Politico: Senate GOP Reassesses Plan On Obamacare Repeal
Senate Republicans are considering significant changes to their proposal to repeal Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood and will temporarily delay consideration of the measure to ensure it can pass the Senate. GOP leaders are even mulling removing the Planned Parenthood provision if it gets them closer to putting Obamacare repeal on the president’s desk. They need just a majority of votes to pass the legislation, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his team are being squeezed between moderates balking at the Planned Parenthood language and a trio of conservatives that say the Obamacare repeal language doesn’t go far enough. (Everett, 11/16)

The Washington Post: Senate GOP Could Drop Attempt To Defund Planned Parenthood
Senate Republicans may abandon a plan to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood in hopes of maintaining the votes needed to force a veto fight with President Obama over repealing his signature health care law. GOP leaders are mulling what to do with a House passed reconciliation bill that would both defund the women’s health group and gut Obamacare by repealing both the employer mandate and a tax on high-end employer-sponsored health plans. The House passed the bill on a 240 to 189 vote in October. (Snell, 11/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Court Says Congress Must Comply With Federal Insider-Trading Investigation
Federal law-enforcement officials can resume a high-profile insider-trading investigation after a New York judge said Congress must cooperate with investigators looking into a possible leak of government health-care policy. In a decision announced Monday, U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe sided with the Securities and Exchange Commission in much of the case and said a House committee and a former top aide must comply with many parts of a subpoena. (Mullins, 11/16)

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: Bernie Sanders Aims To Put Hillary Clinton On Defensive On Family Leave
Sen. Bernie Sanders is trying to put rival Hillary Clinton on the defense over one of her signature issues: paid family leave. Mr. Sanders backs legislation in Congress that would create a federal fund to reimburse a portion of lost wages when workers take up to 12 weeks off after the birth or adoption of a child, to care for a family member’s serious health condition or for a serious health problem of their own. The proposal is funded by new payroll tax of two-tenths of a 1% paid by both employers and employees. ... Mrs. Clinton talks frequently about the need for paid family leave, but she has not put out a plan. On Friday, her campaign said she would not raise taxes on families earning less than $250,000 a year, a promise that rules out the pending legislation, known as the Family Act. (Meckler, 11/16)

The Washington Post's Fact Checker: Donald Trump Repeats Inaccurate Figure That ‘Over 300,000 Veterans Died Waiting For Care’
A reader pointed us to Trump’s proposal on his campaign Web site, which repeated an inaccurate figure The Fact Checker wrote about in September 2015. Carly Fiorina had inaccurately claimed twice during the GOP debate on CNN that 307,000 veterans had died waiting for health care. ... This is a widely misreported statistic that first began circulating after a Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of Inspector General report released Sept. 2, 2015, and subsequent news coverage. Concerned Veterans for America, a conservative veterans advocacy group, cited an article quoting this figure in a political ad released this month. But the difference is that the group’s ad quotes a headline that says 307,000 “may” have died waiting for care, versus Trump’s statement (and Fiorina’s references, for that matter) that states the figure as a direct fact. (Lee, 11/17)

Modern Healthcare: CEO Power Panel: Healthcare Leaders Back Feds Stepping In To Restrain Drug Prices
Nearly seven-eighths of the country's top healthcare leaders favor the government taking a bigger role in curbing the rising cost of prescription drugs, while nearly all say that the two-year runup in drug prices has hurt their bottom lines. A whopping 90% of CEOs responding to Modern Healthcare's latest CEO Power Panel survey said rising drug costs were undermining their finances. Nearly half (45%) said the impact was “very negative.” (Johnson, 11/14)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Examining The Cost Of Cancer Treatment
In addition to the medical and emotional toll, the financial cost of cancer can be overwhelming. On average, some of the newer drugs run to $10,000 a month, with some exceeding $30,000 a month, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology, a group of about 35,000 cancer professionals. ASCO and another group, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), have begun developing guidelines and tools to help physicians, patients, and their families assess efficacy, toxicity, and costs of the various treatment options. (Bauers, 11/15)

The Associated Press: Johnson & Johnson Multiple Myeloma Drug Wins Accelerated OK
A Johnson & Johnson drug won Food and Drug Administration approval Monday for treating the incurable blood cancer multiple myeloma in patients who’ve failed prior therapies and have few options left. Darzalex is the first biologic drug and first monoclonal antibody — a genetically engineered drug designed to target diseased tissue and spare healthy cells — approved for multiple myeloma. (Johnson, 11/16)

