Simplicity is a virtue.

Medium adds, “Simplicity, though not traditionally viewed as a virtue, is the greatest virtue of all because it makes practicing every other virtue that much easier.”

From Washington, DC,

• Healthcare Dive reports,
  • “Senate Democrats are trying to roll back a pilot program that adds artificial intelligence-backed prior authorization for some services in Medicare. 
  • “Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., introduced a resolution Wednesday that would invoke the Congressional Review Act — a legislative tool lawmakers can use to overturn agency actions — to end the WISeR model, which went into effect in six states this year. 
  • “Democrats have railed against the pilot for months, arguing the model delays or denies Medicare beneficiaries’ care. “Americans are sick and tired of abusive prior authorization tactics putting needed health care out of reach,” Wyden said in a statement. “The last thing seniors need is even more AI denying the care they need.”

• The American Hospital Association relates,
  • “The AHA May 20 provided comments to the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health for a hearing on the physician fee schedule, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act and potential payment reform. The AHA highlighted responses to previous congressional requests for information on reform to MACRA and physician payments. They include asking Congress to provide conversion factor updates for the physician fee schedule that reflect changes in input costs and inflation, and to improve cost measures used in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System. The AHA also outlined policy considerations for alternative payment model design, advanced APM participation incentives and accountable care organizations.” 
    
• STAT News tells us,
  • “Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has elevated a senior health official to serve as an interim surgeon general until that position is filled by a Senate-confirmed nominee. 
  • “Stephanie Haridopolos, a family medicine physician who is currently a senior adviser and chief of staff for the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General, is now the office’s director of health communications, Kennedy told staff in an email sent late Tuesday. According to that email, Assistant Secretary for Health Brian Christine used his “delegation of authority powers” to allow Haridopolos to carry out the duties of surgeon general. 
  • “She will “promote [U.S. Surgeon General] public health actions, advisories, and guidance until our next Surgeon General is sworn into office,” Kennedy said.”
    
• An HHS news release adds,
  • “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Surgeon General today released the Surgeon General’s Warning on the Harms of Screen Use: An Advisory and Toolkit on How to Protect Children and Adolescents, which raises national awareness about the growing risks associated with excessive and harmful screen use among young people.
  • “Children and adolescents now spend as much or more time on screens as they do sleeping or in school. National estimates show that adolescents average seven to nine hours a day on entertainment screens, and most report using their devices right before bed. What they encounter online and the excessive, and sometimes compulsive, use of screens is increasingly linked to real-world harm.” * * *
  • The Surgeon General’s Warning on the Harms of Screen Use: An Advisory and Toolkit on How to Protect Children and Adolescents is available at https://www.surgeongeneral.gov. Additional resources for families, schools, and communities are available here.
    
• Govexec informs us,
  • “Federal employee morale dropped last year, as President Donald Trump downsized and otherwise overhauled the civil service, according to a new data analysis from Gallup. 
  • “[A]fter the reforms took effect, federal workers experienced declines in employee engagement and job satisfaction, alongside increases in burnout and job-search activity,” the researchers wrote. “These shifts were larger than those observed among comparable state and local government workers — and private sector counterparts — during the same period.”
  • “The analytics firm noted, however, that the data shows there was a “rebound” in some areas by the end of 2025.” 

• Per a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services news release,
  • “The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed today a sweeping crackdown on state Medicaid payment practices that have driven payment rates well above Medicare levels, leading to excessive federal costs. The Medicaid Managed Care State Directed Payments (SDP) and Medicaid Fee-for-Service (FFS) Targeted Practitioner Payments Proposed Rule would set clear caps and better align Medicaid payments with Medicare standards. If finalized, the proposed rule would generate an estimated $775 billion in total savings over 10 years, including $510 billion in federal savings. Our goal: to refocus Medicaid dollars on individuals and families instead of inefficient payment schemes.
  • “The proposed rule would:
    • “Cap SDP provider payment rates at 100% of Medicare payment rates for expansion states and 110% of Medicare payment rates for non-expansion states (or 100% of the Medicaid state plan rate if a comparable Medicare rate is not available), consistent with section 71116 of the WFTC legislation and historical Medicaid FFS payment levels,
    • “Apply similar limits to certain targeted Medicaid fee-for-service payments, and
    • ‘Establish consistent national standards to improve transparency and accountability.
  • “CMS is seeking public comment on the proposed rule, including feedback on implementation. “To view the proposed rule on the Federal Register, visit: https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2026-10292. 
  • “To view the fact sheet, visit: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/medicaid-managed-care-state-directed-payments-medicaid-fee-service-targeted-medicaid-practitioner“

