• 2/02 - Orange County ZOOM Table - Discussion Topic: "Using Incremental Improvements to Accelerate Your Growth" - Featured Member Presenter: Tarek El Nabli, CEO of Parentis Health


• 2/08 - Silicon Valley ZOOM Table - Discussion Topic: "Measuring What Matters - for Results" - Featured Member Presenter: Mark Parinas, CEO of CVHCare Home Health, and Chairman & Founder of Curaesoft


• 2/09 - San Francisco ZOOM Table - Discussion Topic: "Lessons from Orange County's Interdisciplinary Approach to Improving Homeless' Lives & Reducing Healthcare Spend" - Featured Member Presenter: Paul Leon, CEO of Illumination Foundation


• 2/17 - Oakland ZOOM Table - Discussion Topic: "How COVID Impacted Marketing Medicare Advantage" - Featured Guest Presenter: Robin Raff, CEO of Pulse Healthcare Marketing, Inc.


• 2/18 - Los Angeles ZOOM Table - Discussion Topic: "Putting a Dent in Medicare's $370 Billion Problem" - Featured Member Presenter: Kim Phan, Founder and CEO of CareConnectMD


• Explore Membership in ABL's Executive Round Tables >>>


• ENCOURAGE EVERYONE ON YOUR TEAM TO GET FREE COVID TESTS FROM: COVIDTESTS.GOV
  It's much better to have them on hand than to stand in line to buy them in a pharmacy - the germiest place in town!

• Alegre Home Care Provides Insights on Therapeutic Relationships & Positive Communication Within Home Care
• Anthem's David Pryor Contributes to Article on Dr. ML King Jr.'s Impact on Health Equity
• Bayer & Mammoth Biosciences to Collaborate on Novel Gene-Editing Technology
• Biospectal a Finalist for SXSW Innovation Award + Wins CES 2022 Tech Innovation Award
• Choice in Aging CEO Interviewed on ABC 7 re Booster Shots & Healthcare Workers
• Cigna Named One of America's Best Corporate Citizens & A Best Place to Work
• Elemeno Health Wins InnovatorMD & American College of Emergency Physicians Awards
• Greg Buchert, MD is now a MEDA Angels Partner
• Hospice of Santa Cruz County Debuts "Concurrent Care for Children" Program
• Illumination Foundation to Present "Solutions to Address Health Equity" - Now on April 19
• Kaiser Permanente Joins Graphite Health to Create Trusted Interoperable Data Platform
• LigoLab Recognized as Industry Leader by Frost & Sullivan
• Mazzetti Working on UW Behavioral Health Facility + Researching Hospitals Stressed by Pandemic
• MedWand CEO Interviewed for Series on Technology Making an Important Positive Social Impact
• Nelson Hardiman Discusses 2022's New Healthcare Laws, Vaccine News & More
• On Lok Honored by State Officials for 50th Anniversary
• OneLegacy Announces Record-Setting Year in Organ Donation and Transplantation
• Parentis Health Video Provides Look at Life at Verona Court
• Pharmco Completes Lab Expansion
• PreludeDx CEO Named Among "30 Best CEOs of the Year 2022" by Silicon Review
• PRODEO Teams with LusioMATE in the U.S.
• Providence DIG Gives Digital Predictions + Spin-Out DexCare Raises $50M
• Royal Ambulance Shares Why Sign-On Bonuses Can Destroy Your Team Culture
• Savi Group Lauds the Future of Predictive Analytics & AI in Healthcare
• SimpleTherapy CEO Discusses Effects of Growing Musculoskeletal Problems
• Wipfli Once Again a Bob Scott VAR Star + Provides Healthcare-Related Webinars On-Demand

• AfterNow Seeks AR/VR Presentation Builders & Unveils New AR/VR Software Product, Viz
• Eckert & Ziegler Acquires SPECT Firm & Signs Exclusive Supply Agreement
• GIDEON Informatics Adds 1,800+ COVID-19 Research Graphs to Epidemiology Database
• Intellect Provides Webinar on Building a Covid-19 Daily Health Screening Mobile App

For many employees, health benefits are more important than salary, and most of them are at least very concerned about the high cost of their premium share and their out-of-pocket expenses. In a recent ABL-Health Round Table, Covered California's Terri Convey, Director of Outreach & Sales - for both individuals as well as for Small Businesses, and Dan Tyler, CC's VP of Sales presented Covered California's Small Business program - that offers employers a range of PPO and HMO health and dental plans they can offer their (in-state and out-of-state) employees - as long as there are fewer than 100 FTEs, earning the employer tax credits in the process.

