Closer Look
Over-the-counter naloxone is here, but will it make a difference in overdose deaths?
Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images
Now that naloxone is available over the counter, two questions loom: Will people be able to afford the overdose-reversal treatment? And will it end up saving lives? So far, only one major plan, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, has said it would cover this critical component of the U.S. response to the opioid crisis. Narcan, a popular nasal spray version of the medication, typically sells for $50 or more for a two-pack. Manufacturers have made higher-dose versions that sell for far more, despite uncertainty about whether they're any more effective.
Asked whether this will make a dent in overdose deaths, Maya Doe-Simkins of the nonprofit Remedy Alliance reminds us "the way that naloxone is distributed in our country is completely outside of the normal medication acquisition process." That means not at the pharmacy but from the hands of laypeople and emergency responders. STAT's Lev Facher explains.
drug prices
Pharma's unhappy about Medicare's drug negotiation. Doctors and hospitals? Crickets. Here's why
For all the Sturm und Drang surrounding Medicare's thunderclap announcement of which 10 drugs' prices it will negotiate with their makers, there's been silence from another sector of health care: doctors and hospitals administering or prescribing the medicines. STAT's Bob Herman wondered why. The American Hospital Association told him it's "not commenting on this issue right now." The AMA? Same. The Federation of American Hospitals? Same again.
Here's an explanation, Bob submits. Medicare already sets their prices. And they're doing fine. "If we advocated for the price-fixing of pharmaceuticals, we have no leg to stand on if we say we don't like price-fixing for physicians," former AMA president and oncologist Barbara McAneny said at an AMA meeting in 2017. And also this: "[Providers] are making money on expensive drugs and don't want that to end," Gerard Anderson, a health economist at Johns Hopkins University, told Bob. Read more.
health outcomes
Female vs. male surgeons, the longer-term story
If your surgeon is female, your chances of a poor post-operative outcome — including death — 90 days to a year later are lower than if your surgeon is male, a new JAMA Surgery study finds. If that sounds familiar, that's because previous research reached a similar conclusion when looking 30 days after common procedures. Of the more than 1 million people in the Canadian study, patients treated by the 2,306 male surgeons were 25% more likely to die within 90 days and 24% more likely to die within a year compared to patients treated by the 700 female surgeons.
The difference may originate outside the OR. "It's not because females are technically better surgeons," said pediatric surgeon Cassandra Kelleher, who was not involved in the research. "It's because somehow women are either preparing patients for surgery better, as suggested by their elective patients having better outcomes than emergent patients." STAT's Deborah Balthazar has more.
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