Simplicity is a virtue.

• Smart Brief reports,
  • “AHIP26: How data sharing, simplicity can improve care
  • “Panelists at the conference discuss the challenges that data fragmentation and siloing, as well as an unwieldy system, present — and offer solutions.”

From Washington, DC,

• Govexec reports,
  • “A bipartisan trio of House lawmakers on Thursday reintroduced legislation aimed at expanding federal workers’ access to paid leave to handle illnesses and other circumstances not included in the 2019 law granting feds paid parental leave.
  • “The Comprehensive Paid Leave for Federal Employees Act, introduced by Reps. Don Beyer, D-Va., Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., would grant federal employees up to 12 weeks of paid family leave each year to attend to a serious health condition or to care for a spouse, child or parent. The measure would also cover absences needed to help a family member who is the survivor of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking, as well as to attend to a family member’s deployment into active duty military service.
  • “When Congress passed the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, the House’s version included a provision providing 12 weeks of paid parental and family leave to feds. But during negotiations with the Senate, the measure was stripped down to remove the family leave portions, and feds became eligible for paid parental leave in October 2020.”

• The Wall Street Journal reports,
  • “If you’re a senior, the Medicare plan you choose may have a major impact on whether you can get nursing-home care when you need it—and a new federal investigation shows the largest insurers had some of the highest denial rates.
  • “Medicare insurers had widely varying rejection rates for patients seeking nursing-home stays, as well as for long-term care hospitals and inpatient rehabilitation facilities, according to two new reports from the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services. * * *
  • “Appealing does appear to pay off: Of the 18% of patients who did appeal, nearly all of them were able to overturn the initial denial of skilled nursing care.”

• The American Hospital Association News relates,
  • “The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services June 11 released guidance detailing plans to implement new guidelines and standards for determining budget neutrality for Medicaid section 1115 demonstrations, which give states flexibility to design and test experimental approaches to Medicaid, including modifying eligibility, benefits, delivery systems and coverage, in ways not otherwise permitted under standard Medicaid authority. The guidance is intended to support implementation of a statutory requirement under the July 2025 reconciliation bill that the CMS Chief Actuary certifies that a demonstration is projected to be budget neutral, meaning it would not increase federal Medicaid spending relative to what expenditures would have been absent the demonstration. CMS said it plans to issue a rule with its proposed changes to budget neutrality.”
• and
  • “The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services June 10 announced the establishment of a new Office of Health Technology and Products. CMS said the OHTP would modernize CMS healthcare technology and digital products, and transform platforms and services to support Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and other CMS-administered programs. The office will work closely with the CMS Chief Information Officer and be subject to CIO-led IT governance, cybersecurity, enterprise architecture, and capital planning and investment control responsibilities, among other areas. The OHTP will include new divisions, such as an Open Source Program group to develop policies and guidance around open-source frameworks, a Division of Data and Interoperability Platforms, and a Division of Policy responsible for the development of interoperability policies, regulations and sub-regulatory guidance. Additionally, the OHTP includes a Division of Core Products, responsible for the management and modernization of Medicare claims systems and provider-facing components such as the National Provider Directory. The OHTP and organizational changes became effective June 9.”
    
• KFF explains how “Medicare Advantage Rebates Disadvantage Medicare’s Stand-Alone Drug Plan Market.
  • “Medicare Advantage Rebates Undermine Competition with Stand-Alone Drug Plans by Lowering Medicare Advantage Drug Plan Premiums.”

• Beckers Hospital Review points out that “The 340B rebate fight escalates: 14 key developments.”
  • “From the first lawsuit to Lilly’s ultimatum: 18 months that reshaped the 340B program.”

• Tammy Flanagan, writing in Govexec, discusses “Why Social Security’s funding gap matters to federal retirement.”
  • “Most federal employees under FERS rely on Social Security as part of retirement. The latest trustees report suggests the choices to preserve full benefits are getting tougher.”

