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What We’re Reading: Overdose Drug Cost; Suicide Screening Not Recommended; NY to Protect Providers Mailing Abortion Pills
White House executives met with opioid overdose reversal drug company representatives Tuesday in an attempt to resolve concerns around the drugs’ costs; a national panel of officials recommends that most adults be screened for depression and anxiety, but not suicide; New York passed a law to protect abortion providers who send abortion pills to states with bans.
White House, Pharmaceutical Companies Meet to Discuss Overdose Drug Cost
White House executives met with pharmaceutical company representatives Tuesday to try to address concerns about the affordability of overdose-reversal treatments that the Biden administration sees as vital to saving lives during the country’s explosive opioid crisis, reported The Washington Post. The meeting was conducted with representatives from 10 companies, including Emergent BioSolutions, which will begin selling over the counter overdose-reversal medication naloxone in late summer 2023. Emergent has been criticized for its plans to sell the nasal spray for “less than $50” per 2-dose kit, which some observers have said is too expensive.
USPSTF Does Not Recommend Suicide Screening
The US Preventive Services Task Force is holding fast to its recommendation that health care providers screen most adults for major depression, but to the disappointment of mental health advocates, it will not recommend broad suicide risk screening, according to STAT News. The panel also now recommends that all adults aged 18 to 64 years be screened for anxiety. The updated guidance comes during what President Joe Biden, government agencies, and more have called a mental health crisis across the country. In 2021, suicide was the second leading cause of death in people aged 10 to 14 and 20 to 34 years.
NY Passes Bill to Protect Abortion Providers Sending Pills to Banned States
The New York State Legislature granted final approval Tuesday to legislation that gives legal protection for New York doctors to prescribe and mail abortion pills to patients in states with illegal abortion, reported The New York Times. The bill now goes to Governor Kathy Hochul, who has signaled support. This measure, in addition to similar new laws in other states with Democratic legislatures, could considerably increase medication abortion access by permitting more patients in states that have abortion restrictions to end pregnancies at home. The bill says that New York courts and officials will not cooperate if a state with an abortion ban tries to penalize a New York health care provider, as long as they follow New York law.
Urticaria Diagnosis Challenged by Overlapping Pruritic Skin Conditions
April 23rd 2025Urticaria is complicated to diagnose by its symptomatic overlap with other skin conditions and the frequent misclassification in literature of distinct pathologies like vasculitic urticaria and bullous pemphigus.
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New Research Challenges Assumptions About Hospital-Physician Integration, Medicare Patient Mix
April 22nd 2025On this episode of Managed Care Cast, Brady Post, PhD, lead author of a study published in the April 2025 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care®, challenges the claim that hospital-employed physicians serve a more complex patient mix.
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Personalized Care Key as Tirzepatide Use Expands Rapidly
April 15th 2025Using commercial insurance claims data and the US launch of tirzepatide as their dividing point, John Ostrominski, MD, Harvard Medical School, and his team studied trends in the use of both glucose-lowering and weight-lowering medications, comparing outcomes between adults with and without type 2 diabetes.
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ACOs’ Focus on Rooting Out Fraud Aligns With CMS Vision Under Oz
April 23rd 2025Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are increasingly playing the role of data sleuths as they identify and report trends of anomalous billing in hopes of salvaging their shared savings. This mission dovetails with that of CMS, which under the new administration plans to prioritize rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse.
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