AJMC Staff

A California union that provided major funding for successful ballot campaigns to expand Medicaid in 3 red states this year, is looking ahead to 2020; smoke from the wildfire in Northern California has created dangerous air quality that exceeds pollution levels in China and India; the World Health Organization evacuated 16 people working to contain the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo following a rebel attack.

President Donald Trump is planning to announce details of his plan to expand the role of the private sector to deliver healthcare to veterans; research looking at connections between mental health and gun violence is not so clear cut; the suicide rate among Americans of working age (between 16 and 64) increased 34% from 2000 to 2016 across 17 states.

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Michigan receives approval to implement outcomes-based drug contracts in Medicaid; in the first 10 days since open enrollment began, 1.2 million people have signed up for Affordable Care Act health plans, which falls short of the 1.5 million people who signed up in the first 9 days last year; new research has found that in states with lax gunshot laws, children are twice as likely to die from gunshot wounds compared with states with stricter laws.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar declares a public health emergency in California over ongoing wildfires; a new formulary from Express Scripts will encourage drug makers to move away from paying rebates and instead keep list prices low; part of Oscar Health’s expansion efforts has brought the insurer to Florida, but the company has said its efforts are being “stymied” by Florida Blue.

A law overhauling how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) allows patients to seek outside care is falling behind in implementation; new government guidelines about physical activity say adults need a minimum of 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity physical activity, or at least 22 minutes a day; more judges around the country are mandating outpatient psychiatric interventions, including therapy and medication, instead of hospitalizations.

A landmark moment in the world’s efforts to respond to the Ebola crisis is set to begin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as clinical trials of an experimental therapy begin; after the National Rifle Association (NRA) posted a mocking tweet to physicians about gun violence, doctors responded in kind on Twitter; House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said she is "staying on as Speaker" to protect the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The FDA approved revefenacin (Yupelri), the first once-a-day nebulized bronchodilator for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The FDA is planning on imposing severe restrictions on the sale of e-cigarette products as soon as next week; marijuana was a hit with voters in the midterm election; HHS is recommending a ban on the chemicals in kratom that would make the herb as illegal as heroin or LSD.

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The Trump administration will allow religious groups, nonprofits, small businesses, and some other employers to opt out of providing birth control coverage for their employees; an analysis of over 50 million family trees finds that genes have little impact on life span; and women who wake up early have a lower risk of developing breast cancer.

Healthcare was a key factor in the 2018 midterm elections and gave Democrats the ability to stop the Trump administration’s efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and make some other changes to Medicare and Medicaid, but did not produce enough of a victory to advance major changes; voters in 2 states rejected 2 separate union-backed ballot measures that would have affected dialysis clinics and hospitals; in California, Governor-elect Gavin Newsom campaigned on a platform of single-payer health insurance overhaul, but now that he’s won, he and the Democratic-controlled legislature will take a slower approach.

A report from the President’s Cancer Panel has found that use of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines remain low, despite improvements; Novartis believes that its new gene therapy to treat spinal muscular atrophy could cost $4 million to $5 million per patient; the chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society (ACS) resigned over concerns regarding controversial fundraising partnerships.

Sandoz announced it will no longer pursue FDA approval for its proposed biosimilar rituximab; when it comes time to set the clocks back an hour for daylight saving time, hospitals opt for paper records during the night shift to compensate for challenges with electronic health records; new research on the effectiveness of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines finds little evidence that these products will relieve a child’s symptoms when sick.

The move comes more than 10 months after the state's governor first called for selling non-compliant plans.

Using antibodies from llamas, scientists reported that they have made a huge step forward in creating a universal flu vaccine; under a draft proposal in Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s office, US diplomats could be prohibited from using the phrases “sexual and reproductive health” and “comprehensive sexuality education"; the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) 5-star rating scale for its hospitals is a mystery to former officials at the agency and experts in healthcare metrics.

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An angiotensin II receptor blocker that is used to treat high blood pressure has been recalled due to a contamination that carries a potential cancer risk; with insurance companies considering precision medicine experimental, the high cost of a promising area of medicine may be out of reach for patients; instead of using a local pharmacy, employees of the state of Utah could be paid to go to Mexico to fill their prescriptions.

Enrollment in Affordable Care Act plans is unlikely to increase in 2019; the outgoing Republican governor of Idaho has announced his support for expanding Medicaid; a new state audit has found that California spent $4 billion on people who were ineligible for Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program.

The National Institutes of Health is suspending human testing of an experimental, taxpayer-funded, stem cell trial for heart failure in light of emerging questions about the scientific foundation for the treatment; Republicans are working to shift the national healthcare conversation by telling seniors their Medicare coverage may be in danger; the drive to tighten immigration rules is stirring concerns in the medical profession about how it will affect the future supply of doctors in the United States.

A small biotech company is moving toward FDA approval with a pill it believes can lower bad cholesterol at a discount to other medicines; most of the nation’s hospitals have so far avoided offering any form of addiction medicine to patients in the emergency department, but in Maryland, that is starting to change; since 2010, nearly 90 rural hospitals have shut their doors, and there are consequences for residents and different reasons why this is happening.

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Fewer than 4 out of 10 adults received influenza vaccinations last winter, the lowest rate in 7 seasons; methamphetamine use is rising across the United States, but it is overshadowed by opioids and fatal overdoses; tobacco giant Altria will stop selling e-cigarette “pods” and will pull almost all its flavored products from the market in an attempt to help curb teen vaping.

A new single-dose influenza vaccine that can be taken in the first days after symptoms of the flu start to appear has been approved; 102 million Americans with pre-existing conditions could be affected if protections under the Affordable Care Act are repealed; a federal advisory panel is recommending homeless individuals be routinely vaccinated for hepatitis A to prevent disease outbreaks, which have increased since 2016.

The Trump administration will allow small employers to use tax-free health reimbursement accounts (HRAs) to provide health coverage to workers; the number of fatal drug overdoses nationwide has fallen for 6 consecutive months; a pilot study with a small sample size of 8 people discovered that microplastics can make their way into the human gut.

The Trump administration is considering narrowly defining gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth; Medicare for All and single payer healthcare are suddenly popular, but what it means to the politicians embracing the terms are not exactly known; the Trump administration is expected to try to expand religious and moral exemptions for covering birth control in employer health insurance plans.

Health experts are questioning the practice of allowing private insurers to manage public Medicaid contracts; doctors and scientists are urging a halt to a taxpayer-funded, $63 million medical trial based in part on the work of prominent Harvard Medical School scientist Piero Anversa; a Michigan pharmacist who refused to refill a woman’s miscarriage medication because he claimed he was a “good Catholic male” is no longer with Meijer.

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UnitedHealthcare has announced it is listing 3 biosimilars as preferred drugs; Express Scripts has decided it will cover Eli Lilly’s and Amgen’s migraine drugs and will not cover Teva Pharmaceutical's drug; black men are more likely to get and die from prostate cancer compared with white men, but they are underrepresented in prostate cancer research because of a general distrust of the healthcare system.

The FDA has developed 2 lists with molecular targets to increase drug development for pediatric cancers; there have been at least 62 cases in 2018 of children who have been affected by a rare paralyzing illness; a recent survey has found that health insurance has failed in its basic function of protecting people from financial ruin in case of costly health issues.