The Food and Drug Administration is encouraging drugmakers to develop treatments for stimulant use disorder, hoping to address a major gap in the addiction crisis response.
Driving the news: There aren't any approved treatments to help address addiction to cocaine, meth or prescription stimulants, whose use has surged in recent years — often in combination with opioids.
Moderna said Wednesday it plans to begin a late-stage trial on a combination COVID-flu vaccine later this year in adults 50 years old and above, with an eye toward regulatory approval in 2025.
Why it matters: A combined shot could simplify immunizations while simultaneously fighting two respiratory diseases that require repeated vaccinations.
The strike of more than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers may not wind up being that costly to the California-based health system — but its ultimate resolution could be a sign of things to come for the rest of the industry.
Driving the news: Kaiser health workers and support staff across the system began a three-day strike on Wednesday, with pay raises and staffing levels as major sticking points.
For years, the vast majority of physicians who participated in a Medicare program incentivizing high-quality care got payment bonuses.
But more doctors than ever are expected to soon be penalized for falling short of tougher new Medicare standards, prompting increased questions from providers about the program's impact.
Why it matters: The program, known as the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), wasdesignedto get tougher as providers got more accustomed to tracking quality metrics, but providers say it's causing more trouble than it's worth.
Pharmaceutical giants including Amgen, Merck and Gilead formed a coalition Wednesday to push back against a proposed overhaul of federal antitrust guidelines.
Why it matters: In health care, much of the discussion around the tougher merger rules so far has focused on how they might slow down a wave of provider consolidation. But the new coalition, the Partnership for the U.S. Life Science Ecosystem, argues the antitrust proposal would choke off a key source of innovation, sincemergers and acquisitions are often the only way for biopharma startups to advance their treatments.
The nationwide birth rate fell significantly between 2007 and 2022, dropping from 14.3 births per 1,000 people to 11.1, or nearly 23%, per new CDC data.
Driving the news: It declined particularly dramatically in parts of the West and Southwest, with the greatest drop-offs in Utah (-36.2%), Arizona (-36.1%) and Nevada (-34.0%).
Kaiser Permanente's integrated care model and unique partnership with unions fueled years of labor peace — but that wasn't enough to shield the health system giant from the labor disputes rippling across the industry.
Driving the news: More than 75,000 Kaiser workers across six states and Washington, D.C., are set to begin a three-day walkout Wednesday that union officials say is the largest health care strike in U.S. history.
