Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Is The Era Of PBMs Coming To An End?; Research Is Varied On Efficacy Of Puberty Blockers
Stat: Will Donald Trump Be The One To Slay PBMs?
Public awareness is rapidly intensifying about the harmful role pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) play in driving up prescription drug costs and denying consumers access to vitally needed medications. These powerful middlemen have come under increasing scrutiny from policymakers and regulators, with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) taking decisive action this year by filing a complaint against the largest PBMs for anticompetitive and unfair practices and issuing a groundbreaking interim report about their anticompetitive practices. These practices are not just unfair; they’re forcing consumers to pay unnecessarily high prices for the medications they rely on. (David Balto, 12/17)
The Atlantic: The Push For Puberty Blockers Got Ahead Of The Research
Are medical treatments for minors with gender dysphoria even scientifically justified? In the late 1990s, doctors in the Netherlands touted a new treatment for teenagers with severe gender dysphoria who found puberty distressing: chemically blocking their sex hormones and then giving them the hormones of the opposite sex. (Helen Lewis, 12/16)
The New York Times: Why Ultraprocessed Foods Aren't Always Bad
The way we eat desperately needs to change. Experts estimate diet is a bigger contributor globally to early death than smoking. In America, nearly half the adult population has Type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes. (Nicola Guess, 12/16)
Stat: A Deadly Kidney Disease’s Possible Connection To The Slave Trade
In the summer of 2008, with only two weeks left before returning home from a visiting Fulbright professorship in Japan, I made a doctor’s appointment for a checkup to take advantage of that nation’s inexpensive health care system. My only complaint was arthritic joint pain. But the physician I saw focused on a laboratory test that came back with an unexpected and grim diagnosis: advanced kidney disease. (Constance B. Hillard, 12/17)
Stat: Medicaid Has A Data Coordination Problem. AI Can Help
When I worked as a social worker at a community clinic in Detroit, I often saw James (not his real name), a patient receiving Medicaid benefits who was grappling with chronic substance use. Every appointment revealed a deeper, more disturbing layer of systemic disarray impacting James’ life and care: fragmented health records, conflicting medication lists, incomplete therapy session notes, and scattered commentary on detox treatments. This disorganized care record frequently delayed his treatment, given how long it took me to piece together his medical history and, as a result, how little time was left to address his immediate care needs. (Sadiq Y. Patel, 12/16)
