NIH-funded study finds teens prefer mint and mango vaping flavors:

Keywords: YMPEP, Oral health

The study focused on JUUL products, the most widely used brand, which is available in multiple flavors. Data were from the 2019 Monitoring the Future (MTF) study, which annually surveys eighth, 10th, and 12th grade students in U.S. schools. A randomly-selected third of MTF respondents were asked, “Which JUUL flavor do you use most often?”

The 2019 data suggests that among both 12th and 10th graders, mint and mango ranked first and second (at about 47% and 24% for seniors; 44% and 27% for 10th graders). Among eighth graders, mango was most popular at 34%, followed by mint at 29%. In all grades, fruit flavoring was ranked third, followed by “Other.” Menthol was among the least popular (less than 2.3% for eighth graders; less than 3% for 10th graders and less than 6% for seniors).

White House launches website aimed at addiction treatment

Keywords: Opioids,

The Trump administration has unveiled a website aimed at helping millions of Americans with substance abuse issues learn about and locate treatment options.

FindTreatment.gov is the latest development in the administration’s effort to address the nation’s opioid crisis. The White House said it believes the site, which went up Wednesday, will enable the tens of millions of Americans with a variety of substance abuse and mental health issues to better access the care they need.

Death Rates Due to Suicide and Homicide Among Persons Aged 10–24: United States, 2000–2017

Keywords: CPAA, Mortality

Key Findings
Data from the National Vital Statistics System

• After stable trends from 2000 to 2007, suicide rates for persons aged 10–24 increased from 2007 (6.8 per 100,000 persons) to 2017 (10.6), while homicide rates declined from 2007 to 2014 and then increased through 2017.
• The suicide rate for persons aged 10–14 declined from 2000 (1.5) to 2007 (0.9), and then nearly tripled from 2007 to 2017 (2.5), while the homicide rate declined 18% from 2000 (1.1) to 2017 (0.9).
• For persons aged 15–19 and 20–24, suicide and homicide death rates both increased more recently during the 2000–2017 period, with the increase in suicide rates beginning earlier than for homicide rates.
• For the total age group 10–24 and for persons aged 15–19 and 20–24, suicide rates surpassed homicide rates during the latter part of the 2000–2017 period.

Prescription drug use among adults aged 40-79 in the United States and Canada

Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and
the Canadian Health Measures Survey

• Nearly 7 in 10 adults aged 40–79 used at least 1 prescription drug in the past 30 days in the United States (69.0%) and Canada (65.5%),
  and around 1 in 5 used at least 5 prescription drugs (22.4% in the United States and 18.8% in Canada).
  ● Among adults aged 40–59, the most commonly used drug types in the United States were antidepressants, lipid-lowering drugs, and ACE inhibitors; in Canada, they were analgesics, antidepressants, and lipidlowering drugs.
  ● Among adults aged 60–79, the most commonly used drug types in the United States were lipid-lowering drugs, antidiabetic agents, and beta
  blockers; in Canada, they were lipid-lowering drugs, analgesics, and proton pump inhibitors.

Updated International Classification of Diseases:

This report summarizes the findings from the testing process and describes how the findings were used to update the proposed case definition. In the updated ICD–10–CM surveillance case definition, injury hospitalizations are identified as hospitalization records with a principal diagnosis of select ICD–10–CM S, T, O, and M codes. The codes must indicate an initial encounter for active treatment of an injury or be missing encounter type information. The selection criteria exclude hospitalization records with an injury as a secondary or subsequent diagnosis (not the principal diagnosis)
or that have an external cause-of-injury code but do not have an injury code as the principal diagnosis. The updated ICD–10–CM surveillance case definition for injury hospitalizations provides standardized selection criteria for monitoring differences in hospitalization rates among populations and over time.

