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What We're Reading: Global Health Emergency Declared; J&J Pays in Pelvic Mesh Suit; Ban on Fentanyl Look-alikes
The World Health Organization issued a global health emergency over coronavirus; a judge orders Johnson & Johnson to pay hundreds of millions in a pelvic mesh suit; the House of Representatives passes a ban on fentanyl look-alikes.
WHO Declares Coronavirus a Global Health Emergency
The World Health Organization's (WHO’s) announcement comes as more than 9800 cases of the virus have been confirmed around the globe and more than 200 deaths, The New York Times reports. This is the sixth time WHO has issued the declaration, as the organization reserves the designation for “extraordinary events” that pose an international threat, ABC News reports. Previous issues by the organization included the Ebola and Zika outbreaks. Cases of human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus have been confirmed in the United States, Germany, Japan, Vietnam, and Taiwan.
Judge Orders Johnson & Johnson to Pay $344 Million in Pelvic Mesh Suit
A California judge ruled that Johnson & Johnson should pay $344 million in damages for deceptively marketing transvaginal pelvic mesh implants to tens of thousands of women in the state, The New York Times reports. Arguing they have complied with federal regulations, the company said it intends to appeal the ruling, which was framed as a civic penalty. Years of personal injury litigation filed by women who used the products to treat organ prolapse have plagued the company. Billions of dollars in payouts have already been issued, and last year the FDA stopped the sale of pelvic mesh to treat organ prolapse.
House of Representatives Attempts to Extend Ban on Fentanyl Look-alikes
The House of Representatives passed a bill to temporarily extend the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) class-wide ban on all variants of fentanyl, Reuters reports. The bill is identical to a version previously approved in the Senate earlier in January and is now poised to reach President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature. The Justice Department previously lobbied to make the class-wide ban permanent, meaning that all fentanyl analogues would be listed in the same legal category as heroin and cocaine, according to the article. The DEA’s temporary powers on fentanyl analogues expire on February 6.
Urticaria Diagnosis Challenged by Overlapping Pruritic Skin Conditions
April 23rd 2025Urticaria is complicated to diagnose by its symptomatic overlap with other skin conditions and the frequent misclassification in literature of distinct pathologies like vasculitic urticaria and bullous pemphigus.
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New Research Challenges Assumptions About Hospital-Physician Integration, Medicare Patient Mix
April 22nd 2025On this episode of Managed Care Cast, Brady Post, PhD, lead author of a study published in the April 2025 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care®, challenges the claim that hospital-employed physicians serve a more complex patient mix.
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Personalized Care Key as Tirzepatide Use Expands Rapidly
April 15th 2025Using commercial insurance claims data and the US launch of tirzepatide as their dividing point, John Ostrominski, MD, Harvard Medical School, and his team studied trends in the use of both glucose-lowering and weight-lowering medications, comparing outcomes between adults with and without type 2 diabetes.
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ACOs’ Focus on Rooting Out Fraud Aligns With CMS Vision Under Oz
April 23rd 2025Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are increasingly playing the role of data sleuths as they identify and report trends of anomalous billing in hopes of salvaging their shared savings. This mission dovetails with that of CMS, which under the new administration plans to prioritize rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse.
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