FEHBlog

Tuesday report

David Ermer–AHRQ, CDC, CMS, Congress, FDA, Generative AI, HSA, Medical / Rx research, Medicare, Mental health care, No Surprises Act, OPM, Rx coverage, U.S. Healthcare–

From Washington, DC,

  • The Senate confirmed Susan Monarez to be Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today by a 51 to 47 vote. The AP adds,
    • “She holds a doctorate in microbiology and immunology from the University of Wisconsin and did postdoctoral research at Stanford University. Prior to the CDC, Monarez was largely known for her government roles in health technology and biosecurity.”
  • MedCity News tells us,
    • “On Thursday, a coalition of 28 healthcare organizations sent a letter to leaders in Congress calling on them to extend the Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of the year.
    • “The letter was addressed to John Thune, Senate majority leader; Chuck Schumer, Senate minority leader; Mike Johnson, speaker of the House; and Hakeem Jeffries, minority leader of the House. The letter was led by Keep Americans Covered and was signed by healthcare organizations including AHIP, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the American Medical Association, Kaiser Permanente, Families USA and more.” 
  • STAT News reports,
    • “Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could “imminently” overhaul a key federal advisory panel that recommends which preventive services insurers must pay for, according to a person familiar with the plans. 
    • “The person said that federal health officials are actively vetting new members for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. David Mansdoerfer, an adviser to a Kennedy-aligned group of physicians, said he’s aware of people being considered for the panel, but declined to name them.” * * *
    • “Mansdoerfer added that the existing panel is “M.D. heavy” and a reconstituted panel is more likely to include “allied health professionals,” which are health care providers who aren’t nurses or physicians, like physical therapists and dietitians.” 
  • Following up on yesterday’s post about Medicare Part D, here is a link to the CMS guidance upon which the Wall Street Journal relied.
  • World at Work informs us,
    • “Health savings accounts (HSAs) have become a staple total rewards offering over the last decade, but a new study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) showed employees are still leaving the full value of these accounts on the table.
    • “The June 12 EBRI report pulled data from 14.5 million accountholders, containing more than $48 billion in total assets — roughly 40% of the entire HSA universe. The analysis revealed:
      • “Low balances. End-of-year balances increased in 2023 (the most recent analysis period) to $4,747 but are still modest compared with average out-of-pocket maximums for HSA-eligible health plans ($8,300 for individual coverage in 2025, $16,600 for family coverage)
      • “Low contributions. Relative to 2022, average HSA contributions increased in 2023. However, after adjusting for inflation, both employer and employee contributions were higher in the 2010s. Also, notably, the average combined HSA contribution was $760 less than the statutory maximum contribution for individuals and $4,660 less than the statutory maximum contribution for accountholders with family coverage.
      • “High withdrawals. More than half of accountholders withdrew funds, and the average distribution rose to $1,801.
      • “Low investment. Only 15% of accountholders invested in assets other than cash. 
    • EBRI found that, essentially, employees use HSAs as specialized checking accounts rather than investment accounts, and in doing so, miss out on the triple tax advantage available if they maximize contributions, minimize withdrawals and invest their balances.
    • “The good news is that, here we are 20-plus years after HSAs launched, and they’ve become pretty standard. They’re a typical plan offering from most employers of all sizes — not just large or small companies, or in certain industries,” said Alexander Domaszewicz, a principal and healthcare consultant at advisory firm Mercer. “If we live long enough, we’ll have healthcare expenses, and we want to be prepared for that. But while awareness and visibility of HSAs have grown, they’re still intimidating to folks.”
  • Beckers Payer Issues calls attention to recent No Surprises Act developments.
  • Federal News Network lets us know,
    • “The Trump administration is detailing how it expects agencies to recruit more political appointees through the new “Schedule G” hiring category, while also reminding agencies that all non-career hires must be approved by the White House.
    • “The Office of Personnel Management on Tuesday outlined how agencies should adopt the federal employment classification President Donald Trump created earlier this month. Generally, the new Schedule G broadens agencies’ options for hiring political appointees, beyond the avenues already available to presidential administrations for picking their own staff members.
    • “In its guidance on Trump’s new hiring authority, OPM said agencies will have to run any Schedule G hires they want make by the White House for review and approval.
    • “As a matter of practice,” OPM said, agencies will have to send all their political hires to their White House liaison — a position that coordinates with the White House on hiring and retention of political appointees — before agencies can advance any Schedule G appointments.”

