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Health Care

PBM update

The Senate’s getting into the pharmacy benefits manager game. On Thursday, the chamber’s Health Care committee endorsed Senate Bill 479, which on its face is an alternative to the House’s approach the last couple of sessions to the quarrels over PBMs and their role. Notably, the Senate bill omits a...

By Ray Gronberg

April 11, 2025

House tries again on PBMs

The House is mounting a renewed effort to put some restrictions on the business practices of the pharmacy benefit managers that operate in North Carolina. House Bill 163 got a favorable report Tuesday from the House Health Committee. It needs further screenings by the chamber’s Regulatory Reform and Rules committees...

By Ray Gronberg

April 2, 2025

Senate health bill passes

Senators have sent the House their latest attempt to reduce healthcare costs. Senate Bill 316 cleared the chamber Thursday on a 46-2 vote, 10 days after its initial rollout by the chamber’s leadership. Along the way, sponsors rolled into it the provisions of Senate Bill 315, a parallel measure that...

By Ray Gronberg

March 28, 2025

Health insurance

It’s looking like House and Senate leaders aren’t on the same page about how to go about regulating health insurers’ use of prior authorization for treatments to control medical costs. House Rules chair John Bell, R-Wayne, and other GOP members from the chamber on Tuesday rolled out House Bill 434,...

By Ray Gronberg

March 19, 2025

Chambers gear up for healthcare cost push

Senate leaders are signaling that they’re going start pushing a pair of health-related bills through the chamber this week. They’ve scheduled hearings on Wednesday in the chamber’s Health Care committee on newly introduced Senate Bills 315 and 316. Both were filed on Monday. And both have the same set of...

By Ray Gronberg

March 18, 2025

Cabarrus County’s dueling hospital projects

Novant Health says its $336.4 million proposal to build a 50-bed acute-care hospital on the southwestern outskirts of Kannapolis is partially intended to bring some much-needed competition to the region health-care sector. Its construction would offer “a vital alternative to Atrium Health,” which is currently “the sole provider of acute...

By Ray Gronberg

March 4, 2025

Duke and Novant collaboration

Only about a month after entering a joint venture with UNC Health on a new children’s hospital, Duke Health says it and Novant Health are going “to develop new campuses across North Carolina that will expand access to affordable, high-quality care.” In a joint news release on Monday, Duke and...

By Ray Gronberg

March 4, 2025

A battle for beds in Cabarrus County

Medical providers have filed new certificate-of-need applications that could result in almost $772 million of capital spending if all their projects get approved by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. Four projects out of the 27 would account for the bulk of the cost: Novant Health wants to build...

By Ray Gronberg

March 3, 2025

Senate sends Burgin health bill to the House

Sen. Jim Burgin’s bill proposing a cap on health-insurance coverage mandates cleared the Senate on an almost party line, 30-15 vote Wednesday afternoon. The vote on Senate Bill 24 came after Republicans rejected a Democratic request for a comprehensive examination of the cost issues, to include a look at medical...

By Ray Gronberg

February 13, 2025

Hospital growth and healthcare needs

Two House members with considerable experience in the healthcare industry don’t find anything too surprising about the big jump in projected acute-care bed needs in the 2025 State Medical Facilities Plan. “I would guess that a lot of that is driven by population growth in North Carolina” and the aging...

By Ray Gronberg

February 13, 2025

Novo Nordisk facing shareholder lawsuit

Novo Nordisk finds itself the target of at least one shareholder lawsuit over disappointing clinical-trial results for a new weight-loss drug. The trial of CagriSema “achieved a superior weight loss of 22.7% after 68 weeks” compared to a couple of alternatives, the company said in a Dec. 20 news release....

By Ray Gronberg

February 11, 2025

Hospital needs

Here at the Trib and Business North Carolina, we’ve been puzzling over the 2025 State Medical Facilities Plan and its 156% increase in the number of acute-care hospital bed it says North Carolina needs. Suffice to say that’s a huge one-year jump, to 1,042 additional beds, 635 more than in...

By Ray Gronberg

February 10, 2025

Tiered rates ahead for State Health Plan members?

State Treasurer Brad Briner and his aides are going to ask trustees of the State Health Plan today for permission to tie the plan’s insurance premiums to a member’s salary. The move is part of their nascent strategy for addressing the funding shortfalls that loom ahead for the plan, which...

By Ray Gronberg

February 7, 2025

Burgin health-insurance mandate cap advances

Sen. Jim Burgin’s attempt to cap the number of health-insurance mandates embedded in state law cleared its first two committee hurdles this week and remains on track to get to the Senate floor. Senate Bill 24 cleared the chamber’s Health Care and Pensions committees on Wednesday and now needs only...

By Ray Gronberg

February 7, 2025

Duke and UNC partner up

A new, state-funded children’s hospital in the Triangle is going to become a joint venture between UNC Health and Duke Health. Gov. Josh Stein, Senate leader Phil Berger and other officials rolled out the initiative on Tuesday, along with a pitch for private-sector and philanthropic contributions to a project they...

By Ray Gronberg

January 29, 2025

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