From Washington, DC,

• It’s worth noting that while the House of Representative has gone out of town for the August recess, the Senate will remain in session through next week.

• The Wall Street Journal reports,
  • “Hospitals would be required to disclose how they make key decisions regarding extremely premature infants in a bill set to be introduced Thursday by Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.).
  • “The legislation is in part prompted by a Wall Street Journal investigation last year that found mothers had been told no lifesaving measures were possible for their extremely premature infants, even though other hospitals nearby offered care for infants born at similar gestational ages.
  • “The Neonatal Care Transparency Act of 2025 would require hospitals to disclose publicly whether there is a minimal gestational age at which they offer active care for infants, rather than comfort measures before their death. While many hospitals require lifesaving measures to be given at 25 weeks’ gestational age or above, decisions on whether to attempt to save younger premature infants can vary by hospital or even doctor.”

• Per Senate news releases,
  • “On Thursday, July 31, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee will hold a hearing on how to lower health costs and make health care more affordable for American patients.
    • “Title: Making Health Care Affordable: Solutions to Lower Costs and Empower Patients
    • “Date: Thursday, July 31, 2025
    • “Time: 10:00 AM ET/ 9:00 AM CT
    • “Location: 430 Dirksen Senate Office Building
    • “Click here to watch live”
• and
  • “U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) announced the Committee will hold a nomination hearing on Thursday, July 31, 2025, at 10:00 AM ET to consider Bryan Switzer to be a Deputy United States Trade Representative (USTR), Gustav Chiarello III to be an Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Michael Stuart to be General Counsel of HHS and Derek Theurer to be a Deputy Under Secretary of the Treasury.
    • “Title: Hearing to consider nominees for USTR, HHS and Treasury
    • “Witnesses: Bryan Switzer; Gustav Chiarello; Michael Stuart; Derek Theurer
    • “Date: Thursday, July 31, 2025
    • “Time: 10:00 AM ET
    • “Location: 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building
    • “Witness testimony, opening statements and a live video of the hearing will be available on www.finance.senate.gov.”

• The Society for Human Resource Management tells us,
  • “The annual employee contribution limit for dependent care flexible spending accounts (FSAs) is increasing by 50% beginning next year, a change employers will want to communicate to employees as open enrollment season gears up. 
  • “The massive tax law that President Donald Trump signed July 4, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, raises the limit for the pretax benefit account used to pay for eligible dependent care services to $7,500 for single individuals and married couples filing jointly, up from $5,000, and $3,750 for married couples filing separately, up from $2,500. The increase is effective beginning Jan. 1, 2026.
  • “Industry experts have been pushing for a higher contribution limit for years, calling the new increase long overdue. Although other limits, such as for health savings accounts and medical FSAs, are indexed for inflation and usually increase nominally each year, that’s not the case for dependent care FSAs. The current limits have been in place since 1986, except for a temporary increase during the pandemic.
  • “The increase is a “game changer for both working parents and businesses,” said Sara Redington, co-founder of The Best Place for Working Parents (BP4WP), a Fort Worth, Texas-based organization that recognizes employers supporting working parents.”

• Tammy Flanagan, writing in Govexec, discusses “Why federal retirements are spiking this year. A sharp rise in retirement claims may be tied to fear instead of planning. If you’re eyeing the exit, make sure you’re not rushing into something you’ll regret.”

• Per STAT News,
  • “Everyone agrees that diet is important to good health. And yet fewer than a third of medical students receive the recommended minimum of 25 hours of nutrition education, and more than half report receiving no formal education on the topic at all. 
  • “That’s why health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may be pushing on an open door with his plans to require medical schools to include nutrition education in their curricula or else lose federal funding. 
  • “One of the things we’re gonna do at NIH is to really give a carrot and stick to medical schools across the country saying you gotta put in your first-year curriculum a really good, robust nutrition course,” he said in a video posted to his Instagram account earlier this month. 
  • “Medical experts who spoke with STAT noted that there is no standardized curriculum for nutrition, and that it’s not yet clear what specifics Kennedy may attach to funding or what training medical schools might have to cut back to make room for nutrition courses. But they were on board with Kennedy’s general goal, noting that many nutrition and food policy experts have been calling for this kind of change for years. A 2022 House of Representatives resolution on the need for better nutrition education also won bipartisan support. And some medical schools have already taken steps to strengthen their offerings on the subject.”

