From Washington, DC,

• Govexec reports,
  • “Republicans are renewing their push to fully fund and reopen the Homeland Security Department, suggesting the war the United States launched against Iran over the weekend has heightened the need to end the single-agency shutdown that entered its third week on Monday. 
  • “House Republicans will bring up another vote on a DHS appropriations bill this week, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., announced, saying it was dangerous for Democrats to continue holding up the funding due to concerns over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown. 
  • “The legislation would “end the DHS shutdown so we can ensure agencies can protect America during this dangerous time,” Scalise said, noting the FBI has warned of an elevated threat of terrorist activity domestically.” * * *
  • “Most of the department’s employees have continued to work during the shutdown, with only about 8% of the workforce home on furlough. Many employees, such as law enforcement and other personnel at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, are receiving their normal paychecks thanks to funding Congress provided in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Others, such as Transportation Security Administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency workers, have started to receive partial paychecks or will do so this week. The U.S. Coast Guard is paying its uniformed personnel on time, but civilians will face delayed pay.” 

• Healthcare Dive relates,
  • “The American Medical Association is overhauling how U.S. doctors report and bill for pregnancy services, bulldozing the current system of bundled payments and replacing it with more granular, itemized codes next year.
  • “The changes, shared exclusively with Healthcare Dive, could help improve poor maternity health outcomes in the U.S. But it’s also an acquiescence to specialty groups, which have long lobbied the powerful medical association that modern obstetric services are more complex than the current coding system is able to reflect.
  • “The move also represents a step back for value-based care, and could incentivize OB-GYNs and other doctors to provide unnecessary medical services at a time of skyrocketing health spending.
  • “But the changes shouldn’t result in OBGYNs, nurse-midwives or other maternity care specialists bringing in more revenue, according to the AMA, which argues the new coding system will benefit the entire healthcare industry.” * * *
  • “Global codes are normally billed when a baby is delivered, which can keep insurers in the dark about their members’ pregnancies. The new codes should give insurers more information, including when a member gets pregnant, that could help them ensure expecting mothers get adequate prenatal care, or know if mothers had complications during delivery that could necessitate follow-up services, according to Dr. Daniel Halevy, an executive at New York nonprofit insurer Healthfirst.”
• and
  • “Sweeping reforms in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2026, signed into law by President Donald Trump earlier this month, included changes that could upend the traditional PBM model, while also turning attention back to drugmakers.” * * *
  • “With PBMs’ bargaining power facing stricter limits under the new reform [which takes effect later this decade to allow for necessary rulemaking], questions surrounding pricing could shift in a new direction.
  • “Be ready for the spotlight to swing back to drug manufacturers,” said Jesse Dresser, a partner in law firm Frier Levitt’s life sciences department and head of its pharmacy practice group.
  • “As PBMs lose traction in the coming years, the pressure on drugmakers to justify their own list prices could intensify.
  • “Now, the argument is going to be that PBMs have been handcuffed, limiting their ability to use some of these abusive tools,” Dresser suggested. “So, it’s going to be up to the drug manufacturers to make sure they’re taking the appropriate steps and not continuing in the old paradigm now that there should be a shift in financial incentives.”
    
• Bloomberg Law reports,
  • “A group representing thousands of pharmacies across the US said its members are experiencing financial issues after the rollout of the government’s drug price negotiation program, urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to immediately address cash flow concerns.
  • “A letter from the National Community Pharmacists Association is asking CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz to ensure pharmacies receive timely payments under the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, finding in a survey that its members are facing cash flow issues after dispensing certain drugs and waiting for a refund from the manufacturer. 
  • “We need CMS to take all necessary steps to expedite the manufacturers’” refund payments to pharmacies, Ronna Hauser, senior vice president of policy and pharmacy affairs for NCPA, said in the letter to the CMS sent Thursday. “Pharmacies cannot continue to dispense these drugs with delayed payments unless the cash flow issues significantly improve.”

