Nearly half of US states have proposed legislation in the last decade or so to establish a single-payer healthcare system—to little avail.

California is the latest to attempt to transform its healthcare system, as Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB770 into law in October 2023, getting the ball rolling for the state to receive federal funding for a potential single-payer healthcare system in which a single entity collects and pays for all healthcare costs.

“With this signature, California takes a historic step toward universal healthcare,” State Senator Scott Wiener, who authored the legislation, said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. “The state will now begin answering the complex question of how we can access federal financing to fund a universal healthcare system like single-payer.”

Keep reading here.—MA

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Maia at [email protected]. For confidential conversations, ask Maia for her number on Signal.

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Healthcare is full of complicated jargon, and while “340B” may sound like just another boring, inconsequential healthcare term, the 340B drug pricing program actually plays a critical role in making healthcare accessible for low-income and uninsured patients.

The program, created in 1992, requires Medicaid-participating drug companies to sell certain drugs at discounted prices to qualifying hospitals. More than 2,600 hospitals—or more than one-third of all US hospitals—participate in the program, through which they receive an average of 25%–50% off drug purchases. In 2022, 340B entities made $53.7 billion worth of drug purchases through the program.

“It really allows our hospitals that are already treating a larger number of lower-income, publicly insured people to provide more services than they would otherwise be able to,” Maureen Testoni, president and CEO for the trade group 340B Health, which represents participating hospitals, told Healthcare Brew. She added that hospitals in the 340B program are “much more likely to have specialized services that tend to be money-losers but are really important, like trauma care.”

Keep reading here.—MA

Health systems know that hospital gift shops conjure up images of sad stuffed bears and limp feel-better balloons.

That’s why systems like Wellstar Health System in Georgia and Pennsylvania’s University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) are building new spaces for their gift shops—and they’re particularly focused on selling curated offerings and incorporating new technology.

The new spaces aren’t just for the patients and their visitors, either. Hospitals want to serve their customers, who are mostly their employees, as well as their larger surrounding communities.

“Hospital gift shops really are boutiques,” Amy Saye, director of volunteers and patient advocates at Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center, told Healthcare Brew. “I always call it the best-kept secret in your community because it [has] things you can’t find anywhere else. It’s a great small business.”

Keep reading here.—AE

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Amanda at [email protected]. For confidential conversations, ask Amanda for her number on Signal.

Today’s top healthcare reads.

Stat: Most older adults in the US live with a spouse—and both are likely to have hypertension if one partner in a couple has the disease. (MedPage Today)

Quote: “It’s probably the most exciting project that I’m aware of on the state side since I’ve been governor.”—Phil Murphy, New Jersey’s governor since 2018, on a private-public partnership to develop AI initiatives at Princeton University in the healthcare and pharmaceutical-leading state (VentureBeat)

Read: Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general, is promoting the 5-for-5 Connection Challenge that encourages residents to seek social connection through small actions five days in a row. (Politico)

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