General
Discrimination complaints hit group fighting Trump’s health policies
Rachana Pradhan, Politico
A legal aid organization leading the fight against several Trump administration policies, including health care for LGBTQ and low-income people, is facing its own internal allegations of discrimination. The National Health Law Program, or NHeLP, was founded in 1969 to advocate for health care rights of underserved people.
700,000 people lost health insurance in 2017, sending uninsured rate to 10.2%
Shelby Livingston, Modern Healthcare
About 700,000 fewer people were enrolled in health insurance coverage in 2017 compared with the year before, marking the first year that the uninsured rate has increased since the major Affordable Care Act reforms took effect, according to a study published Thursday.
Trump says the U.S. should build more psychiatric institutions in response to rising gun violence
Felicia Sonmez, The Washington Post
President Trump suggested Thursday that the United States can tackle its gun violence problem in part by building more psychiatric institutions and reopening facilities that were shuttered decades ago.
Rural America Has a Maternal Mortality Problem. Midwives Might Help Solve It.
April Simpson, Stateline
The sun is setting just as midwife Sheryl Shafer wraps up a long Thursday on the road visiting families in west Tennessee and Kentucky. She knows the patient on her last stop, a 21-year-old Amish woman in a two-story farmhouse without electricity, is a week and a half past her due date.
The State With the Highest Suicide Rate Desperately Needs Shrinks
Monte Reel, Bloomberg Businessweek
There’s only one psychiatrist in all of eastern Montana.
The strange tale of how a battle between 2 healthcare companies morphed into a viral Twitter backlash against CVS
Lydia Ramsey and Emma Court, Business Insider
Pill Club, a birth-control-delivery startup, is taking a clash with the health giant CVS Caremark to the public arena. Pill Club and CVS Caremark are feuding over how much CVS pays Pill Club to send prescriptions to its customers.
U.S. Futures Jump to End Choppy Week; Bonds Slip: Markets Wrap
Yakob Peterseil, Bloomberg
U.S. equity futures climbed with European stocks and Asian shares posted modest gains as a tumultuous week of trade uncertainty and fears for global growth neared its end. Treasuries nudged lower following Thursday’s advance.
Payers
Obamacare exchanges to publish CMS star quality ratings for health plans
Susannah Luthi, Modern Healthcare
HealthCare.gov and the state Obamacare exchange websites will start publishing quality star ratings for insurance plans, the agency announced Thursday.
Virginia regulators seek input on surprise medical bills
The Associated Press
Virginians can soon tell regulators what the state should do to limit surprise medical bills. The State Corporation Commission announced Wednesday that it will hold a public hearing in Richmond on Sept. 12 on high charges insured patients can face when a member of a medical team that treats them is not in their insurer’s network.
NC legislators supporting Medicaid expansion hold hearing
The Associated Press
A health policy expert and residents struggling to find affordable insurance are planned speakers for a hearing before North Carolina General Assembly members pressing for passage of Medicaid expansion this year.
Providers
Why Some Doctors Purposely Misdiagnose Patients
Olga Khazan, The Atlantic
Hundreds of people say a Michigan doctor falsely diagnosed them with epilepsy. He wouldn’t be the first to lie to patients about how sick they are.
Creative Recruiting Helps Rural Hospitals Overcome Doctor Shortages
Yuki Noguchi, NPR News
In the central Idaho community of Arco, where Lost Rivers Medical Center is located, the elk and bear outnumber the human population of a thousand. The view from the hospital is flat grassland surrounded by mountain ranges that make for formidable driving in wintertime.
Pharma, Biotech and Devices
OxyContin maker Purdue agrees to provide research data
The Associated Press
The maker of the powerful painkiller OxyContin has agreed to provide access to proprietary research and other data to researchers at Oklahoma State University to help them find causes and treatments for drug addiction.
Purdue Pharma sought to divert online readers from critical L.A. Times series on opioid crisis, records show
Kim Christensen, Los Angeles Times
As the nation’s opioid crisis deepened over the last decade, drug makers and distributors worked to deflect attention from their own roles in creating widespread addiction, according to lawyers for hundreds of cities, counties, tribes and other entities suing key pharmaceutical industry players.
Top U.S. medical centers roll out DNA sequencing clinics for healthy (and often wealthy) clients
Rebecca Robbins, Stat News
Seizing on the surging popularity of at-home DNA testing kits, top academic medical institutions are opening clinics that promise to probe much deeper into your DNA — if you’re willing to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars out of pocket to learn about disease risks that may be lurking in your genes.
Million-dollar opioid drug ring started small, No. 2 says
Lindsay Whitehurst, The Associated Press
A man who prosecutors call the second-in-command of a multimillion-dollar online opioid drug ring said Thursday the operation started small, when he needed cash for student loans so he let his roommate sell his prescription Adderall.
How Amgen plans to BiTE into CAR-T’s hype
Rebecca Robbins et al., Stat News
While personalized CAR-T cancer therapies make headlines in biotech, Amgen (AMGN) has been betting big on another tumor-killing approach with, yes, another acronym: BiTEs.
Among Hurdles For Those With Opioid Addictions: Getting The Drug To Treat It
Nina Feldman, WHYY
He made his way to a mobile medical clinic parked on a corner of Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood, in the geographical heart of the city’s overdose crisis. People call it “the bupe bus.”
Health IT
DIY Tech Gives People More Freedom In Managing Diabetes
Heidi de Marco, California Healthline
When Sam Mazaheri was 9, he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. That means Sam’s body makes little or no insulin, a hormone that turns food into energy. “All of a sudden I had to manage everything he was going to take, including the insulin,” said Sam’s mom, Nasim Mazaheri.
Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives
We Need to Do a Better Job Addressing the Factors that Cause Poor Health
Donato Tramuto and Fran Soistman, Morning Consult
There is no question that the United States has the most advanced health care in the world. From the quality of our medical professionals to the continuing development of cutting-edge technologies, treatments and diagnostic tools, we have an unparalleled capability to combat illness.
Research Reports
Many Medicaid-Enrolled Children Who Were Treated for ADHD Did Not Receive Recommended Followup Care
Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurobehavioral disorder with symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. The Department of Health and Human Services publishes national quality measures that outline timeframes for followup care for children with ADHD.
|
