Kaiser

• GAO: Smooth And Timely Launch Of Health Exchanges Unsure
• 'Get Covered America' Campaign Launched By Nonproft Group
• State Highlights: Ark. AG Asks State Supreme Court To Uphold J&J Fine; N.Y. Abortion Measure To Get Separate Vote
• Report: Improper Prescription Drug Use Drives Up Cost Of Care
• AMA: Obesity Is A Disease

The Commonwealth Fund

• Evolving Dynamics of Health Insurance Exchange Implementation
  Since the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, the roles of states and the federal government in establishing health insurance exchanges—marketplaces where people can shop for comprehensive and affordable health plans—have evolved considerably. […]
• Reevaluating "Made in America"—Two Cost-Containment Ideas from Abroad
  In this Commonwealth Fund–supported Perspective, researchers examined two strategies for containing health care costs: Germany's bundled payments and Japan's volume-driven pricing. […]
• Primary Care: Our First Line of Defense
  Touching on some of the critical concepts in health care reform, this brief explains why primary care is so important to patients and also to the country's bottom line. […]
• Health Reform & You: A New Publication Series
  In a new series of publications, The Commonwealth Fund explores these and other changes in U.S. health care. Geared toward the non-expert, the briefs provide readers with easy-to-digest information on what the reforms mean and how they will affect patients, providers, and purchasers. […]
• Improving Access to Specialty Care for Medicaid Patients: Policy Issues and Options
  This report examines six Medicaid programs that support innovative ways of delivering specialty care and help ensure specialty referrals for Medicaid patients are appropriate and efficient. […]

RWJF Health Reform News

ACA Litigation Blog

• Update on Coons v. Geithner
  This is the case in the District Court for the District of Arizona, brought by some members of the House of representatives, among others. The plaintiffs made two principal claims in their complaint: (1) that the individual mandate exceeds Congress's enumerated powers, and (2) the Independent Payment Advisory Board (established by the ACA to review Medi […]
• Update on Goudy-Bachman v. HHS
  This is the case in which Judge Conner (M.D. Pennsylvania) declared the minimum coverage provision unconstitutional, and which the United States then appealed to the Third Circuit. The case has been on hold pending the Supreme Court's decisions. Now, the case is clearly done. The only issue raised was whether the mandate exceeded Congress's enumera […]
• The Chief arrives in Malta
  A nice place to avoid any discussion of switches, leaks, fits of pique, or the taxing power. […]
• Update on Physician Hospitals of America v. Sebelius
  This is the case that was argued back on April 3 in the Fifth Circuit, in which there was a brief kerfuffle about whether the administration still respected the federal judiciary's authority to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional. The case actually has nothing to do with the individual mandate. Rather, the plaintiffs challenge ACA §6001, which ext […]
• Update on U.S. Citizens Association v. Sebelius
  This is the case currently pending in the Sixth Circuit which, because it challenges the constitutionality of the minimum coverage provision, was also put on hold pending the Supreme Court's decision. Unlike many other cases, however, this case was not mooted, as the plaintiffs are now challenging the mandate on different grounds. Specifically, the plai […]
• Nothing yet in Kinder v. Geithner
  I just checked the Eighth Circuit's electronic docket through PACER, and there has been no movement on Kinder v. Geithner. This was the case orally argued October 20, and which has been stayed pending the Supreme Court's decision. The district court dismissed the case for lack of standing, but the parties also argued the merits in the court of appe […]
• Cert denied in the four held cases
  As loyal reader Mark Regan has pointed out to me, the Supreme Court quietly on Friday issued an order list denying certiorari in all the ACA cases that were being held for NFIB v. Sebelius, HHS v. Florida, and Florida v. HHS. To refresh your memory, those were:* Thomas More Law Center v. Obama* Virginia v. Sebelius* Liberty University v. Geithner, and* Seven […]
• A second "switch in time"
  By another Justice named Roberts.Jan Crawford, appearing this morning on CBS News's Face the Nation, is reporting this morning what most all of us have suspected. Specifically, two unnamed sources have told her that the Chief Justice switched his vote about a month ago. The basic outlines of this scenario make sense, as they explain a number of the anom […]

