Simplicity is a virtue.

From Washington, DC,

• The Hill reports,
  • “Lawmakers are sounding the alarm over the nation’s $40 trillion debt, lamenting Congress’s inability to meaningfully confront a problem that has grown increasingly difficult to ignore.
  • “Both parties have spent years trying to tackle the rising debt. Republicans have frequently pointed to federal spending and entitlement programs as the main drivers, while Democrats have emphasized the need for higher taxes on wealthy Americans and corporations alongside spending reforms.
  • “But efforts to reach a broader deal have repeatedly stalled as both parties have balked at the politically painful trade-offs needed to put the nation on a more sustainable fiscal path.” 

• Modern Healthcare relates,
  • “A Senate bill [S. 3097 – Health Information Privacy Reform Act] would create medical privacy protections for consumer health products such as wearables and wellness apps.
  • “The legislation unanimously passed the Senate health committee last month and a similar bill is pending in the House.
  • “Stronger privacy rules could hamper some tech companies while benefiting others as well as providers eager to tap into new technology.”

• Per a CMS news release,
  • “The Trump Administration announced an additional $4.2 million, made possible through the federal Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP), is being put to work in West Virginia to expand patients’ transportation options and remove service barriers.
  • “By injecting millions into the Rural Health Link initiative, the Administration is upending the status quo that has limited transportation options for residents in need of critical healthcare services and delivering on its commitment to West Virginians who deserve the best access to care no matter their zip code. These funds will help increase medical transportation capacity, service availability, and improve geographic coverage for patients across the Mountain State.” 

From the U.S. Office of Personnel Management front,

• Today’s Washington Post included an oped written by OPM Director Scott Kupor about his agency’s efforts to improve the merit system.
  • “At the Office of Personnel Management — Washington’s chief HR agency — my team has spent the past 20 months reforming this system. Our goal is simple and uncontroversial: Merit matters, not how long employees have been in a role or what college degree they earned, both in hiring and in day-to-day performance. That means accountability for employees who can’t deliver and distinction for those who knock the cover off the ball.”

• Govexec adds,
  • “An agency spokeswoman said that a four-person communications team — all under the age of 30 — is spearheading the effort to make OPM’s social media more appealing to younger potential hires.”

• Tammy Flanagan writing in Govexec, lets us know,
  • “Retiring from federal service is a major milestone, of course, but it does not end the need to understand how federal benefits work. In the years after retirement, life events and new opportunities can raise important questions about insurance, survivor benefits, beneficiary designations and the effect of returning to government employment.
  • “Today I will highlight several post-retirement issues that federal employees may want to plan for in advance. This is not an all-inclusive list, but it’s a list that will hopefully remind you that it is important to review your benefits and be sure to understand how they can change as life goes on.” * * *
  • “Health benefits can also change after retirement, not only the premiums and the benefits, but your needs may change over time. Outside of open season, FEHB changes generally must be tied to a Qualifying Life Event (QLE), such as marriage, divorce, death of a family member, or a move out of a plan’s service area, and many changes must be requested within 60 days of the event.
  • “Annuitants should confirm the effective date with OPM because the timing can depend on the type of change. For example, some enrollment decreases may be made at any time and are commonly effective at the beginning of the month after OPM receives the election, while other changes follow the qualifying life event rules.
  • “There is a little-known option to change insurance just because you have reached age 65, it is QLE 2L. This is your “ace in the hole” that you can only use once in your lifetime to change plans outside of open season.
  • “This is generally used to change plans when enrolling in Medicare after retirement, but if not used at age 65, it can be used later – but only once!”

From the Food and Drug Administration front,

• CBS News reports,
  • “A New York-based consumer healthcare company is recalling nearly 40,000 bottles of eye drops over concerns about the product’s sterility. 
  • “Prestige Consumer Healthcare initiated the recall on July 29 due to “lack of assurance of sterility,” according to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration notice.
  • “The recall is due to potential contamination,” the notice says.
  • “The recall affects 15mL bottles of Clear Eyes’ Maximum Itchy Eye Relief, which mitigates itchiness, redness and other eye irritations, according to the product description. The eye drops were distributed nationwide.”

