Correction

On January 4 we said that Publix had filled its one millionth free prescription. In fact, it had filled its one hundred millionth free script. We apologize for the error.

Georgia House to introduce legislation to increase PBM and MCO oversight

This is a major story, and we’ll have more detail later today and tomorrow. The gist:

Despite the passage of HB 233 last year, banning most PBM “steering,” the practice continues. So the House Insurance Committee and House Special Committee on Access to Quality Healthcare called a special meeting before the start of the legislative session to address it.

The gist:

Despite the passage of HB 233 last year, banning most PBM “steering,” the practice continues. So the House Insurance Committee and House Special Committee on Access to Quality Healthcare called a special meeting before the start of the legislative session.

Pharmacists, patients, and physicians offered testimony on the issue, and on the negative impact PBMs and Medicaid CMO practices are having on patients, prescription drug prices, community pharmacies, and Georgia tax payers.

Following the hearing, the House GOP announced its intention (via a press release) to “Reverse Corporate Takeover of Georgia Healthcare.”

That is a Very Big Deal, and that is what we’re going to be explaining in detail shortly. Watch your inbox!

On the one hand…

Pharmacists continue to rank pretty darned high in terms of public trust, although they slipped a spot this year.

Nurses, as always, top the Gallup Poll by a wide margin, and this time engineers slipped into the #2 spot, nudging medical doctors and pharmacists to #3 and #4, respectively.

(Who’s at the bottom? Car salespeople, of course, just below members of Congress.)

On the other hand…

When it comes to the best healthcare professions, U.S. News ranks pharmacist #27 out of 29. (Only rehabilitation counselor and radiation therapist rank lower.) The top healthcare jobs? Dentist, physician assistant, and orthodontist.

When it comes to the 100 top overall jobs (not just healthcare), pharmacist isn’t on the list. (Software developer is #1; restaurant cook is #100.) If it makes you feel any better, “association communications director” isn’t there either, but cartographer is #65.

But*…

Pharmacist is ranked #21 for best paying job, so at least you have that. (Anesthesiologist is #1.)

* If I said “On the gripping hand…,” I wonder how many of you would get the (somewhat obscure) reference.

THC and CBD get two cousins

Italian researchers have found two new cannabinoids in marijuana — one is a related to (but more potent than) THC, while the other is related to CBD. They might help explain the different kinds of high people can get, and might open or clarify some channels of research into the plant.

[T]etrahydrocannabiphorol (THCP), is allegedly 30 times more potent than THC, they claim. Whether that means it gets you 30 times as stoned—or if it’s even psychoactive at all—is still unknown. But in mice, it appeared THCP was more active than THC at lower doses. The scientists also found cannabidiphorol (CBDP), a cousin to CBD, the popular wellness additive.

After the overdose

What happens after a teen or 20-something overdoses? Not enough, it seems: More than two-thirds didn’t get any kind of significant follow-up treatment.

They found that among 3,606 youths who survived an opioid overdose and remained enrolled in Medicaid in the seven-year period, 2,483 – 68.9% – did not receive addiction treatment within 30 days of their overdose, 1,056 (29.3%) received behavioral health services alone and only 1 in 54 (1.9%) received medication-assisted treatment.

Almost 4,100 people aged 15-24 died of opioid overdoses in just 2017, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Why, Netflix, why?

The network is promoting Gywneth Paltrow’s show “The Goop Lab,” in which she touts both flotsam and jetsam, like energy healing, psychic mediums, female cleanses, how bras causes cancer, and how jade eggs can absorb energy from the moon* … I can’t write any more.

Needless to say, there’s plenty of backlash from the reality-based medical community.

Why isn’t there a link? Because the poster and the trailer both push the bounds of decency. No, seriously. Google if you need to.

* No joke.