The billion-dollar fight over telemedicine — Employers haven't figured out testing — Tesla's work in biotech

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Hope you all had restful weekends. Florida and Texas on Sunday hit record-high coronavirus cases as outbreaks keep surging in the South.

"I think it's pretty obvious that we are not going in the right direction," Dr. Anthony Fauci said in an interview with JAMA last week.

Inside the fight over how to pay for online doctor's visits

Online doctors' visits and phone calls have exploded in the wake of the pandemic.

Now, Kimberly Leonard, has the inside look at the debate brewing over what the future might hold — and how much that might cost.

As part of it, Kimberly spoke to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma.

Verma shared the concerns she's weighing about telemedicine. The decisions CMS made in the early days of the pandemic contributed greatly to the explosive use. How the agency decides to proceed will be critical to the future of medicine.

Read the full story here>>

There's a billion-dollar fight brewing over whether doctors should be paid for phone calls and video visits. Who wins could determine the future of healthcare.

Companies haven't figured out how to test their employees for COVID-19

One of the biggest tools we have in reopening offices (not to mention universities, schools, etc.) is testing. But as Blake Dodge found while talking to some of the biggest companies out there, it's easier said than done.

After reaching out to 16 companies, Blake found that not many have started testing, with the exception of a few companies that make coronavirus tests.

That could spell trouble when looking to bring employees back to the offices.

Read the full story here>>

We asked 16 huge companies like Goldman Sachs and Amazon about their plans to test workers for the coronavirus. It revealed an unclear path for how to reopen the economy and stop the virus' spread.

Elon Musk's involvement in the coronavirus vaccine race

On Thursday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that his company is working with a German biotech on "RNA microfactories."

It prompted Andrew Dunn to reach out to CureVac, the company in question, to find out more. CureVac, for its part, is working on a coronavirus vaccine.

While a CureVac spokesperson confirmed to Andrew that the two companies are indeed working together, the spokesperson declined to say whether the work is related to CureVac's coronavirus vaccine efforts.

Read the full story here>>

A German biotech that's chasing a coronavirus vaccine confirmed it's working with Tesla after Elon Musk tweeted about developing 'RNA microfactories'

More stories we're reading:

• As US coronavirus cases skyrocket, daily deaths are staying flat. The key is 'to keep the young people away from the old people,' one expert says. (Business Insider)
• Moderna's vaccine trial has been delayed, but it's still planning to start in July (Stat News)
• Meet the 'long-haulers': A growing chorus of coronavirus patients have had symptoms for more than 100 days (Business Insider)
• Why we're still having problems with coronavirus testing (Politico)

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- Lydia