Trending News Today: California Governor Pursues Drug Price Transparency

Yesterday, California Gov Jerry Brown signed a bill that would increase transparency by requiring manufacturers to justify price increases more than 16% over 2 years, according to Kaiser Health News. Under the new law, manufacturers must also give 60 days’ notice before raising drug costs, which will take effect on Jan 1, 2018. Brown said that the bill is a way to correct income equality and prevent price gouging, according to the article.

Some states have Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment integrated into electronic health records, Kaiser Health News reported. These documents identify which types of treatments ill and elderly patients would like at the end of life and which types they do not want to receive. In Oregon, patients benefit from a program that allows providers to find the patient’s documents with a single click, regardless of where it was filed, according to the article. This integration ensures that patients’ wishes are carried out.

Recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics updated its guidelines on screening and managing children with high blood pressure to prevent adverse events. Children’s blood pressure cannot be measured with a cuff for adults and also cannot be judged on an adult scale, according to The New York Times. These guidelines indicate that pediatric patients’ blood pressure varies by age, gender, height, and other factors that have to be considered, making it more complicated than reading adults’ blood pressure. The updated recommendations include an easy-to-use table that physicians can use to determine whether a patient has high blood pressure, according to the Times.