First Edition: March 1, 2019
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Medicare Trims Payments To 800 Hospitals, Citing Patient Safety Incidents
Eight hundred hospitals will be paid less by Medicare this year because of high rates of infections and patient injuries, federal records show. The number is the highest since the federal government five years ago launched the Hospital Acquired Conditions (HAC) Reduction Program, created by the Affordable Care Act. Under the program, 1,756 hospitals have been penalized at least once, a Kaiser Health News analysis found.This year, 110 hospitals are being punished for the fifth straight time. (Rau, 3/1)
Kaiser Health News:
Americans Ready To Crack Down On Drug Prices That Force Some To Skip Doses
Although Republicans tend to frown on government control over commerce, 8 in 10 Republican respondents said they support giving negotiating power to the $700 billion Medicare program in order to lower drug prices for seniors. More than 70 percent of all respondents back importing drugs from Canada and capping out-of-pocket Medicare costs. More than 80 percent said they favor making it easier for less expensive generics to compete with brand-name drugs. (Hancock, 3/1)
Kaiser Health News:
Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ ‘Medicare-For-All’ Debate: Who’s Going To Pay
House Democrats, led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), have formally introduced their “Medicare-for-all” legislation. The bill, which would ensure coverage for almost every medical service most people need, did not come with any suggestions for financing. But it will likely reflect the far-left end of the Democratic debate in progress. (2/28)
Politico:
Establishment Dems Give Medicare-For-All The Brush Off
House Democratic leaders gave their liberal lawmakers what they wanted on health care. Now they’re fighting to keep “Medicare for All“ from devouring the party. Progressives emboldened by this week's bill rollout are vowing to turn up the pressure on fellow Democrats to back the single-payer blueprint and build momentum ahead of the 2020 election. That’s already creating headaches for top Democrats who fear the political blowback of the plan’s most liberal elements, including abortion funding and the elimination of most private health insurance. (Cancryn, 2/28)
The Hill:
Pelosi On Single-Payer Health Care: 'How Do You Pay For That?'
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) expresses some skepticism about single-payer health insurance in a new interview, asking how the trillions of dollars in new spending would be paid for. “That is, administratively, the simplest thing to do, but to convert to it? Thirty trillion dollars. Now, how do you pay for that?” Pelosi said of single-payer in an interview with Rolling Stone. (Sullivan, 2/28)
The Hill:
Key Dem Chairman Voices Skepticism On 'Medicare For All' Bill
House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) is expressing skepticism about a new "Medicare for all" bill introduced this week, although he has supported similar measures in the past. Yarmuth, who has supported Medicare for all bills since arriving in the House in 2006, says a new version introduced this week by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) goes far beyond what he considers to be Medicare for all. (Hellmann, 2/28)
Politico:
HHS Demands Apology From House Ethics Chair For Comments On Abuse Of Migrant Children
Health and Human Services officials refused Thursday to meet with Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), saying the House Ethics Committee chair must first apologize for stating publicly earlier this week that HHS staff sexually abused migrant children in agency custody. "By deliberately or negligently mischaracterizing the data during a televised hearing, you impugned the integrity of hundreds of federal civil servants," Jonathan Hayes, the HHS refugee director, wrote Deutch on Thursday, in a letter obtained by POLITICO. HHS has been seeking an apology for two days. (Diamond and Bresnahan, 2/28)
The New York Times:
With Ground Zero Payments Slashed, A Push To Replenish A 9/11 Fund
It has been more than 17 years since the World Trade Center collapsed in the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, and since 2011, a rededicated fund has compensated emergency personnel and others who responded to the scene and have since gotten sick, as well as the families of the deceased. But with medical claims on the rise, the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund is running out of money: Already, more than $5 billion of the $7.375 billion it was allotted in 2015 to give away over five years has been spent. (Goldmacher, 2/28)
The Hill:
GOP Senator: Legislation Combating Surprise Medical Bills Could Come In March
A bipartisan group of senators working on legislation to stop patients from getting massive, surprise medical bills is hoping to release new legislation by the end of March, a senator says. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), one of the leaders of the effort, said Thursday that “our goal” is to release a new piece of legislation by the end of March. (Sullivan, 2/28)
The New York Times:
F.D.A. Says Canadian Company, CanaRx, Sells Unsafe Medicines To U.S. Buyers
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday said a major Canadian drug distributor was selling unapproved and mislabeled medicines to unsuspecting Americans looking to save money on prescriptions, and warned it to stop. The company, CanaRx, sells many common prescription medicines at a lower cost to hundreds of public and private employer programs in the United States. Many of its buyers are city and county governments seeking to save money, among them: Albany, N.Y. and Duluth, Minn. CanaRx says the medications it sells are high-quality, from Canada, Australia and Britain, but the F.D.A. said this is not always the case. (Kaplan, 2/28)
The Washington Post:
FDA Warns Canadian Drug Distributor About Sending ‘Unsafe’ Drugs To U.S.
