Former President Jimmy Carter will receive hospice care so that he can "spend his remaining time" at home with his family, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from Georgia, Maryland, and New York.
- Georgia: The Carter Center on Saturday announced in a tweet that former President Carter will receive hospice care after undergoing a series of health setbacks and hospital stays so that he can "spend his remaining time" at home with his family. Carter, who is the oldest living former president at 98 years old, has the "full support of his family and his medical team." In 2015, doctors identified cancer in Carter's brain and liver. Following his diagnosis, Carter said at the time that he would reduce his work schedule to undergo treatment, which included immunotherapy and radiation. Still, Carter remained active into his 90s, making public appearances, and working with Habitat for Humanity to build homes for low-income households until 2020. (McWhirter/Hanrahan, Wall Street Journal, 2/19)
- Maryland: CMS leaders announced that the agency has issued almost 500 warnings to hospitals that are not compliant with price transparency as of January. Moving forward, the agency plans to streamline enforcement and create standardized reporting requirements. So far, enforcement of the transparency requirements has included over 230 requests for corrective action plans, according to CMS' Deputy Administrator and Director Meena Seshamani, and CMS Chief Transformation Officer Douglas Jacobs. (Muoio, Fierce Healthcare, 2/21)
- New York: Pfizer on Tuesday said FDA is reviewing its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine on an accelerated basis. FDA is expected to issue a decision on whether the shot will be approved by August. Pfizer's single-dose vaccine is administered to pregnant people in the late second to third trimester of their pregnancy. Then, the antibodies triggered by the shot are passed to the fetus, which provides infants with protection against RSV from birth through the first six months of life. According to data from Pfizer's clinical trial, the vaccine was 82% effective at preventing severe disease from RSV in newborns during the first three months of life. During the first six months of life, the shot was around 70% effective. There is currently no vaccine to protect against RSV, and infants younger than six months are too young to receive most shots recommended by CDC. (Kimball, CNBC, 2/22)