Simplicity is a virtue.

HAPPY NATIONAL POSTAL WORKERS DAY!

From Washington, DC,

Plenty of news from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management today.

• Per an OPM news release,
  • “Today, the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced the “Last Day of Paper,” officially ending paper retirement processing for more than 95 percent of federal retirement applications and completing the agency’s transition to a fully digital retirement process.
  • “For decades, federal retirement applications relied on a paper-based process that required physical documents to move between agencies, payroll providers, and OPM’s Retirement Operations Center in Boyers, Pennsylvania. As of yesterday, nearly all retirement applications will be submitted and processed electronically through OPM’s Online Retirement Application (ORA), eliminating paper from the process and significantly reducing processing times.
  • “The milestone follows rapid adoption of ORA, which has processed more than 155,000 retirement applications over the past year after serving only a few hundred users during its initial rollout.” * * *
    • “As part of today’s milestone, OPM is also launching new capabilities designed to accelerate retirement processing, including:
    • “A new pre-retirement application that allows employees and agency HR offices to complete much of the retirement process before an employee’s separation date.
    • “Earlier processing of retirement applications while final payroll information is still being finalized, reducing unnecessary delays.
    • “A commitment to issue a retiree’s first pension payment within seven days of retirement for applicants who submit a complete retirement package by their separation date.”

• FEHBlog observation – While OPM deserves credit for this accomplishment, the agency has not announced implementing the HIPAA standard transaction 820 which is an electronic enrollment roster that would allow carriers to reconcile premiums to individual enrollments. The HIPAA 820 has been around since 2012. Carrier systems must accept the HIPAA 820. What is the sense in collecting family member eligibility documents when no one currently knows whether the enrollee is paying the proper premium?

• Govexec adds,
  • “The federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program posted mixed results in June, ending two straight months of consistent growth.
  • “The Thrift Savings Plan’s S Fund, which is made up of small- and mid-size businesses, saw the best performance, gaining 4.34% last month. Since January, the S Fund has grown 18.41%.
  • “The fixed income (F) fund increased 0.25% last month, bringing its 2026 performance to 0.74%. And the G Fund, which is made up of government securities, increased by its statutorily mandated rate of 0.37%. So far this year, the G Fund has swelled 2.18%.
  • “But the I Fund was virtually flat in June, losing 0.03%. That brings the I Fund’s 2026 performance to 16.53%. And the C Fund’s common stocks fell 0.95%, bringing its gains since January down to 10.20%.”
  • The performance of other funds can be found in the article.

• Another OPM news release tells us,
  • “The US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) today proposed sweeping reforms to modernize how agencies address poor performance, streamline disciplinary and removal procedures, and strengthen accountability across the federal workforce.
  • The proposed rule would require agencies to better equip supervisors with training on employee accountability while making it easier to address employee performance issues. Among other reforms, the proposal establishes a default 30-day Performance Improvement Plan (PIP), eliminates pre-PIPs that unnecessarily delay action, standardizes employee response periods for adverse actions, and modernizes Merit Systems Protection Board review of adverse action appeals by replacing the current checklist-based approach (called “the Douglas factors”) with a totality-of-the-circumstances standard.
  • This proposal is part of the Trump Administration’s broader effort to build a high-performing federal workforce that rewards excellence, recognizes strong performance, and holds employees accountable when performance falls short.” * * *
  • “The proposed rule will be published in the Federal Register and will be open for public comment. Read Director Kupor’s blog post on this here.”

• OPM Director Scott Kupor added a second post to this Secrets of OPM blog today. The second post is titled “Measure what matters.”
  • “Last year, we postponed the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) and critics were quick to claim that we at OPM did not believe in employee engagement surveys. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. * * *
  • So, today we announced that OPM will no longer centrally administer FEVS. As a centrally-administered system, it’s costly, doesn’t serve as a valuable management tool and fails to enable actionable results. That serves nobody well.
  • Instead, we have provided detailed guidance to agencies on how best to design surveys that meet their specific needs. That guidance includes a common set of core questions that every agency will ask—ensuring we preserve the ability to track government-wide trends and maintain a coherent thread of data across the federal workforce. The goal isn’t fragmentation; it’s better ownership. Agencies will have the flexibility to go deeper where their missions demand it, while OPM retains the visibility to understand the broader landscape and identify where systemic challenges require government-wide attention.”