From the Food and Drug Administration front,

  • Bloomberg Law informs us,
    • “Vinay Prasad, a top regulator at the US Food and Drug Administration, has left the agency after a controversy over his handling of Sarepta Therapeutics Inc.’s gene therapy. 
    • “Dr. Prasad did not want to be a distraction to the great work of the FDA in the Trump administration and has decided to return to California and spend more time with his family,” Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a written statement. 
    • “Prasad did not immediately respond to a request for comment about his departure.” 
  • The Washington Post reports,
    • “The Food and Drug Administration pushed Tuesday to restrict a synthetic opioid found in tablets, gummies and drinkable shots commonly sold in convenience stores.
    • “Health officials announced they will seek to add 7-OH — a potent substance synthesized from a compound in the kratom leaf — to the tier of controlled substances reserved for the most addictive drugs, such as heroin and LSD.
    • “The FDA, researchers and kratom companies have grown increasingly alarmed by the rise of 7-OH products they say are distinct from all-natural teas and powders derived from a leaf that grows on trees native to Southeast Asia.
    • “FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said at a news conference that the agency is not asking to restrict natural products made from kratom, which contains trace amount of the compound. In a report released Tuesday, the agency said it maintains concerns about kratom broadly but needed to act urgently on 7-OH because of its risk of sedation, nausea, breathing problems and addiction.”
  • From the judicial front,
    • Fierce Healthcare reports,
      • “A new law in Arkansas banning pharmacy benefit managers from owning pharmacies has been blocked by a federal judge, the latest development in one of the industry’s most-watched new pieces of legislation.
      • “Judge Brian Miller said the law may violate (PDF) the Commerce Clause in the constitution and is likely preempted by TRICARE, a health care program for military families. The state is barred from enforcing the law until final disposition, a ruling shows.
      • “Act 624 appears to overtly discriminate against plaintiffs as out of state companies and the state has failed to show that it has no other means to advance its interests,” said Miller, adding other enacted state laws already can properly restrict PBMs.
      • “Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said he plans on appealing the decision, reported the Associated Press.
      • “We’re pleased with the Court’s decision to grant a preliminary injunction to stop the implementation of Act 624,” a CVS Health spokesperson said in a statement. “We continue to be focused on serving people in Arkansas and are actively looking to work together with the state to reduce drug prices and ensure access to pharmacies.”

From the public health and medical researach front,

  • KFF considers whether our country’s measles elimination status is at risk.
  • The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality released a medical expenditures survey report titled “Healthcare Expenditures for Heart Disease among Adults Aged 18 and Older in the U.S. Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population, 2022.”
    • “In 2022, 7.8 percent of adults aged 18 and older were treated for heart disease, and men were more likely than women to have treated heart disease (8.4 % vs. 7.2%).
    • “Among age groups, the treated prevalence of heart disease was highest for those aged 65 and older (22.8%) compared to only 6.0 percent for adults aged 45-64, and 1.4 percent for adults ages 18-44.
    • “In 2022, healthcare expenditures to treat heart disease for adults in the US totaled $100.0 billion (with an average cost of $4,900 per adult with diagnosed and treated heart disease).
    • “The largest portion of heart disease expenditures were incurred through hospital inpatient stays (46.1%) and prescribed medications (20.5%).
    • “The majority of heart disease treatment costs were paid by Medicare (57.6%) and private insurance (24.2%).”
  • Per MedPage Today,
    • “The global incidence of liver cancer is projected to double by 2050.
    • “Sixty percent of liver cancers are preventable by controlling risk factors including hepatitis B and C, alcohol consumption, and MASLD.
    • “The Lancet Commission estimated that a 2-5% reduction in the age-standardized incidence rate of liver cancer could prevent up to 17.3 million new cases and save up to 15.1 million lives.”
  • Per Neurology Adviser,
    • “Urinary tract infections (UTIs) may be a trigger for myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke, with an increased risk for both within the first 7 days of infection, according to the findings of a study published in BMJ Open.”
    • “Growing evidence suggests that acute infection plays a role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease.
    • “Researchers from Cardiff University in the United Kingdom conducted this self-controlled cases series using data from the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank which houses nation-wide data from Wales. Patients (N=105,930) with MI (n=51,660) or stroke (n=58,150) between 2010 and 2020 were evaluated for general practitioner suspected or confirmed UTI before or after MI or stroke event. The peak risk period was defined as up to 90 days after UTI.
    • “The MI and stroke cohorts consisted of 63% and 49% men, with mean ages of 69 and 74 years for men and 77 and 79 years for women, respectively.”
  • STAT News reports,
    • “A major Alzheimer’s disease medical group is recommending that specialists may use certain blood tests to help diagnose patients with cognitive impairment in lieu of more complex and invasive tests, a move that could lead more people to get treated for the devastating disease.
    • “The Alzheimer’s Association, in its first clinical guidelines on blood biomarker testing, said Tuesday that tests that have over 90% sensitivity (ability to identify positive results) and 90% specificity (ability to identify negative results) can be used instead of current diagnostic methods like PET scans and cerebrospinal fluid tests.
    • “The group said that tests that have over 90% sensitivity and 75% specificity can be used to triage patients, meaning negative results rule can rule out Alzheimer’s with high probability but positive results should be confirmed with the standard diagnostic methods, given that these blood tests have a higher likelihood of false positives.
    • “The authors stressed that the guidelines should not be considered a substitute for a full clinical evaluation and that they apply only to people who are in the care of specialists and have already been confirmed to have cognitive impairment. The authors also noted that there’s wide variability in the blood tests on the market and that many do not meet the accuracy thresholds.”
  • Per Benefits Pro,
    • “Researchers at Cigna’s Evernorth Research Institute are seeing early signs that offering patients semaglutide and other GLP-1 agonists might cut the cost of managing mental health problems.
    • “Duy Do and two other Evernorth researchers found that using Ozempic or similar drugs to control blood sugar reduced use of office visits to treat depression by 13% and reduced use of office visits to treat anxiety by 15%.
    • “Use of GLP-1 agonists did not reduce use of emergency room visits or inpatient care for depression or anxiety, but the researchers say their work shows the need for understanding how GLP-1 agonist use affects people’s mental health and use of mental health services.
    • “Given the high economic burden of mental health disorders among patients with T2DM, further research is needed to confirm the clinical and cost-effectiveness of [GLP-1s] in reducing the overall health care burdens for this patient population,” Do and colleagues conclude.”

