Patients will probably be happy about this, too

“Walgreens will stop judging its pharmacy staffers by how fast they work”.

[T]hey will now be evaluated “solely on the behaviors that best support patient care and enhance the patient experience.”

Blood pressure med recall

ICYMI, Aurobindo has recalled two lots of its quinapril/hydrochlorothiazide tablets — the latest blood pressure med to have a nitrosamine impurity.

The FDA has all the info, including the lot and NDC numbers to watch out for.

ACA signup is open

Remind your patients that signup for Obamacare insurance plans is open today through December 15 for 2023 plans at Healthcare.gov. They can “window shop” and sign up for a plan, or find a navigator who can help them choose.

There are more than 170 plans available in Georgia (bronze, silver, and gold). The average premium for a silver plan is $477 per month for an individual, but that’s before subsidies kick in. Individuals earning up to $27,465 a year can get a plan with $0 premium; those earning up to $54,360 can get those subsidies.

People who need family coverage also have more options now — if employer coverage for the family is too expensive, they can now turn to an ACA plan instead.

Take your ketamine … and smile!

Ketamine works quickly to treat depression, but it also wears off within a couple of weeks. But there’s a solution: play happy video games!

University of Pittsburgh psychiatry researchers took advantage of the brain’s plasticity after a ketamine treatment, using video games that taught patients’ brains to associate happiness — via a smiling face or positive words — with themselves.

In other games, participants were asked to click on a photo — of themselves or of a stranger — as soon as it flashed on one area of the screen. “Every time they click on their own photo, what appears right afterwards in that same location is a smiling face.”

Result: The effects of ketamine lasted longer — as long as three months, in fact. And with ketamine rarely covered by insurance, fewer treatments are a big deal.

He looks cheerful.

The board is meeting….

The Georgia Board of Public Health, that is. And of course you’re invited — being part of the public and all.

It’s a week from today — Tuesday, November 8, from 1:00–3:00 pm via Zoom. Click here for the deets.

Topics include flu updates (of course), plus “Overview of the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program,” and “Overview of the Perinatal Hep B program and updated prenatal testing requirements for Hep C.” Fun for the entire family!

[citation needed]

If you’re going to release a “report” about a scientific issue — like the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus — it’s a good idea to have real scientists put it together, and to use actual data, lest you find your work eviscerated on Twitter by people who know what they’re taking about for “Not understanding basic biosafety,” “Leaving out key details,” and “Falsifying translations.”

[I]t’s unclear who actually did the research and writing for this report. The report didn’t really clearly delineate what process was used to assemble and review the available evidence, who determined what should and shouldn’t considered, or how the report was vetted either.

You know nothing, Jon Sn— I mean, enterovirus experts

Acute flaccid myelitis (AFM): a nasty, polio-like syndrome that was hitting kids across the country every other year since 2012, triggered by an enterovirus. Except in 2020, when Covid precautions kept it at bay.

With many of those cautions abandoned, flu is roaring back and Covid-19 is on the rise — so infectious disease experts figured AFM would be coming back, too.

But … no.

“The sense of relief is palpable […]. But so is the confusion.”

Where is it? Is the enterovirus theory wrong? Was a decade enough for kids to build up immunity? Are different strains in play?

No one knows. As one CDC expert put it, “It’s possible it’s something very subtle.”

Nightmare in China

Not news: The Chinese government abruptly closed Disney Shanghai over fears of Covid-19.

Terrifying news: People are not allowed to leave the park without a negative Covid test.

Videos circulating on China’s Weibo platform on Monday showed people rushing to the park’s gates, which were already locked.