KHN Pharma & Tech: Electronic Health Records | Artificial Intelligence | Drug Prices

Not rendering correctly? View this email as a web page here. Not a subscriber? Sign up   Pharma & Tech Thursday, January 09, 2020                       Visit Kaiser Health News for the latest headlines Electronic Health Records Creating A 'New Era' Of Health Care Fraud   (Lydia Zuraw/KHN Illustration) By Fred Schulte and Erika Fry, Fortune Derek Lewis was working as an electronic health records specialist for the nation's largest hospital chain when he heard about software defects that might even "kill a patient." The doctors at Midwest (City) Regional Medical Center in Oklahoma worried that the software failed to track some drug prescriptions or dosages properly, posing a "huge safety concern," Lewis said. Lewis cited the alleged safety hazards in a whistleblower lawsuit that he and another former employee of Community Health Systems (CHS) filed against the Tennessee-based hospital chain in 2018. The suit alleges that the company, which had $14 billion in annual revenue in 2018, obtained millions of dollars in federal subsidies fraudulently by covering up dangerous flaws in these systems at the Oklahoma hospital and more than 120 others it owned or operated at the time. The federal government funneled billions in subsidies to software vendors and some overstated or deceived the government about what their products could do, according to whistleblowers. Read more here. Previous reporting from the 'Botched Operation' series: →Death By 1,000 Clicks: Where Electronic Health Records Went Wrong →No Safety Switch: How Lax Oversight Of Electronic Health Records Puts Patients At Risk →Electronic Health Records Creating A 'New Era' Of Health Care Fraud ••• A Reality Check On Artificial Intelligence: Are Health Care Claims Overblown? By Liz Szabo As happens when the tech industry gets involved, hype surrounds the claims that artificial intelligence will help patients and even replace some doctors. Reports Of Patients' Deaths Linked To Heart Devices Lurk Below Radar By Christina Jewett Because of a little-known federal exemption program, death data about heart devices sits in inaccessible FDA files that can take up to two years for the public to see under open-records laws. ••• Marijuana American Pot Is The Gold Standard. But Canada Leads The Export Game — For Now. By Markian Hawryluk American marijuana has a reputation for being the best in the world. But the federal prohibition on marijuana makes shipments across state lines or overseas a pipe dream. While U.S. firms expect the restrictions to drop in the coming years, they are stuck operating within state borders. That's left Canadian cannabis growers to dominate the export market, with U.S. firms falling further behind each year. A Veteran Started Vaping THC To Cope With Chronic Pain. Then He Got Very Sick. By Marlene Harris-Taylor, Ideastream A Navy veteran from Cleveland tried vaping marijuana to deal with his chronic pain. He landed in the hospital, becoming one of over 2,400 Americans who have suffered serious lung injury from vaping. "The VA is not a friend of opioids at all. Unless you're coming out of the hospital for surgery or something like that, they do not give vets opioids." - Retired Navy veteran Paul Lubell ••• Drug Prices Watch: The House Approved H.R. 3, The Pelosi Drug Bill. What Does That Mean? KHN's Emmarie Huetteman appeared on PBS NewsHour to discuss efforts on Capitol Hill to curb the cost of prescription drugs. Border Fight: Trump's Plan To Import Cheaper Drugs From Canada Faces Hurdles By Phil Galewitz The administration's proposed rule to allow states to bring in prescription medications isn't expected to provide immediate relief. Listen: The Cost Of PrEP, The HIV Prevention Pill KHN correspondent Shefali Luthra was among the guests on the podcast "Today, Explained" to talk about PrEP. ••• Effort To Control Opioids In An ER Leaves Some Sickle Cell Patients In Pain By Sam Whitehead, WABE People with sickle cell disease aren't fueling the opioid crisis, research shows. Yet some ER doctors still treat patients seeking relief for agonizing sickle cell crises as potential addicts. HHS Hands Out Free HIV Prevention Drugs. Do You Qualify? By Carmen Heredia Rodriguez Called "Ready, Set, PrEP," the federal program will provide medication that can reduce the chances of getting AIDS to at-risk patients who don't have insurance. ••• Fact Check Warren's Argument That Millions Can't Afford Their Rx Drugs Holds Up By Shefali Luthra 'Medication insecurity' is a thing. Pharma's Take On The Pelosi Drug-Pricing Bill: Fair Warning Or Fearmongering? By Shefali Luthra The pharmaceutical industry's argument that capping drug prices would compromise drug innovation stands "on very shaky ground." Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent operating program of the Kaiser Family Foundation. (c) 2019 Kaiser Health News. All rights reserved. Follow us on Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn You are subscribed to this email alert as stevenmagallanes520.nims@blogger.com. Update your email preferences to choose the types of emails you receive. Or, permanently unsubscribe from all emails. If you need help or have questions, please send an email to subscriptions@kaiserhealthnews.org Please do not reply to this email as this address is not monitored.   Kaiser Family Foundation & Kaiser Health News | 185 Berry Street | San Francisco, CA 94107