First Edition: January 9, 2020
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
‘An Arm And A Leg’: Watch Your Back — And Your Wallet
In 2008, Cathryn Jakobson Ramin was an investigative journalist whose back was killing her.She was considering surgery but, after learning more about her options and the failure rate of surgery, instead spent six years researching what she now calls the “back pain industry.” She found that the most commonly prescribed treatments, including surgery, frequently do not work — and often leave people a lot worse off. (Weissmann, 1/9)
Kaiser Health News:
Reduce Health Costs By Nurturing The Sickest? A Much-Touted Idea Disappoints
The results are a blow to Dr. Jeffrey Brenner and the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, the organization he founded nearly 20 years ago. “It’s my life’s work. So, of course, you’re upset and sad,” said Brenner, who now does similar work with health insurance giant UnitedHealthcare. The model of care, pioneered in part by Brenner and profiled in a widely read 2011 article in The New Yorker, has inspired dozens of similar projects across the country and attracted millions in philanthropic funding. (Gorenstein and Walker, 1/8)
Kaiser Health News:
Listen: A Renewed Focus On Health Care In 2020
Julie Rovner, chief Washington correspondent for KHN, spoke at length Tuesday with Stephen Henderson on WDET’s “Detroit Today” show to analyze how health care topics are playing out in the 2020 presidential campaign and concerns among consumers over changes brought by the Affordable Care Act. (1/8)
The New York Times:
Deflating Results Of Major Study Point To Better Ways To Cut Health Care Waste
To try to avoid a repeat hospitalization, the program provided an unusually large amount of care to very sick patients after they left the hospital, including from registered nurses, social workers, licensed practical nurses, community health workers and health coaches. In the three months after a hospital stay, an average patient in the program received 7.6 home visits and 8.8 phone calls from staff. In addition, program staff went along on patients’ visits to physicians, which averaged 2.5 per person. (Frakt, 1/8)
The Associated Press:
Program Meant To Curb Repeat Hospital Stays Fails Big Test
Researchers thought they had a way to keep hard-to-treat patients from constantly returning to the hospital and racking up big medical bills. Health workers visited homes, went along to doctor appointments, made sure medicines were available and tackled social problems including homelessness, addiction and mental health issues. Readmissions seemed to drop. The program looked so promising that the federal government and the MacArthur Foundation gave big bucks to expand it beyond Camden, New Jersey, where it started. But a more robust study released Wednesday revealed it was a stunning failure on its main goal: Readmission rates did decline, but by the same amount as for a comparison group of similar patients not in the costly program. (1/8)
The New York Times:
These Patients Are Hard To Treat
But a new study, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that the Camden program did not result in fewer hospital readmissions in the six months after a patient left the hospital. While the program appeared to lower readmissions by nearly 40 percent, the same kind of patients who received regular care saw a nearly identical decline in hospital stays. (Abelson, 1/8)
CBS News:
Cost Of Having A Baby Hits $4,500 Out Of Pocket With Employer-Provided Insurance
The cost of giving birth in America has skyrocketed in recent years — even for women with employer health insurance. A major study looking at women with employer-provided health insurance found that the average new mom spent $4,500 out-of-pocket to give birth in 2015, the most recent year data are available. That's a 50% increase from 2007, when the typical new mom paid out just over $3,000 of her own money. It's also more than three times the rate of inflation over that time period. (Ivanova, 1/8)
The New York Times:
New York State Investigates Christian Health Cost Sharing Affiliate
New York State officials are investigating a business representing a major Christian group offering an alternative to health insurance, joining several states scrutinizing these cost-sharing programs that provide limited coverage. On Wednesday, New York state insurance regulators issued a subpoena to Aliera, which markets the Christian ministry run by Trinity Healthshare, according to people who have seen the subpoena. More than one million Americans have joined such groups, attracted by prices that are far lower than the cost of traditional insurance policies that must meet strict requirements established by the Affordable Care Act, like guaranteed coverage for pre-existing conditions. (Abelson, 1/8)
