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The House almost unanimously passed a bill to get rid of the Ocare Cadillac tax. The tax was in the original law but its onset was delayed twice and it never went into fruition.
The Colorado Division of Insurance has ordered Anthem to refund almost $1.3 million to its consumers. The Division said that Anthem cheated the disabled customers after they reached age 65 by overcharging them. They will also have to offer coverage to those who gave up their policy.
Hospitals are not happy again. CMS has announced that under a proposed rule they will have to show negotiated insurer rates and that the site neutral would hold. There may be aproblem with the former but the latter is the best. CMS also proposes to continue the 340B drug program drug cuts that would need to challenged in court again.
The administration continues to impress in healthcare. CMS has rolled out a plan to allow Medicare patients to download their own records to allow physicians to see claims data from other providers. It is a start.
In other more striking news President Trump has announced a way to import cheaper Canadian medicine by patients. This would cover both drugs that are available here as well as biologics and mainstays such as insulin. Top
Bridgeport Hospital was sanctioned and fined $150,000 by CMS for their negligence in switching path specimens leading to erroneous cancer diagnoses. They were forbidden to report cytology specimens.
California's Governor signed into law a whistleblower bill that will protect hospital workers when they issue a complaint or initiate an investigation about their employees. They can now privately complain to the California OSHA without a hospital management being present.
Milton Hershey Medical Center in Pennsylvania has been sanctioned by the state for their abysmal handling of an ultrasound order to rule out torsion of the testicle. The patient had to wait many hours for the exam and he lost his testicle at the time of surgery. An underlying question is why an ultrasound is needed to be performed instead of immediate uro consultation and surgery. Top
DISCLAIMER: Although this article is updated periodically, it reflects the author's point of view at the
time of publication. Nothing in this article constitutes legal advice. Readers
should consult with their own legal counsel before acting on any of the
information presented.