Healthcare reform legislation trackers; NYDFS deadline extended

Annual Legislative & Working Groups Summit

Don’t forget! The Council’s annual Legislative & Working Groups Summit is February 10-12 here in Washington, D.C. Our government affairs team is hard at work planning a spectacular line-up of speakers for our day on Capitol Hill, while our CIO, Claims & Risk Management, HR, Legal Counsel, and Marketing & Communications working groups are gearing up for individual peer-share meetings. The Summit is fast approaching. We hope you plan to join us.

Register here.

See the agenda here.

Data, Privacy, and Silicon Valley

Last year, Google and Ascension secretly embarked on Project Nightingale, a tool that stores and aggregates patient information and medical data. It is the largest effort to date by a technology company to venture into the healthcare space. Millions of Americans across 20+ states unknowingly had their data, including lab results, hospitalizations, and complete medical histories, accessed by Google. The stated goal? To store and aggregate patient information that ultimately helps improve patient outcomes.

How Google plans to access your patient data.

 Healthcare Reform: Legislation Trackers 

Our legal team at Steptoe & Johnson is tracking healthcare reform bills as they are introduced in the 116^th Congress. The trackers are updated as of January 24.

• Federal Healthcare Reform Tracker. Includes legislation on the Cadillac Tax, wellness, HSAs, mandate reform/alternatives, antitrust, interstate sales, stop-loss, essential health benefits, ACA market reforms, AHPs, Section 1332 waivers and more.

There are no updates at this time to the federal single-payer and drug pricing trackers.

Annual Deadline Extended – New York Cyber Rule Certifications of Compliance Now Due April 15

The New York Department of Financial Services has extended the annual deadline for filing Certifications of Compliance with its cybersecurity regulation to April 15 (formerly February 15). The change is effective in 2020 and will remain in place for subsequent years. Certifications for calendar year 2019 may be filed by regulated entities any time between January 1 and April 15, 2020. Entities that previously filed a Notice of Exemption do not need to refile those notices, but if there have been changes to an entity’s exemption status, those updates should be filed accordingly with DFS.

You Are What You Eat

Virtually all of us walk around today with a class of human-made chemicals known as PFAS inside our bodies that may cause a number of serious conditions, from liver damage to kidney and testicular cancer to decreased fertility and pregnancy-related complications.

Up to 110 million Americans may be contaminated with PFAS through drinking water alone, while others may have eaten PFAS-contaminated foods or breathed PFAS-contaminated air.

Experts liken the situation to an asbestos-type liability crisis in the making. For brokers and agents, it may be worth evaluating clients’ potential risk of PFAS contamination liability—which could appear in ways they may not have anticipated.

Read more in this Jan/Feb feature story.

Blaire Bartlett, Director, Government Affairs

The Myth of the ‘Moderate’ Public Option
The Wall Street Journal

Susan Rushford, SVP, Marketing & Communications
Johns Hopkins University Reimagines the M.B.A.
The Wall Street Journal

Katie Oberkircher, Content Specialist, Market Intelligence & Insights
Health Care Data-sharing Rules Touch off Intense Lobbying Fight
Politico