The Wall Street Journal: New Diagnostic Tools Emerge In War Against Superbugs
A new front is emerging in the fight against antibiotic-resistant superbugs—one that doesn’t involve the development of new drugs. Companies are racing to develop diagnostic technologies that can be used by hospitals and clinics to pinpoint the cause of common infections quickly. That should cut down on the unnecessary prescription of antibiotics, a major driver of drug-resistance in bacteria. (Roland, 11/16)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Says More Regulation Needed On Lab Tests
The Food and Drug Administration, in a report released on the eve of a congressional hearing Tuesday, said that certain laboratory tests “may have caused or have caused” actual harm to patients by producing erroneous results. At issue are so-called lab-developed tests, or LDTs, which are produced and performed within a single hospital or corporate laboratory. Such tests are often done on tissue samples sent in from outside doctors and hospitals. They are distinct from standard diagnostic equipment and products that are sold to doctors’ offices, hospitals or other labs. (Burton, 11/16)

NPR: Supreme Court Won't Take Up Case Over Planned Parenthood Documents
Over the dissent of two justices, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an anti-abortion group's attempt to get more information about a $1 million federal contract awarded to Planned Parenthood for family planning and related health services. The Department of Health and Human Services awarded the contract to Planned Parenthood of Northern New England in 2011 to provide family planning services for a large portion of New Hampshire. (Totenberg, 11/16)

The New York Times: Supreme Court Won’t Hear Case Over Planned Parenthood Documents
Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Antonin Scalia, dissented, saying disagreements in the lower courts over the scope of the open records law, the Freedom of Information Act, warranted Supreme Court review. The case, New Hampshire Right to Life v. Department of Health and Human Services, No. 14-1273, followed New Hampshire’s decision in 2011 to stop awarding money to Planned Parenthood of Northern New England after officials expressed concern that taxpayer funds were being used to subsidize abortions. The group then applied for federal money from the Department of Health and Human Services, submitting various documents in support of its request, including ones on medical standards, fees and personnel policies. After the request was approved, New Hampshire Right to Life, an anti-abortion group, asked the government for the documents under the open records law. (Liptak, 11/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Supreme Court Rejects Antiabortion Group’s Case Against Planned Parenthood
New Hampshire Right to Life filed a disclosure request seeking government records related to the grant, as well as documents Planned Parenthood filed in connection with its application. HHS released about 2,500 pages of records, but the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston found that certain Planned Parenthood materials, including the organization’s Manual of Medical Standards and Guidelines, could be withheld. (Bravin, 11/16)

Reuters: U.S. Top Court Rejects Anti-Abortion Group's Planned Parenthood Case
Normally, federal funds are dispersed by the state, but officials in New Hampshire voted not to give any money to Planned Parenthood. The federal government then decided to provide the grant directly to Planned Parenthood. New Hampshire Right to Life contends Planned Parenthood may have violated federal law by using the money to subsidize abortions. It is illegal for federal funds to be used for abortion services. (Hurley, 11/16)

The Washington Post: Supreme Court Stays Out Of Lawsuit On Planned Parenthood Contract
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit in Boston said the document was covered by an exception to the Freedom of Information Act that withholds “trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person [and that is] privileged or confidential.” Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia said they would have accepted the case. But despite the controversy in Congress surrounding Planned Parenthood’s abortion services, the justices did not mention the procedure in discussing the case. (Barnes, 11/16)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Medicaid Denies Half Of Prescriptions For New Hep C Drugs, Penn Study Finds
State Medicaid programs in the Philadelphia region denied nearly half the coverage requests for the most effective - and expensive - treatments for chronic hepatitis C, according to a University of Pennsylvania study that will be presented on Monday. The findings, based on prescription data for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, appear to confirm widespread concerns that state budgets are effectively limiting treatment for a potentially fatal condition. (Sapatkin, 11/14)

The Globe Gazette: Branstad Decries Medicaid Privatization 'Scare' Tactics
Gov. Terry Branstad expressed concern Monday that some health-care providers are using “scare tactics” and misinformation to undermine his administration’s effort to begin the transition to a privately managed Medicaid service delivery system beginning Jan. 1. Some providers in mental-health, assisted living and other service areas that rely on Medicaid for treatment have expressed concerns that the state’s plan to privatize Medicaid services includes a new payment system that could cut their reimbursements enough that it could force smaller organizations to close. (Boshart, 11/16)