The FDA urged U.S. consumers “not to use any medicines from CanaRx,” which supplies drugs to employees of about 500 cities and counties, and private-sector employers seeking discounts on drug prices. The FDA said the drugs include some subject to special rules and restrictions in the U.S. because they are potentially dangerous to users. The FDA action comes amid a growing clamor over high drug prices in the U.S. that included a Senate hearing Tuesday at which top pharmaceutical executives were grilled about the costs. (Bernstein and McGinley, 2/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
Canadian Drug Distributor Targeting U.S. City, County Employees Gets FDA Warning Shot
Joseph Morris, an attorney for CanaRx, said, “CanaRx is in the business of matching Americans with dispensing pharmacies” in Canada, the U.K. and Australia. He said, contrary to the wording in the FDA warning letter, the company doesn’t actually contract with the municipalities or other local agencies, but rather with individual employees of those entities. The strategy appears to be central to CanaRx’s business model. “Founded by doctors, pharmacists and health care professionals, the goal was and is to provide safe affordable brand name maintenance medications at a reduced cost to all American residents,” according to the company’s website. (Burton, 2/28)
Stat:
As More Lawmakers Look To Import Cheaper Meds, FDA Warns A Canadian Broker
Unlike online pharmacies, CanaRx acts as a broker for self-insured local governments and private employers, and has 560 such arrangements, according to its web site. The company fulfills prescriptions, which are mailed or emailed, by working with licensed physicians and brick-and-mortar pharmacies in Canada, Australia, and the U.K., which ship medicines directly to Americans. (Silverman, 2/28)
The Hill:
Liberal Groups Call On Dem Leaders To Go Bigger On Drug Price Legislation
A coalition of leading liberal organizations is calling on House Democratic leaders to take bolder stances in proposing legislation to lower drug prices and go further than allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. “Although Medicare negotiation is a much-needed reform, it is not the only solution needed to reach most Americans,” the letter to House Democratic leaders states. “We need reforms that lower stratospheric launch prices for new drugs and prevent price gouging on existing drugs for all payers.” (Sullivan, 2/28)
Stat:
States, Eager To Lower Drug Prices, Regroup After Courts Strike Down Maryland ‘Price-Gouging’ Law
A legal setback in Maryland has state legislatures across the country re-examining their efforts to lower drug prices, with lawyers from Nevada to Illinois combing through bills to ensure they can withstand future challenges from pharmaceutical industry groups. State lawmakers’ interest has centered on a recently voided Maryland law that would have banned generic drug companies from hiking prices to a degree the state deems “unconscionable.” An appeals court ruled the law unconstitutional last year, and though Maryland’s Democratic attorney general had aggressively contested the decision, the Supreme Court announced on Feb. 19 that it would not hear an appeal. (Facher, 3/1)
NPR:
High Drug Prices: Americans Support Government Intervention
About a quarter of Americans surveyed say they've had trouble paying for their prescription drugs, and a majority welcome government action to help cut the cost of medications. A survey released Friday by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation finds that many people have skipped or rationed their prescription medications or have substituted cheaper over-the-counter drugs. The result? Those who ration their meds are often sicker, the poll finds. (Kodjak, 3/1)
Reuters:
U.S. Senator Sanders Urges FDA To Allow Older Versions Of $375,000 Drug
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders this week urged regulators to allow pharmacies and manufacturers to resume distributing unbranded, lower-cost versions of a drug used to treat a rare neuromuscular disorder, according to a letter provided by his office to Reuters. The drug is now sold at a list price of $375,000 a year by Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Inc under the brand name Firdapse. It is used to treat Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome, which affects about one in 100,000 people in the United States. (Abutaleb and Beasley, 2/28)
The Associated Press:
Funds Threat Won't End Planned Parenthood Abortion Referrals
Planned Parenthood of Illinois says it will continue providing abortion referrals despite the risk of losing millions of dollars in federal funding under a new rule enacted by the Trump administration. The rule issued last week bars taxpayer-funded family-planning clinics from making abortion referrals and requires clinics to be physically and financially separate from abortion providers, The Chicago Tribune reported. (2/28)
The Associated Press:
New Nashville Clinic Seeks To 'De-Stigmatize' Abortion
A health care company known for its outspoken support of a woman's legal right to an abortion is setting up shop in Nashville. After launching clinics in the Washington, D.C., area, Atlanta and Chicago, Carafem will open its Nashville location Friday. Their marketing slogan captures part of their no-nonsense approach to the procedure: "Abortion. Yeah, we do that." (Kruesi, 2/28)
The Washington Post:
An 11-Year-Old Pleaded For An Abortion After She Was Raped. She Was Forced To Give Birth.
