From Washington, DC

• Federal News Network reports,
  • “President Donald Trump is directing nearly a dozen federal agencies that provide public-facing benefits and services to crack down on fraudulent payments.
  • “Trump signed an executive order on Monday launching a task force to crack down on fraudulent payments across the federal government.” * * *
  • “Vice President J.D. Vance will serve as chairman of the fraud task force. The head of the Federal Trade Commission, Andrew Ferguson, will serve as its vice chairman.”
    
• Bloomberg Law adds,
  • Lawmakers and the administration are stepping up scrutiny of overpayments in Medicare Advantage plans in a sign that Republicans increasingly could be willing to crack down on how much insurers are reimbursed for seniors’ health care. 
  • Medicare Advantage plans can offer additional benefits that traditional Medicare doesn’t cover, like dental, vision, or fitness classes, which have likely contributed to the rising popularity of the program among seniors. The Trump administration in January proposed keeping the private health insurance plans funded at an essentially flat rate of 0.09% for 2027. The proposal sent a shock through the health care market, and insurers warned without more funding, the program won’t cover sharply rising medical costs for seniors in 2027.
  • While the administration controls the annual funding rate, Congress established Medicare Advantage’s funding framework and still has power to overhaul the payment system, which lawmakers are looking into. 

• Here’s the background on this Wednesday’s Congressional hearing about “Lowering Health Care Costs for All Americans: An Examination of the U.S. Provider Landscape.”

• The American Hospital Association News relates,
  • “The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services March 16 announced it will transition later this year to a new centralized platform for managing federal independent dispute resolution operations related to the No Surprises Act. CMS will move from single-use web forms to the platform, called the IDR Gateway, which the agency said will allow users to start and respond to disputes; access dispute dashboards and reports associated with their organization; track dispute information, including disputes assigned to a certified IDR entity; monitor assigned disputes by process phase; and review notifications regarding dispute activity. CMS said the platform would also include new security features, including identity verification processes and protocols that would permit only U.S.-based users to access the federal IDR process.” 

• FedSmith offers federal and postal retirees practical tips about controlling rising healthcare costs.

• Beckers Hospital Review tells us,
  • “The third round of the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program is moving forward with full manufacturer participation.
  • “The program, created under the Inflation Reduction Act, allows CMS to directly negotiate prices for high-expenditure, single-source drugs covered by Medicare Part B and Part D that lack generic or biosimilar competition. The negotiated prices are scheduled to take effect in 2028.
  • “The manufacturers of all 15  drugs selected for the third round have agreed to participate in the negotiation program, along with the manufacturer of one drug selected for renegotiation, according to a March 13 news release from CMS.”
• and
  • “CMS will award up to $100 million to fund as many as 30 pilot programs through its voluntary initiative focused on lifestyle medicine.
  • “[The first two of] six things to know:
    • 1. The agency plans to award up to 30 three-year cooperative agreements totaling as much as $100 million to organizations focused on “evidence-based, whole-person functional or lifestyle medicine interventions” to launch programs that enhance conventional healthcare, according to a March 13 CMS news release shared with Becker’s.
    • 2. The funding opportunity is part of the Make American Healthy Again: Enhancing Lifestyle and Evaluating Value-based Approaches Through Evidence, or ELEVATE, model, which CMS unveiled in December. The initiative will fund up to 30 chronic disease prevention and health promotion pilot projects aimed at integrating lifestyle and evidence-based functional medicine into original Medicare. 

• Fierce Pharma informs us,
  • “The White House’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) platform, TrumpRx, is steadily expanding its catalogue, with products from GSK and Amgen the latest to join the collection of drugs offered through the program. 
  • “Amgen’s Humira biosimilar Amjevita, migraine med Aimovig and cholesterol drug Repatha became available through TrumpRx on Monday. GSK, meanwhile, is offering DTC discounts on several of its Ellipta inhalers and its flu treatment Relenza through the platform. 
  • “Amjevita can be purchased by cash-paying patients for $299 per month, an 80% discount to the med’s list price of $1,484. Aimovig and Repatha are discounted by 62% off their respective list prices, according to the website.” * * * 
  • “The new additions bring the total of medications offered through TrumpRx to 54 drugs.” 

