Health Beat: Health Care Spending Jumps 5.7% In June From A Year Ago

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HEALTH CARE SPENDING JUMPS 5.7% IN JUNE FROM A YEAR AGO
National health spending in June 2015 was 5.7% higher than in June 2014, down from the 8-year high growth rate of 6.7% in the first quarter of 2015. The 5.7% growth rate is still, however, higher than the new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 2014 estimate of 5.5%.

The health spending share of gross domestic product was 18.1% in June, barely below the all-time high of 18.2% first recorded in March 2015, according to the monthly Health Sector Economic Indicators briefs released by Altarum Institute’s Center for Sustainable Health Spending.

The health sector added about 28,000 new jobs in July, a bit off the pace of the previous 3 months but still above the 24-month average of 26,600. In the first 7 months of 2015, the health sector has averaged more than 37,000 new jobs per month.

Health job growth in July reached 3.0% year over year for the first time since 2002. The year-over-year growth rate for hospitals was 2.6%, the highest rate since May 2008. The health share of total employment increased to 10.65%, approaching the high of 10.66% last seen in December 2012.

Health care prices in June 2015 were 1.1% higher than in June 2014, the third consecutive month at that rate and only a tenth above the decade-plus low of 1.0% growth registered in August 2013. Price growth for prescription drugs moderated to 4.8%, now comfortably below its multi-decade high of 6.4% reached in December 2014.

GROUNDBREAKING HIV/AIDS LEGISLATION REACHES 25-YEAR MARK
This week is the 25th anniversary of the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act, the legislation that created the most comprehensive federal program that provides services exclusively to people living with HIV.

On August 18, 1990, President Bush signed the groundbreaking Ryan White CARE Act that passed Congress with overwhelmingly bipartisan support. At the time the bill became law, more than 150,000 AIDS cases had been reported in the United States, and more than 100,000 of those people had died.

Funded at $2.32 billion in fiscal year 2015, the program works with cities, states, and local community-based organizations to support a coordinated and comprehensive system of care and treatment. More than 1.2 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV.

CONSULTANT: PRIVATE OPTION NETS STATE BUDGET $438 MILLION BY 2021
A consulting group hired by a legislative task force says the Private Option will have a net positive fiscal impact for the state of Arkansas budget of $438 million through 2021. A 63-page preliminary report by The Stephen Group, hired by the Health Reform Task Force of the Arkansas Legislature, distributed its findings to lawmakers late Monday night. A final report will be issued on October 1, 2015.

STATE MEDICAL SERVICES POLICYMAKER SELECTED AS 2015 HENRY TOLL FELLOW
Suzanne Bierman, assistant director of the Arkansas Division of Medical Services, is one of 48 state policymakers from across the country selected as a Council of State Governments’ prestigious Henry Toll Fellow for the class of 2015.

Named for CSG founder Henry Wolcott Toll, the program brings 48 of the nation’s top officials from all three branches of state government to Lexington, Ky., for an intensive six-day, five-night intellectual boot camp. This year’s program will be held Aug. 28-Sept. 2 in Lexington.

Click here for the complete list of 2015 Toll Fellows.

NIH STUDY: TEENS USING E-CIGARETTES MORE LIKELY TO START SMOKING TOBACCO
Students who have used electronic cigarettes by the time they start 9th grade are more likely than others to start smoking traditional cigarettes and other combustible tobacco products within the next year, according to a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

E-cigarettes deliver nicotine to the lungs by heating a liquid solution that contains nicotine and other chemicals to produce an aerosol that the user inhales, a process often called “vaping.”

The study compared tobacco use initiation among 222 students who had used e-cigarettes, but not combustible tobacco products, and 2,308 who had neither used e-cigarettes or combustible tobacco products when initially surveyed at the start of 9th grade. During the first six months after being surveyed, 30.7% of those who had used e-cigarettes started using combustible tobacco products, such as cigarettes, cigars, and hookahs, compared to only 8.1% of those who had never used e-cigarettes. Over the following six months leading into the start of 10th grade, 25.2% of e-cigarette users had used combustible tobacco products, compared to just 9.3% of nonusers.

The paper, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, can be found here.