Briefly: Democrats winning on healthcare | Hospital pharmacies blinded by bustle | Gambling boys | Obesity rises | more

If all American voters were single-issue deciders and the cost of healthcare were their issue, Democrat candidates would win the mid-term elections handily. 

But loyalists of the donkey party shouldn’t be smug around their elephant counterparts. Most voters don’t choose by one issue alone. Besides, arguably the hottest political topic this year is driving a dead heat. That would be the overall cost of living. And on that folks have “not too much” confidence or “none” in either a.) the Republicans in Congress (64%); b.) the Democrats in Congress (63%); or c.) President Trump (61%).  

The quantified insights are from the latest health-tracking poll conducted by KFF. The nonprofit policy-research and healthcare-journalism organization received more than 1,400 completed forms from U.S. adults it contacted between Jan. 13 and Jan. 20. More highlights from the survey report: 

• The cost of healthcare—including paying for health insurance and having enough for out-of-pocket expenses—is the public’s No. 1 source of economic anxiety. Two-thirds of respondents (66%) tell KFF they worry about being able to afford healthcare for them and their family. This ranks the concern more unsettling at the national scale than how to pay for utilities, groceries, housing or gas. 
   
• Voters expect healthcare costs to be a major motivator pulling them toward the polls come November. More than three-quarters of Democratic voters and independents say healthcare costs will affect both their decision to vote and their choices of candidates. By comparison, about half of Republicans say the same. “In fact, two-thirds of Democratic voters and more than 4 in 10 independent voters say healthcare costs will have a ‘major impact’ on their 2026 voting decisions,” KFF analysts report. 
   
• Democrats have a 13-point edge over Republicans regarding trust on most healthcare issues. This means they’re reaching voters with healthcare messaging beyond just care costs. The one exception is prescription drug prices, “an issue President Trump has focused on in his second term, and on which similar shares of voters say they trust the Democratic Party (35%) and the Republican Party (30%),” KFF states. “Among independent voters, the Democratic Party has an edge over the Republican Party on healthcare issues, but many independent voters also say they don’t trust either party.”
   
  • Full poll results here, KFF issue discussion here.
     

Hospital-based pharmacies are struggling to operate efficiently for a very basic reason: They often can’t see what they’re doing.

Stated another way, 80% of these operations lack a real-time view of key changes occurring within their supply chains. As a result, pharmacy leaders are reacting to predictable problems—spikes in drug demand, thinning inventories, medication shortfalls and the like—rather than anticipating such system stressors and heading them off. 

The market research behind the discovery was conducted in October by a company serving the healthcare supply-chain space: Montreal-based Tecsys. The survey brought in 201 responses—100 from pharmacy and supply-chain staff, 101 from hospital C-level leaders. Tecsys says all respondents work in a U.S. hospital or health system with at least $1 billion in annual revenue. Here are some other enlightening findings from the report (which uses visibility as a synonym for observability). 

• The gap is growing between perceived preparedness and operational reality. Some 74% of respondents say their organization is prepared to manage a major disruption, but only 20% report full, real-time visibility across care settings, the Tecsys researchers found. “Most health systems and their pharmacies are still making mission-critical decisions using manual processes or siloed systems that do not connect with each other,” the report authors write. Poor results can include “conflicting data that hides risk until it’s already too late.”
   
• Managing drug shortages and substitutions is the most serious operational challenge. It was checked off by 44% of respondents. Less pressing but still registering as significant challenges: Ensuring regulatory compliance (33%);  High costs of specialty pharmaceuticals (33%); Managing data and technology integration processes (27%); Maintaining accurate, real-time inventory counts (26%); and Preventing drug diversion and ensuring security (18%). 
   
• Pharmacy cannot be strategic if its impact is invisible. That’s the authors’ comment upon observing that almost half of pharmacy and supply chain leaders, 48%, see their function as strategic for enterprise performance—but only 15% of hospital executives agree. “This misalignment is not a perception issue. It is a visibility issue,” the analysts write. “Executives cannot see the financial, operational and safety impact of pharmacy decisions because the data is dispersed across disconnected platforms, spreadsheets and departmental workflows.” 
   
• Pharmacy’s influence must grow, the authors hold. Why? Because the department “drives a significant portion of hospital operating expenses; touches nearly every patient who enters the hospital; plays a critical role in shortages, waste reduction, contracting and care delivery; and is central to safety, compliance, risk management and financial performance.” 
   
  • The report is available for free upon submission of contact info. 
     

Many American boys are quietly gambling early and often. Many more grownups need to notice the unhealthy stealth right under their noses. 

New research from Common Sense Media shows 36% of boys gambled in the last year. The headcount ranges from nearly a third of 11-year-olds to almost half of 17-year-olds. The nonprofit, independent organization arrived at the findings by surveying more than 1,000 adolescent males across the U.S. More from the 60-page survey report, released Jan. 29: 

• Boys are gambling from a very early age—and often in ways parents may not recognize. “Our research shows that we are at a pivotal moment for boys’ well-being and their futures,” says Common Sense Media CEO James Steyer. “Without safeguards and support, many boys may be forming risky relationships with gambling before they fully understand the consequences.”
   
• Digital environments—games that incorporate chance-based systems, algorithmic feeds that surface gambling to boys—can expose boys to gambling long before they seek it out. “Because adolescence is a period of heightened sensitivity to rewards and peer influences, these exposures warrant attention from parents, educators and policymakers,” the report authors remark. 
   
• Boys who gamble spend an average of $54 annually—not a shocking figure. However, this average hides a stark divide between higher-loss and lower-loss gamblers. “Higher-loss gamblers show different patterns of motivation, spending and engagement,” Common Sense comments, “including using their parents’ credit cards without permission.”
   
  • Download the full report. 
     

Also of interest:

• Obesity to rise by 19 million and affect 126 million American adults by 2035, new study finds ... The number of American adults living with obesity has more than doubled over the past 30 years. New findings suggest the unfortunate trend will continue. (ABC News)
   
• Will employers stop offering health insurance? Expanded ACA subsidies leave most workers better off if they do ... If all employers stopped offering healthcare coverage to workers, allowing them to claim these expanded subsidies, the cost to the federal budget would increase by $250 billion per year. (Manhattan Institute) 

From HealthExec’s sibling news outlets:

• Tap water in US linked to potential cardiovascular risks (Cardiovascular Business)
   
• 4DMedical lands $100M in new funding to scale functional lung imaging technology (Radiology Business)