• Connecticut: Two drugmakers, Bausch Health and Lannett, have settled a decade-long lawsuit involving allegations they conspired to inflate prices of generic drugs for roughly $18 million. Under the settlement terms, Lannett will pay $13.8 million, and Bausch will pay $4.1 million. Both companies will also implement internal reforms to ensure compliance with antitrust laws. The lawsuit was originally filed in 2016, and the plaintiff list later expanded to include 44 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. There is also a larger, ongoing lawsuit that includes dozens of drug manufacturers and senior pharmaceutical executives as defendants. (Twenter, Becker's Hospital Review, 2/3)
• District of Columbia: Over 75 health systems, including AdventHealth, Sutter Health, and NYU Langone, have sent a letter to federal officials calling for more oversight and governance of national health data exchange frameworks. OCHIN, a health IT solutions provider and consultancy, and KeyCare, a telehealth platform, signed the letter alongside the health systems. In the letter, which was addressed to The Sequoia Project CEO Mariann Yeager and HHS' deputy assistant secretary for technology policy Steve Posnack, the organizations highlighted a need for increased safeguards for data sharing, including more oversight of who can access patients' medical information, better fraud monitoring, and more transparency into network activity. "There is a clear pattern of bad actors improperly obtaining patients’ medical information," the organizations wrote. "To protect patients' privacy, there is an urgent need for the frameworks to implement centralized vetting, onboarding and monitoring controls. Details on exchange activity must be made publicly available, and when potential privacy issues are identified they must receive timely, effective, and transparent resolutions." (Landi, Fierce Healthcare, 1/29)
• New York: Last month, almost 15,000 nurses at three major New York City health systems went on strike after months of stalled contract negotiations — making it the largest nursing strike in city history. On Monday, the New York State Nurses Association announced they had reached tentative agreements to end the strike at two affected health systems. The agreements cover 10,500 of the striking workers and will be put to a vote over the next few days. If the deal is approved, the striking nurses will return to work within 72 hours of the vote. According to Nancy Hagans, president of the nurses' union, the tentative agreements "maintain enforceable safe staffing ratios, improve protections from workplace violence and maintain health benefits with no additional out-of-pocket costs for frontline nurses." Currently, negotiations are ongoing at the last hospital, which has said that it is willing to pay the same wage increases agreed to by the other two hospitals. However, Jaiveer Grewal, a nurse at the last hospital and a union official, said nurses are still pushing for further changes in certain areas. "Right now, the fight is for staffing, staffing enforcement, and job security," Grewal said. (Goldstein, New York Times, 2/9)

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