About the public’s health
First case of highly infectious coronavirus variant detected in Colorado: “Colorado officials on Tuesday reported the first known case in the United States of a person infected with the coronavirus variant that has been circulating rapidly across much of the United Kingdom and has led to a lockdown of much of southern England.
Scientists believe the variant is more transmissible but does not make people sicker.”
About pharma
FDA Takes Further Steps to Confront Opioid Crisis Through Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy Programs: “ In particular, this program has been strengthened to:
Require that prescribers document a patient’s opioid tolerance with each prescription of a TIRF medicine for outpatient use;
Require outpatient pharmacies dispensing TIRF [transmucosal immediate-release fentanyl] medicines to document and verify a patient’s opioid tolerance before dispensing;
Require inpatient pharmacies to develop internal policies and procedures to verify opioid tolerance in patients who require TIRF medicines while hospitalized; and
Require a new patient registry for use, along with other data sources, to monitor for accidental exposure, misuse, abuse, addiction, and overdose.”
About healthcare providers
The Doctor Will See You Once You Sign This Binding Arbitration Agreement: The article explains this change is due to rising malpractice litigation expenses and the increasing trend of venture capital firms owning practices.
About healthcare financing
Private equity pushes into healthcare: 7 latest deals: A good review of what has happened this month.
FDA actions in December
7 recent drug, device approvals: The headline speaks for itself.