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Southwest Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowships

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Last 50 News Postings

(Most recent listed first. Click on title to be directed to the manuscript.)

CMS Proposes Increased Reimbursement for Hospitals but a Decrease for
   Physicians in 2025
California Bill Would Tighten Oversight on Private Equity Hospital Purchases
Private Equity-Backed Steward Healthcare Files for Bankruptcy
Former US Surgeon General Criticizing $5,000 Emergency Room Bill
Nurses Launch Billboard Campaign Against Renewal of Desert Regional
   Medical Center Lease
$1 Billion Donation Eliminates Tuition at Albert Einstein Medical School
Kern County Hospital Authority Accused of Overpaying for Executive
   Services
SWJPCCS Associate Editor has Essay on Reining in Air Pollution Published
   in NY Times
Amazon Launches New Messaged-Based Virtual Healthcare Service
Hospitals Say They Lose Money on Medicare Patients but Make Millions
   Trust in Science Now Deeply Polarized
SWJPCC Associate Editor Featured in Albuquerque Journal
   Poisoning by Hand Sanitizers
Healthcare Layoffs During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Practice Fusion Admits to Opioid Kickback Scheme
Arizona Medical Schools Offer Free Tuition for Primary Care Commitment
Determining if Drug Price Increases are Justified
Court Overturns CMS' Site-Neutral Payment Policy
Pulmonary Disease Linked to Vaping
CEO Compensation-One Reason Healthcare Costs So Much
Doctor or Money Shortage in California?
FDA Commissioner Gottlieb Resigns
Physicians Generate an Average $2.4 Million a Year Per Hospital
Drug Prices Continue to Rise
New Center for Physician Rights
CMS Decreases Clinic Visit Payments to Hospital-Employed Physicians
   and Expands Decreases in Drug Payments 340B Cuts
Big Pharma Gives Millions to Congress
Gilbert Hospital and Florence Hospital at Anthem Closed
CMS’ Star Ratings Miscalculated
VA Announces Aggressive New Approach to Produce Rapid Improvements
   in VA Medical Centers
Healthcare Payments Under the Budget Deal: Mostly Good News
   for Physicians
Hospitals Plan to Start Their Own Generic Drug Company
Flu Season and Trehalose
MedPAC Votes to Scrap MIPS
CMS Announces New Payment Model
Varenicline (Chantix®) Associated with Increased Cardiovascular Events
Tax Cuts Could Threaten Physicians
Trump Nominates Former Pharmaceutical Executive as HHS Secretary
Arizona Averages Over 25 Opioid Overdoses Per Day
Maryvale Hospital to Close
California Enacts Drug Pricing Transparency Bill
Senate Health Bill Lacks 50 Votes Needed to Proceed
Medi-Cal Blamed for Poor Care in Lawsuit
Senate Republican Leadership Releases Revised ACA Repeal and Replace Bill
Mortality Rate Will Likely Increase Under Senate Healthcare Bill
University of Arizona-Phoenix Receives Full Accreditation
Limited Choice of Obamacare Insurers in Some Parts of the Southwest
Gottlieb, the FDA and Dumbing Down Medicine
Salary Surveys Report Declines in Pulmonologist, Allergist and Nurse
   Incomes
CDC Releases Ventilator-Associated Events Criteria

 

 

For complete news listings click here.

The Southwest Journal of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep periodically publishes news articles relevant to  pulmonary, critical care or sleep medicine which are not covered by major medical journals.

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Entries in FDA commissioner (1)

Thursday
Mar072019

FDA Commissioner Gottlieb Resigns

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner, Scott Gottlieb, has resigned after about 2 years (1). Gottlieb was a controversial appointee by the Trump administration due to his ties to the pharmaceutical industry. However, he stood out in the anti-regulatory Trump administration, where some officials such as Scott Pruitt, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, appeared intent on reducing the clout of the departments and agencies they headed. For nearly two years, Gottlieb has avidly promoted the FDA, inserting the agency into important health issues and sometimes taking on industries regulated by the agency.

Under Gottlieb’s leadership the FDA has made sweeping moves to lower smoking and vaping amongst minors. Gottlieb’s departure could throw into question other controversial tobacco initiatives he championed that have not yet emerged from the FDA, including proposals to ban menthol cigarettes and to reduce nicotine levels in cigarettes. In his resignation letter to Health and Human Services Secretary, Alex Azar, Gottlieb listed his accomplishments, including accelerating the approval of generic drugs and modernizing the process for handling novel gene and precision therapies to treat those with cancer.

The resignation took some senior FDA officials by surprise, and came as Gottlieb’s signature issue – youth vaping – is being reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget. The plan, detailed by Gottlieb last fall, would sharply restrict the sale of flavored e-cigarettes to curb a surge in underage vaping, which he argues could lead to a whole new generation addicted to nicotine.

Gottlieb, who has been commuting weekly to Washington from his home in Connecticut, said he wants to spend more time with his family. The resignation was apparently not sought by the White House. A senior White House official said Gottlieb had spoken to President Trump, and that the president liked the FDA chief and did not want him to leave. While Gottlieb had some policy disagreements with the White House, he is well respected, and could even be asked to take another post, said two officials. Gottlieb declined to comment on that possibility.

Most praised Gottlieb including his predecessor, Robert Califf, and Friends of Cancer Research and Tobacco Free Kids (1). However, he was not without his critics. Pieter Cohen, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School who conducts research into the safety of dietary supplements, faulted Gottlieb for not taking significant action on major safety problems involving dietary supplements. Raeford Brown, a professor of anesthesiology and pediatrics at the University of Kentucky, criticized Gottlieb’s opioid policy. “I am concerned, because he seems to have a tendency to spend most of his time talking and very little of his time implementing policy.” The advocacy group Public Citizen said that Gottlieb’s time as the agency's head "was marked by regulatory decision making regarding medications and medical devices that tilted further in favor of industry's financial interests rather than the interests of public health (2).” The group cited the controversial approval in April of an opioid called Dsuvia, which is 10 times more powerful than fentanyl.

Richard A. Robbins, MD

Editor, SWJPCC

References

  1. Laurie McGinley L, Bernstein L, Dawsey J.  FDA Commissioner Gottlieb, who raised alarms about teen vaping, resigns. Washington Post. March 5, 2019. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/03/05/fda-commissioner-gottlieb-who-raised-alarms-about-teen-vaping-resigns/?utm_term=.b50dd0bbb2ae (accessed 3-6-19).
  2. Scutti S, Diamond J, Goldschmidt D. FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb to resign next month. CNN Politics. March 5, 2019. Available at: https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/05/politics/gottlieb-resigning-fda-health-bn/index.html (accessed 3-6-19).

Cite as: Robbins RA. FDA commissioner Gottlieb resigns. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2019;18(3):65-6. doi: https://doi.org/10.13175/swjpcc012-19 PDF