NY Gov. Hochul vetoes ‘wrongful death’ legislation opposed by insurers “New York Gov. Kathy Hochul again vetoed legislation that would permit families of ‘wrongful death’ victims to receive additional compensation for emotional suffering…
Her decision pleased the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, which lobbied against the bill. The APCIA claims the legislation would have resulted in ‘a major expansion of damages associated with wrongful death actions.’
The bill would have allowed unlimited noneconomic damages, including damages for grief and anguish. Likewise, it would have expanded the people that could bring a wrongful death action, extended the statute of limitations for wrongful death actions, and it would have had a retroactive impact.
Hochul’s concerns include the possibility of increased insurance premiums for consumers and a risk to the financial well-being of public hospitals and other health care facilities.”
Comment: This type of legislation is usually pushed by The American Association for Justice (AAJ), formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA), whose members are paid on contingency.
About health insurance/insurers
Bundled Payments for Care Improvement and Quality of Care and Outcomes in Heart Failure “BPCI Model 2 was not associated with improved quality performance or outcomes in heart failure among participating hospitals.”
Bright Health closes sale of Medicare Advantage business to Molina “Bright Health has closed the sale of its last insurance business to Molina Healthcare.
The deal closed Jan. 1, according to a Jan. 2 news release from Molina.
Long Beach, Calif.-based Molina paid $425 million for Bright Health's Medicare Advantage business in California, down from the originally announced purchase price of $510 million.”
About hospitals and healthcare systems
BJC HealthCare, Saint Luke's Health System close $10B nonprofit health system merger “BJC HealthCare of St. Louis and Saint Luke’s Health System of Kansas City have officially completed their cross-market deal to merge into a single integrated, academic nonprofit health system.
The Missouri organizations’ arrangement brought Saint Luke’s under BJC’s organizational umbrella on Jan. 1. Though the two are maintaining responsibility for their original markets and branding, the new partners said they now operate as a single healthcare organization of 24 hospitals and 44,000 employees.”
About pharma
US FDA approvals bounce back in 2023, sparking hopes of a biotech recovery “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved nearly 50% more novel drugs in 2023 than in 2022, putting it back on pace with historical levels, an improvement analysts and investors said could lead to increased investment in biotech firms.
FDA nods for innovative therapies containing an active ingredient or molecule not previously approved, rose to 55 in 2023, up from 37 in 2022 and 51 in 2021. Historical data shows the FDA typically green lights about 45-50 new drugs a year and hit a peak of 59 in 2018.”
Three Warning Letters for Amazon in 2023, Company Named in Five Others “Amazon was hit with its third FDA warning letter of the year last week, this time for selling unapproved and incorrectly labeled products that contain the active ingredient in erectile dysfunction (ED) drugs Cialis and Viagra.
Just a month earlier, the mega online retailer got a warning letter for selling unapproved pink eye remedies. And in August, Amazon was slapped with a warning letter for selling unapproved products to treat molluscum contagiosum, an infection caused by a poxvirus that results in bumps on the skin.
Amazon was also named in five other warning letters this year aimed at companies selling unapproved and mislabeled drugs via Amazon’s site.”
FDA slams trio of Indian drugmakers with Form 483 filings after December inspections “Dr. Reddy’s Labs, Laurus Synthesis and Torrent Pharmaceuticals were each slammed with Form 483 filings from the FDA after the regulatory agency conducted a series of inspections in December.”
About the public’s health
Emergency rooms not required to perform life-saving abortions, federal appeals court rules “Federal regulations do not require emergency rooms to perform life-saving abortions if it would run afoul of state law, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
After the overturn of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sent hospitals guidance, reminding them of their obligation to offer stabilizing care, including medically necessary abortions, under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA)…
Texas sued, saying this was tantamount to a “nationwide mandate that every hospital and emergency-room physician perform abortions.” Several anti-abortion medical associations joined the lawsuit as well.”
Self-Reported Frequency of Adding Salt to Food and Risk of Incident Chronic Kidney Disease “These findings suggest that adding salt to foods is associated with increased risk of CKD in the general population, emphasizing the possible value of limiting discretionary salt to reduce CKD risk.”
Advance Provision of Mifepristone and Misoprostol via Online Telemedicine in the US According to this study, women are ordering these medications in advance of an unwanted pregnancy; they are worried the drugs will not be available if they should need them.
About healthcare IT
When health records don’t capture patient deaths The point of this article is that IT systems are fragmented and not always interoperable,. The statistic that caught my attention was: “The average health system uses 18 different EHR vendors across affiliated providers.”
About healthcare finance
Goldman Sachs Asset Management raises $650 mln for life sciences fund “Goldman Sachs Asset Management said on Wednesday it had raised $650 million for a new fund that will invest in startups related to the life sciences sector.
The fund, West Street Life Sciences I, will specifically target early to mid-stage therapeutic companies with multi-asset portfolios as well as tools and diagnostics firms.”