General
Open up and say ‘ahh’: Trump getting annual medical exam
Darlene Superville, The Associated Press
President Donald Trump is in for some poking and prodding as doctors assess whether his “incredibly good genes” continue to serve him well. Trump was traveling to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center outside Washington on Friday for a follow-up to his first annual medical checkup as president.
Liberals worry Pelosi may pivot away from a bold drug price plan
Sarah Karlin-Smith and Adam Cancryn, Politico
A split between House Democratic leaders and rank-and-file members over how to lower drug prices is threatening the party’s efforts tries to make good on one of its biggest campaign promises just weeks into the new congressional session.
Former Rep. John Dingell Dies; Longest-Serving Congressman Was A Force In Health Policy
Julie Rovner, Kaiser Health News
Former Rep. John Dingell, the Michigan Democrat who holds the record as the longest-serving member of the U.S. House, died Thursday night in Michigan. He was 92. And while his name was not familiar to many, his impact on the nation, and on health care in particular, was immense.
Another potential 2020 hopeful, Sen. Sherrod Brown, backs a Medicare drug negotiation bill
Lev Facher, Stat News
Sen. Sherrod Brown on Thursday became the latest Democratic presidential hopeful to sign onto aggressive legislation aimed at lowering the cost of prescription drugs. Brown joined Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and a slate of Democratic congressmen on a bill that would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices and strip patent exclusivity from pharmaceutical companies if those negotiations fail.
NIH asks inspector general to investigate 12 allegations of foreign influence in U.S. research
Lev Facher, Stat News
The National Institutes of Health has referred 12 allegations relating to foreign influence over U.S.-funded research to a federal oversight office, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Wednesday. Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has repeatedly demanded information from the NIH after the agency revealed in August it was investigating a half-dozen academic institutions — specifically, researchers who may have failed to disclose financial ties to foreign governments.
With Abortion in Spotlight, a Flurry of Legislation Across the Country
Julia Jacobs and Matt Stevens, The New York Times
The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked a Louisiana law that its opponents say would leave the state with a single doctor authorized to perform abortion, the latest development in the national legal fight over the fate of abortion law under a conservative-leaning court. Louisiana’s law, which requires that doctors performing abortions have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, was enacted in 2014.
Utah Voters Approved Medicaid Expansion, But State Lawmakers Are Balking
Erik Neumann, NPR News
Utah residents may have thought they were done fighting about Medicaid expansion last November. During the election, voters approved a ballot measure to expand the health program for low-income residents to cover 150,000 uninsured people in the state.
Trump’s Pediatric Cancer Crusade A Drop In Bucket Compared With Past Presidential Pitches
Victoria Knight, Kaiser Health News
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday during his State of the Union address that he was asking Congress to allocate $500 million over the next 10 years for pediatric cancer research. Organizations such as the American Cancer Society viewed the investment as a positive step.
White House report tries to shift Trump health care rhetoric
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, The Associated Press
A new report from the White House tries to shift the Trump administration’s combative rhetoric on health care, suggesting changes to the Affordable Care Act under President Donald Trump do not fundamentally undermine the health law. Due out Friday, the report from the Council of Economic Advisers says Obama-era subsidies that help low- and middle-income customers pay their premiums will help keep HealthCare.gov afloat even if some healthy people drop out or seek other coverage because of Trump’s changes.
Stocks Fall as Pessimism Builds on Growth, Trade: Markets Wrap
Todd White, Bloomberg
U.S. equity futures dropped with shares in Europe and Asia as concern over economic growth and trade disputes pushed global stock markets toward their first weekly loss since December. Treasuries edged higher with gold.
Payers
Is employer-sponsored insurance really a good deal for workers?
Dylan Scott, Vox
Company insurance is deeply entrenched and poses a big challenge to Medicare-for-all — but costs for those plans are on the rise.
Shrinking Medicaid Rolls In Missouri And Tennessee Raise Flag On Vetting Process
Phil Galewitz, Kaiser Health News
Tangunikia Ward, a single mom of two who has been unemployed for the past couple of years, was shocked when her St. Louis family was kicked off Missouri’s Medicaid program without warning last fall. She found out only when taking her son, Mario, 10, to a doctor to be treated for ringworm.
Providers
Death rates, bedsores, ER wait times: Where every VA hospital lags or leads other medical care
Donovan Slack and John Kelly and James Sergent, USA Today
A USA TODAY analysis of Veterans Affairs data provides the broadest picture of how each of 146 VA medical centers compares with non-VA care.
Tenet extends long-term contract with Cerner
Tara Bannow, Modern Healthcare
Tenet Healthcare Corp. announced Thursday it has extended its long-term contract with Cerner Corp. The Dallas-based for-profit hospital chain did not disclose the length or share financial terms of the contract, but said it will continue working with the electronic health records vendor to make its information systems more efficient across its hospitals and provide a unified experience for patients and clinicians.
