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Highlights of the important and the interesting from the world of health care:
Wait until February: By the time you’re reading this, the Senate may have already passed its health bill. With a vote scheduled for early Thursday morning, even Republicans are conceding that its “obvious” the bill’s going to pass. After approval, all eyes will naturally turn toward conference committee, where the House and Senate will try to hash out differences in the bills passed by each chamber. Despite the Obama administration’s hopes that the president would be able to tout final legislation in his late-January State of the Union address, the White House is conceding that House-Senate negotiations will push into February, Politico reports.
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.
Liberal House Democrats will likely have to hold their noses and approve a bill that they didn’t support or advocate, essentially accepting compromises that the Senators worked out amongst themselves on contentious topics like the public option and abortion. According to Politico:
Logistically, it’s hard to see how this gets done before early to mid-February. The House comes back into session on Jan. 12 and then goes on a Democratic retreat. The Senate doesn’t come back until Jan. 18. And once a final health deal is worked out, it could take seven to 10 days for the Congressional Budget Office to deliver a final report on cost.
When $80 billion isn’t enough: After negotiating with the Obama Administration a deal in which it pledged to provide $80 billion in reduced drug costs over 10 years , Big Pharma now fears that amount won’t be enough, the New York Times reports. Since liberals have had to back down on numerous other issues related to the Senate health bill, such as the public option and taxes on so-called “Cadillac” health plans, the pharmaceuticals industry is preparing for the possibility that it’ll be asked for further concessions. And those concessions could run up to or even above an additional $20 billion, the Times reports.
A spokesman for Big Pharma’s trade group warns the industry is “not an ATM,” but it’s refreshing to see these multibillion-dollar corporations willing to fork over more cash for the benefit of the American consumer, though that’s hardly their primary motivation. So before we go lionizing Big Pharma, there can be little doubt that pharmaceutical companies stand to recoup more than what they’re giving up, thanks to the ability to sell drugs to millions of new customers ; otherwise they’d never be so compliant.
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
Too much of a good e-thing: Despite frequent complaints that too few doctors communicate with their patients via e-mail, physician-blogger Kevin Pho explains that perhaps that’s a good thing. Too much information can simply stand in the way of effective communication, and absent the impossible assurance that patients won’t fire off 2,000-word missives to their doctors, it’s simply not in doctors’ best interests to have e-mail conversations with patients. Add to that the fact that “every one of those 2,000 words is subject to legal discovery” if a malpractice claim arises, and it looks like doctors will continue to lag behind the rest of us when it comes to online communication — and for good reason.
“It’s f-ing Christmas!”: Not to confuse Christmas with Thanksgiving, but now is perhaps the time to give thanks that you’re not a neighbor of UnitedHealth Group Chief Executive Stephen Hemsley. MinnPost reports (with video) that health reform protesters picketing outside the CEO’s house (presumably in some ritzy Minneapolis suburb) prompted a Mercedes-driving neighbor to utter the above quote in response to a sign that proclaimed “Home of Bandit.” While reasonable people can disagree on whether the protesters were themselves reasonable in demonstrating outside Hemsley’s house, we can all agree that it is, indeed, f-ing Christmas — a time to spend with family and count our blessings, whether those blessings include a Mercedes or not.