• Federal News Network reports,
  • “President Donald Trump said Monday [June 29] he will nominate Keith Sonderling to be the secretary of labor, elevating him from the agency’s acting director two months after Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned amid abuse-of-power allegations.
  • “Sonderling, a lawyer who has held a variety of acting positions and leadership roles across Trump’s government, was previously the deputy labor secretary and a Republican member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
  • “Throughout his career, Keith has proven his dedication to delivering strong results for the Hardworking People of our Country, and I know he will do an incredible job in his new role,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social postannouncing Sonderling’s nomination.
  • Sonderling’s nomination is subject to Senate confirmation.

• Fierce Healthcare relates,
  • “The Trump administration has officially launched its new “bridge” model that brings GLP-1 coverage for weight loss to Medicare beneficiaries.
  • “Eligible people enrolled in Medicare Part D can secure certain GLP-1 medications for weight loss or management at $50 each month. The program will remain in place through the end of 2027, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said in an announcement.
  • ‘Under the GLP-1 bridge, the feds will cover the cost of expanded coverage. Alongside this model, the agency also proposed a second approach—called Better Approaches to Lifestyle and Nutrition for Comprehensive hEalth, or BALANCE—in which it would negotiate lower GLP-1 prices in exchange for standardized coverage options.
  • “Plans balked at the model, and CMS indefinitely delayed from a planned January 2027 start date. A similar model was implemented in Medicaid in May 2026.
  • “In a CMS announcement commemorating the model’s launch, Administrator Mehmet Oz, M.D., urged beneficiaries to reach out to their doctors to see if they’re eligible.
  • “For too long, many Americans have been unable to access these treatments because of cost,” Oz said.”

• Per a CMS news release,
  • “The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing new safeguards to ensure taxpayers aren’t on the hook for noncompliant Medicare providers and suppliers, continuing its campaign to crush fraud, waste, and abuse throughout its programs and hold bad actors accountable. The Calendar Year (CY) 2027 Home Health Prospective Payment System (PPS) proposed rule would strengthen CMS’ ability to recover improper payments and remove non-compliant providers and suppliers from Medicare, actions estimated to save approximately $82 million in annual savings, while also expanding access for patients receiving care at home and improving the timeliness of publicly reported home health agency quality information.”
  • * * * “The proposed rule also would update Medicare home health payment rates for CY 2027. At the same time CMS is strengthening oversight and crushing fraud, waste, and abuse, the agency is proposing targeted payment updates that support access to care for beneficiaries who rely on home health services. CMS is also proposing to continue to fulfill its statutory obligation to transition the Home Health PPS to the Patient-Driven Groupings Model in a budget-neutral manner. CMS estimates total Medicare payments to home health agencies would increase by approximately 2.4%, or $420 million, compared to CY 2026.” * * *
  • “To view a fact sheet on the proposed rule, visit: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/calendar-year-cy-2027-home-health-prospective-payment-system-proposed-rule-fact-sheet-cms-1844-p. 
  • “The proposed rule can be viewed on the Federal Register at: https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2026-13602.” 
     
• Per a GAO news release,
  • “A leading cause of death in the U.S., suicide resulted in more than 49,000 deaths in 2023. That’s up by 31% from 2003.
  • “To help those at risk, the federal government set up the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. It offers support via call, text, and chat.
  • “Since the Lifeline’s inception in July 2022 through September 2025, we found:
    • “Call, text, and chat contact volume increased
    • “Call answer rates increased, while text and chat answer rates varied
    • “Average time to answer calls, texts, and chats varied
  • “We also found that the federal government set goals for the Lifeline. It collected data related to those goals and used it to assess its performance.”

• HR Dive points out,
  • “The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rescinded its affirmative action guidelines Tuesday, eliminating an interpretation that had persisted for 40 years.
  • “According to a June 30 statement, the guide and a related compliance manual “ran afoul” of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and more recent U.S Supreme Court rulings in the eyes of the commissioner. Almost three years ago to the day, the high court issued its decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard, holding that race-conscious admissions practices at two universities were unconstitutional.” * * *
  • “The takeaway from the new plan should not be to “abandon lawful EEO efforts, but to ensure policies do not use protected characteristics as selection criteria,” management-side attorney Randi Hyatt, a partner at Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, said in an analysis.”

