The Morning Read provides a 24-hour wrap up of everything else healthcare’s innovators need to know about the business of medicine (and beyond). The author of The Read published it but all full-time MedCity News journalists contribute to its content.
TOP STORIES STORY
All the final thoughts on King v. Burwell just before King v. Burwell:
- To reiterate, the White House has no backup plan if this thing goes south.
- The GOP, meanwhile, is tossing out all kinds of alternatives. There’s a Ted Cruz plan. There’s a huge debate over a new kind of subsidy (which some Republicans hate). Brookings, however, is starting to tout an Obamacare alternative crafted by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan. It’s got insurance protections, tax credits and state flexibility, says Brookings.
- Are health insurance companies the most scared of anyone if the Obamacare subsidies are overturned? The Wall Street Journal portrays an industry that’s scrambling just in case. Meanwhile, interest groups are urging Health and Human Services to step in to stabilize insurance premiums if King wins and Burwell loses.
- Meet the two attorneys arguing the case.
- Analyze the two Supreme Court justices who could tip the case either way.
- Meet David M. King, the “King” opposite the Burwell.
- Still don’t feel like you know all you need to know? Here’s a handy FAQ.
- Remember this: No decision likely until June.
And, for better or worse, while MedCity News has discovered the technology to broadcast portions of its healthcare conferences live, the Supreme Court will not let C-SPAN live broadcast King v. Burwell oral arguments.
LIFE SCIENCES
SEC to pharma: Be straight with us on how you deal with the FDA or else.
Researchers have unlocked the key to how bacteria are able to ‘steal’ genetic information from viruses and other foreign invaders for use in their own immunological memory system.
OpGen has announced its IPO plans: it will be OPGN on the NASDAQ and hopes to raise $37.4 million.
Brain protein tied to Alzheimer’s detected in young adults.
Job cuts ensue with Valeant overtake of Seattle-based biotech Dendreon.
Adam Feuerstein is hilarious: “I’ve blocked more $MNKD trolls this week than total Afrezza scripts to date.”
Prescription testosterone therapies can no longer promote their products for age-related low testosterone.
PAYERS-PROVIDERS
New research suggests over-the-counter medications and supplements are more commonly the cause of liver failure than prescription drugs.
Remember when we were going to need 130,000 new docs by 2025? Well, that number could now be as low as 46,100 (which is still awful).
Get live coverage of the Cleveland Clinic’s annual State of the Clinic address, which started at 7 a.m.
Meet the Penn researchers who have been (unfairly?) blackballed by the Journal of Neuroscience
Patients want doctors to disclose their industry conflicts – and doing so could help recruit for clinical trials.
So should a college being sued by a rape victim be able to access that victim’s medical records?
Oregon legislators are considering a law that would require prices to be listed at clinic locations and online, and provide real-time price estimates.
We’d like to formally congratulate Medpage Today for finding a way to seriously write about that ridiculous penis-length study and getting a urologist to say the following: “Penises are of all sizes – I can confirm that for you. And if you stretch on them, they get longer.”
Points off to Modern Healthcare, though, for its punny treatment of Mayo Clinic’s operating margin increase: Mayo on a roll…
TECH
Security is an issue when it comes to information being shared, patient data being stored and images being housed from doctors due to slower mobile-technology transitions.
When EHR systems blackout, people freak (which makes sense). The Veterans Health Administration’s Chief Business Office (CBO) violated the law by misusing $92.5 million for a health IT project.
Practice Fusion’s marketing practices get a once-over from The Wall Street Journal.
A new wound-care app has spun out of Children’s National, which will take daily pictures of a wound to measure how it’s healing.
Box bought Subspace in a move that it hopes will, in part, please its healthcare customers.
SOMETHING EXTRA
Well, that’s concerning. pic.twitter.com/YgQ7VHH8e9 — Halle Tecco (@halletecco) March 4, 2015
[Photo from Flickr user PoL Úbeda Hervàs]