Simplicity is a virtue.

• Fierce Pharma points out,
  • “The Trump administration looks set to unveil a new slate of most-favored-nation (MFN) drug pricing deals with several mid-sized biopharma companies, according to Bloomberg.
  • “The announcement is expected on Monday [August 31, 2026], the news service reported this week, citing sources familiar with the plan. Drugmakers that have agreed to the voluntary deals are expected to provide their products to state Medicaid programs at prices aligned with those they charge in foreign countries.  
  • “In exchange, the companies could secure tariff relief and may win exemption from Medicare pilot discount programs that are in the works, Bloomberg wrote.” 

• Per a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services news release,
  • “The Trump Administration announced today that a $93.3 million investment is being delivered to help rural hospitals advance new state-of-the-art models of care and improve health outcomes for Georgians through the federal Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP). 
  • “This investment will help 87 rural hospitals prepare for value-based care, expand training and recruitment for nurses, EMTs and paramedics, and improve access to maternal and behavioral health services, newborn screening, and other critical health services through telehealth, transportation and expanded care networks. It will also bring next-generation technology to rural communities—including surgical robotics, dementia care capacity, and telehealth infrastructure—to modernize care. By strengthening and expanding rural care, this funding will also help retain health care professionals in rural Georgia. This investment will strengthen rural hospitals, expand telehealth and healthcare access, build dementia care capacity, and grow the rural healthcare workforce through technology-enabled care initiatives across the state. With these investments, Georgia has now committed the full $218 million awarded to the state for its first year of funding through the RHTP.”

• The American Hospital Association relates,
  • “The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released a fact sheet and FAQs on the 340B Part D claims data repository that will go live Oct. 1. Data submissions would currently be voluntary for 340B hospitals. However, the agency recently proposed to make data submissions mandatory starting in 2027. The fact sheet and FAQ provide an overview of the repository along with other key details.”

• Per a Health and Human Services Department news release,
  • “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced [in the news release] the nine winners of the 2026 KidneyX EMPOWER: Living Link Prize Challenge, a $4 million national competition to accelerate innovation supporting living kidney donors and patients who depend on them. The challenge was run through the Kidney Innovation Accelerator (KidneyX), a public-private partnership between HHS and the American Society of Nephrology (ASN).
  • “Every American waiting for a kidney deserves the best chance at a longer, healthier life,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “Living kidney donation saves lives, yet too many willing donors face barriers that should not exist. We are removing those barriers and backing innovators with practical solutions that support donors, strengthen transplant care, and give more Americans a chance to live.”

• The International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans reports,
  • “The Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Treasury (collectively, the Departments) released Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Implementation Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Part 74 addressing health-contingent wellness programs, including tobacco-related wellness programs. The FAQs cover completion of reasonable alternative standard and disclosure requirements. 
  • “The new guidance comes after tobacco-related wellness programs have been the subject of recent class-action lawsuits challenging the tobacco surcharges some employers add to premiums for their group health plans through workplace wellness programs. The FAQs released today announce the Departments’ approach to enforcement for health-contingent wellness programs that reward an employee if they satisfy a standard related to a health factor.
  • “Until further guidance or regulations are issued, the departments will not take enforcement action against plans or issuers that do not give employees the wellness program reward retroactively to the beginning of the plan year after the employee completes a reasonable alternative standard. Under the terms of the enforcement relief in these FAQs, plans and issuers only need to provide the reward prospectively, from the point where the employee completes the alternative standard, if retroactive rewards are not otherwise provided.”

• Beckers Hospital Review tells us,
  • “Medicare’s GLP-1 Bridge program is seeing early uptake at major retail pharmacies, with CVS and Walgreens each filling about 100,000 prescriptions less than two months after the program launched in July, according to an Aug. 26 NPR report.
  • “We expected there would be uptake,” Walgreens’ chief pharmacy officer Rick Gates told NPR. “I think there’s been a little bit more uptake than we even expected.”
  • “Walgreens stocked additional Wegovy, Zepbound and Foundayo ahead of the launch but has not experienced supply issues. Walmart said Bridge prescriptions have also increased week over week and have been filled at more than 5,000 Walmart and Sam’s Club pharmacies nationwide.

• The No Suprises Act’s (“NSA”) regulating agencies, which includes OPM, corrected errors found in the final Independent Dispute Resolution rule published in the Federal Register on June 5, 2026.