ABL Members, to view a recording of this presentation, their Powerpoint slides, and biographies of Terri and Dan, go to abl.org, click on "Members Only" on the top far right, and then on "Presentations" in the red bar on the top left. (While you're there, scroll down the postings of all of the "special event" presentations that have been posted.)

AfterNow has an Open Call for Presenters! They're looking for a few professionals or creatives interested in presenting a 20-30 minute experience in VR to an intimate audience of 20-30 people as a use case for AfterNow's drag & drop AR/VR presentation builder: Prez. Anyone interested, please contact the Captain of AfterNow, [email protected], directly.
MEANWHILE, AfterNow has introduced Viz, a new software product in its suite of augmented and virtual reality presentation tools, which enables users to show their audience what data means in one simple 3D and interactive experience. Any presentation, whether for sales, financial projections, inventory analysis, scientific research, or product visualization, is backed up with data. Click here to learn more and sign up for early access. (Philippe Lewicki, ABL-Tech WLA)

Eckert & Ziegler (EZ) has acquired 100% of the shares of Argentinian nuclear medicine specialist Tecnonuclear S.A., a manufacturer of Technetium-99 generators and a portfolio of related biomolecules. These so-called "cold kits" function as vectors for the in-vivo delivery of Technetium-99 to more specific biological targets such as receptors and transporters. Worldwide they represent the most widely used class of nuclear medicine products for the detection of cancer and cardio-vascular abnormalities.
ALSO, EZ Radiopharma (EZR) has signed a joint venture and exclusive long-term supply agreements for Ytterbium-176 with Atom Mines LLC. Cancer therapies based on Lutetium-177 are proving highly effective, yet the world supply of the indispensable precursor, Ytterbium-176, has previously been measured in grams per year. A new technology partially financed by EZR and developed by Atom Mines now promises to overcome this bottleneck. (Frank Yeager, ABL-Tech SGV)

Over 1,800 charts have been added to the robust GIDEON epidemiology database and diagnostic toolkit, GIDEON Informatics has announced. Now, researchers can download ready-to-use graphs on SARS-CoV-2 cases, cumulative cases, cumulative case rates per 100,000 persons, deaths, mortality rates, cumulative death rates by country, region, or worldwide. GIDEON also supports the creation of custom charts to compare data from one country or region versus another over time. Over 200 publications, and counting, have already leveraged the GIDEON database for their infectious disease and epidemiology-related research. (Uri Blackman, ABL-Tech WLA)

Intellect has made its recent webinar available on-demand: How to Build a COVID-19 Daily Health Screening Mobile App with Intellect's No-Code Compliance Platform. Watch a demo on how MedBio, a full-service medical contract manufacturer, uses a COVID-19 web and mobile app to keep their business going during the pandemic. You will also learn more about:
>> Why build a COVID-19 web and mobile app for tracking COVID-19 data;
>> How simple it is for employees to submit their health status daily;
>> What features Managers and HR can leverage for keeping employees safe; and
>> What are the benefits of COVID-19 app for employees and employers. (Romeo Elias, ABL-Tech WLA)

More signs emerged that the Omicron wave is taking a less serious human toll in Europe than earlier phases of the pandemic, while U.S. data showed daily average deaths from the disease exceeding the peak reached during the surge driven by the previously dominant Delta variant. In the U.S., the seven-day average for newly reported Covid-19 deaths reached 2,258 a day on Tuesday, up about 1,000 from daily death counts two months ago, data from Johns Hopkins University show. That is the highest since February 2021 as the country was emerging from the worst of last winter's wave. While there is a large body of evidence suggesting that Omicron is less likely to kill the people it infects, it spreads much more quickly and therefore infects many more people than earlier variants, epidemiologists say. Case counts in the U.S. have dwarfed previous records. (https://www.wsj.com/articles/omicron-deaths-in-u-s-exceed-deltas-peak-as-covid-19-optimism-rises-in-europe-11643201653)

Meanwhile, Denmark said it will end virus restrictions and reclassify Covid-19 as a disease that no longer poses a threat to society, even as infections hit a record high. The Nordic country won't extend the pandemic measures beyond Jan. 31, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said. Denmark's decision on reclassifying the virus dramatically pushes forward an idea that's emerged recently in Europe - that it's time to start thinking about Covid as endemic rather than a pandemic. However, World Health Organization experts have warned against complacency. (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-26/denmark-to-end-covid-curbs-as-premier-deems-critical-phase-over)