No Surprises Act News

• Fierce Healthcare reports,
  • “Healthcare technology company Zelis rolled out an AI-native solution to help health plans manage Independent Dispute Resolution complexity under the No Surprises Act.
  • “Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) is the process for adjudicating out-of-network claims created by 2020’s No Surprises Act (NSA).
  • “Zelis’ solution uses AI to automate payers’ workflows, from claim repricing, open negotiation, dispute prevention, case management and IDR resolution. The company unveiled the new solution as dispute volume, compliance requirements and process deadlines pressure payer operations, executives said.”

From the Food and Drug Administration front,

• Per an FDA news release,
  • The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued a supplemental approval for Casgevy (exagamglogene autotemcel) for patients aged 2 years and older with either sickle cell disease (SCD) with recurrent vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs) or transfusion-dependent β thalassemia (TDT). This is the first gene therapy approved for patients aged 2 years and older with SCD.  
  • Casgevy has been previously approved for the treatment of patients aged 12 years and older with SCD with recurrent VOCs or TDT.  
  • “With today’s decision, pediatric patients as young as 2 years of age can now access a critical additional treatment option to treat these debilitating, life-threatening diseases,” said Karim Mikhail, B. Pharm., M.S., Acting Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). “The FDA is committed to prioritizing and speeding up the review of products that address critical U.S health priorities through expedited review programs, including the FDA Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher (CNPV) Pilot Program. These initiatives are designed to advance therapies for diseases with significant unmet medical needs, enabling faster access to innovative treatments while upholding the FDA’s rigorous gold-standard requirements for safety and effectiveness.”  

• Per an HHS news release,
  • “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today commended the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) issuance of two Notices of Intent to begin the temporary scheduling process for certain kratom-related substances.
  • ‘One Notice of Intent addresses temporary placement of 7-OH above a specified threshold in Schedule I, while the second would temporarily place three synthetic 7-OH derivatives into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA):
    • “Mitragynine pseudoindoxyl (MP)
    • “Dihydro-7-hydroxymitragynine (MGM-15)
    • “The 9-fluoro derivative of 7-hydroxymitragynine (MGM-16)
  • “Concurrent with DEA’s Notice of Intent addressing 7-OH, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) issued a Request for Information (RFI) on seeking public comment on the proposed 7-OH threshold level in the NOI. The request is limited to obtaining comments on whether: 1) there is additional scientific data to support the proposed or an alternative threshold level – specifically, what concentration or quantity of 7-OH in a product constitutes an imminent hazard to public safety; and 2) data exist supporting alternative measurement expressions for purposes of specifying the threshold level that is necessary to avoid an imminent harm to public safety.
  • “After the 30-day comment period for the RFI, OASH will provide comments submitted to the RFI public docket to the Attorney General for consideration. Once comments have been considered and at least 30 days have passed since the publication of the NOI, the Attorney General may then issue a temporary scheduling order placing 7-OH above a certain threshold in Schedule I. The CSA provides the Attorney General with the authority to issue a temporary scheduling order placing a substance in Schedule I of the CSA for two years, if such action is necessary to avoid an imminent hazard to public safety.”

• Cardiovascular Business relates,
  • “Amgen is recalling nearly 935,000 bottles of ivabradine, a heart failure drug the company sells under the brand name Corlanor, due to the presence of a foreign substance. 
  • “The recall includes specifics lots of 5-mg and 7.5-mg Corlanor tablets manufactured in Italy and then distributed by Amgen throughout the United States. The drugs are packaged in 14- and 60-tablet bottles. Expiration dates range from July 2026 to December 2028.
  • “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has categorized this as a Class II recall, which means taking the drugs in question could cause “temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences.”
  • “Amgen first received FDA approval for ivabradine in April 2015. The agency’s decision was largely based on data from the SHIFT trial, which included more than 6,500 patients randomized patients treated with ivabradine or a placebo. In 2021, researchers found that ivabradine could be used to treat symptoms associated with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome in COVID-19 patients.”

