Simplicity is a virtue.

From Washington, D.C.,

• The American Hospital Association News reports,
  • “The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Oct. 9 released its first report on how states are implementing funds from the Rural Health Transformation Program, which will distribute $50 billion to rural providers from fiscal year 2026 to FY 2030. The report covers the period from Dec. 29, 2025, to July 31, 2026. The report details how much each state has allocated for the first year of the program, which would be spent by September 2027.”

• Over the past week, CMS has issued news releases about contributions to the following State rural health programs:
  • Iowa
  • Louisiana
  • North Carolina

• Per Health and Human Services news releases,
  • “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today launched the Newborn Essentials Support Toolkit (NEST) Program at West Virginia University Medicine Golisano Children’s Hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia, marking the next phase of a federal initiative designed to support mothers and babies during the critical first days and weeks after birth.
  • “Led by HHS through the Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs (IEA) in coordination with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), NEST provides families with a one-time kit of essential newborn and postpartum supplies, maternal health items, and trusted information and resources around the time of birth.” * * *
  • “NEST Kits are distributed through hospitals, federally qualified health centers, and other organizations providing maternity care to mothers late in pregnancy or around the time of birth. Through these trusted partners, HHS is working to reach families in communities across the country while prioritizing areas where mothers and babies face greater barriers to care and resources.
  • “Through NEST, HHS is building on what families and healthcare providers said worked: providing useful, high-quality supplies at a moment when families need them most, while connecting mothers with trusted information to help care for themselves and their newborns.
  • “For more information, visit hhs.gov/newbaby.”
• and
  • “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Administration for Community Living (ACL), today announced the recipients of three falls prevention initiatives totaling up to $27.8 million over three years. The funding will expand proven programs, strengthen connections between health care providers and community organizations, and help states and local partners reach more older adults before a fall leads to injury or loss of independence.
  • “Falls are the leading cause of injury for people 65 and older. One in four older adults falls every year, and a fall is rarely just a fall. It can result in an injury or hospital stay, and non-fatal falls account for an estimated $80 billion in healthcare spending per year. A fall can also shake a person’s confidence and make everyday activities — from walking and shopping to visiting friends — more difficult. Healthcare and aging network providers can help prevent many falls by identifying risks early. They can then connect older adults with programs and support that build strength, improve balance, and make their homes safer.
  • “The three initiatives put prevention first and advance the Trump Administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda. They will connect screening with community support, expand proven programs statewide, and help organizations deliver and sustain them.” * * *
  • “Learn more about ACL’s Falls Prevention Program here.”
• and
  • “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) provided a new recommendation to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that establishes science-based thresholds for 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) and mitragynine pseudoindoxyl (MGPI), potent opioid compounds associated with products marketed as kratom.
  • “The Department of Justice today announced that DEA issued new Notices of Intent reflecting HHS’ updated scientific analysis and recommendations, including a new Notice of Intent for 7-OH and MGPI incorporating HHS’ recommended concentration and ratio thresholds.
  • Following a review of available scientific data and comments, HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Brian Christine, M.D., recommended that DEA use concentration or ratio-based thresholds to determine which products containing 7-OH and MGPI are subject to Schedule I control for purposes of temporary scheduling of these substances under the Controlled Substances Act.
  • “The recommendation is designed to target concentrated or chemically altered products while distinguishing them from natural botanical kratom products, which may contain trace amounts of 7-OH and MGPI.”

• Beckers Clinical Leadership adds,
  • “The National Institutes of Health plans to launch a public-private partnership in December to speed development of personalized cancer vaccines, according to an Oct. 9 New York Times report.”
    
• NCQA, writing in LinkedIn, tells us,
  • “At the opening of the 2026 Health Innovation Summit in Atlanta, NCQA President and CEO Dr. Vivek Garg, MD, MBA reflected on his first year leading the organization, honored the legacy of healthcare quality pioneers and invited attendees to help shape what comes next. Addressing a room filled with health plans, clinicians, policymakers, researchers, employers, technology leaders and patient advocates, he framed the Summit theme, Quality’s Next Chapter, as both a moment of reflection and a call to action.
  • “A year ago, many of you met me for the first time on this stage, when Peggy O’Kane handed off an organization she spent more than three decades building,” Dr. Garg said. “I’ve spent the year since mostly listening.”
  • That year of listening, he said, clarified NCQA’s mission and reinforced a central belief: “we cannot write quality’s next chapter alone.”

