First Edition: January 8, 2019
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Will I Always Face The Threat Of A Peanut-Laden Kiss Of Death?
Whenever I see a report touting possible new peanut allergy treatments, I devour it. I can’t help it. It’s an occupational hazard for any health journalist whose reporting specialty and medical history intertwine. I write about the business of health care, focusing on how consumers interact with the system — what we pay, what we get and why American care costs so much. But in this particular instance, I have another kind of authority: 26 years of life-threatening allergies to nuts and peanuts. (Luthra, 1/8)
Kaiser Health News:
How Helping Patients Get Good Care At Home Helps Rural Hospitals Survive
Rural hospitals close when they don’t have enough paying patients to care for, but they’re also dinged when the same patients show up over and over again. That puts outlying medical facilities in the precarious position of needing to avoid repeat customers. Charlotte Potts is the type of patient some hospitals try to avoid. She lives in Livingston, Tenn. — a town of 4,000, tucked between rolling hills of the Cumberland Plateau. (Farmer, 1/8)
California Healthline:
End Of Tax Penalty Could Fall Hardest On Previously Uninsured Californians
The elimination of the Affordable Care Act tax penalty on people who don’t have health insurance could roll back recent coverage gains for Hispanics, young people, the healthy and the poor, according to a new study. The study, published Monday in the journal Health Affairs, stems from a 2017 survey in which researchers at Harvard University Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital asked more than 3,000 Californians who had bought individual health care plans: “Would you have purchased health insurance coverage this year if there was no penalty?” (Feder Ostrov, 1/7)
Politico:
POLITICO/Harvard Poll: Many Democrats Back A Taxpayer-Funded Health Care Plan Like Medicare For All
More than 4 in 5 Democrats want Congress to enact a taxpayer-funded, national health care plan such as Medicare for All, according to a new Harvard/POLITICO poll gauging the public’s health and education priorities for 2019. Some 42 percent of Democratic respondents to the poll supported repealing and replacing Obamacare — mostly in the interest of building on the health law's coverage gains and creating a new system so that more Americans have health insurance. (Roubein, 1/7)
The Hill:
DOJ Asks For Extension In ObamaCare Lawsuit Due To Shutdown
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is asking a federal judge to pause all briefings related to a motion filed by House Democrats in an ongoing ObamaCare lawsuit, saying they cannot complete their work properly due to the government shutdown. Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt said DOJ lawyers “are unable to prepare their opposition at this time due to the lapse in appropriations.” The motion was filed on Friday but appeared in the docket on Monday. (Weixel, 1/7)
Modern Healthcare:
Hospitals Vary In Publishing CMS Chargemaster Prices
Price transparency stumbled out of the gate last week as hospitals complied with a new CMS requirement to publish their lengthy list of retail charges for individual services and diagnosis-related groups in online spreadsheets by the first of the year. Some hospitals, such Northwestern Memorial in Chicago, posted a link to their charges right on their home pages. Most others, such as HCA's Aventura Hospital, posted the data deeper inside their websites, requiring a search and multiple clicks. One system, MedStar, said it won't post the information until next week because it's still working to ensure accuracy and clarity. (Meyer, 1/7)
The New York Times:
C.E.O. Resigns Over Case Of Woman In Vegetative State Who Gave Birth
The chief executive of the corporation that runs a private nursing home in Arizona where a woman in a vegetative state was sexually assaulted and later gave birth to a child resigned on Monday, the company said in a statement. The company, Hacienda HealthCare, said the resignation of the executive, Bill Timmons, was unanimously accepted by its board of directors. David Leibowitz, a company spokesman, said Mr. Timmons had been chief executive for 28 years. Efforts to reach Mr. Timmons on Monday night were unsuccessful. (Stack, 1/7)
The Washington Post:
Health-Care Provider CEO Resigns After Woman In Vegetative State Gives Birth
Hacienda “will accept nothing less than a full accounting of this absolutely horrifying situation, an unprecedented case that has devastated everyone involved, from the victim and her family to Hacienda staff at every level of our organization,” Gary Orman, a member of Hacienda’s board of directors, said in the statement. No one has been arrested in connection with the incident, and it’s unclear whether police have identified any suspects. In Arizona, sexually assaulting a vulnerable adult is a felony. (Wootson, 1/7)
Stat:
FDA Plans To Create A New Office To Leverage Cutting-Edge Science
The Food and Drug Administration plans to create a new office to improve the review of new medicines — one that will develop a standardized approach to using personalized medicine, digital data, and patients’ own reports, according to Commissioner Scott Gottlieb. Gottlieb will outline the plan for the new 52-person group, called the Office of Drug Evaluation Science (ODES), as part of a talk at the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Tuesday. Because of the government shutdown, he will deliver the talk via videoconference. (Herper, 1/7)