From the Food and Drug Administration front,

• BioSpace reports,
  • “No child deaths were directly linked to COVID-19 vaccines, according to the FDA’s long-awaited analysis of adverse events.
  • “Late last year, former CBER director Vinay Prasad claimed in a leaked internal memo that “at least 10 children have died after and because of receiving COVID-19 vaccination.” The FDA, after much blowback from the industry and independent experts, promised to disclose its analysis by the end of 2025, but the agency largely kept its specific findings under wraps.
  • “Those findings were made publicly available last week as part of a letter from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) to health secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., seeking for greater transparency around the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.”

• Fierce Pharma relates,
  • “Patrick Soon-Shiong’s ImmunityBio has convinced the FDA to weigh its case for a potential expansion of its bladder cancer med Anktiva, citing “overlapping features” in the indication it’s targeting with the interleukin-15 agonist’s existing approval. 
  • “The FDA has now accepted ImmunityBio’s application for Anktiva plus the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine in patients with BCG-unresponsive non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) with papillary disease without carcinoma in situ (CIS). The FDA has set a target decision date of Jan. 6, 2027, ImmunityBio said in a May 19 release.” 

From the public health and medical / Rx research front,

• The American Hospital Association News reports,
  • “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday issued an advisory on the Ebola disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The agency said the risk of spread to the U.S. is currently considered low. The notice includes recommendations for clinicians and guidance for U.S. travelers visiting DRC or Uganda. The World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern May 17 due to the outbreak.” 
    
• The Washington Post relates,
  • “Teens averaged over 50 minutes of smartphone use between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. on school nights, researchers found, and nearly half of the teens used their phones between midnight and 4 a.m. The majority of that phone use was spent on social media apps like YouTube, Instagram or TikTok, the study found. Others were looking at streaming apps or playing games like Roblox or Clash Royale.
  • “The study, published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, followed the screen use of 657 adolescents, a cohort with an average age of 15. All are participants in the national Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, which includes a racially and economically diverse sample of children and is the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States. 
  • “Researchers drew data from an app installed on the teens’ phones that passively tracked their screen use patterns, said Jason Nagata, the lead author and an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of California at San Francisco. This is significant because “a lot of prior studies have relied on self-reporting of screen use,” he said, which isn’t as thorough or accurate.” * * *
  • “And the full impact on sleep likely goes beyond the minutes spent staring at a glowing screen, Nagata adds. Social media use in particular “is very emotionally activating,” he says. “There’s a lot of stimulation, and that can make it harder for teens in particular to wind down, even after you’ve turned the phone off.”

• Genetic Engineering and BioTechnology News tells us,
  • “Researchers headed by a team at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have discovered that many gut bacteria use a flexible survival strategy—known as epigenetic “bet-hedging”—to withstand disruptions such as antibiotics and diet changes.
  • “Studying infant and gut microbiomes, the investigators showed that microbes can switch between functional states, rather than relying solely on genetic mutations, to try to survive shifting conditions. While bet-hedging has been observed in disease-causing bacteria, this is the first study to show that it is widespread among the beneficial microbes that make up the healthy human gut.
  • “The findings shed light on a previously hidden layer of microbiome biology and may help explain why probiotics and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) produce inconsistent benefits across individuals.
  • “Gang Fang, PhD, professor of genetics and genomic sciences and director of the Center for Genomic AI and Microbiome Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, is senior and corresponding author of the team’s published paper in Cell Host & Microbe, titled “Epigenetic phase variation in the gut microbiome enhances bacterial adaptation

• STAT News adds,
  • “While Tippi MacKenzie was a postdoctoral fellow in the early 2000s, she and her lab mates experimented with using the then-new technology of gene replacement therapy to try to treat inherited disorders in mice before they were born. Over and over it worked. They cured mice with hemophilia and mice with tyrosinemia. And the whole time, people kept telling her that gene therapy in human fetuses was just around the corner, just five years away. 
  • “It’s now been 25 years, and such a reality has yet to materialize. But after promising discussions with the Food and Drug Administration, MacKenzie is now closer than anyone’s ever been.
  • “Her team has submitted an investigational new drug (IND) application to the agency seeking approval for a small trial that aims to treat five fetal patients with a rare lysosomal storage disorder. The agency told them they could bypass animal testing, because the safety profile of the vector they plan to use already has been so well characterized by other academics and companies developing gene therapies for kids and adults.
  • “Thinking back on it, of course, you can’t really do in utero gene therapy until the field of adult and pediatric gene therapy has been well established,” MacKenzie said Tuesday at STAT’s Breakthrough Summit West. “So we basically had to wait for everything to catch up.”

