First Edition: March 2, 2018
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
As Surgery Centers Boom, Patients Are Paying With Their Lives
The surgery went fine. Her doctors left for the day. Four hours later, Paulina Tam started gasping for air.Internal bleeding was cutting off her windpipe, a well-known complication of the spine surgery she had undergone.But a Medicare inspection report describing the event says that nobody who remained on duty that evening at the Northern California surgery center knew what to do. In desperation, a nurse did something that would not happen in a hospital. She dialed 911. By the time an ambulance delivered Tam to the emergency room, the 58-year-old mother of three was lifeless, according to the report. (Jewett, 3/1)
Kaiser Health News:
A Tale Of Love, Family Conflict And Battles Over Care For An Aging Mother
“Edith + Eddie,” a short documentary vying for an Academy Award Sunday, is a gripping look at a couple in their 90s caught up in an intense family conflict over caring for an aging parent. As a columnist who covers aging, I’m familiar with such stories. But as I immersed myself in the details of this case, I found myself reaching a familiar conclusion: real life is more complicated than in the movies. (Graham, 3/1)
California Healthline:
Health Care Revamp At The L.A. County Jails
Michael Callahan, an outgoing 43-year-old carpenter, landed in a Los Angeles County jail last September because of what he said were “bad decisions and selling drugs. ”He had uncontrolled diabetes and high blood pressure when he arrived, but his health was the last thing on his mind. Consumed by a meth addiction, he hadn’t taken his medications for months. “When I got here, I was a wreck,” said Callahan, who is stocky and covered in tattoos. “My legs were so swollen that if I bumped them they would break open.” (Gorman, 3/1)
Reuters:
Trump Urges Lawsuit Against Opioid Companies, Tougher Sentences For Dealers
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday called for a federal lawsuit against opioid companies and stiffer penalties for drug dealers, arguing that the government must take a strong approach to combat an opioid addiction epidemic. Trump said that he had urged Attorney General Jeff Sessions to take legal action."Hopefully we can do some litigation against the opioid companies," Trump said at a summit hosted by the White House on the nation's opioid crisis. (Rascoe, 3/1)
The Associated Press:
Trump Says Drug Dealers May Deserve 'Ultimate Penalty'
President Donald Trump said Thursday the "ultimate penalty" may be in order for drug dealers because the nation's drug problem will never be solved without a show of strength and toughness. The comments were Trump's most explicit on the matter to date. He previously has alluded to death for drug dealers by noting that some countries are "very harsh" with drug dealers. Trump also has said he knows the answer to the drug crisis, but he isn't sure the country is "ready for it yet." (Superville, 3/1)
The Washington Post:
President Trump Suggests Executing Drug Dealers At Summit On Opioid Crisis
Trump’s statements came at the end of a two-hour summit on opioid addiction, in which Cabinet secretaries talked about combating the nation’s opioid epidemic with treatment programs and law enforcement officials discussed efforts to disrupt the supply chain for heroin and fentanyl in Mexico and China. Trump’s emphasis on criminal penalties stands in contrast to the focus on treatment by some of his Cabinet secretaries and many fighting the epidemic nationwide. (Zezima, 3/1)
Politico:
Trump Suggests Death Penalty To Stop Opioid Epidemic
The remarks are likely to rankle administration critics who have urged the White House to focus on the public health component of the opioid crisis. The president's remarks did not touch on health approaches like providing additional funding for treatment. “It makes us all very nervous” that the U.S. could move back to a “penal-first approach,” said Andrew Kessler, who leads Slingshot Solutions, a consulting firm specializing in behavioral health policy that advocates for substance abuse treatment and prevention. “I have no love for high-level traffickers or cartels, but a very high percentage of people who sell drugs do it to support their own habit.” (Karlin-Smith and Ehley, 3/1)
The Hill:
Melania Trump Calls For Action At Opioid Summit
First lady Melania Trump called for action on the opioid crisis in a speech Thursday kicking off a White House summit on the epidemic. The first lady added her voice to the discussion as the administration works to highlight steps it has taken to address the crisis. (Sullivan, 3/1)
The Boston Globe:
Trump Keeps Talking About Opioids, But Critics Want Action
President Trump attempted to gain some initiative in his faltering efforts to combat opioid abuse with a White House summit Thursday, but critics decried what they see as only sporadic, ineffective attention to the epidemic from this administration. (Herndon, 3/2)
The Hill:
Sessions To DEA: Evaluate Opioid Production Quota
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is asking the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to evaluate whether changes are needed to the amount of opioids drug makers are allowed to produce. If needed, potential alterations could be made through an interim final rule, which allows an agency to issue a new regulation effective immediately without first going through the notice and comment period. (Roubein, 3/1)
The Hill:
GOP Chairman: Panel Reviewing Additional Legislation To Fight Opioid Crisis
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) detailed additional pieces of opioid legislation the panel will review as it aims to get the bills passed by Memorial Day weekend. At a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event Thursday on combating the opioid epidemic, Walden specifically mentioned three bills the committee will review in its next legislative hearings slated for this month. (Roubein, 3/1)