• Per a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services news release,
  • “ICD-9 and ICD-10 Codes for Section 111 Reporting (Effective October 1, 2026)
    • “Click the links below to download the FY2027 (October 2026) valid and excluded ICD diagnosis code lists in Excel (.xlsx). The valid lists also include the No-Fault Plan Type D exclusion indicators.
    • Valid ICD-10 List (XLSX)
    • Excluded ICD-10 List (XLSX)
    • Valid ICD-9 List (XLSX)
    • Excluded ICD-9 List (XLSX)

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

• Federal News Network reports,
  • “Artificial intelligence may become a more prominent part of the federal hiring process, following new guidance from the Office of Personnel Management.
  • “In a memo Thursday, OPM encouraged agencies to more widely adopt AI tools in their recruitment efforts. Without increasing AI use, agencies may be compromising the effectiveness and efficiency of the federal hiring process, OPM said.
  • “Despite 2025 guidance from the Office of Management and Budget defining “high-impact” standards for AI usage, agencies have been “overly cautious” about using the technology in hiring, said Adam Starr, OPM’s CIO and a senior advisor.
  • “Too often, agencies were defaulting to the view that any use of AI in hiring was subject to the high-impact standard. In reality, that is not the case,” Starr said Thursday in a blog post. “Instead, the inclusion of AI as a complement to human judgment is not only acceptable but leads to better outcomes.”

• Tammy Flanagan, writing in Govexec, advises “Want to retire at the end of 2026? Start planning now.”
  • OPM is still working through a sizable retirement backlog, and year-end retirees have plenty to sort out before they leave federal service.

From the Food and Drug Administration front,

• The American Hospital Association reports,
  • “The Food and Drug Administration has issued an early alert for all automated Impella controllers by Abiomed following an issue that has caused three deaths and 37 serious injuries as of Aug. 17. The alert was issued due to the products experiencing purge cassette recognition issues resulting from failures of the purge flag component within the purge pressure sensor assembly. Abiomed sent a letter to all affected customers recommending the devices be removed from where they are used or sold.” 
    
• The Washington Post relates,
  • “The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday green-lit updated coronavirus vaccines for higher-risk Americans, such as older adults and people with at least one underlying health condition, vaccine manufacturers announced.
  • “The approved shots from vaccine manufacturers Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which make mRNA-based vaccines, have an updated formulation aimed at better targeting the coronavirus variants circulating around the country. The FDA also cleared an updated vaccine from Sanofi, which doesn’t use mRNA-based technology and was originally licensed by Novavax, a Sanofi spokesperson confirmed. The companies said the vaccines are expected to be available in the coming days.”
  • “Most Americans typically get vaccinated against the coronavirus at retail pharmacies.
  • “Pharmacies are actively preparing to receive the updated shots, so they can begin vaccinations as soon as they receive shipments and all state requirements are met, according to Brigid Groves, a vice president at the American Pharmacists Association.”

• Reuters tells us,
  • “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday it approved a ​treatment from Roivant (ROIV.O) and partner Priovant Therapeutics for a rare disease, ‌making it the first oral drug for the condition affecting skin and muscles.” * * *
  • “Branded as Lisraya, the drug was approved for ​dermatomyositis, a condition that causes painful skin rashes and progressive muscle weakness ​and, if untreated, can severely reduce quality of life.”
    
• CNBC informs us,
  • “The Food and Drug Administration approved a once-daily HIV pill from Gilead that could help simplify care for some patients whose virus is already under control but who remain on complicated treatment regimens. 
  • “The tablet combines bictegravir, the backbone of Gilead’s blockbuster HIV pill Biktarvy, with lenacapavir, a centerpiece of the company’s long-term strategy for HIV treatment and prevention. 
  • “The new pill is also aimed at people who are doing well on a single-tablet regimen, including Biktarvy, and want to switch to a new treatment.”

From the judicial front,

• Michelle Roberts, an attorney, lets us know,
  • In Central States v. McClain [decided August 26, 2026, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the] Seventh Circuit held that ERISA does not preempt Arkansas Insurance Department Rule 128. Applying Rutledge, the court treated the Rule’s dispensing fee requirement as a permissible cost regulation rather than a mandate dictating plan choices, and under Gobeille, it held that the Rule’s reporting requirement fell within the exception for reporting incidental to an unpreempted state law. The panel affirmed dismissal at the pleading stage while expressly reserving whether Congress’s new pharmacy-compensation reporting provision under 29 U.S.C. § 1185o will change the analysis once it takes effect.

• In National Infusion Centers v. Kennedy, also decided August 26, 2026, held
  • “The Plaintiffs challenge the constitutionality of the Drug Pricing Program created by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. They claim violations of the nondelegation doctrine, the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause, and the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. The district court granted the Government’s motion for summary judgment. We AFFIRM.”

