Steward CEO to step down; Together for Supportive Cancer Care; drug diversion allegations – Morning Medical Update

Steward Health Care CEO to step down

Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre, MD, will step down from the post today, according to this report from WBUR nonprofit news organization. For weeks he has been subject to public scrutiny for his leadership of the bankrupt health care system. In a statement released through a spokeswoman, de la Torre pledged to “continue to be a tireless advocate for the improvement of reimbursement rates for the underprivileged patient population."

"Dr. de la Torre urges continued focus on this mission and believes Steward’s financial challenges put a much-needed spotlight on Massachusetts’s ongoing failure to fix its healthcare structure and the inequities in its state system," the statement said.

Coalition against cancer

Together for Supportive Cancer Care is a new national collaboration of more than 40 patient advocacy groups, health care providers, policy experts and pharmaceutical companies joining to fight that disease. The new joint effort is led by the Sheri and Less Biller Family Foundation to expand access, promote research and engage employers to expand equitable access to supportive cancer care. This news release has details.

Drug diversion allegations

There are 25 people charged with conspiracy to introduce misbranded drugs and to defraud the United States in a $13 million scam that happened in Puerto Rico from 2018 to now. Drug diversion happens when prescription drugs are removed from, then reintroduced to, legitimate chains of distribution. But that creates risk because it is difficult or impossible for regulators, law enforcement and patients to know what the drug or dosage is. The U.S. Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General and Food and Drug Administration are investigating.