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

  • The Wall Street Journal reports,
    • “UnitedHealth Group anticipates its 2025 earnings to fall below expectations due to rising costs and operational issues.
    • “CEO Stephen Hemsley aims to restore UnitedHealth to high performance, projecting earnings growth for the coming year.
    • “UnitedHealth is facing industry upheaval with rising healthcare costs, government actions, and ongoing Justice Department probes.”
  • Modern Healthcare tells us,
    • “Humana is offering certain employees voluntary early retirement buyouts.
    • “Employees age 50 or older with at least three years of service are eligible for the program, although those working in certain business-critical areas will be ineligible, a company spokesperson said Tuesday. He said the window to apply for voluntary early retirement will be open for several weeks.
    • “The Louisville, Kentucky-based health insurer said the offers are part of ongoing evaluations Humana conducts to adjust staffing and drive organizational efficiency.”
  • Beckers Hospital Review lets us know,
    • “U.S. News & World Report released its 2025-2026 Best Hospitals rankings and ratings July 29, which included its list of 504 Best Regional Hospitals across 49 states and 95 metropolitan areas.
    • “The latest edition of Best Hospitals, now in its 36th year, evaluated more than 4,400 hospitals on measures such as risk-adjusted mortality rates, preventable complications and level of nursing care.” 
    • The article lists the no. 1 ranked hospitals in each eligible state.
  • Cardiovascular Business points out the best heart hospitals according to U.S. News and World Report.
  • Fierce Healthcare informs us,
    • “Earlier this year, CVS Health announced that it would invest $20 billion in improving the consumer experience and making the healthcare journey simpler.
    • “Now, its health benefits arm, Aetna, is unveiling its new Care Paths program, which connects members who have certain health needs—launching with diabetes, joint health and maternity care—to a more personalized view of their benefits and more directly with the care team supporting them. The platform is powered by artificial intelligence and offers users individualized recommendations for health and wellness programs related to their conditions as well as care kits when available.
    • “The goal, the insurer said, is to make members’ interactions with their health plans feel less transactional and instead more holistic. Aetna offered an exclusive look at the new offering to Fierce Healthcare.”
  • and
    • “Sword Health, a company that provides virtual physical therapy and mental health, is now offering an AI assistant for payers and providers to tackle operational and administrative tasks.
    • “The new AI division marks a notable expansion from the company’s core business of virtual care services like digital musculoskeletal care, pelvic health and movement health.
    • “The launch of the new division, called Sword Intelligence, marks a “pivotal evolution” in Sword Health’s strategy, according to the company.
    • “Sword Intelligence allows us to move beyond delivering care to our own members to enabling the entire healthcare industry to scale it efficiently and effectively,” Virgilio “V” Bento, founder and CEO of Sword Health, told Fierce Healthcare when reached via email.”
  • The Wall Street Journal further reports,
    • “Merck & Co. said it is embarking on a multi-year cost-savings plan, which includes cuts to its workforce and real-estate footprint, as it looks to redirect resources toward new product launches.
    • “The plan comes as the drug company on Tuesday logged lower revenue and sales in its latest quarter and narrowed its full-year guidance.
    • “The company said it expects the plan to result in $3 billion in annual cost savings by the end of 2027, which it plans to reinvest to support new products as well as its pipeline across multiple therapeutic areas.
    • “As part of the cost-savings plan, Merck expects to eliminate certain administrative, sales and research-and-development positions.
    • “The company didn’t disclose how many workers would be affected but said it would continue to hire employees in new roles across strategic growth areas of its business.
    • “Merck said it also would reduce its global real-estate footprint and continue to optimize its manufacturing network.
    • “The company expects the workforce cuts and real-estate reductions to result in annual cost savings of about $1.7 billion, which would be substantially realized by the end of 2027.”
  • and
    • “Novo Nordisk shares plunged after losing its lead in the weight-loss drug market to competitors like Eli Lilly.
    • “The company lowered its 2025 sales growth forecast due to copycat versions of Wegovy and slower Ozempic sales.
    • “Maziar Mike Doustdar was named chief executive, effective Aug. 7, succeeding Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen.”