And, England Lifts Covid Restrictions as Omicron Threat Recedes: Most coronavirus restrictions including mandatory face masks were lifted in England last week, after Britain's government said its vaccine booster rollout successfully reduced serious illness and COVID-19 hospitalizations. Face coverings are no longer required by law anywhere in England, and a legal requirement for COVID passes for entry into nightclubs and other large venues has been scrapped. (https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-boris-johnson-health-business-sajid-javid-0c6d0302f6dabc7f1f7e633cc3a81d06 )

There are already dozens of cases across almost half of the U.S. of a new Covid subvariant - BA.2 - that's even more contagious than the already highly transmissible omicron variant. Nearly half of U.S. states have confirmed the presence of BA.2 with at least 127 known cases nationwide as of Friday, according to a global data base that tracks Covid variants. The CDC, in a statement, said although BA.2 has increased in proportion to the original omicron strain in some countries, it is currently circulating at a low level in the U.S. The World Health Organization has not labeled BA.2 a separate variant of concern from omicron. However, WHO officials have repeatedly warned that new variants will arise as omicron spreads across the world at an unprecedented rate. (https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/28/the-new-bapoint2-omicron-subvariant-is-already-circulating-in-half-of-us-states.html)

Meanwhile, early data indicate vaccines still protect against Omicron's sister variant, BA.2: New data show that vaccines still protect against a spinoff of the Omicron variant, a welcome sign as the world keeps a close eye on the latest coronavirus iteration. (https://www.statnews.com/2022/01/28/early-data-indicate-vaccines-still-protect-against-omicrons-sister-variant-ba-2/)

After more than 200 million doses administered in the U.S., Moderna won full approval for its initial vaccination and its half-dose booster from the FDA for individuals over 18. Meanwhile, Novavax submitting a long-awaited application to the agency for an emergency use authorization for its vaccine. The approval of Moderna's vaccine, Spikevax, makes it the country's second fully licensed vaccine to protect against SARS-CoV-2 - the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine, Comirnaty, became the first to be fully approved in August.

Novavax's vaccine, currently known as NVX-CoV2373, is made differently than the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, which both deploy messenger RNA to teach the immune system to recognize and attack SARS-2 viruses. Novavax's jab is a so-called protein vaccine, which delivers nanoparticles of the SARS-2 spike protein to the immune system to activate its defenses against the virus. (https://www.statnews.com/2022/01/31/and-then-there-were-2-fda-gives-full-approval-to-modernas-covid-19-vaccine/)

California has now surpassed 8 million cumulative coronavirus cases since the beginning of the pandemic, the result of weeks of unprecedented spread fueled by the highly infectious Omicron variant. The milestone, equivalent to roughly 1 out of every 5 residents having been infected at some point, comes amid growing signs that Omicron has finally peaked - but not before tearing through California's communities. Since New Year's Day, 2.5 million coronavirus cases have been reported in California. That's fast approaching the entire statewide caseload reported all of last year: 3.1 million. (https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-01-26/california-coronavirus-cases-top-8-million)

HHS renewed its determination that a public health emergency exists nationwide due to the continued consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, effective January 16, 2022. This is the eighth renewal of the original January 31, 2020 determination that a public health emergency exists and has existed since January 27, 2020. (https://aspr.hhs.gov/legal/PHE/Pages/COVID19-14Jan2022.aspx)

Just as you can misplace your phone, wallet or keys, a COVID-19 vaccine card can easily go missing after a night out in town, especially since many businesses, events and restaurants are requiring proof of vaccination for entrance. If you misplaced your card or damaged it, here's what you can do: https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article257752358.html

Asthma. Unhealthy gut bacteria. The presence of autoantibodies, usually associated with autoimmune conditions. These are among the risk factors identified in new studies as potentially making someone at greater risk of developing long Covid, a condition in which wide-ranging symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog, and racing heart rate persist months after an initial Covid-19 infection. The studies help advance scientists' understanding of the biology behind long Covid, and provide clues to potential treatments. Patients with autoantibodies, for instance, might get relief from existing treatments for lupus, an autoimmune disease. (https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-new-clues-about-who-will-develop-long-covid-11643625003?mod=hp_trending_now_article_pos4)

The following is an excerpt written for The Washington Post by Zeke Emanuel, MD/PhD, and three others who served as members of the Covid-19 Advisory Board for the Biden-Harris transition: "...There is no need for someone without symptoms or who has had a high-risk exposure to take a PCR test, unless they can get a very rapid result. Shifting to reliance on rapid antigen tests will help slow transmission during this pandemic. It should also ease the confusion and concerns of Americans about getting a coronavirus test."

