Morning Breakouts

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Candidates On Health Care Offense, Defense In Final Week Before Election

Morning Briefing

Candidates are in full campaign mode ahead of midterm elections that will likely spell out how the health law is implemented. Some TV stations have pulled ads because they’re false.

Delegates From Nine African Countries Discuss Health Information Systems

Morning Briefing

Nine southern African countries and donors have gathered in Namibia for the second regional leadership in Health Information Systems (HIS) meeting to discuss “how recipient countries should take ownership of these systems,” New Era reports (Sasman, 10/26). Participant countries “will work together to develop country specific strategies to strengthen their national HIS and prepare a country-led action plan,” writes the Southern Times. More than 100 delegates representing Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe are expected to attend from ministries of finance, health, science, information and statistics bureaus (Nashuuta, 10/22).

Glaxo To Pay $750 Million Settlement For Defective, Unsafe Medicines

Morning Briefing

Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to pay $750 million to settle civil and criminal charges that the company for years knowingly sold 20 defective or dangerous drugs manufactured at a contaminated plant.

PhRMA Pushes Back Against Campaign Calls For Medicare Part D Price Negotiation

Morning Briefing

“The powerful pharmaceutical lobby is pushing back against campaign-trail calls to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices on behalf of millions of seniors enrolled in Part D,” The Hill reports.

Health IT Roundup: Digital Divide, A VA Contract, The Open Data Movement

Morning Briefing

News organizations explore the health IT digital divide, a contract to build a new VA database and a health official’s claim that the open data will revolutionize patient care.

A Look At The AMA Panel Behind Medicare’s Payment Rates

Morning Briefing

A group of 29 physicians, convened by the American Medical Associations and often appointed by specialty trade groups, have the task of recommending how to divide Medicare money into payments for each service, procedure and treatment the program covers.