Simplicity is a virtue.

From Washington, DC

• The House of Representatives will resume Committee business and floor voting on Capitol Hill tomorrow. The Senate returns on September 14.

• According to the House Majority Leader’s weekly calendar, the House will be taking up the Senate’s FY 2026 continuing resolution this week.

• The Wall Street Journal reports,
  • “Social Security faces looming insolvency and automatic benefit cuts in 2032, prompting accelerated discussions in Congress.
  • “Lawmakers are floating bipartisan ideas, including a commission to propose solvency plans and eliminating the cap on Social Security payroll taxes.
  • “Delaying action has made the eventual adjustments more severe, as past tax or spending changes are no longer large enough to close the funding gap.”

• Tech Target tells us,
  • “The goals of the 21st Century Cures Act are being realized, as more patients look at their EHRs and lab results, according to a group of researchers from NYU’s School of Global Public Health.
  • “But there is a catch, the researchers said. Not all of these people understand what they’re looking at, especially when they view lab and test results before they can consult with their doctor.” * * *
  • “We wanted to understand whether a patient’s probability of accessing test results — and understanding of them — varies based on sociodemographic characteristics, health status, patient-centered communication, and digital health literacy,” Jemar Bather, Ph.D., assistant professor of biostatistics at NYU School of Global Public Health and the study’s lead author, said in a press release.
  • “Bather and colleagues surveyed nearly 5,000 patients who had access to their digital medical records and received a test result within the previous year. They found the Cures Act was mostly delivering on its promise. More than two-thirds of the survey respondents (68.6%) said they’d immediately viewed a test result before talking to their provider.
  • “Still, comprehension was lacking, with a sizeable proportion of patients saying they didn’t entirely understand their lab results when they looked at them.
  • Of those who viewed their results immediately, 6.6% said they had a poor understanding, while another quarter (26.8%) said they understood them only fairly well. Just under a third (31.7%) understood their results well, and 34.9% understood them very well.” * * *
  • “Specifically, understanding of medical notes and labs was mostly concentrated among the most engaged patients, the data suggested. These folks tended to be older, female, high-income and have a greater number of chronic conditions, the researchers pointed out. They also had higher digital literacy and were more likely to use social media for their health.
  • “Meanwhile, some groups are slipping through the cracks. Individuals living in the Midwest or the South, as well as those experiencing discrimination in the medical setting, were less likely to understand their test results.”

• Drug Topics relates,
  • “Johns Hopkins, ASTHO, and CSTE partnered with state/territorial agencies to deliver a standardized, validated [vaccine preventable diseases] VPD dashboard, with >25 jurisdictions committed and broader expansion planned for 2026. 
  • Age-stratified, jurisdiction-comparable reporting aims to improve epidemiologic interpretability and policy utility beyond traditional national surveillance, while maintaining non-identifiability and data security. 
  • Voluntary state health department feeds populate participating jurisdictions, and CDC NNDSS data backfill nonparticipants, enabling a more complete national picture with substate granularity. 
  • Localized incidence signals can trigger pharmacist-led standing-order immunization escalation and more aggressive encounter-, diagnosis-, procedure-, periodic-, and occupational-screening workflows. 
  • Persistent mortality and missed vaccination opportunities underscore the need for actionable surveillance; pharmacists are positioned to close gaps through education, administration, advocacy, and treatment optimization.

From the U.S. Office of Personnel Management front,

• “Survivors, family members, and estate representatives are required to notify OPM when a federal retiree or benefit recipient passes away. This page has the contact numbers, hours, mailing address, and steps to report the death and initiate life insurance claims.” A financial incentive to report exists when the deceased has a survivor annuitant. The financial incentive is missing when a survivor annuitant passes away. In any case this website explains how to report such a death. The website does not suggest that the death be reported to the FEHB or PSHB plan.

From the public health and medical / Rx research front

• NBC’s Today Show reports,
  • “New infections with cyclospora, the “explosive” diarrhea-causing parasite that’s sickened thousands of Americans this summer, appear to be on a downward trend, according to new data.
  • “The parasitic illness, also known as cyclosporiasis, normally ramps up during the warmer months in the United States. But this year, cases have surged to record-high levels.
  • “More than 17,100 confirmed cases have been reported by 48 states since May 1, according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published on Aug. 25. Some 11,800 probable cases are still under investigation.” * * *
  • “In the U.S., cyclosporiasis season usually lasts from May through Aug. 31, per the CDC. However, cases could continue to rise later than usual this year.
  • “So far, only one outbreak — the nation’s largest — has been linked to a particular food, iceberg lettuce. The lettuce was supplied by Taylor Farms de Mexico and served at restaurants and retailers, but has since been recalled and is no longer available.
  • “More than 10,900 cases associated with this outbreak have been reported across 17 states, per the FDA: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. 
  • “In Michigan, the hardest-hit state, cyclosporiasis case reports and diarrhea-related emergency department visits are slowing down, NBC News reported previously.”