From the U.S. Food and Drug Administration front,

• Bloomberg Law reports,
  • “Food manufacturers can now use salt substitutes in common foods including bread, canned peas, and sour cream under a federal rule regulators updated in an effort to reduce Americans’ sodium intake.
  • “A final rule published Friday in the Federal Register under public inspection loosens requirements that certain foods contain salt under the Food and Drug Administration’s standards of identity, which regulate what a product must contain to be marketed as a specific food.
  • “The regulatory update allowing food makers to use salt substitutes actualizes a proposal from the Biden administration to improve consumers’ diets, as officials raised concern that the average American consumes a level of sodium that’s 50% above the limit recommended by scientists.” 

• Reuters relates,
  • “Teva (TEVA.TA), opens new tab ​said on Friday it had received approval ‌from the US Food and Drug Administration for Weltruza, a once-monthly injection for adults with ​schizophrenia.
  • “Weltruza is the second US-approved product ​from Israel-based Teva’s partnership with French ⁠biotech company Medincell (MEDCL.PA), opens new tab after Uzedy, a long-acting ​injectable form of antipsychotic drug risperidone, which ​the FDA approved in 2023.”

• Medical Life Sciences News tells us,
  • “The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology (Alliance) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the immunotherapy drug atezolizumab (Tecentriq^®) in combination with fluoropyrimidine and oxaliplatin chemotherapy, for the adjuvant treatment of patients with stage III colon cancer with deficient deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) mismatch repair (dMMR).
  • “The approval is based on findings from the phase III Alliance ATOMIC (A021502) trial, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and conducted in partnership with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, and the German group Arbeitsgemeinschaft Internistische Onkologie (AIO). The study demonstrated that patients with stage III colon cancer whose tumors had mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR) experienced significantly improved disease-free survival, a surrogate for overall survival, when atezolizumab was added to standard adjuvant chemotherapy following surgery.”
    
• Healio adds,
  • “Medicare coverage is now available for the Fsyx ocular pressure adjusting pump, a device indicated to lower IOP in patients with glaucoma while they are sleeping.
  • “The device consists of pressure-sensing goggles connected to a compact pump that counteracts IOP overnight using negative pressure. CMS reimbursement for the Fsyx ocular pressure adjusting pump (Balance Ophthalmics) became effective on Oct. 1.”

From the Medicare Advantage front,

• Healthcare Dive reports,
  • “Medicare Advantage star ratings are slipping in 2027, though one major insurer clinched an extreme upgrade.
  • “Humana, which suffered a major ratings collapse two years ago, saw the percentage of its members in 4+ star plans rocket from 41% in 2026 to 93% in 2027, according to a Healthcare Dive analysis of stars data released Thursday by the CMS.” * * *
  • “Alignment Healthcare, which covers some 280,000 members in five states, was one of the biggest losers, after its largest contract slipped below 4 stars for 2027.
  • “It’s a serious setback for the California-based insurer, given the contract covers around three-fourths of its total membership. Next year, Alignment will only have 25% of members in plans rated above that threshold, down from 98% currently.”

• Beckers Payer Issues delves into Humana’s star rating turnaround.