Monday report

David Ermer–CDC, CMS, FDA, Generative AI, Medical / Rx research, Medicare, NIH, Obesity, Patient safety, U.S. Healthcare–

From Washington, DC,

  • The Wall Street Journal reports,
    • “Medicare drug plan premiums are expected to rise significantly next year due to rising costs and regulatory changes.
    • “A subsidy program that shielded seniors from rising monthly bills will be cut by about 40% in 2026.
    • “The premium increase will affect millions of seniors and may push more enrollees into Medicare Advantage plans.”
  • KFF tells us,
    • “Two new KFF analyses examine the latest data about Medicare Advantage, including trends in enrollment, premiums, out-of-pocket limits, supplemental benefits and prior authorization.
    • “The first analysis, focusing on enrollment trends, finds that 54% of eligible Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage in 2025, though increases in enrollment slowed this year. One in five Medicare Advantage enrollees is in a special needs plan (SNP), reflecting a steady increase in recent years. And Medicare Advantage enrollment remains highly concentrated among a handful of insurance companies. 
    • “The second analysis finds that more than three quarters (76%) of enrollees in individual Medicare Advantage plans with prescription drug coverage pay no premium other than the Medicare Part B premium. The share of enrollees in plans offering a rebate against the Part B premium rose sharply from 12% in 2024 to 32% in 2025, but among these enrollees, about half are in plans that offer rebates of less than $10 a month while fewer (36%) are in plans that offer rebates of $50 or more per month. Prior authorization is most often required for expensive services such as skilled nursing facility stays (99%), Part B drugs (98%), inpatient hospital stays (acute: 96%; psychiatric: 93%) and outpatient psychiatric services (80%).” 
  • STAT News reports,
    • “No decision has been made on the future of an advisory panel [the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force] that decides which preventive care offerings, like cancer screenings, must be covered by insurers, a federal health department spokesperson said, after a [Wall Street Journal] report that health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is planning to oust all members. 
    • “But the report has alarmed the American Medical Association, which is calling on Kennedy to keep the panel’s members in place.” 
  • Modern Healthcare informs us,
    • “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services wants to take another crack at creating a national provider directory in an effort to replace insurance company lists that are often riddled with errors.
    • “Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz touted the idea at a meeting with health information technology executives in June. In a later post on the social media platform X, CMS described its goal as a “dynamic, interoperable directory that connects the data CMS has with what the industry knows, so we all work from the same map.” * * *
    • “The insurance industry would support a national provider directory “grounded in a robust public-private partnership,” the trade group AHIP said in a statement. At the AHIP 2025 conference last month, executives from Centene, Cigna and Aetna parent company CVS Health said their companies have met with CMS to discuss the concept.”
  • and
    • “Top Trump administration health officials are expected to bring tech companies to the White House this week to roll out a plan to encourage more seamless sharing of healthcare data, according to people familiar with the matter.
    • “Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz are expected to host executives at an event on Wednesday, said the people, who did not provide names of the attendees and asked not to be named because the details haven’t been made public.
    • “The plan was developed in coordination with the White House, building on a May effort by CMS to get public input on addressing barriers to sharing patient data.”
  • The American Hospital Association lets us know,
    • “The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration July 28 released its latest national survey on drug use and mental health. Among the findings, the percentage of adolescents aged 12 to 17 who had serious thoughts of suicide declined from 12.9% in 2021 to 10.1% in 2024. It also found a decline in adolescents who experienced a major depressive episode, dropping from 20.8% in 2021 to 15.4% in 2024. The survey also found that among the 61.5 million adults aged 18 or older in 2024 with any mental illness, 52.1% (32 million) received any mental health treatment in the past year. Among 14.6 million adults with serious mental illness in the past year, 70.8% (10.3 million) received mental health treatment. Due to changes to the survey questions and approach, not all estimates in the 2024 survey are comparable with 2023 and 2022 estimates, SAMHSA notes.” 
  • An HHS news release adds,
    • “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced a $100M pilot funding opportunity to prevent, test for, treat, and cure Hepatitis C (HCV) in individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) and/or serious mental illness (SMI). This program is designed to support communities severely affected by homelessness and to gain insights on effective ways to identify patients, complete treatment, cure infections, and reduce reinfection by Hepatitis C (a liver disease caused by the Hepatitis C virus).
    • “HHS is delivering on our promise to the American people for a healthier, brighter future,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “Through this pilot program, we are launching a comprehensive, integrated care model that not only cures HCV but also tackles critical risk factors like substance use, mental health challenges, and homelessness head-on.”
  • Beckers Hospital Review highlights five things to know about the foreign trade deals that the Trump administration has recently struck.