An 11-year-old rape victim gave birth in Argentina on Tuesday after she was apparently denied an abortion by authorities, infuriating women’s rights advocates in the country who have fought to legalize the procedure. The girl, referred to as “Lucia” to protect her identity, underwent a Caesarean section Tuesday in the 23rd week of her pregnancy, the Guardian reports. Lucia, whose baby is not expected to survive, had previously begged officials to “remove what the old man put inside me.” That man is the 65-year-old partner of Lucia’s grandmother — who took custody of Lucia and her siblings in 2015, after her two older sisters were reportedly abused by their mother’s partner, the Guardian reported. (Brice-Saddler, 2/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
CVS Names Chief Information Officer To Lead Aetna Integration
CVS Health Corp. has tapped a new chief information officer tasked with integrating its information technology and data with IT systems used by Aetna Inc., which the drugstore chain acquired last year in a $70 billion deal. Roshan Navagamuwa, who over the past year served as interim CIO, was named CIO and executive vice president of the combined health-industry giant, leading all areas of technology operations and innovation, according to a statement provided by the company. The move is effective immediately. (Loten, 2/28)
The Washington Post:
Taiwan Hospital: American Student With No Health Insurance Gets Full Treatment For $80
The Facebook post was illustrated with an image of an IV. “Went to the ER in Taiwan,” it began. Kevin Bozeat, a 25-year-old student, wrote about coming down with severe gastrointestinal symptoms while studying in Taiwan: stomach cramps, bouts of vomiting that would not abate and perhaps worst of all, he couldn’t keep any fluids down. Around 3 a.m., he decided it was time to go to the hospital for treatment, not knowing what to expect having never been to a hospital in Taiwan — a country that has a national health care system, or as Bozeat wrote, “socialized medicine.” (Rosenberg, 2/28)
Modern Healthcare:
Time's Up Launches Healthcare Branch To Address Harassment
A healthcare offshoot of Time's Up will officially launch on March 1 to try to bring safety and equity to the workplace. Time's Up was spawned out of the #MeToo movement, which gained global attention in 2017 as scores of women shared their stories of sexual harassment on social media. Time's Up has since spread to multiple industries as it looks to spur change. (Kacik, 2/28)
Stat:
Time’s Up Targets Gender Bias And Harassment In Health Care
STAT spoke with Dr. Jane van Dis, an OB-GYN in California, the chief executive of the nonprofit Equity Quotient, and founding member of Time’s Up Healthcare, about the group’s goals. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. (Thielking, 2/28)
Stat:
NIH Apologizes For Failure To Address Sexual Harassment In Science
The National Institutes of Health on Thursday apologized for its past failures to recognize and address the culture of sexual harassment that has impacted scientists for generations. “To all those who have endured these experiences, we are sorry that it has taken so long to acknowledge and address the climate and culture that has caused such harm,” NIH Director Francis Collins said in a statement. ((Facher and Thielking, 2/28)
USA Today:
African-American Enrollment In Medical School Lags Other Groups
Gabriel Felix is on track to graduate from Howard University's medical school in May. The 27-year-old from Rockland County, N.Y., has beaten the odds to make it this far, and knows he faces challenges going forward. He and other black medical school students have grown used to dealing with doctors' doubts about their abilities, and other slights: being confused with hospital support staff, or being advised to pick a nickname because their actual names would be too difficult to pronounce. (O'Donnell and Robinson, 2/28)
Politico:
New CPAC Stars: Black Gun Rights Activists
For a few minutes at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday afternoon, the message was more Malcolm X than William F. Buckley. Sporting a red hoodie, his hair in cornrows, Maj Toure touted his group, Black Guns Matter. "We go where there's high violence, high crime, high gun control — high slave mentalities, to be perfectly honest,” he said, “and inform urban America about their human right, as stated in the Second Amendment, to defend their life." (Schreckinger, 3/1)
CNN:
Newly Discovered Alzheimer's Genes Further Hope For Future Treatments
An analysis of the genetic makeup of more than 94,000 people in the United States and Europe with clinically diagnosed Alzheimer's led to the discovery of four new genetic variants that increase risk for the neurodegenerative disease. These genes, along with others previously identified, appear to work in tandem to control bodily functions that affect disease development, the study found. (LaMotte, 2/28)
