In its August 2024 issue, the journal Environmental International published an article called Tampons as a Source of Exposure to Metal(loid)s. The article reports on the results of a recent study by researchers from Columbia, UC Berkeley, and Michigan State that evaluated the presence of metals in different tampons. The research team evaluated 60 samples of tampons, representing 30 unique products from 24 different brands, for the presence of 16 different metals. The researchers found that all the tampons evaluated contained measurable concentrations of each of the 16 metals, including toxic metals such as lead, arsenic, and zinc.

On June 28, 2024, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released draft guidance for industry, titled Diversity Action Plans to Improve Enrollment of Participants from Underrepresented Populations in Clinical Studies (the Draft Guidance), for public review and comment. The Draft Guidance was issued pursuant to a directive from Congress in the Food and Drug Omnibus Reform Act (FDORA), signed into law in December 2022, which required FDA to issue or update guidance on diversity action plans that sponsors submit for certain clinical studies of investigational drugs and medical devices. The Draft Guidance also serves to update guidance that FDA previously issued on the topic in April 2022.

In summer of 2023, New York City Mayor Eric Adams signed Intro. 844-A (Local Law 844-A) and amended the New York City Charter. Local Law 844-A directs Mayor Adams to establish an Office of Healthcare Accountability that will serve to increase health care price transparency in New York City. Though health care price transparency laws have been enacted at the state level across the nation, New York City has become the first municipality in the nation to implement a price transparency law. Indeed, New York City Councilmember Julie Menin, who sponsored Local Law 844-A, emphasized “the positive impact of price transparency measures in other states, and it’s time for New York City to curb excessive health care prices” alongside other states during the bill’s signing ceremony. The law took effect on February 18, 2024.

Lawyers for Good Government, in partnership with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, initiated a vital project known as The Policy Resource Hub in 2022.

As the Mintz Health Law team welcomes the beginning of 2024, many of its members take a moment to reflect on the exciting growth of the Health Law Practice, opportunities to partner with clients on complex legal issues, and the celebration of numerous milestones.

On November 13, 2023, Governor Kathy Hochul announced plans to regulate cybersecurity for New York general hospitals regulated under Article 28 of the Public Health Law. As proposed, the regulations will provide an additional level of security for hospitals, which have been increasingly targeted for cybersecurity scams and breaches. The proposed regulations would be additive to those requirements of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which already includes a variety of requirements meant to safeguard Protected Health Information (PHI). Accompanying the proposed regulations, a $500 million dollar fund has been appropriated under Governor Hochul’s FY24 budget to assist hospitals in complying with the proposed cybersecurity regulations. The funds will be made available through a Health Care Technology Capital program, which will be established by the New York State Department of Health (DOH).

Since the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 (MoCRA) was signed into law, cosmetics companies have spent the past year preparing to comply with its provisions. This includes the facility registration and cosmetic product listing requirements that have were mandated by Congress in the new law. Under MoCRA, the statutory deadline for meeting these foundational requirements is set at December 29, 2023 (one year after MoCRA’s enactment). However, on November 8, 2023, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued Guidance for Industry: Compliance Policy for Cosmetic Product Facility Registration and Cosmetic Product Listing (Compliance Guidance) and announced that enforcement of facility registration and cosmetic product listing requirements will be delayed six months.

On August 21, 2023, the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG) issued updated guidance regarding its Self-Disclosure Program (Updated Guidance). In the final days of 2022, New York’s Department of Social Services adopted revised regulations that set forth the requirements for participation in OMIG’s Self-Disclosure Program, as well as regulations regarding Medicaid fraud, waste, and abuse prevention, and Medicaid compliance programs. Since the enactment of these regulations, OMIG has promulgated several guidance documents, including in January 2023, when it first published guidance (Original Guidance) regarding the Self-Disclosure Program. In the Updated Guidance, which replaced the Original Guidance, OMIG announced its new Abbreviated Self-Disclosure Process (ASDP).