Telemedicine abortion ban advances in Michigan

With help from Arthur Allen (@arthurallen202) and Darius Tahir ( @dariustahir)

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TELEMEDICINE ABORTION BAN ADVANCES IN MICHIGAN: Abortion rights advocates tell Morning eHealth that Michigan’s state lawmakers are ignoring medical evidence in their effort to ban the prescription of abortion medication via video chat.

House lawmakers voted Thursday to extend a 2012 ban on telemedicine abortions, a step the Senate took last month. If Gov. Rick Snyder signs it, Michigan will remain one of the 19 states in which licensed abortion providers are required to be in the room with patients for evaluations.

UCSF professor Daniel Grossman, whose research suggests that virtual consultations are just as safe as in-person ones, says the bill disregards those findings. And restricting access to telemedicine means patients will have to travel to a limited number of licensed clinics with providers on-site, leading to delays in care and forcing some women to have abortions later in their pregnancy, he says.

As we reported over the summer, FDA regulations prohibit abortion medication from being distributed in retail locations or to patient’s homes, but some states such as Hawaii and California let patients go to licensed facilities, consult a clinician via video chat, and then take the medication.

A spokesperson said Snyder has not indicated whether he’ll sign the bill. Even if he does, it might not last. There have been successful legal challenges to similar bans in Idaho and Iowa. Pros can read the story on the Michigan ban here.

ANOTHER STAB AT A PRIVACY BILL: If you haven’t drafted your own comprehensive federal privacy bill, are you even in tech? Lawmakers, tech companies and advocacy groups have all offered up their ideas over the past few weeks, and the Center for Democracy & Technology is just the latest.

Its draft bill, published Thursday, would require covered groups to give consumers reasonable access to the personal information they retain as well as the names of any outside groups to whom it sells or licenses that information. It also says people should have the right to dispute the accuracy and completeness of any personal health information.

Current laws make it “impossible for individuals to understand, let alone manage, the many ways their data is used,” the center’s president and CEO Nuala O’Connor said in a release.

... Earlier this week, Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii introduced a billthat would require websites and app developers to keep data secure and augment the FTC’s authority to crack down on privacy violations.

... Speaking of privacy, comments on HHS’s request for information on modifying HIPAA are rolling in. Morgan Reed, executive director of the Connected Health Initiative, says any modifications should build on CMS’s efforts to reimburse groups that use patient-generated health data to transition to value-based care. (CHI is a coalition operated by trade group ACT | The App Association.)

eHealth Tweet of the day: Ankit Gupta @gankit Healthtech investors need to start a fellowship program for physicians. One that allows the physicians to sit in on the pitches they want to and get exposed to the startup world.

It’s FRIDAY at Morning eHealth where your author is baffled by reports that someone left a human heart intended for a transplant on a plane. News tips, and the worst thing you’ve ever forgotten on a plane, go to [email protected]. Reach the rest of the team at @arthurallen202, @dariustahir, @ravindranize, @POLITICOPro and @Morning_eHealth.

FEW NEW FACES ON BUDGET AND APPROPS: Democratic assignments to the Budget and Appropriations committees will see little shakeup in the 116th Congress, our colleague Jennifer Scholtes reports. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the full committee lineup for his party Thursday, showing just one change on those two panels: Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) will no longer serve on the Budget Committee.

... Appropriations Committee Democrats are Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

… Budget Committee Democrats are ranking member Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Mark Warner (D.Va.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.)

MANCHIN PLACES HOLD ON FCC’S CARR: Sen. Joe Manchin has put a hold on Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr, who is seeking confirmation to a second term at the agency, our colleague Ashley Gold reports. The West Virginia Democrat said the action protests the FCC’s decision to halt rural broadband subsidies from the $4.5 billion Mobility Fund.

Alaska Republican Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski have also held up Carr’s nomination over a fight with the FCC over an Alaskan telecom company they believe wasn’t given adequate rural health subsidies. Sullivan, though, signaled late last month that he may lift the hold amid negotiations with chairman Ajit Pai.

Still, Carr has been an advocate for telemedicine, leading an effort to set aside FCC funds for remote monitoring and virtual health projects across the country.

INSULIN DOSING APP PROJECT GETS $6 MILLION: Two foundations are providing nonprofit Tidepool with $6 million to turn a DIY app into an FDA-approved device that controls an insulin pump and automatically adjusts its dosage, Darius Tahir reports.

The funding from Helmsley Charitable Trust and JDRF, formerly the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, will help boost an observational study of app users that will start recruiting Type 1 diabetics next year, a news release from JDRF says. Tidepool, which started as a volunteer group of diabetics and their parents seeking to improve management of the disease through IT, is one of the organizations participating in FDA’s pre-certification pilot. Pros can read the rest of Darius’s story here.

... In other FDA news, the agency has released a report examining health impacts of some categories of software that were moved out of FDA’s purview by the 21st Century Cures Act, Darius writes.

The health software products that Congress ordered FDA not to regulate have benefits that outweigh their risks, agency commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in summarizing that report. The category includes EHRs, e-prescription software, low-risk clinical decision support software and administrative programs. Pros can read the rest of the story here.

ICYMI — JONATHAN BUSH SPEAKS ON ATHENA: Athenahealth founder Jonathan Bush said having activist investor Elliott Management take a large stake in athenahealth was like “running a company with a gun to your head,” he told CNBC’s “ Squawk on the Street” Wednesday. Bush stepped down in June amid resurfaced allegations of domestic abuse and sexual harassment; athenahealth subsequently agreed to be acquired by Elliott Management’s subsidiary Evergreen Coast Capital and Veritas Capital.

MEDSPHERE RAISES $32 M: Medsphere, which provides open source EHR software, closed a $32 million financing deal with Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and East West Bank.

— Esther Choo’s lexicon in The BMJ for gender bias in academia in medicine

— Cathy Newman writes in National Geographic about Susan Potter’s wish to turn her body into a virtual cadaver

— The Atlantic’s Sarah Zhang reports on the placebo effect and DNA tests