First Edition: August 29, 2017
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Mayo Pain Expert: Holistic Approach Helps Patients Ditch Opioids
Each year, more than 300 patients with chronic pain take part in a three-week program at the Pain Rehabilitation Center at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Their complaints range widely, from specific problems such as intractable lower-back pain to systemic issues such as fibromyalgia. By the time patients enroll, many have tried just about everything to get their chronic pain under control. Half are taking opioids. In this 40-year-old program, that’s a deal breaker. Participants must agree to taper off pain medications during their time at Mayo. (Andrews, 8/29)
California Healthline:
Calif. Hits Kaiser With $2.2 Million Fine For Failing To Provide Required Medicaid Data
California officials have again slapped health care giant Kaiser Permanente with a multimillion-dollar fine for failing to provide data on patient care to the state’s Medicaid program. The $2.2 million fine comes just months after a $2.5 million penalty in January against Kaiser, one of the largest nonprofit health plans in the country. The California Department of Health Care Services said these are the first fines it has imposed against a Medicaid managed-care plan since at least 2000. (Terhune, 8/28)
The New York Times:
Houston’s Hospitals Treat Storm Victims And Become Victims Themselves
Water poured into hospitals. Ambulances were caught up in roiling floodwaters. Medical transport helicopters were grounded by high winds. Houston’s world-renowned health care infrastructure found itself battered by Hurricane Harvey, struggling to treat storm victims while becoming a victim itself. The coming days will inevitably bring more hazards for storm-damaged hospitals and nursing homes, and their patients and staff. The scenes of turmoil across Texas raised the specter of the extreme flooding following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when dozens of hospital and nursing home patients died, and doctors awaiting rescue at one stranded, powerless hospital became so desperate, they intentionally hastened the deaths of their patients. (Fink and Blinder, 8/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
Amid Harvey Flooding, Hospitals Offer ‘Islands Of Humanity’
Doctors waded miles through Houston’s flooded roads to reach their clinics. Other medical staff camped out at their hospitals for days, catching some sleep on cots between shifts. One medical facility was forced to evacuate patients by boat. The health-care system in the nation’s fourth-largest city strained to deliver care as floodwaters thwarted cancer and kidney-dialysis treatment, stalled ambulance traffic and left hospital officials worriedly monitoring dwindling supplies of food and medicines. (Evans, Walker and Loftus, 8/28)
The Associated Press:
Flooding Disrupts Care At Houston Hospital, Cancer Center
One of the nation's busiest trauma centers began clearing space Monday for the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey even as the storm continued its days-long onslaught of rain. Ben Taub Hospital personnel transferred a handful of patients to other facilities and took much needed deliveries of food and fresh linens after spending the weekend short-staffed and with dwindling supplies, said Bryan McLeod, a spokesman for the Houston hospital's parent company, Harris Health System. (Marchione and Schmall, 8/29)
The Associated Press:
Public Health Dangers Loom In Harvey-Hit Areas
The muddy floodwaters now soaking through drywall, carpeting, mattresses and furniture in Houston will pose a massive cleanup challenge with potential public health consequences. It's not known yet what kinds or how much sewage, chemicals and waterborne germs are mixed in the water. For now, health officials are more concerned about drownings, carbon monoxide poisoning from generators and hygiene at shelters. In the months and years to come, their worries will turn to the effects of trauma from Hurricane Harvey on mental health. (Merchant and Johnson, 8/28)
NPR:
Public Health Officials Urge Residents To Beware Of Contaminated Water
As health departments in Texas try to assist people with immediate medical needs following Hurricane Harvey, they're also looking to ensure those affected can get the prescription drugs they need and stay as safe as possible. "Our best advice is always to avoid floodwater as much as you can," says Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services. "Of course, people have had to be in the water — they haven't had a choice." (Hsu, 8/28)
The Associated Press:
Gov't Report: 28.1M In US Lack Health Coverage
The government says about 500,000 fewer Americans had no health insurance the first three months of this year, but that slight dip was not statistically significant from the same period in 2016. Progress reducing the number of uninsured appears to have stalled in the last couple of years, and a separate private survey that measured through the first half of 2017 even registered an uptick. (8/29)
The Associated Press:
ACLU Sues Trump Over Transgender Military Ban
Transgender soldiers, sailors, airmen and other members of the military, along with others who want to enlist, sued President Donald Trump on Monday, hoping the federal courts will stop him from preventing their service. One federal lawsuit was filed in Baltimore by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland on behalf of six transgender individuals currently serving in the Army, Navy, Air Force, National Guard and Naval Reserve. (Chase and Johnson, 8/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
Donald Trump’s Transgender Military Ban Challenged By Civil-Liberties Lawsuits
