Never forget.

The New York Times reports

• “Mourners and dignitaries gathered this morning in Lower Manhattan to honor the thousands of people who were killed on this day 25 years ago, when terrorists crashed two airplanes into the World Trade Center, shaking America and the world. It took four hours for family members of the victims to read aloud the names of all of the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives: Gordon M. Aamoth Jr.; Edelmiro Abad; Marie Rose Abad …
• “Solemn ceremonies were also held at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pa., where the other hijacked planes crashed. At the Pentagon, President Trump spoke of American resilience: “Sept. 11 reminded us of the terrible power of hate,” he said. “The 25 years since have shown us the even greater power of the American spirit to endure and prevail and to win.”
• “All four other living presidents attended the memorial in New York. Zohran Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, was also in attendance, despite a petition signed by thousands of people, including the family members of some victims, urging him to stay away.
• “That ceremony began, as always, at 8:46 a.m., with a beat of silence honoring the moment when the first plane, American Airlines Flight 11, struck the North Tower. Five more silences marked the times when other flights crashed and buildings fell. But this year, a new, seventh moment of silence was observed, to mourn those who have died from cancer and other illnesses inflicted by the toxic dust they inhaled after the attacks.”

From Washington, DC,

• Tammy Flanagan, writing in Govexec, tells us,
  • Every year, the anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, brings back the same difficult truth: federal service is not always performed behind a desk, and risk does not always announce itself in advance. Sixty-nine federal employees were among those who died that day — including 62 at the Pentagon, three at the World Trade Center, three aboard Flight 93, one aboard Flight 77 at the Pentagon and one aboard Flight 175 at the World Trade Center. Many more reported for duty afterward to secure facilities, investigate the attacks, transport people, provide emergency assistance and help the country recover.
  • For their families, the lesson is not only one of remembrance. It is also a benefits lesson. If a civilian federal employee is injured, develops an occupational illness or dies because of federal employment, the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act may provide important protection.
  • FECA is the federal government’s workers’ compensation program for civilian employees, administered by the Labor Department’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs. It can pay for medical treatment, replace part of lost wages, provide compensation for permanent impairment and, in fatal cases, provide benefits to eligible survivors.
  • This is where many employees and families get into trouble: They know there are “benefits,” but they do not know which benefit applies, who administers it or what evidence is needed. A traumatic injury is generally tied to a specific incident during one workday or shift and is reported on Form CA-1. An occupational disease or illness develops over more than one workday or shift and is reported on Form CA-2. Wage-loss compensation is generally claimed separately, often with Form CA-7.
  • These distinctions are more than paperwork. They affect deadlines, agency responsibilities, medical documentation and how the claim is developed.
• FEHBlog observation: While OWCP pays benefits before FEHB /PSHB plans for OWCP compensable illnesses and injuries, OWCP does not give the beneficiary an OWCP benefits ID card which would put the provider on notice to bill OWCP, not the FEHB/PSHB plan.

• Healthcare Dive reports,
  • “The number of hospitals complying with price transparency rules is increasing. But more than half of facilities still aren’t posting full information about the cost of their services, according to the latest analysis from PatientRightsAdvocate.org.
  • “About 51% of U.S. hospitals aren’t fully complying with the rules, despite them taking effect more than half a decade ago, according to the patient advocacy group’s latest scorecard of 2,000 hospitals.
  • “Still, the roughly 49% of hospitals in compliance is up significantly from the last time PRA analyzed the industry in 2024, and is the highest rate since the group began tracking the issue in 2021. PRA chalked the improvement up to regulators stepping up enforcement.”

• AHIP adds,
  • “Hospital spending makes up the largest share (40%) of health insurance premiums and continues to grow, now exceeding $1.6 trillion annually. One major driver of high hospital costs is that routine services are often reimbursed at substantially higher prices — sometimes up to 13 times more — in hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) than in physician offices and other non-facility settings, even though the care is the same.” 

• Beckers ASC Review tells us,
  • “Physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses can now order every noninvasive colorectal cancer screening test Medicare covers, ending a long-standing physician-only requirement under a CMS coverage change.
  • “CMS authorized the expanded coverage in June when it finalized a decision memo revising the “Screening for Colorectal Cancer — Non-Invasive Biomarker Tests” national coverage determination, the American Academy of Physician Associates said in a Sept. 10 news release.
  • “The determination previously covered the tests only when a physician ordered them. CMS reopened it after new evidence emerged on stool-based RNA tests.
  • “PAs and APRNs may now order RNA-based stool tests, DNA-based stool tests, DNA-based blood tests and fecal occult blood tests.”

