STAT

New edition of "Weekly Update" is here! The future of Eli Lilly, Pfizer and BioNTech setback, Gilead wins, drug price negotiations, and more.  Read now ⬇

Eli Lilly’s lauded discount of its obesity drug Zepbound may not expand access as much as the company indicates. https://trib.al/FMvNiNi

UnitedHealth Group's increasing control of physicians across the U.S. has prompted a team of STAT reporters to take a deeper look at the impacts on patients, doctors, and taxpayers. Our latest story (linked below and published Wed., Aug. 28) examines the effects on a network of primary care practices in Connecticut called ProHealth. After its acquisition of ProHealth in 2015, UHG promised to keep doctors in control and take a hands-off approach to their practices. What happened next was anything but hands-off. Doctors told us UHG pressured them to screen patients for illnesses that allowed United to claim higher payments from Medicare. When some doctors pushed back, citing a lack of evidence for certain screenings, UHG brought in other clinicians to do the testing anyway. Then the doctors began to lose control of their schedules, and even their own patients charts. Patients found conditions in their charts that no one told them about and said their visits started getting shorter and felt rushed; several said they couldn't get appointments when they were sick. Complaints started popping up on social media; patients criticized the practice as uncaring and inaccessible. Many doctors retired early or simply left the practice, and patients followed suit. A UnitedHealth Group spokesman said in response to our reporting that the company takes feedback from physicians seriously and allows doctors to practice independently. But that's not what we've heard from doctors in Connecticut or Colorado or California or Massachusetts or Washington or Oregon. Instead, doctors in all those places have said UHG implemented a corporate playbook that favored its bottom line over the interests of patients, physicians and taxpayers. Please stayed tuned to our series, Health Care's Colossus. We've got more reporting on the way.

Kick back and relax with STAT+ this Labor Day weekend! Get access to all our coverage for 25% off your first year by using code LABORDAY at checkout. Subscribe now: https://trib.al/ze5rbbi

STAT health news today: How UnitedHealth extracted profit from a primary care network, an Oropouche explainer, investigating maternal deaths, researching addiction on native lands. https://trib.al/RUGgCE3

Delaware's highest court will hear an appeal by GSK and other drugmakers seeing to end lawsuits claiming Zantac caused cancer. https://trib.al/occUxg4

Almost 10 years after UnitedHealth bought ProHealth Physicians, former doctors say the primary care network is a shell of its former self. https://trib.al/7dFoswO

Neurocrine Biosciences said the lowest dose of an experimental pill for schizophrenia reduced psychosis reported by patients in a mid-stage study. https://trib.al/WEhwF74

The drug overdose crisis has hit Native Americans harder than any group. Now a $270 program will allow native researchers to study causes and potential solutions. https://trib.al/JfoaZFp

Meaningful improvement in the CED program’s goals will require more fundamental reforms than the newly announced TCET offers. https://trib.al/pF75wFT