From the Food and Drug Administration front,

• Fierce Pharma points out,
  • “Although Sarepta Therapeutics managed to defuse a brief stalemate with the FDA earlier this week, the U.S. drug regulator is reportedly going to put the company to work in order to affirm the safety of its Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) gene therapy Elevidys.
  • “Sarepta would need to conduct new analyses to validate the safety of Elevidys—which has had U.S. shipments paused by the company over a mounting string of controversies—to the FDA, Endpoints News reported Thursday, citing an unnamed senior FDA official.
  • “It’s unclear what sorts of studies Sarepta would need to run to get Elevidys back in the agency’s good graces, or whether the company might need to conduct a new clinical trial, Endpoints noted. The publication said it was unable to independently verify the internal FDA discussions alluded to by the official.
  • “That said, no one at the FDA thinks the treatment should return to market based on current data, an anonymous FDA official told Bloomberg.”
• and
  • “Danish dermatology specialist Leo Pharma has scored an FDA approval that makes its JAK inhibitor cream Anzupgo (delgocitinib) the first therapeutic in the U.S. specifically indicated for chronic hand eczema (CHE).
  • “The endorsement covers adults with moderate to severe CHE for whom topical corticosteroids either have been inadequate or are not suitable. In September of last year, Anzpugo became the first topical treatment for the condition approved in Europe.
  • “Dermatologists hailed the approval as a long-awaited treatment option for a condition that is often overlooked despite it affecting 1 in 10 adults in the world. A recent study commissioned by Leo and conducted by Ipsos showed that more than half of nearly 200 dermatologists who were surveyed were frustrated by the lack of progress in the indication.
  • “They said current therapeutics for moderate to severe atopic dermatitis—which are often prescribed to treat CHE—don’t sufficiently translate as treatments for moderate to severe CHE.”
    
• The American Hospital Association News lets us know,
  • “The Food and Drug Administration has identified a Class I recall of Edwards Lifesciences OptiSite Arterial Perfusion Cannula devices due to the potential for serious injury or death. Edwards identified incidents in which a 3mm to 4mm section of wire from the wire-reinforcement coil at the cannula tip was found to be exposed. The FDA said that some Femoral Arterial Cannula models are made of the same components as the OptiSite Arterial Perfusion Cannula models. Edwards has called for both products to be removed from wherever they are used or sold.”

• Modern Healthcare reports,
  • “The Food and Drug Administration has classified Baxter’s recall of its Q-Link 13 mobile lift component as the most serious type, meaning it could lead to critical injuries or death if customers continue to use it.
  • “The Q-Link 13 is used with seven models of the company’s mobile lifts, which are used to move patients with limited mobility from one location to another or help with gait training.
  • “It’s an optional part that can be connected with a quick-release hook for sling bars, which hold the lifting sling. It could be attached incorrectly, possibly causing it to come loose and lead to a patient fall. This could result in serious injury to the patient or a caregiver trying to prevent the fall.
  • “This issue has potentially been associated with three serious injuries and one death, according to Baxter.”

From the judicial front,

• The Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette reports,
  • “A federal judge on Wednesday said he will try to issue a ruling soon on whether a new state law banning pharmacies operated by out-of-state pharmacy benefit managers should be enjoined while the matter is being litigated in court.”

