First Edition: July 19, 2018
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
From Crib To Court: Trump Administration Summons Immigrant Infants
The Trump administration has summoned at least 70 children under 1 year old to immigration court for their own deportation proceedings since Oct. 1, according to new Justice Department data provided exclusively to Kaiser Health News. These children, who may be staying with a sponsor or in a foster care arrangement, need frequent touching and bonding with a parent and naps every few hours, and some are of breastfeeding age, medical experts say. They’re unable to speak and still learning when it’s day versus night. (Jewett and Luthra, 7/18)
California Healthline:
Children With Disabilities Endure Long Waits For Life-Changing Medical Equipment
Bev Baker-Ajene waited so long to get an adult-sized wheelchair for her teenage daughter, Savitri, that she eventually forgot she’d ordered it. For the better part of a year, Baker-Ajene pushed Savitri — who has cerebral palsy, spastic quadriplegia and epilepsy — in a child-sized chair that was too small for her. Baker-Ajene said she also has run into problems getting an appropriate shower chair for 17-year-old Savitri. Because of that, she mostly gives her daughter sponge baths in bed. (Wiener, 7/18)
The Wall Street Journal:
Health-Care Coverage Is Increasingly Determined By Where You Live
Robert Kingsland will have to pay hundreds of dollars if he goes without insurance next year, even though Congress recently repealed the Affordable Care Act’s penalty for not having coverage. That is because his home state of New Jersey just imposed a fine of its own for letting insurance lapse. In California, Aaron Brown’s small business association likely won’t be able to provide the cheaper health policies promoted by the Trump administration. California banned the creation of many associations that offer such policies. (Armour, 7/18)
Politico:
Trump Promised Them Better, Cheaper Health Care. It’s Not Happening.
President Donald Trump handed an influential business advocacy group what should have been a historic lobbying victory when he recently rolled out new rules encouraging small businesses to band together to offer health insurance. Trump, who’s touted the expansion of so-called association health plans as a key plank in his strategy to tear down Obamacare, even announced the rules at the 75th anniversary party of the National Federation of Independent Business last month, claiming the group’s members will save “massive amounts of money” and have better care if they join forces to offer coverage to workers. (Cancryn, 7/19)
The Associated Press:
US Judge Throws Out Suit Over Health Subsidy Cuts
A U.S. judge in San Francisco has thrown out a lawsuit over the Trump administration's decision to cut Affordable Care Act subsidies. The ruling by Judge Vince Chhabria on Wednesday came after California and other states that sued said a workaround was largely succeeding in protecting consumers from higher costs. (7/18)
The Wall Street Journal:
HHS Secretary Tries To Reset Agenda Amid Family-Separations Furor
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, whose department has recently become entangled in the fight over separating undocumented children from their families, is pushing to keep focus on his agenda. Mr. Azar took office in January with a set of explicit goals after his predecessor, Dr. Tom Price, resigned under an ethics cloud. Since HHS is charged with caring for underage illegal immigrants, the agency has been pulled into the immigration debate. Now Mr. Azar is trying to keep his agenda moving ahead by relying on a close-knit team of top policy advisers. (Armour, 7/18)
Stat:
Novartis Hits The Brakes On Price Hikes As Political Pressure Builds
In response to the heated political rhetoric over the cost of prescription drugs, Novartis has decided not to raise prices on its medicines in the U.S. for the rest of 2018. “When I looked at the policy environment in the U.S. with our team, we thought the prudent thing to do was to pull back on any further price increases in 2018 and evaluate as the environment evolves,” Novartis chief executive Vas Narasimhan told Bloomberg Television, shortly after the drug maker first disclosed its decision as part of its latest earnings report on Wednesday. (Silverman, 7/18)
The New York Times:
Bowing To Trump, Novartis Joins Pfizer In Freezing Drug Prices
Novartis’s chief executive, Vas Narasimhan, said during an earnings call with investors that the company had made the decision in June, amid escalating outrage over high drug prices. “We thought that was prudent, given the dynamic environment we’re currently in,” he said. A spokesman for Novartis said the company notified the state of California, which has a new drug-price transparency law, of its decision in June but the news was not widely known. (Thomas, 7/18)
The Hill:
Novartis Pulls Back On Planned Drug Price Increases
Trump has pressured drug companies to keep prices low, and met with Pfizer after it announced price increases for more than 100 drugs. After the meeting, Pfizer said it would hold off on increasing prices until the administration releases its drug pricing plan or the end of the year, whichever comes first. (7/18)
