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The health-care system is still seeing lower rates of diagnoses for certain conditions after the coronavirus pandemic kept non-Covid patients away from the hospital early on, Novartis CEO Vasant Narasimhan told CNBC on Wednesday. “I think the signals that were sent that ultimately asked patients to stay away from the emergency room, stay away from hospitals, sent a very powerful message to patients not to get the care that they needed,” Narasimhan said on “Closing Bell.” “It may have been appropriate given the public health emergency, but over time what that does is it creates a significant need for better treatments for these patients.” (Singh, 7/21)

Out-of-network providers that charge more for COVID-19 tests are performing a greater share of them during this phase of the pandemic, leading to rising expenses among health insurance companies, the trade group AHIP maintains in a report published Tuesday. The number of out-of-network providers charging at least 50% more than the commercial average for COVID-19 tests has doubled since the start of the pandemic, with 36% of providers pricing tests at above the standard rates. The share of providers charging at least $185 for a coronavirus test rose to 54% in March, compared to 42% last April when the pandemic was new to the U.S., according to the Washington-based insurance industry trade association. (Tepper, 7/20)

Casey Johnson has never let a COVID patient die alone. In her years as a bedside nurse at St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro, Arkansas, Johnson has watched countless patients pass. But the pandemic — especially the state’s third surge in the final months of 2020 — brought a wave of death unlike any she’d ever seen. To those who die in her care, she is a stranger, she said. But she can still offer them comfort. She’s caressed patients’ hands, quietly played “Amazing Grace” from her iPhone, gently bathed tired limbs. She sharpened her sixth sense for when someone was about to die — their breathing more sporadic, their mood more restless before becoming solemn and withdrawn. Those who hadn’t been robbed of their voice by the virus would often tell her “‘Today’s the day,’” or “‘I want to go home.’” She’s never gotten used to the conversations with loved ones who have been left behind, she said, and each time, it “takes a little bit out of you.” (Santhanam, 7/21)

With Covid-19 cases rising and vaccination rates on the decline, health experts say they are concerned about the next chapter in the pandemic -- especially for younger Americans, who they say are feeling the impacts. "We do know that in our ICUs, we are seeing younger people intubated who are very sick or who are on the floors and are very sick," Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, professor of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said. "That should be a gigantic wake-up call." (Holcombe, 7/22)

A doctor in Alabama pleaded on Facebook this week for Covid-19 skeptics to get vaccinated — unlike some of her patients who paid the ultimate price. Dr. Brytney Cobia’s impassioned and sobering Facebook post from Sunday has been widely circulated on social media. The Birmingham physician said people are listening to her firsthand accounts of treating critical patients who regret never getting inoculated. “I’m admitting young healthy people to the hospital with very serious COVID infections. One of the last things they do before they’re intubated is beg me for the vaccine. I hold their hand and tell them that I’m sorry, but it’s too late," she wrote. (Planas, 7/21)