General
Utah’s Novel Plan For Medicaid Expansion Opens Door To Spending Caps Sought By GOP
Phil Galewitz, Kaiser Health News
Utah’s proposal to limit federal and state funding on Medicaid is a radical change. Anti-poverty advocates are concerned that caps could limit how many people are enrolled and restrict services. They also worry other states would adopt a similar plan.
House Democrats make first major move to tighten gun laws
Michael Stratford, Politico
House Democrats took their first steps as a new majority on Wednesday to tighten federal gun laws, underscoring their commitment to act on a top priority a day before the first anniversary of the deadly mass shooting at a Parkland, Fla., high school. The Judiciary Committee approved two bills that would expand federal background checks for firearm purchases.
Why Democrats aren’t taking up a bill to neutralize Obamacare’s latest legal threat
Dylan Scott, Vox
House Democrats promised in the 2018 campaign that they would beat back the Trump administration’s attacks on the Affordable Care Act, and they are ready to begin their counteroffensive. They are narrowly focused for now — and there’s good reason for that.
Push for paid family leave heats up ahead of 2020
Naomi Jagoda, The Hill
The issue of paid family leave is receiving renewed attention from the White House and lawmakers in both parties, putting it in the spotlight ahead of the 2020 election. Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and senior adviser, met with a group of Republican senators on Wednesday to discuss ways to push the issue forward.
Kemp unveils plan seeking health care waivers
Ariel Hart and Greg Bluestein, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Brian Kemp unveiled legislation Wednesday that could remake health care for hundreds of thousands of Georgians. Or just a few. The Patients First Act would give the governor wide latitude to approve a range of options in pursuit of federal “waivers” with the aim of improving government-funded health care access for the poor and middle class.
He was in his face’: Trump fumes over abortion, courts evangelicals
Gabby Orr, Politico
The night before last week’s National Prayer Breakfast, President Donald Trump was hosting religious leaders and lawmakers for dinner at the White House when he spotted Democratic Senator Chris Coons — and pounced. Trump confronted the Delaware lawmaker — who attended the event as the Prayer Breakfast’s official Democratic co-chair — over the issue of abortion, creating a tense scene in the White House’s Blue Room, according to three sources familiar with the exchange.
E. coli-tainted romaine lettuce came from California farms, FDA report says
Sean Rossman, USA Today
Federal investigators said a number of California farms may have produced romaine lettuce contaminated with E. coli, causing an outbreak in late 2018 that hospitalized dozens of Americans, a report released Wednesday said. The farms were not identified in the FDA’s report, except for Adam Brothers Farming of Santa Barbara County, the only farm in which investigators found a positive match for E. coli.
Behind the failure of the first U.S. uterine transplant
Lenny Bernstein, The Washington Post
On March 7, 2016, doctors at the Cleveland Clinic introduced the nation to Lindsey McFarland, the first person to undergo a successful uterus transplant in the United States. Within hours, however, McFarland was back in surgery: A life-threatening infection forced the organ’s removal, crushing hope she might one day give birth.
Mississippi advances ban on abortion after fetal heartbeat
Emily Wagster Pettus, The Associated Press
Mississippi is working toward enacting one of the strictest abortion laws in the nation, in a race with other states to push a legal challenge to the more conservative U.S. Supreme Court. The Republican-controlled Mississippi House and Senate passed separate bills Wednesday to ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, about six weeks into pregnancy.
U.S. Futures Rise With Europe Stocks; Oil Climbs: Markets Wrap
Todd White, Bloomberg
U.S. equity futures advanced and European stocks climbed for a fourth day after the White House was said to weigh postponing higher tariffs on China for 60 days. Treasuries nudged higher alongside the dollar, and oil advanced.
Payers
Medicare buy-in at 50 leads way for Democratic public-option proposals
Susannah Luthi, Modern Healthcare
Congressional Democrats on Wednesday revived the first of an expected slate of proposals to expand coverage through a public option, starting with the most modest: Medicare buy-in at 50. Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) were first out the door this Congress with their bill, framed by Higgins as an overdue next step for the Affordable Care Act.
Providers
Quality of care isn’t better at physician-employed hospitals, study shows
Maria Castellucci, Modern Healthcare
Hospitals that employ physicians don’t perform any better than other hospitals on certain quality measures, according to a new study. The study, recently in the journal Medical Care Research and Review, also found that hospitals in concentrated markets reported lower patient satisfaction scores.
Key doctors group faces political risks on guns
Alex Gangitano, The Hill
The American Medical Association (AMA), the nation’s most prominent doctors’ group, is putting its muscle behind efforts to pass gun violence legislation in Congress, highlighting their advocacy on one of the country’s most politically divisive issues.
