Pharma&Tech 122221

Local Pharmacists Fill Rx Void as Big Brands Pull Out of Rural Areas
By Markian Hawryluk Stores like Walmart and Shopko opened pharmacies in small towns, either buying out the local pharmacy or driving it out of business. What happens when those chains later withdraw, leaving communities with no pharmacy?

Seeking Refills: Aging Pharmacists Leave Drugstores Vacant in Rural America
By Markian Hawryluk Independent pharmacists who want to retire often have trouble attracting new pharmacists to take over their practices, particularly in rural areas. That can cause smaller towns to lose their pharmacies. With many pharmacists near retirement, the problem may only get worse.

With Overdose Deaths Surging, Advocates on the Ground Push for Over-the-Counter Naloxone
By Aneri Pattani Harm-reduction groups say that requiring a doctor to sign off on their orders of the overdose reversal drug is one of the biggest barriers they face in obtaining the lifesaving medication.

Texas Toughens Ban on Medication-by-Mail Abortions With Jail Time and Hefty Fine
By Ashley Lopez, KUT Last week, on the same day the Supreme Court heard a case that could overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling on abortion rights, Texas enacted a law that creates criminal penalties for anyone who prescribes medication abortions via telehealth or mail.

Public Opinion Is Unified on Lowering Drug Prices. Why Are Leaders Settling for Less?
By Elisabeth Rosenthal Politicians and many health experts have done their best to see the glass half-full in the plan put forward by congressional Democrats and the president. But it’s “a far cry” from what other nations do to rein in drug prices, and polls show most voters demand more protection.

Oncology Doctors Say the Build Back Better Act Will Slash Cancer Care Funding — A Skewed Argument
By Julie Appleby The Community Oncology Alliance is targeting the prescription drug provisions of the Build Back Better Act, saying they will trigger deep cuts in oncologists’ pay, causing clinics to close and health care costs to rise. But it leaves out some important details.

Hospitals Refused to Give Patients Ivermectin. Lockdowns and Political Pressure Followed.
By Matt Volz Hospitals in Montana and Idaho reported threats and harassment from public officials and family members of patients who were denied treatment with a drug not authorized to treat covid-19.

Vaccine Promoters Struggle to Get People Boosted in California’s Fields
By Heidi de Marco Stressed vaccine communicators battle anti-vaccine propaganda while seeking to persuade Latino farmworkers to get covid boosters.

The Vaccine Rollout Was a Success. But Events Within and Beyond Biden’s Control Stymied Progress.
By Victoria Knight There were variants, vaccine hesitancy and messaging mix-ups. And, despite campaign promises, Biden and his administration sometimes took actions or made statements without waiting for full scientific evidence to back them up.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Much Ado About (Vaccine) Mandates
The fight over covid vaccines continues to intensify, with Republicans on Capitol Hill pushing — with some success — to cancel President Joe Biden’s “test regularly or vaccinate” requirement for private employers. Meanwhile, abortion is not the only health issue before the Supreme Court this term. Joanne Kenen of Politico and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet and Rachel Cohrs of Stat News join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.

Covid Shots for Kids Are Scarce — And Demand Is Mixed — In Rural Montana
By Aaron Bolton, MTPR Although covid vaccines have been available to children as young as 5 for more than a month, they’re not being offered in some rural Montana counties, and parents don’t know where to find them in others.

Is It Time to Change the Definition of ‘Fully Vaccinated’?
By Victoria Knight Experts weigh in as the federal government urges everyone to get boosted amid concerns over omicron, a new covid variant.

Health Experts Worry CDC’s Covid Vaccination Rates Appear Inflated
By Phil Galewitz Accuracy issues raise red flags because the data is used to plan and direct resources in the nation’s continuing response to the covid-19 pandemic.

How LA, Calling the Shots on School Vaccine Mandates, Can Lead the Way on Covid Rules
By Arthur Allen In the middle of a measles outbreak in 1977, the Los Angeles school system required students to be inoculated or stay out of class. Other school systems followed the practice. Will it work again now that the county is insisting that teens have their shots against covid?

Journalists Review Public Views on Vaccines and the Arc of Covid Testing
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.

Sex Apps for Gay Men Join Forces to Fight Online Insults
By David Tuller A San Francisco-area group that pushes for healthier internet behavior aims to show that being mean isn’t sexy and can lead to mental anguish and unsafe sexual encounters.

Never Mind Toys, It’s Time to Ask Santa for Crutches and Catheters
By Rachana Pradhan As hospitals juggle holiday covid surges and all their other patients, the global supply chain crisis has left them short of critical supplies.

Data Science Proved What Pittsburgh’s Black Leaders Knew: Racial Disparities Compound Covid Risk
By Christine Spolar Inside the Black Equity Coalition’s novel effort to share community health intel and scrape government data to understand — and document — the life-threatening differences between white and Black Pittsburgh.

Some Groups Are Left Out of Montana Covid Test Giveaway Program
By Mara Silvers, Montana Free Press and Katheryn Houghton Public health officials and policymakers alike see rapid antigen tests as a strong tool to keep businesses open and parents working. But a look at Montana’s distribution of the tests shows a patchwork system with limited access for many.

‘An Arm and a Leg’: The Rapid-Test Edition: Who’s Making a Buck?
By Dan Weissmann In this episode, host Dan Weissmann talks to reporters who investigated the shortage of tests and traced the U.S. rapid-testing problem back to government agencies.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Oh, Oh, Omicron
Even before the omicron variant of covid starts to spread widely in the U.S., hospitals are filling up with post-holiday delta cases. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court signals — loudly — that 2022 will be the year it rolls back abortion rights in a big way. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico and Mary Ellen McIntire of CQ Roll Call join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.

Journalists Explore Health Care Disparities and Policy Pitfalls
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.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Boosting Confusion
Federal health officials appear poised to extend a recommendation for covid boosters to all adults, following moves by some governors and mayors to broaden the eligible booster pool as caseloads rise. Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration finally has a nominee to head the agency: former FDA chief Robert Califf. And Medicare premiums for consumers will likely rise substantially in 2022, partly due to the approval of a controversial drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Tami Luhby of CNN, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Dan Weissmann, host of the “An Arm and a Leg” podcast.

Con más muertes por sobredosis, defensores claman por una naloxona de venta libre
By Aneri Pattani La administración Biden ha destinado $30 millones a programas de reducción de daños por adicciones. Pero defensores dicen que la principal barrera es que la naloxona sigue siendo de venta bajo receta.

Hospitales le piden a Santa suministros: falta de todo, desde sillas de ruedas hasta jeringas
By Rachana Pradhan En otra consecuencia de la crisis de la cadena de suministro global, hospitales que gestionan los picos de casos de covid durante las Fiestas y a todos sus otros pacientes se están quedando sin suministros básicos para atenderlos