About the public’s health
China seeks to boost certified elderly caregivers by 2 million: As the global population gets older, there is an increased need for trained caregivers. Sweden has had such a program for years and pays the providers a fair wage. In this country, many such workers are poorly educated and are paid low wages. It is interesting to see a country like China take a lead in an important healthcare initiative.
Sweet excess: How the baby food industry hooks toddlers on sugar, salt and fat: The headline speaks for itself. The article also has dietary recommendations. Is there a role for governmental intervention in this problem (aside from the already-required labeling)? What would a social marketing campaign look like that would promote demand for and consumption of healthier baby food? Should food subsidies (like WIC) only cover healthy choices?
What’s in my baby’s food?: IF YOU ARE FEEDING CHILDREN PROCESSED BABY FOOD, READ THIS STUDY! Healthy Babies Bright Futures tested 168 commercially available baby foods and found that 95 percent contained one or more toxic heavy metals- Arsenic 73%, Lead 94%, Cadmium 75%, Mercury 32%.
The report has suggestions for substitute foods that will lower the exposure.
About pharma
CMS' Verma touts value-based pricing—not negotiation—for high drug prices: While the Democrats are advocating price controls for drugs, Republicans want to peg payments to a value-based system. How that would be done is yet to be determined.
Statement on continued progress enhancing patient access to high-quality, low-cost generic drugs: Acting FDA commissioner Sharpless, announced: “I’m delighted to share that our fiscal year 2019 figures overall show a total of 1,171 generic drug approvals (935 full approvals and 236 tentative approvals). This breaks our all-time record of 971 for fiscal year 2018. Additionally, in fiscal year 2019 we approved 125 applications for first generics of medicines that had no generic competition.”
About health insurance
A View from the States: Key Medicaid Policy Changes: Results from a 50-State Medicaid Budget Survey for State Fiscal Years 2019 and 2020: This article is a great summary of five policy areas that state Medicaid directors think will be important in the next fiscal year. It has many specific examples as well.
About healthcare IT
Microsoft, Nuance developing ambient and AI technology to tackle doctors' documentation headaches: Entering documentation in the EMR is a tedious and time-consuming task, contributing to physician burnout. The tech development is truly “next generation.” It is “designed to ‘listen’ to physician-patient conversations, with the patient's consent, during a doctor's visit. ACI [Ambient Clinical Intelligence] then synthesizes the conversation, integrates the data with contextual information from the EHR and updates the patient’s medical record. The technology also provides workflow, task and knowledge automation.”