First Edition: April 23, 2018
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Texas Disability Groups Want A Voice At The Table In Gun Debate
A disability rights group in Texas sent out a survey last month, trying to figure out how many of its members became disabled due to gun violence. The group, ADAPT of Texas, said it’s an effort to collect data that will help inform Texas lawmakers on how they legislate guns. Bob Kafka is an organizer with ADAPT and said that when gun violence happens, particularly mass shootings, the public tends to have a pretty limited discussion about what happens to the victims. (Lopez, 4/23)
The Associated Press:
It's Time For Trump's Doctor To Be Examined, For VA Chief
Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson was tending to grievously injured military personnel in Iraq when he was summoned to Washington to interview for a job he barely knew existed. He didn't see a way to get there. "I thought this was it — this is where the road stops," he told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal this month. Instead, Jackson managed to catch a ride on a transport plane that steered the Levelland, Texas, native toward some of the loftiest corridors of power. (Kellman, 4/23)
The Hill:
Trump VA Pick Faces Challenge To Convince Senators He’s Ready For Job
President Trump's pick to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs is hearing skepticism from senators about his ability to lead the sprawling and often-troubled agency ahead of what could be a contentious confirmation hearing next week. Ronny Jackson, who now serves as the White House physician, has no experience running a bureaucracy like the VA, which has left senators in both parties questioning whether President Trump put personal ties above qualifications in making the nomination. (Weixel, 4/21)
The New York Times:
Trump Plan Would Cut Back Health Care Protections For Transgender People
The Trump administration says it plans to roll back a rule issued by President Barack Obama that prevents doctors, hospitals and health insurance companies from discriminating against transgender people. Advocates said the change could jeopardize the significant gains that transgender people have seen in access to medical care, including gender reassignment procedures — treatments for which many insurers denied coverage in the past. (Pear, 4/21)
The Hill:
Trump Admin Announces Abstinence-Focused Overhaul Of Teen Pregnancy Program
The Trump administration will shift federal funding aimed at reducing teen pregnancy rates to programs that teach abstinence. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Friday the availability of grants through the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, (TPPP) a grant program created under former President Obama that funds organizations and programs working to reduce teen pregnancy rates. (Hellmann, 4/20)
The Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Hospital Firms, Hungry To Expand, Look To China
ProMedica , a nonprofit operating more than a dozen hospitals across Rust Belt communities in Ohio and Michigan, is looking to a new market to bolster its anemic growth: China. Executives and staff from the Toledo-based nonprofit have been touring hospitals in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chengdu, exploring possible deals in the world’s second-largest economy that they hope will help offset weak revenue growth at home. “We have to look outside our traditional world if we’re going to survive,” said Randy Oostra, president and chief executive of the hospital group. “The economic model is tough” in ProMedica’s domestic markets, where populations are stagnant or declining and where cost pressures and competition are shifting medical care outside of hospitals, he said. (Evans, 4/22)
Stat:
Drug Industry Trade Group Breaks Its Quarterly Record On Lobbying Spending
PhRMA, the drug industry’s big trade group, spent nearly $10 million lobbying the federal government in the first three months of this year — its most on record for a single quarter. The trade group’s spending has risen annually since 2014 — a sign of just how powerful a player the drug industry has become in Washington. In 1999 and 2000, it spent less each year on lobbying than it did over the past quarter. (Robbins and Mershon, 4/20)
Bloomberg:
Drugmaker Group Sets Lobbying Record
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America spent $9.96 million on federal lobbying, according to disclosures filed Friday with the government. The trade group increased its spending by nearly $2 million from the same period in 2017, when it also set a quarterly record. Bayer Corp., AbbVie Inc., Sanofi US, Novo Nordisk A/S and Celgene Corp all reached new highs in their spending as well. Spending on lobbying was reported twice a year until 2008. (Brody and Edney, 4/20)
Stat:
Trump's FTC Expected To Take Tough Stand On Drug Industry