• Per a National Institute of Standards and Technology news release,
  • “My Research Is Working Toward a Pain-Free Mammogram Alternative.”\
    • “A woman in the U.S. has a one in eight chance of developing breast cancer. That’s a scary number, but the good news is that more women are being diagnosed early and surviving than ever before. 
    • “We have a long way to go before low-field MRI becomes a common alternative to mammograms. But my fellow researchers and I will continue to work to make this happen, because all patients deserve a highly accurate and pain-free approach to screening for breast cancer.” 

• Medscape informs us,
  • “Digital tools can enhance GLP-1 therapy for obesity and diabetes by bridging gaps in patient education and follow-up. However, clinicians must focus on meaningful outcomes and personalized guidance to ensure effective use and adherence.”

• MedPage Today points out,
  • “Antibiotics are sometimes prescribed for lower back pain when more conventional therapies don’t work, based on some studies showing bacteria in affected spinal discs.
  • “In this randomized trial, no benefit from amoxicillin-clavulanate could be discerned for patients with refractory low back pain and herniated discs at 1 year.
  • “The authors recommended that antibiotics no longer be prescribed for this indication.”

• Per Healio,
  • “Data collected from a number of clinical trials found that despite recent “buzz,” there is no significant link between GLP-1 receptor agonists and the progression of diabetic retinopathy, according to a speaker.
  • “These medications have been labeled not to be good for patients who have preexisting diabetic retinopathy, but I don’t think that is fair,” Majda Hadziahmetovic, MD, associate professor of ophthalmology at Duke University, said during a virtual presentation at Real World Ophthalmology.“Those conclusions actually came from two main clinical trials, and both of those clinical trials were cardiovascular outcome trials. Diabetic retinopathy and retinal health were just the side effects that they were not looking at very carefully.”
• and
  • “Self-collection may be as effective as clinician-collected HPV tests and improve screening rates.
  • “But its implementation requires OB/GYNs to first transition [from pap smears] to primary high-risk HPV screening.”

• Infectious Disease Advisor adds,
  • “Screening recommendations for HCV [hepatitis C] have expanded in recent years to include universal screening among adults, with an emphasis on reflexive testing strategies in which a positive HCV antibody (Ab) result automatically triggers confirmatory RNA testing. This approach is intended to reduce delays in diagnosis and improve identification of patients eligible for treatment. To evaluate how these recommendations have influenced testing practices, researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of HCV testing patterns from 2018 to 2024 within a large US commercial laboratory network.” * * *
  • “Increased adoption of reflexive HCV testing, alongside laboratory stewardship initiatives and updated screening recommendations, has contributed to more complete and timely diagnostic evaluation of HCV infection.”
    
• Per MedTech Dive,
  • “Medtronic on Wednesday said two analyses of its Symplicity Spyral renal denervation system, presented as abstracts at the EuroPCR meeting in Paris, showed the procedure significantly reduced blood pressure in patients over three years.
  • “Outcomes after renal denervation for 787 patients who had prior cardiovascular events were evaluated in one study, while the second followed 903 people with severe hypertension.
  • “The analyses, from the global SYMPLICITY registry, add to a growing body of evidence supporting renal denervation, Medtronic said.”

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

• 401k Specialist reports,
  • “While some workers believe they’ll be employed past retirement age, the truth is that some may be forced into an early retirement.  
  • “Findings from the 2026 Annual Retirement Study from the Allianz Center for the Future of Retirement show that over half of Americans (53%) currently have a target age they plan to retire at.
  • “However, the reality is that many depart the workforce earlier than initially expected. While the findings report that 53% of Americans retired on their own schedule, 42% had to retire earlier than planned. In fact, only 5% of retirees surveyed reported leaving their role later than anticipated.
  • “The findings emulate recent research from the Society of Actuaries, which showed that 59% of its respondents retired earlier, and only 6% left the workforce later than planned.
  • “When asked why they exited the workforce earlier, Allianz found that most reasons were beyond the retiree’s control. Common causes included health issues that prevented job performance (30%) and unexpected job loss (21%), while others realized they were financially ready earlier than expected (21%).
  • “Finances, as expected, play a major role when deciding when to retire. Retirees must consider day-to-day costs and inflation numbers, along with necessary expenses like medical expenditures as they age.

