Health Headlines for Tuesday, March 8
Hepatitis C drugs top Medicaid spending, highlighting larger concerns
Capital New York
New York State spent at least $107 million on hepatitis C drugs during the third quarter of 2015, accounting for roughly 10 percent of all Medicaid drug spending.
Reducing Drug Waste Could Save Billions of Dollars
New York Times
Given how expensive many cancer drugs are, it is alarming that the government, private insurers and patients spend an estimated $3 billion a year on cancer medicines that are thrown out because they are packaged in unnecessarily large quantities.
New behavioral health crisis stabilization building planned with state funding in Albany
Albany Business Review
A new building to deliver behavioral health services for children and families is planned with state grant funding.
Well-meaning heroin bill could worsen shortage of rehab beds
Crain’s New York Business
In an op-ed at Syracuse.comm, an assemblyman argues for his bill to require insurers to cover 90 days of inpatient drug rehabilitation, saying current stays are sometimes too short to be effective.
Theranos Ran Tests Despite Quality Problems
Wall Street Journal
A federal inspection report said a Theranos Inc. laboratory ran an important blood test on 81 patients in a six-month period despite erratic results from quality-control checks meant to ensure the test’s accuracy, people familiar with the report said.
The Meme-ifcation of Health Care
The Health Care Blog
Why can’t we have nice things? As a self-anointed health policy wonk, I find myself asking this question many times.