Stat:
Former FDA Chiefs Agree Agency Needs Independence, But Differ On Details
Nearly every person who’s run the Food and Drug Administration in recent history agrees the agency should break free from its political supervisors — a rare consensus from commissioners who served under Republican and Democratic administrations alike. In two papers published Monday, all seven of the FDA’s most recent commissioners wrote that the current setup — in which the agency is a mere subdivision of the Department of Health and Human Services — interferes with the ability of its scientists to protect the health of the public. (Swetlitz, 1/7)
Stat:
SCOTUS Seems Unlikely To Overhaul Popular Drug Industry Legal Strategy
Several Supreme Court justices seemed to side with the drug industry in a case that examined a popular defense that companies use to ward off patient lawsuits. They heard oral arguments Monday in a case that has high stakes for pharmaceutical companies, which often wriggle out of patient lawsuits by arguing that the Food and Drug Administration limits their ability to warn patients about the side effects of their medicines, therefore absolving them of responsibility to do anything other than exactly what the FDA mandates. Patients, on the other hand, want drug makers to be more explicit about the potential risks of their medicines and argue that state law supports them. (Swetlitz, 1/7)
Stat:
Generic Drug Maker Formed By Hospitals Attracts A Dozen More Members
Responding to rising drug prices and persistent shortages, a dozen large hospital systems have joined Civica Rx, a fledgling not-for-profit generic manufacturer that was created last year by seven other big hospital groups with $100 million in backing from philanthropic organizations. All totaled, about 750 U.S. hospitals have joined the effort. The move is the latest sign of growing frustration among hospitals over pricing practices and quality-control issues that have hampered budgets and patient care. (Silverman, 1/7)
ProPublica/The New York Times:
Top Cancer Doctor, Forced Out Over Ties To Drug Makers, Joins Their Ranks
Dr. José Baselga, who resigned his position as the top doctor at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center after failing to disclose millions of dollars in payments from drug companies, is now going to work for one of them. AstraZeneca, the British-Swedish drug maker, announced on Monday that it had hired Dr. Baselga as its head of research and development in oncology, a newly created unit that reflects the company’s shift toward cancer treatments, one of the hottest areas in the drug industry. (Thomas and Ornstein, 1/7)
The New York Times:
Court Rejects Trump’s Cuts In Payments For Prescription Drugs
A federal court has rejected President Trump’s first major effort to cut payments for prescription drugs, saying the administration went far beyond its legal authority. The Trump administration made a “drastic departure from the statutorily mandated rates” when it reduced payments to hospitals for drugs given to Medicare beneficiaries in outpatient clinics, Judge Rudolph Contreras of the Federal District Court here said in the decision, issued late last month. Alex M. Azar II, the secretary of health and human services, “may not end-run Congress’s clear mandate,” the judge said. (Pear, 1/7)
Stat:
Eli Lilly To Buy Loxo Oncology For $8 Billion In Huge Bet On Cancer Genetics
The deal price of $235 per share represents a 68 percent premium to Loxo’s closing price on Friday, and a rich gain for Loxo shareholders. Shares in the Stamford, Conn., company had already risen 975 percent since its September 2014 initial public offering. The reason: two experimental cancer pills that worked fantastically well in very small numbers of patients. “We’re excited,” Dr. Daniel M. Skovronsky, Lilly’s senior vice president and chief scientific officer, said in an interview. “As we went through the process … every single person on our team who looked at this and touched it had this feeling that these are the kind of medicines I want to be associated with, that I want to spend my career working on, because of the impact for patients.” (Herper, 1/7)
Stat:
People Who Don’t Respond To HIV Meds Overlooked By Pharma, Researchers
[Nelson Vergel] is what’s known as an immunologic non-responder (INR) — someone whose immune system does not rebound even after years of antiretroviral therapy. ...Nobody knows exactly how many INRs like Vergel there are, but they are likely to number fewer than 200,000 in the U.S., where there are roughly 1.1 million people with HIV. (The proportion of INRs is likely to be higher elsewhere in the world, where the burden of HIV is higher and access to drugs more difficult.). The small number in the U.S. may paradoxically offer the best hope for non-responders — the cutoff for orphan status, a special designation that gives drug makers incentives to develop medications for rare diseases, is 200,000 people. (Mandavilli, 1/8)
Stat:
Sanofi To Exit Immuno-Oncology Collaboration With Regeneron
