• 3/05 - Orange County ZOOM Table - Discussion Topic: "Making Lemonade from Lemons" - Featuring Roger Massengale, CEO North America, Eitan Medical (headquartered in Israel)


• 3/20 - Bay Area ZOOM Table - Discussion Topic: "E-x-p-a-n-d-i-n-g from your Core & Lessons from Burning Man" - Featuring Steve Grau, CEO Royal Ambulance and Co-Founder/Exec Chairman, Onward Health


• 3/21 - Los Angeles ZOOM Table - Discussion Topic: "E-x-p-a-n-d-i-n-g from your Core" - Featuring Harry Nelson, Partner, Leech Tishman Nelson Hardiman


• Explore Membership in ABL's Executive Round Tables >>>

• Alameda Health System (Dave Sayen) Recognized for Organ Donation Advocacy & Featured in NY Times for Substance-Use Disorder Treatment. PLUS, AHS & Onward (Steve Grau) Achieve Successful Collaboration
• Angle Health (Andy Leeka) Highlighted in Becker's Article
• Greg Buchert, MD, to Keynote Research, Innovation and Creativity Summit
• Concern EAP (Cecile Currier) Collaborates with Endava & AWS on Tech Enhancements
• Donor Network West & CEO Janice Whaley, Ph.D., Spotlighted + Announces Record-breaking Achievements
• FOMAT Medical Research (Nick Focil) Announces Partners in Ophthalmology & in Asthma/Allergies
• iMediSync's (Dave Berkus) Upcoming Webinar to Address EEG & QEEG
• Leech Tishman Nelson Hardiman's Harry Nelson, JD, Interviewed on CBS News About Shield Laws & Named a Super Lawyer
• Life Adjustment Team (Cynthia Sampson) Debuts Neurodivergent Track
• MedWand (Todd Cornell) Featured in Article on Groundbreaking Healthcare Technologies
• On Lok (Grace Li) Lauded in Community News Journal
• PreludeDx (Dan Forche) & Hannah Storm Partner to Raise Awareness About Precision Diagnostics
• Providence Digital Innovation Group (Marcee Chmait) Shares How They're Enhancing Clinical Workflows
• Sheppard Mullin (Linda Igarashi) Provides Healthcare Conference, Articles & More
• Zymo Research (Yap Ching Chew, Ph.D.) Plays Role in Combating Bird Flu & Launches BioFestival

• Eckert & Ziegler (Frank Yeager) Advances Role as Major Supplier of Ac-225 for Radiopharma Industry

Eckert & Ziegler (EZ) SE has signed a license agreement with Qi Kang Medical, Ltd (QKM), a joint venture between EZ and the Chinese company DC Pharma, for the cyclotron technology used by EZ to manufacture Actinium-225 (Ac-225). The agreement is an important step towards establishing EZ as a major supplier of Ac-225 for the radiopharmaceutical industry. Currently, Ac-225-based radiopharmaceuticals are under clinical investigation for various cancers.
ALSO, EZ and GlyTherix Ltd, an Australian targeted radiotherapy company specializing in developing antibody radiopharmaceuticals for solid tumors, announced the expansion of their existing Lutetium-177 based collaboration with a global supply agreement for Ac-225. EZ will provide high-quality Ac-225 to support GlyTherix's clinical R&D activities on innovative alpha radiotherapeutics. (FRI)

California state workers will be required to work at least four days a week in person beginning July 1, Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered. Newsom's executive order requires that state agencies and departments under his authority that offer telework as an option to their employees soon change their policies and require that their employees work a minimum of four in-person days per work week, although case-by-case exceptions will be considered. Agencies and departments that aren't subject to Newsom's authority are "strongly encouraged" to implement the directives in his executive order, such as the state treasurer and the attorney general. The executive order also directed CalHR to "identify job openings that align with the skills of former federal employees, particularly in medical and mental health care, the sciences, firefighting, weather forecasting and modeling, and natural resource management," according to a news release. (https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/nation/california/2025/03/04/newsom-orders-new-return-to-office-policy-for-california-state-workers/81348489007/?tbref=hp)

On February 25, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) directing the Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and HHS to implement and enforce existing price transparency regulations, including the Hospital Price Transparency Rule (the HPT rule) and the Transparency in Coverage Rule (the TiC Rule). The HPT Rule requires hospitals to make public the standard charges of the items and services they provide. The TiC Rule requires insurance issuers to disclose price and cost-sharing information to plan participants and enrollees. The EO directs the Departments to: Ensure hospitals and insurance issuers disclose actual prices and not estimates; Take action to make prices comparable across hospitals and insurance issuers, including drug prices; and Update their enforcement policies. Given the increased scrutiny of compliance with the HPT Rule and TiC Rule, hospitals and insurance issuers should remain mindful that CMS has published several helpful tools on its website to aid compliance. (https://kslawemail.com/128/12177/pages/article-1.asp)

On February 28, 2025, HHS announced it was rescinding its prior policy of following the Administrative Procedure Act's notice-and-comment procedures for certain proposed rules, including those relating to "management or personnel or to public property, loans, grants, benefits, or contracts" and rules where the agency finds that the required procedures are "impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest." (https://kslawemail.com/128/12177/pages/article-2.asp)