• MedTech Dive adds,
  • “The Food and Drug Administration has reported 252 injuries were associated with Hologic’s BioZorb radiographic markers implanted in the breast and other soft tissue sites during medical procedures. No deaths were reported.
  • “The update comes almost two years after Hologic told customers to stop using the devices due to reports of adverse events such as pain, infection and device migration. At the time, Hologic said it had received 188 complaints associated with adverse events.
  • “In its latest communication, the FDA repeated Hologic’s instructions advising healthcare providers not to use the BioZorb markers. Patients should be monitored for signs of adverse events, but Hologic said there is no need to have an implanted marker removed from the body.”

• Beckers Hospital Review tells us,
  • “Cisplatin, carboplatin, oxaliplatin and ifosfamide remain in active shortage, and manufacturers’ latest estimates show full resupply of some formulations will not arrive until October, according to updates posted by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. 
  • “The four chemotherapy drugs form the backbone of treatment for breast, lung, ovarian, testicular, bladder, and head and neck cancers. Becker’s previously reported that hospitals and cancer clinics working with group purchasing organization Premier received only 38% of their ifosfamide orders and about two-thirds of their cisplatin orders in recent weeks, prompting some healthcare organizations to space out doses and prioritize patients most likely to benefit from treatment.”

• BioPharma Dive identifies “5 FDA decisions to watch in the third quarter of 2026.”
  • “A group of coming decisions could provide important insights into how flexible the agency is willing to be under new leadership.”

From the public health and medical / Rx research front,

• The Washington Post reports,
  • “West Nile virus activity is starting earlier than it has in years, with the CDC warning it is now seeing the highest number of human cases of the nasty mosquito-borne disease since 2004.
  • ‘At least 48 cases had been reported as of Tuesday, and 38 have involved serious illness affecting the brain or nervous system. 
  • “For comparison, by the end of June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention usually sees only about 10 human cases. The earlier start could be problematic, as it extends the amount of time people could be exposed to the disease before the season dies down in colder months.” * * *
  • “Arizona has reported the highest number of cases in the country at 32. Maricopa County, the state’s most populous county, has reported 29 cases, including four deaths, already more than half of the case total it reported in all of 2025.”
    
• Drug Topics relates
  • “Surveillance through June 2026 shows widespread, outbreak-driven measles transmission, with 93% of cases in unvaccinated/unknown-status individuals and 6% requiring hospitalization. 
  • “Erosion of kindergarten MMR coverage from 95.2% to 92.5% leaves hundreds of thousands susceptible, while subregional coverage can fall near 50%, enabling explosive outbreaks. 
  • “Utah’s large outbreak prompted enhanced monitoring, including wastewater-based detection, and recommendations for earlier MMR dosing (from 6 months) to mitigate infant risk. 
  • “Persistent misinformation and vaccine hesitancy necessitate motivational interviewing techniques (OARS, readiness rulers) and proactive pharmacist-led community engagement to rebuild trust and uptake.”

• Managed Health Executive points out,
  • “Physical inactivity and racial and ethnic minority status emerged as the two strongest predictors of diabetes prevalence across U.S. counties in a new machine-learning analysis published in Diabetes/Metabolism Research and Reviews.
  • “The cross-sectional study, led by Nicolaas P. Pronk, Ph.D., of the HealthPartners Institute, set out to capture what the authors call the “multilevel ecology” behind diabetes, defined as the mix of broad structural forces and individual-level behaviors that impact diabetes development.”
    
• Beckers Clinical Leadership lets us know about “Lung cancer screening, mortality and incidence — by state.”
  • “At 11%, California had the lowest up-to-date lung cancer screening rate in 2024, while Connecticut, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania had the highest rate at 28%, according to American Cancer Society data. 
  • “The national median rate for up-to-date lung cancer screening in 2024 was 18%.
  • “Lung cancer mortality and incidence remain highest in Kentucky and West Virginia, despite having above-average lung cancer screening rates.” 