The Associated Press:
'Obamacare' Mandate: Hot For Lawyers, Ho-Hum To Consumers
The repeal of an unpopular fine for people without health insurance has had little impact on “Obamacare” sign-ups or premiums, a gap between the real world and legal arguments from conservatives again challenging the Affordable Care Act. The 10-year-old law has proved more resilient than its creators or detractors imagined, even as the Supreme Court considers whether to take up the latest effort to roll it back. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 1/8)
The Associated Press:
Appeals Court Keeps Block Of Trump Immigration Rule In Place
A federal appeals court in New York on Wednesday rejected a motion from the Trump administration that would have allowed it to implement a policy connecting the use of public benefits with whether immigrants could become permanent residents. The ruling from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the administration's motion to lift a temporary national injunction that had been issued by a New York district court in October after lawsuits had been filed against the new policy. (Hajela, 1/8)
Reuters:
U.S. Court Blocks Trump From Enforcing 'Public Charge' Immigration Rule
The "public charge" rule unveiled last year would make it harder for immigrants who are poor or need government help to secure residency and stay in the country. Critics have said the rule would keep out disproportionately large numbers of people from Latin American, African and Asian countries. (Rosenberg and Stempel, 1/8)
The Associated Press:
Cancer Group Finds Biggest One-Year Drop In U.S. Death Rate
Researchers on Wednesday reported the largest-ever one-year decline in the U.S. cancer death rate, a drop they credited to advances in lung-tumor treatments. The overall cancer death rate has been falling about 1.5% a year since 1991. It fell 2.2% from 2016 to 2017, according to the new American Cancer Society report. That’s the largest drop ever seen in national cancer statistics going back to 1930, said Rebecca Siegel, the lead author. (1/8)
The New York Times:
Cancer Death Rate In U.S. Sees Sharpest One-Year Drop
“Every year that we see a decline in cancer mortality rate, it’s very good news,” said Rebecca Siegel, director of surveillance research at the American Cancer Society and lead author of the organization’s report, which was published online in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. Experts attributed the decline to the reduced smoking rates and to advances in lung cancer treatment. New therapies for melanoma of the skin have also helped extend life for many people with metastatic disease, or cancer that has spread to other parts of the body. (Sheikh, 1/8)
NPR:
Cancer Death Rate Falls As Lung Cancer Picture Improves
"This is unambiguously good news," says Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, senior investigator with the Center for Surgery and Public Health, at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He was not involved in the analysis. What's behind the decline? In part, smoking rates have fallen steadily, which means the biggest risk factor for lung cancer has fallen appreciably. New cancer treatments are also playing a role, Siegel says. (Harris, 1/8)
The New York Times:
The Flu Season May Yet Turn Ugly, C.D.C. Warns
The United States may be headed into a bad flu season, according to figures recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of the last week of December, “widespread” flu activity was reported by health departments in 46 states. More ominously, a second measure — the percentage of patients with flu symptoms visiting medical clinics — shot up almost to the peak reached at the height of the 2017-18 flu season, which was the most severe in a decade. (McNeil, 1/8)
The New York Times:
After A Measles Scare, Seattle Cracks Down On Vaccine Compliance
After a measles outbreak sickened dozens of unvaccinated children in southwestern Washington State last year, school health administrators around the state went into crisis mode, intent on confronting the relatively low vaccination rates in the region. First, they got an assist from the State Legislature, which passed a law in May tightening exemption rules for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. Then school districts — including Seattle’s — sent letters asking thousands of families who did not have compliant vaccine records to get them in order. (Baker, 1/8)
The New York Times:
China Identifies New Virus Causing Pneumonia-Like Illness
