Safety, quality and clinical practice
Prescription databases can play a role in reducing opioid abuse | Health Data Management
Prescription drug-monitoring programs dramatically cut down on opioid misuse, researchers found, but only when states mandated that physicians look at the databases before writing prescriptions. Programs that did not require physicians to check them before issuing prescriptions, on the other hand, did not have any effect on reducing opioid misuse.
'Gray death' is the latest opioid street mix causing worry | Associated Press
Gray death—a new opioid substance that's a mixture of several drugs, sometimes including heroin and fentanyl—has emerged.
Information technology
Epic, Cerner hold majority of EHR market share in acute care hospitals | Medcity News
Epic barely eked out more market share in acute-care hospitals than Cerner in 2016, with 25.8% of the market compared to Cerner's 24.6% (and followed by Meditech's 16.6%).
An investor's insight into telehealth | The National Law Review
Investors discussed the boom in telehealth at the American Telemedicine Association's conference, saying that though telehealth is a large investment opportunity, it's still very much in development.
The world's most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data | The Economist
Data is the world's new hot commodity, and it needs regulation, The Economist argues.
Medical devices and equipment
FDA labels Medtronic HVAD splice kit recall as class 1 | Mass Device
The FDA gave the select recall of Medtronic HeartWare Splice Kits its most serious classification, one that's used when there's a chance a product could cause death or serious health problems.
Pharmaceuticals
Regeneron touts long-term Eylea data as its star med's sales fall short | Fierce Pharma
Sales of Regeneron's age-related macular degeneration drug rose in the first quarter but missed analysts' estimates.
Government
Democrats taunt Republicans with 'Hey, Hey, Hey, Goodbye' during health vote | The New York Times
Democrats jeered Republicans with a rendition of "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" as the American Health Care Act passed in the House yesterday. The tune, by Steam, was the number one song of 1969.
