Why repealing Obamacare may not be as easy as Trump thinks

TheConversation: Candidate Trump repeatedly called for repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act during the campaign, but it is unclear what President Trump will actually do about the ACA. It is not clear even with President Trump, and Republican majorities in the House and Senate, whether full repeal is possible and what replacement might look like. There are several reasons for this. First, Trump would face political and financial fall-out from repeal. Second, even with Republican majorities now in the House and Senate, it would be hard to repeal the entire bill. It includes not only the establishment of the exchanges, in which people buy insurance, but also cost-saving and quality-improvement measures. Many health care professionals, systems and tax payers welcomed these.

Expensive new cancer drugs have little effect on survival of many cancers

BMJ: Despite considerable investment and innovation, new cancer  drugs approved in the past 10 years may have little effect on  survival in adults with cancer, raising a number of concerns,  argues an expert in The BMJ today . Peter Wise, a former consultant at  Charing Cross Hospital in  London, says spending an annual six figure sum to prolong life  by a few weeks or months “may be inappropriate” for many  patients. In 2015, global sales of cancer drugs were around  $110bn (£85bn; €95bn) . He calls for stricter drug approval criteria and improved consent  processes “to achieve ethical treatment and reduce cancer costs."

Common, costly clot test has few benefits

Michigan: A half billion dollars – at least -- gets spent each year on blood tests to see which hospital patients have a genetic quirk that makes their blood more likely to form dangerous clots.

And most of that spending probably isn’t necessary, according to a new paper by a University of Michigan Medical School team.
Writing in the Journal of Hospital Medicine (link is external), they review what’s known about testing for the trait called inherited thrombophilia, and call for a drastic cut in the test’s use by doctors across America.

There’s money in your wearable fitness tracker

University of Illinois: Your wearable fitness tracker is great at counting the number of steps you took today, but it could also provide a new source of currency for the emerging health data economy, according to a new study in the journal Computer. The wearable device industry is estimated to grow to more than $30 billion by 2020. These sensors, often worn as bracelets or clips, count the number of steps we take each day; the number of hours we sleep; and monitor our blood pressure, heart rate, pulse and blood sugar levels. The list of biophysical functions these devices can measure is growing rapidly.

‘Smarter’ Ordering of Breast Biomarker Tests Could Save Millions in Health Care Dollars, Study Reveals

Johns Hopkins: A review of medical records for almost 200 patients with breast cancer suggests that more selective use of biomarker testing for such patients has the potential to save millions of dollars in health care spending without compromising care, according to Johns Hopkins researchers. Specifically, waiting to perform these tests until a patient has a full excisional biopsy instead of “reflexively” or automatically testing for them on initial small “core” biopsies could save as much as $117 million, according to a report on the study published in the July issue of The American Journal of Surgical Pathology.