General
Health care fight among 2020 Democrats shifts to taxes
Naomi Jagoda, The Hill
Taxes are playing a leading role in the health care debate that’s dividing the field of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.
Canadians are hopping mad about Trump’s drug importation plan. Some of them are trying to stop it.
Nicholas Florko and Lev Facher, Stat News
Canadians are furious about the Trump administration’s plan to import their prescription drugs. And some of them are determined to stop the proposal in its tracks.
How the health care system fails dying patients
Bob Herman, Axios
Medical culture has often framed death as a binary decision: preserve a patient’s life at all costs, or give up and accept what happens. That framing does a disservice to the fear, uncertainty and philosophical questions about life and death that patients and their families experience.
Medical groups show influence in gun violence debate
Susannah Luthi, Modern Healthcare
Major medical groups’ push for tempered gun control gained bipartisan support in Congress last week, as lawmakers outlined the next round of legislation to try to grapple with mass killings with assault weapons.
Region hit hard by opioids embraces jail-based treatment
Philip Marcelo, The Associated Press
As western Massachusetts struggles with a dramatic spike in fatal overdoses, officials are embracing a controversial solution: sending men who have not committed any crimes to jails and prisons for court-ordered addiction treatment.
A Mexican Hospital, an American Surgeon, and a $5,000 Check (Yes, a Check)
Phil Galewitz, The New York Times
Donna Ferguson awoke in the resort city of Cancún before sunrise on a sweltering Saturday in July. She wasn’t headed to the beach.
U.S. Stock Futures Decline as Hong Kong Sours Mood: Markets Wrap
Samuel Potter, Bloomberg
U.S. equity futures reversed an advance on Monday alongside European stocks as mounting unrest in Hong Kong weighed on investor sentiment. Treasuries and the yen extended gains while gold and the dollar both turned higher.
Payers
N.C. walks back reference-based pricing plan for state workers
Shelby Livingston, Modern Healthcare
After more than a year of tense negotiations, the North Carolina state treasurer has partially walked back a plan to reimburse healthcare providers for services delivered to teachers and other state employees at a percentage tied to Medicare rates.
Providers
Sexual misconduct allegations against California doctors rise sharply since #MeToo era began
Soumya Karlamangla, Los Angeles Times
The Berkeley pediatrician was treating a teenager for anxiety and panic attacks. A few months into his therapy appointments, he began showing the boy pictures of men masturbating as well as other pornographic images, according to state documents.
Pharma, Biotech and Devices
Ohio sues opioid makers, distributors — while giving them large tax breaks
Doug Caruso and Marty Schladen, The Columbus Dispatch
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has said he has no doubt that drug makers and distributors are responsible for Ohio’s opioid crisis as he called on them to settle state lawsuits against them, presumably for a large sum. But throughout the opioid epidemic and to this day, state leaders have supported a tax break that has been worth more than $4 billion since 2006 that has gone in large part to companies that make or ship prescription drugs — including opioids — through warehouses in Groveport, Lockbourne and Washington Court House.
For rules on creating ‘CRISPR babies’ from edited embryos, scientists call a do-over
Sharon Begley, Stat News
The second-most shocking thing He Jiankui told the international genome editing summit in Hong Kong last November — right after announcing that twin girls had been born from embryos whose DNA he’d changed with CRISPR — was that he’d followed guidelines on embryo editing set forth by a panel of leading U.S. scientists and ethicists.
Biotech faces a crisis in credibility fueled by boom-era hubris
Matthew Herper, Stat News
The crashing shares of Nektar Therapeutics late last week were the culmination of a terrible stretch that should shake the confidence of biotechnology investors.
Health IT
These health-tech veterans want to avert the next Theranos disaster with ‘medical diligence’
Christina Farr, CNBC
Before Theranos raised hundreds of millions of dollars, forged a partnership with Walgreens and started using its flawed blood-testing technology with patients, a thorough due diligence process might have raised red flags about the company’s methods and practices. Two industry executives — Ruby Gadelrab and Jill Hagenkord — saw the Theranos debacle up close and are working on a new consulting venture aimed at keeping health-care start-ups and investors from making similar mistakes in the future.
With Alzheimer’s research at a crossroads, AI might point the way forward
Casey Ross, Stat News
It’s easy to be pessimistic about the search for a breakthrough Alzheimer’s drug. Failures and financial losses are mounting. Drug companies are shell-shocked, and the dominant beta-amyloid hypothesis that has driven — some say hijacked — decades of research is now looking shakier than ever.
Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives
Forced Disclosure: Too Much of a Good Thing?
Ryan Costello, Morning Consult
Transparency. It’s a seemingly innocuous word used by companies and markets every day, as if everything will be fixed when everyone has access to all information. While this may sound like a good idea, there are often unintended consequences to otherwise good ideas.
Research Reports
CMS Has Not Overseen States’ Implementation of Changes to Third-Party Liability
U.S. Government Accountability Office
Some people who get Medicaid benefits may also have coverage from a third party, like insurance from an employer. Generally, the third party should pay its part for services before Medicaid pays.
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