Pharma & Tech: Oct. 12, 2022

Pharma-Funded FDA Gets Drugs Out Faster, But Some Work Only ‘Marginally’ and Most Are Pricey

Arthur Allen

Since pharmaceutical companies started funding their FDA drug applications 30 years ago, the agency’s reviews have gone much faster — perhaps too fast.

Watch: What Experts Advise for Seniors Living Under the Long Shadow of Covid

For older people, the pandemic is as taxing and worrisome as ever. Experts in geriatric care, mental health, social services, and infectious disease joined a KHN-Hartford Foundation panel to talk about a third covid winter and its outsize toll on seniors.

Centene Agrees to Pay Massachusetts $14 Million Over Medicaid Prescription Claims

Andy Miller and Samantha Young

Massachusetts is the latest state to settle with St. Louis-based Centene Corp. over allegations that it overcharged Medicaid prescription drug programs.

Hemp-Derived Delta-8 Skirts Marijuana Laws and Raises Health Concerns

Eric Berger

A cannabis product called delta-8 was made legal when the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp. But unlike its cousin CBD, delta-8 has psychoactive properties. And the FDA warns it has “serious health risks.” The agency has received more than 100 reports of bad reactions among people who consumed it.

Doctors Rush to Use Supreme Court Ruling to Escape Opioid Charges

Brett Kelman

After a unanimous ruling from the high court, doctors who are accused of writing irresponsible prescriptions can go to trial with a new defense: It wasn’t on purpose.

Addiction Experts Fear the Fallout if California Legalizes Sports Betting

Mark Kreidler

If California voters approve one or both sports-wagering initiatives on the November ballot, psychiatrists anticipate more cases of problem gambling and gambling addiction. They’re especially concerned about online betting, a very addictive way to play.

Hospitals Have Been Slow to Bring On Addiction Specialists

Martha Bebinger, WBUR

Hospitals have specialists ready to offer consult and care for concerns from cancer to childbirth but often no one with expertise in addiction medicine. Patients with a history of substance use — who are discharged without care — are at risk for overdose.

Embedded Bias: How Medical Records Sow Discrimination

Darius Tahir

Medical records can contain seemingly objective descriptions that are actually full of coded language and subtext. How does that affect care?

Journalists Dissect Medical Coding and Parse the President’s Words

KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.

Severe Sleep Apnea Diagnosis Panics Reporter Until He Finds a Simple, No-Cost Solution

Jay Hancock

An industry has grown up around sleep apnea, stirring concerns about overdiagnosis and overtreatment.

If You’re Worried About the Environment, Consider Being Composted When You Die

Bernard J. Wolfson

The idea of human composting — to help restore a forest or grow flowers — may be a little off-putting to some, but it has many advantages over traditional-but-toxic methods of burial and cremation.

Environmental Justice Leader Says Proposition 30 Would Help Struggling Areas Clear the Air

Heidi de Marco

Ana Gonzalez, who leads an environmental justice group in the Inland Empire, has endorsed Proposition 30, a ballot initiative backed by the ride-hailing company Lyft that would tax millionaires to fund zero-emission vehicle subsidies and electric charging stations. She contends most state policies overlook marginalized communities that are disproportionately affected by air pollution.

BMI: The Mismeasure of Weight and the Mistreatment of Obesity

Julie Appleby

The human body mass index — a simple mathematical equation — is tied to a measure of obesity invented almost 200 years ago. On the downside, it can stand between patients and treatment for weight issues. It particularly mismeasures Black women and Asians.

Photographer’s 12-Year Quest to Document Her Life Produces a Rich Portrait of Aging

Judith Graham

Twelve years ago, Marna Clarke was seized by a desire to examine what she looked like at age 70 — and to document the results. This creative project has sustained and engaged her since.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: On Government Spending, Congress Decides Not to Decide

Congress has once again decided not to decide how to fund the federal government in time for the start of the fiscal year, racing toward a midnight Sept. 30 deadline to pass a stopgap bill that would keep the lights on for two more months. However, it does appear the FDA’s program that gets drugmakers to help fund some of the agency’s review staff will be renewed in time to stop pink slips from being sent. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of Stat, and Victoria Knight of Axios join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews filmmaker Cynthia Lowen, whose new documentary, “Battleground,” explores how anti-abortion forces played the long game to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Readers and Tweeters Take a Close Look at Eye Care and White Mulberry Leaf

KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.

Médicos se apresuran a usar fallo de la Corte Suprema para liberarse de cargos por opioides