From Washington, DC

• The House of Representatives and the Senate remain in session this week on Capitol Hill for Committee business and floor voting.

• STAT News reports,
  • “Bill Cassidy, a key Republican health care leader in the Senate, will lose his seat, as Louisiana’s Senate primary heads for a runoff between state treasurer John Fleming and Rep. Julia Letlow, who won President Trump’s endorsement.” * * *
  • “Cassidy’s defeat is a win for President Trump and his allies, who have criticized the senator for voting in 2021 to convict the president for inciting the January 6 insurrection.” * * *
  • “Cassidy will likely remain chair of his committee until his term ends at the start of next year, potentially setting up roadblocks for Kennedy as he attempts to fill several vacancies across his department. That includes a new Food and Drug Administration commissioner, and nominees for surgeon general and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director.”
    
• Federal News Network points out four benefits bills in Congress for federal employees, retirees to watch. “Potential adjustments to short-term disability insurance and credit protection for feds during government shutdowns are on the table through new legislation.
  
• Per a May 15, 2026, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid news release,
  • “The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a sweeping rule to strengthen oversight of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Exchanges for plan year 2027 by lowering user fees, tightening eligibility verification, and giving states greater authority over plan oversight.
  • The final rule, “Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2027; Basic Health Program” (the 2027 Payment Notice final rule) reduces federal Exchange user fees to help lower premiums, establishes new safeguards to prevent improper enrollments, ensures subsidies go only to eligible individuals, increases consumer choice, affordability, access and protections, and expands state flexibility to manage Exchange operations.
  • “The rule strengthens program integrity, expands consumer protections, promotes plan innovation and consumer choice, and restores greater authority to states. 
  • “American taxpayers deserve to know their dollars are going only to people who truly qualify,” said CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. “This rule strengthens eligibility checks, cracks down on abuse, and gives insurers more flexibility to offer affordable, consumer-focused coverage options.”

• Here is a link to the CMS fact sheet on this final rule.

• Kevin Moss writes in Govexec,
  • “CMS is launching the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge program, which will extend coverage of certain GLP-1 medications for weight loss to eligible Medicare beneficiaries, regardless of whether they have an underlying medical condition” effective July 1, 2026. 
  • “For [FEHB and PSHB} annuitants enrolled in Part D, this program could expand your options. Here’s [in the article] what it covers, who qualifies, and what it means for you.”

• The U.S. Supreme Court will be releasing opinions at 10 am every Thursday morning until the end of next month.

From the public health and medical / Rx research front

• The Wall Street Journal considers whether “the Weight-Loss Drug Revolution Causing a Frailty Epidemic? As millions flock to GLP-1s, doctors warn the drugs can cause rapid and significant muscle loss” and assesses “What Science Tells Us About the Risks of Hantavirus. Rare virus has high fatality rate and can spread through the air, research shows, though it is easier to contain than Covid-19.”

• Health Day reports,
  • “A major women’s health condition is getting a new name—and experts say it could change how millions are diagnosed and treated worldwide.
  • “Polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS, will now be known as polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, or PMOS.
  • “The condition affects more than 170 million women worldwide and is linked to hormone imbalances, weight and metabolic issues, mental health symptoms, skin changes and fertility challenges.
  • “Experts said the old name was misleading because the condition is not actually defined by ovarian cysts.
  • “What we now know is that there is actually no increase in abnormal cysts on the ovary and the diverse features of the condition were often unappreciated,” said Helena Teede, director of the Monash Center for Health Research & Implementation in Australia and an endocrinologist at Monash Health.”

• BioPharma Dive relates,
  • “A year after Vertex’s big launch, pain drug research faces a pivotal moment.
  • “Journavx started to revive area of development long considered a graveyard. Can any other pain drugs keep investor excitement going?”

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

• The Wall Street Journal reports,
  • “Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are increasingly filling healthcare gaps, with NP ranks growing 60% to 461,000 between 2019 and 2025.
  • “Doctors’ groups express concern that non-MD providers practicing without physician oversight may pose risks to patients.
  • “A 2023 study found that allowing nurse practitioners to work without physician supervision reduced deaths that could have been prevented through healthcare by 2%”

• Fierce Healthcare relates,
  • “Even without counting the multi-billion hit tied to the early termination of a major joint venture and outsourcing arrangement, CommonSpirit Health’s operations took a bruising during the three months ended March 31.
  • “The major Catholic nonprofit system reported Friday a $578 million operating loss (-5.8% operating margin) during the third quarter of its fiscal year. That’s after two key adjustments: normalization for delayed income received through California’s provider fee program; and removing the nearly $2.5 billion of “special charges” the system recorded on paper for the quarter that include contract termination and intangible asset impairment stemming from its breakup with Tenet Healthcare’s revenue cycle services business. 
  • “For comparison, CommonSpirit had logged an $85 million operating loss (-0.9% operating margin) a year prior with the California provider fee program adjustment. Across the first nine months of the fiscal year, the system is looking at a $743 million operating loss (-2.4% operating margin) for 2026 and a $282 million operating loss (-1.0% operating margin) in 2025, with the same adjustments.” 

• Health Exec tells us,
  • “The days when most doctors worked in independent practice settings are fading from memory like old photoprints in a musty scrapbook.
  • “Taking their place is an era dominated by physician employment. And the employers are not only hospitals but also a “vast array of corporate entities with various financial incentives for employing physicians.”
  • “The quote is from the authors of a new report compiled by Avalere Health for the Physicians Advocacy Institute, also known as PAI.
  • “The shift towards corporatization of physician practice, the PAI analysts add, has “significant implications for costs, patient care and the future practice of medicine.”
  • “The report looks at trends in practice acquisitions as well as physician employment over the eight-year stretch from January 2018 to January 2026.”

• MedCity News informs us,
  • “Anomaly Insights, an AI-powered payer intelligence company, announcedWednesday that it raised $17 million in funding.
  • “The company’s platform analyzes healthcare transactions to identify payer behavior patterns, policy changes and adjudication deviations. It helps predict at-risk payments so providers can proactively ensure claims are paid accurately. It also detects new denial patterns and identifies revenue opportunities. Currently, Anomaly is being used across more than 20 health systems.
  • “Specifically, the company seeks to solve the issue of “not knowing whether a healthcare encounter will be paid for or not before it happens,” said Mike Desjadon, CEO of Anomaly.”