From the judicial front,

• The Wall Street Journal reports,
  • “A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from implementing its pared-down list of recommended childhood vaccines.
  • “The new guidelines were part of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. overhaul of the country’s immunization policies. But Judge Brian E. Murphy, a Biden appointee in Massachusetts, said the government appeared to have improperly bypassed the vaccine advisory panel to change the recommendations. 
  • “Murphy said that was “both a technical, procedural failure itself and a strong indication of something more fundamentally problematic: an abandonment of the technical knowledge and expertise embodied by that committee.” 
  • “Murphy said the government also improperly replaced all the committee members with new appointees, who made other changes last year to vaccine recommendations. Murphy blocked the votes taken by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices from taking effect and put on hold the new committee appointments. 
  • “He didn’t block the panel from meeting as planned on Wednesday and Thursday, but said the meeting in practice won’t be able to take place. The committee “as currently constituted cannot meet, for how can a committee meet without nearly the entirety of its membership?” he said.”

• Per a Justice Department news release,
  • “Two owners of a pharmaceutical wholesale company were sentenced Friday to a total of 38 years in prison for orchestrating a complex, nationwide drug diversion scheme that harmed vulnerable HIV-positive patients, placed countless others at risk, and corrupted the supply chain for prescription drugs in the United States.
  • “Patrick and Charles Boyd did not just commit fraud and cost taxpayers millions of dollars, they preyed upon some of the most vulnerable members of our society: HIV patients who depend on life-saving treatments to manage their disease,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Fraud schemes like this one undermine the integrity of our supply chain for necessary prescription drugs. These defendants will rightly spend years in prison for their reprehensible conduct, which took advantage of people for illicit profit. This case is another example of how the Criminal Division, our United States Attorney partner in the Southern District of Florida, and law enforcement will pursue and seek convictions of those who defraud our systems, endanger our citizens, and seek to line their pockets with fraud proceeds.”

From the public health, medical and Rx research front,

• The Wall Street Journal reports,
  • “Cyndy Dowling struggled with her weight for decades until she found what she thought was a lifelong solution: a monthly injection of one of the popular new weight-loss drugs.
  • “The 69-year-old easily lost 60 pounds in the span of a year and a half. But in early 2025, something changed.
  • “The food noise started creeping back. Her weight began edging up. She had to start “dieting” again. Here’s the twist: She never stopped taking Wegovy, one of the so-called GLP-1 drugs.
  • “A year later, Dowling has regained 10 pounds and is back to relying on protein shakes for some meals, all while continuing her weekly injections. “I’m fighting it as much as I can,” says the retired government employee. “I feel like I’m trying to hold the reins on something I can’t really control.”
  • “We’ve all heard that stopping taking a GLP-1 medication for weight loss—such as semaglutide (marketed as Wegovy) and tirzepatide (sold as Zepbound)—often leads to rapid weight gain, with people returning to baseline in as little as 18 months.
  • “What you might not have heard: For some people, the return of hunger and thoughts of food come back leading to potential weight gain—even while they are still taking the drug, which mimics naturally occurring gut hormones, suppressing appetite and making people feel full faster.
  • “Most obesity doctors say they’ve seen patients in this boat. They say it’s not that the weight-loss medications become less effective. Rather it’s that the body’s biological pressure to regain weight kicks in.”

• BeckMedPage Today notes,
  • “For patients with obesity and atrial fibrillation (Afib), GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs may be the weight loss approach that better addresses their arrhythmia, observational data suggested.
  • “People who came out of catheter ablation and got bariatric surgery, as opposed to initiating GLP-1 drug therapy postablation, had significantly higher odds of Afib readmission at 2 years (36.4% vs 45.3%, HR 1.37, 95% CI 1.21-1.56), according to Rutvij Patel, MD, of Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, and colleagues.
  • “Their analysis of a large trove of U.S. electronic medical records also showed other clinical endpoints favoring GLP-1 drugs over bariatric surgery:
    • Heart failure (HF) readmission (HR 1.51, 95% CI 1.23-1.84)
    • All-cause readmission (HR 1.55, 95% CI 1.32-1.82)
    • All-cause mortality (HR 2.53, 95% CI 1.33-4.80)
  • “These findings were notable given that the GLP-1RA [receptor agonist] cohort had a higher baseline prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, HF, and chronic kidney disease,” study authors reported in JACC: Clinical Electrophysiologyopens in a new tab or window. “These findings highlight the potential role of GLP-1RAs as an adjunct in rhythm management strategies and support the need for prospective randomized trials.”