Chinese researchers say they have identified a new virus behind an illness that has infected dozens of people across Asia, setting off fears in a region that was struck by a deadly epidemic 17 years ago. There is no evidence that the new virus is readily spread by humans, which would make it particularly dangerous, and it has not been tied to any deaths. But health officials in China and elsewhere are watching it carefully to ensure that the outbreak does not develop into something more severe. (Wee and McNeil, 1/8)
The Associated Press:
AP Explains: The Pathogen Behind China's Pneumonia Outbreak
Since late last year, people in the central Chinese city of Wuhan have been infected with a viral pneumonia whose cause was unknown. The outbreak raised the specter of another SARS epidemic, which killed hundreds in 2002 and 2003. A preliminary investigation has now identified the respiratory disease as a new type of coronavirus, Chinese state media reported Thursday, citing scientists handling the investigation. (1/9)
The Washington Post:
China Identifies New Strain Of Coronavirus As Source Of Pneumonia Outbreak
A Chinese preliminary assessment panel isolated the coronavirus — named because of its crown-like appearance under a microscope — from samples taken from a single patient’s lung fluid, blood and throat swabs, the panel’s leader, Xu Jianguo, told the official Xinhua News Agency in an interview. “The expert group believes that the pathogen of the unexplained cases of viral pneumonia has been preliminarily identified as a new type of coronavirus,” Xu said. “The virus was isolated from samples and showed a typical coronavirus appearance under an electron microscope.” (Shih and Sun, 1/9)
The Wall Street Journal:
New Virus Discovered By Chinese Scientists Investigating Pneumonia Outbreak
There are many known coronaviruses—some can cause ailments like common colds in humans, while others don’t affect humans at all. Some—such as severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS-coronavirus, identified in 2003—have led to deadly outbreaks, lending urgency to efforts to contain the current situation. The number of reported cases of viral pneumonia in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, was 59 on Sunday, rising from 27 on Dec. 31, according to Wuhan’s Municipal Health Commission, with seven people in critical condition. No deaths have been reported. (Khan, 1/8)
The Associated Press:
Walgreens Begins 2020 Much As It Ended 2019, On A Sour Note
Walgreens is kicking off its year much as it ended its last, with a big earnings plunge. First-quarter net income tumbled about 25% as the drugstore chain filled fewer prescriptions than expected and continued to work through a cost-cutting program geared to produce billions in future savings. (Murphy, 1/8)
Reuters:
Walgreens Misses Profit Estimates On Pharmacy Weakness, Shares Fall 7%
The company sought to reassure investors, saying it would meet its adjusted full-year profit forecast of roughly flat growth, betting on cost cuts and a harsh flu season. But shares fell nearly 7% to $55, dragging down those of CVS 2%, as investors worried that the pressure on reimbursement rates from insurers was likely to hurt profits further. (Mishra and Roy, 1/8)
The Wall Street Journal:
Walgreens Profit Squeezed By Weak Prescription Volumes
Walgreens, which also owns the Boots drugstore chain in Europe, is getting squeezed in U.S. negotiations with pharmacy-benefit managers, which serve insurers and other clients by choosing which medicines to cover and pushing for lower prices from drugmakers and sellers. Prices that pharmacies pay for generic drugs have been falling, but insurers’ reimbursement rates are declining more. At the same time, competition from Amazon.com Inc. and other retailers has hurt the company’s retail business. (Terlep and Prang, 1/8)
Stat:
The Ghosts Of JPMs Past: How 20 Years Of Deals Have Shaped Health Care
Biotech is celebrating a platinum anniversary next week: 20 years since J.P. Morgan took over the industry’s biggest conference, an annual ritual of brokered mergers, broken promises, and breakthrough science. The J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference is more than a venue for deals. It’s a place where fierce arguments break out, where industry memes get made, and where biotech examines its warts and wrinkles. (Herper, Garde, Robbins and Feuerstein, 1/9)
The Wall Street Journal:
Less Is More For Big Pharma In 2020
Drug-price inflation, a source of profit and headaches alike for the pharmaceutical industry, is slowing down. That might be better news for investors than it seems. As has become customary, drug manufacturers raised the sticker price on many medicines as the calendar turned to 2020. Analysts at Morgan Stanley found 2,167 price increases in the first week of January, up 17% from the same period a year earlier. (Grant, 1/8)
Stat:
Faced With Fears Of OxyContin Misuse, Sales Reps Touted Its Safety
