46
HEALTHCARE
NEWS
Pennsylvania hospital, union must arbitrate dispute
over nurse assignments, court rules
By Kelly Gooch
H
eritage Valley Health System, which
owns and operates a hospital in
Beaver, Pa., must arbitrate its dis-
pute with a union over whether the hospital
breached their collective bargaining agree-
ment by assigning registered nurses to work
as patient care assistants, a federal appeals
court said in an unpublished opinion.
Heritage Valley and the Service Employees
International Union Healthcare Pennsylva-
nia entered into an agreement effective from
July 1, 2016, until June 30, 2019.
In 2018, the union filed a grievance under
the agreement alleging that the hospital as-
signed registered nurses to work as patient
care assistants multiple times, in violation of
mandatory nurse-to-patient staffing ratios
that were bargained for between both sides,
according to court documents.
The union and hospital disagree on wheth-
er the contract requires arbitration of the
alleged breach. Heritage Valley contends
its actions were allowed and excluded from
the contract arbitration clause, while the
union sued the hospital in U.S. District
Court for the Western District of Pennsyl-
vania, claiming its grievance was an arbi-
trable violation.
e district court sided with the union, and
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit
backed that decision. n
HHS agrees to delay drug
rebate rule
By Maia Anderson
H
HS has agreed to postpone by one year the
start date of a rule it passed last November
that would eliminate the rebates drugmak-
ers pay to pharmacy benefit managers.
The rule was postponed from its original start date
of Jan. 1, 2022, to Jan. 1, 2023, according to a court
document filed Jan. 30. It was passed by HHS last
November as an attempt to simplify drug pricing
and pass discounts to consumers. Drugmakers have
supported the rule, while PBMs have opposed it.
The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association,
a national group that represents PBMs, filed a lawsuit
Jan. 12 challenging the rule, arguing it would drasti-
cally increase Medicare Part D premiums and costs
for taxpayers.
The yearlong delay will give President Joe Biden's
administration time to review the rule and its poten-
tial impact on Medicare Part D and its enrollees.
The lobby said it will pause litigation against HHS
related to the rebate rule, but "if the administration
does not, after its review, retract the rule or propose
a satisfactory solution to resolve our legal claims, or
timely conclude its review, we will be forced to ask
the court to reactivate the suit," the group said in a
news release.
John Bates, a U.S. district judge in Washington, D.C.,
ordered HHS to make a decision on the rule by April
1. n
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