MA gift ban law intact?

Click here to read the Wall Street Journal's Health Blog's posting on this bill.

Comparison of House bill (HR3962) to Senate bill (HR3590)

Click here to access this comparison document compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation folks.

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act

From the New York Times editorial:

It is rare when antidiscrimination law is extended to a whole new group of people, but that happened on Saturday, when a federal ban on discriminating on the basis of genetic background took effect. The new law is an important step in protecting people who have inherited a predisposition to disease. It removes a significant obstacle to genetic testing, which can help prevent and treat serious illnesses.

Click here to access the editorial.

The end of MECCs?

From the Wall Street Journal article:

Health legislation moving through Congress would force drug makers to disclose how much they spend on continuing medical education classes for doctors, sparking some resistance from the industry.

For-profit continuing medical education companies have seen revenue fall by double digits in the last year, according to industry statistics, following congressional investigations into the influence of drug makers on medical research and course content.

Click here to access the WSJ article (sub. req.).

Text of H.R. 3200: America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009

Click here to read the 1,000+ document.

Reining in of DTC advertising?

From the New York Times article:

Representative James P. Moran, Democrat of Virginia, is sponsoring a House bill that would ban ads for prescription sexual aids like Viagra and Levitra from prime-time television, on decency grounds. Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, has said he favors empowering the Food and Drug Administration to bar consumer advertisements for new drugs for an initial period after the F.D.A. approves them — until there has been more real-world experience with the medications.

Meanwhile, Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York, has introduced a bill called the Say No to Drug Ads Act. It would amend the federal tax code to prevent pharmaceutical companies from deducting the cost of direct-to-consumer drug advertisements as a business expense.

Click here to access the NYT article.

Will the health insurance industry change?

With health care reform on the shelf until Congress reconvenes, will the health insurance industry start making any changes? From the Business Week article:

Karen Ignagni, president of the lobbying group America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), told Congress in a letter that a public plan would "significantly increase costs for those who remain in private coverage."
...
"We do think comprehensive reform is needed," says Alissa Fox, senior vice-president of Blue Cross Blue Shield.

AHIP even launched an ad campaign on July 20 titled "Let's Fix Health Care," a far cry from the devastating "Harry and Louise" ads that helped sink reform efforts in the early 1990s. The ads call for a health-system overhaul but don't mention the public plan, which polls show the public supports. As Charles Boorady, health-care analyst with Citi Investment Research & Analysis, says: "The health insurers ... have a difficult PR battle."

Click here to access the BW article. Here's a hint, rethink your acceptable profit margin.

Pay for Value?

From the Washington Post blog posting (Daily Dose):

Some of the nation's most prestigious, innovative health-care providers are giving their blessing to legislative proposals to grant broad new authority to the Medicare Advisory Payment Commission.

Click here to access the WP blog posting. Click here to read the letter these providers sent to Congress.

Tobacco-control bill passed by U.S. Senate

From the USA Today article:

The legislation, approved by the House in April, is the most sweeping tobacco-control measure ever passed by Congress. It goes now to President Obama, who has said he will sign it.

Click here to access the article.

Vermont bill amended

From the Prescription Project Blog:

In the eleventh hour of its legislative session Friday night, Vermont passed a bill that would:

-ban most gifts to physicians,
-lift the trade secrets exemption in Vermont’s current gifts disclosure and transparency law,
-extend it to medical device manufacturers, create a public website to house the information, and
-broaden the type of payment recipients that companies would be required to disclose.

The bill now goes to the governor. Click here to access.

Google and Microsoft think HIPAA doesn't apply to them

From the iHealthBeat article:

Google and Microsoft maintain that they are not subject to HIPAA privacy regulations, BNET Healthcare reports.

Last month, Google Health Product Manager Roni Zeiger said, "Our understanding is that HITECH, which is the jargon for (the health IT) part of the legislation, did not change the definition for a covered entity or a business associate, so our service is offered directly to the consumer." He added, "(O)ur understanding is that we are neither a covered entity nor a business associate. We're providing a service directly to the consumer or a patient."

At this week's annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference in Chicago, David Cerino, general manager of Microsoft's Health Solutions Group, said, "We're still outside" of HIPAA.

Click here to access the article.

Mass. passes regs on pharma and med device companies

From the Boston Globe article:

State officials gave final approval yesterday to regulations banning pharmaceutical and medical device companies from providing gifts to physicians, limiting when companies can pay for doctors' meals, and requiring companies to publicly disclose payments to doctors over $50 for certain types of consulting and speaking engagements.
...
There are two substantive changes, however. Companies will have to disclose payments to doctors and hospitals for research designed to promote a particular product, sometimes called "seeding trials"; funding for research aimed at answering a scientific question will still not have to be disclosed.

