| | | | |  | | By Daniel Payne, Ruth Reader and Erin Schumaker | | | | | 
Americans with PTSD may be able to get ecstasy to treat the condition in Amsterdam if the Dutch government approves an expert panel's recommendation. | AFP via Getty Images | Americans with PTSD probably won’t be able to legally get the psychedelic drug MDMA — better known as ecstasy — to treat their condition after a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel said Tuesday it wasn’t effective. But it looks like they may if they travel to the Netherlands. An advisory panel there has recommended the Dutch government allow the treatment, our Mari Eccles reports. The backstory: Last year, the Dutch established a state commission of experts from psychiatry, medicine, criminology, prevention and law to investigate the risks and benefits of MDMA, including its potential medical use. Its findings, released Thursday, say that “with what is currently known, there appears to be sufficient scientific evidence for the effectiveness and safety of this form of therapy.” “It is possible that MDMA as a therapy-supporting medication can help, especially for mental health patients who have been dealing with their problems for years and have not been helped by the current range of therapies,” Health Minister Pia Dijkstra said. “However, more scientific, clinical research needs to be done.” Even so: The new conservative coalition government, which is in the process of forming, will make a decision on the panel report this fall.
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Rocky Mountain National Park, Colo. | Shawn Zeller/POLITICO | This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. Eating fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains and lean meats — often known as the Mediterranean diet — reduced cancer and heart disease rates, a study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found after following 25,000 women for up to 25 years. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Carmen Paun at cpaun@politico.com, Daniel Payne at dpayne@politico.com, Ruth Reader at rreader@politico.com or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@politico.com. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp.
| | |  The CDC's human resources director see telework as a selling point to potential hires. | David Goldman/AP | Coming out of the pandemic and likely entering a decade of increasing demand on the health care system, agencies at the Department of Health and Human Services are looking to bolster their workforces. How so? Federal agencies — and the health system broadly — face two major workforce challenges — supply and distribution — according to Elizabeth Kittrie, senior adviser for the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Bureau of Health Workforce. Workers with some skill sets, especially clinical ones, don’t exist in large enough quantities to fulfill the demand for their services, she said. In other instances, workers are concentrated, whether geographically or by employer, in a way that creates shortages elsewhere. Those factors come into play as a “tsunami” of older adults are retiring, which will likely put even more strain on the federal health care infrastructure, Chandra Mohan, acting chief technology officer at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said. But one job “perk” seems to help attract agency applicants: remote work. Sylana Tramble, human resources director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said she’s seeing the power of remote work as an advantage, citing an influx of applicants from agencies bringing employees back to the office more often than the CDC. Even so: Several lawmakers, especially in the GOP, have pointed to empty parking lots outside of federal agencies to pressure the Biden administration to adopt stricter in-office policies — which could complicate agency leaders’ plans to use remote work as an incentive for applicants. And the hiring process for federal employees can at times be “a little dated, and cumbersome, and painful,” Tramble said.
| | | | JOIN US ON 6/13 FOR A TALK ON THE FUTURE OF HEALTH CARE: As Congress and the White House work to strengthen health care affordability and access, innovative technologies and treatments are increasingly important for patient health and lower costs. What barriers are appearing as new tech emerges? Is the Medicare payment process keeping up with new technologies and procedures? Join us on June 13 as POLITICO convenes a panel of lawmakers, officials and experts to discuss what policy solutions could expand access to innovative therapies and tech. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | |  Many more people are smoking up than did just a generation ago. | Jorge Saenz/AP | Health providers need to adapt to the emerging legal market for marijuana, as new research suggests a high number of patients are misusing the drug. How so? Of more than 175,000 patients in a large academic health system in Los Angeles, nearly 17 percent reported cannabis use, according to a study published this week in JAMA Network Open. More than a third of users were considered at moderate or high risk for cannabis use disorder, defined as use of the drug despite negative impacts to health and life. Some with the disorder become addicted. Why it matters: With the legal cannabis market expanding, the researchers suggested the findings point to opportunities for care providers to better monitor patient use and the risks that come with it. Though policymakers have moved toward legalization, the physical and mental health effects of cannabis use are relatively unknown. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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