Friday Five: Top 5 healthcare business news items from the MCOL Weekend edition

By Claire Thayer, December 2, 2016

1. The drug industry’s stake in Trumpcare is bigger than you think
StatNews reports: The upcoming fight over repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act promises to shake up hospitals and insurers, but drug makers also stand to gain — or lose — a lot.
StatNews, December 2, 2016

2. 2,000+ physicians: 'The AMA does not speak for us' in supporting Price for HHS
Becker's Hospital Review reports: More than 2,000 physicians signed an open letter railing against the American Medical Association's support for Rep. Tom Price, MD, R-Ga., chairman of the House Budget Committee, as secretary of HHS.
Becker's Hospital Review, December 1, 2016

3. U.S. House Passes 21st Century Cures Legislation
Healthcare Informatics reports: The U.S. House of Representatives today passed sweeping, bipartisan legislation, called the 21st Century Cures Act, comprised of a $6.3 billion package of medical innovation bills including $4.8 billion to the National Institutes of Health as well as $1 billion in state grants to fight opioid abuse.
Healthcare Informatics, November 30, 2016

4. Price’s Appointment Boosts GOP Plans To Overhaul Medicare And Medicaid
Kaiser Health News reports: President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of Rep. Tom Price to head the Department of Health and Human Services signals that the new administration is all-in on both efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and restructure Medicare and Medicaid.
Kaiser Health News, November 29, 2016

5. CMS nominee set up Indiana’s unusual Medicaid expansion
The Washington Post reports: A decade ago, when Indiana had one of the lowest rates of health insurance coverage in the nation, then-Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) turned to a health policy consultant named Seema Verma to help insure more of the state’s poor and working poor.
The Washington Post, November 29, 2016

These and more weekly news items on the business of healthcare are featured in the MCOL Weekend edition, along with the MCOL Tidbits, and more, for MCOL Premium level members.