In other Medicaid news -

STAT News: Medicaid Group Ramps Up Lobbying On Drug Prices
Private Medicaid plans are seizing on the political rancor over prescription drug prices to lobby for an overhaul of how the government insurance program pays for medicine. The Medicaid Health Plans of America, the major Washington-based lobbying organization, is working on a set of proposals to present to lawmakers and hopes to release them publicly by mid-2016, the group’s president and CEO, Jeff Myers, told STAT. (Scott, 11/16)

California Healthline: State Legislators Get High Marks From Reproductive Rights Advocates
Almost two-thirds of all legislators in California earned the highest possible marks for their support of reproductive rights issues, according to an annual review of legislative policy released last week by Planned Parenthood. (Gorn, 11/16)

The Kansas City Star: Columbia One Battleground In Larger Fight Over Abortion In Missouri
An inspector from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services will arrive at the Planned Parenthood clinic here Dec. 1 to revoke its state license to perform abortions — leaving Missouri with only one abortion clinic. Planned Parenthood officials hope that visit never happens. Fueling that optimism were the resignations last week of the University of Missouri’s system president and Columbia chancellor after weeks of protests roiled the campus. (Hancock, 11/16)

The Associated Press: Anti-Abortion Group Awarded $3.5M Contract
Most of a $3.5 million no-bid contract that Republican Gov. Mike Pence awarded to an anti-abortion nonprofit organization that pushes abstinence as the only method of birth control will be spent providing services to pregnant women who choose not to have an abortion. Pennsylvania-based Real Alternatives will essentially act as a middleman, signing up service providers around the state to "enable pregnant women in Indiana to maintain pregnancy and achieve positive healthy pregnancy outcomes through provision of pregnancy support services and referrals to care." (11/16)

The Daily Progress: Safety Records For Virginia Hospitals Now Available Online
The public now has the ability to check how Virginia hospitals rank in patient safety. The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, a health system advocacy group, has launched the Quality and Patient Safety Scorecard, an interactive online scorecard that includes patient safety records for 80 facilities. (Suarez, 11/15)

The Associated Press: Vermont's Largest Health Care Provider Seeks To Change Fees
Vermont's largest health care provider is embarking on an ambitious project of getting 80 percent of its revenue by 2018 for keeping its patients healthy rather than being paid for the amount of care it provides to patients. To make the change in such a short time, patients of the University of Vermont Medical Center, its affiliated doctor's offices and other providers will be hearing more in the coming months about the best ways to keep themselves healthy, said UVM CEO Dr. John Brumsted. (Ring, 11/16)

The Meridian Star: Pioneer Owes $315,000 In Back Taxes, Officials Say
Pioneer Community Hospital of Newton [Miss.], which is slated to close its doors Dec. 1, owes Newton County more than $300,000 in back taxes, county officials said Friday. According to numbers provided by the Newton County Chancery Clerk's office, the hospital owes $169,478 for 2013 and $146,318 for 2014. The total bill of $315,797 reflects the property tax bills for those years, plus penalties and interest, according to Newton County Chancery Clerk George Hayes. The hospital's tax bill for 2015 hasn't been figured yet, Hayes said. (Graham, 11/15)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Firm Under Federal Probe Owns 4 Of 5 Most Profitable Pa. Mental Health Hospitals
Four of the five most profitable mental-health hospitals in Pennsylvania are owned by Universal Health Services Inc., according to a report being published Tuesday by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council. The King of Prussia company, which is under federal criminal investigation for its Medicare and Medicaid billing practices at about 20 facilities in nine states, owns eight psychiatric hospitals in Pennsylvania, including three that are under investigation. (Brubaker, 11/17)

The Kansas City Business Journal: Shawnee Mission Health Expands Bariatric Surgery Program
Shawnee Mission Health-Prairie Star in Lenexa is expanding its bariatric surgery program in an effort to meet the needs of slimming down. In 2014, doctors performed more than 1,000 bariatric procedures at Prairie Star, exceeding the 930 in 2013. Due to the increased demand of surgeries, Prairie Star is increasing its capacities through an expansion of the inpatient medical/surgical unit. The bariatric surgery program is a partnership between Shawnee Mission Health and The Bariatric Center of Kansas City in Lenexa. (Grote, 11/16)

