Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: May 8, 2015
Kaiser Health News: Staffing An Intensive Care Unit From Miles Away Has Advantages
Carolinas HealthCare System monitors ICUs in 10 of its hospitals from this command center near Charlotte. The command center is staffed 24-7 with a rotating crew of seven to nine nurses and doctors who specialize in critical care. Everyone on the team also does bedside shifts. Carolinas HealthCare started this project about two years ago and says it’s good for staff and patients. (Tomsic, 5/8)
The New York Times: 2016 Politics Drive Talk On Entitlements
Social Security and Medicare consume more than 40 percent of federal spending. The trustees of the programs, beseeching lawmakers to shore up their finances, project that they will swell to 11.5 percent of the entire economy within 20 years, compared with 8.4 percent in 2013. Yet the debate in Washington has been frozen since President Obama and the House speaker, John A. Boehner, failed to strike a “grand bargain” on tax and spending levels. (Harwood, 5/7)
Los Angeles Times: Blue Shield's $1.25-Billion Deal For Care1st Faces More State Scrutiny
Bowing to demands from consumer advocates, state regulators will hold a hearing next month on Blue Shield of California's proposed acquisition of Medicaid insurer Care1st for $1.25 billion. The California Department of Managed Health Care said both companies will explain their rationale for the deal at the June 8 hearing in Sacramento. The public will also have a chance to chime in. (Terhune, 5/7)
The New York Times: Drugmaker Sues F.D.A. Over Right To Discuss Off-Label Uses
Drugmakers have long argued they should have the right to talk to doctors about unapproved uses for their products, as long as they are being truthful. And in some cases, courts have agreed. But the federal government still frowns on the practice and, in recent years, has fined drug companies billions of dollars for talking to doctors about so-called off-label uses for their medications. (Thomas, 5/7)
The Wall Street Journal's Pharmalot: Drug Maker Sues FDA Over Free Speech Right To Promote Off-Label
In a move that may have broad ramifications for the pharmaceutical industry, a small drug maker called Amarin has filed a lawsuit against the FDA to argue that its right to distribute information about unapproved uses of a medicine is protected by the First Amendment. Amarin wants to be able to provide doctors with clinical trial data that does not directly pertain to the approved uses of its Vascepa prescription fish-oil pill, the lawsuit states. The FDA endorsed drug to treat people with very high levels of triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood that can lead to heart disease. (Silverman, 5/7)
The Wall Street Journal's Pharmalot: Actavis And Its Forced Switch Could Cost Medicare $288M This Year: Study
If Actavis were allowed to discontinue sales of an older Alzheimer’s pill and steer patients toward a newer version in order to blunt generic competition, the move could cost Medicare Part D as much as $288 million during the last six months of 2015, according to a new government analysis. The analysis comes as a federal appeals court panel decides whether to permit Actavis to conduct a so-called forced switch. As reported previously, the drug maker planned to prematurely end sales of its older, twice-a-day Namenda IR in favor of a newer, once-daily Namenda XR. The patent on the older pill expires in July, while the patent on the newer version does not expire until 2025. (Silverman, 5/7)
Los Angeles Times: California Supreme Court Revives Generic Cipro Lawsuit
The California Supreme Court on Thursday revived a class-action lawsuit that accuses German pharmaceutical giant Bayer of paying another drug company to delay introducing a generic version of a Bayer antibiotic. The practice is known as “pay to delay” and can violate antitrust law, according to a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision. (Dolan, 5/7)
The Associated Press: California Court Sides With Consumers In Generic Drug Fight
In a win for consumers, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that settlement agreements between pharmaceutical companies that keep cheaper, generic drugs off the market may be illegal if they include excessive cash payments. (Thanawala, 5/7)
The New York Times: State Legislatures Put Up Flurry Of Roadblocks To Abortion
Oklahoma’s governor this week approved a law extending to 72 hours the mandatory waiting period before a woman can have an abortion. Here in Florida, lawmakers enacted a 24-hour waiting period that requires two separate appointments — one for an ultrasound and information about fetal development and another for the actual procedure. These are just two laws in a surge of bills passed by Republican-controlled state legislatures this year that make it harder for women to have abortions. (Robles, 5/8)
The Washington Post: Where Reproductive Rights Stand In The States, In 6 Maps
No state has a better track record on reproductive rights than Oregon, according to a new report. Seven states and the District received the highest grade, an A-, based on nine indicators chosen by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), a think thank that promotes women’s rights, which did the report as part of its Status of Women in the States series. Ten states earned B’s, 20 earned C’s, nine earned D’s and four states — South Dakota, which ranked last, Nebraska, Kansas and Idaho — received F’s. The Northeast and the West are home to the highest grades, while the South and Midwest scored lowest. (Chokshi, 5/7)
Los Angeles Times: California Men Charged As Ringleaders Of Nationwide Prescription Drug Plot
Thirty-three people have been indicted in a wide-ranging scam to sell more than $150 million in illegal pharmaceuticals in California and several other states, federal prosecutors in San Francisco announced Thursday. Officials said Ara Karapedyan, 45; Mihran Stepanyan, 29; and Artur Stepanyan, 38, were central to the conspiracy, which involved the selling illegally obtained drugs to a Minnesota company that sold the drugs wholesale. (Queally, 5/7)
USA Today: Hepatitis C Infections Soaring, Fueled By Prescription Painkiller Abuse
Rates of hepatitis C are soaring, largely driven by an epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse, a new report shows. The incidence of acute hepatitis C infections among young people in rural areas of four Appalachian states more than tripled from 2006 to 2012, according to a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New hepatitis cases among people age 30 and younger rose from 1.25 per 100,000 in 2006 people to 4 per 100,000 in 2012 in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia, states known to have high rates of hepatitis C. (Szabo, 5/7)
The Associated Press: Indiana Officials Hopeful HIV Outbreak May Be Subsiding
After months of mounting HIV cases, a rural county that's facing Indiana's worst-ever HIV outbreak is seeing a dwindling number of new infections, possibly signaling that the outbreak is winding down, a state health official said Thursday. Deputy State Health Commissioner Jennifer Walthall said there have been 149 confirmed HIV cases and one preliminary positive case in Scott County and adjacent areas since December, but only about 15 new cases during the past two weeks. (5/7)