Pharma, Biotech and Devices
The Sacklers have donated millions to museums. But their connection to the opioid crisis is threatening that legacy.
Peggy McGlone, The Washington Post
When the Smithsonian opened the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington in 1987, its namesake was hailed as a philanthropist and connoisseur who had amassed one of the world’s greatest collections of Asian art. Now the Smithsonian is one of several blue-chip cultural institutions dealing with the blowback from the Sackler family’s other legacy — the American opioid crisis.
Merck to further study Keytruda in prostate cancer after early success
Manas Mishra, Reuters
Merck & Co Inc said on Thursday it was launching three late-stage studies for its cancer immunotherapy Keytruda as a combination treatment for prostate cancer after the drug showed anti-tumor activity in an early-stage trial.
King of Generics Pushes Into Biotech Drugs
Denise Roland, The Wall Street Journal
The world’s largest maker of generic drugs is looking for growth in an unlikely place: high-price biotech medicines. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., which supplies more than one in 10 drugs taken in the U.S., has struggled in recent years with slumping generics prices and heavy debt.
Pay Attention to This Little-Noticed Opioid Lawsuit in Oklahoma
Christine Vestal, Stateline
In the legal battle to hold drug companies responsible for the country’s raging opioid epidemic, media attention largely has focused on a national lawsuit set for a late October trial in federal court in Cleveland, Ohio. But it may be upstaged by a lesser-known opioid case: Oklahoma v. Purdue Pharma, scheduled for trial in May in the Cleveland County Courthouse in Norman, Oklahoma.
Maine congressional delegation takes aim at high drug prices
Steve Collins, Sun Journal
A bill introduced Wednesday by Maine Rep. Jared Golden to crack down on price spikes is only the latest in a series of measures backed by Maine’s lawmakers to lower the cost of prescriptions.
Can California Beat The Federal Government In Lowering Drug Prices?
Samantha Young, California Healthline
California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he’s done waiting for the federal government to curtail the rising cost of prescription drugs. Newsom has his own plan to ease that financial burden — one he hopes other states can join or replicate.
Drug company payments for consulting and speaking influence oncologists’ prescribing
Ed Silverman, Stat News
As the pharmaceutical industry churns out more cancer treatments, a new analysis finds that oncologists who receive payments over an extended period of time — mostly for speaking or consulting — are much more likely to prescribe a medicine made by the company that writes them a check.
In rap video, Insys opioid salesmen boasted of their prowess
Jonathan Saltzman, Boston Globe
Two young Insys Therapeutics salesmen wearing sunglasses and hoodies danced next to a giant spray bottle depicting the drug firm’s opioid product, in a thumping rap video made to prod sales representatives to get more doctors to prescribe the addictive painkiller.
Health IT
CMS innovation center may ramp up data exchange plans
Matthew Weinstock, Modern Healthcare
The CMS may use its innovation center to push early adoption of newly proposed transparency and data-blocking rules. While there are many ways to encourage transparency, HHS Deputy Administrator Adam Boehler said the center’s models could “drive that sooner” with their advanced models.
Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives
A Step Forward on Drug Prices Should Not Be Overlooked
David Balto, Morning Consult
Changes in health care policy frequently move at glacial speed to the frustration of patients calling out for solutions. To its credit, the Trump administration unveiled a bold, sweeping policy proposal aimed at addressing one of the most critically broken elements of our prescription drug distribution system: pharmacy benefit manager and insurers’ practices regarding prescription drug rebates.
We need a Public Domain Day to highlight when drugs go off patent
Peter Kolchinsky and Jessica Sagers, Stat News
This Jan. 1, readers, archivists, and creatives in the United States celebrated a special holiday: the largest Public Domain Day in 21 years. The legal ownership of hundreds of works of classic literature — this year including well-loved Robert Frost poems like “Nothing Gold Can Stay” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” — was transferred into the hands of the people.
A Message from America’s 340B Hospitals:
At no cost to taxpayers, the 340B program is critical to the health of America’s patients because it allows hospitals serving vulnerable communities to address the health care needs of their communities, including providing free or substantially discounted prescriptions to low-income and rural patients, operating free clinics, treating patients with substance use disorders, and sustaining access to other lifesaving services for patients. Weakening this vital program will hurt patients.
Research Reports
Weighing the Effects of Vertical Integration Versus Market Concentration on Hospital Quality
Marah Noel Short and Vivian Ho, Medical Research and Review
Provider organizations are increasing in complexity, as hospitals acquire physician practices and physician organizations grow in size. At the same time, hospitals are merging with each other to improve bargaining power with insurers. We analyze 29 quality measures reported to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Hospital Compare database for 2008 to 2015 to test whether vertical integration between hospitals and physicians or increases in hospital market concentration influence patient outcomes.
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