Health News Florida: Insurance Advisory Board Wants More Consumer Protections
Florida lawmakers should enact more protections for health-insurance consumers and families of workers in small businesses, a state advisory board says. The legislative recommendations that emerged from the Florida Health Insurance Advisory Board on Monday included two aimed at fixing problems that have recently erupted in the health-insurance system: “balance-billing” and the “family glitch.” The first would protect members of preferred provider organizations (PPOs) and certain other network plans from being billed by a hospital or doctor outside their network for charges run up through no fault of their own. (Gentry, 11/17)

The Sacramento Bee: Legislation Cut California’s Workers’ Compensation Medical Costs
Three years ago, Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature enacted a major overhaul of the system that compensates workers for job-related injuries and illnesses. Senate Bill 863, backed by employers and labor unions, affected many specific aspects of the system but was aimed largely at reducing medical costs and redirecting savings into cash benefit increases for disabled workers. (Walters, 11/16)

The Argus Leader: South Dakota Seeing Backlog Of Suspect Mental Health Exams
It took handcuffs and a blast of pepper spray for police to drag a 72-year-old man from his downtown apartment. Neighbors had called for help after hearing banging and other noises. Ronnie Medenwaldt answered the door with a knife and refused to leave. He was arrested, charged and jailed for three months before a judge ordered a mental health evaluation. His journey through the justice system stalled there. Medenwaldt sat in the Minnehaha County Jail for another eight months waiting for a psychiatrist to determine what role his mental illness played in the confrontation with police. (Walker, 11/14)

News Service Of Florida: Backers Hope 'This Is The Year' For Mental Health Reform
The Florida House and Senate will reform the state's troubled mental-health system during the 2016 legislative session, predicts one of the lawmakers spearheading the effort. "I think everyone understands that this is the year to get it done," said Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Chairman Rene Garcia, a Hialeah Republican who during the 2015 session tried to pass a sweeping bill to streamline delivery of mental-health and substance-abuse treatment --- only to see the measure die at the tumultuous end of the session. (Menzel, 11/16)

The Connecticut Mirror: Democrats: Suspend Public Financing Of Elections, Cut Transportation And Local Aid
The leaders of the legislature's Democratic majority Monday recommended suspending the state's public-financing of elections for 2016, cutting social services, and retreating from two major initiatives on transportation and municipal aid. The suggested cuts are part of continuing negotiations with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, and the Republican legislative minority over how to eliminate growing deficits projected for this fiscal year and the one that begins July 1. ... Faced with growing red ink, Democrats proposed reductions in areas they traditionally have avoided. Almost $24 million would be cut from the Office of Early Childhood and the departments of Social Services, Mental Health and Addiction Services, Public Health, and Children and Families. (Phaneuf, Levin Becker, Rabe Thomas and Pazniokas, 11/16)

WBUR: Mass. Medical Society Calls For Changes To Key Provisions In Baker’s Opioid Bill
The head of the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) is calling for lawmakers to change two key provisions in a bill that Gov. Charlie Baker says is needed to fight the state’s growing opioid addiction epidemic. The Joint Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse held a hearing on the legislation Monday, during which MMS President Dr. Dennis Dimitri urged changes to two controversial proposals: limiting first-time opioid prescriptions to a three-day supply, and letting hospitals hold addiction patients against their will for up to three days while trying to place them in treatment. (11/16)

The Associated Press: Puerto Ricans Fear For Their Health As Federal Cuts Loom
An incurable disease has given Jose Gonzalez Ortiz the health of an old man at age 42, and the collapsing Puerto Rican health system only adds to his pain. He was refused the $300 worth of monthly medications he needs to treat the degenerative illness known as Lou Gehrig's disease that attacks the cells that control his muscles. His health care plan won't pay for the respiratory equipment that doctors say would ease his breathing. Unable to walk, he lurches about on a walker donated by his church because he was denied a wheelchair for his amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. (Coto, 11/16)

The Dallas Morning News: Feds File Charges Against 28 In ‘Sprawling Health Care Fraud Scheme’ In Dallas Area
Federal prosecutors announced Monday they’ve filed criminal charges against 28 people involved in a “complex and sprawling health care fraud scheme” that cost the government $8.7 million. All 28 have signed documents indicating they would plead guilty, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Dallas. Others could still be charged. (Mosier, 11/16)

The Associated Press: Couple Convicted In $80M Bogus Home Care Scheme In DC
A couple have been convicted of health care fraud in a scheme prosecutors say stole $80 million in Medicaid payments from the District of Columbia government. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington said in a news release Monday that a federal jury in the District convicted 52-year-old Florence Bikundi and her husband, 63-year-old Michael Bikundi Sr., last week. (11/16)

