From Washington, DC

• The American Hospital Association (AHA) News reports,
  • “Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Andy Kim, D-N.J., June 5 reintroduced the SEPSIS Act, legislation which would task the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with continuing its efforts addressing sepsis care. The agency’s work would include an education campaign about addressing sepsis in hospitals, improving pediatric sepsis data collection, sharing information with the Department of Health and Human Services on data collection, and developing and implementing a sepsis outcome measure.
  • “The bill would also require a report on a sepsis outcome measure and a congressional briefing on the CDC’s sepsis activities. Additionally, the legislation includes a voluntary recognition program for hospitals that maintain effective sepsis programs or improve their programs over time.”
• and
  • “The House June 4 passed the AHA-supported SUPPORT Act (H.R. 2483) by a 366-57 vote. The legislation reauthorizes key prevention, treatment and recovery programs for patients with substance use disorder, including programs to support the behavioral health workforce.”

• The Congressional Research Service has posted reports about “FERS, MSPB, and FEHB Provisions in H.R. 1, as Passed by the House” and the “Most-Favored-Nation Prescription Drug Pricing Executive Order: Legal Issues.”

• Federal News Network tells us,
  • “More federal employees filed retirement papers with the Office of Personnel Management in May than in the last three months. OPM said it received more than 15,000 claims last month, driving the backlog up over 21,000. The processing time for these retirement claims remain consistent at 49 days on average in May and 52 days on average for the entire 2025. The increase in applications comes as OPM is requiring agencies to send retirement paperwork only in digital formats by July 15. OPM launched two new tools this week to improve the retirement services process. One is a new platform for agency HR and payroll providers and another to modernize the Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF) platform.”

• CMS shared “Federal Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) Technical Assistance for Certified IDR Entities and Disputing Parties –June 2025 — Topic: Errors Identified After Dispute Closure.”

• BenefitFocus discusses “Health Care Transparency 2.0 – What Might We See in Forthcoming Transparency Regulations.”

From the Food and Drug Administration front,

• Per BioPharma Dive, “FDA meeting gives window into gene therapy field’s angst. Gene therapy experts and advocates warning of the sector’s many challenges found a receptive audience in FDA leadership at a regulatory forum Thursday.”

• Per MedTech Dive,
  • “Medtronic is recalling certain tracheostomy tubes because of the risk that the devices could dislodge, causing an emergency where the patient cannot breathe or their airway is blocked, according to a Thursday Class I recall notice from the Food and Drug Administration. 
  • “The company sent a notice to customers on Feb. 26 asking them to quarantine and return all unused tubes from the affected lot. The recall applies to the Shiley adult flexible tracheostomy tube with taperguard cuff reusable inner cannula.
  • “Medtronic began the recall after receiving reports from customers that the flange used to secure the device may become disconnected. Patient harm was reported in some cases, but no deaths have been reported to date, a company spokesperson wrote in an email Thursday.”

• BioPharma Dive relates,
  • “Vera Therapeutics lost nearly a third of its market value Friday after Otsuka Pharmaceutical presented late-stage study data on a rival drug it’s developing for the kidney disease IgA nephropathy. At a medical meeting, Otsuka said its therapy, sibeprenlimab, led to a 51% reduction in proteinuria, a key marker of kidney health, after nine months of treatment. Though cross-trial comparisons can be misleading, Vera’s therapy led to a 42% reduction in proteinuria compared to placebo at a similar timepoint in its own Phase 3 study, causing investors to sell off company shares. Still, some analysts defended Vera. Jefferies’ Farzin Haque cautioned not to “overinterpret the data” and argued the two datasets “are not clinically or statistically different for commercial uptake.” The Food and Drug Administration could approve Otsuka’s drug by Nov. 28. On Monday, Vera said it intends to file an accelerated approval application in the fourth quarter.”

From the judicial front,

• Beckers Hospital Review informs us,
  • “The CEO of a healthcare software company was convicted by a federal jury for his role in operating a platform that generated fraudulent physicians’ orders to defraud Medicare and other payers out of more than $1 billion.
  • “Gary Cox, 79, of Maricopa County, Ariz., was the CEO of Power Mobility Doctor Rx (DMERx), an internet-based platform that generated fraudulent orders for unnecessary orthotic braces, pain creams and other items, according to a June 3 Justice Department news release.”

From the public health and medical research front,

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today,
  • Seasonal influenza, COVID-19, and RSV activity is low.
  • COVID-19
    • COVID-19 wastewater activity is low and emergency department visits and laboratory percent positivity are at very low levels.
  • Influenza
    • Seasonal influenza activity is low.
    • Additional information about current influenza activity can be found at: Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report | CDC.
  • RSV
    • RSV activity has declined to low levels.

• The AHA News lets us know,
  • “There have been 1,168 confirmed cases of measles across 33 states as of June 6 this year, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This year’s figure is more than four times higher than the 2024 total of 285 cases. There have been 17 outbreaks this year, and 89% of confirmed cases (1,040 of 1,168) are outbreak-associated. The vaccination status of 95% of all cases is classified as “unvaccinated or unknown.” 
    
• Of note, Health Day warns us,
  • “An afternoon snooze might seem appealing to middle-aged folks and seniors, but these naps could carry a high cost.
  • “People with certain types of napping patterns have a greater risk of an early death, researchers are slated to report at an upcoming meeting of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM).
  • “People who slept longer during the day, had irregular daytime sleep patterns, or slept more around midday and early afternoon were at greater risk, even after accounting for health and lifestyle factors,” lead researcher Chenlu Gao, a postdoctoral research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, said in a news release.
  • “The findings call into question the whole concept of the “power nap.”