• The Washington Post points out,
  • “Cancer death rates have fallen in recent years, and news this month about the advancement of groundbreaking research has stirred optimism for new treatments of melanoma, pancreatic cancer and beyond.
  • “But cancer rates are still rising among younger adults. And researchers have also identified disparities in diagnoses, with a recent studyindicating men were more likely than women to be diagnosed at a later stage for 20 types of cancer — including stomach, lung, tongue and some throat cancers.
  • ‘Beth Maclin, a postdoctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute who led the study that reviewed health data from 2015 to 2022, said the disparity may help explain why cancer mortality rates for men are higher than women. The reasons for a late-stage cancer diagnosis, when the disease has spread in the body and progressed to a more lethal and less treatable stage, can include not undergoing cancer screenings or regular health checkups, Maclin said.
  • “Some cancers can’t be screened for or are hard to detect until they become life-threatening. But there are many factors that everyone can control to help manage their cancer risk and spot signs of disease before they progress, experts told The Washington Post. Here are their suggestions.
    • “Stay up to date on screenings” * * *
    • “Besides screenings, keeping up on annual checkups with your primary care doctor can also help spot odd symptoms or physical signs of cancer, experts said.” * * *
    • “Beyond tests and checkups, among the easiest and most important precautions people can take are managing their physical health, experts said.”

• MedCity News relates,
  • “Consider this: a condition that affects nearly one in three people with diabetes over their lifetime, carries a five-year mortality rate rivaling many cancers, and drives more than 85% of all diabetes-related amputations has seen almost no transformative innovation in nearly 30 years. That condition is the diabetic foot ulcer (DFU), and it is long overdue for a reckoning.
  • “Wound medicine is one of the most inherently multidisciplinary fields in all of healthcare. Caring properly for a diabetic foot ulcer requires coordinated effort from primary care physicians, podiatrists, vascular surgeons, infectious disease specialists, wound care nurses, nurse practitioners, physical therapists, plastic and reconstructive surgeons, among many others. On any given day, a single patient may require input from half a dozen different providers.
  • “Compounding this fragmentation is an institutional gap: wound medicine is not a board-certified specialty under the American Board of Medical Specialties. There is no single recognized governing society with the authority to unify clinical guidelines, set training standards, or advocate collectively for patients. Instead, each stakeholder specialty develops its own guidelines relevant to its domain.
  • “For patients, this is more than an administrative inconvenience. Chronic wounds demand clinicians willing to act outside of their defined role, not because the system incentivizes it, but because without it, the wound will not heal.” * * *
  • “For a patient with a DFU, wound closure is not simply the absence of an open wound. It means fewer clinic visits, fewer hospitalizations, fewer dressing changes, less drainage, less home nursing. It means greater mobility, restored independence, and freedom from the constellation of oppressive downstream complications that make life with an unhealed DFU so difficult.
  • “Most importantly, it means breaking a sequence of events that leads to amputation and premature death. We know that a foot ulcer precedes amputation in more than 85% of diabetes-related amputations. Closing ulcers quickly is a clear intervention point in that sequence.
  • “For the millions of patients living with diabetes and at risk for foot ulceration, it offers an opportunity to reduce the risk of downstream complications.”
• and
  • “Sepsis can happen to anyone. Clinicians know it and patients fear it. But too few researchers target it.
  • “We’ve seen an upwell of news articles and social media posts about the deadly disease in the weeks since NASCAR driver Kyle Busch’s tragic death. Each piece earnestly describes sepsis symptoms and outlines what people should do if symptoms appear. It’s a good conversation, because increasing awareness is deeply important and can save lives. But awareness alone won’t help patients who will still be relegated to supportive care when they arrive at the hospital.
  • “When it comes to making progress toward better treatment options for patients who develop sepsis and other acute conditions, progress has been stalled for decades. Sepsis is the “graveyard for pharmaceutical companies” because drugs stall after unsuccessful clinical trials. The result? No truly new therapeutics in more than 20 years.
  • “While sepsis may be the most recognizable example, the same challenge extends across acute immune-driven diseases, like severe pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), acute kidney injury, and acute organ failure. Together, these conditions affect millions of patients each year and remain among the most costly and lethal challenges in medicine.
  • “The conventional wisdom has held that sepsis is simply too complex. When we look at the progress happening across healthcare – and the real potential for dramatic innovations fueled by AI-enabled discovery – it’s time to rethink what “too complex” actually means so we can reignite innovation in this area of deep unmet need.”
    
