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https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2018/06/lets-order-a-round-of-respect-for-both-patients-and-physicians.html To complement Aaron Lacy’s post on treating colleagues with respect, I’d like to expand that concept to include treating patients with respect too. That means if a patient says she’s freezing, and adding insult to injury, has been sick as well, adjust the thermostat a little, please, even if you as the doctor isn’t cold. […]
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DEA Agent: Pot Still Illegal Despite State, City Laws https://www.newsmax.com/politics/dea-enforce-marijuana-canibus/2018/06/10/id/865248/ The Drug Enforcement Administration will keep enforcing the federal law against marijuana — despite New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s reported plan to decriminalize pot, a federal agent declared. In an interview with radio host John Catsimatidis aired Sunday on “The Cats Roundtable,” James Hunt, […]
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www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2018/6/11/sessions-overdoses-finally-started-to-decline There are signs – very tentative signs – that the U.S. is making progress in the so-called opioid epidemic. Attorney General Jeff Sessions alluded to some of them in a speech on Friday. “New CDC preliminary data show that last fall, drug overdoses finally started to decline. Heroin overdose deaths declined steadily from […]
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https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/surgeon-general-talks-new-campaign-to-combat-opioid-crisis-1250753603836
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Pharmacy benefit managers target opioid crisis www.capitolweekly.net/pharmacy-benefit-managers-opioid-crisis/ “One critical step championed by PBMs is requiring electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) of controlled substances in Medicare. E-prescribing of controlled substances helps ensure each prescription is written by a legitimate prescriber and filled by a legitimate pharmacy.” H.R. 4275: Empowering Pharmacists in the Fight Against Opioid Abuse Act https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/4275 Summary: This bill […]
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Like you, we woke up to the news that celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain had taken his own life. Days earlier, we’d awoken to similar headlines about fashion designer Kate Spade. Someone not surprised by the news? The Centers for Disease Control. On Thursday, the CDC released a study that found suicide rates have increased in […]
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https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/hepatitis/73368 Highest among commercial insurers, increased over study period More than a third of chronic hepatitis C (HCV) patients were denied access to direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment by their insurance provider, researchers found. Among patients prescribed DAAs, 35.5% (95% CI 34.5%-36.5%) had their prescriptions denied by their insurer, reported Charitha Gowda, MD, of Ohio State […]
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Half of hepatitis C patients with private insurance denied life-saving drugs https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-06-hepatitis-patients-private-denied-life-saving.html The number of insurance denials for life-saving hepatitis C drugs among patients with both private and public insurers remains high across the United States, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania reported in a new study published in […]
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FDA Commissioner Says FDA Will Listen to Chronic Pain Patients About Opioids www.themighty.com/2018/05/fda-chronic-pain-patients-opioids/ In a blog post published on Monday, Scott Gottlieb, the Food and Drug Administration commissioner, said the FDA is listening to opioid-related concerns from patients with chronic pain. “We’ve heard the concerns expressed by these individuals about having continued access to necessary […]
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https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/opioids/73289 After Medicaid Privatization, Steep Cuts in Care The Dallas Morning News launched a series they’re calling “Pain and Profit,” which looks at how companies paid by the state to handle Medicaid issues fall short. The first installment explored the case of a baby named D’ashon Morris who needs assistance to breathe. In the months […]
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