• Beckers Hospital Review adds,
  • “Since late 2022, rising uptake of GLP-1 medications for obesity has coincided with a decline in bariatric surgeries, according to a growing body of research.
  • “A study published March 4 in JAMA Surgery found the swelling popularity of GLP-1 drugs for obesity, such as Wegovy and Zepbound, is not slowing — unlike bariatric surgery volumes. More patients are preferring GLP-1 therapies over bariatric operations, according to past research.” * * *
  • “Between the fourth quarter of 2018 and the third quarter of 2025, GLP-1 prescriptions increased from 0.22% to 24.17%. The percentage of bariatric surgeries among adults declined from 0.17% in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 0.09% in the third quarter of 2025 — which equals a 46.4% decrease.”
• and
  • Little Rock, Ark., topped WalletHub’s 2026 ranking of the most overweight and obese U.S. cities, while Honolulu ranked lowest on the list.
  • The personal finance website compared 100 of the most populated U.S. metropolitan areas across three dimensions: obesity and overweight, health consequences, and food and fitness.
  • WalletHub evaluated these dimensions using 19 metrics, ranging from the share of physically inactive adults to healthy-food access. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with 100 representing the most overweight and obese. Each metropolitan area’s overall score was then based on the weighted average across all metrics.
  • The article identifies the ten U.S. cities with the highest rates of overweight and obesity and the ten U.S. cities with the lowest rates thereof.

• The American Medical Association lets us know what doctors wish their patients knew about at home blood pressure measurement.

• Per a National Institutes of Health news release,
  • “In a clinical trial supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a research team found that administering weekly injectable extended-release buprenorphine for treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) during pregnancy led to higher rates of abstinence from illicit opioids than buprenorphine given daily under the tongue (sublingual), one of the standard methods of treatment. Additionally, serious adverse events were less common in those receiving extended-release treatment. The findings, which support the use of this formulation of buprenorphine for treating OUD during pregnancy, were published in JAMA Internal Medicine.  
  • “These findings are clinically valuable for they show us that this injectable extended-release buprenorphine formulation is safe to use in pregnancy and results in better opioid abstinence outcomes compared to sublingual buprenorphine,” said Nora D. Volkow, M.D., director of NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). “This is especially relevant in the context of the ongoing opioid overdose crisis and public health emergency.” 

• MedPage Today informs us,
  • “Although most sexually active adolescents within a large primary care network had received human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination before sexual debut, 12% had not received any doses of the vaccine, and 9% had not completed the series.
  • “Young people who had not been vaccinated were disproportionately non-Hispanic white (49%) and commercially insured (59%).
  • “Factors at play might have included vaccine hesitancy and delayed decision-making rather than lack of access.”

• Health Day points out,
  • “The secret to a healthy heart in your 50s might actually be found in the dental records of your 10-year-old self.
  • “A massive study from the University of Copenhagen found that poor oral health during childhood is a significant predictor of cardiovascular issues later in life.
  • “By tracking more than 568,000 Danish children born between 1963 and 1972, researchers discovered that those who suffered from multiple cavities or severe gum disease (gingivitis) as children were much more likely to experience heart attacks, strokes and clogged arteries as adults.
  • “Specifically, children with high rates of tooth decay had a 45% higher rate of heart disease as adults compared to those with healthy teeth.
  • “The study — being published April 1 in the International Journal of Cardiology — suggests that the link isn’t just about poor habits, but rather how the body reacts to long-term infection.”
• and
  • “People who eat more ultra-processed foods tend to have lower bone density and a higher risk of hip fractures, researchers recently reported in The British Journal of Nutrition.
  • “For every 3.7 extra servings eaten per day, a person’s risk of hip fracture increases by nearly 11%, researchers found.
  • “That means every slice of frozen pizza, every bowl of breakfast cereal, every sugary soda and every ready-to-heat meal adds to a person’s risk of brittle, easily broken bones, researchers said.
  • “Ultra-processed foods can be easily found on any trip to the grocery store, and these findings add to concerns of how they may affect our bone health,” researcher Dr. Lu Qi, a professor of public health at Tulane University in New Orleans, said in a news release.” 

