Top Stories

  • A group of 207 lawmakers — all Republicans except Democratic Reps. Collin C. Peterson (Minn.) and Daniel Lipinski (Ill.) — sent an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to reconsider and potentially overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that established the right to abortion. (The Washington Post)
  • Chief Justice Sandee Bryan Marion of the Texas Fourth Court of Appeals ruled that a hospital could take an 11-month-old child off of life support despite objection from the family. A lawyer for the mother of the child has already filed a notice of appeal to prevent the hospital from moving forward, extending a case that has become a focus for conservative and religious groups who argue that hospitals should not have the last word. (The New York Times)
  • Effective Feb. 1, U-Haul will no longer hire smokers in the 21 states that allow employers to turn away nicotine users, and begin screening new workers for use. Employees hired before the new policy is enacted will not be affected. (The Associated Press)

Chart Review

Events Calendar (All Times Local)

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New Report: White Claw, DoorDash, Impossible Foods Top 2019’s Fastest Growing Brands

Morning Consult’s Fastest Growing Brands of 2019 is the definitive measure of brand growth for both emerging and established brands, showcasing a wide range of companies and products that have accelerated their consumer appeal and awareness in 2019.

Download the full report.

General

One-On-One With Trump’s Medicare And Medicaid Chief: Seema Verma
Sarah Varney, Kaiser Health News

Seema Verma, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, sat down for a rare one-on-one interview with Kaiser Health News senior correspondent Sarah Varney.

Effort To Control Opioids In An ER Leaves Some Sickle Cell Patients In Pain
Sam Whitehead, NPR News

India Hardy, and her brother, Rico, suffer regular bouts of severe pain when their sickle cell disease flares up. They say they used to find relief at St. Mary’s, their local hospital in Athens, Ga., until the facility changed the pain treatment protocol in its emergency room.

UK tobacco stocks rise after U.S. e-cig ban seen not as severe
Siddharth Cavale and Ankur Banerjee, Reuters

Shares of British American Tobacco (BATS.L) and Imperial Brands Plc (IMB.L) rose on Friday after the U.S. health regulator exempted menthol and tobacco from a list of popular e-cigarette flavors that it banned under its new guidelines.

Smokers, Do Not Apply: U-Haul Won’t Hire Some Nicotine Users
The Associated Press

U-Haul has a New Year’s resolution: Cut down on hiring people who smoke.

D.C. Council weighs banning flavored e-cigarettes and menthol cigarettes
Fenit Nirappil, The Washington Post

Anti-tobacco advocates on Thursday urged the D.C. Council to add menthol cigarettes to its list of banned items as lawmakers consider prohibiting all flavored vaping products in the nation’s capital.

‘Grade A’ All-American Pot: The Next Big Export?
Markian Hawryluk, Kaiser Health News

In a large warehouse, LivWell Enlightened Health feeds its cloned cannabis plants a custom blend of nutrients, sprays them with filtered water and pumps extra carbon dioxide into the air. LivWell releases three types of insects to clear the plants of unwanted pests without the use of toxic pesticides.

U.S. Futures Drop, Havens Jump on Mideast Flare-Up: Markets Wrap
Sam Potter, Bloomberg

The risk-on sentiment that ushered in the new year came to an abrupt end on Friday as tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalated, sinking American equity futures with stocks and buoying haven assets including gold, the yen and Treasuries. Oil surged.

Payers

Appeals court’s risk-adjustment ruling deals blow to small insurers
Shelby Livingston, Modern Healthcare

A federal appeals court earlier this week upheld the HHS’ methodology for running the Affordable Care Act risk-adjustment program, which will hurt small insurers that have argued the program is flawed and favors larger companies with more claims experience.

Providers

Doctors and hospitals support value-based Stark law changes
Michael Brady, Modern Healthcare

Doctors and hospitals have voiced support for the Trump administration’s efforts to encourage value-based care by reforming physician self-referral rules, but they oppose including any sort of price transparency requirements.

Hospital mergers don’t improve readmissions, mortality or experience, study finds
Maria Castellucci, Modern Healthcare

Recent hospital mergers and acquisitions haven’t led to significant improvements in some patient outcomes, according to a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Pharma, Biotech and Devices

Lab says its marijuana breath analyzer will hit the market in 2020
Megan Cassidy, San Francisco Chronicle

Testing a driver for alcohol impairment is relatively easy. Decades of research show drunken driving equals bad driving. Standardized tests mark various levels of impairment.

Carcinogen in Heartburn Drug May Build in Storage, Lab Finds
Michelle Cortez, Bloomberg

The heartburn medicine Zantac appears to produce unacceptably high levels of a cancer-causing chemical when exposed to heat for as little as five days, according to a testing laboratory that’s urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to recall all forms of the widely used product.

Deal will let more companies make an overdose antidote spray
The Associated Press

More companies could begin making an easy-to-use version of an opioid overdose antidote under a deal announced Thursday by New York’s attorney general.

A spate of new class-action lawsuits threaten the CBD industry. Will they force Washington to act?
Nicholas Florko, Stat News

Since the Food and Drug Administration can’t figure out whether supplements that contain cannabidiol, the marijuana-adjacent oil known as CBD, are legal, can a customer who thought they were buying a legal product demand their money back?

The biotech scorecard for the first quarter: 14 stock-moving events to watch
Adam Feuerstein, Stat News

Here is STAT’s Biotech Scorecard, our regular ledger of stock-moving biotech events, for the first quarter.

Health IT

Rural hospital improves meds reconciliation via AI automation into EHR
Bill Siwicki, HealthcareITNews

Automated sig translation system created time savings of 34 hours per month for clinicians, translating into about $11,000 in recaptured nursing productivity over 12 months. Further, 30-day readmission rate fell from 6.2% to 5.5%.

Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives

‘Mid-Level Provider’ Is a Big Miss for Everyone
Patricia Davidson, Morning Consult

As we enter a new year, let alone be it the World Health Organization’s “Year of the Nurse and Midwife,” it feels as though debating over our professional titles, particularly in regard to physicians versus nurse practitioners, is a time-waster at best and completely misses the mark on what matters most to the people we serve.

Research Reports

Changes in Quality of Care after Hospital Mergers and Acquisitions
Nancy D. Beaulieu et al., New England Journal of Medicine

The hospital industry has consolidated substantially during the past two decades and at an accelerated pace since 2010. Multiple studies have shown that hospital mergers have led to higher prices for commercially insured patients, but research about effects on quality of care is limited.

State-Specific Prevalence and Characteristics of Frequent Mental Distress and History of Depression Diagnosis Among Adults with Arthritis — United States, 2017
Janae D. Price et al., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

In 2017, frequent mental distress and history of depression were commonly reported by adults with arthritis in all states, with clustering of high prevalence of frequent mental distress in Appalachian and southern states.

Morning Consult