• Per an Employee Benefits Research Institute news release,
  • “Rising health care costs are affecting household finances for many privately insured adults, with 4 in 10 reporting higher expenses in the past year and many cutting discretionary spending or reducing retirement contributions, according to results from the 2025 EBRI/Greenwald Research Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey (CEHCS) released today by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).
  • “Employment-based coverage remained the dominant source of private insurance, with 6 in 10 covered through their own job. Deductibles also remained widespread across plan types: More than three-quarters of enrollees had a medical deductible, including 70% of traditional plan enrollees. Enrollment in high-deductible health plans dipped slightly in 2025, while enrollment in consumer-directed health plans and health savings accounts (HSAs) appeared relatively stable.
  • “The annual survey also found that most enrollees spent relatively little time selecting coverage during open enrollment, with about half spending less than an hour reviewing options and most spending under two hours. While most adults reported being satisfied with the ease of plan selection and the information available, satisfaction with the availability of affordable plan options and the number of plans to choose from declined in 2025.”

• Beckers Payer Issues tells us,
  • “CMS is sanctioning Elevance Health and plans to suspend enrollment into the insurer’s Medicare Advantage prescription drug plans, according to a Feb. 27 agency letter.
  • ‘The enrollment and communications pause is set to begin March 31 unless Elevance submits all data corrections and an attestation in advance. CMS said the intermediate sanctions stem from “substantial and persistent noncompliance with Medicare Advantage risk adjustment data submission requirements.” The sanctions will apply until Elevance resolves the issues.”

• Per a Labor Department news release,
  • “The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announced [February 26] a proposed rule designed to help workers and employers better understand how to determine when a worker is an employee and when the worker may be classified as an independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act and related federal laws. 
  • The proposed rule would rescind the department’s 2024 final rule addressing the classification of independent contractors and replace it with an analysis for employee classification similar to the one adopted by the department in 2021. Consistent with Supreme Court and federal circuit court precedent, the proposed rule would make it easier to properly differentiate between employees with the protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act and those workers who work as independent contractors.” * * *
  • “The department encourages all interested parties to submit comments on the proposed rule, which has a 60-day comment period that closes at 11:59 p.m. ET on April 28, 2026.” 

From the Food and Drug Administration front,

• BioPharma Dive reports,
  • “Ascendis Pharma said Friday the Food and Drug Administration granted accelerated approval to a treatment it’s developed for the most common type of dwarfism, ending what had been a monopoly for rival drugmaker BioMarin Pharmaceutical. 
  • “The new drug, previously known as TransCon CNP and now Yuviwel, is a once-weekly injection cleared for children aged two and older with achondroplasia and open growth plates. The treatment will compete with Voxzogo, a daily shot sold by BioMarin.”

• MedTech Dive relates,
  • “Abbott has won approval for updated remote heart failure monitoring technology, the company said Friday.
  • “The Food and Drug Administration awarded approval to CardioMEMS Hero, a new version of the device that patients use to take daily pulmonary artery pressure readings.
  • “Abbott has made Hero smaller and 60% lighter than the previous reader, fitting the electronics into a device the size of a laptop case to make it easier to use and take on planes.”
• and
  • “Unomedical, a subsidiary of Convatec and a supplier of insulin infusion sets to diabetes tech firms, received a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration in January.
  • “Inspectors raised concerns with leaking infusion sets, which can pose a risk of insulin under-delivery, potentially leading to life-threatening complications like diabetic ketoacidosis.  “Regulators called for Unomedical to address problems with validating its devices, addressing complaints and providing timely adverse event reports to the FDA.
  • “The warning letter followed a remote regulatory assessment of Unomedical’s facility in Reynosa, Mexico, last summer.”

From the judicial front,

• Bloomberg Law reports,
  • “The Justice Department said it won’t appeal the decision of a New York federal judge to throw out a murder charge against Luigi Mangione, which means he won’t face the death penalty if he’s convicted of killing UnitedHealth Group Inc. executive Brian Thompson.
  • “US District Judge Margaret Garnett ruled in January that prosecutors can’t pursuethe capital murder charge, but that a jury could determine if Mangione caused Thompson’s death under two federal stalking laws. If convicted of those crimes, he could face life in prison without possibility of parole. 
  • “In a one-page letter Friday to Garnett, a Justice Department lawyer said prosecutors won’t challenge the judge’s decision.” 

