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NIH is planning to launch a public-private partnership to accelerate the development of personalized cancer vaccines, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from the District of Columbia, Kentucky, and Maryland.
- District of Columbia: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sent warning letters to 24 "of the nation's largest healthcare services" about their compliance with hospital price transparency requirements. In the letters, FTC told hospitals that they could be breaking the price transparency rule if they fail to "provide patients with timely, accurate, and complete pricing for healthcare services, especially for non-emergency services that are scheduled in advance." The agency also noted that CMS' price transparency rules are a "regulatory floor" and complying with those rules does not mean organizations are in compliance with FTC's requirements prohibiting unfair or deceptive marketplace practices. "Let me be clear: these letters are a warning," said FTC chair Andrew Ferguson. "Healthcare providers must disclose their prices to consumers and must do so starting today. If they do not, then the FTC will take them to court. The FTC has already opened price transparency in law enforcement investigations against hospitals, and we will not rest until pricing transparency in healthcare is the universal norm." According to a review of 2,000 hospitals from PatientsRightsAdvocate.org, 49.4% of hospitals are in compliance with the federal Hospital Price Transparency rule. (Muoio/Mineymyer, Fierce Healthcare, 10/5)
- Kentucky: Humana has agreed to a new primary care joint venture with BlackRock. Through the venture, BlackRock will operate around 150 of Humana's CenterWell senior primary care locations. BlackRock will buy out private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe's existing ownership stake in the clinics, which is valued at $2.8 billion. CenterWell will stay a minority owner and continue managing the clinics. According to Humana, BlackRock will help accelerate CenterWell's growth by building new clinics and pursuing new acquisitions. The new joint venture will provide Humana with greater financial and operational flexibility. "All in, Humana anticipates a significantly lower cost of capital under the new joint venture, reflecting the maturity of the business," Humana said in a statement. The deal is currently expected to close by the end of the year. (Hughes, Healthcare Dive, 10/13)
- Maryland: NIH is planning to launch a public-private partnership to accelerate the development of personalized cancer vaccines. The partnership will launch in December and include NIH, the Foundation for the NIH, researchers, drug and biotech companies, advocacy groups, philanthropies, and patients. According to Stacey Adam, a senior clinical officer at the Foundation for the NIH, the initiative will initially focus on pancreatic, liver, and colorectal cancers, along with a subset of pediatric tumors. The vaccines will be tailored for each patient and help train T cells to target abnormal proteins found on their specific tumor. The first phase of the initiative, which is made up of small studies, is expected to take around three years, while larger trials across a national network of sites will take at least four years. Overall, the goal is for people to be able to get a cancer vaccine in seven to 10 years, compared to the eight to 15 years it typically takes to get FDA approval. So far, only one cancer vaccine study has been large enough to show definitive results. In August, Merck and Moderna reported that their melanoma vaccine, which was tested in 1,137 people with advanced melanoma, was able to delay both recurrence and spread of the disease. Other, smaller studies on cancer vaccines, including from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, have also shown promising signs. (Jeffries, Becker's Clinical Leadership, 10/9)
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