NY Times Health Policy

• National Briefing | New England: Condoms Approved for Schools in Massachusetts
  The new policy allows students to obtain condoms, unless parents opt them out, and makes sexual education a required part of school health curricula.     […]
• A.M.A. Recognizes Obesity as a Disease
  The decision by the American Medical Association could have implications for health care companies and the pharmaceutical industry.     […]
• HPV Vaccine Is Credited in Fall of Teenagers’ Infection Rate
  The prevalence of dangerous strains of the human papillomavirus, a principal cause of cervical cancer, has dropped by half in the last decade, officials say.     […]
• Investigation Follows Trail of a Virus in Hospitals
  An international team found that a person can get sick 5.2 days after being exposed to the MERS virus, which has infected 64 people in 38 countries.     […]
• The Consumer: The Heart Perils of Pain Relievers
  Researchers see cardiovascular risks in frequent high doses of some common medicines.     […]

WaPo Health

Fierce Healthcare

• Want a raise, pharma reps? Get into biotech sales instead
  We regularly dig into compensation for top executives, but figures on the biopharma rank and file are harder to come by. So, if you've been waiting for those numbers, here's a taste: MedReps.com has run the numbers on sales people in the medical field. […]
• Boehringer grabs option on Karolinska cardiovascular therapy
  Boehringer Ingelheim has stepped in to pick up an option on a preclinical cardiovascular program under development at Stockholm-based Athera Biotechnologies, which is part of Karolinska Development's biotech portfolio. […]
• NIH backs pharma giants and academics' projects to revive R&D castoffs
  The NIH has advanced an ongoing effort to give castoffs from drug pipelines a new lease on development, committing $12.7 million to fund 9 collaborations between academic and pharma groups to find new treatments in areas of unmet need such as Alzheimer's disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy and schizophrenia. […]
• Sarepta shares spike on upbeat results from DMD extension study
  Shares of Sarepta were boosted this morning after the biotech announced that it reaped another round of promising results from a closely-watched Phase IIb study of its experimental treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. […]
• Analysis: AMA decision on obesity will boost drug R&D in a troubled field
  The AMA's decision to classify obesity as a disease is a direct attempt to persuade biopharma companies to develop new therapies by making it harder for payers to decline coverage while applying pressure on the FDA to approve more drugs faster. And that could provide a serious incentive for the obesity therapies already in development while making the p […]
• Another drug study flops at AstraZeneca as CEO braces for bumpy turnaround
  In an interview with Reuters yesterday, CEO Pascal Soriot warned that turning around AstraZeneca is going to require a lengthy rebuilding effort. […]
• UPDATED: Bluebird IPO busts out, raises $101M as biotech offerings turn red hot
  Biotech IPOs are officially back in vogue. Bluebird bio--set up to develop new gene therapies for orphan diseases--priced its IPO at $17 a share, actually above its range. The biotech raised $101 million after bumping up the number of shares it had on offer. […]
• Booming Alexion breaks ground on $140M global HQ
  Now that Alexion has established its reputation for marketing new drugs for ultra-rare diseases with the success of Soliris, the most expensive drug on the planet, the fast-growing biotech has broken ground on an 11-story facility in downtown New Haven destined to become its new headquarters. […]
• Adamas claims success with new and improved Parkinson’s drug
  Investigators say that the lead drug--ADS-5102, reformulated in a way designed to reduce the severity of side effects that plague patients--demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in levodopa-induced dyskinesia when compared with a placebo after 8 weeks of therapy. […]
• R&D cutbacks loom at Millennium's Cambridge ops
  The new president at Millennium Pharmaceuticals has been trying to maintain a careful balancing act in recent weeks, trying to reassure staffers about Takeda's commitment to the oncology subsidiary while making it clear that cuts are coming. […]

