With the opioid addiction epidemic only getting worse, researchers and developers are working together fight misuse with medical technology. So has using medical technology helped at least slow the rise in opioid addiction?

As local Zika transmissions continue to pop up in the U.S., HHS is ramping up efforts to combat the virus through awareness of its symptoms, its effects and how to stop its spread. Various agencies under the HHS umbrella held a Twitter Q&A surrounding these topics Aug. 30 using the hashtag #AtoZika. 

Two members of Congress from California, Democrat Reps. Ted Lieu and Mark DeSaulnier, are calling for a congressional investigation into manufacturers of opioid painkillers.

Mylan, manufacturer of the allergic reaction treatment EpiPen, has announced it will sell a generic version of the autoinjector at half the price of the branded device after federal lawmakers and consumer groups questioned why its price has gone up 400 percent since Mylan acquired it.

Based on new and re-analyzed data, it seems that maternal mortality rates jumped up almost 27 percent between 2000 and 2014 in the U.S, according to a new study published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology. That trend moved opposite to the trend of declining maternal mortality rates in the rest of the world and was directly opposed to the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of a 75 percent reduction in maternal mortality by 2015. It means the U.S. has one of the worst maternal mortality rates among developed countries. 

Fortimedix Surgical has received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for its latest product for minimally invasive abdominal laparoscopic surgery.

CMS proposed a series of adjustments it intends to strengthen the Affordable Care Act’s insurance exchanges for 2018, including some initiatives insurers have been pushing for, such as pooling high-cost enrollees and adjusting for special enrollment customers. 

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says states should get rid of laws which allow children to go unvaccinated for diseases like measles for non-medical reasons and advises individual physicians to consider excluding families who continually refuse immunizations from their practice.