AJMC Staff

The Federal Communications Commission has proposed the 3-year, $100 million program to bring telehealth to low-income patients, veterans, and areas lacking access to adequate healthcare; use of opioids in Medicare Part D declined in 2018 as use of medication-assisted treatment increased; a House committee held a hearing on identifying, preventing, and treating childhood trauma as a public health issue.

HHS has launched a summit to streamline and improve quality programs across the agency; more than 160 children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) appeared before a Senate committee to ask for more funding for the Special Diabetes Program; the CDC has confirmed 11 cases of a rare polio-like illness in 8 states.

Amid fears of large coverage losses, New Hampshire is delaying its Medicaid work requirements; California has become the first state to offer Medicaid to young undocumented immigrants; physicians have delivered a healthy baby from the transplanted uterus of a deceased donor for the first time in the United States.

The Trump administration is expected to unveil a series of initiatives on Wednesday, including new payment models to overhaul kidney disease care; a report from the inspector general of HHS found widespread hospice deficiencies; the number of undocumented immigrant children in California’s Medicaid program is slowly declining even as the state prepares to expand coverage to undocumented young adults.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans will hear arguments Tuesday in a lawsuit backed by the Trump administration seeking to reverse the Affordable Care Act (ACA); legislators return from a holiday break to try and reach an agreement on healthcare cost issues; a growing number of Americans in rural areas are turning to telehealth appointments amid hospital closings and a shortage of local primary care doctors, specialists, and other providers.

A recent study examined the association between patients with secondary myelofibrosis (SMF) and later development of nonhematological second primary malignancies (SPM).

A federal appeals court rejected a request to delay next week's hearing on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA); Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, is calling on former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, to immediately resign from Pfizer's board of directors; Maine is joining a handful of other states in expanding access to abortion.

Pharmaceutical makers issued drug price increases on more than 40 drugs by an average 13.1%; New York City's public hospital system will reject $1.3 million in federal funding over the Trump administration's gag rule; Virginia has announced efforts to lower maternal mortality among black women.

HHS will delay the implementation of its conscience protection rule to at least November 22; Missouri's only abortion clinic can continue to provide the service through August; CMS is seeking part of Oklahma's $270 million settlement with Purdue Pharma.

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A Senate Committee has voted to require drug companies to justify steep drug price hikes to the federal government; Pfizer has added former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, to its board of directors; the FDA warned consumers of potential cybersecurity risks associated with certain mini Medtronic insulin pumps.

A US vaccine panel recommended the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for both men and women up to age 26; San Francisco has become the first city to ban e-cigarettes; the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is using artificial intelligence (AI) to predict which veterans are more likely to die by suicide in the next year.

As states continue to consider Medicaid expansion and introduce their own work requirements, we've created a Medicaid expansion monitor.

The US Supreme Court will decide a case involving 2 insurance companies that claimed they were shorted $12 billion by the federal government for "risk corridor" payments related to the ACA; Missouri's last abortion clinic will stay open until at least Friday after a state circuit court judge extended a preliminary injunction he previously issued; City of Hope will invest $1 billion in a new cancer research center and hospital in Irvine, California.

President Trump's proposal to lower drug prices moves forward, scientific leaders admit they're powerless to stop a Russian scientist from creating gene-edited babies, and the adminisration seeks to change a regulation that requires healthcare organizations to give notice of free translation services and directions on how to report discrimination.

Getting test results within the same office visit allows clinicians to start care for the condition right away, a former official with the American Diabetes Association said.

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A federal appeals court has ruled that the Trump administration's family planning rule can go into effect as several lawsuits over the rule play out; Missouri's only abortion clinic will defy the state by refusing to perform a required pelvic exam days before an abortion; the World Health Organization (WHO) has removed 2 guidelines on opioids following allegations of industry influence.

Surprise medical bills affect 16% of in-network patient stays and 18% of emergency visits; new research has identified a link between World Trade Center dust and prostate cancer among first responders; the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved UnitedHealth Group’s acquisition of DaVita Inc on the condition that it sells one of its newly purchased healthcare organizations.

A recent study examined cognitive changes in a type of migraine termed chronic migraine with medication overuse headache (CM-MOH).

Tensions have risen between White House officials and HHS Secretary Alex Azar; a life-saving bladder cancer drug is in short supply; suicide rates for children and young adults have soared.

Texas' governor signs legislation to protect patients from receiving surprise medical bills; a Nebraska school district approves random nicotine testing for students; the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children lowered obesity rates for young children from 2010 to 2016.

US drug makers sue to block a federal regulation that would require them to display list prices for drugs in television advertisements; a proposal could lead to a broad settlement for opioid manufacturers that would issue a nationwide payout and prevent future lawsuits from local governments; Pfizer has agreed to buy Array BioPharma for $11.4 billion.

Sensory processing difficulties are seen among children with migraine, according to a recently published study, which said that their quality of life is predicted by both headache-related disability and sensory processing difficulties.

Two posters presented at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, held May 31 to June 4, 2019, in Chicago, Illinois, discussed the growing issue of financial toxicity and the costs of care in cancer treatment.

A recent literature review, involving an international multidisciplinary panel of social and healthcare professionals and people living with epidermolysis bullosa (EB), was conducted to create evidence-based guidelines to optimize psychosocial well-being in EB, given that there is no cure or treatment.

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Starting 2020, employees will be able to use health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) to purchase individual coverage; New York has enacted legislation that ends nonmedical exemptions for school vaccination requirements; the FDA is being sued by Catalyst Pharmaceuticals over its approval of a similar orphan drug.

CMS has approved Washington state’s proposal for a subscription model to purchase hepatitis C virus (HCV) drugs; the American Medical Association (AMA) voted against a measure that would drop its decades-long stance against single-payer healthcare proposals; Maine has become the eighth state to legalize medically assisted suicide.

The American Medical Association has called for intensified oversight of the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) industry; the governor of Florida has signed a bill into law that would allow state residents to access cheaper medication through 2 prescription drug importation programs; the Ebola virus has crossed international borders during the second-worst outbreak in history.