• Updated International Classification of Diseases: The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) have routinely collaborated with injury epidemiology partners to develop standard injury surveillance case definitions based on the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)
• United States Life Tables 2017: There are two types of life tables: the cohort (or generation) life table and the period (or current) life table. The cohort life table presents the mortality experience of a particular birth cohort—all persons born in the year 1900, for example—from the moment of birth through consecutive ages in successive calendar years.
• Leading Cause of deaths for 2017: This report presents final 2017 data on the 10 leading causes of death in the United States by age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin. Leading causes of infant, neonatal, and post neonatal death are also presented. This report supplements “Deaths: Final Data for 2017,” the National Center for Health Statistics’ annual report of final mortality statistics.
• Anesthesia study yields new insights into neuroscience of sleep: In a recent study in the journal Neuron, the NIH-supported lab of Fan Wang at Duke University, Durham, NC, used general anesthesia as a tool to learn more about mammalian brain activity. When they placed mice under multiple classes of general anesthesia, a cluster of neurons were activated in the brain’s hypothalamus that produce slow, oscillating waves similar to those observed in the brains of mice that were sleeping deeply.
• Quality Payment Program releases 2017 physician compare data and sees increase in clinical participation rates and success for 2018: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is deeply committed to ongoing data transparency and creating a patient-centered healthcare system, where clinicians are challenged to lower costs and increase the quality of care they provide.
• Moderate calorie restriction in young and middle-aged adults reduces metabolic risk factors independent of weight loss: Moderately reducing caloric intake over a period of two years significantly improved cardio-metabolic risk factors in young and middle-aged, non-obese adults.
• Electricity-conducting bacteria may inspire next-gen medical devices: Technological advances with potential for improving human health sometimes come from the most unexpected places. An intriguing example is an electricity-conducting biological nanowire that holds promise for powering miniaturized pacemakers and other implantable electronic devices.
• NIH study links air pollution to increase in newborn intensive care admissions: Infants born to women exposed to high levels of air pollution in the week before delivery are more likely to be admitted to a newborn intensive care unit (NICU), suggests an analysis by researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

• Competition as the engine for lowering healthcare costs: Turning our healthcare payment system into a government-run monopoly is a recipe for high costs and long wait times.
• When it comes to our health – every second counts: Health care: American’s favorite debate topic. While there is much to debate, we can all agree that the patient-provider relationship has been strained by unnecessary regulations and reporting requirements.
• Progress toward 3D printed human organs: There is considerable excitement that 3D printing technology might one day allow scientists to produce fully functional replacement organs from one’s own cells. While there is still a lot to learn, this video shows just some of the amazing progress that is being made.
• Medicaid program integrity: A shared and urgent responsibility: The Medicaid program has grown from $456 billion in 2013 to an estimated $576 billion in 2016, largely fueled by a mostly federally financed expansion of the program to more than 15 million new working age adults.
• Social acceptance helps mental health after ware trauma: A traumatic event is a shocking, scary, or dangerous experience that affects you emotionally. During war, people can be exposed to many different traumatic events. That raises the chances of developing mental health problems—like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression—and poorer life outcomes as adults.
• Gut-dwelling bacterium consumes Parkinson’s drug: Scientists continue to uncover the many fascinating ways in which the trillions of microbes that inhabit the human body influence our health. Now comes yet another surprising discovery: a medicine-eating bacterium residing in the human gut that may affect how well someone responds to the most commonly prescribed drug for Parkinson’s disease.
• Elevated blood pressure in first trimester increases risk for blood pressure disorder later in pregnancy: Elevated blood pressure in the first trimester of pregnancy, or an increase in blood pressure between the first and second trimesters, raises the chances of a high blood pressure disorder of pregnancy, according to a study funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
• Using virtual reality to improve health: Virtual reality—often referred to as “VR”—used to be science fiction. Today, it is everywhere. All you need is a smartphone and a headset to immerse yourself in 3-D virtual worlds or games. This booming technology may also be useful for health care and research.

• WSHCA Released Data Products: Information regarding multiple data products put out by the Health Care Authority for Medicaid Transformation use, as well as other project area uses.
• Putting our Rethinking Rural Health Strategy into Action: Approximately 60 million Americans or roughly 1 in 5 live in rural areas, with nearly every state having a rural county. The Trump Administration recognizes the significant obstacles faced by patients and providers in rural areas.
• Project to deter opioid tampering wins top Addiction Science: A 14-year-old’s innovative approach to prevent tampering and misuse of opioid pills won a first place Addiction Science Award at the 2019 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)—the world’s largest science competition for high school students.
• Integrated stepped alcohol treatment for people in HIV care improves both HIV and alcohol outcomes: New clinical research supported by the National Institutes of Health shows that increasing the intensity of treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD) over time improves alcohol-related outcomes among people with HIV. This stepped approach to AUD treatment also improves HIV-related disease measures in this patient population. A report of the new study, led by researchers at Yale University, is now online in The Lancet HIV.
• Human antibody reveals hidden vulnerability in influenza virus: The ever-changing “head” of an influenza virus protein has an unexpected Achilles heel, report scientists funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the National Institutes of Health. The team discovered and characterized the structure of a naturally occurring human antibody that recognizes and disrupts a portion of the hemagglutinin (HA) protein that the virus uses to enter and infect cells.
• NIH scientists call attention to the impact of opioids on women and children: Understanding the full effects of the nation’s opioid epidemic requires coordinated, long-term research involving women of reproductive age and children, according to scientists at the National Institutes of Health.
• Early weight-loss surgery may improve type 2 diabetes, blood pressure outcomes: Despite similar weight loss, teens who had gastric bypass surgery were significantly more likely to have remission of both type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, compared to adults who had the same procedure. Results are from an NIH-funded study comparing outcomes in the two groups five years after surgery.