The Wall Street Journal:
Novartis Won’t Raise U.S. Drug Prices This Year
Mr. Narasimhan didn’t speak directly with Mr. Trump about pricing, the company said, adding it had been in contact with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the context of the administration’s blueprint to curb drug prices that was unveiled in May. (Mancini and Blackstone, 7/18)
Reuters:
Novartis Hints At 2018 Outlook Hike Despite Drug Price Freeze
Novartis may ratchet up its 2018 sales outlook, its finance chief said on Wednesday, despite halting planned U.S. drug price hikes amid pressure on the industry from President Donald Trump's administration over the high cost of medicines. (7/18)
Stat:
FDA’s Gottlieb Slams Drug Makers For Stalling Release Of Biosimilars
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb on Wednesday accused drug makers who manufacture pricey biologic medicines of using “unacceptable” anti-competitive tactics to keep competitors off the market, costing Americans billions. The tactics — some of which Gottlieb will refer to as a “toxin” — have prevented other drug makers from launching biosimilar medicines, highly similar versions of the same drugs. (Mershon, 7/18)
The Hill:
Senate Panel To Vote Next Week On Banning 'Gag Clauses' In Pharmacy Contracts
The Senate health committee will vote next week on a bill that would ban "gag clauses" that prohibit pharmacies from telling customers they can save money on a drug if they pay with cash instead of insurance. Such clauses are sometimes inserted into contracts pharmacies have with insurers or pharmacy benefit managers — the middlemen that manage pharmacy benefits for insurance companies and employers. (Hellmann, 7/18)
Stat:
Lawmakers Reject Bids To Incentivize Development Of New Antibiotics
A House committee on Wednesday moved forward with a bill that will not include any incentive for drug companies to develop new antibiotics, despite efforts by lobbyists and lawmakers to insert such provisions into the legislation. Drug companies and public health advocates had hoped that some sort of incentive for companies to develop new antibiotics would be included in a bipartisan, must-pass bill that’s been working its way through the legislative process since the beginning of the year. (Swetlitz, 7/18)
The New York Times:
Critics Of Trump’s Veterans Affairs Dept. Raise Concerns About Departures
The department is currently run by Acting Secretary Peter O’Rourke and has been without a Senate-confirmed leader for months. Robert Wilkie, a former acting secretary who also served as the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, has been nominated for the top job by President Trump. If confirmed, Mr. Wilkie would take over the second-largest department in the federal government, overseeing a 360,000-person work force. (Fortin, 7/19)
The Washington Post:
Trump Loyalists At VA Shuffling, Purging Employees Before New Secretary Takes Over
Ahead of Robert Wilkie’s likely confirmation to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, Trump loyalists at the agency are taking aggressive steps to purge or reassign staff members perceived to be disloyal to President Trump and his agenda for veterans, according to multiple people familiar with the moves. The transfers include more than a dozen career civil servants who have been moved from the leadership suite at VA headquarters and reassigned to lower-visibility roles. The employees served agency leaders, some dating back more than two decades, in crucial support roles that help a new secretary. (Rein, 7/18)
The Hill:
Trump Officials Take New Step Forward On Kentucky Medicaid Work Requirements
Work requirements for Medicaid are a top priority of the Trump administration, as well as CMS Administrator Seema Verma, and the move shows that officials are trying to find a way forward, rather than backing down in the face of the judge’s ruling. (Sullivan, 7/18)
The Washington Post:
Trump Administration To Give Kentucky Medicaid Work Requirement A Second Chance
The move by federal health officials comes nearly three weeks after Judge James E. Boasberg, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, blocked Kentucky’s plan as it was about to become the nation’s first to require many low-income residents who want Medicaid to work or perform other types of “community engagement,” such as job-training or volunteering. The court case and Kentucky’s timing have placed the state at the forefront of an ideological war over the future of Medicaid, a vast public health-insurance program that is a main outgrowth of the War on Poverty of the 1960s and now a target for conservatives eager to shrink the government’s social safety net. (Goldstein, 7/18)
The Hill:
House Dems Launching Medicare For All Caucus
House Democrats are launching an official Medicare for All Caucus in an effort to promote a single-payer health-care bill. The caucus, which will officially be announced Thursday, comes as an increasingly larger number of Democrats warm to the idea. The idea, championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), is now favored by many potential 2020 Democratic presidential contenders. (Weixel, 7/18)
The New York Times:
Before Roe, New York Was America’s ‘Abortion Capital.’ Where Will Women Turn If Access Shrinks?
