From Washington, DC,
- The House of Representatives and the Senate will be in session this week for Committee business and floor voting. This is the last week that the two legislative bodies are scheduled to be in session during 2025.
- Roll Call lets us know,
- “The last week of the congressional session before Christmas could feature a flurry of activity on unfinished business for both the House and Senate, from spending bills and health care costs to nominations.
- “House Republican leaders released draft legislation Friday afternoon consisting of a package of health proposals aimed at reducing health care costs in 2026, aiming to lay down a marker ahead of the midterm election year as Democrats continue to hammer them over the pending expiration of Affordable Care Act premium tax credits.
- “The House Rules Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday afternoon to consider the GOP bill for floor action.” * * *
- “Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has set up a busy getaway week, having last week filed multiple motions to limit debate on various measures. First on the Senate floor agenda is the final House-Senate agreement on the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, with a cloture vote scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday.”
- “Beyond the NDAA, the other percolating legislative business is a much awaited agreement on a second package of fiscal 2026 appropriation bills. The objective remains to pass as many of the regular spending measures as possible before the current continuing appropriations law expires at the end of January. The Senate is scheduled to be out of session the week of Jan. 19. [Here is a link to the 2026 House of Representatives calendar.]
- “President Donald Trump and Republicans in the Senate are set up for a year-end victory on nominations, again taking advantage of the rules change the Senate GOP enacted earlier this year to allow expedited consideration of bundles of nominations through executive branch resolutions. A package on track for confirmation this week includes 97 nominations for roles across federal departments and agencies, with at least two additional individual nominees also slated for floor action.”
- Per a House news release,
- “On Wednesday, December 17, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. ET, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a Member Day hearing. The hearing will convene in room HVC 210 of the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. Members of Congress, regardless of Committee assignment, are invited to testify on issues within the Committee’s jurisdiction, including specific legislation or topics of importance to them, their district, and their constituents.”
- STAT News reports,
- “The federal government has sent a record $16 billion to health insurers that sell Medicare drug plans, a flashing red sign that prescription drug spending is blowing up far beyond what government officials and insurance experts had expected.” * * *
- “Every year, Medicare looks at drug spending data and calculates whether the insurers’ drug plans, known as Part D plans, spent more or less than what they had projected at the start of the year. If insurers’ costs were more than expected, the government gives them an infusion to help subsidize the losses, known as reconciliation payments.
- “The new $16 billion payout — which was for drug spending in 2024 — was by far the largest reconciliation payment since the Part D program went into effect in 2006, according to Medicare data. It was nearly four times more than the $4.3 billion that Part D plans got in 2023. The closest was $11.1 billion in 2014, when the Affordable Care Act was phasing out the so-called donut hole coverage gap in Part D plans.” * * *
- “In November, the CBO called for more research into Part D spending “to help explain the unexpected growth in costs.” The group wants to understand if the changes to things like the out-of-pocket cap are driving more people to fill prescriptions if they know their financial exposure is limited.”
- MedTech Dive tells us,
- “The Food and Drug Administration has created a pathway for unauthorized digital health devices to access a new Medicare payment option.
- “In a policy published last week, the FDA said it will consider waiving typical market access rules for companies that want to join a new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services program.
- ‘The pathway could enable device developers to collect data through real-world use in the CMS’ Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions, or ACCESS, program.”
- Per a National Science Foundation news release,
- “The U.S. National Science Foundation Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (NSF TIP) on Friday announced the launch of a new initiative designed to launch and scale a new generation of independent research organizations. These organizations will focus on technical challenges and bottlenecks that traditional university and industry labs cannot easily solve on their own. NSF seeks feedback on this initiative through a Request for Information (RFI).
- “As scientific challenges have become more complex and dependent upon the work of cross-disciplinary teams of experts, our nation must expand its scientific funding toolkit to adapt,” said Erwin Gianchandani, NSF TIP Assistant Director. “Tech Labs will provide entrepreneurial teams of proven scientists the freedom and flexibility to pursue breakthrough science at breakneck speed, without needing to frequently stop and apply for additional grant funding with each new idea or development.” * * *
- “To learn more, read the RFI and plan to join a webinar on Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, at 11 a.m. EST. Please register in advance for the webinar.”
From the public health and medical / Rx research front,
- Beckers Clinical Leadership reports,
- “Flu hospitalizations are at the third-highest level seen at this point in the season in 15 years, according to the CDC’s latest FluView report [released December 11, 2025].
- “The cumulative flu hospitalization rate for the week ending Dec. 6 reached 6.9 per 100,000, ranking third highest for week 49 since the 2010–11 flu season. Only the 2022–23 season (36.1) and 2023–24 season (9.5) reported higher rates at this point. Meanwhile, the weekly flu hospitalization rate increased to 2.2 per 100,000, up from 1.7 the week prior.”
- The New York Times explains what menopause does to a woman’s body from head to toe.
- MedPage Today adds,
- “Menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) did not increase breast cancer risk in women with BRCA mutations, according to a study reported here.
- “In fact, women who used estrogen-only MHT had a significantly lower risk of breast cancer compared with a matched cohort of women who did not use MHT (42.% vs 24.9%). An analysis of different types of estrogen showed either a lower risk of breast cancer or no effect. MHT that included estrogen and progesterone had no effect on breast cancer risk.
- “The findings added to a growing body of literature showing the safety of MHT, reported Joanne Kotsopoulos, PhD, of Women’s College Hospital and the University of Toronto, at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
- Medscape tells us,
- “Semaglutide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist (RA), was associated with a significantly lower risk for adult-onset epilepsy in patients with diabetes than other glucose-lowering drugs (GLDs). Notably, this risk reduction appeared largely independent of improvements in glycemic control or weight.
- “Approved for type 2 diabetes and obesity management, semaglutide has shown neuroprotective effects in stroke and dementia, but these new findings suggest it may also have a unique neuroprotective mechanism specific to seizure prevention.
- “If a patient has type two diabetes and a high risk or likelihood of a seizure disorder, it would be beneficial to consider using semaglutide with overall brain health in mind, not just for stroke prevention and cardiovascular health,” Yong Eun, MD, primary care attending, Department of Medicine, NYC Health, Columbia University, New York City, told Medscape Medical News.”
From the U.S. healthcare business and artificial intelligence front,
- Fierce Healthcare explains “why health plans need to bridge the member trust gap to fully harness technology.”
- Beckers Payer Issues summarizes “major payer acquisitions have closed or were announced in 2025.
- Beckers Hospital Review ranks twenty health systems by operating margins.
- “As policy uncertainties, reimbursement pressures and continued cuts and closures weigh on hospitals and health systems heading into 2026, third-quarter operating margins showed wide variation.
- ‘Several systems, including UnityPoint, Montefiore Health System and Providence, reported operating losses or near-break-even results, while others, such as Allegheny Health Network, UPMC and Northwell Health, recorded only modest gains. On the stronger end, Tenet Healthcare led all systems with a 16.8% operating margin, followed by HCA Healthcare at 12.6% and Universal Health Services at 11.6%.”