The Associated Press:
Kentucky House Votes To Tax Opioids To Close Budget Gap
For six years, a pharmaceutical distributor sent more than 50 million doses of prescription opioids to five eastern Kentucky counties, enough for every person there to have 417 pills each. Kentucky's attorney general has sued that company and others like it. Thursday, state lawmakers voted to tax them. (3/1)
Stat:
Kentucky Could Become The First State To Tax Opioid Prescriptions
Lawmakers in Kentucky are weighing whether to impose a new tax on opioid prescriptions, the latest effort in a string of so-far failed attempts to pull new revenue from the painkillers that helped seed a nationwide addiction crisis. The proposed tax — a 25-cent levy on drug distributors for every dose sent to the state — was approved by the Kentucky House Thursday as part of a broader budget and tax plan. But unlike in other states, where lawmakers aimed to steer the new revenue to addiction treatment and education programs, the Kentucky plan, if enacted, would direct the money to fill budget gaps elsewhere, including boosting funding for the state’s public schools. (Joseph, 3/2)
The New York Times:
N.R.A. Suggests Trump May Retreat From Gun Control
The top lobbyist for the National Rifle Association claimed late Thursday that President Trump had retreated from his surprising support a day earlier for gun control measures after a meeting with N.R.A. officials and Vice President Mike Pence in the Oval Office. The lobbyist, Chris Cox, posted on Twitter just after 9 p.m. that he met with Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence, saying that “we all want safe schools, mental health reform and to keep guns away from dangerous people. POTUS & VPOTUS support the Second Amendment, support strong due process and don’t want gun control. #NRA #MAGA.” (Shear, Gay Stolberg and Kaplan, 3/1)
Politico:
Conservatives Floored By Trump's Gun Control Lovefest
Minutes into Donald Trump’s renegade embrace of the left’s wish list for gun control, Republican Rep. Warren Davidson’s phone lines blew up. “What is Trump doing?” texted one angry constituent from his conservative southwest Ohio district, according to Davidson. “You’ve got to stop this,” demanded another. “That can’t be real,” Davidson recalled thinking as his supporters — all Trump enthusiasts — unloaded on the president. (Everett and Bade, 3/1)
The Hill:
Senate Dem Calls For Funding CDC Gun Research
A Democratic senator is calling on appropriators to include funding in the upcoming budget bill for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to study gun violence. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said he wants to provide $10 million a year for six years to conduct or support CDC research on firearms safety and gun violence prevention. (Weixel, 3/1)
NPR:
Science On Gun Laws Is Lacking, RAND Report Finds
An analysis published Friday confirms the state of American gun policy science is not good, overall. The nonprofit RAND Corporation analyzed thousands of studies and found only 63 that establish a causal relationship between specific gun policies and outcomes such as reductions in homicide and suicide, leaving lawmakers without clear facts about one of the most divisive issues in American politics. (Hersher, 3/2)
The Hill:
Hatch: ObamaCare Supporters Are 'The Stupidest, Dumbass People I've Ever Met'
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on Thursday called ObamaCare supporters “the stupidest, dumbass people” he’s ever met. Orrin made the comments during a speech at the American Enterprise Institute about the GOP tax overhaul, which repealed the ObamaCare individual mandate. (Anapol, 3/1)
The Hill:
Poll: ObamaCare Favorability Reaches All-Time High
The favorable rating for ObamaCare has reached its highest level since the law was enacted in 2010, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) poll. The poll finds that 54 percent of the public has a favorable view of the law, compared to 42 percent who have an unfavorable view. That is the highest favorable rating in a KFF poll since it began asking the question in 2010. (Sullivan, 3/1)
NPR:
Indian Health Service Seeks Permanent Director
The insurance broker President Trump nominated to lead the Indian Health Service, Robert Weaver, is firing back at the White House and the media after his nomination was withdrawn last week. "The allegations raised against me in the media are baseless, irrelevant, and in the most important cases simply incorrect," Weaver said in a press release Tuesday.In January, The Wall Street Journal quoted a former colleagues of Weaver alleging that he had exaggerated his prior work experience. (Whitney, 3/1)
The Hill:
Planned Parenthood Announces $20M Midterm Election Campaign
Planned Parenthood's political arm will target eight states in its largest-ever midterm election campaign, the organization announced Thursday. The campaign, called "March. Vote. Win.," will focus on competitive Senate and governor's races with an initial cost of $20 million. (Hellmann and Kamisar, 3/1)
The Associated Press:
Uber Starts Offering Rides To The Doctor
Uber is driving deeper into health care by offering to take patients in every U.S. market where it operates to their next medical appointment. The ride-hailing service said Thursday its Uber Health business will handle rides set up by doctor's offices or other health care providers and then bill that business, not the patient, for the service. The company said rides can be set up within a few hours or days in advance. Patients won't need access to a smartphone to use the service. (Murphy, 3/1)
The Washington Post:
Uber And Lyft Think They Can Solve One Of Medicine’s Biggest Problems