Providers, patients and digital health companies are ramping up their calls for more certainty that Medicare will continue to reimburse them for telehealth appointments after the current authority to do so expires on April 1. A coalition of nearly 350 organizations, ranging from patient advocacy groups to large corporations, including Amazon, recently sent a letter to Congressional leadership, urging them to make expanded Medicare telehealth access permanent or at least available for the long term. Policies originally put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic expanded the circumstances in which Medicare could cover telehealth at the same payment rate as in-person services. (https://www.axios.com/2025/02/27/telehealth-advocates-medicare-deadline-congress)

Red-light therapy is getting the green light in some health circles. The treatment, a type of light therapy called photobiomodulation that involves exposing the body to low levels of red or near-infrared light, purports to help users lose weight, look younger and balance mood. It's popping up everywhere from hotel spas to European beehives. Red light is thought to work by penetrating the skin's surface and boosting brain cells' energy, oxygen and blood flow to help them fire faster. While research shows some promise in certain areas like dermatology, it's too soon to say it clearly provides health benefits more broadly - despite the many products being sold that seem to suggest otherwise. As there are no established standards for wavelength, intensity and length of treatment, consumers should be cautious when purchasing and using red-light therapy devices, as some products may not be effective or safe. (https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/red-light-therapy-gets-the-green-light-sort-of-a2ac3887)

The FDA has granted its first approval for a pacemaker-like device for the brain to ease symptoms of Parkinson's disease, which affects nearly 1 million people in the United States. Medtronic, the device's manufacturer, said this will be the largest-ever commercial rollout of brain-computer interface technology. The implant uses more than 30-year-old brain pacemaker technology and adjusts treatment to patient needs in the moment. Clinical trial results published in August showed that the device reduced involuntary movements and other symptoms by 50% in four patients who had Parkinson's for at least 10 years. Adaptive deep brain stimulation has also shown promise in treating conditions like depression and chronic pain. The technology doesn't change the trajectory of Parkinson's, which currently doesn't have a cure. (https://www.axios.com/2025/02/25/fda-adaptive-brain-pacemaker-parkinsons-treatment)

Incredible Health, an expansive AI-driven career platform for permanent healthcare professionals, is growing its marketplace to include technicians, branching into home health organizations and ambulatory surgery centers. Already serving over 1 million nurses and 1,500 hospitals across the nation, the company is the first to streamline permanent hiring for technicians, a crucial step in addressing a growing labor shortage. Technicians comprise 60% of the healthcare workforce, and labor market experts suggest that a shortage of 3.2 million allied healthcare workers by 2026 is imminent. (https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/artificial-intelligence/incredible-health-expands-to-tackle-the-next-workforce-crisis.html)

Large language models (LLMs) are doing a better job than humans at making people feel seen and heard. This phenomenon, we call LLMpathy, is both stunning and controversial. Some experts argue that because computers are incapable of emotion, they can't possibly care for people, a fundamental requirement of true empathy. Others are alarmed by just how readily people are trading human connections for digital ones, as ever more people turn to chatbots for therapy, friendship and even romance (think Her). But beyond these concerns and complaints, chatbot confidants might offer something more practical. If they are beating us at compassion, shouldn't we try to learn what they are doing right? Can computers actually help strengthen human relationships?
        Chatbots are effective in these situations not because of something they do that we can't, but because of the mistakes humans make and they avoid. When we see someone is in pain, or when someone we care about shares a problem, we instinctively want to help. We offer advice, suggest solutions and rattle off how we once dealt with something similar. These impulses may be noble, even loving, but they aren't as helpful as we might hope. Rushing to share opinions and hash out next steps can trivialize someone's pain, and shifting the focus to yourself may unintentionally undermine their hope to be heard. Chatbots avoid these pitfalls. With no personal experiences to share, no urgency to solve problems and no ego to protect, they focus entirely on the speaker. Their inherent limitations make them better listeners. (https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/dont-freak-out-about-empathic-chatbots-learn-from-them-7a976f75)

One of the most contagious viruses in the world is spreading around the U.S. So far in 2025 there have been three distinct measles outbreaks and at least 164 cases reported to the CDC coming from nine states. The largest of the outbreaks is in West Texas, where the total number of people diagnosed with measles grew to 146 last Friday. An unvaccinated child in the region died last week - the first measles death in the U.S. since 2015. Eight other states have confirmed cases of the virus, the CDC reports: Nine cases in New Mexico, and at least one case in Alaska, California, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island. 20% of the reported cases have required hospitalization, according to the CDC. Most of those infected have been children. Measles isn't usually deadly, but it can have serious complications. (https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5173803-9-states-report-measles-cases-as-outbreaks-grow/)

Compounding pharmacies and telehealth companies selling lower-cost versions of Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy will soon have to halt production after the FDA set deadlines to phase out compounded semaglutide. Amid shortages, the FDA has permitted compounding pharmacies to make generic versions of the branded drugs, allowing telehealth companies such as Noom and Hims to offer low-cost alternatives as demand surged. Semaglutide — the key ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy — had been in shortage since 2022. Now that supply has stabilized, state-licensed compounding pharmacies and physicians must stop selling compounded semaglutide by April 22, while outsourcing facilities have until May 22 to cease production and distribution. (https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/glp-1s/fda-sets-deadline-to-end-sales-of-ozempic-wegovy-copycats.html)

In a recent essay in the Wall Street Journal - How to Not Pay Your Medical Bills. Actually, that's easy. This is how I paid a lot less - writer Joel Stein shares his successful strategy for negotiating the price of an unexpected medical bill. (https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/how-to-not-pay-your-medical-bills-e9d195e6)

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