- KFF Health News Original Stories 3
- California Presses Forward In Fight To Regulate Pharma
- GOP Bills To Replace Obamacare Do Not Tinker With Lawmakers' Coverage
- CMS Chief To Sit Out Watershed Decision On Medicaid Work Mandate In Kentucky
Latest From California Healthline:
KFF Health News Original Stories
California Presses Forward In Fight To Regulate Pharma
Such efforts have previously failed in the face of opposition from the drug industry, which questions their effectiveness and contends prices reflect research and development costs. (Carrie Feibel, KQED, 4/11)
GOP Bills To Replace Obamacare Do Not Tinker With Lawmakers' Coverage
Republicans are hoping to overhaul the federal health law. Among the law’s many provisions is a requirement that members of Congress and their staffs buy their health insurance on the law’s marketplaces. (Michelle Andrews, 4/11)
CMS Chief To Sit Out Watershed Decision On Medicaid Work Mandate In Kentucky
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma will recuse herself from the agency’s decision-making on whether to approve Kentucky’s Medicaid waiver because she helped develop the proposal in her former job as a health policy consultant. (Phil Galewitz, 4/10)
More News From Across The State
California Nurses Push Single-Payer Plan
Talk about a single-payer plan is gaining attention in the gubernatorial race.
Sacramento Bee:
California Nurses Association: 'We Have To Push Our Governor' On Single-Payer Health Care
Cathy Kennedy of the California Nurses Association says the group will continue to argue for single-payer health care, regardless of who is governor. (Hart, 4/10)
In other news —
Capital Public Radio:
New Bill Would Make Marijuana Use While Driving Illegal
Just as you can’t drink alcohol while driving, a bill prohibiting you from using pot behind the wheel recently passed a key committee vote. Some California lawmakers say they need to close a loophole caused by the legalization of recreational marijuana. The proposal would also make smoking pot in the passenger seat a ticket-able infraction and crack down on teens who drive high without a prescription. (Potter, 4/10)
Officials Worry Counties Will Have To Pay Popular In-Home-Care Program's Costs
A cost-control experiment could cause counties to have to pick up a much bigger share of the costs for the In-Home Supportive Services, which would be $623 million to start and almost $2 billion over six years.
East Bay Times:
Why In-Home Care For California's Needy Could Strain County Budgets
It’s hard to pronounce but easy to see what afflicts Kristine Loomis. Ankylosing spondylitis, an inflammatory disease affecting the spine, robbed Loomis of movement in her joints. The 60-year-old’s spine and hips are paralyzed and she can’t bend at the waist or the hips. ... [Loomis] relies on three caregivers who work in shifts to help her out of bed, use the bathroom and cook her meals. They’re reimbursed through In-Home Supportive Services, a government-funded program in California that pays for caregivers to help indigent clients. (Horseman, 4/10)
Where Doctors Practice Can Determine What Tests They Order
A study finds that doctors on hospital campuses were more likely to order unnecessary tests or referrals than doctors in community practices.
KPCC:
Doctors In Hospitals Are More Likely To Order Unnecessary Tests For Certain Conditions
Unnecessary health care costs money and can even harm patients. A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine suggests that where you see your doctor affects how likely you are to receive an unnecessary test or referral to a specialist. (Lavender, 4/10)
Pharma Company's Stock Plummets On News Of Failed Cancer Drug Study
OncoMed Pharmaceuticals got a one-two punch of bad news recently.
San Francisco Business Times:
OncoMed Stock Tumbles As Pancreatic Cancer Trial Fails, Bayer Nixes Drug Option
A failed mid-stage study of an experimental pancreatic cancer drug and Bayer Pharma's separate decision not to exercise its option on other cancer-fighting drugs caused the stock of OncoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Monday to shed a third of its value. The Redwood City-based drug developer said its drug, demcizumab, failed a mid-stage study in pancreatic cancer patients. Separately, Bayer said it would not take up OncoMed-developed cancer drugs targeting Wnt, a cancer pathway that is attractive to drug makers because it plays a role in early cell division. (Leuty, 4/10)
As Soon As Users Actually Move, Fitness Trackers Falter In Heart Rate Readings
A study compares their effectiveness to electrocardiography monitors that are found in doctors' offices.