• Govexec reports,
  • “The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission voted 2-1 Wednesday to propose new regulations that would overhaul how federal workers may pursue workplace discrimination claims, removing employees’ right to request a hearing before an administrative judge and outright banning class action cases outside of federal court.
  • “Currently, federal workers alleging discrimination at their employing agency must undergo up to 90 days of pre-complaint counseling, which includes informing employees about the EEO process and sometimes mediation, after which their agency will conduct an internal investigation. Once that is complete—or after 180 days—the employee may request a hearing before an EEOC administrative judge.
  • “But under a new proposed rule, set for publication Friday in the Federal Register, complainants would no longer go through pre-complaint counseling, instead directly filing their complaints to EEOC within 60 days of the alleged discriminatory incident. And they would no longer be guaranteed a hearing; that decision would instead be made by officials within the EEOC’s Office of the Federal Sector.
  • “Under the plan, complainants would have to affirmatively request a hearing when they appeal a final agency decision, and in some cases submit an explanation justifying its need. Those who do receive a hearing under the new process would no longer have the benefit of discovery, a practice by which parties can request and receive documentation related to the case.
  • “Additionally, while employees with similar allegations of discrimination may elect to have their individual complaints processed “jointly,” EEOC would cease consideration of class action cases. If employees wish to proceed as a class, they would each have to exhaust their individual cases before the agency and then file a class action lawsuit in federal court.”

From the public health and medical / Rx research front

• The Wall Street Journal reports.
  • “[H]ow much water do we really need to drink a day? The question feels more pressing than ever given rising temperatures, heat waves and the fact that chugging water is almost a competitive sport these days. The answer may be less than you think and varies based on your size, health, activity level and where you live.” * * *
  • “The most cited recommendations for water come from the National Academy of Medicine, which calls for a total daily fluid intake of 3.7 liters for men and 2.7 liters for women. 
  • “But here’s the thing: That is total fluid intake, not water specifically. And here’s the other thing: Roughly 20% of our fluids come directly from food, studies have found.
  • “That leaves roughly two liters of fluids daily for women and three for men, says Kavouras. That translates to about 68 ounces and 101 ounces from beverages. 
  • “Stavros Kavouras, founding director of Arizona State University’s Hydration Science Lab in Phoenix and DrHydration on social media. estimates the average pour of water in the U.S. is 12 to 16 ounces. So that works out to about four to six glasses of fluids daily for women and six to eight for men.”

• The New York Times relates,
  • “Scientists have uncovered a wealth of clues about how genetic mutations lead to severe forms of autism, offering opportunities for testing drugs that could treat the condition, according to a study published Thursday.
  • “The researchers charted how mutations change the way proteins work together in cells, altering the development of the brain.
  • “This is making maps of unknown territories that’s really necessary to move the biology forward,” said Dan Geschwind, a neurogeneticist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in the study.
  • “Researchers have been studying autism for over 80 years, but it has only been in recent years that they have been able to explore its molecular biology. One reason that progress has been so slow is that autism is not just one condition, but a broad constellation of them.”

• Radiology Business adds,
  • “A new analysis details the prevalence of amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA) on MRI in individuals who are being treated with new Alzheimer’s disease therapies. 
  • “Kisunla (donanemab) is an FDA-approved intravenous monoclonal antibody infusion for early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease; it works by essentially scrubbing amyloid deposits from the brain, which in turn helps reduce cognitive symptoms associated with the neurodegenerative disease. While effective, a known side effect of the treatment is that is causes ARIA. 
  • “Symptoms of ARIA include headache, confusion, dizziness, vision changes and nausea, but if left unchecked, the symptoms can become severe. This is why experts (and the FDA) recommend scheduled MRI brain scans on individuals being treated with modern monoclonal antibody infusion treatments. 
  • “Now, a new study is offering detailed insight into how common ARIA is in individuals being treated with donanemab. Published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitorin, the analysis suggests that up to 20% of patients may exhibit signs of ARIA on imaging.” 

• MedPage Today tells us,
  • “Despite recommendations by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and the American Cancer Society, cervical cancer screening rates are declining.
  • “From 2005 to 2023, the proportion of women ages 21 to 29 never screened for cervical cancer increased from 12.5% to 31.9% (average annual percentage change [AAPC] 5.2%), with a notable increase from 2010 to 2023 (AAPC 7.9%).
  • “Regional-stage and distant-stage cervical cancer incidence has increased by 2.3% and 2.6%, respectively, per year among women ages 30 to 64 since 2017.”
• and
  • “Almost 80% of patients with early-stage rectal cancer avoided surgery for a year or longer when treated with chemoradiation in a randomized trial.
  • “The organ-preservation strategies of chemoradiation and radiotherapy were both associated with few adverse events without sacrificing oncologic control.
  • “Longer follow-up is needed to determine long-term disease control and safety.”
• and
  • “People who experience an opioid overdose are at greater risk of death, but data on which opioid agonist treatments are most effective in supporting this high-risk population are limited.
  • “In a retrospective cohort study of opioid overdose survivors, starting methadone was associated with a reduced risk of death during the subsequent year compared with starting buprenorphine-naloxone.
  • “In an accompanying commentary, experts questioned whether methadone is truly “intrinsically superior” to buprenorphine-naloxone.”