• Fierce Pharma relates,
  • “If at first you don’t succeed in gene therapy, then try, try again. That’s the lesson Ultragenyx likely took home this week as it pocketed its first FDA nod in the class just over a year after a separate program stalled on manufacturing grounds. 
  • “Late Wednesday, the FDA gave an accelerated go-ahead to pariglasgene brecaparvovec-opnr, Ultragenyx’s AAV gene therapy for the rare genetic disorder glycogen storage disease type Ia (GSDIa), which will now head to market with the brand name Genglycos. 
  • “The accelerated approval specifically covers the gene therapy—previously coded as DTX401—in adults and kids over the age of 8 years with GSDIa, an ultrarare genetic disorder driven by a deficiency of the enzyme G6PC, which is needed to release glucose from the liver into the bloodstream. The liver is less capable of controlling glucose levels in these patients, leading to potentially life-threatening hypoglycemia episodes and other complications. 
  • “By Ultragenyx’s reckoning, there are between 1,500 and 2,500 people living with GSDIa in the U.S. out of an estimated global patient population of 6,000 to 8,000 “within commercially accessible geographies,” the company said in an Aug. 19 release.” 
    
• HCPLive tells us,
  • “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Glenmark Pharmaceuticals’ fluticasone propionate nasal spray, USP, 0.05 mg (50 mcg)/spray, a generic version of Haleon’s Flonase Nasal Spray indicated for nasal symptoms of allergic rhinitis, the company announced on August 20, 2026.¹
  • “The approval of fluticasone propionate nasal spray, USP, 0.05 mg/spray marks another step in expanding our respiratory portfolio in the U.S. and builds on the strong foundation we have established in this therapeutic area,” said Marc Kikuchi, President & Business Head, North America, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals. “We remain committed to broadening access to quality, affordable treatment options that address the evolving needs of patients and healthcare providers.” * * *
  • “FDA approval was secured through the bioequivalence pathway, so no independent clinical efficacy or safety program accompanied authorization beyond equivalence to the reference product.” * * *
  • “Distribution will be handled by Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Inc., USA, while pricing and launch timing were not disclosed.”

From the public health and medical / Rx research front,

• The New York Times reports,
  • “A growing number of Americans say their cannabis use is problematic, according to a large new study released Wednesday.
  • “The study, based on nationally representative data of U.S. adults, found that more than 9 percent of the men — or almost 1 in 10 — reported symptoms of cannabis use disorder in 2024, up from about 7 percent in 2021. The prevalence of cannabis use disorder also rose among women, increasing to nearly 6 percent in 2024, up from about 5 percent in 2021. Symptoms of the disorder include not being able to cut back or quit, or continuing to use the drug despite it leading to interpersonal problems.
  • “The notion that cannabis is not addictive may basically be incorrect,” said Dr. Nora D. Volkow, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the paper’s senior author.”
• and
  • “There is no one-size-fits-all approach to managing treatment-resistant depression.
  • “At the UC Davis clinic, if patients don’t improve after trying two antidepressants in succession and undergoing psychotherapy, they may be prescribed a low dose of an additional drug such as an atypical antipsychotic or lithium, Dr. Debra Kahn, director of the Advanced Psychiatric Therapeutics Clinic at UC Davis Health said. Clinicians will ensure that medical problems that could be contributing to symptoms are addressed, too.
  • “One additional therapy that has been shown to help people with treatment-resistant depression is transcranial magnetic stimulation, or T.M.S., which was cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat depression in 2008, Dr. Kahn said. It uses magnetic pulses to stimulate parts of the brain to release mood-boosting chemicals including norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin, she said.
  • “T.M.S. is tolerated well and has no long-term serious side effects, Dr. Kahn said. * * *
  • “Ketamine, an anesthetic commonly used in surgery, is increasingly used to address treatment-resistant depression. In 2019, the FDA approved Spravato, an intranasal spray containing esketamine. In a 2019 trial, 52.5 percent of patients with treatment-resistant depression who took esketamine with an antidepressant for 28 days experienced a significant resolution of their symptoms compared with about 31 percent of people who took an antidepressant with a placebo.” * * *
  • [T]here is unlikely to be one “magic pill” that cures treatment-resistant depression, Dr. Kahn said. People may benefit from a combination of approaches, and they may also need to combine treatments with lifestyle changes.”
    
