Weekend Update / Miscellany

• The fallout from the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada tragedy continues. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that

  A 70-year-old woman who has tested positive for hepatitis C filed a lawsuit today against [her HMO] Pacificare of Nevada for referring her to a physician associated with the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada for treatment.

  Alynne Griffiths, who underwent two procedures at the Shadow Lane facility where health officials have linked eight hepatitis C cases due to unsafe injection practices, claims Pacificare won't pay for her to see a hepatitis specialist outside her network.

  Pacificare is part of United Healthcare.

• Last month, CVS Caremark Corp. offered $71.50 per share for Longs Drug Stores Corp., a West coast pharmacy chain. Last week, CVS's competitor Walgreens offered $75.00 per share for Longs. Bloomberg reports that Longs Board of Directors is considering both bids. In response, CVS extended the deadline on its offer to October 15.

• The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has posted a web page supporting its warning that rushing the 5010 transaction standards and ICD-10 code set implementation dates as proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services "will result in a major meltdown in the healthcare industry including – unavoidably – inaccurate and delayed payments to providers and consumers, an inability to detect fraud and abuse, and unnecessarily higher total costs of implementation due to the accelerated timeline. We strongly urge the administration to adopt the recommended timeline advanced by the National Committee for Vital and Health Statistics." NCVHS proposed a two year minimum implementation period for the 5010 transaction standards followed by a minimum three year implementation period for the ICD-10.