Boston Globe Health Blog

• Prostate cancer screening: too early to say goodbye
  First they try to take away our mammograms, and now this? Last week, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) followed up their October 2011 draft guidelines to recommend, definitively, that doctors not offer routine Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) screening for... […]
• MIT professor wins prestigious chemistry prize
  By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff Robert Langer, a biomedical engineer at MIT best known for his contributions in the fields of tissue engineering and drug delivery, has been named the winner of the 2012 Priestley Medal, a prestigious prize... […]
• Daily check up: New York Times points to Mass. public opinion on health care mandate as a model
  In an editorial today, the Times says support for the national mandate could follow the recent trend in Mass. and grow […]
• Brigham and Women's performs face transplant on woman mauled by chimp
  Jonathan Wiggs / Globe Staff Photo Steve Nash, brother of Charla Nash, who received a full face transplant at Brigham and Women's Hospital late last month, appeared at a press conference today with his wife, Kate. Charla Nash did not... […]
• Poll: Public supports mandatory physical education
  In a survey of 501 Mass. residents, 87 percent said the state should require 30 min. of physical activity each school day […]

LA Times Health Blog

• FDA approves a drug to reverse anticoagulation
  Ever since the drug warfarin was discovered to be a highly effective anti-clotting agent as well as a good rat poison in the early 1950s, it has been the frontline weapon in preventing stroke among those with atrial fibrillation. But its growing use has always raised the specter of dangerously hard-to-stanch bleeding if someone taking it is wounded or bleeds […]
• Alice Waters, school officials talk teaching with food
  Fast food begets a fast-food culture that has seeped into pretty much everything going on in the world today, the chef Alice Waters told a crowd gathered at UCLA for a presentation about edible education. […]
• Government shuts down HIV/AIDS vaccine trial
  In another major setback for efforts to develop a vaccine to boost immunity to the human immunodeficiency virus, known as HIV, a key clinical trial was ordered shut down this week after an independent panel of safety experts found that participants getting the vaccine appeared to be slightly more likely to contract the virus and no better at suppressing its […]

Health Affairs Blog

• Facilitating Quality Improvement: The Future Of The National Quality Forum
  In just a few weeks I will take on the role of president and CEO of the National Quality Forum. I’ve gone on a brief listening tour as I start this new challenge and I’m heartened by the conversations I’ve had. Whether payer, provider, patient or policymaker—everyone has thoughts on what NQF has accomplished, what the current state of quality measurement is […]
• Behind The Health Spending Numbers
  Millions more Americans are expected to join the ranks of the insured in 2014 under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) -- and with the expansion in coverage will come additional expense. Even so, the rate of spending growth in the health sector will head in the opposite direction, continuing a slowdown that has lasted well beyond the 2009 recession. In its eight […]
• The Latest Data On Primary Care Nurse Practitioners And Physicians: Can We Afford To Waste Our Workforce?
  If primary care is the foundation of the evolving health care system in this country, and if access to primary care for all is the goal, then nurse practitioners will be increasingly crucial to achieving these aims. Let’s face it, in our current system, there just aren’t enough primary care providers to meet the nation’s need while containing costs and focus […]
• Collaborative Filtering: An Interim Approach To Identifying Clinical Doppelgängers
  “The real challenge of human biology, beyond the task of finding out how genes orchestrate the construction and maintenance of the miraculous mechanism of our bodies, will lie ahead as we seek to explain how our minds have come to organize thoughts sufficiently well to investigate our own existence.” The initial enthusiasm following the mapping of the human […]
• Implementing Health Reform: Program Integrity And Other Exchange And Market-Reform Issues
  On June 14, 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services released a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) entitled “Program Integrity: Exchange, SHOP, Premium Stabilization Programs, and Market Standards.” Although the proposed rule does include a number of provisions related to program integrity, it covers a great deal more. It resolves a host of outsta […]