• The New York Times reports,
  • Whether menopause hormone therapy protects against Alzheimer’s disease is one of the fiercest debates in women’s health.
  • Some gynecologists have promoted the idea, as have social media influencers. But research on the topic is mixed, with some studies showing a reduced risk of dementia in women who received hormone therapy, while other research found no benefit or an increased risk.
  • Two recent studies, one published this week and another earlier this month, have added new fodder to the debate, suggesting there may be a brain health benefit from taking hormones. One study found that women who received hormone therapy during menopause were less likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The other study found fewer signs of Alzheimer’s in the brains of women who had taken estrogen.
  • But outside experts cautioned that there were caveats to both analyses. Most glaring, the research was based on observational data, not clinical trials that compare the medication with a placebo in a randomized group of women.
  • “The way I interpret these papers is that they’re thought-provoking,” said Rebecca Thurston, the associate dean for women’s health research at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine who was not involved in the studies. “They underscore the need for a larger, well-designed clinical trial that is designed to address this question. But I would not regard them as definitive.”

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

• Modern Healthcare reports,
  • “Sanford Health’s proposed acquisition of North Memorial Health is moving forward after clearing its final regulatory hurdle. 
  • “The office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) on Friday announced the conditional approval of the deal, which would add North Memorial’s two hospitals and affiliated facilities to Sanford’s 58-hospital footprint. 
  • “The organizations signed a definitive agreement in May. The transaction is set to close Sept. 1.
  • “Under the agreement with the attorney general’s office, Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based Sanford would spend $600 million over the next 10 years on infrastructure upgrades and service expansions at North Memorial’s two hospitals, Maple Grove Hospital and Robbinsdale Hospital in northwest Minneapolis, according to a memorandum of understanding released Friday. 
  • “Sanford would also maintain services at North Memorial Health facilities over that span, honor the system’s collective bargaining agreements, maintain a corporate office in the Twin Cities region and meet quarterly with Ellison, among other commitments.”

• Health Exec relates,
  • “Healthcare giant McKesson is acquiring Precision Medicine Group to expand its portfolio of cancer treatment options, the company announced Tuesday. The transaction is valued at around $2.25 billion.
  • “Once the transaction closes, the privately managed Precision Medicine Group will fall under McKesson’s Oncology & Multispecialty banner. Before that happens, the sale will be subject to approval by regulators, as is customary.
  • “In its statement, McKesson lauded Precision Medicine Group’s “next-generation approaches to drug development and commercialization,” adding that the company is important to drug developers, as it provides “biomarker intelligence,” labs and access to global clinical research organizations that aid pharmaceutical companies in bringing new cancer drugs to market.
  • “This acquisition represents another meaningful step in advancing our oncology and multispecialty strategy and reflects our continued commitment to providing patients with access to the highest quality of care,” Brian Tyler, chair and chief executive officer of McKesson, said in a statement. “Precision Medicine Group brings complementary capabilities that will enhance our clinical research and commercialization services, strengthen clinical trial execution, and broaden our clinical service offerings.”

• The Wall Street Journal informs us,
  • “Most companies sell a hit product for as long as customers want it. For drugmakers, a clock starts before a drug is even approved: Patents run out, lower-priced copycats flood in and sales collapse. Billions of dollars of annual sales can evaporate, sometimes within a year.
  • “The pharma industry is entering its biggest wave of patent expirations in decades. The world’s bestselling drug in 2025, Merck’s cancerimmunotherapy Keytruda, loses U.S. patent protection in 2028, and nearly every pharma company has at least one blockbuster drug that will go off patent in the next five years.
  • “It explains why stocks went wild when Moderna and Merck announced their experimental cancer vaccine had succeeded in a major trial. The vaccine could give Merck a new revenue stream to offset the Keytruda cliff. Biotechs like Revolution Medicines, which had its pancreatic cancer drug approvedthis week, have attracted takeover interest this year as companies look for partnerships and takeover targets.
  • “The scale of the cliff “is what has driven, and will continue to drive, companies to seek out new growth opportunities,” said Greg Graves, a senior partner in the life sciences division of McKinsey. 
  • “In all, more than $500 billion of projected global sales are at risk of losing patent protection by 2033, according to biopharma market-research company Norstella. The patent cliff has driven a wave of acquisitions as drugmakers race to replace expiring revenue before it vanishes. Dealmaking is at its highest level in seven years.”