• HHS’s AHRQ posted a report about “Management of Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors in Youth: A Systematic Review.”

• Per HR Dive,
  • “Work can either fuel employee well-being or become a source of strain for employees already stressed out by economic volatility and political tension, according to a May 12 survey of employee mental health by Inmar Intelligence.
  • “Of the 1,000 U.S. full- and part-time employees who responded to the May 12 survey, 34% said their job positively impacts their mental health, while 33% reported a negative impact, Inmar found.
  • “This near-even split reinforces the importance of thoughtful leadership and inclusive workplace design to support the full spectrum of employee needs,” the business technology firm stated in a May 29 post.”

• Cardiovascular Business reports,
  • “Heart surgeons with the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute have made a bit of history, performing the world’s first robotic explant of a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) device and subsequent aortic valve replacement.
  • “The group already has plenty of experience breaking new ground in the field of robotic-assisted surgery. They developed a robotic aortic valve replacement (RAVR) technique that is now being used all over the world and performed the world’s first robotic aortic valve replacement and coronary artery bypass (RAVCAB) procedure in 2024.
  • “This latest breakthrough started when Thelma Hyer, a 67-year-old female patient, presented with a failing TAVR valve in addition a leaky mitral valve. She had received her TAVR valve just four years prior, but premature structural valve degeneration had already made a full replacement necessary.
  • “Vinay Badhwar, MD, executive chair of the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute, initially recommended open-heart surgery to remove the failing TAVR valve and then replace her aortic and mitral valves. However, Hyer and her family had hesitations due to her history of scoliosis and arthritis. Badhwar then proposed using robotics as an alternative. 
  • “The technology had never been used in this exact way before, but Badhwar was confident in the abilities of both his team and the robotic surgery platform. The group developed a plan, talked it over with the patient, and went forward with the robotic procedure in late May. 
  • “The operation—including the TAVR explant and the replacement of both heart valves—appears to have been a success. Hyer was discharged after less than a full week of observation.”

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

• The Wall Street Journal reports,
  • “Omada Health shares jumped after the company made its public-market debut, propelled by Americans’ renewed focus on how weight affects physical health.
  • “Shares of the virtual healthcare platform climbed 35% to $25 on Friday, at one point hitting a high of $28, above the initial offering price of $19. The price gives it a market valuation of around $1.4 billion.
  • “The gains are a sign investors are willing to invest in newly public companies after a volatile stock market pushed some companies like payments platform Klarna to delay its IPO filing. Stablecoin issuer Circle opened on Thursday at $69, more than double its offering price, and was recently trading at $119.15. Hinge Health HNGE 0.83%increase; green up pointing triangle, another digital health company, opened in May at $39 after offering a $32 price.
  • “Omada is trading publicly after 14 years of providing support to patients with weight-related chronic illnesses. Leadership sees the current moment as the perfect time for an IPO, as GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro have sparked renewed focus on health problems that can stem from obesity, President Wei-Li Shao said.
  • “We’re entering this unique moment in time where there’s a convergence between what we’ve been working on for over a decade, and then also what society is increasingly caring about,” Shao said.”

• Becker Hospital Review discusses ten key transactions that created Ascension 2.0.
  • “Over the last 16 months, St. Louis-based Ascension has sold or consolidated about 35 hospitals across the country as it revamps its hospital portfolio, operating model and overall financial performance.
  • “Despite reporting a $466 million operating loss (a -2.4% margin) for the nine months ending March 31, 2025, the Catholic nonprofit system has made notable strides in improving its liquidity position. That progress is largely attributed to the successful collection of accounts receivable that had temporarily spiked due to two major cybersecurity incidents — the May 2024 ransomware attack and the February 2024 Change Healthcare cyberattack.
  • “Since the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 — the three months ending June 30, 2024 — Ascension has improved recurring operating performance by $1.4 billion, while increasing patient volumes and same-facility revenue.”

• Beckers Health IT tells us,
  • “California-based Stanford Health Care is piloting an internally developed, AI-backed software designed to revolutionize clinician interaction with the EHR.
  • “Nigam Shah, MBBS, PhD, chief data science officer at Stanford Health Care, is leading the development team for ChatEHR, which allows clinicians to ask questions, request summaries and pull specific information from a patient’s medical record. ChatEHR is built directly into Stanford’s EHR to maximize clinical workflow.
  • “The pilot is available to a small cohort of 33 physicians, nurses and physician assistants. The technology is secure and designed for information gathering; not medical advice.
  • “ChatEHR, which has been in development since 2023, facilitates a more streamlined and efficient way for clinicians to interact with patient records.
  • “This is a unique instance of integrating [large language model] capabilities directly into clinicians’ practice and workflow,” said Michael Pfeffer, MD, chief information and digital officer at Stanford Health Care and School of Medicine, in a news release. “We’re thrilled to bring this to the workforce at Stanford Health Care.”

• Drug Store News informs us,
  • “Walmart has become the first retailer to scale its drone delivery to five states with its recently announced service expansion in Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando and Tampa. The new service will launch at 100 stores throughout Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas, in addition to current operations in Northwest Arkansas and the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
  • “As we look ahead, drone delivery will remain a key part of our commitment to redefining retail,” said Greg Cathey, SVP, Walmart U.S. transformation and innovation. “We’re pushing the boundaries of convenience to better serve our customers, making shopping faster and easier than ever before.”
  • “Continued Cathey: “This expansion of our drone delivery service marks a significant milestone in that journey. As the first retailer to scale drone delivery, Walmart is once again demonstrating its commitment to leveraging technology to enhance our delivery offerings with a focus on speed.”