• Per a National Institutes of Health News release,
  • “National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., today announced the selection of Raymond H. Jacobson, Ph.D., as the director of NIH’s Center for Scientific Review (CSR), which ensures expert and fair review of the tens of thousands of grant applications received by the agency each year. Dr. Jacobson will begin his role on June 14, 2026.
  • “Dr. Jacobson will continue strengthening NIH’s centralized peer review system so that we can continue backing the most scientifically meritorious research ideas in support of NIH’s mission,” said Dr. Bhattacharya. “His leadership will help ensure the first level of NIH review remains rigorous, fair, and transparent for all applicants.”
  • “Prior to his selection, Dr. Jacobson served as CSR’s acting director following the retirement of Dr. Bruce Reed. Dr. Jacobson helped guide NIH’s centralization of peer review, and as Acting Deputy Director of the NIH Office of Extramural Research in 2025, he advanced efforts to reduce administrative burden and address challenges faced by applicants. Additionally, he was the director of the CSR Division of Receipt and Referral beginning in December 2024, where he led efforts to simplify application receipt and referral policies.”

From the public health and medical / Rx research front,

• The Washington Post reports,
  • “When millions of soccer fans descend on North America [beginning today] for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, they will bring more than team jerseys and national pride.
  • They will also bring the microbes that travel with people.
  • Public health officials have spent years preparing for the tournament, which is expected to draw visitors from more than 100 countries to the United States, Canada and Mexico. Although diseases such as Ebola and hantavirus have been in the headlines, public health experts say the diseases most likely to show up in clinics, emergency departments or urgent care centers are likely to be less exotic.
  • “Instead, their top concerns include measles, dengue, respiratory viruses and sexually transmitted infections that are already circulating. These diseases are likely to spread more easily as fans crowd into airports, hotels, stadiums and festivals.
  • “Measles is what I’m most worried about,” said Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious diseases physician and associate professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
  • “Texas will host 16 World Cup matches in 2026 — more than any other state — with nine matches in the Dallas-Arlington area and seven in Houston. Dallas will host more matches than any other World Cup venue, including a semifinal. The first U.S. match is Friday, in Los Angeles, when the U.S. faces off against Paraguay.”
• and
  • “Neuroscientist Miia Kivipelto’s life’s work has been about preventing dementia. Now, at 52, she has begun thinking more about her own vulnerability.
  • “Midlife is the time,” said Kivipelto, a neuroscientist who recently joined the Yale School of Nursing as the inaugural director of its Center for Aging Well in New Haven, Connecticut. “It’s the last best chance to lower risk.”
  • “The idea that dementia prevention may hinge on what people do in their mid-30s to their 60s is rapidly reshaping the field. Scientists increasingly believe the disease is driven not only by changes in the aging brain, but also by years of metabolic stress, inflammation and vascular damage accumulating across the body. Many researchers now think the biological process that leads to dementia begins 15 to 20 years before the first memory problems emerge. By the time symptoms become noticeable, the disease likely will already be well established.
  • “Neuroscientists now see midlife as a critical window when the brain becomes especially vulnerable to aging — but also more responsive to intervention. 
  • “The implications are profound: The ordinary habits of middle age may matter far more than scientists once realized, and cognitive decline may not be inevitable.”

• Per a National Institutes of Health news release,
  • “A research consortium funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has established a new framework to identify and catalog senescent cells – cells that stop dividing but remain active in the body. Because senescent cells accumulate with age and are thought to contribute to many age-related conditions, researchers are working to better understand the roles they play in health and disease. In a compendium of papers published in the June 11 issue of Cell, the consortium presents the first comprehensive atlas of senescent cells across the human body, a foundational step toward developing new therapies for age-related diseases.
  • ‘In healthy tissues, senescent cells support wound healing and serve as a defense mechanism by preventing the growth of tumors. They are normally cleared by the immune system, but as immune function declines with age, senescent cells accumulate in the body instead of being eliminated. Over time, these cells then release harmful signals that contribute to chronic disease and other age-related conditions. While removing these cells has been shown to diminish the impact of aging, their rarity and diversity have made them difficult to study.
  • “To address this challenge, the NIH Common Fund launched the Cellular Senescence Network (SenNet) program in 2021 to identify and characterize senescent cells across the human body.
  • “Through the new papers, researchers in the consortium are introducing the concept of “senotypes,” a new classification system that groups senescent cells based on where they are found in the body and the conditions surrounding them.
  • “By mapping where different senotypes are found and what makes them unique, we aim to build a more complete picture of senescent cells across the body,” said Nicole Kleinstreuer, Ph.D., NIH Deputy Director for Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI), who leads the NIH Common Fund. “This knowledge could help researchers move toward more targeted therapies that focus on harmful cells while preserving beneficial ones.”

