Low medical loss ratios will compel insurers to return nearly $2.5 billion to their customers for the 2019 reporting year.

Under federal law, individual and small group insurers must spend 80 percent of their premium revenue on health care services and large group insures must spend 85 percent.  If they fail to do so they must return the difference to their enrollees, whether individuals, employers, or a combination of the two.

In all, insurers owe nearly $2.5 billion – the most ever in a single year – to more than 11 million customers.  Rebates can be paid as premium credit or, in the case of individual enrollees, by check.

Learn more about which insurers owe the most and which states will see the biggest rebates for their residents in this Health Affairs Blog article.…

The development of new therapeutics in recent months has not yet translated into a reduced death rate for patients with COVID-19.

In the spring the death rate was five to six percent, a rate attributed to limited testing.  Since testing became more widely available during the summer, however, the death rate has fallen to approximately 1.7 percent but has remained at that level despite the introduction of new ways to treat COVID-19.

Learn more about the new treatments, their impact on care, and the prospects for their eventual impact on COVID-19 death rates in the Washington Post article “Coronavirus survival rates in the United States haven’t improved since the summer.”…

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 24.

Provider Relief Fund

The Provider Relief Fund web page has been updated with the following notice:

The application deadline for the Provider Relief Fund Phase 3 General Distribution was Nov. 6, 2020. You must have submitted your Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) for validation by 11:59 p.m. ET on Nov. 6, 2020 for Phase 3 relief funds. If you submitted your TIN for validation by the deadline and your TIN is validated by Nov. 13, you will be able to proceed with submitting your revenue documentation to complete your application by 11:59 p.m. ET on Nov. 27, 2020.

Department of Health and Human Services

• HHS has announced plans to allocate doses of the investigational monoclonal antibody therapeutics casirivimab and imdevimab for treatment of non-hospitalized patients with mild or moderate confirmed cases of COVID-19 at high risk of hospitalization; this is often referred to publicly as the Regeneron antibody cocktail. HHS will allocate 300,000 federally-purchased doses to state and territorial health departments that will determine which health care facilities receive the infusion drug.  Weekly allocations of the drug will be proportionally based

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 19.

Provider Relief Fund

The Provider Relief Fund web page has been updated with the following notice:

The application deadline for the Provider Relief Fund Phase 3 General Distribution was Nov. 6, 2020. You must have submitted your Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) for validation by 11:59 p.m. ET on Nov. 6, 2020 for Phase 3 relief funds. If you submitted your TIN for validation by the deadline and your TIN is validated by Nov. 13, you will be able to proceed with submitting your revenue documentation to complete your application by 11:59 p.m. ET on Nov. 27, 2020.

The Provider Relief Fund FAQ has been updated with three new questions and one modified question.

• (pp. 15-16)  Will the Provider Relief Fund limit qualifying expenses for capital equipment purchases to 1.5 years of depreciation, or can providers fully expense capital equipment purchases?  (Added 11/18/2020)

Expenses for capital equipment and inventory may be fully expensed only in cases where the purchase was directly related to prevent, prepare for and respond to the coronavirus.  Examples of these types of equipment and inventory expenses include …

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 3:45 p.m. on Tuesday, November 17.

Provider Relief Fund

The Provider Relief Fund web page has been updated with the following notice:

The application deadline for the Provider Relief Fund Phase 3 General Distribution was Nov. 6, 2020. You must have submitted your Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) for validation by 11:59 p.m. ET on Nov. 6, 2020 for Phase 3 relief funds. If you submitted your TIN for validation by the deadline and your TIN is validated by Nov. 13, you will be able to proceed with submitting your revenue documentation to complete your application by 11:59 p.m. ET on Nov. 27, 2020.

Department of Health and Human Services

• HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response has posted information about high-flow nasal cannulation, an oxygen therapy that is a non-invasive resuscitation therapy for COVID-19 patients.  HHS has purchased kits to use when administering this therapy and health care facilities can work through their local and state health departments to secure a supply.  Go here to learn more about the therapy and how to acquire supplies.
• HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness