Simplicity is a virtue.

From Washington, DC,

• Bloomberg Law reports,
  • “The health insurance industry is adding to scrutiny of the American Medical Association’s control of billing codes, voicing resistance to the group’s planned overhaul of how doctors bill health plans for maternity care.
  • “Insurers say they didn’t have enough time to prepare for the change, while AMA claims the industry didn’t raise concerns during the development process. The dispute is gaining attention from policymakers amid a broader political rift between the AMA and Republicans over the country’s healthcare billing system.
  • “The AMA develops and trademarks the Current Procedural Terminology, or CPT, codes that doctors use to bill insurers for medical services. The codes are baked into government programs like Medicare, and critics—as well as Medicare’s payment advisory panel—have long questioned the conflict of interest in letting AMA help determine doctors’ payments.” * * *
  • “Overall, the new protocol eliminates 17 codes in favor of 12 new codes and six revised codes. AMA developed the codes over the course of three years with its CPT panel, which includes seats for representatives nominated by health insurance trade group AHIP and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. The codes were released in April, before the typical September release, to give everyone more time to prepare.
  • “But insurers say it’s not enough, pointing to the fact that babies due to be born in 2027 are already on the way. And while insurance representatives serve on the panel, participants are legally blocked from sharing information about the meetings, according to AHIP.” * * *
  • “The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services last week proposed extending the current coding system for an additional year alongside the new codes, saying it’s concerned the change will be disruptive.”
    
• Beckers Payer Issues relates,
  • “Committees in the House and Senate each advanced healthcare price transparency legislation this week, both aiming to expand disclosure requirements for hospitals, insurers and other healthcare providers.  
  • “Both measures would expand the existing hospital and payer price transparency rules, bring ASCs and labs under similar mandates for the first time and add new reporting requirements for insurers, pharmacy benefit managers and health plan administrators, though they differ on penalty structures, effective dates and scope.” * * *
    • Patients Deserve Price Tags Act
      • “The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions advanced legislation July 22 that would implement new price transparency requirements for hospitals, insurers, laboratories, imaging providers and ASCs, while also expanding group health plans’ access to claims and reimbursement data held by insurers and PBMs.
      • “The committee passed the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act by a vote of 21-1, one of several healthcare bills advanced together in the same en bloc vote. The bill now heads to the full Senate.
    • The Lower Costs, More Transparency Act
      • The House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced a broad healthcare price and cost transparency package July 21 in a 45-0 vote that would also expand price transparency rules for hospitals, insurers, ASCs and the administrators of employer-sponsored health plans if signed into law.
      • The bill was also referred to the House Ways and Means and Education and Workforce committees.

• The Hill adds,
  • “Bipartisan legislation to cap the cost of insulin at $35 for people with private health insurance advanced through a key Senate committee Wednesday, but its future remains uncertain. 
  • “The measure cleared the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions [HELP”] Committee by a bipartisan 17-5 vote, with six Republicans joining every Democrat on the panel.” 

• STAT New notes,
  • “People with diabetes who use a popular long-acting insulin pen made by Sanofi have had to become pharmacy scouts in recent weeks as they encounter supply issues.
  • “The Lantus Solostar pen containing 3 milliliters of insulin glargine has been running low for several weeks because of increased demand “driven by broader market dynamics,” a Sanofi spokesperson told STAT. The issue is not technically considered a shortage by the Food and Drug Administration, but patients are nonetheless having trouble finding the medication.”* * *
  • “Pharmacists can try to switch patients over to Semglee or Rezvoglar, the FDA-approved biosimilars, if their insurance allows that. Or they could ask prescribers to go for Lilly’s Basaglar, which comes in pen form.”

• Thompson Reuters tells us about
  • Rev. Proc. 2026-26 (July 21, 2026). Available at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-26-26.pdf
    • “The IRS has announced 2027 indexing adjustments for important percentages under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The indexing adjustments are based on projections of premium growth and income growth. For 2025 and several years prior, the premium growth rate was based on per enrollee spending for employer-sponsored insurance as published in the National Health Expenditure Account. However, HHS revised the measure to also capture increases in individual market premiums, starting with the 2026 benefit year. The IRS is applying this updated premium growth measure for 2027 as well.
    • “The required contribution percentage is used to determine whether employer-sponsored health coverage is “affordable” for purposes of employer shared responsibility under Code § 4980H. It is adjusted from a 9.5% baseline to 10.22% for plan years beginning in 2027. (This is an increase from 9.96% for 2026.) The percentages used to determine the amount of household income that individuals who are eligible for premium tax credits must contribute toward the cost of Exchange coverage vary across household income bands. The 2027 percentages range from 2.15% to 10.22%.”

