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A Clark County child died from the flu, being the first pediatric flu-related death in Clark County for the 2015-16 season, the Southern Nevada Health District said Wednesday...The health district said the child was younger than 5 and that no other information about the death will be released...Clark County reported 26 deaths, 318 hospitalizations and 583 cases of the flu from Oct. 1, 2014, to May 31, 2015.

As the year winds down, STAT reporters are taking a look at the stories they’re most eager to track in 2016...Of all the health care issues that loomed large this past year, none was more controversial — and compelling — than pharmaceutical pricing...Wall Street may have cheered the added revenue, but pricing strategies were increasingly under attack. Poll after poll found most Americans believe prices are too high. And more lawmakers — and presidential candidates — are listening...At the center of it all was Martin Shkreli, the 32-year-old “pharma bro” who single-handedly created a furor by jacking up the cost of an old, life-saving drug and repeatedly taunting his critics. Shkreli was arrested this month for securities fraud and ousted from the two drug companies that he ran. But while he may be out of the picture, pricing will remain a flashpoint in the year ahead...Here’s a look at what to expect on pricing — and on other key issues that are likely to engulf drug makers, regulators, and patients in 2016.

• Count the cost
• New commish
• Read the label
• Big deals
• Figure of speech

They’re the new Brink’s trucks...Delivery vans that transport prescription painkillers from warehouses to pharmacies and hospitals are the targets of an escalating number of thefts across the country...Amid a nationwide epidemic of opioid addiction, the delivery vans have become an appealing and vulnerable target for thieves, addicts, and drug dealers...Hitting the right pharmaceutical courier can yield a payoff similar to robbing an armored car. But the pharmaceutical van drivers usually receive little security training, work alone, and rarely carry weapons...“We still have a segment of criminals that very much want to get their hands on those pills because they have high street value,”...“People are willing to go to extreme means to get those pills.”...Three wholesalers, with combined revenues of over $300 billion, dominate the US pharmaceutical market. All three declined to answer specific questions about how often couriers delivering their products are robbed, any security measures undertaken in recent years, and their reliance on independent contract drivers to deliver their goods...Cardinal Health said the company maintains “robust safety measures to ensure the safe distribution of products.”...McKesson Corporation said it would not answer questions for “security reasons.” AmerisourceBergen...did not provide responses to questions.

The number of U.S. physicians who say they are suffering "burnout" has jumped to more than half of doctors as the practice of medicine becomes more complicated and millions more Americans gain health coverage under the Affordable Care Act...An analysis from researchers at the Mayo Clinic and the American Medical Association say doctors’ work-life balance is worsening, with the percentage of physicians who say they are suffering burnout rising to 54% in 2014 from 45% in 2011..."disturbing trend"..."Burnout and satisfaction with work-life balance among U.S. physicians are getting worse,"..."American medicine appears to be at a tipping point with more than half of U.S. physicians experiencing professional burnout...has effects on quality of care, patient satisfaction, turnover, and patient safety, these findings have important implications for society at large."

Regulators have logged dozens, even hundreds, of complaints against some health providers for violating federal patient privacy law. Warnings are doled out privately, but sanctions are imposed only rarely. Companies say they take privacy seriously...CVS is among hundreds of health providers nationwide that repeatedly violated the federal patient privacy law known as HIPAA between 2011 and 2014...Other well-known repeat offenders include the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Walgreens, Kaiser Permanente and Walmart...I don’t like the idea of repeat offenders not being called to task for that behavior and I would like to see us doing more in this regard...The number of health information privacy complaints submitted to the Office for Civil Rights within the Department of Health and Human Services has increased dramatically in recent years, in part because of the introduction of an online complaint portal...Using data provided by OCR under the Freedom of Information Act, ProPublica is launching a new tool, HIPAA Helper, which allows users to look up reports of privacy violations by provider for the first time. OCR’s material often referred to the same entities by multiple names. CVS was listed as “CVS,” “Pharmacy, CVS,” “Caremark, CVS,” “CVS Caremark”...We have standardized organizations’ names to make searching easier.

