Healthcare Industry Actions to Protect Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic – July 29, 2020

The Healthcare Leadership Council is comprised of leading companies from every sector of American healthcare.  During the COVID-19 pandemic, we will be sharing examples of actions these companies are taking to protect and assist the public and combat the virus’s spread.  If you would like assistance in reaching a representative for any of these companies, please contact Kelly Fernandez at kfernandez@hlc.org. 

• As independent primary care physician practices struggle to remain financially viable during the COVID-19 pandemic, BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina is providing a lifeline by providing payments based on capitated care formulas as the practices transition to value-based care.

• Change Healthcare is assisting healthcare providers with access to its Clinical Network Service that can help them locate laboratories and submit orders for COVID-19 testing, getting results back electronically. Change has over 100 labs in its network offering coronavirus testing. Company CEO Neil de Crescenzo discussed emerging technologies on COVID-19 testing on a Bloomberg News podcast.

• LabCorp has received Emergency Use Authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for a new approach to COVID-19 testing that involves testing several patient samples at once. Company officials said the matrix pooled testing technology can provide high-quality results and enable increased testing capacity.

• As the COVID-19 pandemic results in financial hardship for millions of Americans and, with it, an increasing likelihood of hunger, the McKesson Foundation is working with food insecurity experts in cities across the country and investing millions of dollars in more than a dozen food banks. This funding has, thus far, provided more than six million pounds of food.

• Mount Sinai Health System is collecting blood-based antibodies from individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 as part of a Department of Defense-funded clinical trial to create a hyperimmune globulin drug that will treat coronavirus in its early stages and prevent certain at-risk populations from becoming sick.

• Pfizer and its partner, BioNTech, have now moved to advanced clinical trials of one of their experimental COVID-19 vaccines. The combined Phase 2/3 trials will involve approximately 30,000 participants and will examine safety, efficacy, and optimal dosing. The Pfizer vaccine utilizes genetic material to stimulate an immune response against the virus.