A review of the 2016 statistics from the multiple facets that make
up the healthcare arena includes:
- Television Commercials: A combined 1.3 million ads for prescription and over the counter drugs, raking in an estimated revenue of $4.6 million.
- Opioid Deaths: A nearly 20% increase in overdose deaths in Massachusetts attributed to the synthetic opioid, fentanyl.
- Expensive Drug Treatments: Only 3% of Kentucky Medicaid participants were able to receive hepatitis C treatments – a sign of the epidemic burdening the Medicaid system nationwide.
- Growth in Biotech: Private biotech companies received nearly $4 billion less in venture capital investment than in 2015.
Additional topics include
the gene editing technology, CRISPR; stem cell treatment facilities; the impact
of Zika on birth rates in Columbia; and hospice care utilization.
Read STAT News' article on it here.