The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland filed its suit in Baltimore on behalf of six currently serving transgender service members. Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN filed a separate suit Monday in Seattle on behalf of a currently serving transgender service member, two transgender people who wish to serve, including a male high-school student, and two advocacy groups, the Human Rights Campaign and the Gender Justice League. Both lawsuits list President Trump and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis among the defendants. The service members listed in the ACLU suit informed the military that they were transgender after President Barack Obama last year lifted a longstanding ban with an “open service” order. (Youssef, 8/28)
The New York Times:
F.D.A. Cracks Down On ‘Unscrupulous’ Stem Cell Clinics
The Food and Drug Administration announced a crackdown on dangerous stem cell clinics on Monday, while at the same time pledging to ease the path to approval for companies and doctors with legitimate treatments in the growing field. The agency reported actions against two large stem cell clinics and a biotech company, saying that it was critical to shut down “unscrupulous actors” in regenerative medicine, a broad umbrella that includes stem cell and gene therapies and immunotherapies. (Kaplan and Grady, 8/28)
The Washington Post:
FDA Cracks Down On Stem-Cell Clinics, Including One Using Smallpox Vaccine In Cancer Patients
The Food and Drug Administration on Monday announced a crackdown on stem-cell clinics offering on “unapproved and potentially dangerous" treatments, including an outfit in California that has been using the smallpox vaccine on seriously ill cancer patients. U.S. marshals on Friday raided San Diego-based StemImmune Inc. and seized the vaccine, which the FDA said had been combined with stem cells derived from fat to create an unapproved product. The concoction was injected intravenously and directly into patients' tumors at the California Stem Cell Treatment Centers in Rancho Mirage and Beverly Hills, the agency said. (McGinley, 8/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
FDA To Expand Its Authority Over Stem-Cell Treatment Facilities
The FDA announced it was crafting rules to govern the development of treatments based on the cells. The FDA also said it was cracking down on a company and three clinics that sold stem-cell treatments the agency said were potentially dangerous. The moves signaled the FDA planned to extend its authority regulating drugs and medical devices to the field known as regenerative medicine, after spending years effectively watching it emerge. (Rockoff, 8/28)
NPR:
FDA Takes Aim At Clinics Selling Unapproved Stem-Cell Treatments
"There are a small number of unscrupulous actors who have seized on the clinical promise of regenerative medicine, while exploiting the uncertainty, in order to make deceptive, and sometimes corrupt assurances to patients based on unproven and, in some cases, dangerously dubious products," FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement Monday. (Stein, 8/28)
Stat:
Aetna Faces Class-Action Lawsuit Over HIV Disclosures
The federal suit alleges the breach affected as many as 12,000 Aetna customers living in 23 states. “For 40 years, HIV-related public health messages have been geared toward assuring people that it’s safe to come forward to get confidential HIV treatment, and now our clients come forward for HIV-related healthcare and Aetna fails to provide confidentiality,” said Ronda B. Goldfein, executive director of the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania, which filed the suit with the Legal Action Center and Berger & Montague P.C., in a written statement. (Facher and Swetlitz, 8/28)
The Associated Press:
New Drug Reduces Heart Attacks, But Is That Enough?
So-so results for a new type of cholesterol drug have left Merck in a quandary: Does the company try to bring it to market or scrap it? A large, long-term study of the drug showed that it prevents heart attacks and reduces the need for heart procedures, while three similar drugs developed by rivals failed. But the drug, anacetrapib, only reduced those complications by 9 percent. (Johnson, 8/29)
USA Today:
Your Coffee Habit Could Lower Your Risk Of Death
Feel free to pour that second, third, or even fourth cup of coffee this morning. Higher consumption of coffee is connected to a lower risk of death, says a study presented by Spanish researchers during the European Society of Cardiology Congress held in Barcelona. (Molina, 8/28)
The Associated Press:
NYC Hikes Price Of Pack Of Cigarettes To $13, Highest In US
The price of a pack of cigarettes in New York City is going up — to at least $13 — and the number of places you can buy them is going down under legislation signed Monday by the mayor. The new minimum price law, which takes effect on June 1, will make New York the most expensive place in the U.S. to buy cigarettes, Health Department officials said. (8/28)
The Associated Press:
NFL Making $40 Million Available For Medical Research
A year after the NFL pledged $100 million in support of independent medical research and engineering advancements, a huge chunk of that soon will be awarded to such research, primarily dedicated to neuroscience. A Scientific Advisory Board assembled by the NFL is set to launch its program to solicit and evaluate research proposals for funding. The board, comprised of independent experts, doctors, scientists and clinicians, and chaired by retired U.S. Army General Peter Chiarelli, will provide direction for the $40 million allocated under the league's initiative. (Wilner, 8/29)