Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: Valeant's Fall; The Anti-Vaccine Movement; Health Care For The Homeless
The New Yorker: The Roll-Up Racket
Few falls in business history have been as sudden and as steep as that of Michael Pearson, the C.E.O. of the drugmaker Valeant. Not long ago, he was heading a company whose stock price had risen more than four thousand per cent during his tenure. A former McKinsey consultant, he had developed a strategy based on acquisitions, cost-cutting, and price hikes. (James Surowiecki, 3/28)
Vox: How The Anti-Vaccine Movement Infiltrated Robert De Niro’s Film Festival
Over the weekend, science collided hard with celebrity culture when public health advocates successfully intervened in a film festival selection. At the center of the imbroglio was actor Robert De Niro, who last week revealed that he had greenlit the screening of an anti-vaccine film at the Tribeca Film Festival, which he co-founded. (Julia Belluz, 3/28)
Modern Healthcare: Why Patients Still Need EMTALA
In September 2012, a man arrived in the emergency department at Bon Secours St. Francis Health System in Greenville, S.C., after being shot in the leg during a robbery. A few months later, in February 2013, another man came to the same St. Francis ED after being shot in the abdomen at a club. In both cases, the hospital ... transferred the patients to another hospital. This past December, Bon Secours St. Francis agreed to pay a $100,000 civil penalty to settle allegations that it violated the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) by improperly transferring the two gunshot victims .... Spurred by the federal investigation, the hospital's administrators, physicians and staff launched an initiative to improve the ED's trauma processes and internal communication. ... All of that happened because of a law signed 30 years ago by President Ronald Reagan. (Meyer, 3/26)
Vox: Florida Is The Latest State To Defund Planned Parenthood Even Though It's Probably Illegal
Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed a sweeping anti-abortion bill into law on Friday, more or less daring advocates to take the state to court over it, and it looks certain they will. The law defunds Planned Parenthood in a way that may be illegal, and includes other provisions that are being challenged at the Supreme Court because they close abortion clinics for no medical reason. (Emily Crockett, 3/28)
Pacific Standard: The Lifelong Health Toll Of Schoolyard Racism
Disparities between the health of whites vs. that of minorities in the United States are wide and pervasive, and have been for decades. Some of the largest and most persistent health gaps are between whites and blacks. Black Americans experience significantly higher rates of cardiovascular disease, HIV, certain cancers, diabetes, asthma, and infant and maternal mortality than white Americans do. On average, white Americans live three years longer than black Americans; in high-poverty communities, life expectancy gaps can be as wide as 40 years. (Olivia Campbell, 3/29)
The Atlantic: The Impossibility Of Managing A Chronic Disease While Homeless
On my commute into work one night this past January, I could tell that something unusual was happening: Several police cars with full lights and sirens raced past me, as did a pair of ambulances. I followed their wails through downtown Seattle to King County’s public hospital, where I work the night shift as the physician responsible for treating patients with general medical issues. The hospital serves many members of Seattle’s homeless population; on any given night, at least half of my patients stay in migrating “tent cities,” crisis shelters, empty vehicles, abandoned buildings, or directly on the streets. (Maralyssa Ban, 3/29)
