Latest KFF Health News Stories
The suit says Purdue Pharma drug representatives made 531,000 calls on doctors in the state since 2007, when the company settled with Pennsylvania and 25 other states and agreed to stop illegal diversion of OxyContin and to promote it only for federally approved uses. The company is facing a barrage of legal challenges from local counties, states and other parties eager to hold it accountable for the role it played in the opioid epidemic.
Editorial pages focus on these health care topics and others.
Under the new rules, a liver must be matched with the most critical patient within 500 miles. That means a liver donated in Nashville could end up in Chicago. The intent of the change is to make organ transplants more fair nationwide, but transplant centers in the South and Midwest are fighting it.
As recent research has failed to find a treatment for the disease and other dementia impacting more than 50 million Americans, the World Health Organization released a report on what aging people can try to do to prevent it. Other news on aging looks at troubling “zombie cells” and palliative care.
FTC Commissioner Calls On Colleagues To Be More Aggressive In Policing Health Care Mergers
Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter’s remarks support the chorus of calls among lawmakers and policy advocates who say antitrust officials at the FTC and the Justice Department need to get tougher on mergers and anticompetitive conduct across industries. Other health care industry news focuses on Walmart and the American Medical Association.
Washington State Passed A Public Option But Now Comes The Hard Part: Making It Work
Politico looks at some unresolved issues Washington officials will have to confront in the months ahead. Meanwhile, California Gov. Gavin Newsom is trying to drum up support for his ideas to shore up the health law marketplace in his state.
Hurricane Maria Devastated ‘Monkey Island.’ Can The Surviving Primates Help Teach Us About Trauma?
Like humans, the rhesus macaques that live on Puerto Rico’s “Monkey Island” possess advanced problem-solving skills and opposable thumbs and have been known to use tools, and they have complex emotional and social lives. As scientists wonder how something like Hurricane Maria impacts a community longterm, some turn to the monkeys to help better understand. In other public health news: the HIV epidemic, cancer, doctors and TV shows, scientific labs, heart health, and exercise.
U.S. Births Continue Downward Spiral, Dropping To Lowest Rate In More Than 30 Years
Many demographers believed more births would coincide with a rebounding economy, but Tuesday’s new report from the CDC showed a 2% decline from the previous year and record lows for women in their teens and 20s.
Civica Rx and other nontraditional drug suppliers entering the market say they are seeking to fix a dysfunctional system that puts patients at risk and adds to fast-rising pharmaceutical costs. “It’s really a good idea to shore up our supply of these products. Without these, the alternatives are pretty grim,” said the University of Utah’s Erin Fox to The Wall Street Journal.
The opinion from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel says the FDA lacks the authority to regulate drugs or other items when used in connection with the death penalty. When the only U.S. manufacturer of sodium thiopental stopped production in 2009, states began scrambling to find stocks of the drug in the U.S. and abroad. But the FDA had previously moved to halt such imports.
Local leaders and public health officials denounced the “vaccine symposium,” saying speakers relied on propaganda and fear-mongering in the midst of one of the worst measles outbreaks in decades. Speakers told attendees that the outbreaks were a result of a targeted campaign to harm the Jewish community. Meanwhile, a bill that tightens exemptions in New York stalls in the state Senate. And a similar measure failed to get out of the Oregon state Senate, as well.
The bipartisan measure instead sets up a process for determining how much the insurance company needs to pay the medical providers for the out-of-network care, basing the payments on the usual rates in that geographic area. “There is no question this proposal would transfer a bargaining power from providers to insurers — a fact that is sure to have provider groups up in arms,” Benedic Ippolito of the American Enterprise Institute tells Modern Healthcare. In other news from Capitol Hill: “Medicare for All,” detention centers, and a caucus for female veterans.
Although Gov. Kay Ivey (R-Ala.) has not publicly committed to signing the legislation, Republican lawmakers expect her support. Backers of the legislation expect that a lower court will block the measure that bans abortions at every stage of pregnancy. But it was drafted with a legal challenge in mind. News on abortion also comes out of Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Missouri and Virginia.
Gov. Steve Bullock (D-Mont.), the latest 2020 presidential candidate, supports the health law and helped push through a Medicaid expansion in a deep red state. But, like other moderates, he hasn’t come out in support of “Medicare for All,” a litmus test for many progressive voters. Meanwhile, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) continues with her gun control messaging.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Read recent commentaries about drug-cost issues.
Pharma’s Go-To Defense Of High ‘Research And Development’ Costs Undercut By New Study
News outlets report on stories related to pharmaceutical pricing.
Health care news from state legislatures comes from Ohio, Georgia, Maryland, California, Iowa and Minnesota.
Opinion writers weigh in on women’s health issues.
Editorial pages focus on these health care topics and others.