• MedPage Today tells us,
  • “Research has suggested that consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is linked to increased risks of certain cancers.
  • “A pooled analysis of 11 studies showed that sugar-sweetened beverage intake was not associated with overall liver cancer risk but was tied to increased risks of hepatocellular carcinoma and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.
  • ‘Of note, there was no association between consumption of artificially sweetened beverages and liver cancer overall, or by subtype.

• Health Day informs us,
  • “Sleep apnea might affect women worse than men.
  • “Women had similar outward symptoms of sleep apnea.
  • “However, they reported higher levels of side effects.”

• STAT News lets us know,
  • “A targeted drug from Enliven Therapeutics induced molecular responses in nearly half of patients with advanced leukemia, including higher response rates in patients treated at an earlier stage of their disease.
  • “The updated early-stage study results reported Thursday for the Enliven drug, ELVN-001, compare favorably to a current blockbuster medicine sold by Novartis and an upstart experimental drug recently bought by Merck.” * * *
  • “Enliven has met with the Food and Drug Administration and received clearance to start a Phase 3 study later this year that will enroll patients with CML previously treated with one or more drugs. The study will compare ELVN-001 against a physician’s choice of currently approved CML drugs, excluding Scemblix.
  • “The company believes the addressable commercial market for ELVN-001 as a “second-line plus” treatment option for CML is worth $5 billion.”

• Biopharma Dive adds,
  • “Takeda’s experimental autoimmune drug zasocitinib bested Bristol Myers Squibb’s marketed medicine Sotyktu in a head-to-head study in psoriasis, the company said Thursday.  
  • “Takeda didn’t provide detailed data but said that zasocitinib demonstrated statistical superiority against Sotyktu on all main and secondary study goals. After 16 weeks, zasocitinib helped completely eliminate the skin lesions in over a third of recipients, more than doubling what was seen with Sotyktu. It’s the second time Takeda’s drug has beaten an approved therapy, following positive results in a trial testing it against Amgen’s Otezla. 
  • “Zasocitinib is a newer kind of “TYK2 inhibitor,” a class of oral autoimmune medicines that have attracted significant industry investment in recent years. It’s become a star prospect for Takeda, which acquired the therapy from Nimbus Therapeutics for $4 billion upfront and started a series of high-stakes trials to establish its commercial potential. But zasocitinib is close to entering a crowded market that includes many other medications, among them a new pill from Johnson & Johnson.”
• and
  • “An RNA drug Novartis acquired as part of its $12 billion bet on Avidity Biosciences succeeded in a trial of patients with a rare neuromuscular disease, Novartis said Thursday.
  • “Called delpacibart braxlosiran, the experimental drug met its primary biomarker endpoint in a Phase 1/2 study evaluating the treatment in a muscle-wasting disease known as facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, or FSHD. The drug, a so-called “antisense oligonucleotide conjugate” or AOC, is designed to restore muscle function and help slow progression of the disease.
  • “Del-brax targets a gene called DUX4, which is expressed incorrectly in patients with FSHD.”

