Latest KFF Health News Stories
Drugmakers Make Counteroffer On Trump’s Drug-Pricing Plan; Teva Indicted On Price-Fixing Charges
Read about the biggest pharmaceutical developments and pricing stories from the past week in KHN’s Prescription Drug Watch roundup.
Lawmakers Question Unusual ‘Operation Warp Speed’ Contract
By designating drug company executive Moncef Slaoui as a private contractor, he can avoid disclosing drug company investments that he accumulated as a former top executive at GlaxoSmithKline and as a partner in a large venture capital fund, Medicxi.
Two Patients In Europe Had COVID Twice
Global health developments are reported out of Guatemala, China, South Korea, Spain, England, Jamaica, Senegal and other countries.
FEMA Might Stop Paying For PPE, Other COVID Supplies, States Say
According to a top official in Vermont, FEMA officials told cities and states that they may have to use other federal programs to cover the costs of their coronavirus supplies, including protective gear for government employees and disinfection supplies for schools, the Washington Post says.
Health Experts Decry Efforts To Bar Asylum Seekers Over Fears They Spread COVID
Also, reports on two Navajo Nation sisters who worked side by side and died of COVID, mental health issues for trauma surgeons, and on people of color on the front line of the pandemic who are dying.
Only 29% Of Opioid Treatment Facilities Provide Life-Saving Drug
The FDA-approved medication buprenorphine helps reduce cravings for heroin or fentanyl. Opponents of its use say it substitutes one drug for another. Also news on vaccine trials, rural hospitals, and Google sister company selling health insurance.
COVID-Related Medical Research Findings
Ozone as a coronavirus disinfectant, antigen tests in men vs. women, flu and heart disease are among the more significant research recent findings.
Two People Killed During Demonstrations In Kenosha
Jacob Blake, the man Kenosha, Wisconsin, police shot in the back is said to be paralyzed from the waist down. In other news r ace and health, Latinos struggles in Marin County, Calif. and more.
School Reopenings Dominated By Disarray
College students suspended for violating anti-COVID rules, more outbreaks and mixed court rulings on reopenings are among the reports.
CDC Urges Store Workers Not To Argue With People Who Aren’t Wearing Masks
In other public health news: Princess Cruises and Cunard have canceled their sailings into early 2021; a Kentucky man accused of twice breaking Canada’s COVID rules could be fined $569,000; and more.
Woman Mistakenly Declared Dead, Found Alive At Funeral Home
The 20-year-old, who has cerebral palsy, is in critical condition at Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit, where she is on a respirator and her heart is beating on its own.
American Airlines Warning About Layoffs Signals Congress About Need For Relief
Efforts between the Democrats and Republicans to find a compromise on a new relief bill collapsed before the summer recess. In other news, New York joins other states in filing a lawsuit to block postal service changes.
A genetic data study finds that the Biogen conference held in Boston in February played a much greater role in spreading the coronavirus in the outbreak’s early days than previously identified. Meanwhile, public health experts say that the recent Sturgis motorcycle rally is shaping up as a similar “superspreader” event.
Planned Parenthood Assailed At GOP Convention
The convention highlighted the appointment of judges and justices and other efforts to restrict abortion. The “right-to-try” untested drug treatments was also touted.
Melania Trump Delivers Rare Nod At Convention To Tragedy Of Pandemic
Telling Americans “you are not alone,” First Lady Melania Trump has been one of the few speakers so far at the Republican National Convention to voice sympathy for the more than 182,000 lives lost in the U.S. due to COVID-19.
All Nursing Homes Must Now Test Workers For COVID, CMS Mandates
Facilities face financial penalties if they don’t test staff during an outbreak. The interim regulation is the first time the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has required such testing during the coronavirus pandemic.
FDA’s Positive Plasma Claims Are Walked Back
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn even apologized for overstating the results of convalescent plasma treatments.
CDC: No COVID Symptoms? No Test
People who have been exposed to others with the virus “do not necessarily need a test” if they are not experiencing symptoms, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Not A Straight Line Down: Daily Cases Creep Back Up Last Two Days
While confirmed COVID-19 infections are down from last week’s levels, places like Illinois, Hawaii and Puerto Rico report surges.
Hospitals Must Report COVID Data Or Risk Medicare, Medicaid Funding
In new emergency rules, the Trump administration warned hospitals that it would revoke Medicare and Medicaid dollars if coronavirus patient data and test results are not reported to HHS. The reporting program was previously voluntary.