Latest KFF Health News Stories
Sloan Kettering’s Widening Institutional Reckoning Over Ethics Crisis Snags Center’s Top Executive
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center President, Dr. Craig Thompson, announced that he will resign from the boards of Merck and Charles River Laboratories. Merck is the maker of the blockbuster cancer treatment Keytruda. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has been thrust under the microscope recently over controversy involving top officials’ financial conflicts of interest.
Perspectives: A Decades-Old Law Continues To Handcuff Pharma Companies With Regulatory Checkboxes
Read recent commentaries about drug-cost issues.
Administration Emphasizes Need To Focus On Keeping Opioids From Entering Country Illegally
DEA officials spoke of the importance of cracking down on the international pipeline into the country at a Senate caucus forum created as part of lawmakers’ efforts to pass a sweeping opioid package. Other news on the crisis comes out of California, Wisconsin, Massachusetts and Missouri.
A Look At How U.S.-Canada-Mexico Trade Deal Could Affect Drug Prices
News outlets report on stories related to pharmaceutical pricing.
In explaining its decision, Glaxo argued it is the only drugmaker that does not pay physicians to promote its medicines and vaccines, which puts the company at a competitive disadvantage.
Pharma Holds Breath, Bracing For A Possible Blue Wave To Take The House
Democrats have not been shy about their intent to focus on high drug prices if they regain control of the House, which the pharmaceutical industry doesn’t foresee going in its favor. Meanwhile, although lawmakers blocked pharma’s last attempt to attach the “doughnut hole” change to the massive opioid package, experts think lobbyists might be successful in the lame-duck months after the elections.
A scathing Homeland Security inspector general report found startling health and safety issues at a private, for-profit immigration jail in Adelanto, California. Among other problems, detainees reported waiting “weeks and months” to see a doctor, and inspectors met with a dentist who dismissed the necessity of fillings, and suggested that detainees use string from their socks to floss, the report said.
FDA Carts Away Thousands Of Documents After Surprise Inspection Of Juul Headquarters
Juul has come under fire recently as more and more young people turn to e-cigarettes as an alternative to traditional smoking. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb went so far as to say the problem has reached “epidemic proportions.” The documents seized were related to the company’s sales and marketing practices.
The issue is a favored talking point for Democrats going after Republican opponents in the midterm elections. The resolution from Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) is nonbinding, but gives him, and the other Republicans who backed the statement, an opportunity to address the issue. Meanwhile, insurance rates in Minnesota will drop for second straight year.
The report comes as debate has intensified over whether hospital administrators are doing enough to prevent violence against employees. Meanwhile, another nurse suffered an attack by a patient at Washington state’s largest psychiatric hospital, which has a troubled history of such incidents.
First Edition: October 3, 2018
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Editorial writers focus on these public health issues and others.
Media outlets report on news from California, Florida, Iowa, Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Kansas, Wyoming, Wisconsin and Missouri.
Man Dies From ‘Brain Eating Amoeba’ After Visiting Texas Surf And Water Park
CDC epidemiologists have taken samples from the park in Waco, Texas to test for the presence of the Naegleria fowleri, which thrives in warm freshwater. It enters the body through the nose and moves onto the brain, destroying tissue. Cases are extremely rare and nearly always fatal. No one else who has visited the park is ill.
Texas Hospital Giants Plan Merger That Would Create A $14 Billion, 68-Hospital System
The deal between Baylor Scott & White Health and Memorial Hermann Health System is just the latest consolidation effort seen in a health care landscape that is being dominated by mergers and acquisitions at the moment.
“I think it’s a breakthrough,” Clifford Rosen, an endocrinologist and physician, said of the study. While researchers have known that older women with osteoporosis benefit from drugs called bisphosphonates, this study supports their value for younger women with less brittle bones. Some, however, remain cautious. In other news on aging, two big studies focus on Alzheimer’s prevention.
Ivy League Sees Drop In Football Players’ Concussions With 5-Yard Rule Change During Kickoffs
The NCAA and other football leagues are considering an adjustment to football kickoffs, described as the game’s most dangerous play. The eight-school league enacted the change, pushing the kickoff up 5 yards, after studies showed that 21 percent of concussions occurred during the play that leads to high-speed crashes. The Ivy League also changed its touchback rule to help curb the concussion rate.
Survivors Remember Unimaginable Horror And Heroism A Year After Las Vegas Shooting
“Today, we remember the unforgettable,” Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said during a morning service in Las Vegas. “Today, we comfort the inconsolable. Today we gather in mind and body and we never left each other in spirit and heart.”
Neighborhoods Just One Street Apart Can Lead To Vastly Different Economic Futures For Poor Children
Detailed research reveals just how important location is for lifting a child out of poverty, and it can be the difference of just a few streets. Now city official and philanthropists are trying to move families into those areas. In other public health news: suicide, cholesterol, Zika, medical research, postpartum care by doulas, and end-of-life care.
As immunotherapy is being used more frequently, dangerous side effects are coming to light, like in the surprising case of one young man fighting leukemia. Meanwhile, despite the hundreds of scientists who have contributed to developing the revolutionary treatment, only two were awarded the Nobel prize for medicine. Stat looks at why that is.