• STAT News relates,
  • “A brain implant could help people type — using just their minds. 
  • “Two people with paralysis were able to type strokes on a virtual keyboard using an implant that decodes attempted finger movement, with one patient typing up to 80% as quickly as an able-bodied person, according to a new study. 
  • “Brain-computer interfaces have been shown to help patients communicate, often by tracking their eye movement or by decoding brain activity associated with speech or handwriting. However, researchers say that some patients are more familiar with a typical keyboard and may prefer to use that to communicate. That’s what researchers from Mass General Brigham Neuroscience Institute and Brown University attempted in their new study, published in Nature Neuroscience.
  • “What’s really important is having this array of options for every individual such that we can best fit where they’re placed, what diseases they have,” said Justin Jude, study author and postdoctoral researcher at Brown University.”

• Per BioPharma Dive,
  • “A pill from Structure Therapeutics helped people in a Phase 2 trial in obesity lose as much as 15% of their body weight over 44 weeks, results that suggest the drug, aleniglipron, could be competitive with rival medications from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. 
  • “Treatment was also associated with a lower rate of study discontinuations than what had been seen earlier, after Structure incorporated a new strategy involving a slower step-up in dosing. Structure said that only one enrollee who got a dose of 120 milligrams daily or higher dropped out because of a side effect.
  • “Structure shares rose as much as 6% in morning trading. Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger characterized the results as “best-in-class weight loss” data, while RBC Capital Markets analyst Trung Huynh wrote that the pill looks like “another potential oral option to the market that will be competing for share in the future” with Novo’s Wegovy pill and Lilly’s orforglipron, the latter of which could be cleared in the U.S. within weeks.”
• and
  • “San Francisco-based CytomX Therapeutics impressed investors Monday with the latest results for its experimental antibody-drug conjugate in hard-to-treat, late-stage colorectal cancer.
  • “The fresh data come from a so-called expansion portion of an ongoing Phase 1 study, which has been testing CytomX’s “masked” ADC. This portion evaluated three doses of the drug, dubbed Varseta-M, and found the two highest had response rates of 20% to 32% and extended progression-free survival by 6.8 and 7.1 months. The most common treatment-related adverse event was diarrhea, which, CytomX said, was generally manageable and reversible. However, despite an updated prophylactic regimen, 10% of a group of 20 patients still experienced severe diarrhea.
  • “The company said more data will be announced at upcoming medical meetings this year, and plans to engage with the Food and Drug Administration to determine a study design to evaluate the medicine as a monotherapy in advanced colorectal cancer.”

From the U.S. healthcare business and artificial intelligence front,

• The Wall Street Journal reports,
  • “Employer healthcare costs are projected to surge around 9.5% this year, the largest increase in at least 15 years.
  • “Companies are weighing options like self-insurance, changing plan designs, and pushing more costs to employees to manage rising expenses.
  • “Higher prices for care, expanding use of services and expensive prescriptions are driving cost increases.”