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

• Modern Healthcare reports,
  • “Group healthcare costs are expected to rise 9% in 2027 as Americans use more services. 
  • “The growing use of expensive drugs, the proliferation of mental health issues and reimbursement pressures will drive healthcare cost inflation, according to a Thursday report from consultancy PwC.”
  • “Researchers spoke with actuaries at 27 health insurers that cover 103 million employer-sponsored members and 8 million Affordable Care Act enrollees to forecast healthcare inflation. 
  • “PwC projected an 8.5% increase for the individual market. In addition to the 2027 projections, the consultancy retroactively adjusted last year’s group cost growth estimate to 9% from 8.5% and the individual market projection to 8.5% from 7.5%.”
• and
  • “U.S. companies plan to charge more for employee health plans next year, as soaring drug prices drive up insurance costs.
  • “Two-thirds of large companies expect to raise monthly premiums for employee health coverage through paycheck deductions in 2027, according to a survey of businesses with at least 500 employees by benefits consultancy Mercer. And about half (48%) of employers say they will make other changes, such as raising deductibles and copays, that will increase how much workers pay out of pocket for care.”
  • “It isn’t just employees who will be paying more. Health insurers are raising costs for employers, too, with the cost of group plans set to increase by more than 6% for the fourth year in a row, said Beth Umland, Mercer’s director of research. Annual increases previously hovered around 3% for more than a decade.
  • “Although employers initially tried to absorb those higher costs, they are beginning to pass them onto workers, Umland said. This year, employers expect to pay more than $18,500 per employee for health care benefits, a 6.7% increase from 2025 and the biggest jump in 15 years.”

• MedCity News adds
  • “If you want to know where healthcare finance is headed, ask the people who lend hospitals money. 
  • “During a Tuesday panel at the HFMA Annual Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, two veteran healthcare credit analysts said they think the window for deliberate strategic action is closing faster than most health system leaders realize.
  • “We love incremental change in healthcare — it’s not going to work anymore,” said Kevin Holloran, senior director of nonprofit healthcare group at Fitch Ratings. “We’ve got to have some really bold thoughts and really bold moves if we’re going to be ready for 2030 and then beyond.”
  • “His urgency stems from a stark demographic reality. In 2030, the last of the Baby Boomer generation will officially reach age 65 and become Medicare-eligible. This is the same year that the most significant cuts from the federal budget reconciliation legislation will begin to bite.” * * *
  • “2030 scares me to death,” Holloran declared. “Right when you get fewer people in the workforce, you’re going to see your payer mix decline. You’re going to go from commercial to Medicare — and you’re not going to have enough people, as they’ve left the workforce.”
    
• Healthcare Dive relates,
  • “Health plans are projecting commercial healthcare costs will rise 9% next year, driven in part by increased adoption of artificial intelligence billing tools by providers, according to a report released Thursday by professional services firm PwC.
  • “Nearly 70% of surveyed plans ranked providers’ use of AI documentation and coding products as a top three inflator next year, while about 20% called AI the number one inflationary trend. 
  • “Still, AI isn’t a major driver of growing healthcare costs compared with labor and supply cost inflation or increased healthcare utilization, said Glenn Hunzinger, U.S. health industries leader at PwC. “The ability to use technology and AI to more appropriately code or code things that they were never able to, that’s the trend we’re seeing,” he said. “It does have an impact on that 9%, albeit it’s not the biggest piece.”

• Fierce Healthcare adds,
  • “Since launching eight years ago with an ambient medical transcription tool, Abridge has set is sights more broadly on building out a full-scale AI clinical assistant. The company is steadily developing tech and features to assist with billing, prior authorization and clinical decision making.
  • “Today, the company announced a major platform expansion to integrate payer and life sciences workflows. Described as an “AI-native clinician intelligence platform,” Abridge says it now connects care delivery, payment and evidence-based treatment.
  • “Abridge CEO and co-founder Shiv Rao, M.D., announced Thursday at an event in New York City that pharma giant Eli Lilly and Company made a strategic investment in the company to “support evidence-based care and research.” The financial details of the investment were not disclosed.”

• Coviti points out,
  • “Improper use of modifier codes in radiology can lead to excessive billing, often misrepresenting radiology services and diminishing trust between providers and health plans. As new requirements and measures emerge, special investigative units (SIUs) should remain vigilant with claims analyses and proper documentation to reduce overpayments.
  • “This month’s edition of FWA Insights dives into outlier billing for modifier codes and excessive services in radiology, revealing the ramifications of medical coding discrepancies and providing practical steps to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA).”

