pharma & tech 111721
As Big Pharma and Hospitals Battle Over Drug Discounts, Patients Miss Out on Millions in Benefits
Sarah Jane Tribble and Emily Featherston, InvestigateTV
The number of pharmacies dispensing 340B discounted drugs soared to more than 31,000 this year. Drugmakers struck back by halting some discounts. Hospitals say they are losing millions of dollars — and cutting back services to patients — as a result.
How One Health Center Is Leading Chicago on Kid Covid Shots
Giles Bruce
A health center with clinics on Chicago’s southwest side that serves mostly Hispanic patients has provided the most covid shots to kids in the city by being accessible, (literally) speaking the language of the community and setting up pop-up clinics at schools and parks. It provides a few lessons as the nation gears up to vaccinate 5- to 11-year-olds.
As Constituents Clamor for Ivermectin, Republican Politicians Embrace the Cause
Blake Farmer, Nashville Public Radio
Hospitals and doctors are facing more demands for ivermectin as a covid-19 treatment, despite a lack of proof it works. In some Republican-dominated states, pushing for ivermectin interventions has become a conservative rallying cry.
In Maine, Vaccine Mandate for EMTs Stresses Small-Town Ambulance Crews
Patty Wight, Maine Public Radio
The covid vaccination rate for first responders in the state is more than 95%. But it's lower in more rural areas, where ambulance crews can't function if even just a few people quit.
How Rural Communities Are Losing Their Pharmacies
Markian Hawryluk
More than 1,000 independent rural pharmacies have closed since 2003, leaving 630 communities with no retail drugstore. As 41 million people stuck in pharmacy deserts make do, the remaining drugstores struggle to survive.
Hormone Blocker Sticker Shock — Again — As Patients Lose Cheaper Drug Option
Sydney Lupkin, NPR News
Kids who need a hormone-blocking drug to delay puberty have lost an off-label option. The nearly identical drug the company still sells costs eight times more.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Biden Social-Spending ‘Framework’ Pulls Back on Key Health Pledges
President Joe Biden unveiled a compromise “Build Back Better” framework shortly before taking off for key meetings in Europe, but it’s unclear whether the framework can win the votes of all Democrats in the House and Senate, and it leaves out some of the party’s health priorities, notably significant provisions to lower prescription drug prices. Meanwhile, younger children may soon be eligible for covid vaccines. Joanne Kenen of Politico and Johns Hopkins, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet and Rachana Pradhan of KHN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
Pharma Cash to Congress
Elizabeth Lucas and KFF Health News Staff
A KFF Health News database tracks campaign donations from drugmakers over the past 10 years.
Pharma Campaign Cash Delivered to Key Lawmakers With Surgical Precision
Victoria Knight and Rachana Pradhan and Elizabeth Lucas
With an eye to shutting down Medicare drug price negotiations, drug companies and their lobbying groups gave roughly $1.6 million in the first six months of 2021, with Democrats edging closer than they have in a decade to Republicans’ total haul.
As Overdose Deaths Soar, DEA-Wary Pharmacies Shy From Dispensing Addiction Medication
Aneri Pattani
A West Virginia pharmacy cleared a Drug Enforcement Administration investigation. But it shut down anyway, highlighting how the agency’s policies reduce the availability of buprenorphine, an important tool for recovery from opioid addiction.
Nursing Home Residents Overlooked in Scramble for Covid Antibody Treatments
JoNel Aleccia
A federal allocation plan meant to ensure equitable distribution of powerful monoclonal antibody treatments for high-risk patients fails to prioritize nursing home residents, a population that remains particularly vulnerable even after vaccination.
What Do We Really Know About Vaccine Effectiveness?
Julie Appleby
Reports of waning effectiveness and mixed messages about booster shots fuel the politicization of vaccination.
¿Qué sabemos realmente sobre la eficacia de las vacunas contra covid?
Julie Appleby
¿Lo esencial? Vacunarse con cualquiera de las tres vacunas disponibles en los Estados Unidos disminuye la posibilidad de infectarse en primer lugar y reduce de manera significativa el riesgo de hospitalización o muerte si se contrae el coronavirus y se desarrolla covid-19.
Despite Restraints, Democrats’ Drug Pricing Plan Could Still Aid Consumers
Michael McAuliff
A last-minute agreement among lawmakers restored a provision seeking to hold down rising costs of prescription medicines. Although details on which drugs will be targeted remain sketchy, the legislation would help patients buying insulin and cap Medicare beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket drug costs at $2,000 a year.
A pesar de sus límites, el plan demócrata sobre el precio de los medicamentos podría ayudar a los consumidores
Michael McAuliff
La nueva legislación bajaría dramáticamente el precio de la insulina, y lograría que el impacto de los precios astronómicos no recaigan en el consumidor.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Why Health Care Is So Expensive, Chapter $22K
Congress is making slow progress toward completing its ambitious social spending bill, although its Thanksgiving deadline looks optimistic. Meanwhile, a new survey finds the average cost of an employer-provided family plan has risen to more than $22,000. That’s about the cost of a new Toyota Corolla. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News and Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Rebecca Love, a nurse academic and entrepreneur, about the impending crisis in nursing.