Latest KFF Health News Stories
Longer Looks: Meth In Alaska; The Health Care Election; And American Epidemics
Each week, KHN’s Shefali Luthra finds interesting reads from around the Web.
Media outlets report on news from California, D.C., Washington, Texas, Maryland, Minnesota, Tennessee, New Hampshire and Florida.
The students are reaching out to local activists and communities, preaching a message of fixing the underlying problems of gun violence and registering voters across the country. In other news: the problems with sitting, the mysterious illnesses in Cuba, robot peer pressure, and weight loss.
Long-Term Health Benefits Of Quitting Smoking Eclipse Negative Effects From Any Weight Gain
The nicotine in cigarettes can suppress appetite and boost metabolism, and many smokers who quit who don’t step up their exercise find they eat more and gain weight. In other news on smoking, a study reports no amount of secondhand smoke is safe.
Traces Of Herbicide Found In Popular Children’s Cereals, Other Breakfast Foods
Federal regulators maintain that glyphosate does not cause cancer, but in 2015 the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer declared it a probable carcinogen.
Under the health law, there are penalties on hospitals for avoidable readmissions. Providing support for family caregivers could help keep patients from having to come back to the facility. Meanwhile, some hospitals are revamping to become more energy efficient, and they’re saving millions.
GreatCall also helps seniors obtain concierge-type and emergency services. Best Buy has already dipped a toe into the health care field with its health-and-wellness products.
Possible Mass Exodus Brewing At Gilead As Another Top Official Announces Departure
The moves add to growing investor unease over the health of large biotech companies, which are being pushed to find successors for aging blockbuster drugs. In other pharmaceutical news: Pfizer invests in a better flu vaccine; a startup struggles to build interest by male doctors for a drug that benefits women; and a deeper look at CAR-T therapy.
Special Oversight Of Gene Therapies To Be Rolled Back As Treatment Becomes More Commonplace
Experts are wary because while the therapies have provided some miraculous success, there have also been spectacular failures. Health officials, however, say that the FDA can provide enough oversight and extra supervision from the NIH is no longer needed.
The overall numbers are grim — 72,000 Americans died from a fatal overdose last year. But deaths in some states that had already adjusted to the addition of more deadly, synthetic opioids to the drug supply overdoses are going down.
The beneficiaries have to log hours through other programs, so officials know that they’re meeting them and simply just not reporting them. Critics warned of this scenario before work requirements were instituted because, according to analysts, one in three Medicaid adults never use a computer or the internet and four in ten do not use email. Medicaid news comes out of Ohio, as well.
‘Deficiencies Persist’ In Government’s Treatment Of Migrant Children, Bipartisan Senate Report Finds
The report faults the government for not having a single agency that is taking responsibility for the safety of the children, which makes them vulnerable to abuse and human trafficking. Agencies fired back, saying that the report didn’t address congressional failures over the crisis. Meanwhile, a group of Democrats is demanding the government immediately reunite the children who are still in custody because of the zero tolerance policy with their families.
First Edition: August 16, 2018
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Shortage Of Insurance Fraud Cops Sparks Campaign Debate
About a quarter of fraud investigator positions at the state Department of Insurance are open, and Steve Poizner has made the vacancies a focus of his campaign for insurance commissioner. His opponent, Ricardo Lara, says chasing criminals isn’t the only solution to rising health care costs.
Energy-Hog Hospitals: When They Start Thinking Green, They See Green
Some hospitals have taken steps to be more energy-efficient. Though at times these changes barely represent rounding errors in their budgets, comprehensive efforts are beginning to make a difference.
Financial Ties That Bind: Studies Often Fall Short On Conflict-Of-Interest Disclosures
A new study in JAMA Surgery finds that a large sample of published medical research failed to disclose details on the financial relationships between medical device makers and physicians. Changes in the disclosure process could close this loop.
Editorial pages focus on these health topics and others.
Read recent commentaries about drug-cost issues.
News outlets report on stories related to pharmaceutical pricing.
Media outlets report on news from Illinois, D.C., Ohio, California, Tennessee, Maryland, New Jersey, Arizona, Louisiana, Georgia, New Hampshire, Minnesota and North Dakota.