In Search Of The Next Bill Gates: Hospitals Gamble On Health-Tech Startups In Hopes Of Striking Big
“We view this as a strategic investment. It will be important to the care of patients and we also can presumably make money,” says Thomas Thornton, senior vice president of Northwell Ventures, the for-profit arm of a health system in New York.
The Wall Street Journal:
Hospitals Fund Potential Game-Changers In Health Tech
Luis F. Romo is chasing the startup dream, developing a device that disinfects operating rooms and stretchers by zapping them with ultraviolet rays. The 30-year-old Mr. Romo has a catchy name for his invention, “PurpleSun,” and a solid but untraditional backer: a hospital. Northwell Health, of New Hyde Park, N.Y., has put about $3 million into Mr. Romo’s idea and may invest more in coming years. As hospital-acquired infections have become the scourge of modern institutions, Northwell officials are eager to put the germ-fighting device to work in their 23 hospitals. They also hope to make back their investment—and more—if other hospitals want to use PurpleSun. (Lagnado, 3/7)
In other national health care news —
The Associated Press:
Watchdog Report: Failed VA Leadership Put Patients At Risk
"Failed leadership" at the Department of Veterans Affairs during the Obama years put patients at a major hospital at risk, an internal probe finds — another blow to Secretary David Shulkin, who served at the VA then and is fighting to keep his job. The 150-page report released Wednesday by the VA internal watchdog offers new details to its preliminary finding last April of patient safety issues at the Washington, D.C., medical center. (3/7)
Politico:
‘We Took A Broken System And Just Broke It Completely’
President Donald Trump last year hailed a multibillion-dollar initiative to create a seamless digital health system for active duty military and the VA that he said would deliver “faster, better, and far better quality care.” But the military’s $4.3 billion Cerner medical record system has utterly failed to achieve those goals at the first hospitals that went online. Instead, technical glitches and poor training have caused dangerous errors and reduced the number of patients who can be treated, according to interviews with more than 25 military and VA health IT specialists and doctors, including six who work at the four Pacific Northwest military medical facilities that rolled out the software over the last year. (Allen, 3/8)
Stat:
Gottlieb Condemns 'Rigged Payment Scheme' For Biosimilar Drugs
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said that it’s not his agency’s job to regulate drug prices — but on Wednesday morning, he used his bully pulpit to condemn a “rigged payment scheme” that he said he fears is keeping some generic drugs out of the market. Speaking to a group of hundreds at a conference run by America’s Health Insurance Plans, Gottlieb spoke about the challenges facing biosimilar manufacturers, which make generic biologic drugs. He called on the audience primarily of insurance professionals to do something, offering a few concrete suggestions. (Swetlitz, 3/7)
The Associated Press:
FDA Did Not Issue New Statement On Vaccines And Autism
Some health websites have misrepresented the fine print on an old vaccine label to falsely claim that the "FDA announced that vaccines are causing autism." Vaccines do not cause autism and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not make any new statement this week about the long-debunked claim. Autism was listed as one of many "adverse events" on the 2005 label of Sanofi Pasteur's Tripedia childhood vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. (3/7)
Politico:
Planned Parenthood Defunding Threatens Government Spending Package
House Republicans are demanding a series of controversial abortion and health care policies in the annual health spending bill, setting up a showdown with Democrats and threatening passage of an omnibus spending package to keep the government open. Democrats are vowing to block the slew of long-sought conservative priorities. The riders would cut off federal funding to Planned Parenthood, eliminate a federal family planning program and ax the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, according to sources on Capitol Hill. Republicans also want to insert a new prohibition on funding research that uses human fetal tissue obtained after an abortion. (Haberkorn and Ferris, 3/7)
The Wall Street Journal:
The Federal Government Spends A Lot More On The Elderly Than On Children. Should It?
The U.S. government spends far more on social programs for the elderly than it does on children, even though a growing body of research suggests investments in early childhood can have substantial long-term benefits for individuals and society, according to a new study. The federal government in 2015 spent roughly $35,000 per elderly person, much of it via Social Security and Medicare, and around $5,000 per child through programs like food stamps, Medicaid and tax credits, according to a paper to be presented Thursday at the Brookings Institution. Accounting for spending on public elementary and secondary schools—$11,222 per pupil in the most recent available data, mostly from state and local governments—narrows the gap, but doesn’t close it. (Leubsdorf, 3/8)