Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Healthcare Advocacy Group Sues AMA Over Access To Billing Codes
The Washington Post: Group Sues AMA Seeking Transparency Over Medicare Billing Codes
A health care advocacy group on Thursday sued the American Medical Association in an effort to get more transparency over the association’s billing codes, which guide billions of dollars in health care payments. PatientRightsAdvocate.org hopes to republish the codes online and allow the public to search them free. The group, which has pushed for health care transparency, is challenging the AMA’s copyright over its billing-code system, known as the Current Procedural Terminology or CPT. (Diamond, 8/13)
Becker's Hospital Review: Judge Tosses Pharmacy Residents’ Suit Over Residency Matching System
A federal judge has dismissed a proposed antitrust class action accusing a group of hospitals and health systems, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and a residency matching organization of conspiring to suppress pharmacy residents’ pay, according to an Aug. 12 ruling. Judge Deborah Boardman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland dismissed the case without prejudice; the former residents who brought it have until Sept. 11 to file an amended complaint. If they do not, the case will be closed. (Twenter, 8/13)
In other health industry developments —
Bloomberg: UnitedHealth Investor Suit Alleges Security, Governance Lapses
UnitedHealth Group Inc. board members ignored a raft of governance and oversight risks for years before catastrophic failures triggered billions in losses for investors, a shareholder lawsuit alleges. An amended complaint filed Aug. 7 in a Minnesota federal court reveals new information from former insiders about how UnitedHealth handled cybersecurity after an acquisition of a company that would later suffer the largest US healthcare data breach on record. (Tozzi and Voreacos, 8/13)
AP: Luigi Mangione Expected To Plead Guilty At Friday Court Hearing, AP Source Says
Luigi Mangione is scheduled to be in federal court Friday for a hearing at which he’s expected to plead guilty in connection with the 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mangione could still change his mind about the plea, said the person, who was not authorized to talk publicly about the case and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. Previous plea talks in June broke down. (Sisak, Neumeister and Durkin Richer, 8/14)
Bloomberg: Selena Gomez Accused Of Fraud By Investors In Mental-Health Startup Lawsuit
Pop star Selena Gomez is being accused of fraud by investors who claim she failed to deliver on promises to leverage her global celebrity and social-media following to promote her mental-health startup, which collapsed last year. The startup, Wondermind Global Inc., claimed a valuation of $95 million when it sought money from investors in 2022 to develop products, including a mobile app, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in Delaware federal court. Gomez, one of the founders, served as “chief impact officer” and head of marketing, the suit said. (Willmer and Voreacos, 8/13)
KFF Health News: My Husband Was Kicked Out Of Hospice For Dying Too Slowly
“No more operations,” he said.It was mid-January 2026, and my then-73-year-old husband, Mike Salmon, had just started bouncing back from a three-month ordeal of three operations related to aortic aneurysms, sepsis, and a terrifying descent into delirium tied to a stay in the intensive care unit. Now, after another potentially fatal aortic aneurysm and ambulance ride, the doctors clustered around his hospital bed said the fix involved two more major, risky operations. If Mike did nothing, the aneurysm or sepsis would likely kill him, they predicted. (Clark, 8/14)