• MedPage Today tells us,
  • “The relationship between physical activity and dementia risk may depend on whether the activity is recreational exercise or job-related labor, a study of more than 4.2 million people suggested.
  • “High physical activity levels were linked to a 20% lower risk of all-cause dementia (relative risk [RR] 0.80, 95% CI 0.75-0.86) over 10 years compared with the lowest level of physical activity, reported Natan Feter, PhD, of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and colleagues in a systematic review and meta-analysis.
  • “Leisure-time activities like walking, running, swimming, cycling, or playing sports followed a similar pattern and were tied to lower dementia risk (RR 0.76, 95% CI 0.65-0.88), the researchers wrote in Lancet Public Healthopens in a new tab or window. Household physical activity also appeared beneficial, but evidence was from a single study.”
• and
  • “A recent report advocated against using BMI as a standalone tool in measuring health risk.
  • “Longitudinal data suggested that high waist circumference was associated with elevated mortality risks, while high BMI was tied to lower mortality risks, among older adults.
  • “Underweight status was associated with a higher mortality risk compared with normal weight in both men and women, regardless of waist circumference.”

• The American Medical Association lets us know “what doctors want patients to know about mosquito bites.
  • “Mosquito bites spark immune reactions from itchy bumps to Skeeter syndrome and severe illnesses, but prevention and knowing warning signs can reduce risks.”

• Cardiovascular Business informs us
  • “Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) continues to gain momentum as a go-to treatment option for severe, symptomatic aortic stenosis. However, surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) remains a significantly safer option for patients 60 years old and younger, researchers confirmed in a new study published in JTCVS Open.[1]
  • “Current guidelines recommend SAVR for patients younger than 65 years, yet an increasing number of younger patients are undergoing TAVR with uncertain long-term results,” wrote first author Jessan A. Jishu, MD, with the Tulane University School of Medicine, and colleagues. “Given this lack of clarity and growing real-world adoption of TAVR among younger individuals, this study uses a large-scale database representative of practices in the United States to confirm the findings from these previous studies by assessing short- and long-term outcomes of SAVR versus TAVR in patients younger than 60 years, a population in whom long-term durability and reintervention risk are of particular concern.”
  • “Jishu et al. explored the TriNetX database, exploring real-world data from nearly 10,000 patients who underwent TAVR or SAVR from 2006 to 2025. Approximately 80% of patients were treated with SAVR, but TAVR grew more common from 2020 to the end of the study.”
• and
  • “A Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University-led study has identified molecular changes that appear to trigger atherosclerosis years before inflammation, sharing their findings in European Heart Journal.
  • “The group believes this could a key discovery in the development of next-generation early prevention therapies. 
  • “The study’s authors found previously unrecognized molecular pathways and a possible master regulator protein called MLXIPL that could become future targets for clinicians working to stop plaque from ever developing.
  • “We analyzed proteins and gene activity in coronary artery tissue from young adults who died of trauma and had no known coronary artery disease, and we found that more than half already had preclinical atherosclerosis,” first author Sarah Parker, PhD, an associate professor of cardiology and biomedical sciences and co-director of the proteomics and metabolomics core at Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University, said in a statement. “This suggests that changes in cellular metabolism and communication begin before the inflammation long considered a hallmark of the disease.”
  • “Parker said this research provides a direct picture of what is happening inside the artery wall and may explain why some people are more vulnerable to heart disease than others.”

• Per an Institute for Clinical and Economic Review news release,
  • “The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) announced today that it will assess the comparative clinical effectiveness and value of ifezuntrigene inilparvovec (uniQure N.V.) for Huntington’s disease. This therapy is also known as AMT-130.
  • “The assessment will be publicly discussed during a meeting of the Midwest Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council (CEPAC) in March 2027, where the independent evidence review panel will deliberate and vote on evidence presented in ICER’s report.
  • “ICER’s website provides timelines of key posting dates and public comment periods for this assessment.
  • “Consistent with ICER’s process for announcing new assessments, we have spent the past five weeks conducting outreach and engaging with targeted stakeholders, including relevant patient groups, and clinical experts. Based on this preliminary cross-stakeholder engagement, today ICER has posted a Draft Scoping Document outlining how we plan to conduct this assessment.”  
    

