Pfizer Settles With Four States For $290,000 In Misleading Copay Case

Stat: Pfizer To Refund $290,000 In Four States Over Misleading Copay Coupons
Amid controversy over the use of patient coupons, Pfizer has agreed to refund $290,000 to settle charges of misleading roughly 5,000 people in Colorado, Kansas, Vermont, and Arizona who spent much more than expected when they used coupons supplied by the drug maker. The company will also pay a total of $120,000 to the states to cover legal costs, among other things. This is only the latest instance in which Pfizer has been cited over such allegations. Three years ago, the company paid $975,000 to settle charges of misleading consumers in Oregon and, in 2018, it reached a $700,000 settlement with New York State. In each episode, consumers were told they would “pay no more than” a small amount of money — typically, from $15 to $25 — for certain drugs, but were actually required to pay more due to limits on total savings that were not prominently disclosed. (Silverman, 5/22)

In other health news from across the U.S. —

Oklahoman: Oklahoma Legislature OKs Revamp To Medicaid Program
Oklahoma legislators on Friday approved plans to revamp the state's Medicaid program into a value-based health care model that incentivizes providers to improve patient health. The plan includes some elements of the Medicaid managed care plan the Stitt administration tried to implement last year, but lawmakers were directly involved in crafting the details this time. The Oklahoma Supreme Court last year ruled the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, which oversees the state's Medicaid program, exceeded its authority in trying to implement managed care. (Forman, 5/21)

CBS News: John Fetterman, Democratic Senate Nominee In Pennsylvania, Released From Hospital After Stroke
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman has been released from the hospital more than a week after he had a stroke, his wife Gisele Barreto Fetterman tweeted Sunday. Fetterman won the Democratic primary for Senate while he was in the hospital recovering. (Reardon, 5/22)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati May Add Protections For Gender Expression, Breastfeeding
Cincinnati could soon add anti-discrimination protections for "gender expression" and and women who breastfeed in public. The city's anti-discrimination law already has protections for transgender people. But under the proposed changes, the law specifically forbids discrimination based on "gender expression,"  which is defined in the bill as how a person expresses themselves through "one's behavior or appearance, that may or may not be those traditionally associated with the individual's assigned sex at birth." Businesses, employers and landlords would be among those subject to the new rules. (Coolidge, 5/23)

KQED: California Debates Opening Safe Injection Sites To Prevent Overdose Deaths 
Lawmakers in California are debating whether to open sites where people can inject or snort illegal drugs under the watchful gaze of a health care worker. These facilities are an effort to save lives as overdoses skyrocket across the country. "Instead of having people use drugs on the sidewalk when your kid is walking by, we want to give them a place where they can go inside," said state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, the sponsor of a bill to pilot facilities in Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles. (McClurg, 5/23)

Salt Lake Tribune: One In Three Homes In Utah Has Dangerous Radon Levels. Here’s What Can Be Done
Lurking in one of three Utah homes are dangerous levels of radon, a naturally occurring gas blamed for scores of cancer deaths in Utah each year, according to a radon report submitted to the Legislature on Wednesday. Radon is Utah’s “most deadly geological hazard,” Utah Geological Survey director William Keach told the Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Interim Committee. “Radon can get into your home, it can come through your water pipes, it can come through your basement,” Keach said. “If you have a well that’s got radon gas getting into it, it can come into your house that way.” (Maffly, 5/20)

The Denver Post: Avian Flu Found In Dead Geese In Colorado Park
The avian flu has been found in dead geese in Lakewood and city officials urge the public not to handle dead birds or animals. A presumptive positive test for avian influenza, also know as bird flu, was received by Colorado Parks and Wildlife after dead goslings were found in Cottonwood Park, 10461 W. Evans Ave., according to a Lakewood news release. An investigation is ongoing. Avian flu has been spreading among wild birds and domesticated poultry in Colorado. The first identified human case in the United States of the H5N1 virus — avian flu — was found last month in a Colorado man who works on a Western Slope poultry farm. (Nicholson, 5/21)