A Senate hearing will 'discuss' drug prices. Again.

Back in 2019, when the Senate Finance Committee called seven drug industry CEOs to testify, it seemed like proof that Washington was within striking distance of actually reining in the industry’s high prices. “It’s past time to get beyond the excuses and make prescription drugs affordable,” Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the committee, told drugmakers that day. Tomorrow, almost exactly three years later, Wyden will chair another hearing on prescription drug pricing. He's billing the hearing as “an opportunity for members to discuss how high drug prices have impacted seniors and families in their states and identify solutions” — even though lawmakers have had more than a dozen such hearings to “discuss” high drug prices over the past three years. STAT’s Nicholas Florko tallies what’s at stake in STAT+.

U.S. lags other wealthy countries in primary care

Percentage of adults who have a regular doctor or place of care and have been with them for five years or more. (Commonwealth Fund)

A new report on access to primary care in 11 wealthy countries puts the U.S. behind in access to care, coordination of care, and continuing relationships to providers. U.S. adults are the least likely to have a primary care physician, place of care, or a longstanding relationship with a provider, the Commonwealth Fund analysis out today says. Access to after-hours or home care is the lowest in the U.S. and only half of U.S. doctors reported coordination with specialists and hospitals. U.S. primary care providers are the most likely to ask patients about their social services needs (housing, food security, transportation, and whether they can pay for utilities) and to screen for domestic violence, social isolation, or loneliness. While that may seem like good news, it probably reflects more hardship and a weaker safety net, the report says.

State laws did little to change opioid prescribing

Since the opioid crisis began, lawmakers have focused on the prescriptions doctors write, which ballooned fourfold from 1999 to 2012. Heroin and fentanyl now dominate opioid overdoses deaths, but for many people, their first opioids came from their doctors. A new analysis in Annals of Internal Medicine asks if laws enacted by 13 states made a difference in prescriptions for people whose pain did not come from cancer. The answer is no: Based on insurance claims in states with laws limiting opioid dose and duration, regulating “pill mills,” or requiring doctors to join a prescribing database or seek approval before prescribing, the researchers found a less than 1% change in prescriptions written. “The decreasing volume of opioid prescribing in the United States may be driven more by shifting clinical guidelines, professional norms, or other factors than by these laws,” the authors write.

Closer look: Patients are flocking back to hospitals — for now

A nurse in Grants Pass, Ore., waits for her next Covid-19 patient to be brought from the ER during a Covid surge in September 2021. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

Hospitals and outpatient clinics filled up with patients early last year, as vaccines and the waning pandemic allowed people to venture out of their homes. Providers anticipate treating more people than ever this year as they catch up with backlogged procedures and appointments, but the coronavirus could still change that trajectory in an instant. Many hospitals were on pace to return to or exceed pre-pandemic levels in 2021 — until the Delta and Omicron variants infected large swaths of Americans and forced facilities to prioritize Covid patients and postpone less-urgent care, as they did in 2020. Hospitals registered more admissions, surgeries, emergency room visits, and outpatient visits in 2021 than 2020, but last year’s volumes were slightly behind 2019, according to a STAT analysis. However, people admitted in 2021 stayed in the hospital longer and were sicker — boosting revenues. STAT’s Bob Herman has more in STAT+.

Depression and anxiety track with Covid severity — with some exceptions

The longer the pandemic lasts, the better for studying its long-term effects on mental health. New research in Lancet Public Health exploring problems after Covid-19 infections not requiring hospitalization found ties between illness severity and depression or anxiety. Among nearly 10,000 adults in six European countries diagnosed between February 2020 and August 2021, most people with mild cases said their symptoms of depression or anxiety lessened after two months. But those who were bedridden by Covid for a week were more likely to say they’d felt depression or anxiety in the 16 months after they developed Covid. Oddly, people with mild Covid had lower rates of depression and anxiety than people in a control group who never had Covid, perhaps because they felt relieved to rejoin a more normal life, the authors surmise, while non-infected people continued to worry.

Trends in children's health cause concern

Meanwhile, a JAMA Pediatrics study tracking trends in children’s health from 2016 to 2020, including the first year of the pandemic, looks at Covid and mental health through a different lens. Compared to the previous five years, the national analysis picked up rising levels of anxiety (up 27%), depression (up 24%), and behavioral problems (up 21%) along with drops in physical activity (down 18%), preventive care doctors’ visits (down 9%), and their parents’ mental well-being (down 5%). Kids were also buffeted by their parents’ job changes or losses (up 34%) after child care difficulties. “This study adds to the growing literature pointing to an exacerbation of challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic,” the authors write.

What to read around the web today

The war puts Ukraine's clinical trials — and patients — in jeopardy. Wired
Novel malaria treatment for children receives first approval. New York Times
Armed with heaps of cash and a veteran team, an upstart looks to disrupt DNA sequencing. STAT+
Merck’s Covid-19 pill heavily used so far despite concerns. Wall Street Journal
Combination treatment from Nektar and Bristol Myers Squibb fails to benefit patients with melanoma, study show. STAT+