• Govexec tells us,
  • “The Trump administration revealed to a federal court on Thursday the specific offices at which widespread layoffs were planned as of earlier this year, providing rare insight into the scale of its proposed reductions in force.” * * *
  • “The administration revealed the requests to the U.S. Court for the Northern District of California after Judge Susan Illston ordered their disclosure. Illston previously blocked the administration from moving forward with RIFs at all, but that injunction was overturned by the Supreme Court. The judge is now seeking to verify the legality of RIF plans on an agency-by-agency basis and sought information from 17 agencies the administration had told the Supreme Court were set to begin layoffs when Illston’s injunction took effect. 
  • “The Trump administration said the list in some cases undercounted the number of offices developing RIF plans and in others overcounted and has consistently maintained its plans were moving targets. An appeals court this week blocked another order from Illston requiring the administration to disclose to the court reorganization and RIF plans at every major agency, though those were not yet set to be made public.”  

From the public health and medical research front,

• The AP reports,
  • “The fertility rate in the U.S. dropped to an all-time low in 2024 with less than 1.6 kids per woman, new federal data released Thursday shows.
  • “The U.S. was once among only a few developed countries with a rate that ensured each generation had enough children to replace itself — about 2.1 kids per woman. But it has been sliding in America for close to two decades as more women are waiting longer to have children or never taking that step at all. 
  • “The new statistic is on par with fertility rates in western European countries, according to World Bank data.
  • “Alarmed by recent drops, the Trump administration has taken steps to increase falling birth rates, like issuing an executive order meant to expand access to and reduce costs of in vitro fertilization and backing the idea of “baby bonuses” that might encourage more couples to have kids.
  • “But there’s no reason to be alarmed, according to Leslie Root, a University of Colorado Boulder researcher focused on fertility and population policy. 
  • “We’re seeing this as part of an ongoing process of fertility delay. We know that the U.S. population is still growing, and we still have a natural increase — more births than deaths,” she said.”

• The Hill tells us,
  • “A new study suggests diets including eggs, especially the yolk, may help reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
  • “Published in The Journal of Nutrition, the study followed more than 1,000 U.S. adults and found that those who consumed more than one egg weekly had a 47 percent reduced risk of Alzheimer’s.
  • “Over an average follow-up of 6.7 years, 280 participants, or 27.3 percent, were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia. Researchers found that 39 percent of the “total effect of egg intake” was linked to choline, a nutrient found in egg yolks known to support memory and brain function.
  • “Egg yolks also contain omega-3 fatty acids, which have neuroprotective benefits, further supporting brain health.”

• The New York Times relates,
  • “Tens of millions of people in the United States struggle with obstructive sleep apnea, a condition that occurs when the throat muscles narrow during sleep, leading to temporary pauses in breathing that can cause people to snore and jolt awake, gasping for air.
  • “Poor sleep can leave people feeling exhausted, irritable and unfocused during the day. And if left untreated, sleep apnea can increase the risk for serious conditions like high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, heart attack and stroke.
  • “For decades, the primary treatment for sleep apnea has been continuous positive airway pressure (or CPAP). Before bed, those with the condition put on a face mask that is connected to a CPAP machine, which keeps the airway open by forcing air into it. The machines are effective, but many find them so noisy, cumbersome or uncomfortable that they end up abandoning them.
  • “Now, a more appealing option may be on the way, according to a news release from Apnimed, a pharmaceutical company focused on treating sleep apnea. On Wednesday, the company announced a second round of positive Phase 3 clinical trial results for a first-of-its-kind oral pill that can be taken just before bedtime to help keep a person’s airway open.” * * *
  • “Dr. Phyllis Zee, a sleep doctor and researcher at Northwestern Medicine who was not involved with the trial, said that if approved, the drug could transform the lives of many. That includes not only those who can’t tolerate CPAP machines, but also those who can’t — or prefer not to — use other interventions, such as other types of oral devices or weight loss medications. (Excess weight is a risk factor for sleep apnea.)”