The Washington Post:
Weekend ‘Catch-Up Sleep’ Is A Lie
The negative health effects of skimping on sleep during the week can’t be reversed by marathon weekend sleep sessions, according to a sobering new study. Researchers have long known that routine sleep deprivation can cause weight gain and increase other health risks, including diabetes. But for those who force themselves out of bed bleary-eyed every weekday after too few hours of shut-eye, hope springs eternal that shutting off the alarm on Saturday and Sunday will repay the weekly sleep debt and reverse any ill effects. (Johnson, 2/28)
The New York Times:
‘Crippling’ Attacks Force Doctors Without Borders To Close Ebola Centers In Congo
Two attacks on Ebola treatment centers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have forced the international aid group Doctors Without Borders to close the facilities, it said on Thursday, warning that the outbreak was not under control. In the first attack, on Sunday night, unidentified assailants threw stones at a treatment center in Katwa, in northeastern Congo, and set fire to the structure. They destroyed much of the building, equipment and patient wards, and the brother of a patient died, though the circumstances were unclear. (Yuhas, 2/28)
The New York Times:
Trans Fat Bans May Be Good For The Heart
In 2006, New York City began restricting the amount of trans fats allowed in restaurant food. The regulation has apparently had the desired effect: lower blood levels of trans fatty acids for New Yorkers who dine out. Trans fatty acids, or TFAs, come mostly from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils like shortening or margarine. They raise blood levels of LDL, the “bad cholesterol,” and lower those of HDL, or “good cholesterol.” Their consumption is associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. (Bakalar, 2/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
The Hidden Costs Of Stressed-Out Workers
Every employer is in the health care business, like it or not. Employee health benefits cost Starbucks more annually than coffee beans; General Motors spends more on them than on steel. But beyond that giant budget item, every company’s business practices affect the physical and mental health of its employees. That can put another big, if less visible, hit on the bottom line. (Pfeffer, 2/28)
The Associated Press:
New Sensors Monitor Sick Babies Without Wires Blocking Hugs
Peek into any U.S. hospital's baby ICU, and you'll see sick and premature newborns covered in wired monitors that tear at fragile skin and make it hard for parents to cuddle their kids. Now researchers have created tiny skin-like wireless sensors that may finally cut those cords. "This need was so compelling," said John Rogers, a Northwestern University bioengineer who led the sensors' development. "Without the wires, it's much easier for the parents, mothers in particular, to interact and hold their babies." (2/28)
NPR:
Measles Outbreaks Prompt More States To Restrict Vaccine Exemptions
All U.S. states require most parents to vaccinate their children against some preventable diseases, including measles, mumps, rubella and whooping cough, to be able to attend school. Such laws often apply to children in private schools and day care facilities as well as public schools. At the same time, beyond medical exemptions, most states also allow parents to opt out of this vaccination requirement for religious reasons. And 17 states permit other exemptions — allowing families to opt out of school vaccination requirements for personal or philosophical reasons. (Neighmond, 2/28)
CNN:
Measles Cases At 'Alarmingly' High Levels Around The World, UNICEF Says
Global measles cases increased by 48.4% between 2017 and 2018, according to calculations by UNICEF of data on 194 countries from the World Health Organization. Ten countries, including Brazil, the Philippines and France, accounted for nearly three-quarters of the total increase in measles cases in 2018, according to figures released by the UN's agency for children. This "alarming" global surge in measles cases poses a "growing" threat to children, UNICEF says. (Avramova, 2/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
Measles Cases In Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish Communities Rise
The measles outbreak in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community continues to grow, New York City health officials said Thursday, even after the city ordered schools to bar unvaccinated students in some ZIP Codes from attending. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said 121 cases have been identified since October, up 31 from last week. It is the worst measles outbreak in New York City since 1991. Most cases in this outbreak are children in Borough Park and Williamsburg. The first to become sick had visited Israel, which faces a major outbreak now. (Brody and West, 2/28)