• Beckers Hospital Review offers a boatload of useful statistics:
  • Hospital expenses per inpatient day across 50 states
  • Top-paying states for 6 nurse positions, adjusted by cost of living
  • Pharmacist pay by state, adjusted for cost of living
  • ED visit times, by state

• Fierce Healthcare relates,
  • “Patient collections are playing a bigger and bigger role in health systems’ total revenues, bringing a new focus on the difficulties organizations face in securing timely, or any, payments for their services, a new survey report warns. 
  • ‘The poll of 205 healthcare revenue heads, conducted by healthcare fintech vendor PayZen and the Healthcare Financial Management Association, found that 22% of respondents named patient balances as their top priority, roughly double the 11% rate reported a year prior. Patient balances were a “nearly universal” presence among the respondents’ concerns, also up from the 73% rate of a year prior. 
  • “Commercial revenue remained the respondents’ overall top priority, though the portion who indicated so dipped from last year’s 75% to 62%. Government program revenue also inched upward from 13% to 16%, naming it their top revenue concern.” 
• and
  • “Maven, a virtual provider for women’s and family health, has launched its direct-to-consumer products featuring a virtual care clinic, a GLP-1 offering and a hormone therapy offering.
  • “They are available through cash-pay for now. The goal is to close gaps between prescriptions and follow-ups that GLP-1s and hormone therapies require. 
  • “In terms of pricing, the GLP-1s start at $150 a month. For the hormone product, there is a $150 1-time fee, which includes two virtual visits, in addition to medication costs. Specialty care visits in the virtual clinic are currently pay-per-visit, though insurance coverage for those is the eventual goal.”

• BioPharma Dive tells us,
  • “Privately held Mentari Therapeutics plans to hit the public markets through a reverse merger with InMed Pharmaceuticals, creating a combined company focused on antibody drugs that can prevent migraines.
  • “The deal, announced Tuesday, has already received approval from the boards of both parties and is expected to close in the back half of this year. Terms hold that InMed shareholders would own roughly 1.5% of the combined company, which is slated to have a pro forma equity value of about $421 million. Baked into that value is a concurrent private placement that will result in gross proceeds of approximately $290 million.”

• MedTech Dive informs us,
  • “Medtronic said Wednesday it has agreed to buy SPR Therapeutics, a company making a device that uses peripheral nerve stimulation to treat chronic pain.
  • “Under the terms of the deal, Medtronic would pay $650 million in cash to buy all outstanding equity in SPR Therapeutics. The purchase would add to Medtronic’s neuromodulation business, allowing the company to provide more pain relief options earlier in people’s care.
  • “The deal is Medtronic’s third major acquisition announced so far this year. In March, Medtronic agreed to buy neurovascular technology company Scientia Vascular for $550 million, and in February, the company announced plans to buy CathWorks, which makes tools to help detect coronary artery disease, for up to $585 million. Medtronic closed the CathWorks acquisition in April.”

• Per Healthcare Dive,
  • Aetna’s chief digital and technology officer on how the insurer is using AI for patient engagement
  • Nathan Frank discusses how the insurer is using AI to engage members, how the company thinks about risks, and the importance of monitoring the tools and soliciting feedback.

• Per Fierce BioTech,
  • “The big new thing in medtech for 2026 is AI-powered apps and chatbots designed to help patients navigate their laboratory test results. Now, testing giant Labcorp is getting in on the act. 
  • “The company is launching “MyLabcorp,” a mobile app that brings together lab results with AI-enabled features and clinical guideline-based content.
  • “The idea is that this can be viewed on a user’s phone via the app, giving users “additional context about their health and support more informed conversations with healthcare providers,” according to a May 20 statement.” 

• Per Fierce Healthcare,
  • “Doximity plans to accelerate its spending on artificial intelligence this year as it aims to become a leading AI platform for doctors.
  • “The health tech company plans to up its R&D and compute spend along with more investments in brand marketing and its AI-enabled peer review capabilities, executives said during the company’s recent earnings call for its fiscal 2026 fourth quarter and full year results. The company’s 2027 fiscal year began April 1.
  • “The company plans to scale its clinical AI suite, including its ambient notetaking tool Scribe and clinical AI assistant and medical search engine Ask (formerly DoxGPT).”