Los Angeles Times:
Your Fitness Tracker Can Count Your Steps, But It's Not That Good At Monitoring Your Heart Rate
Using that nifty fitness monitor to keep track of your heart rate while you exercise? If you exercise while remaining still, it may work pretty well. If you move while exercising, not so much. A study published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine put four wearable fitness trackers to the test — both against one another and against the kind of electrocardiography monitor you’d probably encounter while taking a stress test in an doctor’s office. (Healy, 4/10)
As STD Rates Skyrocket, Fresno Hopes To Strike Back
The county is launching a public awareness campaign about how to prevent the spreading of sexually transmitted diseases.
Fresno Bee:
Abstain, Reduce Partners, Use Condoms: Fresno County Says STDs Are Increasing
April is Sexually Transmitted Infections Awareness Month, and Fresno County health officials want to remind the public about the importance of prevention, testing and treatment.In Fresno County, cases of syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea and HIV are the most common communicable infections reported to the health department. (Anderson, 4/10)
In other public health news —
The Mercury News:
Epilepsy Breakthrough: Silicon Valley Firm's Implant Helps Stop Brain Seizures
Experts say the causes of epilepsy are generally unknown, though some cases may be genetic, while others can be brought on by head trauma, stroke or central nervous system infection... But the so-called responsive neurostimulation system, or RNS for short, developed by Mountain View-based NeuroPace, treats adults with epilepsy who don’t respond to medication or for whom surgery is too risky. (Seipel, 4/10)
Capital Public Radio:
Mother Brings Awareness To Rare Deadly Disease That Took Life Of Her Child
A mother is bringing awareness to a rare and deadly disease that took the life of her child. This devastating disease was the subject of a conference at UC Davis... NEC is an intestinal disease that mostly affects babies born at 28 weeks or less. (Johnson, 4/10)
KPCC:
Smog Rule May Be Next On Trump's Chopping Block
An Obama Administration smog standard may be the next federal environmental regulation on President Trump’s chopping block. Late last week, attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice said the Environmental Protection Agency was "reviewing" the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone issued by EPA in 2015. In the meantime, DOJ would not defend it in court. (Guerin, 4/11)
San Diego Union-Times:
Immune Cells Armed With HIV 'Vaccine'; Alliance With City Of Hope May Lead To New Therapy
In the so-far unsuccessful effort to develop an HIV vaccine, scientists have tried numerous avenues to stop the AIDS-causing virus. They’ve tried exposing patients to a vaccine from the killed virus, to proteins from parts of the virus, to triggering disease-fighting T cells to go after the infection, and more. (Fikes, 4/10)
Jury Sides With Health Centers In Hospital Gown Lawsuit
The lawsuit claimed the gowns were falsely represented as providing protection against serious diseases.
The Associated Press:
Jury Returns $454M Fraud Verdict In Hospital Gown Lawsuit
Kimberly-Clark and its spinoff medical technology firm Halyard Health have been hit with $454 million in compensatory and punitive damages, after a federal jury found the companies misled California buyers about the impermeability of their MicroCool surgical gowns. Jurors in Los Angeles returned the verdict Friday in a class-action lawsuit brought by more than 400 hospitals and health centers in California. (4/10)
In other news from across the state —
Oakland Tribune:
Recycled Crayons Initiative Expanding To Downtown East Bay Facility
About two years ago, Bryan Ware told his local newspaper how he decided to collect crayons left behind at restaurants, melt them down, reshape them and then donate them to children at hospitals... Soon he will move the Crayon Initiative into an official space downtown. (Ruggiero, 4/10)
San Jose Mercury News:
San Jose: Man Arrested For Allegedly Peeping At Valley Medical Center
A 25-year-old San Jose man was arrested Monday night on suspicion of peeping at Valley Medical Center, authorities said. The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrest of Fereja Ali via Twitter at about 8:40 p.m.Ali was booked into the Main Jail in San Jose and bail was set at $5,000, according to the sheriff’s office. (Green, 4/11)
Uncertainty Over Health Law Could Be Its Downfall In Industry That Lives And Dies On Predictability
At the same time insurers are having to make a decision to stay in the Affordable Care Act 2018 marketplaces, the future is unclear for the subsidies the industry sees as crucial to survival.
