All 10 pharmaceutical manufacturers with drugs selected for the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program have agreed to participate, the federal government announced on Tuesday.

The agreement means the negotiation process can now begin, US Department of Health And Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra told Healthcare Brew.

“Having all the companies that manufacture these 10 drugs participate means that President Biden’s lower-cost prescription drug law is working,” Becerra said. “We’re now seeing it take effect, and good for America that we’re finally going to be able to try to get more fair prices for the American public when it comes to their drugs.”

Keep reading here.—MA

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Maia at [email protected]. For confidential conversations, ask Maia for her number on Signal.

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Healthcare executives looking to improve cybersecurity standards across their hospitals might want to start with existing IT.

Older medical devices can have critical cybersecurity vulnerabilities, often because the technology wasn’t designed to address the kinds of cyber threats that exist today, Richard Staynings, chief security strategist at cybersecurity platform Cylera, told Healthcare Brew.

“No one in their right mind would conduct their stock trades or their internet banking—or even manage their 401(k)—using a Windows 95 computer today,” Staynings said. “And yet we’re keeping patients alive using an embedded version of that very same operating system in legacy devices.”

Keep reading here.—KW

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Kristine at [email protected]. For confidential conversations, ask Kristine for her number on Signal.

On Fridays, we schedule our rounds with Healthcare Brew readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

This week’s Making Rounds spotlights Luis Castro, a family medicine physician at Beebe Healthcare in Lewes, Delaware. Castro, who also runs Beebe’s family medicine residency program, talked about the most fulfilling part of his job, the importance of telemedicine for healthcare access, and the downfalls of quality performance measures in healthcare.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

How would you describe your specific job to someone who doesn’t work in healthcare?

I see patients in our walk-in clinics, which are basically urgent care centers. We see them for most of their acute primary care problems, like cough, cold, fractures, or lacerations. I also provide obstetrical care. I do low-risk, natural deliveries. Beebe Healthcare also just started a new family medicine residency program, and they were looking for a family doctor with experience in obstetrics to teach residents the ob-gyn aspects of family medicine. That’s now my other role outside of being a walk-in provider.

Keep reading here.—MA

Today’s top healthcare reads.

Stat: In 2022, Europe reported 71 cases of locally acquired dengue infection, with 65 in France and six in Spain. (Politico)

Quote: “As a malaria researcher, I used to dream of the day we would have a safe and effective vaccine against malaria. Now we have two.”—WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on the authorization of a malaria vaccine (AP)

Read: Emergency room doctors want to kill the term “excited delirium”—which has been widely discredited—so it cannot be used “to provide a cover for police misconduct.” (KFF Health News)

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