Senators Borrow From Baseball to Fix Surprise Medical Bills
John Tozzi, Bloomberg
In most markets, when a buyer and a seller can’t settle on a price, they walk away. Medicine is different. Doctors and insurance companies often sort out who owes what only after a patient has been treated, especially in emergencies.
Pharma, Biotech and Devices
Trump Administration Salutes Parade Of Generic Drug Approvals, But Hundreds Aren’t For Sale
Sydney Lupkin and Jay Hancock, Kaiser Health News
The Trump administration has been trumpeting a huge increase in FDA generic drug approvals the past two years, the result of its actions to streamline a cumbersome process and combat anti-competitive practices. But nearly half of those newly approved drugs aren’t being sold in the United States, Kaiser Health News has found, meaning that many patients are deriving little practical benefit from the administration’s efforts.
The Trump admin’s drug rebate rule has a timing problem
Caitlin Owens and Bob Herman, Axios
The Trump administration’s recent proposal to change the way drug prices are negotiated in Medicare and Medicaid is operating under a tight timeline, and some are skeptical that it can be solidified by 2020.
Diabetes Moves Down the List of Priorities for Big Pharma
James Paton, Bloomberg
While Sanofi and other Big Pharma companies rush toward cutting-edge therapies that unleash the immune system to fight cancer or potentially cure DNA flaws, diabetes is moving down the list of priorities.
A tweet from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez prompts a deeper debate over how drugs are made
Damian Garde et al., Stat News
Should the government get a cut of the profits from pricey drugs birthed as research projects inside government-funded labs? That question has been sparking a debate, thanks in large part to newly elected U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
Juul ramped up nicotine levels, and competitors followed, study says
Michael Nedelman and Roni Selig, CNN
Leading e-cigarette company Juul Labs spurred a “widespread rush” of companies seeking to boost their own nicotine concentrations in order to mirror Juul’s success, according to a paper published Thursday in the BMJ journal Tobacco Control. When Juul released its original 5% nicotine pods in the United States in 2015, the majority of competing products came in 1% to 2% concentrations, according to study author Dr. Robert Jackler, founder of Stanford Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising.
New transparency requirements, loss of safe harbor for PBMs and drugmakers in proposed rule
Robert King, Modern Healthcare
The Trump administration is calling for pharmacy benefit managers to disclose to health plans the fees that they get from drug companies for administrative services as part of a bid to boost transparency among PBMs. The fee transparency requirement is part of a proposed rule unveiled last week that also would eliminate anti-kickback statute safe harbor protections for drug rebates, while creating two new ones.
Avoiding The Ouch: Scientists Are Working On Ways To Swap The Needle For A Pill
Joe Palca, NPR News
Many vaccines and some medicines, such as insulin, have to be delivered by injection. That’s a pain, both for patients and for health care providers. But two groups of researchers are trying to put some of these medications in pill form to avoid the needle.
First attempt at genome editing in U.S. patients produces disappointing — and sobering — results
Adam Feuerstein, Stat News
The first attempt at using genome editing to treat and cure patients with a rare, inherited disease has produced disappointing results in a small clinical trial. Despite the setback, Sangamo Therapeutics (SGMO), the biotech developing the genome-editing therapy, intends to keep trying.
Mob Prosecutor Turns His Sights on Opioid Executive
Janelle Lawrence and Jef Feeley, Bloomberg
When mob prosecutor Fred Wyshak suddenly appeared in court a few months before the trial of seven former Insys Therapeutics Inc. executives accused of bribing doctors to boost sales of an opioid drug, two of them quickly flipped and pleaded guilty. Six years ago, Wyshak brought down infamous Boston crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger in a celebrated racketeering trial.
Health IT
Apple recently hired a prominent obstetrician, signaling interest in women’s health
Christina Farr, CNBC
Apple’s health team has hired an obstetrician, Dr. Christine Curry, to look into how the company can bolster its efforts in women’s health, among other projects, according to three people familiar with the hire. Apple CEO Tim Cook has described health care as a growing priority and a major part of Apple’s legacy.
Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives
Trump Administration’s Smart Move to Cut Health Care Costs
Gary Shapiro, Morning Consult
The White House’s plan to lower federal drug payments and stop incentivizing doctors to use the most expensive drugs is a long-overdue, commonsense move to control our nation’s health care costs. And its implementation should be a top priority. Spending for health care is unsustainable, representing about 17 percent of U.S. gross domestic product.
Research Reports
Medical Bankruptcy: Still Common Despite the Affordable Care Act
David U. Himmelstein, American Journal of Public Health
Myriad anecdotes — of a Nobel laureate who sold his medal to pay medical bills, or the more than 250,000 GoFundMe medical campaigns last year — attest to the financial toll of illness on American families. National surveys confirm that medical bills frequently cause financial hardship, and the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported that they were by far the most common cause of unpaid bills sent in to collection agencies in 2014, accounting for more than half of all such debts.
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