HHS on Tuesday announced that eligible physicians and certain other care providers will no longer be required to undergo training in order to prescribe buprenorphine, the drug used to treat opioid misuse, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from Arizona, the District of Columbia, and New York.
- Arizona: Gov. Doug Ducey (R) on Tuesday signed a bill into law that would ban abortions being sought solely because the fetus has a survivable genetic abnormality, making it a felony to perform such procedures. In addition, the bill contains a so-called "personhood" provision that confers all civil rights to unborn children. Among other provisions, it also bans the mail delivery of abortion-inducing medication and the allocation of state money to organizations providing abortion care, and it allows the father or maternal grandparents of a fetus aborted due to a genetic abnormality to sue the abortion provider (Christie, Associated Press, 4/28).
- District of Columbia: HHS on Tuesday announced that eligible physicians, PAs, NPs, clinical nurse specialists, RN anesthetists, and nurse midwives will no longer be required to undergo training in order to prescribe buprenorphine, the drug used to treat opioid misuse. Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for health, said the new guidelines "provide another tool to help communities respond to the evolving overdose crisis, equipping providers to save lives in their communities" (Facher, STAT News, 4/27; Hellmann, Modern Healthcare, 4/27; Cornish, NPR, 4/27).
- New York: In response to declining demand for Covid-19 vaccines, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Thursday announced that mass vaccination sites in the state can now accept walk-in appointments. "All the obstacles are removed," Cuomo said. "Just show up." Cuomo also said the state will follow the new mask guidance issued by CDC on Tuesday, allowing fully vaccinated people to be maskless outside in certain circumstances (West, Wall Street Journal, 4/27).