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Urged on by the medical industry and patients' groups, the House overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan bill that would speed federal approval of drugs and medical devices and boost biomedical research...The new spending would be paid for, mostly by selling $7 billion worth of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the government's emergency oil stockpile...$2.5 billion would come from trimming federal Medicaid reimbursements to states.

Calls for removing the Congressional prohibition on the use of federal funds for development of unique ID…correct patient identification as a critical need for ensuring patient safety…"The accurate and efficient matching of patients with their healthcare data is a signification threat to patient safety,"

…lawmakers hashing out a compromise on their respective defense policy bills will mull over several military health provisions as they finalize the legislation...access to urgent care..medical appointments, mental health services...pharmacy fees and birth control...fees would rise substantially...for nearly all types of medications, including generics.

Goldwater Institute launched RightToTry.org, the official website of the national movement to adopt Right To Try laws in all 50 states….allow doctors to prescribe treatments to the terminally ill that are being used in clinical trials but are not yet on pharmacy shelves…expands access to potentially life-saving treatments…

Governor took…step forward in leveling the playing field for pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers,…reforms are intended to rein in dramatic underpayments to pharmacies by insurers and PBMs.

Floridians can now get more vaccines at their local pharmacy instead of going to a doctor’s office…pharmacists..have..expanded authority to give additional vaccines like Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, TDAP, varicella, MMR, meningococcal and pneumococcal…

Gov. Tom Wolf signed into law on Friday House Bill 182, which allows pharmacists to administer the flu vaccine to patients 9 years of age and older,…bill also allows licensed, trained pharmacy interns to immunize under direct supervision of a pharmacist who possesses an immunization license…

whistleblower’s lawsuit has culminated in a pharmacy’s $2.5 million settlement for its improper Medicaid billings….lawsuit alleged that Trinity Homecare, which is owned by Walgreens…encouraged infusion drugs for its hemophilia patients and presented claims to Medicaid for unnecessary or excessive quantities…

21st Century Cures Act contains good ideas for streamlining development and evaluation of new drugs and devices, but other provisions could lead to an approval process that is less safe, …nontraditional study designs and methods of data analysis…"shorter or smaller clinical trials"....redefine the evidence

California’s Assembly…approved a hotly contested bill requiring that nearly all public schoolchildren be vaccinated,…one of the nation’s strictest vaccine laws by striking the state’s personal-belief exemption. Only children with serious health issues would be allowed to opt out of mandatory vaccine schedules. Unvaccinated children would need to be homeschooled.