From the Food and Drug Administration front,

  • BioPharma Dive reports,
    • “The Food and Drug Administration has given Sarepta Therapeutics a green light to resume shipping its gene therapy Elevidys to some patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a little over one week after demanding the company halt sales over safety concerns. 
    • “In a statement Monday evening, Sarepta said it would begin shipments to treatment sites “imminently.” The resumption applies only to Duchenne patients who can still walk, which typically describes individuals who are younger and whose disease hasn’t advanced as far.”
  • and
    • “The Food and Drug Administration has delayed its review of a Bayer therapy for hot flashes related to menopause, telling the drugmaker it needs additional to review the company’s application.
    • “In a Friday statement, Bayer said the FDA did not raise any concerns around “general approvability” of the drug, called elinzanetant. Still, the agency extended its decision deadline by three months.”
  • Per MedTech Dive,
    • “Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon unit has corrected disposable surgical stapler cartridges over a fault related to one death and one injury, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday.
    • “The company wrote to customers in April after learning that devices may activate but not cut or staple tissue. Additional steps are needed to open and remove locked devices from tissue. 
    • “Ethicon designed the stapler to prevent lockout events from harming patients. Still, the FDA said the lockout problem could cause life-threatening hemorrhage, surgical delay and death.”

From the public health and medical research front,

  • The New York Times reports,
    • “A combination of healthy activities including exercise, nutritious diet, computer brain games and socializing can improve cognitive performance in people at risk for dementia, according to a large new study.
    • “The study, conducted in five locations across the United States over two years, is the biggest randomized trial to examine whether healthy behaviors protect brain health.
    • “It confirms that paying attention to things like physical activity and vascular risk factors and diet are all really important ways to maintain brain health,” said Dr. Kristine Yaffe, an expert in cognitive aging at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved in the study.
    • “The results were presented on Monday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Toronto and published in the journal JAMA.”
  • The Washington Post adds,
    • “Any amount of walking is good for your health but picking up the pace has significant benefits — and it’s never too late for someone to train to walk faster.
    • “In an analysis published in PLOS One earlier this month, researchers found that frail older adults who deliberately walked faster saw a meaningful improvement in the distance they could travel when instructed to walk for six minutes straight. (Frailty is an age-related syndrome that affects 5 to 17 percent of older adults and is characterized by fatigue, a loss of strength and unexplained weight loss.)
    • “The results show that regardless of your age, the intensity of your workout can lead to greater improvements in physical function, said Daniel Rubin, the lead author of the analysis and an associate professor of anesthesia and critical care at the University of Chicago.”
  • Per the National Academy of Medicine,
    • “With more than half a million people globally living beyond the age of 100, it is time to rethink how health professionals and educators view older adults and the aging process. “Redefining aging” begins with transforming the mindset of current and future health professionals through targeted education. This involves encouraging them to reconsider how they address the unique needs of older adults and identifying those who can drive this change. Educators, health professionals, administrators, and policymakers must collaborate to reshape systems and attitudes. Together, they can build a well‑trained workforce that is not only prepared but motivated to address the complexities of aging that may include chronic disease and functional decline but also opportunities for growth and innovation. The barriers to achieving a change in mindset and solutions for overcoming challenges prompt a call to action. This paper is an entreaty by a group of interprofessional educators passionate about ensuring all health professionals are trained to meet the complex needs of older adults.”
  • MedPage Today tells us,
    • “Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects at least 4.5% of those 18-49 years old, according to an analysis of U.S. cohorts * * * as reported in NEJM Evidence.”
    • “The early COPD group was more likely to be hospitalized or die from chronic respiratory disease, to develop heart failure, and to die before 75 years of age from any cause.
    • “Having a definition for early COPD might allow for studies to find ways to treat the disease and reduce its impact.”
  • The AHA News informs us,
    • “Five pediatric flu deaths were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week, pushing the total to 266 for the 2024-2025 flu season, according to the latest data. The total is the highest reported in any non-pandemic flu season since the agency began reporting it in 2004. The CDC said 90% of reported pediatric deaths this flu season have happened to children who were not fully vaccinated against the flu.”
  • The American Medical Association lets us know what doctors wish their patients knew about the impact of caffeine.

