VA May Cut Staff to Pay for EHR, FTC Sues to Block Amgen Horizon Mega Deal
Washington VA medical staff may bear the brunt of the bloated Oracle Cerner EHRM program, and the FTC looks to assert its power over a massive pharma acquisition.
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By - In policy news this week, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) officials were denounced by a sitting congresswoman for implying that facilities would have to cut staff in order to pay for budget deficits caused by the EHR modernization program. And the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) signaled that it had had enough of pharma mega deals after it was announced that the commission would try to block the Amgen acquisition of Horizon.
VA Threatens Staff Cuts to Deal with Deficit
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities in Spokane and Walla Walla face staffing cuts after an EHR Modernization program-related budget shortfall. Robert Fischer, the director of Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center, informed employees last week that staffing levels may be cut by 15 percent or more to deal with the growing budget deficit. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers from Washington’s 5th district responded to the news in a letter to VA officials demanding that the medical centers maintain staff and find budget relief elsewhere. READ MORE.
NY AG Fines Practicefirst $550K
New York Attorney General (AG) Letitia James will fine Practicefirst $550,000 for a security issue that impacted 1.2 million individuals. According to the AG notice, the practice management vendor failed to maintain security practices resulting in the hack and leak of protected personal information, including dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, social security numbers, diagnoses, medication information, and financial information. READ MORE.
FTC Sues to Block Amgen Horizon Merger
The FTC announced last week that it plans to stop Amgen’s $27.8 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics, citing the threat of monopolization in treatments for thyroid eye disease and chronic refractory gout.
“Rampant consolidation in the pharmaceutical industry has given powerful companies a pass to exorbitantly hike prescription drug prices, deny patients access to more affordable generics, and hamstring innovation in life-saving markets,” said FTC Bureau of Competition Director Holly Vedova. The case will appear in court this September. READ MORE.
Independent Dispute Resolution Sees 14X Case Load
The independent dispute resolution process is overloaded with cases only a year after it was introduced within the No Surprises Act. There have already been 330,000 balance billing disputes filed, which is 14 times the amount initially expected by HHS. CMS has engaged additional contractors and internal resources to expedite the IDR process and is considering new rulemaking to increase the speed of payment determinations. READ MORE.
Surgeon General Warns Against Pediatric Social Media Use
US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, MBA, issued an advisory last week warning about the dangers associated with pediatric use of social media. In the message, Murthy shared that social media use leads to poor mental health outcomes, compromised sleep, and lost time with real-life social contacts.
“The most common question parents ask me is, ‘Is social media safe for my kids.’ The answer is that we don't have enough evidence to say it's safe, and in fact, there is growing evidence that social media use is associated with harm to young people’s mental health,” said Murthy in the HHS announcement. READ MORE.
