In The Battle To Control Drug Costs, Old Patent Laws Get New Life
By Shefali Luthra
Health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers are exploring how two legal provisions — which have been on the books for decades — could bring down the price tags of certain prescription medications.
Drugmakers Play The Patent Game To Lock In Prices, Block Competitors
By Sarah Jane Tribble
Pharmaceutical companies like Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, often win patents for incremental changes with debatable value. Now there’s a twist involving an opioid treatment.
Congress Targets Misuse Of Hospice Drugs
By Melissa Bailey
In the bipartisan opioid bill headed to the president’s desk, hospice workers would be allowed to destroy patients’ unneeded opioids, reducing the risk that families misuse them.
VA Adding Opioid Antidote To Defibrillator Cabinets For Quicker Overdose Response
By Martha Bebinger, WBUR
A project that started in a Boston Veterans Affairs facility will soon go nationwide. It puts naloxone, also known as Narcan, into emergency supplies cabinets throughout the VA system.
Judges In California Losing Sway Over Court-Ordered Drug Treatment
By Brian Rinker
In a Medicaid-funded pilot project starting with 19 counties, clinicians and other providers are now in charge of deciding what kind of treatment an offender needs. The change has rankled some judges and attorneys — and forced some felons to spend more time in jail — but it has been largely embraced by clinicians and county agencies.
Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Some Things Old, Some Things New
In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner discuss final action on bills in Congress to address the opioid epidemic and fund federal health agencies. They also look at new efforts by the Food and Drug Administration to crack down on teen nicotine use.
High-Deductible Health Plans Fall From Grace In Employer-Based Coverage
By Jay Hancock
Once viewed as a promising cost-control tool, such insurance faces new competition on benefits menus from more traditional insurance. But, according to new research, none of those choices is getting less expensive.
Immigrants’ Health Premiums Far Exceed What Plans Pay For Their Care
By Carmen Heredia Rodriguez
Immigrants accounted for nearly 13 percent of premiums paid to private plans but only about 9 percent of insurers’ expenditures, according to a new study in Health Affairs. The cost of care for the group of native-born customers, however, exceeded their premiums.
Feds Settle Huge Whistleblower Suit Over Medicare Advantage Fraud
By Fred Schulte
A DaVita subsidiary will pay $270 million over allegations that it cheated the federal government for years.
Managing Your Mental Health While Managing A Newsroom’s Social Media
By Chaseedaw Giles
Reflections on coping with a new high-stress profession.
Without Safety Net Of Kids Or Spouse, ‘Elder Orphans’ Need Fearless Fallback Plan
By Judith Graham
Older adults who lack a conventional support system should plan ahead to deal with life’s predictable challenges as they age.
White Coats As Superhero Capes: Med Students Swoop In To Save Health Care
By Rachel Bluth
Students from eight medical schools in and around New York City attended a conference Sept. 23 on progressive activism during their training years — and beyond.