Bills to Overhaul Long-Term Care and Control Prescription Drug Costs on Move in MA The Massachusetts House unanimously passed a bill ( HB 4178 ) that would overhaul the long-term care industry, while the Senate unanimously approved a measure ( SB 2492 ) addressing...
MI Lawmakers Pass Bill to Repeal Pharma Immunity Shield The Michigan Legislature passed a bill ( SB 410 ) that would repeal a law passed in 1995 preventing lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies. Bloomberg Law reported that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) was “likely...
CMS Cutting Payments to Doctors, Hospitals Doctors will see a 1.25% reduction in Medicare reimbursements next year due to a final rule issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Some hospitals are also facing $7.8 billion in CMS cuts over 16 years...
MI Senate Passes Measure to Repeal Drug Immunity Law The Michigan Senate passed a bill ( SB 410 ) that would allow residents and state and local governments to sue drug manufacturers and sellers if their products cause injury. In 1995 the state passed the strongest...
MI Dems Consider Repealing Drug Immunity Law A bill ( SB 410 ) debated in the Michigan Senate last week would allow residents and state and local governments to sue drug manufacturers and sellers if their products cause injury. In 1995 the state passed the strongest...
Federal Cross-Market Merger Guidelines in Works The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice are currently reviewing public comments on draft guidelines for cross-market mergers, including those in the healthcare sector, such as the planned merger...
Medicaid Expansion Coming to NC in December North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) announced last week that the state will launch Medicaid expansion on Dec. 1, which will leave just 10 states that haven’t opted to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act...
CA Legislature Approves $25 Healthcare Worker Minimum Wage On the last day of this year’s regular session, California lawmakers passed a bill ( SB 525 ) that would phase in a nation-leading $25 minimum wage for workers at hospitals, nursing homes, and other...
Many Post-Pandemic Medicaid Disenrollments May Be Due to State Errors Federal officials have uncovered significant problems with the systems and procedures states have been employing to “unwind” Medicaid coverage protections put in place during the...
Nation’s First Lawsuit over Post-Pandemic Medicaid Terminations Three Florida residents have filed a lawsuit alleging health officials in that state aren’t notifying disabled and low-income residents about Medicaid redeterminations. The suit is the...
Lasting Health Policy Changes from Pandemic A number of health-related state policy changes made during the COVID-19 public health emergency appear likely to remain in place indefinitely. Over the past three years, hundreds of states have sought to extend temporary...
Rise in Vaping-Related Nicotine Exposure Could Trigger More Regulation In spite of a 2016 federal law requiring child-resistant packaging on bottles of liquid nicotine used in e-cigarettes, or vapes, reported cases of vaping-related nicotine exposure reached...
WA Healthcare Facility Geofence Ban Takes Effect A new law ( HB 1155 ) took effect last week in Washington that, among other things, makes it illegal to set up a geofence around a healthcare facility. Supporters of the Washington My Health My Data Act say the...
U.S. Maternal Death Rates More Than Doubled in Recent Decades The maternal death rate in the United States more than doubled between 1999 and 2019—from 12.7 per 100,000 births to 32.2 per 100,000 births—according to a new study in the Journal of the...
Abortion-Related Medical Malpractice Suits Ahead? Doctors in states with new abortion restrictions who refuse to end the pregnancies of women whose health is at risk, out of fear of criminal prosecution, could soon be facing a different legal risk: being sued...