• Per STAT News,
  • “A Phase 3 study of AstraZeneca’s gefurulimab hit its primary and all secondary endpoints, teeing up talks with regulators about the potential blockbuster treatment for generalized myasthenia gravis, Fierce Biotech writes. AstraZeneca’s high hopes for the drug rest on the belief that the weekly, self-administered medicine can unlock an earlier, broader population than its existing gMG drug Ultomiris. In the study, people on gefurulimab performed significantly better on a gMG scale that assesses the ability to perform daily activities versus those on placebo, achieving the primary endpoint of the study.”

• The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released its Final Research Plan for Vision in Children Ages 6 Months to 5 Years: Screening.

• Aunt Minnie adds,
  • “Changing national lung cancer screening guidelines in 2021 may have contributed to a surge in screening exams, but less lung cancer was detected in newly screened participants, and racial, ethnic, and sexual disparities persisted overall, according to a study published July 21 in the Journal of Thoracic Imaging.
  • “While numerous studies have examined the effects of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)’s 2021 lung cancer screening (LCS) guidelines on eligibility, this study focused on participation and lung cancer outcomes over the first 10 years of implementing an LCS program.” * * *
  • “Simply revising the guidelines increases eligibility but does not guarantee participation in LCS for these populations,” Lin and colleagues wrote. “These findings underscore the need for continued emphasis on active outreach and patient education efforts to promote LCS among racial and ethnic minority groups, as well as the further evaluation of how these initiatives impact participation and outcomes.”

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

• Yahoo Finance lets us know,
  •  “Independence Blue Cross (IBX) is helping to improve recovery outcomes for its Medicare Advantage members after they leave the hospital and reduce costs with its Post-Acute Care Program. The program combines predictive analytics, proactive case management, and a focus on home-based recovery, to ensure members receive the right care at the right time after a stay at the hospital. Since its launch in July 2022, it has helped to improve CAHPS survey scores—a tool used to measure members’ experiences with health care services and strengthen health care in the U.S. It has also delivered $13 million in cost savings and earned the prestigious Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s (BCBSA) North Star Award for its measurable impact.”

• Per Beckers Payer Issues,
  • “Priority Health, the insurance arm of Grand Rapids, Mich. based Corewell Health, will become the governing member of Group Health Cooperative of Eau Claire, a Wisconsin-based health plan with more than 61,000 members.
  • “Both organizations expect the transaction to close by the end of 2025, pending regulatory approvals.
  • “The agreement will make Priority Health a four-state health plan with more than 1.3 million members across Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin.”

• Per the AHA News,
  • “The AHA July 24 announced it is collaborating with health care technology leader Epic to help hospitals adopt tools that support the early detection and treatment of postpartum hemorrhage, a leading cause of maternal mortality. 
  • “The organizations have released a toolkit that includes dynamic risk assessments, clinical decision support and treatment guidance embedded in the electronic health record. With the proper permissions from applicable content providers, users of any EHR should be able to implement a similar set of tools. 
  • “The American Hospital Association and Epic share a deep commitment to improving health outcomes for moms and babies,” said Chris DeRienzo, M.D., AHA chief physician executive and a neonatologist. “This new collaboration amplifies our efforts to drive continuous improvement by sharing evidence-based resources to help reduce this tragic condition. It’s a natural extension of AHA’s Patient Safety Initiative, a collaborative data-driven effort to highlight and learn from patient safety progress at hospitals and health systems around the country.” 
  • “The AHA and Epic will support hospitals in their implementation journey with programming, resources and a space to learn from each other and engage with hospitals already seeing successful outcomes with items that are included in the toolkit.”

• Healthcare Dive informs us,
  • “Labcorp has agreed to acquire certain ambulatory outreach laboratory assets from Community Health Systems, furthering an expansion push that has seen the testing services provider forge deals with a growing list of local and national health systems.
  • “The $195 million cash agreement with CHS includes patient service centers and in-office phlebotomy locations in 13 states, where Labcorp will assume some facility leases.
  • “Evercore ISI analyst Elizabeth Anderson, in a note to clients Tuesday, called the deal “very much in-line with [Labcorp’s] long-stated hospital management and outreach strategy where it continues to build a strong track record.”