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The U.S. medical technology industry saw its jobs ranks fall by nearly 29,000 while the medical device excise tax was in effect, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Specifically, from 2012 to 2015, the number of U.S. medtech jobs declined from 401,472 to 372,638—a loss of 28,834 jobs or a 7.2% decrease for the time period...These numbers reveal just how devastating of an impact the device tax had on our industry and underscore the urgent need for permanent repeal…American device manufacturers are ready to grow and create jobs, the best message this Congress and the Administration can send is through a full and permanent repeal... Bipartisan majorities in both the House and Senate are on record in support of full and permanent repeal...

Nevada’s medical community is largely in agreement with Gov. Brian Sandoval’s budgetary priorities to improve health care in the state over the next two years...Now comes the hard part: Finding funds to adequately address those issues during the legislative session...without creating new gaps in the state’s strained health care system...Sandoval and medical organizations have reached a general consensus on three main issues:

• ...the state’s continuing opioid abuse problem…Sandoval said he’ll introduce the Controlled Substance Abuse Prevention Act this year to provide “more training and reporting and heightened protocols for medical professionals” for prescribing pain-relieving but addictive opioids.
• ...funding for the UNLV School of Medicine…The proposed budget includes an additional $10 million in graduate medical education funding to increase medical residency and fellowship programs in the Silver State…
• ...an increase in Medicaid reimbursement to physicians...Sandoval’s proposed budget for the next biennium includes $8.6 million in increased reimbursement for specific groups of health care providers, including those in assisted living facilities, adult day cares and pediatric surgical services. When matched with federal dollars, that will amount to a spending increase of nearly $34 million...

...a new FDA database that drastically improves timely access to information on drug safety labeling changes...part of the FDA's official website, was launched a few months ago by the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research...The agency now is leading a push to...get...critical safety data...much more quickly than in the past...The user-friendly and searchable database (www.accessdata.fda.gov) provides updates on labeling information, usually within days of safety labeling changes…Safety labeling changes have been available online...for years, but the information was posted on a monthly basis. That meant when a labeling change was approved early in a month, the information was not made public until the following month -- weeks later...

President Donald Trump says drug prices are astronomical and something needs to be done...Pharmaceutical giants have an answer that doesn’t involve lowering list prices: refunding some of the money to insurers if a drug doesn’t work as expected...The concept of pay-for-performance isn’t new in the industry. But the number of such agreements between drugmakers and insurers has grown in the past year as Big Pharma seeks to defuse criticism over the soaring prices of some brand drugs...In a sign of how central value-based programs have become in the pushback, the lobby group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America plans to roll out the concept later this month to the media as part of proposals on addressing drug pricing concerns...While reimbursing part of the cost for a treatment that doesn’t perform well sounds like a sensible solution, the concept is hard to execute. In conditions like diabetes or high cholesterol, results can be tracked with simple numerical measures -- but it may be harder to pull off in areas like depression or cancer. There’s also little evidence that pay-for-performance will significantly lower drug prices overall...

The state medical board has launched a new website designed to help Nevadans understand the impacts of using opioid-based medications...The knowyourpainmeds.com website created by the state Board of Medical Examiners will also serve as a portal for consumers to file a complaint if they feel their medical provider is not acting appropriately related to the prescribing of medications...We feel that the launch of this new informational tool clearly demonstrates the board’s commitment to creating awareness and our efforts to address this problem...Opioid abuse is expected to be a significant issue for the Nevada Legislature this session...

The Federal Trade Commission...accused a Shire plc subsidiary of filing dozens of "sham" petitions with the Food and Drug Administration in an effort to delay generic competition to its branded prescription drug Vancocin HCI...the FTC alleged that Shire ViroPharma filed 43 citizen petitions with the FDA (along with 3 lawsuits) over a seven-year period, knowing that the FDA typically waited to approve generic drugs until it had resolved any outstanding citizen petitions...a deliberate attempt to maintain a monopoly...ViroPharma’s efforts led consumers and other purchasers to pay hundreds of millions of dollars more for the drug.

Laura Joszt, assistant managing editor at The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network

The first Southern Nevada case of Zika virus disease not related to travel was confirmed this week in Clark County, according to the Southern Nevada Health District...A woman was tested Dec. 28, and results released Wednesday confirm that she tested positive for Zika virus disease. The health district’s website indicates the virus was transmitted to the woman by sexual contact...No local mosquitoes have tested positive for the presence of Zika virus, and the woman did not have a travel history that would indicate she was infected in another region…

Pharmacy benefit managers — the middlemen in drug price negotiations — have been under siege since Donald Trump was elected last fall and vowed to go after rising drug costs...The pharmacy benefit management industry is prepared to fight back against the criticism and any possible regulations. But here's the political challenge: It's going to have a tough time explaining the value of its companies to the public, especially since their business model relies on secrecy and that consumers have little knowledge of what pharmacy benefit managers are...Most of the furor over drug prices has focused on the manufacturers that create the prices. But the increased scrutiny of the byzantine drug supply chain has landed heavily on pharmacy benefit managers that serve as intermediaries between drug makers and health insurers and employers…

Brian Haug, President of Pharmacy and Managed Markets, Pharmacy Times (PTNN) This weekly video program highlights the latest in pharmacy news, product news, and more.