• Health Day tells us,
  • “Stepped alcohol treatment (SAT) offered via telehealth helps people with chronic liver disease (CLD) reduce alcohol consumption, according to a study published online June 24 in Hepatology.
  • “Derek D. Satre, Ph.D., from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and colleagues evaluated the efficacy of telehealth SAT, which consisted of three motivational interviewing sessions followed by addiction medicine referral if no drinking reduction at month 3. One hundred fifty-seven adults with CLD and unhealthy alcohol use (>7 drinks/week or ≥4/day for women; >14/week or ≥5/day for men; or heavy episodic drinking) were randomly assigned to SAT (81 participants) or usual care (76 participants). 
  • “The researchers found that SAT had no difference in percentage of alcohol use below moderate level (primary outcome) versus usual care. However, SAT had greater reduction in drinks/week from baseline to month 3 and month 6 (estimates, −0.66 and −0.67, respectively) (secondary outcome). Compared to usual care, the six-month effect of SAT on alcohol use reduction remained significant when controlling for covariates. The 30-day abstinence rates were 29 percent for SAT and 18 percent for usual care at month 6. There was a positive association between baseline motivation to reduce alcohol use and treatment response.”

• The latest NIH Research Matter covers the following topics:
  • “Alzheimer’s proteins in blood linked to midlife cognition 
    • “A study found that people in midlife with more Alzheimer’s-related proteins in their blood had worse cognitive function.
    • “The results suggest blood tests could one day help identify people who may benefit from early efforts to delay Alzheimer’s symptoms.”
  • “Genetic testing may benefit more patients with melanoma 
    • “Researchers found people diagnosed with melanoma at a young age or with multiple melanomas were more likely to carry a genetic mutation.
    • “The findings suggest that certain patients with melanoma could benefit from genetic testing to identify mutations and potential risk for other types of cancer.”
  • “Senescent cells mapped in human body over the lifespan
    • “Scientists located and classified senescent cells, a hallmark of aging, to begin building an atlas of these non-dividing cells in the human body.
    • “The atlas could help track how senescent cells drive age-related conditions and may inform treatment strategies for age-related diseases.”

• The University of Minnesota’s CIDRAP notes,
  • “Vaccine myths are not new. They have circulated for decades, surviving retracted studies and countless public health campaigns. Now, a new poll suggests that, while relatively few Americans fully believe those falsehoods, many remain uncertain about them—a finding that suggests opportunities to counter vaccine misinformation.” * * *
  • “The poll found a strong association between trust in healthcare providers and vaccine attitudes, with adults who have a provider they trust being less likely to believe vaccine myths.
  • “Just under half of adults (46%) who do not have a trusted healthcare provider to answer questions about their health said it was “probably” or “definitely true” that more people have died from COVID vaccines than from COVID itself. That’s almost twice as many as those who reported having a trusted provider (24%). 
  • “Researchers noted that the relationship remained significant even after accounting for factors such as age, race and ethnicity, education, political affiliation, and insurance status.”
    
• Per BioPharma Dive,
  • “Shares of Paris-based biotechnology company Abivax surged nearly 40% Tuesday following the release of supplementary Phase 3 data on its inflammatory bowel disease drug that cleared away investors’ concerns about increased cancer risk.
  • “Abivax said cancer rates seen across enrollees in its Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials were no higher than the “background” one seen in people with ulcerative colitis, which is higher than the general population in certain types of malignancies.
  • “The update from the second part of that Phase 3 trial — which enrolled people who didn’t respond to the drug or relapsed during the trial — added safety data that “appropriately addresses the key overhang facing the stock,” wrote Jefferies analyst Faisal Khurshid in a client note. Abivax followed the share price increase with an $800 million sale of its U.S. listed shares.”

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

• Modern Healthcare reports,
  • “Brian Evanko, Cigna Group’s new chief executive officer, said he aims to put patients at the center of the company’s strategy. He’ll have to convince people struggling with rising healthcare costs that he’s serious — and persuade Wall Street that this strategy can be profitable. 
  • “That’s been a difficult balancing act for Cigna. Last year the company announced that it would phase out rebate payments from drug companies in many of its prescription plans, pulling back from a “middleman” practice the Trump administration has criticized.
  • “Cigna said this would lower patient costs and only temporarily shrink profits. But investors punished Cigna with its worst selloff in 17 years. Its shares still haven’t recovered.”
  • “It’s a tension Evanko will have to navigate beginning Wednesday when he becomes the public face of Cigna, a giant in medical insurance, prescription drug benefits and specialized pharmacy services. Insurers are under fire in Washington for high costs. Employer clients are balking at premium hikes. Patients are frustrated with spending-control tactics like prior approvals. And investors are wary that addressing those concerns could erode profits.
  • “Evanko said he’s focused on making Cigna more responsive to the 185 million people who use its healthcare services, the bulk of whom have prescription drug coverage managed by the business.
  • “For me, coming into the role, importantly, we’re going to put the customer at the center of everything we do, so being patient-first,” Evanko, 50, said in a recent interview at Bloomberg’s New York headquarters. “We see that as actually a strategic choice.”
    
