Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: September 1, 2015
Kaiser Health News: In Ohio, New Abortion Clinic Opens, Bucking National Trend
Dr. David Burkons graduated from medical school and began practicing obstetrics and gynecology in 1973 – the same year of the Supreme Court’s landmark abortion decision in Roe v. Wade. Burkons liked delivering babies but he is also committed to serving his patients, including those who choose abortions. (Tribble, 8/31)
Kaiser Health News: A Third Of Ga. Pediatricians Join Together To Form Network To Improve Care
More than 1,100 Georgia pediatricians have joined a new physician-led network that aims to improve quality of care and eventually contract for payments from insurers. The sign-ups represent roughly one-third of the pediatricians practicing in the state. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, the major pediatric hospital system in the metro area, helped create the nonprofit entity, called the Children’s Care Network. (MIller, 9/1)
The Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal: Public Or Private, Health Benefits Face Strategic Pruning
Finance chiefs at companies ranging from Cisco Systems Inc. to Westmoreland Coal Co. are scrutinizing employee health benefits as they face the Affordable Care Act’s looming “Cadillac tax” on generous health plans. They aren’t the only ones. Across the country, cities and states are also scrambling to figure out how many millions the tax will cost them. (Murphy and Chasan, 8/31)
The Associated Press: Alaska Supreme Court Won't Block Medicaid Expansion
Thousands of lower-income Alaskans will become eligible for Medicaid after the Alaska Supreme Court on Monday refused to temporarily block the state from expanding the health care program. The win capped a big day for Alaska Gov. Bill Walker, who earlier flew with President Barack Obama from Washington, D.C., to Anchorage. (8/31)
The Wall Street Journal: Drug-Industry Rule Would Raise Medicare Costs
A patent law change sought by the pharmaceutical industry could cost federal health-care programs $1.3 billion over a decade by delaying new generic medicines, an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office found this summer, according to people familiar with the matter. Pharmaceutical trade groups are asking Congress to exempt drug patents from being challenged through an administrative process that is cheaper and faster than the federal courts. The procedure has become popular with generic-drug companies looking to sell copies of brand-name products. (Walker, 8/31)
The New York Times: Judge Allows Moral, Not Just Religious, Contraception Exemptions
Employers do not need to provide insurance coverage for contraception even if their objections are moral rather than religious, a federal judge here ruled on Monday. The case concerned a group called March for Life, which was formed after the Supreme Court recognized a constitutional right to abortion in 1973 in Roe v. Wade. The group, Monday’s decision said, “is a nonprofit, nonreligious pro-life organization.” (Liptak, 8/31)
The Washington Post: Pro-Life Group Beats Obamacare Contraception Rule In Court
Now, a U.S. District Court has ruled that, like some like-minded religious groups, March for Life does not have to offer coverage for a service it doesn’t believe in. “March for Life has been excised from the fold because it is not ‘religious,'” Judge Richard J. Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote in his opinion. “This is nothing short of regulatory favoritism.” (Moyer, 9/1)
The Associated Press: Judge Sides With Anti-Abortion Group In Birth Control Case
The decision from U.S. District Judge Richard Leon adds to the legal debate surrounding the law’s requirement that contraceptives for women be included among a range of cost-free, preventive benefits offered to employees. ... March for Life, which holds annual anti-abortion marches in Washington, was founded in 1973 following the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade opinion that established the legal right to abortion. The organization contends that life begins at conception and opposes coverage in its health insurance plans for methods of contraception that it likens to abortion. (Tucker, 8/31)
The Washington Post: Medical Errors Are Up At VA Hospitals, But They’re Actually Doing Less To Figure Out Why
Hospitals across the country are under growing pressure to reduce preventable medical mistakes, the errors that can cause real harm and even death to patients. But the Department of Veterans Affairs, which runs a massive system of hospitals and clinics that cared for 5.8 million veterans last year, is doing less, not more, to identify what went wrong to make sure it doesn’t happen again. (Rein, 8/31)
NPR: Some Veterans Affairs Reforms Undermine Medical Recruitment Efforts
The Department of Veterans Affairs is suffering a shortfall of physicians, especially in mental health. A steady flow of scandals and attempts at strict reform by Congress may be hurting recruitment. (Lawrence, 8/31)
Los Angeles Times: Murder Trial Sends Message To Doctors: 'Don't Get Reckless,' Medical Expert Says
During opening statements in her case Monday, Tseng hunched forward in her chair, settling in for a landmark second-degree murder trial that’s expected to last for months. The general practitioner, who scribbled notes on a yellow notepad and tapped her foot over and over, is the first California doctor ever charged with murdering patients who overdosed merely for prescribing them medication, Niedermann said. (Gerber, 8/31)
The Washington Post: Murder Trial Begins For Alleged ‘Pill Mill’ Doctor After String Of Patients Overdose On Painkillers
On Monday, Tseng went on trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court for the alleged murder of Rovero and two other young men: all patients who came to her looking for painkillers and died from an overdose shortly after. She has pleaded not guilty. It’s a high stakes case that has drawn national scrutiny and stirred a thorny debate over medical ethics. (Miller, 9/1)
The Associated Press: California Doctor Faces Murder Trial In 3 Men’s Drug Deaths
A prosecutor says that even after several patients died of overdoses, the California doctor now charged in their deaths continued to prescribe powerful painkillers in appointments that lasted as little as three minutes. But the defense attorney for Dr. Hsiu-Ying “Lisa” Tseng says some of those patients were suicidal, others were using the prescriptions to party, and all took well over the recommended dosage. (Myers, 8/31)