Also, the department eliminated a provision allowing companies to provide financial assistance for medical residents and other trainees to attend conferences and education courses.
...
The regulations will take effect July 1, and the first public reporting by companies will be due by July 1, 2010.

Click here to access.

New California health care-related laws in effect Jan 1, 2009

From the CaliforniaHealthline article (the bolding is mine):

Hospital Infection Control

* SB 1058, also by Alquist, requires hospitals to screen certain high-risk patients for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and report their infection rates to the state. Beginning in 2011, the information will be accessible to the public on a state Web site.
* SB 158 by Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter) gives the state additional authority to look into infection outbreaks and complaints about lax infection control practices. The law also requires hospitals to provide education and training opportunities for workers (Rojas, Sacramento Bee, 12/27/08).

End-of-Life Care

* Doctors who treat terminally ill patients will be required to inform them on all end-of-life options, including hospice care and the right to refuse treatment.

Click here to access this article and read about even more health care-related laws.

MA Governor signs 2863

From the Boston Globe article:

Governor Deval Patrick yesterday signed into law one of the nation's strictest limits on gifts given to medical professionals by drug salespeople, the most contentious measure contained in a broad package intended to improve healthcare safety and curb skyrocketing costs.
...
Still, the limits in the law put Massachusetts at the forefront of states in cracking down on the use of financial incentives to persuade doctors to prescribe particular drugs or medical devices. In addition to banning some gifts and requiring disclosure of others, it calls for the state to develop a code of conduct for industry representatives that includes a $5,000 fine for each violation.

Click here to access the TBG article.

Important legislation introduced

From the news release on the Comparative Effectiveness Research Act of 2008:

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N. D.) introduced last night legislation to improve the quality of health care that Americans receive, by creating national priorities for, and conducting and distributing research findings on the effectiveness of different health care treatments. The Comparative Effectiveness Research Act of 2008 will establish the Health Care Comparative Effectiveness Research Institute to review evidence and produce new information on how diseases, disorders, and other health conditions can be treated to achieve the best clinical outcome for patients. The Congressional Budget Office has signaled that national health care spending could be reduced if physicians and patients had more unbiased data on the effectiveness of the treatments available to them.

Click here to access the entire news release.

California the first state to ban trans fat in restaurants

From the New York Times article:

Under the new law, trans fats, long linked to health problems, must be excised from restaurant products beginning in 2010, and from all retail baked goods by 2011. Packaged foods will be exempt.

New York City adopted a similar ban in 2006 — it became fully effective on July 1 — and Philadelphia, Stamford, Conn., and Montgomery County, Md., have done so as well.

Click here to access the NYT article.

Stark introduces new bill on gifts to physicians

From the Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report article:

Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Pete Stark (D-Calif.) have introduced a bill (HR 5605) that would require pharmaceutical medical device companies to disclose to the public any gifts or payments to physicians valued at $25 or more, CQ HealthBeat reports.

The legislation is a companion to a bill (S 2029) sponsored by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) (CQ HealthBeat, 3/14). Under the bill, companies with at least $100 million in annual revenue would be required each quarter to disclose gifts or payments exceeding $25 in value, and the information would then be posted on a Web site.

Click here to read the article.

Will MA ban industry gifts to physicians?

Maybe -- from the Boston Globe article:

Senate President Therese Murray proposed today a broad measure to control healthcare costs by in part banning all gifts and freebies to doctors from drug companies, saying the perks have helped drive up costs for consumers.

If adopted, the legislation would make Massachusetts the first state in the country to place an outright ban on drug-industry gifts. Prohibited gifts would include any payments, entertainment, meals, travel, honoraria, subscriptions -- and even a pen bearing a drug company logo. Companies would be forbidden from offering the gifts and doctors, their families and employees would be forbidden from accepting them.

Under the proposal, anyone who violates the ban could be fined $5,000, face two years imprisonment or both.

Click here to access the BG article.

SafeRX Amendment Act of 2008 in D.C.?

From the AMNews article:

The measure, dubbed SafeRx, would require detailers to pay a licensure fee, adhere to an ethics code, receive continuing education and refrain from misleading doctors about drugs. Sales reps could be fined up to $10,000 for operating without a license.

Click here to access the article.

Hi, I'm a LICENSED pharmaceutical sales rep?

From the San Francisco Examiner article:

The District of Columbia would be the first jurisdiction in the country to require licenses for pharmaceutical sales representatives under legislation that has received the city council's initial approval.

The SafeRx Act of 2007 is in effort by the city to reel in the multibillion-dollar prescription drug trade.

To qualify for a license, sales representatives would have to be college graduates and would have to refrain from using titles that would give the impression that they are licensed to practice pharmacy, nursing or medicine. Salespeople also would have to sign a code of ethics and would be regulated by a pharmacy board.

The D.C. Council backed the bill this past Tuesday in a close vote; a final vote will take place on January 8. Click here to read the article.