CMS Encouraging States To Utilize Medicaid To Help Fight Opioid Epidemic

The Hill: CMS Releases Guidance To States On Using Medicaid To Address Opioid Crisis
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Monday released guidance aimed at helping states leverage Medicaid to combat the opioid epidemic. Specifically, the guidance focused on information related to covering services for infants born exposed to opioids and how to enhance federal funding for telemedicine and programs that keep tabs on patients’ prescriptions. (Roubein, 6/11)

Reuters: House Panel Questions FDA's Track Record Combating Illegal Opioids
U.S. lawmakers fear the Food and Drug Administration is not doing enough to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the United States as the country works to combat the opioid epidemic. Republican and Democratic members on the House Energy and Commerce Committee questioned whether the FDA's criminal investigators are effective at blocking illegal drugs at U.S. ports of entry, in a letter seen by Reuters. (Lynch, 6/11)

In other national health care news —

Stat: Drug Pricing Advocates Take Aim At Democrats For Supporting Pharma
Fifty congressional Democrats signed on to a letter advancing the pharmaceutical industry’s talking points — and now a drug pricing advocacy group is calling them out. Patients for Affordable Drugs sent a letter this morning to Speaker Paul Ryan and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, along with the 50 Democrats, condemning the members who signed on to a separate May 24 missive that supports one of the drug industry’s chief lobbying priorities: a change to their financial liability in the so-called “donut hole.” (Mershon, 6/11)

The Hill: Trump Officials Meet With Drug Companies To Push For Voluntary Price Cuts
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials have been meeting with pharmaceutical companies to seek voluntary cuts in drug prices, according to sources familiar with the meetings. Voluntary cuts in prices would allow the administration to immediately tout benefits of President Trump's drug pricing plan, which was announced last month, rather than having to wait for any regulatory actions to be put forward and take effect. (Sullivan, 6/11)

Modern Healthcare: White Houses Taps The Brakes On HHS Religious Rule 
The White House has urged HHS not to finalize a rule that will require hospitals and physician practices to create standards and procedures to protect their employees' religious and moral beliefs until it can elaborate how the policy will affect the industry. HHS received more than 72,000 comments on the rulemaking before the March deadline. The agency is still drafting a final version of the rule, but proactively asked the Office of Management and Budget to allow it to confirm that providers were both complying with the rule and notifying staff and patients of their rights. (Dickson, 6/11)

Stat: Alcohol Study Failed To Seek FDA Approval, Possibly Violating Federal Rules
The controversy surrounding a study of whether moderate drinking might prevent cardiovascular disease isn’t over: If one interpretation of federal regulations is correct, the study may be in violation of Food and Drug Administration requirements meant to protect the health of research volunteers. STAT has learned that the study’s leaders failed to seek a form of regulatory approval intended to protect study participants and ensure they understand the possible health risks of the research. By not seeking approval from the FDA, said public health researcher Dr. Michael Siegel of Boston University, the study “is in violation of federal law.” (Begley, 6/12)

Stat: CRISPR-Edited Cells Might Cause Cancer, Two Studies Find
Editing cells’ genomes with CRISPR-Cas9 might increase the risk that the altered cells, intended to treat disease, will trigger cancer, two studies published on Monday warn — a potential game-changer for the companies developing CRISPR-based therapies. In the studies, published in Nature Medicine, scientists found that cells whose genomes are successfully edited by CRISPR-Cas9 have the potential to seed tumors inside a patient. That could make some CRISPR’d cells ticking time bombs, according to researchers from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and, separately, Novartis. (Begley, 6/11)

The New York Times: Lasik’s Risks Are Coming Into Sharper Focus
Ever since he had Lasik surgery two years ago, Geobanni Ramirez sees everything in triplicate. The surgery he hoped would improve his vision left the 33-year-old graphic artist struggling with extreme light sensitivity, double vision and visual distortions that create halos around bright objects and turn headlights into blinding starbursts. His eyes are so dry and sore that he puts drops in every half-hour; sometimes they burn “like when you’re chopping onions.” His night vision is so poor that going out after dark is treacherous. (Rabin, 6/11)

The New York Times: As An H.I.V. Prevention Drug Surged In Australia, Condom Use Fell
The rollout of a drug that prevents H.I.V. infection was followed by a reduction in condom use among gay and bisexual men in Australia, according to a study published in the journal Lancet H.I.V. But so effective was the drug that H.I.V. infection rates in the study region declined anyway, the researchers concluded. During the rapid distribution of a drug that prevents infection — a strategy called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP — among gay and bisexual men in Australia, researchers found that unprotected sex increased even among those not on PrEP, suggesting that perceptions of risk had declined in communities where the drug was widely available. (Baumgaertner, 6/11)