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

  • The Wall Street Journal reports,
    • Bristol Myers Squibb BMY and Bain Capital are forming a new biopharmaceutical company focused on therapies for autoimmune diseases.
    • The new company will be created with $300 million in financing led by Bain Capital, including funds from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
    • The company will begin with five potential treatments for autoimmune diseases in-licensed from Bristol Myers Squibb, which will retain 20% equity in the new company. Bristol Myers Squibb will also be entitled to royalties and milestones from the potential treatments.
    • Biotech executive Daniel Lynch, currently chairman of the board at Xilio Therapeutics XLO, will lead the new company as chief executive.
  • Per BioPharma Dive,
    • “GSK is turning to a China-based biotechnology company in search of its next blockbuster medicine, announcing Monday a broad drug making alliance with Hengrui Pharma that could be worth billions of dollars.
    • “GSK will pay Hengrui $500 million upfront to start the alliance. In return, it will receive rights outside of the greater China region and Taiwan to an experimental drug for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as well as the potential to develop up to 11 other therapies for respiratory illnesses, immune disorders or cancer. If a variety of milestones are met, the deal could be worth up to $12 billion, plus royalties, GSK said.”
  • Beckers Payer Issues offers us six prior authorization updates that Beckers has reported since June 23.
  • Per an NIH news release,
    • “Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) agent powered by a large language model (LLM) that creates more accurate and informative descriptions of biological processes and their functions in gene set analysis than current systems.
    • “The system, called GeneAgent, cross-checks its own initial predictions—also known as claims— for accuracy against information from established, expert-curated databases and returns a verification report detailing its successes and failures. The AI agent can help researchers interpret high-throughput molecular data and identify relevant biological pathways or functional modules, which can lead to a better understanding of how different diseases and conditions affect groups of genes individually and together.”

Weekend Update

David Ermer–Congress, Generative AI, Medical / Rx research, U.S. Healthcare–

From Washington, DC

  • Roll Call discusses likely Senate activities this week.
  • Congress in the July 4, 2025, budget reconciliation act (§ 90101, at 291) did enact a law requiring OPM to place more internal controls over family member eligibility.
    • – No later than 12/31/25, OPM must develop a process by which any [ineligible] individual enrolled in, or covered under, a [FEHB or PSHB] shall be disenrolled or removed from enrollment in, or coverage under, that plan.
  • This requirement should include implementation of the HIPAA 820 standard enrollment roster transaction. 
    • – No later than July 3, 2026, OPM must issue regulations and implement a process to verify – (1) the veracity of any qualifying life event through which an enrollee seeks to add a member of family to his/her coverage; and (2) that, when an enrollee in the Program seeks to add a member of family to his/her coverage, including during any open season, the individual so added is a qualifying member of family with respect to the enrollee.
  • It would be sensible for OPM to implement a program similar to TRICARE’s DEERS program which places the reporting burden on the TRICARE enrollee. 
  • HIPAA Suite explains,
    • “The HIPAA 820 transaction set [which has been around since 2008] handles the [electronic] communication between a sponsor that is an entity that pays for someone’s health care, and another entity that manages health care benefits, such as an insurance company.
    • “For example, a large employer that has a contract with an insurance company or a government agency that handles social and health benefits will use the 820 transaction to manage premium payments. This information can either be very detailed and contain demographic information on each individual that is covered or just contain a summary of the payment for all members.
  • The HIPAA standard transaction law requires health plans to be able to process the HIPAA 820. What’s more nearly half of FEHB and PSHB enrollees have self only coverage.

From the public health and medical reseach front,

  • MedPage Today reports,
    • “For years, we’ve told our patients that human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination works best when administered before sexual debut — and rightfully so. But what happens when a woman has already developed high-grade cervical dysplasia and undergoes surgical treatment?
    • Our recent study, published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, explored that very question. And the results were striking: women who received the HPV vaccine after surgical excision (conization) experienced a 74% reduction in recurrent high-grade cervical lesions (CIN2+), with the most dramatic benefit seen within the first 6 months after surgery.
  • and
    • “Cases of “Ozempic mouth” and “Ozempic teeth” have recently been described in the news, with most of the problems — inflammation affecting the gums, tooth decay, and even bad breath — linked to a dry mouth.
    • “All of the GLP-1 agonists that we use now cause changes in how everything is secreted in your GI tract,” Ann Marie Defnet, MD, who specializes in obesity medicine and bariatric surgery at Northwell Health’s North Shore University Hospital and Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York City, told MedPage Today. And this “definitely has an impact on saliva.”
    • “People taking GLP-1 drugs also tend to be a bit dehydrated because they are often not hungry or thirsty, she noted.
    • “I haven’t seen too many horrible cases of periodontal disease, gingivitis, or anything like that, nor have I had any patients really complaining about dry mouth,” she noted. “But definitely I have patients all the time that [say], ‘Oh yeah, I can tell I’m dehydrated.'”
    • “Defnet said she believes some of the serious oral health issues that have been reported are likely representative of “more of a later stage issue with patients who maybe just aren’t staying hydrated in general.”
    • “One of the big things I always counsel my patients on is they just have to remember to continue to drink water, even if they’re not thirsty, even if they’re not hungry,” Defnet said. “That seems to help with all of these symptoms.”
  • The New York Times discusses “Coronary artery calcium testing [which] can reveal plaque in arteries, offering a more precise estimate of a patient’s risk [of having a heart attack]. Yet the test remains underused.”
    • “A brief and painless CT scan, it would show whether the fatty deposits called plaque were developing in the arteries leading to her heart.
    • “When plaque ruptures, it can cause clots that block blood flow and trigger heart attacks. The scan would help determine whether Ms. Hollander would benefit from taking a statin, which could reduce plaque and prevent more from forming.
    • “The test is used by more people every year,” said Dr. Michael Blaha, co-director of the preventive cardiology program at Johns Hopkins University. Calcium scans quadrupled between 2006 and 2017, his research team reported, and Google searches for related terms have risen even more sharply.
    • “Yet “it’s still being underused compared to its value,” he said.
    • “One reason is that although the test is comparatively inexpensive — sometimes up to $300, but often $100 or less — patients must pay for it out of pocket. Medicare rarely covers it, though some doctors argue that it should.”