• Beckers Hospital Review informs us,
  • “Johnson & Johnson will require 340B covered entities to submit claims-level data for its covered outpatient drugs starting Sept. 15, according to a notice the drugmaker sent to providers Sept. 4.
  • “Covered entities that don’t submit will receive at least two noncompliance notices and a notice of pricing suspension, with suspension beginning at least five business days after the final notice. J&J said 340B pricing will be restored within 10 business days once a covered entity submits compliant data.
  • “The policy applies to all covered entity types regardless of dispensing or administration location, inventory management system or payer coverage. J&J said it will continue to offer 340B pricing upfront at the time of purchase rather than moving to a rebate model, and that the policy supersedes claims-data provisions in a prior notice from February 2023.
  • “Covered entities must submit data within 45 days of a drug’s dispensation; a list of oncology, autoimmune and other specialty drugs, including Stelara, Darzalex and Tremfya, carries a 60-day window.” 

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

• Federal New Network offers an interview with OPM Director Scott Kupor, and further reports
  • “Federal employees’ performance ratings will now be the top consideration during future reductions in force, as a final rule from the Office of Personnel Management takes full force this month.
  • “OPM’s final regulations, which became effective Sept. 2, mark a significant turning point in the way agencies develop RIF retention registers, which determine whether employees are retained, reassigned, demoted or separated during RIFs.
  • “Following the publication of the final rule in August, OPM detailed further expectations about the new system in guidance to agencies. During any future RIFs, agencies will have to rank employees using a point system directly tied to their performance ratings. An employee with a level 5 performance rating will receive seven points on the RIF register, while level 4 receives five points; level 3 receives three points; and levels 1 and 2 each receive zero points.
  • “Agencies will also place competitive service and excepted service employees on separate retention registers in any future RIFs. Within each list, employees will then be numerically ranked based on their performance levels, with points added for veterans’ preference. Tenure and seniority will be used only as tiebreakers between employees.”

From the Food and Drug Administration front,

• The Pharmacy Times reports,
  • “The FDA approved leniolisib (Joenja; Pharming Healthcare) tablets for the treatment of activated phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta syndrome (APDS) in children aged 4 to 11 years who weigh at least 27 kg. The decision makes leniolisib the first FDA-approved treatment for children in this age and weight group with the rare genetic immune disorder.”

• Cardiovascular Business relates,
  • “Emboline, a California-based medtech company, has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for its Emboliner Embolic Protection System. The device was built to capture and remove embolic material during transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedures. This is seen as a way to reduce the risk of stroke, which clinicians have been battling since TAVR was first introduced, as well as other potential complications.
  • “We developed the Emboliner to address important unmet needs with existing embolic protection approaches for TAVR,” Scott Russell, president and CEO of Emboline, said in a statement. “We are excited to now be able to put the Emboliner in the hands of physicians so that they can offer a more comprehensive embolic protection solution for their patients. We are grateful to the clinical investigators whose partnership and feedback helped us reach this point.”
  • “The Emboliner device includes a self-expanding filter that covers all three cerebral vessels. The filter’s double-layer mesh captures debris without restricting blood flow in any way.
  • “Emboline plans on beginning its commercial launch of the newly approved device by the end of 2026.”

• Fierce Pharma tells us,
  • “The FDA has delayed its approval decision for Exelixis’ oral kinase inhibitor zanzalintinib in combination with Roche’s Tecentriq for the treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). 
  • “Exelixis explained in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that the agency has asked for the extension while it awaits updated safety and efficacy data from the company. It means the biopharma should now expect a decision in March 2027 as opposed to the previous deadline of Dec. 3, 2026.”

No Surprises Act News

• The American Hospital Association News tells us,
  • “The Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury have added Physio Solutions, LLC as a new independent dispute resolution entity increasing the total to 17. IDR arbitrators help make payment determinations in disputes between providers, group health plans and health insurance issuers under the No Surprises Act.”
    
• Beckers Payer Issues summarizes five other recent NSA updates for us.

From the judicial front,

• Bloomberg Law reports,
  • “A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s use of a question for federal job applicants that critics said amounted to a test of their political beliefs. 
  • “The Trump administration can no longer require thousands of government job seekers to say why the president’s policies are personally significant to them, and how they would further them if hired, according to a Friday ruling in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.” * * *
  • “While the ruling prevents the administration from using the question on job applications, O’Toole denied the unions’ request for a broader preliminary injunction barring the government from incorporating applicants’ answers or non-answers into hiring decisions. 
  • The case is AFGE v. Kupor, Office of Personnel Management, D. Mass., 25-13305-GAO, 9/11/26

From the public health and medical / Rx research front,

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today,
  • “As of September 11, 2026, the amount of acute respiratory illness causing people to seek health care is very low.
  • “COVID-19 activity is elevated and increasing nationally, but hospitalizations remain low.
  • “Rhinovirus/Enterovirus (RV/EV) and group A strep are increasing nationally.
  • “RSV activity and seasonal flu activity are low.”