Tony Pfannkuche, a 17-year veteran of ABL, prior to retiring as the CEO of Bridge Executive Corporation to become an accomplished reader and commenter, consistently keeps our Inbox full of valuable articles, including this one from The New York Times, about which he writes: "I always thought that the great value of ABL was the diversity of its expert membership. Every discussion I attended provided a variety of perspectives and usually resulted in a clarification of knotty issues achieved through leveraging the long and varied experience of the members. I thought of this this morning when I read the long and very entertaining article about the provenance of the COVID mRNA vaccines, Halting Progress and Happy Accidents: How mRNA Vaccines Were Made. This should be recommended reading for ABL-ers."

A bill that would have created the nation's only government-funded universal health care system died in the California Assembly on Monday as Democrats could not gather enough support to bring it for a vote ahead of a legislative deadline. The bill had to pass by midnight on Monday to have a chance at becoming law this year. Democrats needed 41 votes for that to happen, a threshold that did not seem impossible given that they control 56 of the 80 seats in the state Assembly and universal health care has long been a priority for the party. (https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/universal-health-care-bill-faces-deadline-california-82573398)

Last week, HHS announced the distribution of more than $2 billion in Provider Relief Fund (PRF) Phase 4 General Distribution payments. These payments bring the Phase 4 distribution total to approximately $11 billion of the total allotted $17 billion. In this round of distributions, more than 7,600 providers received payments based on changes in revenue and expenses, with an increased focus on equity. (King & Spalding Health Headlines, 1/31/22: https://kslawemail.com/128/8704/pages/art2.asp?sid=483087ab-44ab-4200-928f-e6d494931f74)

The Biden-Harris Administration announced a record-breaking 14.5 million people have signed up for 2022 health care coverage through the Marketplaces during the historic Marketplace Open Enrollment Period from November 1, 2021 through January 15, 2022 - including 5.8 million people who have newly gained coverage under the Administration. The American Rescue Plan lowered health care costs for most Marketplace consumers and increased enrollment to these records levels: HealthCare.gov consumers saw their average monthly premium fall by 23%, compared to the 2021 enrollment period that ended before the American Rescue Plan passed. (https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/biden-harris-administration-announces-145-million-americans-signed-affordable-health-care-during)

California workers will soon again have access to as much as two weeks paid time off for COVID-related sick leave, under a deal announced Thursday by the governor and legislative leaders. The agreement comes amid the continued omicron surge and the resulting labor shortage across the state's workforce, including health care, schools and public transit. And it may be just in time: The number of Californians who were not working in the last month because they or a family member had COVID-19 increased by 320%, according to a California Budget and Policy Center analysis of census data. California workers have been without extra paid time off for COVID - on top of just three days of regular paid sick leave - since a statewide program ended Sept. 30. Under the deal negotiated by Gov. Newsom, Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, the new leave program will be retroactive to Jan. 1 and extend through Sept. 30. As with the previous leave, the new leave only covers employers with 26 or more workers, and the state will provide tax credits to companies. (https://www.dailynews.com/2022/01/27/whats-in-the-california-paid-sick-leave-deal-for-workers-and-businesses-3/)

Hospitalization often spells the beginning of the end of older patients' mobility. Bed rest could be to blame - and in-hospital exercise programs could provide the jump-start older patients need to maintain their functionality at home, a study in JAMA Internal Medicine suggests. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/bedrest-hospital-exercise/2022/01/28/0dc1a724-7ed5-11ec-a25a-1eefb09da298_story.html)

Moderna announced that it has launched early-stage clinical trials of an HIV mRNA vaccine. The biotech company has teamed up with the nonprofit International AIDS Vaccine Initiative to develop the shot, which uses the same technology as Moderna's successful COVID-19 vaccine. Nearly 38 million people worldwide - including about 1.3 million in the U.S - are living with HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, which can lead to the potentially fatal disease AIDS. (https://abcnews.go.com/Health/moderna-launches-clinical-trial-hiv-vaccine-mrna-technology/story?id=82510807)

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