A year and a half after the opioid painkiller OxyContin went on the market, a Purdue Pharma sales representative documented a physician’s concern about the burgeoning drug that would come up again and again. “Dr worried re addiction w/ Oxy,” the sales rep wrote in a memo summarizing a visit with a Kentucky physician on Aug. 12, 1997. The representative had a ready message to deflect such concerns: “Oxy is long-acting, has fewer peaks than other oxycodone combos, less addictive value.” (Joseph and Chakradhar, 1/9)
NPR:
For Suicide Prevention, Try Raising The Minimum Wage, Research Suggests
A new study suggests that raising the minimum wage might lower the suicide rate — especially when unemployment is high — and that doing so might have saved tens of thousands of people from dying by suicide in the last quarter century. The minimum federal minimum wage is $7.25, though many states have set it higher. Between 1990 and 2015, raising the minimum wage by $1 in each state might have saved more than 27,000 lives, according to a report published this week in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. An increase of $2 in each state's minimum wage could have prevented more than 57,000 suicides. (Dangor, 1/8)
Reuters:
Twitter To Experiment With Limiting Replies In Effort To Combat Online Abuse
Twitter said on Wednesday it will test new features early this year that would allow users to control who can reply to their tweets, as it looks to limit abuse and harassment on the platform. Social media firms are under pressure to address harassment on their sites, which often occurs in unsolicited replies targeting women and minorities, and Twitter Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey has promised since 2018 to increase the "health" of public conversation. (1/9)
CNN:
Losing One Night's Sleep May Increase Risk Factor For Alzheimer's, Study Says
A preliminary study found the loss of one night's sleep in healthy young men increased the levels of tau protein in their blood compared to getting a complete night of uninterrupted sleep. Studies have shown that higher levels of tau protein in the blood is associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. (LaMotte, 1/9)
The Associated Press:
Patients Push Limits For Clues To Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Researchers hooked Zach Ault to medical monitors as he slowly climbed onto a gym bike. An invisible disease is sidelining this once avid athlete and he knew the simple exercise would wipe him out -- but Ault was pedaling for science. Chronic fatigue syndrome is one of medicine’s most vexing mysteries. Now doctors at the National Institutes of Health are using volunteers like Ault for a unique study that pushes their limits in search of what’s stealing all their energy. (1/8)
The Associated Press:
Electric Scooter Injuries Surge Along With Their Popularity
Electric scooter injuries have surged along with their popularity in the United States, nearly tripling over four years, researchers said in a study published Wednesday. Nearly 40,000 broken bones, head injuries, cuts and bruises resulting from scooter accidents were treated in U.S. emergency rooms from 2014 through 2018, the research showed. (1/8)
The New York Times:
Gangs, Riots, Killings: ‘Undeniable Crisis’ In Mississippi Prisons
Betty Turner dreaded what her son would face in the state penitentiary in Parchman, the Mississippi Delta prison that has, over the course of more than a century, earned a dark and near-mythic reputation for cruelty and institutional racism. Her fears were realized when he described meals of just a slice of bologna with a packet of mustard, sightings of rats and mold, and nights spent on a mat on a cold, damp floor. (Rojas and Fausset, 1/9)
Reuters:
California Governor Deploys Trailers, Tents, Funds In Homelessness 'Emergency'
Responding to a growing crisis on the streets of California's cities, Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday sought to create a $750 million fund to help house the homeless and directed the state to immediately start setting up tents and trailers. Newsom said the money, if approved in the 2020-21 budget, would be distributed to major cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as smaller communities to pay rent for homeless people and create more temporary housing. (1/9)
The Associated Press:
Atlanta Hawks' Young Cancels $1M In Medical Debt For Locals
The holiday season is over but Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young still had some charity gift giving in mind: wiping out medical debt for hundreds of the city's residents. The 21-year-old star donated $10,000 to a medical debt erasure agency which relieved over $1 million in debt for those residents, news outlets reported. (1/8)