They are little-known lawyers and professionals — with almost no experience in health care. And yet they are poised to play an outsized role in the federal effort to bring down high prescription drug prices. The five men and women are in line to take charge of the Federal Trade Commission — a role that will let them decide whether to investigate companies over potentially anti-competitive tactics, whether to block mergers or acquisitions, and whether to demand more information about secretive business practices. (Mershon, 4/23)
Stat:
NIH Is Sued For Plans To Award License For CAR-T Therapy To Gilead
Apatient advocacy group has filed a lawsuit to block the federal government from awarding an exclusive license to Gilead Sciences (GILD) for an experimental cancer therapy, arguing that the potential for a high price may preclude access to many Americans. At issue is a CAR-T treatment, which relies on the immune system to attack cancer cells. Last December, the National Institutes of Health indicated plans to award a worldwide exclusive license to a CAR-T treatment that is being developed with taxpayer funds to Kite Pharma, which had recently been purchased by Gilead. (Silverman, 4/20)
The Washington Post:
Drug Abuse Education Takes On Urgency In Ohio Opioid Crisis
Ohio, a state where 4,329 people died of drug overdoses in 2016, a death rate second only to neighboring West Virginia, is taking the fight against the opioid epidemic into the classroom with a new style of drug-abuse-prevention education. Ohio’s plan, controversial in a state that prizes local control over schools, features lessons that begin in kindergarten. Instead of relying on scare tactics about drug use or campaigns that recite facts about drugs’ toll on the body, teachers are encouraged to discuss real-life situations and ways to deal with them and to build the social and emotional skills that experts say can reduce the risk of substance abuse. (Vander Schaaff, 4/22)
Stat:
How Vaccine Experts Weigh Benefits For Many Against Risks For A Few
Vaccines protect huge numbers of people, generally children, from serious diseases, but in rare cases, certain vaccines can tragically cause harm. How do those scientists figure out which to value more? This dilemma was at the center of last week’s decision by an expert committee advising the World Health Organization to sharply scale back use of a controversial vaccine called Dengvaxia, the first to protect against dengue infection. (Branswell, 4/23)
The New York Times:
Ethicists Call For More Scrutiny Of ‘Human-Challenge’ Trials
Members of a government ethics panel have renewed their criticisms of a controversial study in which volunteers are to be deliberately infected with the Zika virus. In an article published this month in the journal Science, panel members called for the establishment of ethics committees to review the design of such human-challenge studies, which are sometimes used to test vaccines. (Baumgaertner, 4/20)
Los Angeles Times:
Decoding Your Baby's DNA: It Can Be Done. But Should It Be?
Maverick Coltrin entered the world a seemingly healthy 8-pound boy. But within a week, he was having seizures that doctors could neither explain nor control. They warned that he would probably die within a few months.“I remember my world just came crashing down,” said his mother, Kara Coltrin, 24. In October, Coltrin and her husband, Michael, began taking hundreds of photos of their son, hooked up to tubes and his skin purplish gray. Family rushed to San Diego from across the country to meet him before he died. (Karlamangla, 4/22)
The New York Times:
Infinitesimal Odds: A Scientist Finds Her Child’s Rare Illness Stems From The Gene She Studies
By the time her mother received the doctor’s email, Yuna Lee was already 2 years old, a child with a frightening medical mystery. Plagued with body-rattling seizures and inconsolable crying, she could not speak, walk or stand. “Why is she suffering so much?” her mother, Soo-Kyung Lee, anguished. Brain scans, genetic tests and neurological exams yielded no answers. But when an email popped up suggesting that Yuna might have a mutation on a gene called FOXG1, Soo-Kyung froze. (Belluck, 4/23)
NPR:
Teens Cyberbully Themselves As A New Type Of Self-Harm
During the stressful teen years, most adolescents experience emotional highs and lows, but for more than 20 percent of teenagers, their worries and sad feelings turn into something more serious, like anxiety or depression. Studies show that 13 percent to 18 percent of distressed teens physically injure themselves via cutting, burning or other forms of self-harm as a way to cope with their pain. Recent research and clinical psychologists now suggest that some adolescents are engaging in a newer form of self-aggression — digital self-harm. They're anonymously posting mean and derogatory comments about themselves on social media. (Fraga, 4/21)
