Wins
* The SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, signed into law on October 24, temporarily requires the coverage of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for substance use disorders under Medicaid, among other provisions: http://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/6.
* The Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 would permanently allow NPs and physician assistants to prescribe MAT: http://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/The%20Opioid%20Crisis%20Response%20Act%.
* Five of eight Healthy People 2020 objectives for breastfeeding have been met, according to the Breastfeeding Report Card-United States, 2018:http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/pdf/2018breastfeedingreportcard.pdf.
* Adoptive cell immunotherapy, which boosts immune defenses against cancer by genetically reengineering patients' T cells, was singled out as the clinical advance of 2018 in the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual report, Clinical Cancer Advances 2018: http://www.asco.org/research-progress/reports-studies/clinical-cancer-advances-2.
* The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in November that the prevalence of cigarette smoking among U.S. adults is the lowest since tracking began in 1965: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6744a2.htm?s_cid=mm6744a2_w.
Losses
* The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality announced that federal funding ended for the National Guideline Clearinghouse in July.
* The Simple Truth About the Gender Pay Gap, a 2018 report from the American Association of University Women, found that women still make less than men no matter their line of work, with the widest pay gaps existing in female-dominated professions like nursing.
* The adult vaccination rate for the 2017-18 flu season was about 37%, six percentage points lower than in the previous season, according to the CDC. The 2017-18 flu season was the third high-severity season since the 2003-04 season.
* In September, the CDC reported that increases in gonorrhea, syphilis, and chlamydia have been "steep and sustained": http://www.cdc.gov/std/stats17/default.htm.