• STAT News informs us,
  • “The Senate’s [HELP] panel delayed until next week a vote on Erica Schwartz to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after postponing a separate vote on Sean Kaufman for a key public health preparedness role.”
• and
  • “Nearly 18 months after taking office, President Trump has nominated a leader for the federal agency that oversees mental health and addiction policy. 
  • “If confirmed by the Senate, Timothy Westlake, a Wisconsin-based physician with decades of experience in both clinical and policy roles, would serve as assistant secretary of mental health and substance use. The position would also make him head of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which has operated without a long-term leader since Trump was inaugurated in January 2025.” 
    
• Tammy Flanagan, writing in Govexec, discusses “Why your retirement experience may depend more on the agency than the benefit.”
  • “Federal retirees interact with OPM, the Thrift Savings Plan and Social Security at different stages of retirement. Their latest performance data reveals starkly different customer service experiences and highlights where delays remain most likely.”

• OPM Director Scott Kupor added (Substack link) a post to this Secrets of OPM blog. This one concerns the vital importance of investment income to benefit programs.
  • “The federal government manages a number of trust funds, but the two largest are the Social Security Trust Fund (about $2.7 trillion today) and the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Funds (CSRDF) (about $1.1 trillion today), the latter of which we at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) have the privilege of overseeing.”
  • “It’s unlikely we are going to get Congress to eliminate the Treasury-only investment restrictions on the Social Security Trust Fund or the CSRDF. One can dream, but we all know that hope is not a strategy. However, all hope is not lost – and we at OPM have partnered with the Treasury Department to change what we can to the benefit of the American taxpayer.
  • “Enter “duration.”
  • “A very quick lesson on the economics of treasuries (and bonds more generally). Treasuries have varying expiration dates (or “duration,” as the finance nerds prefer). For example, you can buy Treasury bills (less than 1-year in duration), Treasury notes (with 2, 3, 5, and 7-year durations) and Treasury bonds (with 20 and 30-year durations). It’s not always the case, but in general the longer the duration, the higher the interest rate the government will pay you on the bond. Today, a 30-year duration bond pays about 5% in annual interest, whereas the 10-year pays 4.5% and a 1-year pays 4%.
  • “Historically, the CSRDF has had an average duration across its entire Treasury portfolio of about 7.5 years. That means, that we had lots of different maturities, ranging from less than 1-year to up to 15-years, but the average was right in the middle. As a result, we have achieved the roughly 3-4% annualized returns that I mentioned above on the overall fund balance.”* * *
  • “Partnering with Treasury, we concluded that a longer average duration was appropriate for the CSRDF from a risk and pension liability perspective and would yield a better economic return to the fund. As a result, OPM has increased our duration from 7.5 years to 15 years by adding longer-date treasuries (e.g., 20- and 30-year bonds) to the portfolio.
  • “Who cares? Well, this enabled us to increase the expected investment return of the portfolio to approximately 4.4%.”

From the Food and Drug Administration front,

• A Dallas Texas NBC TV station reports,
  • “The FDA announced that nearly 20 million eggs (more than 1.5 million cartons) are being recalled due to the risk of Salmonella.
  • “Midwest Poultry Services voluntarily issued the recall of white shell eggs and brown cage-free shell eggs that were sold at Kroger and Brookshire Grocery stores in Texas, as well as smaller retail outlets.
  • “The eggs are also sold in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico, and Mississippi.
  • “The eggs were produced and distributed in Texas between June 6 and July 3; the latest sell-by or best-by date is Aug. 17.
  • “The recalled eggs will have an identifying code number printed on the left or right sides of the carton in date-coding ink only. Only codes P-1950 or 0840962 with a Julian Date between 157 and 184 printed on the side of the carton are recalled.”
    
• Fierce Pharma relates,
  • “An FDA advisory committee has recommended that two peptide drugs that were previously restricted because of potential safety concerns be restored to the 503A Bulk Drug Substances list, which would remove the restrictions on how they are produced by compounders.
  • “Eight of the 15 members of the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee (PCAC) voted to add both drugs back to the list, with six members voting ‘no’ and one abstaining. 
  • “BPC-157 and KPV are the first two of seven drugs that are being reviewed Thursday and Friday by the PCAC. In 2023, 12 peptides were reclassified, which restricted their use. In addition to safety concerns, the FDA cited a lack of evidence supporting their efficacy.”
  • “BPC-157, which is not approved by the FDA, is a synthetic anti-inflammatory peptide used to treat ulcerative colitis. BPC-157 and KPV, also an anti-inflammatory,  have also gained popularity in wellness and fitness influencer circles for supposed soft-tissue healing and bone repair capabilities. 
  • “The FDA is not required to follow the recommendations of the PCAC. The agency will make the final decision on whether the peptides can be manufactured by compounders.”  

• The Wall Street Journal informs us,
  • “The U.S. Food and Drug and Administration said Wednesday it is investigating an additional cyclospora outbreak that the agency said has sickened at least 72 people.
  • It is the latest of four continuing cyclospora outbreaks being investigated by the FDA. The largest involves at least 1,644 cases, which have been linked to shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms and served at Taco Bellin five states. 
  • “The companies have said that the shredded lettuce, sourced from central Mexico, has been removed from the U.S. market. Taylor Farms said last week that it voluntarily recalled iceberg lettuce grown and processed in Mexico, including products sold in grocery stores and restaurants across 27 states in the U.S.
  • “The FDA hasn’t yet identified a source for any of the other cyclospora outbreaks.”
  • “The FDA also said it was investigating at least 106 reported cases of salmonella and eight cases of listeria. The sources of those illnesses have yet to be identified.”

No Surprises Act News

• Modern Healthcare reports,
  • “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and its contractors can’t keep up with the ceaseless onslaught of No Surprises Act out-of-network billing cases, federal data show.
  • “Providers and health insurance plans initiated 1.43 million Independent Dispute Resolution arbitrations this year through May, 46% more than during the comparable period in 2025. The system resolved 1.36 million cases over those five months.” * * *
  • “There’s no real end in sight,” said Lawson Mansell, a senior health policy analyst at the Niskanen Center, a centrist think tank.
  • “There have been 6.3 million cases since Independent Dispute Resolution began in 2022, and arbitrators have resolved 5.9 million. Providers file the lion’s share of cases.” * * *
  • “The new gateway may reduce the backlog, Mansell said. But because providers can win large payments, they have an incentive to continue filing many cases, he said.”

From the judicial front,

• Modern Healthcare reports,
  • “The Health and Human Services Department will fight to restore policies it says are vital to protecting the health insurance exchanges against fraud.
  • “HHS filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit on Tuesday to reverse a decision the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland handed down last month that invalidated portions of a program integrity final rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued last year.
  • “Democratic elected officials representing Baltimore, Chicago and Columbus, Ohio, are the lead plaintiffs in the case alongside the left-leaning advocacy groups Doctors For America and the Main Street Alliance. The plaintiffs contend CMS didn’t follow proper regulatory procedure when it issued the regulation.” * * *
  • “Last week, the same district court temporarily blocked sections of a separate health insurance exchange rule in a case brought by some of the same plaintiffs.”
    
• The American Hospital Association News adds,
  • “The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday released implementation guidance following a district court ruling July 16 that enjoined eight provisions from its 2027 notice of benefit and payment parameters final rule, which were set to become effective July 20. The rule issues standards for qualified health plans offered through the health insurance marketplaces. “Accordingly, for plan year 2026, Exchanges must immediately begin to update their systems to stop removing or denying advance payments of the premium tax credit for any new applicants or existing enrollees due to having failed to file and reconcile prior years’ premium tax credits,” CMS wrote. “Exchanges must continue in this manner for plan year 2027.” The agency said that the Department of Health and Human Services reimplemented the automatic 60-day time extension to resolve inconsistencies in household income data.”

From the public health and medical / Rx research front,

• Fox News reports,
  • “As New York City continues to investigate an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease that has claimed multiple lives and sickened dozens of people, doctors say there are ways people can reduce the risk of exposure.
  • “As of July 21, there have been five deaths and 82 diagnoses linked to the Upper East Side outbreak, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Eight patients remain hospitalized.
  • “Health officials said no new cases had been reported in the previous six days, suggesting the source of exposure has likely been eliminated, although the investigation remains ongoing.
  • “Legionnaires’ disease is a serious type of pneumonia that is typically spread by tiny water droplets containing Legionella bacteria, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

• The Wall Street Journal informs us,
  • “Many people are reconsidering their Caesar salad lunches and berry breakfasts as cases of cyclosporiasis, the explosive-diarrhea illness, continue to rise in the U.S.
  • “The good news is, they don’t have to. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hasn’t recommended that people cut fresh produce out of their diets, only that they avoid recalled iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms.
  • “We asked food-safety experts what we know—and don’t—about how to safely eat produce right now.” * * *
  • The only food recalled in connection with the current cyclosporiasis outbreak is iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico, sourced from central Mexico. The CDC lists all of the affected products here. Of course, this list could grow so consumers should keep an eye on the latest news.
  • “The vast majority of fresh fruits and vegetables are safe to eat, food-safety experts say. All fresh produce carries some inherent risk, separate from the cyclosporiasis outbreak, but experts say the health benefits of eating these foods generally outweigh those. 
  • “It’s a special time of year,” said Kali Kniel, a professor of microbial food safety at the University of Delaware. “Go to the farmers market, buy local if you can, where you know a farmer in your area has grown that directly.”
  • “Commercial processing can magnify certain food-safety risks, including chopping and shredding in large facilities where a single contaminated leaf can mix with other produce. For salad lovers, experts recommend buying whole heads of lettuce and removing and discarding the outer couple of layers of leaves.
  • “Mixed-lettuce bags might make life easier, but they are particularly risky since the lettuce is pulled from different sources, said Marion Nestle, a professor emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University.” * * *
  • “Cooking produce to 158 degrees Fahrenheit is the surest way to eliminate risk of contamination, experts say. 
  • “Peeling, too, or removing outer layers of produce, is another effective safeguard. Cyclospora parasites often become entrapped in produce through contaminated water used to grow or wash it, so areas that come into contact with water are more likely to be affected. 
  • “Freezing might reduce some risk by eventually killing eggs of the parasite, but doesn’t guarantee safety.”
• and
  • “Congratulations if you’re among the country’s nearly 56 million ex-smokers. Many health benefits are coming your way—some of them within just a few minutes.
  • “Over the long term, though, the health picture gets a lot more complex. Some problems caused by smoking take decades to clear up, and certain lung damage can’t be fixed. Plus, a higher risk for lung cancer never completely fades.
  • “Even so, there are plenty of steps ex-smokers can take to boost the benefits from quitting, from changing their diet to beefing up their exercise regimen. Even if restoring pristine lung condition isn’t an option, doctors say quitting still matters—both for health and quality of life.
  • “Quitting is absolutely one of the most powerful things that someone can do for their health at any stage, at any time,” says Eric Singhi, a thoracic medical oncologist with the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.”

• Cardiovascular Business tells us,
  • “Approximately 20 million routine chest CT scans are performed for non-cardiac reasons in the U.S. each year. They represent a large untapped opportunity to detect coronary artery disease.
  • “That’s according to a presentation at SCCT2026, the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) annual meeting, by Suhny Abbara, MD, MSCCT, senior associate consultant and professor of radiology at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, editor-in-chief of Radiology, the flagship journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), and a former SCCT president. He urged health systems to capitalize on the incidental findings already visible on millions of imaging exams.
  • “As a cardiac CT person, I think I can make less of a difference population-wise with coronary CT,” Abbara said. “Those are patients that are already on our radar. There is a huge number of patients, 20 to 40 times more, where we can detect coronary atherosclerosis serendipitously in a CT done for other reasons.”

• Health Day relates,
  • “Obesity treatment for young people in the U.S. is rapidly changing.
  • “Adolescents and young adults are increasingly using GLP-1 weight-loss medications, while rates of bariatric surgery are declining, according to a study published July 20 in JAMA Pediatrics.
  • “This research is the first national-scale Epic Cosmos analysis, to our knowledge, to characterize real-world use of combined GLP-1 receptor agonist therapy and metabolic and bariatric surgery among adolescents and young adults with obesity,” said lead author Sarah Messiah, associate dean for research at UT Southwestern’s Peter O’Donnell Jr. School of Public Health.
  • “Researchers analyzed records from more than 204,000 patients between 13 and 25 years of age who were treated for obesity between May 2022 and January 2026.
  • “They found exclusive GLP-1 use increased from 88.2% in 2022 to 96.1% by early 2026. During the same period, bariatric surgery rates fell from 11.6% to 3.7%.”

• BioPharma Dive adds,
  • “Eli Lilly on Thursday bolstered the case for its new experimental obesity medicine, announcing the success of two more Phase 3 trials and plans to seek approval of the drug next year. 
  • “The Triumph-2 and Triumph-3 studies build on research released in May that found the drug, retatrutide, could help people lose 30% of their body weight after 104 weeks, reaching a level associated with bariatric surgery. The two new trials included overweight or obese patients who also had either type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease.
  • “The overall weight loss in the two studies was less than in the Triumph-1 study released in May, showing an average of 21% body weight loss after 80 weeks in the diabetes group and 23% loss in the cardiovascular disease cohort at the highest doses. Still, those results met expectations for patients with underlying conditions who often lose less weight, RBC Capital Markets analyst Trung Huynh wrote in a note to clients.”

• The American Hospital Association lets us know “what doctors want patients to know about heart failure.
  • “Heart failure can affect energy, breathing and daily life, but early diagnosis, treatment and follow-up can help people manage symptoms.”

• Fierce Pharma reports,
  • Johnson & Johnson has unveiled massive phase 3 survival data for its dual bispecific combination in earlier-line multiple myeloma, delivering another catalyst that could add a new twist in the commercial trajectories of off-the-shelf T-cell engagers versus personalized CAR-T therapies.
  • The combination of J&J’s Tecvayli and Talvey slashed the risk of disease progression or death by 89% compared to standard-of-care cocktails in second- to fifth-line multiple myeloma patients, according to results from the phase 3 MonumenTAL-6 trial. 
  • In another remarkable showing, the two T-cell engagers targeting BCMA and GPRC5D delivered a 62% reduction in the risk of death, J&J announced Thursday.

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

• Beckers Hospital Review reports,
  • “Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare recorded an $826 million net income in the second quarter of 2026, up from $288 million during the same period, according to its July 23 financial report. 
  • “The publicly traded for-profit system reported operating income of $1.5 billion (26.7% operating margin) during the three months ended June 30, up from $823 million (15.6% margin) during the same period last year. 
  • “Total operating revenue was $5.6 billion in the second quarter of 2026, a 6.8% increase year over year. Tenet received $413 million in revenue in Q2 from the early conclusion of Conifer’s revenue-cycle services contract with Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health, bringing full control of the company back under Tenet. 
  • “Tenet’s salaries, wages and benefits totaled $2.23 billion in Q2 2026, a 3.3% increase year over year. Supply expenses totaled $984 million, a 5.6% increase. Other operating expenses totaled $1.2 billion, a 4.9% increase. 
• and
  • “Most patients decide on a hospital before settling on a physician — or land on both in the same step — when they first encounter a new health concern, according to survey results U.S. News & World Report published July 20.
  • “U.S. News worked with PureSpectrum to poll 500 Americans nationwide who had personally arranged care for themselves or a family member within the past two years.
  • “Fifty-three percent of respondents said the hospital came first in their decision, or that hospital and physician were chosen together. The other 47% picked their physician before the hospital entered the picture.
  • “When a preferred physician cannot practice at a patient’s hospital of choice, 80% follow that physician to a different facility rather than give up the relationship. Only 20% take the opposite route, opting for a different physician to stay at the hospital they want.
  • “Patients trust referrals from physicians the most when it comes to sources of information about hospitals, averaging at 4.0 on a five-point scale of trustworthiness. Next was data directories, such as online directories or hospital websites, at 3.5 to 3.7, followed by AI chatbots, social media and podcasts, at 2.7 to 2.8.
  • “Age shifts that picture: patients between 26 and 40 place nearly as much trust in podcasts, AI chatbots and social platforms as they do in referrals or hospital websites — a gap that is far wider among older patients. That same younger group also leans on consumer reviews: 81% said sites like Google and Yelp shape what they decide.”
    
• Beckers Physician Leadership points out five things to know about “the forces reshaping physician compensation in 2026.”
  
• Fierce Healthcare tells us,
  • “Teladoc Health unveiled a new virtual care model for employers and health plans designed to offer a more coordinated, personalized approach for members, while tying payment to clinical and financial outcomes.
  • “The model, called Teladoc One, was built to replace fragmented, condition-specific healthcare programs with an integrated offering that dynamically supports a person’s entire health needs rather than only addressing one disease at a time, company executives said. As part of the model, Teladoc Health care teams deliver and coordinate care across virtual settings and in partnership with a member’s local providers. 
  • “Teladoc One, fundamentally, is a new care model that’s changing the way that we deliver care,” Kelly Bliss, president of U.S. Group Health at Teladoc Health, told Fierce Healthcare in an interview.”
• and
  • “Cigna Healthcare is taking steps to significantly expand its personalized care management programs, leaning on AI to identify risks sooner and simplify the patient journey.
  • “Through the initiative, Cigna’s care teams use predictive analytics to identify individuals who may benefit from supports or intervention earlier, which can avert more negative outcomes or disease progression down the road.
  • “The insurer also deploys its more than 1,250 clinicians, including nurse managers and behavioral health professionals, to guide the care journey. They are empowered to coordinate care between providers and point members to supports available through their health plan that may be beneficial.”
• and
  • “Erlanger Health System plans to join Prisma Health, creating a 27-hospital system in exchange for a $2 billion strategic capital commitment toward care in the Chattanooga, Tennessee area.
  • “The nonprofit health systems announced their signed non-binding letter of intent Wednesday morning but did not provide a tentative timeline for the deal. A final agreement will require approvals from Erlanger’s board of directors, who already have backed the deal, as well as Erlanger’s independent oversight monitor board, the local county commission and other state and federal regulators. 
  • “The pair said their proposed partnership will boost access to specialty care, better fund long-term capital projects, secure “mission critical programs” such as southeast Tennessee’s only Level 1 trauma center and other safety-net operations, and generally help the organization grow amid a toughening operating environment.” 

• Beckers Health IT lets us know,
  • “OpenAI has expanded Health, a ChatGPT feature that lets users securely connect personal health data, to all eligible users in the U.S.
  • “The rollout covers logged-in users age 18 and older on web and iOS across the Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans, according to a July 23 OpenAI news release.
  • “Health lets users connect Apple Health data and supported medical records from U.S. hospital systems, One Medical or Function Health. With permission, ChatGPT can then use that information across any conversation, not just within a dedicated Health tab, to compare lab results, summarize changes since a last appointment, or factor in a recent injury or dietary restriction.
  • “OpenAI said the wider release builds on a limited early test in which more than 70% of health-related conversations happened outside the dedicated Health space, prompting the company to fold that context into everyday chats. Connected medical records and Apple Health data, along with conversations that use them, are not used to train OpenAI’s foundation models or target ads, the company said. Users can disconnect data sources at any time, and connected data is deleted from OpenAI’s systems within 30 days.
  • “The feature runs on GPT-5.5 Instant for free users and GPT-5.6 Sol for paid users, both developed with input from physicians and evaluated on OpenAI’s HealthBench Professional benchmark.” 

• The Wall Street Journal adds,
  • “One of the looming worries about artificial intelligence is that it will automate away jobs. A report from researchers at Google released Thursday says that, so far, the technology is mainly being used as an aid to workers.
  • “It is a finding that, if it holds true as AI continues to develop, could point to a future where the demand for highly skilled workers is accentuated rather than diminished. 
  • “Just because you’re using AI doesn’t mean it’s going to automate your job,” said Google economist Scott Strand, one of the researchers.” * * *
  • “The research says that while workers in higher-paid occupations tend to use AI more, its use isn’t limited to jobs typically held by college-educated workers. People in manual and technical trades, such as electricians and auto mechanics, are using AI significantly as a hands-on collaborator, and are uploading images and videos to solve problems far more frequently than their white-collar counterparts. 
  • “The research also finds that people are turning to AI to help speed up drudge work at home, such as dealing with government paperwork, building household budgets or helping with home repairs. The gains people are getting from AI use at home are unlikely to show up in standard economic statistics.”