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

• The Wall Street Journal reports,
  • “Surging healthcare costs are walloping U.S. workers, and they will only worsen next year. For 2027, employers may be facing the biggest health-insurance increase in at least two decades.
  • “Americans with workplace coverage are expected to spend an average $5,297 this year on healthcare, $388 more than 2025, according to a new estimate from benefits-consulting firm Aon. The spending represents a combination of payroll deductions for premiums and out-of-pocket charges like deductibles and copays.
  • “The burden is likely to grow significantly next year, when U.S. employers expect their healthcare costs to go up by 11.1%, according to a new survey from WTW, another big benefits consultant—the steepest rise in more than 20 years.
  • “That would represent the fifth year of escalating increases, according to WTW. “Employers are telling us that this is utterly unsustainable,” said Jeff Levin-Scherz, population-health leader at WTW. Expensive cancer treatments and wide adoption of weight-loss drugs are among the factors pushing up spending.”
• and
  • “Costco sells its dedicated members everything from travel packages to gasoline. Now the retail giant is gearing up to enter a huge new market: Medicare. 
  • “The warehouse chain plans a limited rollout of Costco-branded Medicare plans, working with SCAN Group, a nonprofit insurer. Nationally, Medicare is a more than $600 billion business for insurers, but the two companies said they would start by selling their jointly named Medicare Advantage products in two states, and a Medicare supplement in a third. 
  • “SCAN and Costco executives said the three target markets include around five million Medicare enrollees but declined to disclose exact locations or timing, citing regulatory limits on disclosure pending approval by the Medicare agency.
  • “SCAN is based in Long Beach, Calif., and Southern California is a core market for the nonprofit, which focuses on Medicare and has about 460,000 members. SCAN also offers Medicare Advantage plans in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Washington state.”

• Modern Healthcare adds,
  • “Centene is scaling back its Medicare Advantage presence next year as the health insurance company looks to cut costs. 
  • “The insurer plans to completely withdraw from Oklahoma, Tennessee and Hawaii, according to a notice the company distributed to third-party marketing organizations last week.
  • “Centene is also preparing to exit at least 158 counties and cancel 133 Medicare Advantage plans, according to a Modern Healthcare analysis. Modern Healthcare compared the company’s list of available policies for 2027 to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services enrollment file for this month.
  • “The cancellations would drive about a third of Centene’s Medicare Advantage membership, or more than 340,300 enrollees, to shop for new coverage, according to the Modern Healthcare analysis. Members may have alternative Centene plans from which to choose.” 
     
• The Health Care Cost Institute released a report about the “Effects of vertical integration on providers’ billing and practice patterns in Medicare (2018-2022)”

• Fierce Healthcare notes,
  • “The blockbuster success of GLP-1 weight loss drugs has caused major ripple effects across healthcare and pharma, representing a significant growth engine for drugmakers but a cost challenge for payers.
  • “GLP-1s are also potentially disrupting a healthcare system built around treating obesity-related complications, forcing providers, insurers and investors to rethink where future revenue and growth will come from, according to a new report from Wells Fargo.
  • “For decades, the healthcare industry has built service lines, reimbursement models and care pathways around the downstream consequences of obesity. Diabetes clinics, cardiology service lines, sleep medicine, orthopedics, bariatric surgery, pharmacy and chronic disease management have all grown inside a system where obesity was widespread, persistent and often untreated.
  • “GLP-1s may be starting to upend that model as the growing use of obesity drugs begins to influence utilization patterns, hospital economics, pharmaceutical R&D and long-term healthcare spending, wrote Robin Wenzel, head of Wells Fargo Industry Insights and John Teasley, market executive, Wells Fargo Healthcare Banking, in the report.
  • “The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Center for Health Statistics indicates that 40.3% of U.S. adults have obesity, and 9.4%, roughly one in ten, have severe obesity. That makes obesity not an outlier, but a baseline condition around which much of U.S. healthcare now operates, the report authors assert.
  • “GLP-1 drugs for weight management move the management of obesity upstream, to prevention in the context of a system designed around late-stage disease. That puts traditional obesity-related service lines, and healthcare’s obesity revenue engine, under pressure, according to the report.”