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

• Beckers Payer Issues reports,
  • “Mona Chitre, PharmD, will serve as the market president for the newly created employer and government markets segment under Optum Rx, UnitedHealth Group’s pharmacy benefit manager.
  • “Dr. Chitre will begin her role Aug. 31, according to an Aug. 26 LinkedIn post. She said the role unifies the commercial, health system, coalition, labor and trust, and public sector businesses.
  • “Dr. Chitre most recently founded and was the president of Candesa Pharmacy Solutions, under The Lifetime Healthcare Companies. Under the same parent, she previously was Excellus BlueCross BlueShield’s chief pharmacy officer, according to her LinkedIn profile. She brings 26 years of experience across healthcare and pharmacy, she said.”

• Fierce Healthcare relates,
  • “Cigna is looking to better link medical and supplemental benefits for its members, and has unveiled a new employer benefit that aims to further that goal.
  • “The insurer’s new Medical with Smart Coverage plans will be available as an option for employers with 500 to 2,999 employees that currently offer a high-deductible health plan. Cigna intends to expand access further in 2028, according to an announcement.
  • “The plan is designed to offer members support in managing unexpectedly high costs should they occur. Enrollees can access up to $7,000 in supplemental cash benefits that they can use during these health events to cover key needs such as transportation, child care or hotel stays.”

• Beckers Hospital Review non-exhaustively lists “68 health systems with strong operational metrics and solid financial positions, according to reports from credit rating agencies Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service released in 2026.”
• and tells us
  • New Haven, Conn.-based Yale New Haven Health System reported operating income of $33 million (0.5% operating margin) through the third quarter of 2026, up from an operating loss of $40.2 million (-0.7% margin) during the same period last year, according to its Aug. 25 financial report. 
• and
  • “Pittsburgh-based UPMC recorded an operating loss of $18.3 million (-0.2% operating margin) for the second quarter of 2026, down from operating income of $111.2 million (1.3% margin) during the same period last year, according to its Aug. 27 financial report.”

• Fierce Healthcare adds,
  • “Corewell Health showed its plans for two major hospital campus expansions that will run the Michigan nonprofit system $1.7 billion.
  •  “As our communities grow and patient needs become more complex, we are building the capacity, technology and care environments needed today for our patients and team members for many years to come,” President and CEO Tina Freese Decker said in the organization’s Thursday announcement. 
  • “The larger of the two projects is coming to Corewell Health Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids. The 780,000-square-foot, 11-story tower will include a new ED, 180 private patient rooms, 17 operating rooms and a hyperbaric chamber, Corewell said.” * * *
  • “The other new tower comes with a $440 price tag for the organization and will be built at Corewell Health Beaumont Troy Hospital, which serves a “rapidly growing” community and is also “consistently” above 90% capacity.”
• and 
  • “Healthcare navigation platform Transcarent launched on Tuesday a bundled payment model for cancer therapies.
  • “The payment model, which the company touts as a first-of-its-kind, supports bispecific T-cell engager (BiTE) and CAR T therapies. Transcarent connects its members to leading oncology providers across various settings, including academic medical centers and high-quality community-based cancer care sites.
  • “Advanced cancer therapies are changing what’s possible for patients, but they’re also creating new challenges for employers trying to manage costs and access,” said Snezana Mahon, Transcarent’s president, in a statement. “This model gives employers more predictable costs while helping Members receive expert care closer to home without sacrificing quality.”
  • “The model enhances Transcarent’s Centers of Excellence (COE) program through easier access and navigation of more affordable care—offering potential savings of up to $150,000, executives say.
  • “Moreover, members undergoing treatment through the COE network are supported throughout their journey by certified oncology nurse navigators (ONNs).” 

• Beckers Physician Leadership informs us,
  • “More than half of U.S. physicians, 59.4%, are now employed by a hospital or health system, according to a new analysis from Trilliant Health that assessed 700,000 physicians across the country.
  • “Here are four more things to know
    • “1. The hospital-employment rate is highest in the Midwest at 67.2% and lowest in the South at 52.4%, with the Northeast at 62.9% and the West at 60%. Multiple factors are driving the trend, with declining Medicare reimbursement chief among them. 
    • “2. The AMA estimates Medicare physician pay has declined 33% in real terms between 2001 and 2025 while practice costs rose 59% over the same period. 
    • “3. Among physicians who sold their practices to a hospital or health system, 79.5% cited the ability to negotiate higher payment rates as an important or very important reason for doing so. 
    • “4. Approximately 253,000 physicians became employees of hospitals or corporate entities between January 2018 and January 2026, with an additional 4,200 absorbed by insurers, private equity firms and pharmacy chains between 2024 and 2025.”