Kaiser Health News: New Brain Institute Plans To Refocus Third World’s Attention On Dementia As ‘Societal Issue’
With dementia cases rising rapidly around the world, the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Dublin announced Monday the launch of an institute aimed at helping developing countries learn more about the disease and cope with the burden it places on patients, families and caregivers. The Global Brain Health Institute, which will be housed both in San Francisco and Dublin, will train 600 neuroscientists, policymakers, economists and others over 15 years in an effort to help developing countries better understand dementia, as well as how to delay and prevent it. The institute plans to focus initially on countries in Latin America and the Southern Mediterranean region. Training is expected to begin next fall. (Gorman, 11/16)

Los Angeles Times: Group Bolsters Efforts To Enroll Former Inmates In Medi-Cal
When Hilda Sims earned her release from prison last year after serving 22 years for murder, she got something that could dramatically reduce the odds that she'd ever have to return: health insurance. For years, many who left California lockups on parole or probation would do so without easy access to medical care. For someone like Sims, who survived breast cancer behind bars, that meant health problems might go untreated or result in big medical bills just as they were struggling to return to society. (Karlamangla, 11/16)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Health Hack Aims To Solve Health Care Issues
What the heck is a Health Hack? It's no traditional hackathon, with computer geeks, pizza, and Red Bull. Instead, think medical professionals, engineers, artists, tech types, and an insurance company banding together to come up with creative solutions to improve delivery of health care. Toss in some yoga, zumba, and kickboxing, and add a vegetarian lunch for good measure. That was the scene at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital this weekend as about 250 participants in the first Independence/Jefferson Health Hack came together to brainstorm solutions to 60 health-care challenges, including reducing hospital admissions, wearable devices, and drone delivery of health care. (Schaefer, 11/14)

The New York Times: How To Help Save The Mentally Ill From Themselves
I do know that for many, [mental health] treatment saves lives. The true insanity is that our laws leave those who suffer to fend for themselves. But Congress is now ready to grapple with the issue in a bipartisan bill .... The bill is not perfect. But it does many things to improve the financing, treatment and delivery of services across the range of mental illnesses, and in particular it has provisions aimed directly at helping those like my son. Most critically, the Murphy-Johnson bill provides incentives to fund expanded treatment, called assisted outpatient treatment, or A.O.T., only for those with a long history and pattern of proving a danger to themselves or others. The specifics of A.O.T. vary by state, but judges can order patients to undergo treatment while they live in the community instead of in prison or a hospital. It has been proven to reduce crime by or against those with illnesses, as well as suicide. (Norman J. Ornstein, 11/17)

USA Today: How Can VA Reward Employees In Scandal?: Our View
Despite scandals that engulfed the Department of Veterans Affairs — outrageous waits for medical care, a culture of coverups and a billion dollar construction fiasco in Colorado — 2014 was a banner year at the VA for one thing: performance bonuses. The agency doled out more than $140 million in taxpayer-funded awards for performance to nearly half of the VA’s 340,000 employees, according to data provided to USA TODAY by the House Veterans' Affairs Committee. Rewarding excellence is a proven way to motivate workers and attract top talent, but it’s hard to fathom that half of the employees at the scandal-plagued agency were deserving, particularly several recipients who have been called to account in various scandals. (11/16)

USA Today: VA: Awards Help Us Retain Top Talent
The vast majority of employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs provide America’s veterans exceptional service. The performance awards described in USA TODAY’s article are more than a year old — October 2013 to September 2014. All were granted according to Office of Personnel Management standards. They are based on performance during that period, not on events occurring after it. The majority who received awards were rank-and-file workers. (VA Secretary Bob McDonald, 11/16)

Bloomberg: More Red States Open Door To Obamacare
States with Republicans in charge have mixed records of adopting [Medicaid expansion]. But once a state goes along with Medicaid expansion, it doesn’t go back on it even if a strongly conservative Republican is elected governor. That means Medicaid expansion remains a one-way street, and eventually all 50 states will accept it. We’re already up to 30 states with Montana’s recent agreement to sign up. ... Of course, battles over Medicaid won't end even when the last state signs on. Expect to see plenty of fights, at both national and state levels, about any number of issues: how the program is administered, how generous the benefits are, how doctors and hospitals are treated. (Jonathan Bernstein, 11/16)

