Amazon’s $3.9B One Medical Deal, NJ’s Crackdown on Nursing Home Medicaid Application Assistors & More

Amazon Closes $3.9B One Medical Deal

Amazon announced last week that it had closed its $3.9 billion deal to buy One Medical, furthering its efforts to expand its growing medical services business. The tech giant’s announcement came the day after The Wall Street Journal reported the FTC wouldn’t sue in time to block the merger but would continue investigating it. (FIERCE HEALTHCARE, WALL STREET JOURNAL)

NJ Targets Nursing Home Medicaid Application Assistors

Companion bills introduced this month in New Jersey (AB 5194 and SB 3606) would prohibit non-attorneys from charging for providing nursing home residents assistance with applying for Medicaid. In 2020 state regulators obtained a nearly $1.7 million judgment against a Medicaid application assistance company they said scammed thousands of dollars from nursing home residents and their families. (NJ.COM, STATE NET)

Dozen Dem AGs Sue to Improve Access to Abortion Pill

The Democratic attorneys general of Oregon, Washington and 10 other states have sued the FDA in an effort to increase access to the abortion drug mifepristone, which has become a key battleground in the ongoing fight over abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. The lawsuit claims the FDA has unnecessarily singled out mifepristone for “burdensome restrictions,” in spite of the fact that the drug “is safer than many other common drugs FDA regulates, such as Viagra and Tylenol.” (PLURIBUS NEWS)

MS Nears Enactment of Ban on Transgender Care

The Mississippi Legislature approved a bill (HB 1125) last week that would ban gender-affirming medical care for anyone under the age of 18, part of a legislative trend in conservative states. Gov. Tate Reeves (R), who signed a law in 2021 banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports, said he plans to sign the new measure, introduced in January. (ASSOCIATED PRESS, STATE NET)

Walgreens Heeds AG’s Warning Not to Sell Abortion Pills in KS

Walgreens announced it will not dispense abortion pills in Kansas after receiving a letter from Attorney General Kris Kobach (R) warning that distributing the abortion drug mifepristone is a violation of state and federal laws and that the pharmacy giant would be subject to prosecution for doing so. The action comes six months after Kansas voters affirmed the right to an abortion by rejecting the Value Them Both Amendment on the state’s August 2022 primary ballot. (WICHITA EAGLE)

CMS Tightening Up Hospital Price Transparency Enforcement

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reported this month that as of January it had handed out nearly 500 warnings to hospitals for failing to comply with price transparency requirements that went into effect in 2021. The agency said that nearly 300 of those hospitals had since complied and that it had only imposed penalties on two hospitals in Georgia but that it was also planning to standardize reporting requirements and streamline enforcement. (FIERCE HEALTHCARE)

MO Senate Supports Extension of Postpartum Medicaid Coverage

Missouri’s Senate gave initial approval for a bill (SB 45) that would extend Medicaid coverage for postpartum women to a year from its current 60-day limit. The measure faces another vote in the chamber before it can move to the House. (COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN, STATE NET)

—Compiled by KOREY CLARK