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

  • Radiology Business lets us know,
    • “Physicians are increasingly exiting Medicare, according to new research published in JAMA Health Forum. 
    • “Radiology and other specialties have expressed concern in recent years that inadequate payment rates could push practices to close or stop accepting the federal program for seniors. Since 2001, Medicare reimbursements to physicians have fallen 33%, when adjusting for inflation, according to the American Medical Association. 
    • “Researchers recently sought to test this theory, analyzing 100% of fee-for-service Medicare Part B claims logged between 2010 to 2024. They found the share of physicians exiting Medicare increased “significantly” from 1.8% to 3.6% by the end of the study period. 
    • “The findings may reflect multiple factors, including the greater burden of new communication methods (e.g., portal messages) and demands for clinical documentation,” Hannah T. Neprash, PhD, and Michael E. Chernew, PhD, healthcare policy experts with the University of Minnesota and Harvard Medical School, respectively, wrote July 18. “More rapid growth in exit[s] among small practices likely contributes to consolidated physician markets, given that new physicians increasingly work for large practices.”
    • “Researchers excluded docs who on average billed for fewer than 100 Medicare claims annually. They defined an exit as the absence of any claims in the payment program for 12 consecutive months. Altogether, the study sample included over 791,000 physicians at an average age of nearly 45. Physician Medicare exits displayed a gradual increase from 2010-2013 before stabilizing between 2014-2016. They saw another gradual increase from 2017-2019 and then spiked amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021 before returning to regular levels by 2023.” 
  • The boilerplate in an FEHB or PSHB brochure (meaning its OPM policy) reads,
    • If you are enrolled in Medicare Part B, a physician may ask you to sign a private contract agreeing that you can be billed directly for services ordinarily covered by Original Medicare. Should you sign an agreement, Medicare will not pay any portion of the charges, and we will not increase our payment. We will still limit our payment to the amount we would have paid after Original Medicare’s payment. You may be responsible for paying the difference between the billed amount and the amount we paid.
  • MedCity News informs us that “Sentara Health has rolled out Regard’s AI-powered chart review and discharge summary tool across all 12 of its hospitals [located in Virginia and North Carolina]. The tool has delivered consistent benefits when it comes to patient safety and documentation accuracy, said Joseph Evans, Sentara’s chief health information officer.