Forbes: Government Mandates, Like Obamacare, Mean A $7.25 Minimum Wage Is Effectively $10.46
Proponents of more than doubling the current minimum wage of $7.25 appeared to have overlooked a simple fact. Thanks to government mandates such as Obamacare, today’s minimum wage already effectively amounts to $10.46 an hour . If we more than double the nominal minimum wage to $15, we actually will be requiring employers to pay $18.31 an hour. (Chris Conover, 11/16)

Des Moines Register: Keep Fighting Medicaid Plan, Iowa
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services hosted its first telephone “listening session” last week to hear from Iowans about Gov. Terry Branstad’s plan to privatize management of Medicaid. Hundreds of people called in. They jammed the phone lines, talked over each other and begged the federal government to stop the governor. It was a mess. That session for consumers and three others for providers were rescheduled for this week. ... Consumers should call again — and give CMS another earful. (11/17)

Health Affairs: CMS Initiative For Hip And Knee Replacements Supports Quality And Care Improvements For Medicare Beneficiaries
In 2014, more than 400,000 Medicare beneficiaries received a hip or knee replacement, costing more than $7 billion for the hospitalizations alone. The quality and cost of care for these surgeries varies significantly by region and by hospital. This is true both for the care received inside the hospital and for post-acute care received outside the hospital during the critical period of recovery. In part, this variation is due to the way Medicare pays for this care today — spread among multiple providers, with no single entity held accountable for the total patient experience. As a result, care can be fragmented, leading to adverse outcomes. ... the [a mandatory bundled payment model] seeks to incentivize Medicare providers and suppliers to work together to improve the quality and reduce the costs of care for patients undergoing lower extremity joint replacement procedures. (Patrick H. Conway, Rahul Rajkumar, Amy Bassano, Matthew Press, Claire Schreiber, and Gabriel Scott, 11/16)

The New York Times' The Upshot: How To Decrease Prices For An Expensive Class Of Drugs
Competition among generic drug makers pushes drug prices downward. But such competition is weak for a growing and expensive class of drugs called biologics. A big reason has to do with the science that underlies them. Biologics — large-molecule, protein-based drugs — are made by living organisms, not by chemical processes, which are the source of non-biologic, or small-molecule, drugs. Their complexity makes them harder to reverse engineer than small-molecule drugs, making generic versions of them — called biosimilars — more costly to bring to market. (Austin Frakt, 11/16)

Forbes: Here's How Hospitals Cheat Medicare, And Why They Should
Because of complicated reimbursement rules ... such hospitals often delay discharge until patients have been in the facility for 30 days, the point at which Medicare reimbursement rates rise sharply. In order to maximize their income, long-term care hospitals keep some patients “in house” longer than necessary. Without such delays, these facilities could face dire financial consequences. Medicare needs to change the way it pays for long-term care. (Peter Ubel, 11/16)

The Kansas City Star: Caregivers Deserve Needed Attention For Their Service To Others
The 40 million people who take care of older, ill, frail or disabled adults don’t often get enough thanks or attention for the work they do to benefit others. The November issue of AARP Bulletin helps corrects that oversight in a special report headlined “Caregiving in America 2015.” The volunteer army of folks who took care of other adults in 2013 alone contributed a collective 37 billion hours in unpaid service worth $470 billion, notes AARP’s recent report “Valuing the Invaluable.” That’s up from $450 billion in 2009. (Lewis Diuguid, 11/16)

JAMA: Measurement Is Essential For Improving Diagnosis And Reducing Diagnostic Error
Nearly all patients will experience a diagnostic error in their lifetime, sometimes with devastating consequences. That conclusion by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in a recently released report, “Improving Diagnosis in Health Care,” should mobilize collaboration among patients, health care professionals and organizations, government, and the private sector to improve the diagnostic process. Diagnostic errors have received less attention than other medical errors, even though correct diagnosis is fundamental to subsequent choices. (Elizabeth A. McGlynn, Kathryn M. McDonald and Christine K. Cassel, 11/16)

JAMA Neurology: The McDonaldization Of Medicine
As put forth in The McDonaldization of Society, “the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society,” including medicine. While designed to produce a rational system, the 4 basic principles of McDonaldization—efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control—often lead to adverse consequences. Without measures to counter McDonaldization, medicine’s most cherished and defining values including care for the individual and meaningful patient-physician relationships will be threatened. (E. Ray Dorsey and George Ritzer, 11/16)