The Hill:
Texas Lawmaker Says He’s Not Concerned About Measles Outbreak Because Of Antibiotics
A Texas state lawmaker suggested that he is not worried about the recent outbreak of measles across the country because antibiotics can treat the virus. Texas state Rep. Bill Zedler (R) made the comments Tuesday to the Texas Observer and said he had a case of measles when growing up, before a vaccine for it was developed. (Daugherty, 2/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
New York Requests Documents From Facebook, Apps On Data Sharing
A New York regulator is ramping up a promised investigation of how Facebook Inc. gathered sensitive personal information from popular smartphone applications, after a report by The Wall Street Journal revealed that some apps were sending the social-media giant data, including users’ body weight and menstrual cycles. The state’s Department of Financial Services on Wednesday sent a series of letters seeking information and documents from Facebook and the developers behind the at least 11 apps mentioned in the Journal’s reporting, according to a person familiar with the investigation. (Schechner, 2/28)
Modern Healthcare:
Cleveland Clinic Outlines Ambitious Goals For Serving More Patients
Cleveland Clinic, already a behemoth in healthcare, wants to double the number of patients it treats in just five years, clinic president and CEO Dr. Tom Mihaljevic announced Wednesday morning, Feb. 27, in the State of the Clinic address. In the annual speech, he highlighted the system's finances, which took a hit in 2018, as well as the health of the institution's care of its patients, its caregivers, its community and itself. (Coutré, 2/28)
Stat:
University Of California Breaks Up With Major Publisher Over Access Dispute
After months of negotiations, the University of California system has decided not to renew its subscriptions to journals put out by the major publisher Elsevier — a decision that could have big ripple effects for the way that academic research gets read and paid for. The move, announced in a release from the university system on Thursday, follows a breakdown in negotiations over payments for open-access research, which is made freely available to the public online. The dispute comes amid a larger effort by academics to try to shift toward greater open access in research and loosen the grip of publishers like Elsevier on the process. (Robbins, 2/28)
The Associated Press:
Kansas Lawmakers Struggle Over School Aid, Medicaid, Taxes
Kansas lawmakers have hit the halfway point of their annual session and they haven't had a hearing on a Medicaid expansion plan or pushed an education funding bill out of committee in the face of a court mandate to boost spending on public schools. And the GOP-dominated Legislature doesn't just appear to be slow-walking new Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's big initiatives. Despite Republican supermajorities, an income tax relief bill that GOP leaders consider an urgent priority hasn't cleared both chambers. (2/28)
The Associated Press:
Police Pledge Thorough Investigation Of Patient Deaths
Law enforcement authorities on Thursday pledged a "thorough investigation" into allegations against an intensive-care doctor accused of ordering painkiller overdoses for dozens of Ohio hospital patients. In addition, the state attorney general's office confirmed it is conducting a Medicaid fraud investigation related to the doctor. (2/28)
The New York Times:
Massachusetts Bill Would Ban Tackle Football Until After Seventh Grade
Less than a month after the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl, a group of Massachusetts lawmakers has proposed a bill that would ban organized youth tackle football until after seventh grade. The bill, which moved to the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Health this week, follows attempts by legislators in five other states who have tried — but failed — to pass similar measures to protect growing brains from traumatic injury. The bipartisan bill, known as No Hits, would impose financial penalties for any school league or other entity that does not comply. (Rueb, 3/1)
Los Angeles Times:
He Overdosed In Jail On Medication For His Mental Illness. His Family Is Suing For Answers
Lewis Nyarecha was found unresponsive on a top bunk at the Twin Towers jail in downtown Los Angeles by a fellow inmate. He had missed dinner the night before and breakfast that day. Two L.A. County sheriff’s deputies began to haul the 25-year-old Nyarecha off the bunk, only to drop him, slamming the back of his head on a metal desk and sending blood gushing. Though he received CPR, Nyarecha would be declared dead on a June morning last year. The county coroner found the cause of his death was quetiapine toxicity; he was given the drug because he was schizophrenic. (Winton, 2/28)