In 1971, Pamela Mason was a college freshman living in Ohio when she got pregnant. She knew immediately that she wanted an abortion, but the procedure was heavily restricted in her state. Still, she wanted to find a way. The clinic near her university’s campus referred her to an abortion clinic in Manhattan, and when she was about 10 weeks along, Ms. Mason and her boyfriend scraped together enough money to drive to New York City. (Jacobs, 7/19)
The New York Times:
Two Lawsuits Against Ohio State Keep Jim Jordan In The Cross Hairs
In a sign that Representative Jim Jordan is unlikely to shake a sexual misconduct scandal anytime soon, five former wrestlers sued Ohio State University this week, accusing university officials of knowing that a team doctor was abusing student athletes and doing nothing to stop him. One of the lawsuits specifically mentions Mr. Jordan, Republican of Ohio, who served as the wrestling team’s assistant coach in the late 1980s and early 1990s, citing news reports that wrestlers had informed him of the abuse. Lawyers pursuing both cases say they expect to call the influential conservative as a witness. (Edmondson, 7/18)
The Associated Press:
Rep. Jim Jordan Interviewed In Doctor Sex Abuse Inquiry
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, who used to coach wrestling at Ohio State University, was interviewed by a law firm investigating allegations that a now-dead team doctor sexually abused male athletes there decades ago, his spokesman confirmed Wednesday. The Ohio Republican spoke Monday morning with the firm looking into allegations against Dr. Richard Strauss and how the school responded to any complaints about Strauss, said spokesman Ian Fury, who declined to discuss details of the conversation. (Franko, 7/18)
Stat:
CEO Gawande’s First Task: A Road Trip To Hear Firsthand About Workers’ Health Challenges
Dr. Atul Gawande is hitting the road. In one of his first actions as a CEO, Gawande is planning to travel across the country to meet with the employees he will serve through the health care venture being formed by Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, and Berkshire Hathaway. (Ross and Farber, 7/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
UnitedHealth Is Among Suitors Circling Tenet’s Conifer Business
UnitedHealth Group Inc. is among suitors exploring an acquisition of Tenet Healthcare Corp.’s health-care-management subsidiary, according to people familiar with the matter, as the industry giant pursues further expansion. Tenet, one of the largest U.S. hospital companies, has said it would weigh a sale of the unit, Conifer Health Solutions, which provides services to hospitals and physician groups. Tenet said it would make a decision in the first half of 2018 on Conifer, which accounted for about 8% of its revenue last year. (Mattioli and Evans, 7/18)
Modern Healthcare:
Beth Israel-Lahey Merger Could Raise Healthcare Spending
Massachusetts healthcare spending would increase by up to $251 million per year if regulators approve the planned merger between Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Lahey Health and several other hospital systems to create the second-largest healthcare network in the state, according to a preliminary report from the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission. The deal involves Beth Israel in Boston and Lahey in Burlington, as well as Boston's New England Baptist Hospital, Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge and Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport. (Kacik, 7/18)
Modern Healthcare:
CHS To Sell Two Arkansas Hospitals To Little Rock's Baptist Health
Community Health Systems announced Wednesday it plans to sell two of its Arkansas hospitals and their associated operations to not-for-profit Baptist Health in Little Rock. The Franklin, Tenn.-based for-profit hospital chain has signed a definitive agreement to sell 492-bed Sparks Regional Medical Center in Fort Smith and 103-bed Sparks Medical Center in Van Buren, which together with their physician clinics and outpatient services comprise Sparks Health System. (Bannow, 7/18)
Stat:
Synthetic Botox For Chronic Pain? New Study Holds Out Possibility
It’s not just for fine lines and wrinkles: Botox is showing promise as a treatment for chronic pain. Or, rather, the botulinum toxin that’s used commercially to erase signs of aging is also being studied as a potential alternative to opioid drugs. A new paper in Science shows that a single dose of botulinum toxin, injected into the spinal cavity, prompted several weeks of pain relief from chronic and neuropathic pain — in mice. (Keshavan, 7/18)
The Washington Post:
D.C. Officials Report 100 Overdose Patients In Four Days
D.C. Fire and EMS medics have transported about 100 overdose patients in the past four days with symptoms that appear to be consistent with K2, or synthetic marijuana, officials said Wednesday. Medics evaluated and transported about 10 people to hospitals Wednesday, including four patients who were found unconscious and unresponsive at 3rd and E Streets NW, about two blocks from D.C. police headquarters, Chief Gregory Dean said in an interview. (Williams, 7/18)
The New York Times:
More Americans Are Dying Of Cirrhosis And Liver Cancer
Deaths from cirrhosis and liver cancer are rising dramatically in the United States. From 1999 to 2016, annual cirrhosis deaths increased by 65 percent, to 34,174, according to a study published in the journal BMJ. The largest increases were related to alcoholic cirrhosis among people ages 25 to 34 years old. (Bakalar, 7/18)
The Washington Post:
Alcohol-Related Liver Deaths Have Increased Sharply
Over the past decade, people ages 25 to 34 had the highest increase in cirrhosis deaths — an average of 10.5 percent per year — of the demographic groups examined, researchers reported. The study suggests that a new generation of Americans is being afflicted "by alcohol misuse and its complications,” said lead author Elliot Tapper, a liver specialist at the University of Michigan. Tapper said people are at risk of life-threatening cirrhosis if they drink several drinks a night or have multiple nights of binge drinking — more than four or five drinks per sitting — per week. Women tend to be less tolerant of alcohol and their livers more sensitive to damage. (Furby, 7/18)
NPR:
Why Are More Young Adults Dying Of Alcohol-Related Liver Disease?