From the judicial front

• The American Hospital Association News reports,
  • “The AHA, the Maine Hospital Association and four safety-net hospitals Oct. 9 filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine challenging changes by the Department of Health and Human Services to the 340B Drug Pricing Program that would expand the use of a proposed rebate model previously halted by the courts.  
  • The lawsuit seeks to prevent implementation of the new program, which is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2027. The rebate program would impose significant new financial and administrative burdens on hospitals that participate in the 340B program. Estimates show the new program could impose more than $1 billion in annual administrative costs on already-strapped hospitals. 
  • “When the government makes a change of this magnitude, it must fully consider what it will mean for the patients and communities that rely on 340B hospitals every day,” said Steve Walsh, president and CEO of the AHA. “The AHA and its member hospitals provided detailed evidence showing that the Rebate Program would impose massive new costs and divert resources that support care for millions of patients. We also proposed viable alternatives that would address concerns about transparency and program integrity without imposing the same financial price tag. For the sake of our shared goal of protecting patients and expanding access to care, those costs, consequences and alternatives cannot be treated as afterthoughts. It’s unfortunate that we are back in court challenging the same flawed program.” 
  • “Following HHS’ attempt to launch a similar rebate program in 2025, both the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine and the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals faulted HHS for moving forward with a rebate mechanism without adequately accounting for what it would cost the hospitals required to operate it. Shortly thereafter, HHS moved forward with a revised version of the same Rebate Program — only twice as large and even more expensive. 
  • “The AHA and Maine Hospital Association are joined in this action by Eastern Maine Medical Center, Unity Medical Center in North Dakota, Dallas County Medical Center in Arkansas, and Nathan Littauer Hospital and Nursing Home in New York — all community-based healthcare providers that participate in the 340B program.  
  • “See the press release for more details.  

From the public health and medical / Rx research front,

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today,
  • “COVID-19, flu, and RSV are key indicators of overall respiratory illness activity.
  • “The amount of acute respiratory illness causing people to seek health care is very low.
  • “RSV activity is very low in most areas of the country.
  • “COVID-19 activity remains elevated in some regions but is declining nationally.
  • Seasonal flu activity is increasing in many parts of the country but remains low.
  • “Rhinovirus/Enterovirus (RV/EV) is increasing nationally.”

• The American Hospital Association News adds,
  • “There are now 1,136 confirmed measles cases in Pennsylvania this year amid the state’s outbreak, the Pennsylvania Department of Health announced Oct. 9. Of those, 219 individuals have been hospitalized and five people have died. Nationally, there have been 4,080 confirmed cases of measles this year, according to the latest update by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of those, the vaccination status of 95% of cases is unvaccinated or unknown.”
• and
  • “A study by the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center found that between 2007 and 2023, the percentage of midwife-attended births rose in both rural and urban settings and was higher in states that had full midwifery practice authority policies. The study, supported by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Nurse-Midwives. In 2007, 13 states and Washington, D.C., had full practice authority policies. From 2008 to 2023, 20 more states passed such policies. Overall, there was growth during the study period among states without full practice authority policies, states that passed policies in 2007 or earlier, and states that passed policies during the study period.”
    
• Beckers Clinical Leadership breaks down the measles cases by State and tells us,
  • “Flu season is arriving weeks earlier than usual this year, with health system, retail pharmacy and federal surveillance data all showing activity rising ahead of schedule.”

• Health Day informs us,
  • “HPV vaccination may reduce pregnancy complications.
  • “Women vaccinated against HPV had lower risks of preterm birth, early rupture of the amniotic sac and having a very small baby.
  • “Women vaccinated before age 17 showed stronger benefits.”
• and
  • “Exercise might help slow the mental and physical problems associated with Parkinson’s disease.
  • “Patients who got the most exercise had slower declines in movement, thinking and memory.
  • “More than eight hours of physical activity weekly produced the greatest benefits.
• and
  • “Among patients with cancer with a genetic variant that increases the risk for hereditary cancers, personalized support significantly increases the likelihood that their first-degree relatives complete genetic testing as well, according to a study published online Sept. 29 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.”