• Ensuring safety and quality in America’s nursing homes CMS is in charge of developing and enforcing quality and safety standards across the nation’s health care system, a responsibility we consider a sacred trust.
• NIH funds study in four states to reduce opioid related deaths by 40% over 3 years: Funds are being used for a study of University of Kentucky, Lexington; Boston Medical Center, Boston; Columbia University, New York; and Ohio State University, Columbus. Findings to serve as a blueprint for communities nationwide.
• Service Provisions, Hospitalizations, and Chronic Conditions in adult day service centers: This report presents the most recent nationally representative percentages of adult day services centers (ADSCs) with hospitalizations and chronic conditions by service provision.
• Actively addressing Social Determinants of Health will help us achieve health equity: Each April marks National Minority Health Month, providing the opportunity to acknowledge the progress made in reducing disparities, as well as a chance to reflect on what more needs to be done to achieve health equity.
• Taking action and providing states options to minimize economic burden created by the ACA: Ever since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s (PPACA) main requirements were implemented in 2014, individual health insurance markets across the country have been struggling.
• CMS Streamlines Medicaid review process and reduces approval times so states can more effectively manage their programs: We are working to reset the federal-state relationship and restore the partnership between the states and the federal government, while at the same time modernizing the program to deliver better outcomes for the people we serve.
• Recovery Audits: improvements to protect taxpayer dollars and put patients over paperwork: Some argue the solution to our nation’s health care problems is a government-run health insurance program for everyone. While they may point to Medicare’s low administrative costs as a reason to expand the program, the reality is that these costs are low in part because we must target our program integrity efforts.

• HealthCare_Waste19:  Finding and Addressing Waste to Improve Value in Health Care slideshow developed for the ACH Transformation and Alignment Call on March 25, 2019
• Empowering Patients and Unleashing Innovations: eMedicare for Today and Furture Generations: Public service is a privilege. The primary mission of the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is to deliver on President Trump’s commitment to strengthen and modernize Medicare for the millions of Americans who depend on us every day.
• Protecting the Health and Safety of all Americans: Despite stringent safeguards, alarming stories continue to be reported about people, including some of our most vulnerable individuals, who have experienced harm in healthcare settings that is devastating to these patients and their families.
• First, Do No Harm, Calculating Health Care Waste in Washington State: The Washington Health Alliance (the Alliance) utilized the Milliman Med Insight Health Waste Calculator to produce this report, our second analysis of low-value health care services in Washington State. The Washington Health Alliance maintains an All-Payer-Claims-Database (APCD) for Washington, including over 4 million insured lives (commercial and Medicaid).
• New Part D Policies Address Opioid Epidemic: Early last year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a roadmapoutlining our efforts to address the national opioid epidemic.  The roadmap details our three-pronged approach, including prevention of new cases of opioid use disorder (OUD), expanding access to treatment for patients who have already developed OUD, and using data from across the country to better target our prevention and treatment activities.
• Heaps of Health Care Waste, in Washington State They are still sifting through it: Waste in health care is not new, but attention to it is rapidly gaining momentum. The Institute of Medicine provided the wake-up call in its 2012 report, estimating that about 30% of health care expenditures are unnecessary. Since then, a spate of research has backed up the IOM’s calculations.
• Dementia Mortality in the United States, 2000-2017: Dementia, including Alzheimer disease and other dementias, presents a major public health challenge in the United States. Dementia is characterized by memory impairment and cognitive decline.
• Drug Overdose Deaths Involving Fentanyl, 2011-2016: Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that has been involved increasingly in drug overdose deaths. In 2011 and 2012, fentanyl was involved in roughly 1,600 drug overdose deaths each year, but from 2012 through 2014, the number of drug overdose deaths involving fentanyl more than doubled each year.