From the public health and medical / Rx research front,

• The American Hospital Association News reports,
  • “A report published March 2 by the American Cancer Society found that colorectal cancer rates among adults 65 and older continue to decline while rates for younger adults continue to increase. The study found that the increase is being driven by a higher prevalence of rectal cancer, which now makes up 32% of all colorectal cancer diagnoses, up from 27% in the mid-2000s. The study also projects 158,850 new cases of colorectal cancer in the U.S. in 2026, and that 55,230 individuals will die from the disease. Nearly one-third of deaths are estimated to be younger than age 65.” 
    
• Cardiovascular Business tells us,
  • “Patients with type 2 diabetes who use GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) and make healthy lifestyle choices can significantly lower their risk of experiencing a heart attack or stroke, according to new data published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.[1]
  • The study’s authors explored data from more than 98,000 participants from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Million Veteran Program. These individuals were enrolled from 2011 to 2023. 
  • “Lifestyle habits explored in this analysis included getting a recommended amount of exercise, not smoking, sleeping well, drinking minimal alcohol, properly managing stress, connecting with others socially and avoiding opioids. Overall, adults on a GLP-1 RA and following six to eight of these healthy habits was associated with a 43% lower risk of experiencing a major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE) than those not taking GLP-1 RA or adhering to these habits. When adults followed all eight habits, meanwhile, the risk was approximately 60% lower.
  • “In addition, those using a GLP-1 RA had a 16% lower MACE risk than those who did not use a GLP-1. 
  • “Our findings underscore that, even in the era of highly effective GLP-1 pharmacotherapy, lifestyle habits remain central to diabetes management and cardiovascular risk reduction and can substantially amplify the benefits of modern medications,” corresponding author Frank Hu, MD, PhD, chair of the department of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in a statement.”

• Contemporary OB/GYN informs us,
  • “The quadrivalent HPV vaccine is associated with a significantly reduced risk of invasive cervical cancer that persists for at least 18 years after administration.
  • “Vaccination before the age of 17 provides a 79% lower risk of cervical cancer, while those vaccinated at age 17 or older also experience significant long term risk reductions.
  • “Population level data shows that school based vaccination cohorts have significantly lower rates of invasive cervical cancer compared to earlier opportunistic vaccination cohorts.”

• MedPage Today points out,
  • “The location and amount of brain microbleeds that a person has could be telling of their risk of dementia, according to an observational analysis.
  • “Compared with controls with no cerebral microbleeds detected on MRI, there was an increased dementia risk in older people with:
    • “Mixed subcortical and lobar microbleeds (HR 1.99, 95% CI 1.40-2.83)
    • “Lobar-only microbleeds, with or without cortical superficial siderosis (HR 1.96, 95% CI 1.30-2.97)
    • “Any cortical superficial siderosis (HR 2.57, 95% CI 1.36-4.89)
  • “Participants with three or more cerebral microbleeds of any pattern also had an increased risk of dementia (HR 1.92, 95% CI 1.35-2.72), as did peers with at least two subcortical microbleeds, according to Rebecca Gottesman, MD, PhD, of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland, and colleagues.
  • “Their report, based on the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities-Neurocognitive Study, was published in Stroke.
• and
  • “Chronic migraine patients who used GLP-1 receptor agonists to treat conditions like obesity or diabetes had fewer emergency department (ED) visits than those on topiramate (Topamax), a real-world data analysis showed.
  • “Compared with topiramate users, GLP-1 drug initiators were 10% less likely to visit the ED over the following year (RR 0.90, 95% CI 0.86-0.94), reported Hsiangkuo Yuan, MD, PhD, of Jefferson Headache Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, in an abstract released ahead of the American Academy of Neurologyopens in a new tab or window annual meeting.”