• Per NewsNation,
  • “The American Society of Hematology (ASH) has adjusted the standards for diagnosing iron deficiency in order to address the underdiagnosis of the condition.
  • “Iron deficiency impacts about two billion people worldwide and about 10 million American adults, according to a statement published by ASH. If left untreated, the condition can progress to iron deficiency anemia. One of the most common types of anemia. 
  • “It occurs when there’s a lack of iron in the blood, preventing the body from making hemoglobin. This is the molecule that carries oxygen throughout your body, according to the Cleveland Clinic.“

• Medical Economics notes,
  • “Adding a brief safety reminder to the instructions given to artificial intelligence (AI) models reduced potentially harmful clinical choices in 19 of 20 models tested, according to a new study from researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
  • “The study, published September 26 in Communications Medicine, a Nature Portfolio journal, evaluated more than 10 million responses from 20 large language models (LLMs). Without a safety reminder, potentially harmful choices made up 16.6% of model responses. With a brief reminder added, that rate fell to 10.1%.
  • “Across all responses, the models made about 1.18 million potentially harmful clinical choices, the researchers reported.
  • “The researchers said the findings suggest that how AI systems are prompted and guided remains an important consideration in building safe and reliable clinical applications, even as newer models and AI agents become better at understanding a user’s intent without lengthy or detailed instructions.”

• The New York Times points out,
  • “Last year, nearly 100 people tried a new form of medical care at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. After scheduling a visit with the hospital’s urgent care facility, they discussed their ailments with a Google chatbot before meeting with their doctors.
  • “The bot explored their symptoms, the possible causes of their maladies and the potential treatments, before generating a summary of each conversation. Doctors could then review the bot’s summary in preparation for a patient’s visit.
  • “These patients were part of an eight-month clinical trial that explored whether this specialized chatbot could assist primary care physicians without providing misleading or otherwise harmful information.
  • “In the first-of-its-kind study, published on Thursday in the medical journal The Lancet, the hospital’s primary care physicians said that the bot was helpful in about 75 percent of patient cases, and that the technology may have changed the way they handled more than half of those cases. “They compared it to a high-performing medical student or resident,” said Peter Brodeur, a resident physician at Beth Israel.”

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

• Fierce Pharma reports,
  • “As GSK works on a nearly $1 billion expansion at one wing of its Pennsylvania operations, the U.K.-headquartered Big Pharma is unveiling a similarly sized outlay to soup up another site across the state. 
  • “All told, GSK is plugging more than $800 million into an overhaul of its facilities in Upper Merion Township, where construction is slated to kick off next year, according to an Oct. 9 release from the office of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. 
  • “The goal is to set up a biopharma “innovation and manufacturing hub,” per the Governor’s release, which will ultimately wed commercial production and R&D activities at a single site with the aid of digital technologies.”
• and
  • “Prescriptions for Lilly’s Foundayo and Novo’s Wegovy pill pulled back a little during the last week. In its 26th week of launch, Foundayo achieved 57,920 total scripts, down 9.9% sequentially, according to IQVIA data cited by Citi. 
  • “For oral Wegovy, Citi said IQVIA recorded roughly 179K scripts, while Jefferies quoted 180K. To reconcile the discrepancy between the two numbers, we used 179.5K, which translates into a 1.4% weekly decline.
  • “In fact, scripts for all major GLP-1s declined last week across diabetes and obesity care, save for Lilly’s Zepbound KwikPen, a prefilled injection pen that delivers four fixed weekly doses of tirzepatide, according to Jefferies. Overall Zepbound scripts dipped below 800K in a 0.8% decrease sequentially, just as Novo’s total Wegovy scripts fell 2.7% to 505.5K, according to Citi.
  • “Based on the numbers, Jefferies now models $208 million for Foundayo sales in the third quarter, which the team noted is in line with consensus.” 
    