The Washington Post:
Playing Is Good For Grown-Up Brain And Body
Want to feel better, smarter and healthier? It might be time to get serious about play. TED’s list of talks about the importance of play is a good place to start. It includes nine talks that might persuade you to take a more lighthearted approach to life — and help you reap the health benefits of your new attitude. The free videos offered by TED have a reputation for tackling serious subjects — topics such as work, technology, psychology. This collection is a bit different. Each expert approaches play with TED’s signature smarts but keeps the focus on fun. (Blakemore, 4/21)
The Washington Post:
How To Understand Survival Odds
“So how long do I have to live?” A reader with cancer recently sent me a letter with this question, which on its face seems simple enough: “My oncologist told me that the five-year survival rate for my cancer is 45 percent. What does this actually mean for me? ”I am familiar with this question from my own cancer diagnosis three decades ago, when a doctor gave me 10-year survival odds that were dismal. The first two questions racing through someone’s mind after getting a cancer diagnosis are “Is this terminal?” and “How long do I have?” (Petrow, 4/21)
NPR:
Cannabis Extract's Popularity Gets Ahead Of The Science
As more states legalize marijuana, there's growing interest in a cannabis extract — cannabidiol, also known as CBD. It's marketed as a compound that can help relieve anxiety — and, perhaps, help ease aches and pains, too. Part of the appeal, at least for people who don't want to get high, is that CBD doesn't have the same mind-altering effects as marijuana, since it does not contain THC, the psychoactive component of the plant. (Aubrey, 4/23)
The Wall Street Journal:
Many In Middle Age Have Arthritis—They Just Don’t Know It
It may start as a stiff knee, soreness in the hips, or swelling in the fingers that makes it hard to hold a coffee cup. The joint disease arthritis is on the rise in the U.S., driven largely by the aging of the baby-boom generation and the obesity epidemic. But while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 54 million adults have been told by a doctor they have the condition, new research suggests a much higher prevalence—especially in the 45-64 age group—totaling more than 91 million adults. (Landro, 4/22)
The Wall Street Journal:
The Common Advice For Those With Thinning Bones Could Be All Wrong
Clare Tuke never considered herself athletic. But when thinning bones from osteoporosis led to a series of vertebral fractures, she searched the Web for a remedy—and found a local scientist-run clinic proposing a regimen of strenuous weight training. At first the idea of lifting heavy barbells was “absolutely terrifying” given her fragile bones, says Mrs. Tuke, a 54-year-old nurse from Brisbane, Australia. But a year after beginning a twice-a-week routine, Mrs. Tuke says a recent scan shows her bone density is “going in the right direction,” and she loves how much stronger she feels in daily tasks, such as opening jars. (Johannes, 4/22)
The Wall Street Journal:
Research Finds Volunteering Can Be Good For Your Health
If it is Monday, you’ll find Phil Diamond in New York teaching photography to seniors. On Tuesdays he’s coaching small-business owners through a nonprofit. Other days, he helps in a photography class, mentors teens, visits homebound seniors and volunteers at a Harlem jazz museum. Mr. Diamond, 73, worked six days a week in the bridal-gown business before retiring in 2009. He sees the 15 to 20 hours he now volunteers each week as necessary. “You have to interact with people,” he says, “or your brain really dries up.” (Gallegos, 4/22)
The New York Times:
New York To Expand Use Of Doulas To Reduce Childbirth Deaths
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Sunday a series of initiatives aimed at addressing a disturbingly high rate of maternal mortality among black women, who are four times more likely to die in childbirth than white women in New York State, according to a study released last year. The plan includes a pilot program that will expand Medicaid coverage for doulas, birth coaches who provide women with physical and emotional support during pregnancy and childbirth. (Ferre-Sadurni, 4/22)
The Associated Press:
NY Lawmakers To Hold Hearing On Physician-Assisted Suicide
State lawmakers in New York are examining a legislative proposal to give terminally ill people the right to seek life-ending medication from their physician. The Assembly's Health Committee is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the measure Monday in Albany. A second hearing is planned for May 3 in New York City. A proposal now before lawmakers would require two doctors to sign off on the use of life-ending medication. It has been proposed for years but has yet to receive a vote in the Legislature. (4/21)