The days of Regeneron’s broad immuno-oncology collaboration with Sanofi are numbered. The two companies agreed to wind down a partnership, launched in 2015, sooner than is strictly necessary, they announced Monday. Sanofi will pay out the rest of its committed investments plus termination fees — about $460 million. Originally, the deal was set to expire in 2020, but included an option to extend certain programs for up to three more years. (Sheridan, 1/7)
Reuters:
New California Governor Tackles Drug Prices In First Act
Hours into his new job, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on Monday that could dramatically reshape the way prescription drugs are paid for and acquired in the most populous U.S. state. The order, along with another naming the state's first-ever surgeon general, marks a fast start for a governor who has vowed to combat inequity and position California as a counterweight to the conservative Trump administration in Washington. (Bernstein, 1/7)
The New York Times:
Newsom Pledges Fight For Equality As He Takes Over As California Governor
Mr. Newsom signaled the tone of his new administration moments after the ceremony concluded, as his office announced that he would sign an executive order to change how prescription drugs are purchased, consolidating Medi-Cal drug purchases and negotiations under the Department of Health Care Services. The administration said the intended goal was to give the state more bargaining power on behalf of Medi-Cal users. (Nagourney and Del Real, 1/7)
The Wall Street Journal:
California To Flex Drug Purchasing Power
Mr. Newsom also said Monday he would propose increasing coverage in California under the Affordable Care Act and lobby the federal government to allow the nation’s largest state to move toward a state-run single-payer health system. “In our home, every person should have access to quality, affordable health care,” Mr. Newsom said in his inauguration speech. “We will use both our market power and our moral power to demand fairer prices for prescription drugs.” An executive order by Mr. Newsom directs the state’s Department of Health Care Services to negotiate prescription drug prices on behalf of the 13 million people using Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program for low-income people. (Lazo, 1/7)
CNN:
California Governor Takes Step To Provide Health Care Coverage To Undocumented Young Adults
Newly sworn-in California Gov. Gavin Newsom took a step on Monday to provide health care coverage to eligible undocumented young adults in the state. Amid a partial federal government shutdown, Newsom proposed a budget on his first day in office that would make California the only state in the nation to provide coverage to undocumented young adults through a state Medicaid program. (Sullivan, 1/7)
Los Angeles Times:
Gov. Gavin Newsom Proposes Healthcare Mandate, Medi-Cal Expansion To More Immigrants Without Legal Status
Some of the new healthcare proposals will be included in Newsom’s state budget that will be released Thursday and vetted in the coming months by the Legislature, when the details and costs of the plan will be reviewed. “These complex proposals require a lot of scrutiny to fully understand the consequences — both good and bad,” said Assemblyman Chad Mayes (R-Yucca Valley), the vice chairman of the Assembly Health Committee. “We agree on the goals of reduced costs, increased competition and better quality healthcare for all Californians. Government has an important role to play in holding the healthcare industry accountable; however it must be balanced and not overreach or hinder innovation.” (Gutierrez, 1/7)
The Wall Street Journal:
Cuomo Vows To Codify Roe V. Wade Decision Into New York Constitution
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that he will seek to codify Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision recognizing a constitutional right to terminate pregnancy, into the state’s Constitution. The pledge, which would take years to complete and involve a ballot measure, was made during a press conference in Manhattan at Barnard College, where former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined Mr. Cuomo to lend support to his initiatives. (West, 1/7)
The New York Times:
As Supreme Court Shifts Under Trump, Cuomo Vows To Expand Abortion Rights
Mr. Cuomo’s vow was not exactly new. But the pageantry of the occasion seemed to reflect the circumstances that had prompted it: a Legislature newly controlled by Democrats raring to broaden reproductive rights, and a federal government increasingly looking to rein them in, all against the backdrop of a state with abortion laws that are not as liberal as many perceive them to be. “The Republican Senate said, ‘You don’t need a state law codifying Roe v. Wade. No administration would ever roll back Roe v. Wade,’” Mr. Cuomo said at the event at Barnard College, describing why previous efforts had languished for so long. “So help me God, this was the conversation.” (Wang, 1/7)
The Hill:
Cuomo: Kavanaugh, Gorsuch Are 'Going To Reverse Roe V. Wade'
Cuomo is also proposing the Comprehensive Contraception Coverage Act, which would improve access to birth control. Cuomo vowed not to sign a state budget this spring if the two pieces of legislation aren't first approved by state lawmakers. The governor added that he wants to "take it a step further" and pass a constitutional amendment that would write a provision into the constitution "protecting a woman's right to control her own reproductive health." (Burke, 1/7)
The New York Times:
Democrats Now Control Albany. How Will They Handle 5 Key Issues?