• Beckers Payer Issues relates,
  • “Fortune recognized five healthcare companies on its 2026 “AIQ 75” ranking.
  • “Fortune partnered with Enterprise Technology Research and pulled from ServiceNow’s Enterprise AI Maturity Index. The team assessed how Fortune 500 companies, the largest U.S. companies by revenue, deploy AI and value those investments. Fortune released its first inaugural AIQ ranking in 2025.” * * *
    Here is where the five healthcare companies landed:
    • 30. UnitedHealth Group (No. 3 on Fortune 500)
    • 31. Elevance Health (No. 18 on Fortune 500)
    • 36. DaVita (No. 331 on Fortune 500)
    • 48. Pfizer (No. 73 on Fortune 500)
    • 75. Thermo Fisher Scientific (No. 106 on Fortune 500)
• and
  • “The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association is bringing its data and analytics work “under one internal umbrella,” the organization confirmed to Becker’s Oct. 9.
  • “The former CEO of Blue Health Intelligence, an analytics company that has been a BCBSA licensee, said he wrapped up his work with the association in September after “supporting the integration of Blue Health Intelligence back into BCBSA.”
  • “I’m excited about the opportunity for the combined team to have an even greater impact on healthcare quality and affordability,” former BHI CEO Bob Darin said in an Oct. 8 LinkedIn post.
  • “A BCBSA spokesperson said the integration will help the association “better leverage data-driven insights to identify how we can lower costs, reduce friction and improve the healthcare experience for patients, employers and providers.”

• Beckers Hospital Review tells us,
  • “Revised federal price transparency rules have made hospital price data clearer, but several issues still complicate price comparisons, according to an Oct. 7 analysis from the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker.
  • “The revisions to the 2021 hospital price transparency rule took effect in January, and CMS began enforcing them in April. Hospitals must now post a negotiated rate as a dollar amount whenever the final payment can be known before care is delivered. When a rate is a percentage or a formula, hospitals must also report “allowed amount” data: the median, the 10th and 90th percentile payment amounts, and the number of payments.
  • “The researchers reviewed machine-readable files compiled by Turquoise Health and downloaded between July 17 and Aug. 2. They examined two common inpatient admission codes, MS-DRGs 280 and 807, in several local markets and reviewed national patterns across 6,445 hospitals.
  • “These complications reflect the complexity of payment arrangements between hospitals and payers,” the report stated.”
• and
  • “Fifty-seven hospitals across 22 states have converted to rural emergency facilities since the law that created the designation took effect in January 2023, according to data from CMS.
  • [The article identifies] the hospitals that have converted to rural emergency status, by state.
• and
  • “A $75,000 donation from Covenant Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas, has helped erase $14 million in medical debt for 10,865 residents through a partnership with nonprofit Undue Medical Debt, The Austin American-Statesman reported Oct. 9.
  • “The church used part of a $200,000 budget surplus to fund the relief, targeting residents in an area of Travis County with significant financial need, according to the report. Recipients are being notified by mail the week of Oct. 9 and do not need to take any action to receive the relief.”

• Beckers ASC Review points out,
  • “Cardiology is shaping up to be the next big ASC specialty, following the path GI took in the 1990s and orthopedics in the 2010s. Medicare’s 2026 decision to pay for cardiac ablation in ASCs, a proposed 2027 rule that keeps widening the door and payer pressure on site-of-care have pushed cath and EP labs onto ASC leaders’ agendas.”
    
• Beckers Physician Leadership notes,
  • “Health systems want physicians to be more productive, and physicians want to be paid fairly for the work they do. 
  • “Somewhere between those two goals, many compensation models break down — either rewarding volume at the expense of everything else or offering so much guaranteed pay that productivity has no meaning.
  • “Westchester Medical Center Health Network, based in Valhalla, N.Y., is working through that tension now. The system is building a new physician compensation structure as it expands its medical group, which includes roughly 1,100 to 1,200 academic and community practitioners, and shifts from an inpatient-centric mix close to 80/20 toward something nearer 50/50 or 60/40 ambulatory.” * * *
  • “The risk in any productivity-based model, Dr. Tedjarati said that physicians start to feel like a cog in a machine. The structure has to signal that the organization still values them for who they are and what they bring, and that they remain part of a larger mission. Because institutions are constantly competing for the same physicians, he said, getting that balance wrong carries a real cost.
  • “It’s really about agility. It’s about agility and creating comp models that people can understand,” he said.
  • “When those pieces are in place, Dr. Tedjarati said, the incentive structure becomes something physicians can see themselves succeeding in rather than something imposed on them.
  • “I think people do well when they know where they’re starting and where they’re going to, and that if they happen to be more productive and more efficient, maintaining the quality that is required, then they should be appropriately rewarded and compensated,” he said.”