• The University of Minnesota’s CIDRAP adds,
  • “The number of confirmed US cases of measles has reached 3,294, fully 1,000 more than all of last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted in its weekly update today. 
  • “The total includes 160 new cases, most of them in Pennsylvania, the nation’s measles hot spot. The country has now seen five straight weeks of triple-digit increases.”* * *
  • “As noted in the data from the CDC map, cases in Wisconsin are also ramping up. In an update today, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) confirmed 163 cases across the state so far this year. Four cases are new since September 8.” * * *
  • “Ohio this week confirmed 11 new cases, 133 total. In good news, Utah, which was a measles hot spot earlier this year, has gone more than three weeks without a confirmed case. Its case count stands at 518.”
    
• The American Hospital Association News tells us,
  • “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Sept. 10 released an advisory on a nationwide increase of reported human exposures to rabid or possibly rabid animals and rabies post-exposure prophylaxis administration errors. The CDC said it received 17% more rabies-related inquiries from July through August this year — including reports of mass exposure events — compared to the same period in 2025. The agency said that weekly pharmacy data as of Sept. 2 showed that utilization for the two rabies vaccines and two rabies immunoglobulins licensed in the U.S. increased by an estimated 33% and 76%, respectively, compared with the same period last year. The advisory includes recommendations for clinicians and healthcare facilities on rabies treatment and appropriate rabies PEP assessment and administration.”
    
• The Wall Street Journal informs us,
  • “Public-health officials declared an end to a cyclosporiasis outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce that spread across the U.S. this summer.
  • “The outbreak has resulted in a total of 12,883 reported cases of the gastrointestinal food-borne illness across 21 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.
  • “Federal health officials have linked the outbreak to shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms, a major supplier of fresh produce to retailers such as Walmart, Costco Wholesale and Amazon.com’s Whole Foods Market, as well as restaurant chains including McDonald’s and Yum Brands’ Taco Bell.
  • “The CDC said the contaminated lettuce linked to the outbreak is no longer available in stores or restaurants, and the products’ best-by dates have passed. Recent infections linked to the outbreak have declined, with fewer than two infections per day on average in August compared to a peak of more than 1,000 daily infections, the CDC said.”

• Health Day points out,
  • “Talking to a counselor before major surgery might boost seniors’ recovery following a procedure, a new study says.
  • “Mental health coaching before surgery can help reduce seniors’ risk of post-surgery anxiety and depression, researchers reported Sept. 9 in JAMA Network Open.
  • “The time around surgery is a window of both risk and opportunity,” lead researcher Joanna Abraham said in a news release.
  • “The stress of surgery can worsen anxiety and depression symptoms and affect patients’ recovery and overall health, but it also offers a critical opportunity to identify these concerns proactively and connect patients with the support they need,” said Abraham, a professor of anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.”

• Nature notes,
  • “Injected vaccines can raise an army of antibodies in the blood to stave off major illness, but don’t prevent infection at the points where respiratory viruses enter the body. Researchers hope that nasal vaccines could bolster protection at the moist mucosal barriers that line the respiratory tract, which could enable a person to rapidly ward off pathogens and prevent them from spreading a virus to others. A long line of failures demonstrates that developing a mucosal vaccine is a challenging task, but their promise is still enough to maintain commercial interest.”

• Per Beckers Clinical Leadership,
  • “The rise of GLP-1 medications is one of the most consequential changes in obesity care in decades. Not surprisingly, bariatric surgery is feeling the impact. As patients gain access to powerful medications such as semaglutide and tirzepatide, fewer are immediately choosing an operation. The trend is real, but [as explained in the article,] the conclusion that GLP-1s will simply replace bariatric surgery misses the larger story.”

