Policy & Medicine

Sutter Health Settles Allegations Over Driving Up Healthcare Prices

Thomas Sullivan Jan 17, 2020 0

Mid-December 2019, California-based Sutter Health (Sutter) reached a settlement with the state of California and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) & Employers Benefit Trust that it drove up healthcare prices. According to allegations made by Xavier Becerra, California’s Attorney General; the United Food and Commercial Workers…

When Money and Doritos Don’t Suffice – The…

Thomas Sullivan Oct 12, 2019 0

The Chaos Over Drug Compounding Continues As Judge Throws…

Thomas Sullivan Sep 17, 2019 0

Sutter Health Settles Allegations Over Driving Up Healthcare…

Mid-December 2019, California-based Sutter Health (Sutter) reached a settlement with the state of California and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) & Employers Benefit Trust that it…

OPDP Sends Warning Letter to Alkermes

Recently, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Prescription Drug Promotion (OPDP) sent a warning letter to Alkermes, Inc. for distributing a print advertisement for Vivitrol…

OIG Report Questions the Use of Medicare Advantage Chart Reviews

A recent report by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), “Billions in Estimated Medicare Advantage Payments From Chart Reviews Raise Concerns,” questioned…

Oncologists Rely on Pharma Reps for Information

Despite the bad rap drug representatives seem to get, a recent survey done by Cardinal Health Specialty Solutions found that almost three-fourths of oncologists agree that sales representatives play…

CMS Releases 2021 Medicare Advantage and Part D Changes

On January 6, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released Part I of its annual Advance Notice of Methodological Changes. The proposed updates, for calendar year 2021, include…

AMA Says FDA Policy on Banning Some Vaping Products Doesn’t Go…

On January 2, 2020, American Medical Association (“AMA”) President Patrice Harris released a statement saying that the Trump Administration’s new policy limiting flavors in vaping products does not go…

ACCME Proposes Changes to the Standards for Integrity and…

On January 7, 2020, the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) announced a call for comment about its proposed revisions to the Standards for Integrity and Independence in…

FDA Did Not Verify Whether Opioid-Curbing Effort Worked

According to a study recently published in JAMA Internal Medicine, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not verify whether a program designed to control the opioid crisis actually worked, mostly…

HHS Releases Proposed Rules to Help Americans Waiting for…

Toward the end of last year, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued several proposed rules, including one by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to…

New York Insurance Regulator to Bring Enforcement Action Against…

New York’s insurance regulator, the New York Department of Financial Services (“NYDFS”), recently issued a letter of intent to opioid manufacturers and distributors indicating that it will begin a…

GAO Report on Access to REMS Drugs Shows Mixed Views on Path…

The GAO recently published a report, entitled Generic Drug Development – Stakeholders’ Views of Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies Differ, that details a study of industry views on generic drug…

HHS OIG Publishes Semiannual Report to Congress Detailing Almost…

The Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) recently published its Fall 2019 Semiannual Report to Congress. The Report covers the period of April 1, 2019…