Healthcare Roundup—Gottlieb staying at FDA; Report says opioid overdoses cost hospitals $11B a year

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., said on Twitter that he’s staying on the agency in response to a reporter investigating his alleged exit.  Gottlieb said in the post that “an online pharma news pub” was in contact with friends, digging into reports that he intended to leave the FDA. He said that he’s instead looking forward to releasing his 2019 strategic road map soon. “I want to be very clear—I'm not leaving,” Gottlieb said. “We’ve got a lot [of] important policy we’ll advance this year.” Gottlieb also included an image of Mark Twain and his famed quote: “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” Allegan Healthcare Group and Ascension Michigan have signed a letter of intent to merge.  Allegan operates Allegan General Hospital, a critical access facility, a 15-physician group and Allegan Hospital Foundation. These facilities will join Ascension Michigan’s 15 hospitals and the larger Ascension system, which is the largest Catholic health system in the world and the largest nonprofit system in the U.S.