Category: Health Industry

The Man Who Sold America On Vitamin D — And Profited In The Process

The doctor most responsible for turning the sunshine supplement into a billion-dollar juggernaut has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the vitamin D industry, according to government records and interviews.

Babies Dependent On Opioids Need Touch, Not Tech

One doctor in Kansas works to make sure every hospital in the state can provide the soft start, ideally with their mothers, that babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome need.

Hospitals Battle For Control Over Fast-Growing Heart-Valve Procedure

Medicare limits payments for valve replacement via a catheter to hospitals with large numbers of heart procedures. But smaller facilities are crying foul.

Purdue Pharma’s Sales Pitch Downplayed Risks Of Opioid Addiction

Through a widely circulated brochure and a videotape of testimonials, the maker of OxyContin stressed patients’ right to opioid treatment for pain.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ See You In Court!

In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Alice Ollstein of Talking Points Memo, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner talk about a spate of lawsuits involving the Affordable Care Act, as well as the latest in state and federal efforts regarding the Medicaid program for the poor.

Energy-Hog Hospitals: When They Start Thinking Green, They See Green

Some hospitals have taken steps to be more energy-efficient. Though at times these changes barely represent rounding errors in their budgets, comprehensive efforts are beginning to make a difference.

Financial Ties That Bind: Studies Often Fall Short On Conflict-Of-Interest Disclosures

A new study in JAMA Surgery finds that a large sample of published medical research failed to disclose details on the financial relationships between medical device makers and physicians. Changes in the disclosure process could close this loop.

States Leverage Federal Funds To Help Insurers Lower Premiums

Even as it chips away at Obamacare, the Trump administration is solidly behind state-based initiatives to cover high-cost patients, known as “reinsurance” programs. It approved two more last week. [ED NOTE: JULY 30-31]

Voters To Settle Dispute Over Ambulance Employee Break Times

Unlike most other workers, private-ambulance employees are frequently called away from their meals and rest breaks to respond to emergency calls, but there’s no law explicitly allowing that practice. Proposition 11 would change that, but some say its real purpose is to get California’s largest ambulance company out of costly litigation.

Trump Administration Sinks Teeth Into Paring Down Drug Prices, On 5 Key Points

Instead of waiting for congressional action, federal regulators are looking at a series of actions to spur competition and drive down the cost of medicines.