from perfect, no one is particularly ecstatic, but then again, politics is the art of the possible, and the deal WILL help control drug price increases. Especially for older Americans who now get out-of-pocket spending on drugs capped at $2,000 a year and diabetics who will get a cap on insulin at $35.

Will this effect workers’ comp? Unlikely. WC drug fee schedules are based on AWP except in Cali, where it is based on Medicaid.

The Labor Department’s jobs report this morning showed over half a million people were hired last month, a major jump over prior months. Over 5 million (!) have been hired since January.

This means – higher payrolls = more people insured, more payroll, more consumption.

I expect employment will be a topic of conversation at WCRI’s annual meeting, slated for March 16 – 17 in Boston. Save that date and make sure you are on their mailing list as this always sells out.

All things COVID

Two drug manufacturers reported positive results for their new COVID treatment medications.  Just-released data from a clinical trial indicated Pfizer’s Paxlovid cut the risk of hospitalization or death a whopping 89 percent when administered within three days after the start of symptoms. Paxlovid won’t be widely available for several months, and then will likely be prescribed mostly to high-risk people.  Treatment will cost about $700 per patient.

Merck’s  molnupiravir will cost about the same; it has been approved for use in the UK and the manufacturer has applied for an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) here in the US.  As reported in the Economist, research

“found the interim results of a trial found that patients with a risk factor for covid-19 were 50% less likely to be hospitalised or die if the oral antibiotic was taken in the first five days after symptoms.”

While neither is available just yet, expect both to get EUA approval shortly.  BTW, remember the vaccines were also administered under EUA.

We are learning more each day about long COVID, and much of what we are learning isn’t good (note that’s not surprising, as first we need to understand the problem and only then can we work on solutions). Significant GI problems are one issue, and the more severely affected patients also present with anxiety and sadness. That’s not surprising either, as nothing makes you more miserable than a severe GI problem.

BUT… one of the report’s authors noted “We do not know whether the psychiatric symptoms are a cause or a result of the GI symptoms, but we suspect it is likely to be both,”

About 20 million of us have experienced symptoms such as difficulty breathing, pain, hypertension and fatigue that are consistent with long COVID. Get the latest on November 17 at noon eastern when the National Institute for Health Care Management hosts a time of a webinar on the “Implications of Long COVID for patients and the health care system.” Register here.

Alert for some readers advocating “natural”immunity… A new study found “unvaccinated US adults who previously had COVID-19 contracted the disease at more than five times the rate of those who were fully vaccinated.”

What does this mean for you?

Get the shot.