The unlikely crusader who’s winning the fight to lower hospital prices
You’re reading the web edition of D.C. Diagnosis, STAT’s twice-weekly newsletter about the politics and…
Category: advocacy
Opinion: How the Dobbs decision changed my research on reproductive health technology
If you are using technology to track your period, and abortion is even a remote…
Opinion: PBMs are inflating the cost of generic drugs. They must be reined in
These are not comfortable days in Washington for pharmacy benefit managers, the highly consolidated group…
STAT+: A rich Republican businessman is an unlikely champion for lower hospital prices — but he’s winning the fight
INDIANAPOLIS — Al Hubbard isn’t the typical crusader for lowering health care costs. Hubbard and…
Opinion: Wheelchair users live outside the home, not just inside. Medicare policies need to acknowledge that
My daughter, Katherine, is 21 years old. She has cerebral palsy and has relied on…
Opinion: A major problem for minors: post-Roe access to abortion
Now that the Supreme Court has overturned constitutional protection to abortion access, more than two…
Opinion: Arthur Ashe and AIDS: Did the public have the right to know his diagnosis?
Do prominent public figures who are ill have some type of responsibility to reveal their…
Opinion: Signals from monkeypox: Create an external advisory group to start preparing for the next pandemic
As the U.S. reels from a more than 1 million reported deaths due directly to…
Opinion: Congress: Fund PrEP to end the HIV epidemic
As the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies…
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Opinion: Health care has a carbon problem. Health tech can help fix it
As climate change threatens the health of the planet — and everyone living on it…
Opinion: A national patient ID is essential for patient safety
Misidentifying patients can have tragic consequences. Numerous catastrophic cases and near misses have been collected…
Opinion: U.S. health care needs to be fixed. Look to the LGBTQ+ community to do it
The brewing monkeypox outbreak that’s raising health alarms in the LGBTQ+ community comes on the…
Opinion: Medical schools need to be part of the solution to preventing gun violence
Like so many Americans, we watched in horror the news reports about the mass shootings…
Opinion: Technology is expanding virtual access to health care. Here’s how to ensure equitable outcomes
Virtual health capabilities are evolving far beyond video consultations with a doctor. They now encompass…
The Senate health committee finally marks up its user fee bill
You’re reading the web edition of D.C. Diagnosis, STAT’s twice-weekly newsletter about the politics and…
Opinion: Waiving intellectual property rights is a flawed solution to achieving Covid-19 vaccine equity
When the history of the Covid-19 pandemic is written, readers will be as stunned by…
Opinion: FDA user fee legislation needs to mitigate the pharmaceutical industry’s carbon pollution
As Congress works to reauthorize for the seventh time pharmaceutical user fee legislation, it is…
Opinion: Monkeypox is recapitulating the stigma and structural inequity of HIV, Ebola, and other diseases
Pathogens have a way of shining a light on the darker facets of society. SARS-CoV-2…
‘Too little too late’: Unpacking Biden’s moves to improve federal prisons’ response to Covid-19
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is trying to finally unsnarl the federal Bureau of Prisons’…
STAT+: Doctors in Arizona are trying to rewrite the surprise billing law to boost their own pay
Doctors in Arizona are crafting a state ballot measure that would modify the new federal…
STAT+: The American Medical Association is fighting an otherwise popular bill to require training doctors about opioid use disorder
WASHINGTON — The American Medical Association wants doctors to have more training on treating people…
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Opinion: Listen: The double standard of discipline between nurses and physicians
For two decades, nurses have been considered the most trustworthy professionals in the country, above…
Opinion: STAT+: A market failure is preventing efficient diffusion of health care AI software
Artificial intelligence (AI) software can improve patient care, but a key market failure is preventing…
Opinion: Hopelessness around youth mental health is creating a ‘nihilistic contagion’
I have been a child psychiatrist for more than 20 years. I’ve worked in the…
AstraZeneca’s ambitious vaccine dreams are finally, officially dead
