The White House on Friday launched its Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, a now-permanent office that will coordinate domestic responses to any possible pandemic threats, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from the District of Columbia and Florida.

• District of Columbia: The White House on Friday launched its Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, a now-permanent office that President Joe Biden said will coordinate the administration's domestic response to any possible pandemic threats, including "ongoing work" against COVID-19, mpox, polio, avian and human flu, and respiratory syncytial virus. The office was established as part of a spending package passed by Congress in December and will be led by retired Major General Paul Friedrichs, who has worked as a biosecurity official. (Owermohle, STAT, 7/21)
• District of Columbia: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed new merger guidelines that experts say could lead to fewer deals made in the healthcare sector, and could increase the time and costs of such transactions. FTC's proposal would subject more deals to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, which gives the agency more time to review transactions before they're concluded for competition concerns, and allows the agency to review all deals and conduct on a case-by-case basis. "These guidelines contain critical updates while ensuring fidelity to the mandate Congress has given us and the legal precedent on the books," said FTC Chair Lina Khan. However, Michael Abrams, a partner at Numerof & Associates, said he doesn't think the proposed moves will make much of a difference. "The story in healthcare consolidation is 70% over," he said. (Dreher, Axios, 7/24)
• Florida: Tampa General Hospital (TGH) on Wednesday announced that a "criminal group" stole the confidential information of around 1.2 million patients, including their Social Security numbers, names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, health insurance information, medical record numbers, patient account numbers, dates of service, and limited treatment information. The hospital detected "unusual activity" on its computer systems on May 31 and an investigation by a third-party forensic firm found unauthorized access to data files over a three-week period through May 30. TGH has reported the data breach to the FBI and is supporting the agency during its investigation. "TGH considers the health, safety, and privacy of patients and team members a top priority," the hospital said in a release. "The hospital is continuously updating and hardening systems to help prevent events such as this from occurring and has implemented additional defensive tools and increased monitoring." (O'Donnell, Tampa Bay Times, 7/19)