Dr. Elliot Tapper has treated a lot of patients, but this one stood out. "His whole body was yellow," Tapper remembers. "He could hardly move. It was difficult for him to breathe, and he wasn't eating anything." The patient was suffering from chronic liver disease. After years of alcohol use, his liver had stopped filtering his blood. Bilirubin, a yellowish waste compound, was building up in his body and changing his skin color. Disturbing to Tapper, the man was only in his mid-30s – much younger than most liver disease patients. (Chisholm, 7/18)
The Associated Press:
Philadelphia's Tax On Soda Upheld By State Supreme Court
Philadelphia's tax on soda and other sweetened drinks was upheld on Wednesday when the state's highest court rejected a challenge by merchants and the beverage industry. The Supreme Court ruled the 1.5-cent-per-ounce (per 28 grams) levy is aimed at distributors and dealers and does not illegally duplicate another tax. The four-justice majority said the state taxes sales at the retail level, a cost that falls directly on consumers, but the beverage tax applies to distributor and dealer-level transactions. (7/18)
The Associated Press:
New Law In Baltimore Bars Sodas From Kids' Menus
Restaurants in Baltimore are now officially barred from including sodas and other sugary drinks on kids' menus, according to a city ordinance that went into effect Wednesday. Baltimore is now the biggest U.S. city and the first on the East Coast to pass this kind of measure, said Shawn McIntosh, director of the Sugar Free Kids Maryland advocacy group. Seven California cities and Lafayette, Colorado, have enacted similar ordinances, according to health officials. (7/18)
Los Angeles Times:
Researchers Find No Difference Between Kids Raised By Two Moms And Kids Raised By Mom And Dad
The kids aren’t kids anymore. And they’re still all right. The children of a first generation of lesbian women to take family-building into their own hands and conceive children through sperm donation are young adults now. And on Wednesday, the New England Journal of Medicine published new findings from the first study to comprehensively track those children’s mental health trajectories and compare them to those of kids in other U.S. households.y (Healy, 7/18)
The Washington Post:
CDC Warns Against Eating This Pasta Salad. It Has Already Sickened 21 People.
Now it's a certain pasta salad that consumers shouldn't be eating. Consumers should avoid a spring pasta salad sold in 244 of Hy-Vee grocery stores in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin, according to federal health officials. Of the 21 people who have been sickened thus far by salmonella infections linked to the salad, five have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported. (Sun, 7/18)
The New York Times:
Heart Failure May Be More Lethal In Women
The incidence of heart failure has declined overall in both sexes in recent years and remains higher in men. But women are more likely to die from the disease. A study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal included 90,707 new diagnoses of heart failure among Ontario residents from 2009 to 2014. Almost 17 percent of women died within a year of follow-up, compared with just under 15 percent of men. Rates of hospitalization decreased over the study period in men and increased in women. (Bakalar, 7/18)
The New York Times:
A 4-Day Workweek? A Test Run Shows A Surprising Result
A New Zealand firm that let its employees work four days a week while being paid for five says the experiment was so successful that it hoped to make the change permanent. The firm, Perpetual Guardian, which manages trusts, wills and estates, found the change actually boosted productivity among its 240 employees, who said they spent more time with their families, exercising, cooking, and working in their gardens. (Graham-McLay, 7/19)
The New York Times:
Yes, Nurses Have ‘Physically Taxing’ Jobs. And A $20.8 Million Settlement.
For decades, some New York City workers in “physically taxing” jobs were eligible to retire at age 50, after 25 years of service, and start collecting full pensions. More than 380 job titles — from window cleaner to plumber to exterminator — qualified for the “physically taxing” designation before the city ended the program for new employees in 2012. The New York State Nurses Association felt that nurses deserved to be on the list of mostly male-dominated professions, created for city employees in strenuous jobs who might not be able to work until the usual retirement age, which ranges from 55 to 62. So starting in 2004, the group asked the city to include nurses at city hospitals. The city refused three times. (Pager, 7/18)
The Associated Press:
Attorney General: Oklahoma Board Went Too Far With Pot Rules
Oklahoma's Board of Health overstepped its authority with several of the emergency rules on medical marijuana it adopted last week, Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter wrote Wednesday in a letter to the head of the agency. In the letter to Interim Commissioner of Health Tom Bates, Hunter specifically cites last-minute changes the nine-member board approved last week that prohibit the sale of smokable marijuana and require a pharmacist at every dispensary. (7/18)