Thursday, October 4, 2018
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Did the Department of Health and Human Services improperly cut disproportionate share payments to hospitals starting in 2010? Between $3 and $4 billion in cuts have hurt hospitals serving low-income populations, the plaintiffs argue. The Supreme Court will decide the case for which current Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh wrote the lower court decision in favor of hospitals. At question is whether the HHS improperly skipped the notice-and-comment period required when it changed the reimbursement formula
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(
HealthLeaders
)
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Senior citizens and low-income Americans are no stranger to Walmart, and many of them have Medicare and Medicaid insurance coverage. So it’s no surprise the giant retailer is expanding its health care offerings to capture more business in the higher-margin health care market. Walmart signed a deal over the summer with Anthem to attract more traffic for over-the-counter products. In some stores, it already operates health clinics, dispenses eye glasses and offers health insurance navigation services. Expect more expansion, consultants say, especially with Amazon ramping up the competition in this space.
(
CNNMoney
)
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Innovation & Transformation
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The first gene-therapy treatment for inherited diseases caused by a single gene hit the U.S. market, but hard questions await potential beneficiaries. Luxturna treats a rare vision disorder, but it took months for a five-person team to get through the insurance coverage approval process to pay the $850,000 price tag for one 4-year-old boy. As more gene therapies hit the market, the cost-benefit analysis by health care economists will make it a challenge to weigh big price tags against quality of life gains like averting a lifetime of blindness. Luxturna failed to meet cost-effectiveness criteria from an independent review board.
(
Wall Street Journal
)
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How long to keep a patient on antibiotics to treat staph infection is an unknown among clinicians treating the tough bug. A new study indicates using an artificial intelligence algorithm to determine length of treatment works as well as physician standard of care. What’s more, patients using the AI determination spent an average 4.4 days on antibiotic therapy versus 6.2 days for the physician-guided practice.
(
Journal of the American Medical Association
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People who inject drugs are 16 times more likely to develop antibiotic-resistant infections, according to a new study. Sharing needles with others—or even one person reusing a needle—can send harmful bacteria into the bloodstream, resulting in severe infections that can lead to heart valve failure or spinal infections. States hardest hit by the opioid epidemic are seeing hundreds of costly cases of needle-borne infections.
(
Minnesota Star Tribune
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The Veterans Administration is adding an opioid overdose kit to those ubiquitous metal boxes containing automated external defibrillators—already in VA cafeterias, gyms and other public areas. The AED kits are in place for fast response to heart attacks, but the increase in opioid overdoses—and the need for an immediate injection of Naloxone or other anti-overdose drug—spurred the preparedness initiative. Veterans have nearly twice the risk of overdose as the general population. Joint Commission approval was required for the move, because Naloxone is a prescription. The VA's AED-cum-anti-overdose cabinets are locked, and an alarm goes off when opened.
(National Public Radio)
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Cancer center exec relinquishes $1.4 million in options
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Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Vice President Gregory Raskin turned over $1.4 million in stock options in an effort to recoup the organization’s reputation. Raskin received compensation for representing Sloan Kettering on the board of a biotech firm while the company developed experimental cancer treatments at Sloan Kettering. The conflict of interest drew media attention and resulted in several high-level resignations.
(
The New York Times
)
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OptumRx, behavioral Rx firm merger
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UnitedHealth Group confirmed that its pharmacy division will combine operations with Genoa Healthcare, which operates more than 425 pharmacies in behavioral health centers. United paid about $2.5 billion for the deal, beating out Walgreens and other bidders.
(
Minnesota Star Tribune
)
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And the Medicine Nobel goes to
:
James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjuo share the Nobel Prize for finding ways to take the breaks off of the body’s immune system capability to fight cancer—landmark work that ushered in a new generation of cancer treatments. Although decades have passed, both scientists are still at work to discover more about enabling cancer-fighting immune responses.
(
Wall Street Journal
)
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Last winter’s flu season claimed 80,000 people, the highest number for flu-related illnesses in 40 years. Less than half of Americans get an annual flu shot. Surgeon General Jerome Adams urges everyone over age six months to get a flu vaccine—even saying it’s your civic duty to prevent the infection from spreading. Adams says even healthy, young adults are at risk of serious flu outcomes.
(
National Public Radio
)
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MarketVoices...quotes worth reading
"This therapy may well be priced too high, but it would be a hard argument to deny it to children who are going blind."— David Rind, chief medical officer for the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, as quoted in a
Wall Street Journal
story.
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Editor
Sandy Mau
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