Reuben Guttman wants us all to be concerned about what’s in our medicine cabinets. A Washington lawyer who specializes in prosecuting pharmaceutical fraud, Guttman has gone after Pfizer, Abbott, GlaxoSmithKline, and several other top drug makers — and he usually wins big, recouping billions of dollars for federal and state governments...STAT talked with Guttman about bad behavior in the drug industry, and whom he trusts for his own medical care.

• The lawsuits you’ve won often center on unlawful marketing and kickback schemes. How widespread are these practices?
• How does your work as a lawyer impact the health care system?
• And the consequence for patients?
• Is there anything patients can do to protect themselves?
• Knowing what you know, do you avoid doctors and hospitals?
• What’s the next big pharma scam?
• What do you do in your spare time?
• Are you an athlete yourself?
• When you were a kid, did you fantasize about being a whistleblower attorney?

CMS plans to more closely track the use of opioids by adults and antipsychotics among children and adolescents with new quality measures for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program...The agency issued a notice this month outlining the new measures, which come amid a national epidemic of opioid abuse and a rising unease with the high rates of antipsychotic medications prescribed to minors for off-label uses...CMS will require Medicaid programs...to track the use of opioids at high dosages acquired from four or more providers and pharmacies by beneficiaries who don't have cancer...The measure is intended to indicate inappropriate prescribing or fragmented care...American Pharmacists Association said the new Medicaid measure could help identify patterns of opioid misuse...The CHIP measure, meanwhile, would track the percentage of children and adolescents who are on two or more antipsychotic medications at the same time...an analysis by HHS' Office of Inspector General found that 92% of antipsychotics taken by Medicaid children in five states were prescribed for off-label uses...The use of multiple antipsychotic medications “is seldom justified and is an appropriate focus for a quality measure,”...children on Medicaid are prescribed antipsychotics at much higher rates than privately insured children.

A fight over a Reno hospital providing life-support for a 20-year-old woman goes back before a judge on Tuesday for more arguments about the legal standard for brain death and tests to prove it...A decision isn’t immediately expected. Washoe County Family Court Judge Frances Doherty is due to hold at least one more hearing Jan. 22 before ruling...The Nevada Supreme Court sent the case back to Doherty last month, saying she too quickly rejected Aden Hailu family’s bid to have Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center keep her on life-support...Hailu had been hospitalized April 1 after complaining of abdominal pain. Doctors said she suffered severe low blood pressure and a lack of oxygen to the brain during the surgery...Gebreyes (Fanuel Gebreyes, father) has declined interview requests. O’Mara (David O’Mara, attorney, representing the father) said Gebreyes knows Hailu’s condition isn’t good, but believes she can recover.

Pharmacists ranked No. 2 in Gallup's 2015 Honesty and Ethics of Professions Ratings, falling behind No. 1 ranked nurses and ahead of No. 3 ranked medical doctors...This annual Gallup survey presents another data point in the strong and growing case for pharmacy patient care...those who have more first-hand experience with pharmacist-provided services feel even more strongly about their value. These positive attitudes are translating into ever-stronger bipartisan support for pro-patient and pro-pharmacy initiatives in the U.S. Congress, as well as an expansion of the pharmacists’ scope of practice in the states.

Remember when the Food and Drug Administration was going to regulate mobile health apps? The year was 2013...There was even a bill from the congressman representing Silicon Valley that aimed to tame the “Wild West” of mobile and wireless health. The House Energy and Commerce Committee even held three...days of hearings...Rep. Mike Burgess asking then-national health IT coordinator Dr. Farzad Mostashari to magically create interoperability...Now, it sounds like the FDA might almost be ready to throw its hands up and walk away...the agency circulated a draft guidance that really didn’t say much...The 2013 final version clarified policy a bit, stating that the FDA generally would focus only on mobile apps that serve as medical devices, and mostly stay away from regulating consumer technology...Earlier this year, an FDA specialist in digital health told Bloomberg that the agency would be “almost hands-off” when it comes to consumer wellness and fitness gadgets...