• The Wall Street Journal asks whether Multi-Cancer Blood Tests Are Ready for Prime Time?
  • Early detection tests are already on the market, but without FDA approval or proof they reduce deaths some doctors urge caution

• Per BioPharma Dive,
  • “Roche’s experimental pill fenebrutinib hit its main goal in a second Phase 3 trial in the most common form of multiple sclerosis, helping treatment recipients experience significantly fewer relapses than study volunteers who got Sanofi’s Aubagio, the company said Monday.
  • “However, Roche also reported a case of severe liver side effects in one enrollee who got fenebrutinib in the study. It also revealed a higher number of deaths among people who took its therapy in the two Phase 3 trials in relapsing MS, which prompted one analyst, Michael Leuchten of Jefferies, to question the drug’s approval prospects. Analysts have forecasted peak sales of more than 3 billion Swiss francs, or $3.8 billion, for fenebrutinib, Leuchten wrote.
  • “Fenebrutinib is part of a new crop of “BTK inhibitors” that drugmakers are now positioning as potential autoimmune disease treatments. The effort has yielded multiple setbacks in MS, though, as the Food and Drug Administration recently rejected a BTK drug from Sanofi, and other developers like Merck KGaA and Biogen have given up on prospective drugs.”

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

• Beckers Payer Issues reports,
  • “UnitedHealth Group has named Dennis Stankiewicz as chief accounting officer, effective March 2. 
  • “Tom Roos, who has served as CAO since 2015, has been named CFO at Optum Insight, the company said in regulatory filings.”

• Healthcare Dive adds,
  • “UnitedHealth executive and former Optum leader Heather Cianfrocco is leaving the company, according to a post on LinkedIn.
  • “Cianfrocco was promoted to executive vice president of governance, compliance and information security at UnitedHealth in May, after serving for a year as CEO of Optum, the company’s health services arm. Patrick Conway, the former CEO of Optum Rx, replaced Cianfrocco.
  • “Cianfrocco is departing UnitedHealth after serving in a number of executive positions, including as CEO of Optum Rx and chief of UnitedHealthcare’s community and state division. “After 24 years, I am saying goodbye to the team at UnitedHealth Group,” she said in a post on LinkedIn. “I am leaving with so much pride in what we have accomplished together.”

• Beckers Hospital Review notes,
  • “According to data gathered by Becker’s, Parkland Health and Hospital System [in Dallas, Texas] saw the highest number of emergency department visits in 2025. 
  • “The figures [shown in the article] represent the number of ED visits at individual hospital facilities, rather than the total visits across entire health systems. These self-reported totals were provided directly by hospitals.

• Fierce Healthcare relates,
  • “Healthcare technology companies DoseSpot and Arrive Health have merged to combine an electronic prescribing platform with medical and pharmacy benefits data to advance real-time medication price transparency for providers and patients.
  • “The new company, called Interra Health, combines Arrive Health’s coverage and pricing network with DoseSpot’s e-prescribing capabilities to support prescribing decisions and help patients access the right medication at the lowest cost, according to the companies.
  • “Bain Capital Tech Opportunities is backing the deal and will serve as majority owner. PSG, the former majority owner of DoseSpot, will be a minority owner. Additional minority investors include Providence and UPMC Enterprises.
  • “The combined company is profitable, growing at approximately 40% annually and projected to exceed $100 million in revenue in 2026, executives said.”
    
• Per BioPharma Dive,
  • “Privately held Candid Therapeutics will merge with Rallybio in a deal to take the inflammatory disease drugmaker public, the companies said Monday.
  • “The new entity will operate under Candid’s name, and trade on Wall Street under the ticker “CDRX.” As part of the deal, Candid raised $505 million from more than a dozen venture capital firms and mutual funds including Venrock, RA Capital Management and Janus Henderson Investors.
  • “Candid is developing bispecific antibodies known as T-cell engagers it acquired in two deals with Chinese biotechnology firms in 2024. One of Candid’s central goals is to show it can advance drugs that are similar to cell therapies targeting B cells, but easier to manufacture and administer. While bispecifics research has largely focused on cancer, startups like Candid — and even some pharmas — are now testing the applicability of these drugs against autoimmune conditions.”