You’re reading the web edition of D.C. Diagnosis, STAT’s twice-weekly newsletter about the politics and…
Opinion: NEJM, other journals: provide more transparency about conflicts of interest or don’t publish conflicted articles
Are medical journals reliable sources of objective information, or do they, at times, act as…
Opinion: Take a stand for those who can’t with the Promising Pathway Act
Every five years since 1992, Congress has reauthorized the Food and Drug Administration user fee…
STAT+: AbbVie dramatically boosts its spending on lobbying
WASHINGTON — The pharma giant AbbVie spent nearly $4 million on lobbying in the first three…
Opinion: Listen: The faces of Covid at 1 million deaths and counting
When Covid-19 began tearing across the U.S. in March 2020, Alex Goldstein started posting on…
As Congress takes up FDA oversight of dietary supplements, a lobbying showdown looms
You’re reading the web edition of D.C. Diagnosis, STAT’s weekly newsletter about the politics and…
Opinion: Russian aggression underscores the U.S.’s need for greater investment in medical countermeasures
The U.S. government has warned that Russia could use chemical weapons against Ukraine. Russia’s president,…
Pharma showers John Thune with campaign cash
You’re reading the web edition of D.C. Diagnosis, STAT’s weekly newsletter about the politics and…
STAT+: Flagship Pioneering hires lobbyists, a first among biotech venture firms
WASHINGTON — Flagship Pioneering, the venture capital firm behind Moderna, is getting into the Washington…
Opinion: Beyond awareness: The medical system needs to deeply reform its care of people with autism
I walked into the hospital room of a patient I had been assigned that morning….
Opinion: ‘Boards for All?’ Global health organizations and companies aren’t even close
The age, gender, and ethnic diversity of a company or organization’s board is fundamental to…
STAT+: Manchin won’t support new health policy unless Congress rolls back Trump tax cuts
WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat who will determine how much domestic policy…
STAT+: Right to try 2.0: Advocates want to reduce oversight of ‘n of 1’ therapies
WASHINGTON — The libertarian think tank behind the federal “right-to-try” law is back at it…
Opinion: Listen: Covid turned the nation’s eyes to nursing homes. Have we already looked away?
When the Covid-19 pandemic began tearing across the country, it hit nursing homes hard. More…
Biogen’s head-scratching new lobbyist hire
D.C. Diagnosis is STAT’s weekly newsletter about the politics and policy of health and medicine….
Opinion: The ‘bot holiday’ and why clinicians can’t tackle disinformation alone
The war in Ukraine has had an unexpected side effect noted by many health care…
Opinion: Listen: Should gender dysphoria be a required stop en route to gender euphoria?
For trans people who want to receive gender-affirming medical care such as hormone treatments or…
STAT+: A hospital lobbying juggernaut makes an unlikely pivot into venture capital
The American Hospital Association is a lobbying powerhouse, championing the interests of its thousands of…
Opinion: Listen: Pharma companies market their drugs to young adults — so why don’t they include them in clinical trials?
Sneha Dave has been living with a chronic disease for 17 years — almost her…
Opinion: Google’s ongoing stem cell problem points to a larger issue with its search results on unproven therapies
Hey, Google: Remember that stem cell problem you tried to fix in 2019 by banning…
Opinion: The case for decriminalizing the street sale of buprenorphine
Isolation and anxiety caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has fueled an already out of control…
Opinion: Checklists work well for complicated health care problems. But they don’t work to solve complex ones, like pandemics
Federal public health officials did many good things in response to Covid-19, like investing in…
Opinion: If pharma can market to youths by TikTok, it should include them in clinical trials
The pharmaceutical industry has rapidly adapted to promoting prescription drugs to young people on TikTok,…
Opinion: Emergency response systems must not overlook people with substance use disorders
When the storm unofficially known as Winter Storm Uri barreled across much of North America…
Opinion: Listen: The ‘underground market’ for insulin and diabetes supplies
It’s a sad reality that people with diabetes know all too well: The price of…
Inside the push for a permanent pandemic preparedness office at the White House
You’re reading the web edition of D.C. Diagnosis, STAT’s weekly newsletter about the politics and…