• Fierce Healthcare relates,
  • “As hospitals reduced their spending on oncology treatments due to the increasing availability of biosimilars, the reimbursements they received from insurers did not drop at the same rate—allowing hospitals to claim greater margins as they increased their use of the treatments, according to a recent analysis published in JAMA. 
  • “The observational study linked the Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance data of more than 66,000 cancer patients receiving care with the average acquisition and actual reimbursement payments of more than 1,500 hospitals. Additional analyses took into account hospital characteristics, such as eligibility for 340B drug discounts, that could affect purchasing and reimbursement.” * * *
  • “The editorial’s authors wrapped their critiques with calls for policy interventions that would “lower spending more automatically, rather than leaving it to the discretion of insurers and hospitals,” such as those proposed by MedPAC in its June 2023 report.”
• and
  • “UnitedHealthcare is expanding its doula benefit to employer plans nationwide, the insurance giant announced Monday.
  • “The company said in the announcement that it intends to continue expanding the reach of its Doula Support program to additional employer groups throughout this year and expects that 7.2 million members would be eligible by Jan. 1, 2027. 
  • “Through the program, patients can connect with doulas who provide additional emotional, physical and education support during a pregnancy and postpartum. Doulas can offer key guidance to prepare for delivery and during labor as well as supports for newborn care, UnitedHealth said.”

• Fierce Pharma tells us,
  • “Eli Lilly scored $408 million in U.S. sales of eczema treatment Ebglyss in its first full year on the market in 2025. Now, with positive results from a phase 3 trial of the IL-13 inhibitor, the Indianapolis drugmaker is set up to make it available to a younger group of patients.
  • “The study, which included 363 patients ages 6 months to 18 years with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis, met its primary and key secondary endpoints by alleviating disease symptoms, while providing skin clearance and itch relief at Week 16, Lilly reported Monday. Participants received placebo or a weight-based dose of Ebglyss and were on topical steroids beginning two weeks before randomization and throughout the study.
  • “The trial achieved its primary endpoint as 63% of patients on Ebglyss achieved meaningful skin improvement compared to 22% of those on placebo, according to Lilly. The Eczema Area Severity Index (EASI) was used as a measurement tool, with 75% improvement from baseline considered “meaningful.” As a secondary measure, 39% of those on Ebglyss reached 90% improvement on the EASI index compared to 11% of the patients on placebo.” * * *
  • “Lilly said it plans to submit these data to U.S. and global regulators for a potential label update.” 

• MedCity News informs us,
  • “Isaac Health, a virtual memory clinic, unveiled a new eight-week virtual group series on Wednesday to reduce the risk of dementia.
  • “The New York City-based startup works with healthcare organizations to provide screening, assessment, treatment and care management for people living with dementia. It’s in network with Medicare and major insurers across all 50 states, including UnitedHealthcare, Aetna and Humana.
  • “The new program — called the Lifestyle Medicine and Better Brain Health program — is intended for those proactively seeking to reduce dementia risk or slow cognitive decline, particularly those prone to dementia and their caregivers.
  • “The weekly sessions are led by clinicians and are available in individual, couple or family formats. They’re focused on a variety of strategies for brain health, including sleep, nutrition, physical activity, cognitive engagement, vascular risk factor reduction and stress management. The program can be covered by most insurers but depends on individual plan benefits.”
    
• Kaufmann Hall offers an “Executive Dialogue: AI in action: Separating the hype from real value in strategy and planning.”
  • “Following a period defined by operational strain, workforce disruption and financial pressure, healthcare leaders are now turning their focus toward technologies that can help rebuild stability as they prepare for the future. Artificial intelligence is a central point of exploration for health systems seeking greater efficiency, improved patient experience and sustainable clinical operations.
  • “To gather real-world perspectives, the American Hospital Association’s Society for Health Care Strategy & Market Development (SHSMD) hosted an executive dialogue focused on the practical realities of AI adoption. Leaders from academic centers, community hospitals and Federally Qualified Health Centers shared insights on governance, workforce expectations, vendor strategy and how best to measure value in a technology environment evolving faster than most organiza­tions can absorb.
  • “As dialogue participants reflected on the evolving role of artificial intel­ligence across their organizations, four major themes emerged. The first was the growing need for clear AI governance, as health systems work to balance rapid innovation with responsible oversight. The sec­ond was workforce adoption, with leaders noting that even the most promising tools succeed or fail based on how well they fit into clinical and operational workflows. Third was the shifting vendor landscape, as organizations navigate the tension between emerging third-party solu­tions and rapidly advancing EHR-embedded capabilities. The fourth was the question of value — how to define, measure and communicate the impact of AI in a way that captures both operational gains and the broader transformation of care delivery.”