Study: Decline in Cardiovascular Health Screenings During COVID-19 Pandemic Poses New Public Health Threat

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on

LinkedIn

Public Health Officials Must Refocus Efforts on Preventive Care & Screenings for Deadliest Threats Among Vulnerable Communities

Media inquiries: Contact Micaela Dawson, 617-723-2277 ext. 203 or mdawson@pioneerinstitute.org

BOSTON – Pioneer Institute today released a new analysis focused on cardiovascular disease, An “Impending Tsunami” in Mortality from Traditional Diseases?, that examines how the COVID-19 pandemic has created another unrelated public health crisis. The Pioneer analysis examines how a single-minded public health focus on COVID-19, social distancing, and lockdowns drove reductions in screenings, diagnoses, and early treatment for complex conditions such as heart disease. In the study, author and Pioneer Institute Visiting Fellow in Life Sciences Dr. William Smith concludes that public health authorities, policymakers, and the media should turn their focus from COVID-19 to efforts to address and prevent more serious public health challenges looming on the horizon.

“There have been regular admonitions to practice social distancing and wear a mask during the pandemic to protect our health and the health of those we know,” said William Smith, author of An ‘Impending Tsunami’ in Mortality from Traditional Diseases. “But during that time, public health officials have ignored the need to make repeated calls to at-risk populations to visit the doctor and get important health screenings. In the absence of these important prevention efforts, we are on the brink of a public health challenge, worsening patient outcomes, and additional healthcare costs.”

In the new analysis, Pioneer finds that:

There were over 375,000 deaths from COVID-19 in 2020, compared to 691,000 from heart disease and more than 600,000 from cancer. For both of these preventable and treatable diseases, earlier treatment leads to better patient outcomes.
Compared to 2018 and 2019, primary care visits were down 21.4 percent during the second quarter of 2020, despite a surge in telemedicine, which accounted for 2 percent of visits in 2019, but 35 percent from April through June of 2020. The problem is even more severe among African-American, Asian and Hispanic patients, who are more likely to meet with their primary care physician remotely.
Cholesterol screenings were down more than 35 percent during the pandemic. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), there was a 9.1 percent drop in prescriptions filled for Atorvastatin, the leading cholesterol drug that is the most dispensed drug in the U.S., which translates to nearly 11 million prescriptions for the drug being dispensed.

Dr. Smith makes several recommendations to address this dangerous lack of preventive and early care, including:

A public health campaign about the dangers of not getting screened for the leading causes of death in the U.S. and the urgency for people to see their physician. The campaign should have its highest visibility in communities of color as African-Americans have the highest death rates for heart disease and cancer, and communities of color also have far lower diagnosis rates for cardiovascular and other diseases.

Public officials should borrow tactics used to distribute free COVID-19 vaccines by offering free diagnostic tests at large venues.
Policy makers should reduce or eliminate access restrictions to vaccines, therapeutics and prescriptions. Policy makers and health plans should consider waiving co-pays and co-insurance on therapies for the two leading causes of death for a year.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) should submit recommendations on how to mitigate public health damage that may have occurred from the precipitous drop in health screenings.

About the Author

William S. Smith is Visiting Fellow in Life Sciences at Pioneer Institute. He has 25 years of experience in government and in corporate roles, including as vice president of public affairs and policy at Pfizer, and as a consultant to major pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies. He held senior staff positions for the Republican House leadership on Capitol Hill, the White House, and in the Massachusetts Governor’s office. He is affiliated as research fellow and managing director with the Center for the Study of Statesmanship at The Catholic University of America (CUA), where he earned his PhD.

About Pioneer Institute

Pioneer’s mission is to develop and communicate dynamic ideas that advance prosperity and a vibrant civic life in Massachusetts and beyond. Pioneer’s vision of success is a state and nation where our people can prosper and our society thrive because we enjoy world-class options in education, healthcare, transportation and economic opportunity, and where our government is limited, accountable and transparent. Pioneer values an America where our citizenry is well-educated and willing to test our beliefs based on facts and the free exchange of ideas, and committed to liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise.

Get Updates On Our Life Sciences Work!

Related Content:

New Analysis: ICER Framework Ignores Patient Preferences, Innovation & Societal Benefits in Evaluating Cost-Effectiveness of New Cancer Treatments

April 6, 2021

Pioneer Institute today released a new analysis, The QALY and Cancer Treatments: An Ill-Advised Match, that examines the alarming methodological and contextual shortcomings of the Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALY)-based methodology in evaluating new cancer therapies. The Pioneer Institute analysis reveals five specific problems with ICER’s evaluation of cancer treatments and demonstrates the urgent need to prohibit the use of the QALY amid trends in rapid cancer innovations and personalized medicine.

ICER Proves Its Lack of Business Acumen, Again

0 Comments

February 3, 2021

A recent Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) “Report on Unsupported Price Increases,” concluded that: “Among the top drugs with price increases in 2019…ICER determined that seven of 10 lacked adequate new evidence to demonstrate a substantial clinical benefit that was not yet previously known.” The impression left by the report is that drug companies arbitrarily raise prices without good reason. As with so many ICER products, the study is misleading and demonstrates a profound lack of business acumen.

Study: Growth of Antibiotic-Resistant Infections Could Have Massive Human, Financial Costs

October 20, 2020

The world was blindsided by COVID-19, but a new Pioneer Institute study finds that even as we continue to wrestle with the pandemic, another threat looms that scientists have long known about but the nation has thus far failed to address: the growth of antibiotic-resistant infections. “Market dysfunction and perverse Medicare reimbursement rates have led to a growth in infections that resist antibiotics,” said Gunnar Esiason, author of “Antimicrobial Resistance: Learning from the current global health crisis to prevent another one.” If we don’t solve this problem, the human and economic costs are likely to be astronomical.”

Study: Growing Drug Rebates Hurt Both Consumers and Healthcare System

September 1, 2020

Ever-larger rebates are distorting the market for branded drugs and producing outcomes that often benefit neither consumers nor the healthcare system, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

Study Finds Pandemic Likely to Negatively Impact Biopharmaceutical Sector

May 21, 2020

Contrary to conventional wisdom that says the coronavirus pandemic will generally benefit biopharmaceutical companies, a new Pioneer Institute study finds many companies will emerge from the pandemic commercially weaker, dealing with delays in new product launches and with fewer resources to invest in research and development.

New Report: Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALY) Methodology Discriminates Against Older Americans, Threatens to Deny Seniors Access to Life-Saving Care

April 2, 2020

New report asserts that with older americans more vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic, all health plans should avoid using the QALY methodology when assessing the value of care for older patients

A Woman Helping a Disabled Man in a Wheelchair

New Report & Legal Analysis Suggests ICER’s Quality Adjusted Life Years Methodology Violates the Americans with Disabilities Act

February 10, 2020

A new report, "The Legality of QALY under the ADA," outlines several potential legal violations and negative implications for disabled individuals related to the adoption of the QALY approach to drug value assessment, used most prominently by ICER.