House Democrats are calling on the administration to try to protect medical supply chains from the 'devastating consequences' the mounting trade war could inflict on patients. Led by Democratic Reps. Doris Matsui (Calif.) and Brad Schneider (Ill.), 26 House Democrats signed a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick warning that 'reckless tariffs' are a threat to already fragile medical supply chains.
Republicans in Congress are hoping to use reconciliation to extend expiring tax cuts and make major changes to federal spending on programs including Medicaid. The first step in that process is for the House and Senate to pass a concurrent budget resolution, providing Congressional committees with reconciliation instructions. In February, the Senate and House each passed separate budget resolutions, and on April 5, the Senate passed a revised resolution attempting to reconcile the differences.
States facing budgetary pressures have few good options to keep millions of people from losing health coverage if Congress lets federal funding for Obamacare expire at the end of the year. That isn't stopping health officials from trying. California, Colorado, Maryland, Washington and others are all scrambling to avoid a fiscal cliff that could sharply increase healthcare costs for their residents.
Connecticut's Office of Health Strategy approved a merger between Northwell Health, a large New York-based health system, and Nuvance Health, which owns Danbury, Norwalk, Sharon and New Milford hospitals in Connecticut, as well as three hospitals in New York. The two systems now have to complete the step of formally joining the entities together under the Northwell Health banner. Northwell isn't directly paying to buy the Nuvance Hospitals, per se, resulting in a technical purchase price of $0. Instead, the New York-based health system has agreed to invest $1 billion in Nuvance's Connecticut and New York hospitals over the next five years, with annual reporting on the progress of those investments.
Deputies fatally shot a man inside a North Carolina hospital's emergency room Tuesday after authorities said he pointed a gun at them. Law enforcement officers arrived at Sentara Albemarle Medical Center in Elizabeth City at 1:18 a.m. in response to a call about a man who had entered the hospital's emergency room with a handgun, according to the Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office. The man had pointed his gun at several staff members, and a security guard tried to restrain him before law enforcement arrived, according to authorities. Authorities found the suspect in the emergency triage room and three of the deputies fired at him after he pointed his weapon at them, officials said. The man received medical treatment but was later pronounced dead at the scene.
Transcarent first announced the acquisition in January, and the company said it has received all necessary shareholder and regulatory approvals to carry out the transaction. Accolade shareholders received $7.03 per share in cash, and its common stock will no longer trade on the Nasdaq, according to a release.