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Despite making significant strides in reducing teenage birth rates, lowering HIV infection rates and diminishing tobacco and alcohol use among young people, Nevada has dropped seven spots in a national ranking of state health outcomes since a statewide assessment was last published in 2019...The 2022 State Health Assessment, published earlier this month, was developed in partnership between Nevada’s Division of Public and Behavioral Health and other health care entities. The report, which is updated every three to five years, is a data-driven resource outlining the state’s health care strengths and challenges and recommending priorities...READ MORE

If a recommendation by the nation’s top health agency to reclassify marijuana is adopted, the drug could gain wider acceptance as a medical treatment, pot businesses could see their bottom line boosted and a path toward national legalization could be charted, experts said Thursday...
The Department of Health and Human Services this week recommended that marijuana be removed from the category reserved for the riskiest drugs, such as heroin and LSD, and moved to one for certain prescription drugs. The decision to reclassify marijuana ultimately resides with the Drug Enforcement Administration, which could take months to complete its evaluation...READ MORE

Members of both political parties agree that keeping life-saving prescription drug prices reasonable saves lives; however, there is an ongoing debate about the best way to accomplish this goal...For many Democrats, government-imposed price controls are the solution. This past legislative session, they passed Assembly Bill 250, which would prevent the major drug manufacturers from inflating the cost of our prescription drugs by having the government set these products’ prices...Republicans, on the other hand, argue that promoting marketplace competition is a more effective solution than more government. That’s why Gov. Joe Lombardo rightly vetoed this bill...Regardless of where one falls on the political spectrum, everyone in this state should agree that regulating away the private market entities that help restrain the drug companies’ ability to rig prices higher shouldn’t be the answer. And yet, that’s exactly what the drugmakers are telling them to do...READ MORE

Three women are suing the cancer blood test developer Grail claiming that, during their time as high-level sales employees, they suffered harassment, discrimination and ultimately retaliation under “a fraternity house” type of toxic work culture led by senior staff...the three separate lawsuits said that Grail failed to properly respond to the plaintiffs' complaints of a “sexually charged” and hostile work environment, including racist remarks made by a coworker in one case. They also each claim they were denied equal pay under California law...READ MORE

Earlier this year, Nevada lawmakers unanimously passed SB375, which allocates $20 million over the next two fiscal years to increase the number of nursing faculty and graduates at seven state nursing programs — an effort to address the state’s troubling nursing shortage..., some school leaders cautioned that main drivers of the nursing shortage — such as pay for faculty and clinical nurses and burnout among nurses — remain unaddressed...It’s also difficult to hire nursing faculty because of the lower pay and higher education requirements in academia compared to clinical settings...READ MORE

Thousands of Nevadans who got their health insurance through Friday Health Plans of Nevada have until midnight on Aug. 31 to find a new policy...This comes after a Nevada court ordered the liquidation of the company by Sept. 1. Several states, including Nevada, placed the insurance company under receivership, a court proceeding similar to a bankruptcy...There will be a special enrollment period for existing Friday Health Plan of Nevada members to enroll in a new health insurance policy through Nevada’s Silver State Health Insurance Exchange...The special enrollment period began July 25 and ends Oct. 31. The last day to enroll without a coverage gap is Aug. 31...READ MORE

A trio of House committees unveiled new legislation...to lower costs and increase transparency for patients...The Lower Costs, More Transparency Act includes provisions from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the Ways and Means Committee and the Education and the Workforce Committee and is designed to help patients be more informed when making healthcare decisions regarding cost of care, treatment and services...It requires hospitals, payers, labs, imaging providers and ambulatory surgical centers to list prices they will charge patients through machine-readable files and mandates insurers and pharmacy benefit managers disclose drug rebates and discounts, according to a news release...READ MORE

President Biden touted the potential cost savings of Medicare‘s first-ever price negotiations for widely used prescription drugs on Tuesday as he struggles to convince Americans that he’s improved their lives as he runs for reelection...The negotiation process was authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act...Any lower prices won’t take effect for three years, and the path forward could be further complicated by litigation from drugmakers and heavy criticism from Republicans...READ MORE

A regulatory affairs specialist has pleaded guilty to forging FDA documents and leading his bosses to believe they had a green light to put their medical devices on the market...Peter Stoll III created counterfeit letters that copied the FDA’s letterhead and the digital signature of an agency official. He said two products developed by his employer Aesculap, a B. Braun company, had received 510(k) clearances—when, in fact, they had never been submitted for review in the first place...“Not obtaining this required clearance is bad enough, but impersonating FDA to cover up this failure is truly egregious and puts patients at risk,”...Stoll pleaded guilty to one felony count under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, for causing the introduction of misbranded and adulterated medical devices into interstate commerce. According to the DOJ, he faces a maximum of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine...READ MORE