Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Mangione Back In Court Exactly 1 Year After United Healthcare CEO's Death
ABC News: Luigi Mangione Returns To Court On Anniversary Of Assassination Of United Healthcare CEO
A year to the day after Luigi Mangione allegedly stalked and gunned down United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk, the 27-year-old alleged killer returns to court Thursday as a high-profile hearing in his state murder case enters its third day. His lawyers are attempting to convince the judge overseeing his case to prohibit prosecutors from using critical evidence, including the alleged murder weapon and Mangione's journal. They argue the evidence was unlawfully seized from his backpack without a warrant during his arrest. (Katersky, Simpson and Charalambous, 12/4)
Baltimore Magazine: The Decline, Fall, And Unexpected Veneration Of Luigi Mangione
Luigi Mangione’s enigmatic personal saga continues to play out in pop culture unlike anything in the modern media age. It’s not just the passionate support he’s received—thousands of letters of groupie fan mail in jail—or that we’ve seen more photos of his six-pack abs than stories about Thompson’s grieving family and the impact of the assassination on the insurance industry. (Cassie, 12/1)
More health care industry developments —
San Francisco Chronicle: California CEO Accused Of $7M Fraud Arrested At SFO
Federal prosecutors say a California health care executive, accused of a sweeping fraud that allegedly drained more than $7 million from a program meant to support aging veterans, was arrested at San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday just as he tried to board a flight to Nigeria. Cashmir Chinedu Luke, believed to be 66 and living in Antioch, now faces a criminal complaint alleging he billed the Department of Veterans Affairs for thousands of home care services that never happened. (Vaziri, 12/3)
Modern Healthcare: Ensign Group Adds Nursing Homes In Colorado, Arizona And Kansas
Senior living company Ensign Group has expanded its footprint with four nursing home deals across three states. The company said in a Tuesday news release it acquired the operations of the 103-bed Rehabilitation Center at Sandalwood in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, and 69-bed Edgewater Health and Rehabilitation Center in Lakewood, Colorado, on Monday. Both deals are subject to a long-term lease with a third-party landlord, according to the release. (Eastabrook, 12/3)
Fierce Healthcare: 'Clinic-In-A-Box' Company OnMed Expands To 30 Charter Schools
OnMed, a company that developed an innovative way to provide medical check-ups almost anywhere, inked a new partnership to expand its CareStations to 30 charter schools as part of an initial pilot. In partnership with 22Beacon, OnMed will launch the Public Charter School Health Equity Initiative, bringing OnMed's CareStation kiosks to charter schools across 22Beacon's portfolio network with plans to expand the pilot into a national offering, executives said. (Landi, 12/3)
Modern Healthcare: Hims & Hers To Acquire YourBio Health
Direct-to-consumer telehealth company Hims & Hers Health said Wednesday it has agreed to acquire YourBio Health, a medical device company that develops blood sampling technology. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The deal is slated to close early next year pending customary closing conditions, according to a release. (Famakinwa, 12/3)
New Hampshire Public Radio: NH Needs To Find $5 Million To Cover Overruns From Design Mistake At New Psych Hospital
A mistaken calculation in the design of a new state psychiatric hospital is pushing back the project’s completion date until late 2027, and will potentially leave New Hampshire taxpayers on the hook for an additional $5 million. (Bookman, 12/3)
CIDRAP: Medical Societies Jointly Launch Infection Prevention Initiative
Two medical societies are teaming up on an initiative to provide guidance on infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship in US health care settings. Launched yesterday by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the Healthcare Infection Prevention Advisory Group (HIPAG) aims to fill the gap left by the Trump administration’s dissolution of a federal advisory group on infection prevention in May. (Dall, 12/3)
