A Problematic Industry Joins the Climate Change Movement, Much-Needed Health Care Reaches the Latino Community and More

 
U.S. Agricultural Secretary Thinks Farmers Can Help Solve Global Warming, Scientific American
Those that work the land inflict some of the worst harm on it. But as a recent report reveals, members of the agriculture community — farmers, ranchers, foresters — are beginning to change their planet-damaging ways. As they reform what they grow and how they grow it means that farmers soon could cease being one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gas pollution.
Students Fill a Gap in Mental Health Care for Immigrants, NPR
For immigrants in need of mental health care, a lack of documentation or insurance often means illnesses remain untreated. Across the nation, understaffed health clinics and universities are joining forces to improve access to services for depression, anxiety and more. Through these partnerships, Master’s and Ph.D. students play a vital role in treating mental illness in the Latino community.
Vermont Becomes First State to Require Drug Makers to Justify Price Hikes, STAT News
Last year, the pharmaceutical industry got a bad rap when Martin Shkreli hiked up the price of an HIV drug by more than 5,000 percent. In response, the Green Mountain state passed a law holding drug companies accountable for price increases. Could this move stunt medical innovation or will it protect citizens from unreasonable costs?

The New Devices That Make It Easier to Follow the Doctor’s Orders

Ever forgotten to take a prescription medication before leaving for work in the morning? Maybe even accidentally skipped a whole day of antibiotics once you started feeling better? Of course you have. No harm done, right? Don’t be so sure.
Aside from the obvious dangers of someone forgetting to take medicine they need, the Atlantic estimates that the U.S. hemorrhages $100 to $300 billion dollars from medication non-adherence, or “taking too many pills, not taking enough pills, taking the wrong pills at the wrong times.” Between wasted pills, unnecessary doctor’s visits and hospitalizations, even premature deaths, this mistake is all too common.
For decades, the answer has been those plastic pill organizers with a little box for each day of the week. No more. Companies like Vitality and PillPack are invoking a 21st century consciousness to bypass the dangers — both medical and financial — posed by medication non-adherence. And with 20 percent of American adults taking five or more prescriptions, the market is poised for an easy solution.
From Vitality comes GlowCap, a device that fits over most prescription bottles and “that lights up when it’s time to take a pill, then chirps, and finally sends a text reminder,” reports the Atlantic. Soon, Vitality also plans to release the GlowPack, which will monitor adherence for sirups, inhalers, ointments and blisters packs as well.
And PillPack wants to get rid of the current script bottle entirely. Instead of providing each medication separately, PillPack is a full-service pharmacy that arranges and mails all of your medications in single-use packets labeled for the specific time they should be taken, eliminating virtually any risk of taking too much or too little of your meds. PillPack’s CEO, T.J. Parker, isn’t shy about his product’s appeal: “We have the opportunity to make everyday tasks delightful. Even something as unsexy as taking pills,” he says.
MORE: These Pharmacists Are Making Affordable Medication for All a Reality

The Savvy People That Are Saving Prescription Drugs From Landfills and Giving Them to Needy Patients

Most of us are aware that Americans waste a lot of food, which has spurred nonprofits like the Food Recovery Network to avert some of that loss and give it to hungry people. But you may not know that Americans also toss out an astonishing amount of perfectly good prescription drugs as well. These drugs end up in landfills, flushed down the toilet or burnt in incinerators where they can harm people or the environment, keeping them from people who could use them.
Fifty percent of the Americans that the Commonwealth Fund surveyed said that they had failed to fill a prescription ordered by their doctors because of the price of the drug, and according to the CDC, 25 percent of Americans struggle with paying their medical bills.
Which is why several crusaders are working to get unused prescription drugs into the hands of people who need them. George Wang, whose Stanford, California-based nonprofit startup Sirum recovers these drugs, calculates that $700 million worth of prescriptions could be saved each year. He talked with Marketplace about “the absurdity of the waste and how gross it is, the fact that it’s raining down on families where these drugs are being burnt. It’s insane, right?”
One of the big culprits is nursing homes. Residents use a lot of prescriptions, but regulations require these facilities to toss prescriptions instead of sharing them between patients. Larry McCarty, a medical waste hauler who works for nursing homes in California describes, “brand new packages that have never been open and still have the saran over the top of them. Whole packages, just sitting in there.”
Sirum has developed software to make it simple for nursing homes to donate leftover drugs, shipping them to pharmacies that will give them to low-income people or those who don’t have insurance.
In Oklahoma, Linda Johnston, the Tulsa County Director of Social Service, heads up a program that involves retired doctors in collecting unused drugs and delivering them to the needy, saving $16 million worth of drugs so far, and countless lives. Johnston talked with Marketplace about one young man who’d received anti-depression medication from the program. “He wanted me to know he was not going to commit suicide, because he had his medication, he could take it.”
MORE: How Much Food Could Be Rescued if College Dining Halls Saved Their Leftovers?
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