• Beckers Payer Issues relates,
  • “Hospitals and insurers have been fighting an AI billing war for the better part of two years, with providers deploying the technology to optimize and defend their coding, and payers using it to audit and push back.
  • “AI is placing pressure on cost through RCM tools, and we have seen those patterns in terms of service intensity, and cost per encounter going up,” UnitedHealthcare CEO Tim Noel said at a June media event attended by Becker’s. “It clearly has occurred, and that is a source and driver of trend. I don’t think that that’s going to be persistent. That’s a moment that we’re in that will get to saturation.”
  • “Revenue cycle executives and physicians have described the ongoing dynamic as an “AI arms race,” that has been adding administrative cost and friction on both sides. This month, PwC projected that employers’ medical cost trend will reach its highest level in 17 years in 2027, pointing to provider adoption of AI documentation and coding tools as one of five primary inflators. Nearly 70% of surveyed health plans ranked it among their top three concerns, and roughly 20% named it the single largest driver.
  • “Mr. Noel said UnitedHealthcare is already working to move beyond paid-claims data to understand “more upstream where these hot spots are.” 
  • “The global trends are the global trends, and there are some opportunities to address those in the moment, and we are,” he added. “But we also have to look for new sources of affordability moving forward.”
• and
  • “Sustainability has become less about cutting costs and more about redesigning how healthcare delivers value. Becker’s asked several health plan leaders how they’re thinking about long-term sustainability, and the responses point to a shared shift away from volume-driven models toward outcomes, accountability, and member-centered design. From shifting social health programs toward measurable, evidence-based interventions to redesigning the consumer experience around choice and transparency, leaders are converging on the idea that sustainability isn’t a single initiative — it’s a durable operating model built for the long haul.
  • “The answers below reflect a range of strategies, from strengthening payer-provider partnerships and embedding AI into clinical decision-making to balancing financial discipline with health equity and community trust. Common threads emerge around reducing low-value care, building data infrastructure that supports proactive rather than reactive management, and designing systems flexible enough to adapt as member needs evolve. [In the article], healthcare leaders share how they’re positioning their organizations for what’s next.

• Vizient discusses “From scale to orchestration: The new requirements for payer success.”
  • “For executive and board consideration:
    • “Evaluate strategic pathways, including independence, partnership, affiliation, or acquisition.
    • “Assess strengths and gaps across products, member diversification, scale, and market positioning
    • “Identify partners that align across strategy, governance, economics, and long-term objectives.
    • “Execute transactions and integrations with rigor and discipline.”

• MedCity News considers,
  • “Healthcare’s Most Avoided Question: “How Much Exactly Do You Need, and What Will America Get in Return?”
    • “Before policymakers, employers, insurers, or taxpayers commit ever-larger sums to the system, an uncomfortable question deserves attention: How much additional capacity does healthcare actually need and what measurable outcomes should society expect in return?”

• Modern Healthcare tells us,
  • “Allegheny Health Network closed its acquisition of Heritage Valley Health despite pushback from the Pennsylvania attorney general. 
  • “The deal adds Heritage’s two hospitals, dozens of clinics and 500 employed and affiliated physicians to the 16-hospital provider division of Highmark Health.
  • “A final order Friday from a federal court paved the way for the transaction’s close, with conditions. Last Wednesday, Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday (R) sued to block the transaction over potential anticompetitive effects. He claimed the acquisition could allegedly increase hospital and radiation oncology prices in Beaver County and Allegheny County.
  • “The order from U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania Judge Maureen Kelly requires Allegheny Health to provide current services at the rebranded AHN Beaver Hospital – Heritage Valley and AHN Sewickley Hospital – Heritage Valley for at least five years and maintain an existing joint venture between Heritage Valley and UPMC Cancer Centers.
  • “In addition, Allegheny cannot terminate automatic renewal clauses in its insurer contracts for at least a year and it must pay Sunday $75,000 in legal fees, among other provisions.”

