1. Male physicians across all specialities earn more in industry payments than their female peers, according to a 2015 study of 933,295 licensed U.S. physicians. The median difference of per-physician value of general payments, which included things like consulting fees and research grants, was $1,470. (Reuters)
2. A new law signed Wednesday requires Michigan doctors to check a prescription database before prescribing pain medications, and limits the amount of opioids they can prescribe. (The Herald Palladium)
3. Of nearly 364,000 health providers who billed for 100 standard patient visits or more, 1,825 of them billed Medicare for the most expensive type of visit at least 90% of the time in 2015, a study found. (ProPublica)
4. Recreational marijuana is set to become legal Monday in California for anyone 21. The state, which was the first to allow cannabis for medical use, is expected to see more than $5 billion in revenue from the sale of recreational pot. (AP)
5. Sun Pharmaceuticals founder Dilip Shanghvi, Nanthealth CEO Patrick Soon-Shiong, and Ferring Pharmaceuticals chairman Frederik Paulsen were named among the world’s 500 richest people, in the newly released Bloomberg Billionaires Index. (Bloomberg)
