Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Uncertain Times Delay Private Equity Investments In Home Care
Modern Healthcare: Private Equity Delays Home Care Company Acquisitions
Uncertainty over interest rates, as well as Medicaid reimbursement and immigration policy, are prompting some private equity investors to delay investments in companies that provide skilled and nonmedical care in the home. Still, attorneys and advisors who help broker home care deals said the highly fragmented sector could remain a long-term sweet spot for investment as an aging population pushes more care to where patients live. (Eastabrook, 2/14)
More health industry updates —
KFF Health News: Pain Clinics Made Millions From ‘Unnecessary’ Injections Into ‘Human Pin Cushions’
Each month, Michelle Shaw went to a pain clinic to get the shots that made her back feel worse — so she could get the pills that made her back feel better. Shaw, 56, who has been dependent on opioid painkillers since she injured her back in a fall a decade ago, said in both an interview with KFF Health News and in sworn courtroom testimony that the Tennessee clinic would write the prescriptions only if she first agreed to receive three or four “very painful” injections of another medicine along her spine. (Kelman, 2/18)
The Washington Post: Why States Are Tackling Physicians’ Concerns About Mental Health Treatment
Medical doctors face higher rates of burnout and depression than the general population and are twice as likely to die by suicide. The risks were magnified at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, but the problem existed long before that. More than 40 percent of physicians, medical school students and residents cite fear of disclosure requirements on licensure forms as a main reason they don’t seek mental health care, according to the American Medical Association, which has been pushing for legislative and regulatory changes. (Hassanein, 2/17)
Modern Healthcare: Chiquita Brooks-LaSure Joins Century Foundation As Senior Fellow
Chiquita Brooks-LaSure has joined other former senior Biden administration officials at the Century Foundation, the progressive think tank announced Friday. The former administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will be a senior fellow at the organization, which previously brought aboard former Health Resources and Services Administration Administrator Carole Johnson and former acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, each of whom served under President Joe Biden. (Early, 2/14)
In pharmaceutical news —
The New York Times: An Invisible Medical Shortage: Oxygen
At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, millions of people in poor nations died literally gasping for breath, even in hospitals. What they lacked was medical oxygen, which is in short supply in much of the world. On Monday, a panel of experts published a comprehensive report on the shortage. Each year, the report noted, more than 370 million people worldwide need oxygen as part of their medical care, but fewer than 1 in 3 receive it, jeopardizing the health and lives of those who do not. Access to safe and affordable medical oxygen is especially limited in low- and middle-income nations. (Mandavilli, 2/17)
CIDRAP: Study Evaluates Use Of New Antibiotics In US Hospitals
An analysis of data from US hospitals found that ceftolozane-tazobactam and ceftazidime-avibactam are the most frequently used new antibiotics, researchers reported this week in Open Forum Infectious Diseases. (Dall, 2/14)
The Wall Street Journal: Doctors And Hospitals Look To Drones To Deliver Drugs, Supplies—And Even Organs
If you need a prescription filled in the coming years, don’t be surprised if it flies in and lands in your backyard. Hospitals and doctors are increasingly experimenting with the use of drones to deliver medications, lab tests and supplies to patients being treated at home. Some are testing whether drones can be used to deliver organs for transplant more quickly and cheaply. And in some cities, a 911 call today could set off a drone carrying a defibrillator, Narcan spray or tourniquet to the scene of an emergency ahead of the arrival of paramedics. (Boston, 2/17)