• Working together for value: Over the past year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has engaged with the provider community in a discussion about regulatory burden issues. This included publishing a Request for Information (RFI) soliciting comments about areas of high regulatory burden.
• CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) Doubling down on Health IT; Patients: CMS is committed to leveraging innovation to truly empower patients with their own data, decisions, and care. Evidence of this commitment can be found in a government-wide initiative launched by CMS and the White House Office of Innovation in March called MyHealthEData— designed to achieve true patient control and interoperability of their health records, and to enable patients to share their data with technology innovators and researchers to accelerate public health.
• HCA Issues request for proposals from drug manufacturers for hepatitis C treatment and services: The Heath Care Authority (HCA) this week released a request for drug manufacturers to propose a new approach to providing costly but curative hepatitis C drugs. The proposals must include descriptions of outreach and screening to those potentially living with hepatitis C, and a competitive price on the drug. The request for proposals is open through March 4.
• Changes to the State Maximum Allowable Costs (SMAC) list effective April 1, 2019: Washington Apple Health (Medicaid), administered by the Health Care Authority (agency), will implement changes to the State Maximum Allowable Costs (SMAC) list for the fee-for-service (FFS) Prescription Drug Program.
• Washington Gov. Jay Inslee Announces $675 million plan for behavioral health: Washington Governor Jay Inslee formally announced a $675 million plan today that aims to guide a transformation of Washington’s behavioral health system as part of his 2019-2021 budget.
• 2020 Census barriers, attitudes and motivators study survey report: The 2020 Census Barriers, Attitudes, and Motivators Study Survey (2020 CBAMS Survey) was conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau’s Communications Research and Analytics Team (CRAT) and Team Young & Rubicam (Team Y&R) to provide an evidentiary foundation for the 2020 Census Integrated Partnership and Communications (IPC) operation.

• Washington ends State Innovation Models (SIM) grant: SIM funded many Healthier Washington initiatives, and although the grant is ending, Healthier Washington continues.
• “Pathways to Success,” an Overhaul of Medicare’s ACO Program: Trump Administration announced our overhaul of the program for Accountable Care Organizations, or “ACOs,” in Medicare. ACOs serve a large number of Medicare beneficiaries – over 10.4 million individuals in Fee-for-Service Medicare (of the 38 million total Fee-for-Service beneficiaries) receive care from providers participating in a Medicare ACO.
• Medicare’s role in reducing senior poverty: As Poverty Awareness Month ends this January; it is a time for us to remember the strong relationship between poverty and health, and to consider the ongoing challenges of poverty among older adults.
• Proposed change to lower drug prices in Medicare Advantage and Part D: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced proposed changes to Medicare Part D to lower prescription drug costs for beneficiaries. Part D uses private insurance plans to cover drugs that are picked up at a pharmacy.
• Better data will serve as the foundation in modernizing the Medicaid program: The program is often the first or second largest line item in state budgets. Just recently, CMS’ independent Office of the Actuary released their Medicaid financial report, confirming what we have already known for quite some time – that our healthcare spending, particularly in Medicaid – is forecast to continue growing, averaging 5.7% annually over the next 10 years to reach over $1 trillion by 2026.

• National Hospital Care Survey Demonstration Projects: This report contains characteristics of inpatient and emergency department encounters among patients with any listed diagnosis of Alzheimer Disease.
• Health Insurance Coverage: Early Release of Estimates from the National Health interview Survey (Uninsured)(Private)(Public): This report from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) presents selected estimates of health insurance coverage for the civilian noninstitutionalized U.S. population based on data from the 2017 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), along with comparable estimates from previous calendar years. Estimates for 2017 are based on data for 78,074 persons.
• Federal Financial Participation for HIT and HIE: Funding for some state Health Information Exchange (HIE) activities is already available to states through the Medicaid Electronic Health Records (EHR) Incentive Program as authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) at the 90% match rate through 2021.
• 2019 Washington State of Reform afternoon keynote: A review of Washington State health care pricing data: During her keynote with us, Robin Gelburd is the President of FAIR Health, which has data on a few billion claims paid in the US, highlighted some notable elements of the Washington State health care system that are unique.
• Behavioral Health Usage Washington vs National: Graphic depiction the change in Behavioral Health usage over the 10-year anniversary since the Mental Health Parity Act (2007-2017).