New York state will get a cut of a $270 million multistate settlement with opioid maker Amneal Pharmaceuticals over allegations that the company fueled the overdose epidemic, the attorney general’s office said Friday.
Attorney General Letitia James and attorneys general from five other states negotiated a preliminary settlement with Amneal Pharmaceuticals for fueling an overdose crisis that killed 6,000 New Yorkers in 2021, the latest year that data is available. The attorneys general alleged in a lawsuit that Amneal failed to monitor and report suspicious orders placed by its customers, as it is required to under state law.
The Bridgewater, New Jersey-based drug company was the largest manufacturer of generic opioids between 2006 and 2019, selling nearly 9 billion pills, according to James.
Although the agreement has been announced, many details – including how much money New York will receive – have yet to be hammered out, said Alexis Richards, a spokeswoman from the attorney general’s office.
But the preliminary deal spells out a 10-year timeline in which Amneal will pay $92.5 million in cash and distribute $180 million-worth of the overdose reversal medication naloxone to states and local governments, James said.
The agreement was negotiated with attorneys general from California, Delaware, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia.
The funds from the Amneal agreement are the latest to flow to New York’s pot of opioid settlement funds. James has secured $2.7 billion in settlements from lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors such as Publicis Health, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson and Mallinckrodt. The funds will flow to New York over the next two decades to pay for initiatives around harm reduction and substance use disorder treatment.
CORRECTION: This article, which was published on May 3, has been updated to clarify the average starting salary of a first-year resident at H+H.
NEW CANCER PROGRAMS: Memorial Sloan Kettering is launching three projects to improve cancer outcomes in Brooklyn and Queens, the health system announced this morning. They seek to provide resources to increase access to lung cancer screenings in underserved communities, launch patient navigation services through a co-learning program and develop artificial intelligence tools for early detection technology. The five-year initiative the projects are part of, called the Ratner Early Detection Initiative, will include MediSys Health Network in Queens and community-based organizations. Bruce Ratner, an MSK board member and former city Commissioner of Consumer Affairs provided support for the projects.
CASES GROWING: There has been an increase in mpox cases in the city since October of last year, the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said in an advisory issued Friday. January saw the highest number of cases at 51; nearly three-quarters of the cases occurred in patients who were not vaccinated or had only received one dose. The uptick, and a concerning outbreak of a certain type of the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has led the department to recommend providers test patients more frequently and encourage vaccination.
SLOW RESTORATION: Change Healthcare’s scope and size has complicated the company’s work to bring its systems back online in the aftermath of February’s cyberattack, Modern Healthcare reports. Cybersecurity experts say the lengthy process isn’t necessarily an outlier, as restorations take time, and Change’s many platforms require careful restoration to limit the risk of corrupting data. Read more about the attack’s impact on New York providers here.
How can manufacturers remain profitable in the face of a skilled labor shortage?
A combination of in-person work, low unemployment and high industrial demand has turned a pre-pandemic labor shortage into a current-day labor crisis for industries that rely on specialized skills. The manufacturing industry has been among the hardest hit as the skills gap widens.
Grassi’s 2024 survey of food and beverage manufacturers in the NYC metropolitan area found that an astounding 90 percent have concerns about staffing. Among them, companies that grew profits in 2023 were likelier to have implemented strategies to mitigate staffing risks. Nearly 60 percent credited improved employee productivity as a primary driver of profitability.
These highperforming manufacturers use the most effective staffing strategies, including converting temporary workers into full-time positions, changing shift schedules, offering bonus incentives and implementing flexible schedules.
Of course, these solutions come with a price, and it is not surprising that the high cost of labor was the most common concern reported by respondents this year. Savvy business owners recognize that staffing strategies must be offset with cost-saving tactics to remain profitable.
When we spoke with the owners of these companies, several key themes emerged. First, prioritize employee retention to minimize the exorbitant costs of recruitment, training and understaffing. This can be achieved by recommitting to employee development, enhancing the employee experience and offering a comprehensive benefits package.
It is also important to ensure critical employees can envision their role in the business’s future. Succession planning is not only about planning the owner’s exit – it is just as much about paving the way for the next generation of leaders. Communicating the succession plan, identifying critical roles and preparing your successors are essential components of employee retention that promote engagement, investment and long-term stability.
In this labor environment, it is unsurprising that investing in automation and improving operations were among the most common profitability strategies. Rising labor costs and shrinking talent pools require companies to run operations as efficiently and accurately as possible. Some of the most effective technology drivers of productivity and profitability cited were ERP systems, programmable logic controllers, automated batching systems, online point-of-service (POS) programs, electronic engineers and robotic process automation (RPA).
Despite the industry trends toward technology adoption, a third of respondents cited automation and technology as challenges, which were just as high as staff recruiting and retention–one of the main challenges that this technology is intended to solve. This signals the importance of selecting and implementing the right technology effectively.
While these strategies reflect trends in the food and beverage sector, they can be used by any manufacturer struggling to combat the skilled labor shortage. Combined with the other operational and financial strategies uncovered in the survey, workforce management will continue to propel the rising revenues and profits most respondents experienced last year.
Overall, businesses understand that to increase their profits, they must invest in their assets. Eighty percent of respondents expect to increase capital spending this year, which should be equally true of their greatest asset–human capital.
To download a complimentary copy of the 2024 State of Food & Beverage Manufacturing report, please visit grassiadvisors.com/2024foodmanufacturingreport.