A bill to create a Medicare for all-styled system for New York would be one of the most expensive items the Legislature could take up this year. It has passed the Assembly several times, and Senate Democrats have pledged their support, too. The idea has high-profile backers including the City Council speaker, Corey Johnson. So it should fly through, right? Not exactly. (Wang, 1/8)
Modern Healthcare:
On The Ground At J.P. Morgan's Health Conference
Kent Thiry, CEO of the dialysis provider DaVita, told a breakout session audience on Monday evening that the company is working to close on the sale of its medical group to UnitedHealth Group in the first quarter of 2019. He said the federal government shutdown could complicate the deal. ... Last month, DaVita announced it had agreed to lower the price on its medical group, DaVita Medical Holdings, to $4.34 billion, from $4.9 billion. (Bannow, 1/7)
The New York Times:
When The Illness Is A Mystery, Patients Turn To These Detectives
They are patients with diseases that mystify doctors, people whose symptoms are dismissed as psychosomatic, who have been given misdiagnosis upon misdiagnosis. They have confounded experts and have exhausted every hope save one. And so they wind up in the Undiagnosed Diseases Network, a federally funded project that now includes 12 clinical centers, including one at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. (Kolata, 1/7)
Stat:
New Study Shows AI Can Diagnose Some Gene Mutations From A Photo
Some people’s faces — or even just a photo of them — hint at the genes they carry. And now, an algorithm can predict not only whether they carry a genetic mutation, but which genes were mutated. The study, published Monday in Nature Medicine, is the latest from a Boston-based company called FDNA, one of a few organizations creating software that can help physicians diagnose genetic syndromes based just on a face — and may serve an important validation of the company’s technology, said Yaron Gurovich, the company’s chief technology officer. (Sheridan, 1/7)
The New York Times:
A Virus Even More Dangerous Than Zika To Pregnant Woman
The mosquito-borne virus that causes Rift Valley fever may severely injure human fetuses if contracted by mothers during pregnancy, according to new research. In a study published last month in the journal Science Advances, researchers used infected rats and human fetal tissue to discover how the virus targets the placenta. Results showed that the virus may be even more damaging to fetuses than the Zika virus, which set off a global crisis in 2015 and left thousands of babies in Central America and South America with severe birth defects. (Baumgaertner, 1/7)
The Washington Post:
What’s Behind The Confidence Of The Incompetent? This Suddenly Popular Psychological Phenomenon.
You may have witnessed this scene at work, while socializing with friends or over a holiday dinner with extended family: Someone who has very little knowledge in a subject claims to know a lot. That person might even boast about being an expert. This phenomenon has a name: the Dunning-Kruger effect. It’s not a disease, syndrome or mental illness; it is present in everybody to some extent, and it’s been around as long as human cognition, though only recently has it been studied and documented in social psychology. (Fritz, 1/7)
Los Angeles Times:
Smoking Is At A Record Low In The U.S., But The Benefits Aren't Shared Equally
Cigarette smoking is at an all-time low in the United States, but the benefits of this public health achievement are not being shared equally by all Americans. A new analysis of health data from the nation’s 500 largest cities shows that the people who live in neighborhoods with the highest smoking rates are more likely to be poor, less likely to be white, and more likely to have chronic heart or lung diseases. (Kaplan, 1/7)
NPR:
Study Offers Clues To Racial Differences In Alzheimer's Disease
Scientists have found a biological clue that could help explain why African-Americans appear to be more vulnerable than white Americans to Alzheimer's disease. A study of 1,255 people, both black and white, found that cerebrospinal fluid from African-Americans tended to contain lower levels of a substance associated with Alzheimer's, researchers report Monday in the journal JAMA Neurology. Yet these low levels did not seem to protect black participants from the disease. (Hamilton, 1/7)
The Washington Post:
Men’s Cardiorespiratory Fitness Affects Stroke Risk, Researchers Say
Low fitness levels have long been tied to higher risk for heart problems. Now researchers say men’s cardiorespiratory fitness is tied to their risk for stroke, as well. Researchers in Norway followed 2,014 middle-aged men for more than 20 years. Those who were unfit for the whole study period, or who started out fit but became less so, were twice as likely to have a stroke as those who stayed fit or became fit, they reported in the International Journal of Stroke. (Crist, 1/7)
The Wall Street Journal:
The Psychiatrist Can See Your Child Now, Virtually
When Sarah Ford, 14 years old, was struggling with depression, hallucinations and suicidal thoughts last spring, her pediatrician in Springfield, Mo., was able to call in help from afar. Through a live videoconference link with Mercy Virtual, a telemedicine center three hours away, a child-psychiatry expert evaluated Sarah, prescribed a medication and set follow-up appointments. With a rising number of teens and adolescents suffering from depression and anxiety, and too few professionals to help, remote video consults are helping pediatricians fill the gap in some communities. (Landro, 1/7)
NPR:
Parenting Podcast And New Book By Hillary Frank Started With A Difficult Delivery
Almost 10 years ago, journalist Hillary Frank was pregnant and planning to give birth without medication or surgery — but things didn't go according to her plan. Instead, Frank experienced a prolonged and difficult labor that left her with a traumatic injury — chronic pain from an episiotomy that didn't heal as expected, and had to be redone. For months she was unable to walk, sit or easily hold or nurse her newborn daughter, and didn't fully recover for three years. To make matters worse, beyond the physical injury, she felt she couldn't talk openly about what had happened to her. (Gross, 1/7)
CNN:
Newborn DNA Testing: Could It Become Routine?