• The Wall Street Journal informs us,
  • “Ipsen IPN said it agreed to buy Swiss biotechnology company Memo Therapeutics in a deal that could exceed 700 million euros ($799.6 million) and that seeks to expand the French drugmaker’s rare-disease portfolio.
  • “The move marks Ipsen’s second acquisition this week after its agreement to take over Kartos Therapeutics, a company developing a drug to treat a rare blood cancer, for up to $1.75 billion.
  • “Ipsen said it would pay 200 million euros initially and make deferred payments subject to certain development, regulatory approval and sales-based targets that could take the total price above 700 million euros.
  • “The deal focuses on Memo’s experimental drug potravitug for the treatment of nephropathy associated with BK polyomavirus, a complication in kidney transplant recipients, Ipsen said. The drug—which was granted fast-track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2023—is due to move to a mid- and late-stage clinical trial later this year, the company added.”

• Fierce Healthcare points out,
  • “Patients are taking charge of their healthcare with artificial intelligence and other solutions, with 58% of U.S. patients researching symptoms before deciding whether to book an appointment, according to a new report from ZS Impact Institute. 
  • “The recent report drew insights from nearly 10,000 healthcare consumers and providers across the U.S., Germany and China. Researchers note the shift is consistent across healthcare systems, which they say points to a “broader breakdown in how patients seek and experience care globally.”
  • “Thirty-seven percent of U.S. respondents report using search engines for health information—94% of which find it helpful—and 18% report using AI. Eighty-nine percent of those using AI to find information report it being helpful.”
• and
  • “Evernorth has unveiled a new specialty pharmacy program that leans on AI to support a better experience for patients with complex conditions.
  • “Called Pharmacy Forward, the program aims to use technology to drive more coordinated, connected care and to offer personalized supports in real time. Evernorth plans to launch the program first for Accredo Specialty Pharmacy customers, investing $100 million through 2028 in the project.
  • “The goal, according to an announcement from the company, is to allow care teams to spend more time on clinical and patient care, while also accelerating prescription processing and service responsiveness.
  • “Patients navigating complex health conditions need comprehensive, expert support, often during some of the most difficult moments in their lives,” said Matt Perlberg, president of the Evernorth Health Services pharmacy and care delivery businesses, including Accredo, and executive vice president of Customer Innovation for The Cigna Group, in the announcement.”

• Beckers Health IT notes,
  • “Anthropic is launching an internal drug discovery program with a focus on neglected diseases that traditional pharmaceutical companies would not consider commercially attractive, CNBC reported June 30.
  • “At a June 30 event in San Francisco, Eric Kauderer-Abrams, Anthropic’s life sciences head, said the effort is designed to give the company firsthand experience in drug development as it builds AI tools for biopharma customers. Anthropic leaders framed the drug discovery program as a way to build credibility with the biopharma companies it hopes to win as Claude Science customers.
  • “Jonah Cool, Anthropic’s head of life sciences partnerships, said the focus on neglected diseases will run alongside the company’s broader push to create and sell AI tools to life sciences companies.”

• Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News adds,
  • “Anthropic has released Claude Science, an AI workbench for scientists that consolidates fragmented research tools, including over 60 scientific databases and connectors pre-configured for genomics, proteomics, structural biology, and more, into a single reasoning layer. The platform joins an increasingly crowded ecosystem of tech platforms specialized for biology and aims to accelerate scientific discovery by making domain expertise more accessible.
  • “Anthropic’s life science partners are delivering applications. Basecamp Research is targeting global public health, where drug-resistant infections play a role in nearly five million deaths per year. The London-based team has announced that its antibiotic design and vaccine target prediction EDEN models will now be available through Claude Science.
  • “A metagenomic foundation model, EDEN demonstrated a 97% success rate when designing functional peptides with high potency against World Health Organization (WHO) critical-priority and multidrug-resistant pathogens. The work was done in collaboration with César de la Fuente, PhD, presidential associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania.”