Highlights of the important and interesting in the world of healthcare:
Health reform disrupts workers’ health plans. McDonald’s Corp. has warned federal regulators that it could drop its health insurance plan for nearly 30,000 hourly restaurant workers unless regulators waive a new requirement of the U.S. health overhaul, reports the Wall Street Journal. But the Health and Human Services Department denies the report, Kaiser Health News says. And so does McDonald’s.
Hospira halts Pentothal production. Lake Forest, Illlinois, drug maker Hospira has every right to stop making the lethal injection drug Pentothal, which has halted some death-row executions, writes the CBS Business Network.
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
GSK turned blind eye to Avandia risks. While suppressing inconvenient evidence about the risks of its top-selling drug, Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline began to develop another drug to treat the side effect linked to its diabetes drug, according to a former investigator for Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley in Mother Jones.
Nurses say ‘yes’ to pay cut. Registered nurses of Quincy (Massachusetts) Medical Center have agreed to a temporary 3 percent pay cut and a freeze on their pensions in exchange for nurse-staffing ratios, Becker’s Hospital Review reports.
Doctors say ‘no’ to nurses giving anesthesia. The Colorado Society of Anesthesiologists and the Colorado Medical Society are suing their state after Gov. Bill Ritter decided to opt out of a federal Medicare rule by allowing qualified nurses at rural hospitals to administer anesthesia without a doctor present, according to FierceHealthcare.
Ill health, reform poses opportunities. The worsening state of Americans’ health and the effects of recent healthcare reform create opportunities for entrepreneurs and their investors in two areas: working to make our medical institutions better, and working outside of them to improve health, writes Chrysalis Ventures’ David Jones Jr. in the PE Hub blog.
