Daily Edition for Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Hospital Gets Medicare Reprieve: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has rescinded its April 11 determination to terminate Modesto-based Stanislaus Surgical Hospital's Medicare contract. CMS is giving the hospital until May 15 to submit an acceptable plan of correction. Read more from Becker’s Hospital Review.
What’s Keeping the US From Allowing Better Sunscreens?
By Michael Scaturro
Illustration by Lydia Zuraw
A decade after Congress told the FDA to expedite the approval of more effective sunscreens, the federal government still has not approved sunscreen ingredients that are safely being used around the world. Meanwhile, skin cancer is the nation’s most common cancer.
Biden Team’s Tightrope: Reining In Rogue Obamacare Agents Without Slowing Enrollment
By Julie Appleby
Federal regulators face a growing challenge — how to prevent rogue health insurance agents from switching unknowing consumers’ Obamacare coverage without making the enrollment process so cumbersome that enrollment declines.
Amgen Plows Ahead With Costly, Highly Toxic Cancer Dosing Despite FDA Challenge
By Arthur Allen
The FDA told Amgen to test whether a quarter-dose of its lung cancer drug worked as well as the amount recommended on the product label. It did and with fewer side effects. But Amgen is sticking to the higher dose — which earns it an additional $180,000 a year per patient.
Daily Edition for Monday, May 6, 2024
Opioid Settlement Deal Has A Curious Twist: California announced a tentative settlement Friday with a pharmaceutical company over its alleged role in the opioid crisis — the same company Gov. Gavin Newsom is partnering with to produce lower-cost opioid overdose reversal drugs. That means the state could hand any funds it receives from the settlement right back to the company. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle and CalMatters.
Stranded in the ER, Seniors Await Hospital Care and Suffer Avoidable Harm
By Judith Graham
Many older adults who need hospital care are getting stuck in emergency room limbo — sometimes for more than a day. The long ER waits for seniors who are frail, with multiple medical issues, lead to a host of additional medical problems.
Could Better Inhalers Help Patients, and the Planet?
By Martha Bebinger, WBUR
Puff inhalers can be lifesavers for people with asthma and other respiratory diseases, but some types release potent greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. That, in turn, worsens wildfires, contributes to air pollution, and intensifies allergy seasons — which can increase the need for inhalers. Some doctors are helping patients switch to more eco-sensitive inhalers.
Journalists Delve Into Climate Change, Medicaid ‘Unwinding,’ and the Gap in Mortality Rates
KFF Health News and California Healthline staffers made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
Daily Edition for Friday, May 3, 2024
Tuberculosis death, HIV drugs, ACA eligibility for ‘Dreamers,’ layoffs, mental health, disabilities, bird flu, and more are in the news.
Oh, Dear! Baby Gear! Why Are the Manuals So Unclear?
By Darius Tahir
Sure, new parents are an anxious lot. But instruction manuals for devices meant to keep the baby safe and healthy are daunting and add to the anxiety. Why are they so confusing?