• Per an Institute of Clincal and Economic Research (ICER) news release,
  • “The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) today released its revised Evidence Report assessing the comparative clinical effectiveness and value of vaccines for protection against Covid-19, including: Comirnaty® (Pfizer, BioNTech), Spikevax® (Moderna), mNexspike® (Moderna), and Nuvaxovid® (Sanofi).
  • “Covid-19 infections continue to occur year-round, sometimes leading to serious illness or death,” said ICER’s Chief Medical Officer, David Rind, MD, MSc. “For any preventive care, the goal is always to understand whether the potential benefits outweigh the potential harms. ICER evaluated the evidence for Covid-19 vaccines in 12 US sub-populations. Current evidence suggests that the greatest net benefit of Covid-19 vaccination is in pregnant women; infants aged 6 months to one year; and adults over the age of 65, with the net benefit increasing further with increasing age. Declining rates of serious Covid-19 year over year necessarily create some uncertainties. We hope this report will be a useful resource to policymakers and public health officials as they consider vaccination recommendations for Covid-19 for the 2026-2027 season.”
  • “This Evidence Report will be reviewed at a virtual public meeting of the New England CEPAC on June 25, 2026. The New England CEPAC is one of ICER’s three independent evidence appraisal committees comprising medical evidence experts, practicing clinicians, methodologists, and leaders in patient engagement and advocacy.
  • “Register here to watch the live webcast of the virtual meeting.“

• Fierce Healthcare tells us,
  • “Humana announced this week that it intends to divest its minority stake in Gentiva, the largest provider of end-of-life care in the country.
  • “The company said Wednesday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell off “all or substantially all” of its stake in Gentiva to a “consortium of investors.” The agreement puts the value of Humana’s stake in Gentiva at about $900 million, according to an announcement.
  • “Other financial terms related to the deal were not disclosed, and it’s expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, pending regulatory approval. Details on which investors are involved were also not made public.
  • “Humana said in the announcement that it plans to use the funds from the sale for “general corporate purposes,” and said it does not expect that the deal will have a material impact on its earnings for the year.”
    
• BioPharma Dive informs us,
  • “Parabilis Medicines, a high-profile startup making medicines for “undruggable” targets, raised $670 million in an initial public offering on Wednesday, a record haul for a venture-backed biotechnology company.
  • “Parabilis boosted the size of its offering and ultimately sold 33.5 million shares at $20 apiece, eclipsing the amounts secured by Moderna in 2018 and Kailera Therapeutics earlier this year. It added another $75 million through a discounted private stock sale to new research partner Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.
  • ‘The IPO extends a streak this year for large new biotech stock offerings. So far in 2026 a dozen drugmakers have gone public and raised a median of about $300 million each, more than doubling the median total biotech startups secured in IPOs last year, according to BioPharma Dive data.” 

• Per MedTech Dive,
  • “Danaher has completed its $9.9 billion takeover of Masimo, establishing itself as a competitor to Medtronic in the pulse oximetry market. 
  • “The completion of the purchase, which Danaher reported Wednesday, positions the company to start integrating Masimo in pursuit of more than $125 million of annual cost synergies and more than $50 million of annual sales synergies by the fifth full year after the deal closure.
  • “Masimo will slot into a diagnostics portfolio that features Radiometer, a Danaher business that specializes in blood gas analysis and other testing in acute care settings.”
• and
  • “Insulet is developing an automated insulin delivery system that will be “completely different” than its competitors, Chief Medical Officer Trang Ly said in an interview after the American Diabetes Association’s Scientific Sessions. 
  • “The system, which Insulet calls “fully closed loop,” is for people with Type 2 diabetes and does not require carb-counting or insulin bolusing ahead of meals. Physicians also don’t need to program the starting settings, and dose titration is automated. 
  • “With our system there’s no bolusing at all. There’s actually no bolus button. … It’s completely different to what Medtronic and Tandem and everyone else is working on,” Ly said. “There are no settings for anyone to enter.” 
  • “Insulet shared results of its Evolution 3 study of the planned system at the conference on Saturday. The study built on previous results the company shared at another diabetes conference in March.”