First Edition: October 16, 2019
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
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Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Read recent commentaries about drug-cost issues.
A weekly round-up of stories related to pharmaceutical development and pricing.
Opinion writers weigh in on these health issues and others.
Media outlets report on news from North Carolina, California, Tennessee, Minnesota, Mississippi, Arizona, Missouri, Georgia, Michigan, New Hampshire, Louisiana, New York and Iowa.
Artificial intelligence has the potential to better patient care while creating cost-efficiencies that would be impossible without it. But it could also worsen racial disparities, have profit outweighing patient care, or simply lead to mistakes that a human wouldn't make. In other news at the intersection of health care and technology: video games, virtual reality for nursing home patients and ways to identify bacteria's genetic makeup.
A study in China found that the way air pollution affects pregnancies goes beyond premature labor and low birth weights. In other public health news: organ donation, plant-based meat, hot flashes, urine tests, CBD products, and more.
It's "not because they don’t want the positions, it’s not because they don’t work hard enough, it’s not because they’re not qualified for the positions,” says Julie Silver, a physician and director of Harvard’s leadership course. But at the very early stages of health careers, opportunities for mobility decline, in part because of strict credential requirements for jobs in clinical care and patient management. In other health industry news: Amazon's efforts to control health spending on employees, Johnson & Johnson's legal woes, executive pay at big insurers and more.
A shortage of a chemotherapy drug used to treat cancer in children highlights the serious perils of the rampant shortage problem facing the industry. "It’s our bread and butter," said Dr. Yoram Unguru, a pediatric oncologist. "There is no substitution ... You either have to skip a dose or give a lower dose — or beg, borrow or plead." While the FDA has been trying to address the issue of shortages it's fallen short in its efforts to grant addition approval of generics. Meanwhile, companies are trying other methods to combat the problem.
NPR looks at the five biggest changes made beneath the Trump administration, including the zeroing out of the individual mandate and allowing the addition of work requirements to some states' Medicaid programs.
Lawyer Paul Farrell Jr. helped mastermind the use of the "public nuisance" code that lies at the heart of the consolidated cases against the drug companies and distributors. “They broke it. So they need to fix it,” Farrell said. “I want them to stop killing people. I want mothers to stop giving birth to babies addicted to opium. ... I want to stop going to funerals.” Meanwhile a new poll finds that nearly half of Americans have someone in their family affected by substance abuse.
"It's infiltrated every social clique, every type of person knows someone — or maybe they are that person — who is vaping," said Phoebe Chambers, a junior at a Maryland high school. Meanwhile, a study finds that although vaping has seen a sharp rise among young people, the same trend isn't reflected in adults. In other news: an update on the deaths related to the vaping illness, local bans, and more.
While much of the health campaigning in the primaries has focused on how the different candidates will ensure health care coverage, there's large swaths of the cost conversation that haven't been touched -- such as hospital spending, health care deserts and even decisions over drug development. Abortion, as well, has been one of the least talked about topics in the previous debates. Will that change at Tuesday night's debate in Ohio when 12 Democratic presidential candidates take the stage?
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Opinion writers weigh in on these health care issues and others
Media outlets report on news from Oregon, Missouri, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Ohio, North Carolina, California, Iowa, Georgia and Hawaii.
In 1991, 5.9% of black teenagers reported attempting suicide, but in 2017, more than 10% of of black teenagers said they had. “It’s well documented that black youth access mental health treatment less,” said Michael Lindsey, author of the study. In other public health news: delivery company driving deaths, heart health, artificial intelligence, anxiety over flying, diabetes risk tests, and more.
The bill proposes that Medicare establish prices based on a price index on other nation's sales. News on the industry looks at how Canada's transparency on drug trials differs from the U.S., as well.
Nearly 60 rural Georgia hospitals must ensure their board members, CEOs and chief financial officers complete at least eight hours of classes by the end of next year or risk being fined and losing a valuable state tax credit. In other health industry and insurance news: dropped mergers, new partnerships, legal woes, DNA tests, surprise costs, and more.
Patients can choose to save money and find ways to gain new benefits by re-examining offerings from Medicare and Medicare Advantage, which are tweaked every year. News on the enrollment season is on how higher-rated plans influence decisions, as well.
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