California Is Challenging Birth Control Policy
California’s attorney general filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for its rollback of the birth control mandate that requires employers cover contraception as part of health insurance. According to The Hill, the state called the policy change “anti-women,” and the attorney general's statement made it sound as if this was the first in many rights that could be revoked. The mandate contained in the Affordable Care Act originally required all employers offer health insurance that covered free birth control. The new rollback would expand the exemptions available for employers to not be required to cover birth control.
Lifting Off-Label Restrictions
Physicians often prescribe a drug for a use other than those specified in the approval. However, the law that prohibits a drug maker from promoting an off-label use of its drug may be relaxed, according to The Washington Post. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, had been an advocate for loosening these restrictions before his nomination. Already, Arizona has changed the law to allow drug makers to communicate alternative uses for drugs, and other states are likely to follow.
Mosquito-borne Diseases in Houston
Hurricane Harvey may have been more than a month ago, but the health threats remain in Houston. Officials are keeping an eye out for mosquito-borne illnesses like the West Nile virus and Zika, reported STAT. After the hurricane made landfall, causing massive flooding, health officials facilitated aerial and ground spraying that they believe may keep down the numbers of mosquitoes. West Nile is already an issue in Texas, where there have been 100 cases already this year, but so far there has been no evidence of Zika.
CMS' 340B Repayment Proposal May Harm Vulnerable Hospitals, Reward Those With Higher Revenues
April 26th 2024The 340B hospitals not receiving an offsetting lump-sum payment from CMS following 2018-2022 cuts later ruled unlawful are disproportionately rural, publicly owned, and nonacademic, according to a new study.
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Examining Low-Value Cancer Care Trends Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
April 25th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the April 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on the rates of low-value cancer care services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Empowering Community Health Through Wellness and Faith
April 23rd 2024To help celebrate and recognize National Minority Health Month, we are bringing you a special month-long podcast series with our Strategic Alliance Partner, UPMC Health Plan. In the third episode, Camille Clarke-Smith, EdD, MS, CHES, CPT, discusses approaching community health holistically through spiritual and community engagement.
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Kaiser Permanente was hit by a data breach in mid-April, impacting 13.4 million health plan members; GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) sued Pfizer and BioNTech for allegedly infringing on its messenger RNA technology patents in the companies’ COVID-19 vaccines; the CDC announced the first-known HIV cases transmitted via cosmetic injections.
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