No-show patients are a real problem in medicine, but it's far from clear whether ride-sharing services scheduled by providers are the solution. A study of nearly 800 Medicaid patients in West Philadelphia found that offering to schedule free Lyft rides to and from primary care appointments didn't decrease the number of missed appointments compared to a group of people not offered the service. That work, published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine last month, calls into question whether simply expanding the availability of ride-sharing services would help solve the problem. (Johnson, 3/1)
The Washington Post:
Hundreds Of Virginians Rally For Medicaid Expansion
Under the shadow of the Bell Tower on Capitol Square, hundreds of people from across Virginia rallied on a rainy Thursday in support of a state budget that would expand Medicaid to about 400,000 low-income residents. Medicaid expansion is included in the budget approved by the House of Delegates. It also would add a work requirement for those seeking coverage. The budget passed by the Senate would not expand Medicaid. The two chambers must work out their differences and pass a budget before the legislative session ends March 10. (Copeland, 3/1)
The Associated Press:
White House Weighs In On Medicaid Expansion In Virginia
The White House budget director waded into Virginia’s ongoing debate over whether to expand Medicaid on Thursday, saying the Trump administration is “committed to addressing the unsustainable growth” of the program. The Office of Management and Budget issued director Mick Mulvaney’s brief statement “on the Obamacare Medicaid Expansion in Virginia” on Twitter. (Rankin, 3/1)
Reuters:
Big Pharma, Big Data-Why Drugmakers Want Your Health Records
Drugmakers are racing to scoop up patient health records and strike deals with technology companies as big data analytics start to unlock a trove of information about how medicines perform in the real world.Studying such real-world evidence offers manufacturers a powerful tool to prove the value of their drugs - something Roche aims to leverage, for example, with last month's $2 billion purchase of Flatiron Health. (Hirschler, 3/1)
Stat:
How The U.S. Military Might Help Answer A Critical Question About The Flu Vaccine
The question is whether flu vaccines that are not made in eggs are more protective against the H3N2 viruses that have been causing so much illness this winter. Coming up with the answer is tricky, because the two vaccines that are not made in egg-based production lines make up only a small portion of the flu vaccine used in the United States. ...The Department of Defense purchased a substantial amount Flucelvax this year; it is one of the vaccines not made in eggs. In fact, half of the department’s beneficiaries — a population that includes guards and reserves, the families of active service personnel, and retirees — who were vaccinated got Flucelvax. (Branswell, 3/2)
The Washington Post:
How Proton Therapy Disrupts Cancer
Tucked in a corner of the MedStar Georgetown University Hospital campus is the country’s 28th proton therapy center, which is set to begin treating patients this month. It is a small but state-of-the-art system designed to attack tumors more quickly than its predecessors in proton therapy, a precise type of radiation treatment that spares healthy tissue. Twenty-four more centers are under construction or in development, including one at D.C.’s Sibley Memorial Hospital that is scheduled to open in late 2019. (Berkowitz and Steckelberg, 3/1)
Stat:
How A Society Gala Was Used To Sell Young-Blood Transfusions To Seniors
STAT got an inside look at this $195-a-head symposium, held last month in this wealthy beachside enclave. It offered a striking view of how promoters aggressively market scientifically dubious elixirs to aging people desperate to defy their own mortality. ... Beyond the questionable science, participants have to pay big money to join the trial. Faloon, an evangelist of anti-aging research who cut a slim figure in his black suit and had the thick dark hair of a younger man, acknowledged during his talk that it would be “expensive” to sign up for the trial. (Robbins, 3/2)
The New York Times:
They’re Hosting Parasitic Worms In Their Bodies To Help Treat A Neglected Disease
Seventeen volunteers in the Netherlands have agreed to host parasitic worms in their bodies for 12 weeks in order to help advance research toward a vaccine for schistosomiasis, a chronic disease that afflicts more than 200 million people a year, killing thousands, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and South America. “Yes it sounds odd and crazy. The idea of having a worm grow inside you is awful,” says Meta Roestenberg, an infectious disease physician at Leiden University Medical Center, who is directing the research. But she said the risk to the student volunteers is “extremely small,” especially compared with the potential benefit to preventing a disease that burdens millions of the world’s poorest people. A Dutch ethics board agreed. (Murphy, 3/1)
The Associated Press:
Lawmakers Seek Option To Alter Impact Of Ballot Initiatives
Facing the possibility that voters could change laws on several hot-button issues, Utah lawmakers are considering giving themselves the option to change any voter-approved measure before it goes into effect, a move that comes as lawmakers around the country work to limit the effects of ballot initiatives. Utah voters could have the opportunity to consider an unusually high six ballot initiatives, ranging from medical marijuana, school funding and Medicaid expansion, making at least one lawmaker uneasy. (3/1)
The Associated Press:
Flu Cases Decrease In NY State For First Time This Winter
The number of laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza has dropped across New York state, the first decline since the flu was deemed widespread in December. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday that about 13,700 flu cases were reported last week to the state Department of Health, down from 18,250 the previous week. The Democrat continues to encourage New Yorkers to get a flu shot. (3/1)