The largest health insurers, hospitals and doctors' groups in Rhode Island have agreed to cap their annual spending growth to 3.2% from 2019 to 2022. That's a somewhat aggressive target that is below recent national spending growth.
The nonprofit drug supplier Civica Rx, which aims to supply drugs that are unavailable due to shortage or price, will also try to force transparency about how money flows through the hands of middlemen.
The Trump administration's recent proposal to change the way drug prices are negotiated in Medicare and Medicaid is operating under a tight timeline, and some are skeptical that it can be solidified by 2020.
Why it matters: The new policy would raise Medicare Part D premiums once it takes effect. For now, the premium hike is expected to be announced this fall. But if implementation is delayed, that hike could come in the fall of 2020 — right before the presidential election.
Scientists may have discovered one of the mysterious reasons behind why some children have recurrent tonsillitis (RT) when they have a strep infection, finding there may be a genetic predisposition in some people, according to a study published in Science Translational Medicine Wednesday.
Why it matters: There are an estimated 600 million cases of strep globally and 750,000 tonsillectomies performed in the U.S., mostly caused by RT. It can greatly disrupt children's education, force parents to miss work, and in developing countries without large amounts of antibiotics, it can lead to dangerous acute rheumatic fever or rheumatic heart disease.
The Trump administration is approving Medicaid work requirements but isn't requiring states to assess the impacts of those policies on their programs, the Los Angeles Times' Noam Levey reports. That appears to violate Obama-era rules that govern the program.
The big picture: Of the 17 states that have sought federal permission to add work requirements to their Medicaid programs, 9 have not included estimates of how many people would lose their coverage as a result.
This week, the FDA warned heart doctors that patients who had received a newer type of heart pump, called the Impella RP, were dying at much higher rates in the real world than in initial clinical trials.
Why it matters: Experts have long said medical devices that pose the most risk and treat complex conditions need stricter regulation. But the development around this heart device also shows how a lack of rigorous testing causes confusion about whether devices are beneficial and working as intended.