The Washington Post:
This Is How Obamacare Might Actually Explode
Even if Republicans can't find a way to repeal Obamacare, they may still have a way to deliver on President Trump's promise that the law will “explode” — all via the power of uncertainty. The administration and Congress could keep insurers guessing over whether it will continue federal payments that lower deductibles and copays for millions of Americans next year. Without that certainty, insurers facing deadlines may decide not to sell plans on the marketplaces set up by the Affordable Care Act — or be forced to raise their premiums significantly. (Johnson, 4/11)
The New York Times:
Trump Administration To Pay Health Law Subsidies Disputed By House
The Trump administration says it is willing to continue paying subsidies to health insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act even though House Republicans say the payments are illegal because Congress never authorized them. The statement sends a small but potentially significant signal to insurers, encouraging them to stay in the market. (Pear, 4/10)
Something's Gotta Give: Astronomical Health Costs May Be Driving Industry To Breaking Point
Modern Healthcare looks at how the sky-high cost of medical care is putting an escalating pressure on providers to offer better quality treatment for less.
Modern Healthcare:
The Transformation Imperative
One year of healthcare spending can buy 15 iPhones. Or, it can buy over 3,000 gallons of milk. Or, if you want to look at it in relative terms, U.S. healthcare spending, which in 2015 hit nearly $10,000 for every person in the country, was 29% higher than the next most expensive country, Luxembourg. (Arndt and Barkholz, 4/11)
In other national health care news —
The Hill:
FDA, Industry Fear Wave Of Medical-Device Hacks
Regulators and medical-device-makers are bracing for an expected barrage of hacking attacks even as legal and technical uncertainties leave them in uncharted territory. Tens of millions of electronic health records have been compromised in recent years, a number that is growing and, some say, underreported. (Harper, 4/10)
The New York Times:
Patients Prescribed Shelter And Medication Are Wary Of Trump Cuts
For eight months, Jamal Brown’s body shook, so violently that he lost consciousness and ended up in the hospital more than 30 times. Though only in his 30s, his face drooped, his arms and legs often felt numb, and he was overcome with the anxiety of being a homeless drug addict trying to get clean in Camden, N.J. Then, last July, as he lay in a hospital bed after his third stroke, a representative of the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers came to his bedside and suggested a different kind of treatment for his illnesses: a federal housing voucher. (Alcindor, 4/10)
The Washington Post:
The Federal Panel That Opposed Prostate Cancer Screening Just Changed Its Mind
An influential federal task force has dropped its controversial opposition to routine screening for prostate cancer and now says that men between the ages of 55 and 69 should discuss the test’s potential benefits and harms with their doctors and make decisions based on their own “values and preferences.” “The decision about whether to be screened for prostate cancer should be an individual one,” the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said in a draft recommendation issued Tuesday. (McGinley, 4/11)
Morning Consult:
Lawmakers Propose Emergency Response Fund For Pandemics
Citing warnings from senior Obama administration officials, lawmakers from both parties are calling on Congress to establish a dedicated funding source to combat infectious disease outbreaks, according to a letter released Monday. The fund, which 21 lawmakers requested in a letter to senior House appropriators, would appropriate $300 million to help the Trump administration “contain and eradicate future infectious disease epidemics.” (Reid, 4/10)