For many of us who live in cities or suburbs, doctors and hospitals are plentiful and nearby. That’s not true for much of rural America, where medical care can be harder to come by. New broadband technology could help bridge that gap, providing care to people everywhere, but it’s of little use if the folks who need it most aren’t able to get online. [More]
Pharma Medicine
FDA Requests Opioid Painkiller Be Removed From The Market, Citing Abuse Risks, HIV Outbreak
By 6.8.17
The Food and Drug Administration has asked Endo Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Opana ER, an extended-release semi-synthetic opioid painkiller, to remove the drug from the market, after the agency concluded that the drug’s potential for abuse outweighed its therapeutic value. [More]
Where Can I Get A Contact Lens Exam Online?
By 6.8.17
People who wear contact lenses face the same ritual, annually or however long they can stretch it out: They have to visit their optometrist or ophthalmologist to have their vision checked and their eyes examined before they can buy more lenses. A few startups are out to change this routine by giving users an eye exam on their computer or smartphone. But is that legal? It depends on where you live. [More]
Trump Administration Will Allow Nursing Homes To Strip Residents Of Legal Rights
June 7, 2017
The Trump administration has proposed revising a rule that hasn’t even gone into effect yet, with the goal of making sure that nursing home residents and their loved ones can not sue these long-term care facilities in the event that something horrible happens. [More]
Public Outcry Hasn’t Actually Decreased The Price Of EpiPens
By 6.5.17
Remember last year around back-to-school time, when the public focused its ire on drug company Mylan for charging hundreds of dollars for $1 worth of the drug epinephrine in each EpiPen brand auto-injector? While that generated plenty of bad publicity for Mylan, turns out Mylan doesn’t actually care. [More]
These 101 Words May Have Pushed Opioids Into Dangerous Popularity
By 6.2.17
As Americans around the country battle opioid addiction, and health officials and lawmakers try to find a way to stem the rising tide of painkiller overdose deaths, everyone is looking for answers as to how we got here. Now, a new report says five simple sentences made up of just 101 words on addiction to narcotic painkillers in a 1980 medical journal may have a lot to do with it. [More]
Out-Of-Order Birth Control Pills Not Great At Preventing Pregnancy, Prompt Recall
By 6.1.17
As anyone who’s ever used an oral contraceptive knows, it’s important to take the pills in the right order, because each dose is different: Some pills contain hormones and some are inert and don’t do anything. Mixing those up could mean the difference between remaining unpregnant and getting pregnant. To prevent the latter, the maker of one birth control product is recalling pills that are packaged incorrectly. [More]
HHS: Taxpayers May Have Overpaid $1.27 Billion For EpiPens
By 5.31.17 — Updated: 6.1.17
Even though drug company Mylan agreed to pay $465 million to quickly settle a Justice Department investigation into allegations that it deliberately overcharged Medicaid for its EpiPen emergency allergy injector, a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services indicates that taxpayers may have overpaid more than twice that amount over ten years. [More]
Ohio: Makers Of OxyContin, Percocet & Other Opioids Helped Fuel Drug Epidemic By Misleading Doctors, Patients
By 5.31.17
As Americans nationwide deal with the ongoing opioid epidemic, which has also resulted in the resurrection of heroin in many parts of the country, the Ohio Attorney General is accusing five major pharmaceutical companies of misleading the public about the safety and benefits of opioid painkillers. [More]
Science Cooks Up Crazy-Powerful Triple-Action Antibiotic; Still Needs To Be Tested On Humans
By 5.31.17
Researchers have monkeyed around with one of the stronger antibiotics available for use on humans, resulting in a drug that fights pathogens in three different ways and is thousands of times more powerful than its current form. However, it still hasn’t been tested on humans, meaning it’s a long way from reaching pharmacy shelves. [More]
CBO: House Obamacare Repeal Plan Leaves 23 Million More Without Insurance; Higher Out-Of-Pocket Costs
By 5.24.17
Nearly three weeks after the House of Representatives narrowly passed the American Health Care Act — a budget resolution intended to repeal and replace much of the Affordable Care Act — the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is estimating that this latest version of the GOP plan will still leave 23 million additional people without insurance, and result in policies that will drive up your out-of-pocket expenses. [More]
42 States And D.C. Settle With Johnson & Johnson Over Adulterated OTC Drugs
By 5.24.17
You might remember multiple recalls of over-the-counter medications from McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, at the beginning of this decade. These included adult and children’s versions of common drugs like Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec, and Benadryl. After settling criminal charges, now the company has now settled allegations that it marketed these products deceptively when claiming that it followed good manufacturing processes. [More]
4 Ways A Drug Company Makes Billions Off Patients With The Rarest Diseases
By 5.24.17
It’s no secret that there’s big money to be had in drugs. The cost of many pharmaceuticals has increased dramatically. But the real money makers for the drug industry aren’t necessarily the commonplace prescriptions for antibiotics of painkillers that most of us know by name; it’s the drugs that are used by very few people, who often need them to survive. [More]
Psychiatric Hospital Chain Reportedly Under Investigation For Allegedly Holding Patients Longer Than Needed
By 5.24.17
Investigators from the FBI and the Department of Defense are reportedly looking into allegations that Universal Health Services — the nation’s largest provider of inpatient psychiatric care, with nearly 200 facilities in 38 states and Puerto Rico — is padding its bottom line by deliberately holding patients longer than is medically necessary. [More]
Pediatricians: Give Your Kids Fruit, Not Fruit Juice
By 5.22.17 — Updated: 5.25.17
Juice is a delicious source of carbohydrates and vitamins, and can be part of a healthy diet, but a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics clarifies infants (under one year old) should not drink fruit juice, and children of all ages should be consuming a lot less of the sweet stuff. [More]
Doctors Say ‘General Hospital’ Made Character Ill Just To Advertise Drug
By 5.19.17
With TV viewers increasingly turning to streaming services or fast-forwarding through commercials on their DVR, product placement is hotter than ever. Reality show contestants have to carry around a company’s mascot for an entire episode; there’s an entire show coming that’s just an ad for an app (it rhymes with “blazzam”). But did a classic soap opera cross the line when a character becomes sick with a rare disease and the show’s partner just happens to make a drug that can treat her ailment? [More]
15 States Go To Court Against Congress In Effort To Save Obamacare Subsidies
By 5.18.17
Three years ago, the House of Representatives sued then Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell in an attempt to end an Affordable Care Act provision that providers federal payments to insurance companies to reduce policyholders’ out-of-pocket costs like co-payments and deductibles. That lawsuit is still being sorted out by a federal appeals court, but with a new White House and HHS Secretary publicly committed to ending these payments, attorneys general from 15 states and the District of Columbia are attempting to step in. [More]
Diabetes Drug Invokana Must Warn Patients About Increased Risk Of Foot, Leg Amputation
By 5.17.17 — Updated: 5.19.17
A new class of diabetes medicines is heavily advertised on TV and shows great promise in getting patients’ blood sugar levels down, but a safety announcement from the Food and Drug Administration warns that one of the drugs, Johnson & Johnson’s Invokana, doubles those patients’ chance of needing parts of their legs or feet amputated. [More]
