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José Baselga, MD, who resigned his position as the chief medical officer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center after failing to disclose millions of dollars in payments from drug companies, is joining AstraZeneca as its head of research and development in oncology; the end of the Affordable Care Act tax penalty on those without health insurance could roll back recent coverage gains for Hispanics, young people, the healthy, and the poor; rural hospitals are forming partnerships with home health agencies in order to survive.

Mental health advocates are lobbying Congress to help them get schizophrenia classified as a brain disease like Parkinson or Alzheimer disease, instead of as a mental illness; the annual Consumer Electronics Show, which begins this week in Las Vegas, has become an increasingly popular place for health technology firms looking for publicity in the $7 trillion global medical industry; the Trump administration warned scientists doing biomedical research at American universities that Chinese spies may be trying to steal and exploit information.

While a common genetic mutation among patients with polycythemia vera (PV) is V617F in exon 14 of the Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) gene—which activates the tyrosine kinase—it has been reported that patients with V617F-negative PV have mutations in exon 12 of JAK2. Exon 12 mutations are involved in approximately 3% of patients with PV, and these patients often have reduced erythroblasts in the bone marrow and hypercellular bone marrow.

This week, the top managed care news included a government shutdown affects healthcare; Democrats take control of the House; and The American Journal of Managed Care® names its most influential person in healthcare.

A review of thousands of FDA inspection records, recalls, warning letters, and lawsuits showed how drugs that are poorly manufactured or contaminated can reach patients; biosimilars have the potential to deliver substantial savings to the healthcare system, but only insofar as they are adopted and used in clinical practice; Maine’s new Democratic Governor, Janet Mills, ordered the state to implement Medicaid expansion with an executive order, calling for state health officials to make the necessary changes and work with the Trump administration.

January 4 marks the anniversary of the Orphan Drug Act, which was enacted in 1983. Since the law was passed, it has successfully encouraged more orphan drug development, but some now say drug makers are manipulating the system and the incentives need to be revisited.