124. Dystopian Memes.

It's a stormy healthcare landscape out there, so this show is all lightning round. We cover several areas:

Litigation: Nic provides the Ariadne's thread through a labyrinthine pharma-tort judgment out of California. The metal on metal hip litigation has resulted in a big judgment, but medical device regulation is still fundamentally broken. Disgruntled Centene enrollees are suing the ACA insurer of last resort for ultra-narrow networks (and Washington state is not happy, either). Washington may lead the way for future narrow network regulation or consent decrees. We followed up on the duodenoscope superbug litigation saga, focusing on duties to translate foreign language emails in discovery.

Regulation: We discussed a crisis in long-term care, following up on last week's discussion with Paul Osterman. Medicare is not making it any easier for many who qualify for help. We reviewed the new priorities of HHS's Conscience Rights, er, Civil Rights Division (and potential responses to conscience claims). The rise of Medicaid work requirements is a hot topic, as Kentucky Governor Bevin imposed them last week.

By the way, watch out for a future post by Frank at the LPE Blog on Trumpcare's transformation of Medicaid. His latest health care post there was titled "The Epicycles of Health Care Market Design: Time for a Paradigm Shift in Health Policy."

Also of interest this week: the ethics of fake operations; the UK's Minister of Loneliness; and Covered California covers the coverage roller coaster, as does Vox.