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Telehealth providers stay nimble amid regulatory uncertainty
A handful of online abortion medication providers told me they were anxiously awaiting theSupreme Courts ruling on mifepristone last week a decision that risks dramatically altering their operations by limiting the types of medication they could dispense via mail. Mifepristone is often used in combination with misopristol to end a pregnancy, though misopristolcan also be used on its own.
While the nations highest court maintained access to mifepristone in the short term by putting a hold on a Texas district court decision that would remove the drug from the market, telehealth abortion providers likeWispandHey Janesay theyre ready to adapt.As my colleague Sarah Owermohle reports, the case is headed to an appeals court which will address the case in the next few weeks.
In the event of a limit, Wisp said it was prepared to transition to a misopristol-only protocol a change that could take the Bay Area company a few weeks.
Kiki Freedman, head of Hey Jane, which has continued to offer mifepristone, said her team was encouraged by the Supreme Court decision. Access to medication abortion should never have been jeopardized in the first place, but we know these baseless attacks are far from over, Freedman said.
How cyber threats could impact surgeries
Late last week, STATs Lizzy Lawrence was at theCyberMed Summit, where FDA tech leaders, cybersecurity experts, and cyber safety advocates mingled wearing name badges printed on floppy disks.
By far the most illustrative part of the event, Lizzy reports, was the live clinical simulation, where the audience watched over Zoom as aGeorge Washington Universityemergency medicine resident attempted to treat patients in the midst of a fake cybersecurity attack. He had to figure out how best to treat a stroke patient without a working CT scanner, and take care of a patient in cardiac arrest without a catheter lab. Without the CT scan, for example, he had to guess based on patient behavior whether the stroke resulted from a clogged blood vessel or a brain bleed. Blood thinners would treat the clogged vessel, but fatally worsen the bleed.
Another highlight: a panel on how medical device regulation fits into the countrys security strategy. TheFDAs Suzanne Schwartzdiscussed FDAs plan with itsnew cybersecurity authorities enshrined in the omnibus, and the agencysJessica Wilkersoncautioned that securing legacy devices is a complex, ongoing issue.
Bad news for Oracle: VAs health record overhaul on pause
The federal governments multi-year, multi-billion dollarhealth records software boondogglehas hit yet another snag: TheVeterans Affairs Departmentsaid last week it was halting deployments of health record technology provided byOracle which recently acquired bid winnerCerner to focus on improving its function at handful of sites that currently use the software.
VA officials struck a conciliatory tone in adepartment press release. Veterans and clinicians said the EHR software is not meeting expectations and were holding Oracle Cerner and ourselves accountable to get this right,VA Secretary Denis McDonoughsaid.
For the past few years, weve tried to fix this plane while flying it and that hasnt delivered the results that veterans or our staff deserve, the VAsNeil Evanssaid.
AI industry tidbits
A slew of tech heavyweights and one disgraced pharma exec made major AI announcements this week:
Earnings to watch
Well get a little insight into public health tech companies performance this year as they share earnings for 2023s first quarter over the next few weeks. Ill be paying special attention toTeladocs slated for Wednesday as the company wades into weight loss drugs and doubles down on its behavioral health service,BetterHelp.(If youll also be tuning in, let me know what youre watching out for.)TalkspaceandHims & Hersannounce their earnings next week and the following.
Philipsthe health tech company embroiled in a recall of its CPAP machines already reporteda net loss of about $733 million. Its also seen some decline in its connected care business especially in sleep and respiratory care though its diagnosis and treatment sales, which include imaging and ultrasound services, offset those losses, the company said.
What were reading
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Telehealth abortion providers grapple with regulatory uncertainty - STAT