• Beckers Hospital Review points out how 14 large health systems performed financially during the three months ended June 30, and tells us,
  • “New CMS data shows emergency department visit times climbed in the vast majority of states compared with the same period last year, though wide variation persists across the country.
  • “The agency’s “Timely and Effective Care” dataset covers children and adults treated at hospitals paid under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System or Outpatient Prospective Payment System, as well as those that voluntarily report data on relevant measures. Data was collected in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 2025. Learn more about the methodology here.
  • :Nationwide, the median time patients spent in the ED was 162 minutes for the 12-month period ending September 2025, stable from the same period a year prior, according to CMS data.:

• Healthcare Dive notes,
  • “Name: Dr. Shantanu Nundy
  • “Previous title: Executive vice president of care delivery and chief health officer, Accolade
  • “New title: Chief medical officer, Humana
  • “Nundy will become Humana’s new CMO effective Aug. 31, the Kentucky-based insurer announced Thursday.
  • “He’s replacing Kate Goodrich, who served as CMO from 2022 to October 2025, when she left for a role in the health services division of Humana’s rival insurer UnitedHealth. The CMO post has sat empty since.
  • “As CMO, Nundy will help design Humana’s products, platforms and use of artificial intelligence with a clinical eye, according to the release.”
• and
  • “Name: Arun Kumar Bhaskara-Baba
  • “Previous title: Chief information officer, Honeywell Aerospace and Defense
  • “New title: Chief information officer, Mayo Clinic
  • “Bhaskara-Baba joined Mayo Clinic as CIO in May, the Minnesota-based health system confirmed in a statement. He’s at the helm of Mayo’s information technology systems across its network of 16 hospitals and 45 multispecialty clinics.
  • “Bhaskara-Baba is succeeding Cris Ross, who retired in 2024 after 12 years in the role.
  • “Bhaskara-Baba brings more than 25 years of tech experience to the role. He joins Mayo from Honeywell Aerospace and Defense, where he directed digital strategy and scaled the company’s artificial intelligence capabilities as CIO.”

• Fierce Healthcare informs us,
  • “Cityblock Health, a company primarily focused on providing care for urban Medicaid and dual-eligible members, plans to acquire Homeward Health to expand deep into rural markets, the company announced Thursday.
  • “Combined, the two companies will serve nearly 250,000 people and are positioned to reach the 120 million people receiving government-funded healthcare in the U.S., Toyin Ajayi, Cityblock Health CEO and co-founder, wrote in a blog post.
  • “Cityblock said it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Homeward in an all-stock transaction. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.”
• and
  • “Carrum Health, a company with value-based Centers of Excellence for employers, is teaming up with Included Health, a virtual care and health navigation company working with employers and plans.
  • “Carrum’s Centers of Excellence network for specialty care will be embedded directly into Included Health’s Alternative Health Plan to help connect members to high-quality specialty care with more predictable costs. The partners will connect plan design, navigation and value-based care into one coordinated experience. 
  • “As employers face steep healthcare cost increases, specialty care often drives a lot of healthcare spending. From 2023 to 2025, the U.S. saw the highest three-year stretch of healthcare cost growth in over a decade, according to the Business Group on Health. The Carrum integration will deliver greater cost predictability with bundled rates, outcomes accountability and streamlined contracting.”

• Healthcare Dive adds,
  • “Healthcare revenue cycle management company R1 has agreed to acquire Humata Health, a company specializing in artificial intelligence-powered prior authorizations.
  • “R1 is banking that Humata’s AI expertise will help it streamline the preapproval process required by insurers for certain medical treatments, and further its goal of automating how healthcare providers get paid for their services.
  • “The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter this year, after which Humata’s team will start integrating its technology into R1’s revenue cycle platform. An R1 spokesperson declined to share the financial terms of the deal.”