Every baby born in the United States is given a routine blood test to screen for dozens of inherited medical conditions. Now, the U.S. National Institutes of Health is exploring whether to use DNA sequencing to screen newborn babies for additional genetic abnormalities and disorders. Such DNA testing would likely complement, but not replace, the current routine blood tests. However, before routine genetic screening of infants even approaches reality, many questions need answers, including whether genetic sequencing can accurately identify babies who will develop a disease, according to Dr. Joseph A. Bocchini Jr., chairman of the Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children. (Scutti, 1/7)
The Wall Street Journal:
How A Breakup Can Lead To A Fitness Breakthrough
Paige Harley couldn’t have guessed that the path to recovery from the end of her second marriage would lead to the South Pole. The 49-year-old mother of three from Nashville, Tenn., turned to running as a form of therapy in 2016, as she had after her first divorce. “I didn’t know who I was outside a relationship. Running set me up to learn what I could do,” says Ms. Harley, a mediator who helps families going through divorce. Then she read an article about doing a marathon on all seven continents. “It was about facing my fears. Do I like to travel? Do I like to do hard things?” (Potkewitz, 1/7)
The New York Times:
No More Brace Face? Teens Increasingly Use Clear Aligners
When Carly Feinstein was in ninth grade, her dentist sent her to an orthodontist. “I cried for three hours when I heard I had to get braces,” said Carly, now 16, who lives in New York City. “I worried about how I would look. It would have been so embarrassing.” But like an increasing number of adolescents, she was delighted to learn that she did not need to get traditional metal braces after all. She was treated with clear aligners instead. (Harris, 1/8)
The Associated Press:
Nursing Home Where 12 Died After Storm Has License Revoked
Florida has revoked the license of a nursing home where 12 elderly patients died in the heat after it lost power during a 2017 hurricane. The Agency for Health Care Administration issued its order Friday, saying an administrative law judge correctly concluded the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills "created an unsafe environment" in September 2017 after Hurricane Irma knocked out its air conditioning. (1/7)
The Associated Press:
Another Misdemeanor Deal In Flint Water Investigation
Michigan's former drinking water regulator has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor in the Flint water investigation. It's a break for Liane Shekter Smith, who was facing felony charges, including involuntary manslaughter, in an investigation of Flint's lead-tainted water and a Legionnaires' disease outbreak. (1/7)
The Associated Press:
Growing Opioid Crisis Adds To Puerto Rico's Problems
Jose Carlos Laviena emptied his pockets, took off his shoes and waited to die. He had just injected himself with a new type of heroin that his dealer was promoting, but the high was so strong that Laviena thought he had overdosed. The 35-year-old was preparing his body for how he wanted to be found. (Coto, 1/7)
Medpage Today:
Trina Founder G. Ford Gilbert Pleads Guilty In Bribery Case
G. Ford Gilbert, founder of a chain of controversial diabetes treatment clinics, pleaded guilty in federal court to one charge of conspiring to commit bribery, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in Alabama. He had previously faced seven counts of federal health care fraud, bribery, and other charges in Alabama federal district court related to an alleged "pyramid scheme" with his network of diabetes insulin infusion clinics. The other six are to be dismissed as part of a plea deal with prosecutors. (Clark, 1/7)