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

• Beckers Hospital Review reports,
  • “Septicemia is the most expensive condition treated in hospitals, amounting to $60 billion in annual costs, a Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project report found. 
  • “The report, published February 2026, used 2022 data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project on hospital costs of inpatient stays in nonfederal acute care hospitals. Using the 2022 HCUP National Inpatient Sample, the report found the distribution of costs by primary expected payer and the conditions that accounted for the largest percentage of payer’s hospital costs. Hospital charges were converted to costs using HCUP cost-to-charge ratios. Payers included Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance and self-pay/no charge. 
  • “The report found: 
    • “The aggregate hospital costs for 32.9 million hospital stays totaled $548.5 billion.
    • “The 20 most expensive conditions account for 46.8% of aggregate hospital costs in 2022, and amounted to 43.1% of all hospital stays.
    • “Septicemia accounted for 10.9% of aggregate costs for all hospital stays in 2022 across all payer groups — more than three times higher than the next most expensive condition: liveborn infants which accounted for 3.6% of aggregate costs.
    • “Among the most expensive conditions, liveborn infants were the most common reason for hospitalization at 10.6% of all hospital stays, followed by septicemia at 7.4%, heart failure at 3.3% and COVID-19 at 2.5%.
    • “Circulatory system conditions were the most frequent of the top 20 diagnoses for Medicare, private insurance or self-pay/no charge.
    • “Pregnancy and childbirth conditions were the most frequent among the top 20 conditions for Medicaid.”
• and
  • “More than 150 independent rural hospitals across eight states have banded together into clinically integrated networks over the past three years, betting that shared scale, data and negotiating leverage can keep them out of the arms of consolidating systems and payers.
  • “The newest addition is the Show-Me High Value Network, a Missouri coalition of 23 independent hospitals that collectively serve more than 1.8 million residents across urban, rural and underserved communities. It joins a fast-growing map of rural high-value networks that includes: 
    • North Dakota’s Rough Rider High-Value Network (23 hospitals)
    • Minnesota’s Headwaters High-Value Network (19 hospitals)
    • The Ohio High Value Network (32 hospitals, including one in West Virginia)
    • Montana’s Yellowstone High Value Network (24 hospitals)
    • The Nebraska High-Value Network (19 hospitals)
    • The Wisconsin High Value Network (10 hospitals) 
    • The Kansas High Value Network (7 hospitals)
  • “Cibolo Health, a Texas-based consultancy that specializes in building rural hospital collaboratives, manages seven of the networks, including those in North Dakota, Minnesota, Ohio, Montana, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Kansas.”
• and
  • “St. Louis-based Mercy recorded an operating income of $500.8 million (4.5% margin) for fiscal year 2026, up from $21.4 million (0.2% margin) in fiscal 2025, according to its Sept. 11 financial report.”
• and
  • “Hershey, Pa.-based Penn State Health reported a $131.2 million operating gain on $5 billion in revenue for the fiscal year ended June 30, a significant improvement from the prior year, according to its audited financial statements.”

• Beckers Payer Issues relates,
  • “Ujjwal Ratan has joined UnitedHealth Group’s consulting and analytics division, Optum Insight, as chief AI officer.
  • “In a Sept. 10 LinkedIn post, Mr. Ratan said his role is to enable Optum Insight to operate as a connected agentic network in healthcare.”
• and
  • “Taft Parsons III, MD, is leaving his role as CVS Health’s chief psychiatric officer.
  • “Executives decide to try something different, and organizational structures and jobs change,” he said Sept. 11 on LinkedIn. “I’ve benefited from those changes more often than not, and I understand this is simply my turn to find another path toward improving healthcare.”

• Beckers ASC Review tells us,
  • “National Healthcare Properties completed the sale of 30 primarily multi-tenant outpatient medical facilities for $198 million.
  • “The transaction represents the first tranche of its previously announced sale of 86 outpatient medical facilities for approximately $528 million, according to a Sept. 10 news release from the company. The remaining 56 facilities are expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026.”

• The Wall Street Journal points out,
  • “France’s Ipsen IPN is considering building a production site in the U.S., joining other European drugmakers looking across the pond when planning new investments.
  • “Discussions are ongoing,” Ipsen Chief Executive David Loew said in an interview. “No decision has been reached yet on exactly when, but this is certainly something that we are taking into consideration.”
  • “Loew said the next big plant the company builds will manufacture either its Dysport drug—a rival to AbbVie’s ABBV Botox—or a next-generation medicine called corabotase that is still under development.
  • “Many of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies pledged to make multibillion-dollar investments to bring manufacturing and other operations to the U.S. over the coming years, in a bid to mitigate tariff threats by the Trump administration. In addition to big companies like AstraZeneca and Roche, smaller drugmakers like Belgium’s UCB and Australia’s CSL also plan to invest in new U.S. facilities.”

• Fierce Pharma lets us know,
  • “Both Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill and Eli Lilly’s Foundayo saw their highest total prescriptions so far over the past week as the companies’ oral obesity battle continues to play out.  
  • “According to IQVIA data cited by Citi, the Wegovy pill reached an approximate 183K total scripts for the most recent reporting period, versus 181K the week prior. Foundayo, for its part, climbed nearly 8% to reach 47.5K scripts. Citi analysts emphasized that IQVIA may still be missing some Foundayo prescriptions made through telehealth channels. 
  • “Meanwhile, using the last four weeks as a guide, total GLP-1 prescriptions have increased by 5.4%, compared to a 6.8% decline the prior year, the Citi team said. Citi analysts attributed the 12-percentage-point swing to the expansion of oral GLP-1 therapies, which is likely broadening access to the class and drawing in new patients.  
  • “Across the broader landscape, Lilly’s tirzepatide currently holds a nearly 57% share of the total GLP-1 market, compared to around 49.5% last year, while Novo’s semaglutide has stayed relatively flat at a 37% share, the analysts added.”