Cybersecurity Saturday

David Ermer–Cybersecurity, Generative AI–

Exploitation of Microsoft SharePoint Vulnerabilities

  • Last Sunday, July 20, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added a known exploited vulnerability to its catalog
    • CVE-2025-53770 Microsoft SharePoint Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
  • CISA also created an alert on the new KVE, which the agency updated on Tuesday and Thursday.
  • The Wall Street Journal reported on July 21,
    • “Microsoft issued an alert about “active attacks” targeting its server software and urged customers to install new security updates that have been released.
    • “Microsoft’s Security Response Center said in a blog post over the weekend that the attacks target on-premises SharePoint server customers and exploit vulnerabilities that were partially addressed by a July security update.
    • “Organizations typically use Microsoft SharePoint to create intranet websites, store and organize information, and facilitate file-sharing among workers. Cloud-based SharePoint Online in Microsoft 365 isn’t affected, the company said.
    • “By Monday, cybersecurity investigators said that the SharePoint attacks were widespread. At least one of the “multiple” hacking groups involved in the attacks was linked to China, according to Google’s Mandiant cybersecurity group.
    • “Microsoft declined to comment beyond its blog post.
    • “Hackers exploiting the SharePoint flaws then stole cryptographic keys that could be used to run commands on the affected server in the future, even if it had been patched, cybersecurity investigators said on Monday.”
  • and added on July 24,
    • Last year, Satya Nadella pledged to make security priority number one at Microsoft. A new hack involving China is showing just how difficult that can be.
    • The attack involves several versions of Microsoft’s SharePoint software that serve as a document storage platform for customers who don’t want to use the cloud. Microsoft released patches for a pair of SharePoint bugs earlier this month, but the fixes were quickly bypassed, allowing China-linked hackers to break into hundreds of organizations, according to security researchers.
    • Instead of protecting customers, the faulty patches may have served as a road map for hackers to hone their attacks, the researchers said.
    • It’s the latest in a string of lapses by the technology giant that have benefited China’s vast and global cyber-espionage operations, a top U.S. national security threat. * * *
    • “In the SharePoint attack * * * the issue began in May 2025, at a hacking contest in Berlin where the Vietnamese researcher [and pentester] Dinh Khoa (LinkedIn page) won $100,000 and a laptop.
    • “This is a very hard target so we spent a lot of time digging into it,” Khoa said in an interview posted online after the contest.
    • “To the applause of audience members, he showed how to break into a SharePoint system and was soon escorted into a private room where he explained the bugs to a representative from Microsoft and Dustin Childs, head of threat awareness with cybersecurity company Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative. Two months later, on July 8, Microsoft fixed the bugs. They were two of the 130 bugs that Microsoft fixed that month.” * * *
    • “On Saturday [July 19], Microsoft took the unusual step of issuing two emergency patches, which contain “more robust protections” to the bugs that Khoa had found, the company said. SharePoint customers should also change the cryptographic keys used by their servers, a move that—when combined with the new patches—effectively closes the back door created by the attack, Microsoft said.”
  • Cyberscoop noted on July 24,
    • The fallout from an attack spree targeting defects in on-premises Microsoft SharePoint servers continues to spread nearly a week after zero-day exploits were discovered, setting off alarms across the globe. More than 400 organizations have been actively compromised across four waves of attacks, according to Eye Security.
    • Multiple government agencies, including the Departments of Energy, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, have been hit. The California Independent System Operator, which operates some of the state’s wholesale electric grid, was also impacted.
    • As more victims confirm varying levels of compromise from the attack spree, researchers are learning and sharing more details about post-exploit activities. One of the China-based attackers behind the initial wave of attacks, Storm-2603, deployed Warlock ransomware starting July 18, Microsoft Threat Intelligence said Wednesday in an updated blog post.
    • The Chinese government-affiliated threat groups Linen Typhoon and Violet Typhoon — which have been active for at least a decade — are also actively exploiting the zero-day vulnerabilities, Microsoft said. Linen Typhoon has focused on stealing intellectual property and Violet Typhoon is an espionage threat group. Storm is a moniker Microsoft uses for threat groups in development.
  • NextGov/FCW discusses the impact of the Sharepoint vulnerabilities on federal government agencie here (Homeland Security, among other agencies affected) and there (Defense Department not affected).

From the cybersecurity breaches and vulnerabilities front,

  • Security Week informs us,
    • “The Alcohol & Drug Testing Service (TADTS) is notifying roughly 750,000 people that their personal information was compromised in a July 2024 data breach.
    • “TADTS is based in Texas and was until recently known as the Texas Alcohol and Drug Testing Service. It provides workplace and individual alcohol and drug testing services in Texas and other states.
    • “The incident, TADTS says, was identified on July 9, 2024, and involved unauthorized access to and the theft of data maintained in its systems.
    • “The investigation into the potentially compromised information, conducted with the assistance of a professional data mining team, was concluded only recently, and determined that personal information was included in the stolen data.” * * *
    • “While TADTS did not share details on the type of cyberattack it fell victim to, the infamous BianLian ransomware group took credit for the intrusion on July 14, 2024, claiming the theft of roughly 218 gigabytes of data.
    • “It is unclear whether the hackers released the stolen information publicly, as their Tor-based leak site is currently offline and the group has been quiet for months, with their last known victim announced on March 31.”
  • and
    • “Marketing software and services company Cierant Corporation and law firm Zumpano Patricios have independently disclosed data breaches, each impacting more than 200,000 individuals.
    • “What the Cierant and Zumpano Patricios incidents have in common is that the number of impacted people was brought to light in recent days by the healthcare data breach tracker maintained by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
    • “The Zumpano Patricios breach impacts nearly 280,000 individuals. The law firm, which has offices in several major US cities, is representing healthcare providers in disputes with health insurance companies over medical service payments to patients. 
    • “Zumpano Patricios is informing impacted individuals that it had detected an intrusion in its IT network on May 6, 2025, but could not determine the date and time of initial access. 
    • “An investigation revealed that the hackers accessed and possibly exfiltrated files containing information such as patient name, date of birth, Social Security number, provider name, health insurer information, dates of service, and amounts charged by the provider and payments they received.”
  • Cybersecurity Dive tells us,
    • “Hackers breached the Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company in June and stole customer data, the company said in a filing with the California Attorney General’s office. 
    • “An unauthorized party accessed customer data during an intrusion discovered between June 9 and June 10, according to the disclosure.
    • “The company previously called the incident a network outage, however it said there was no ransomware and no encryption. The company did report the incident to law enforcement and retained outside forensic experts to investigate.”
  • In addition to the June 20 addition discussed above, CISA added six known exploited vulnerabilities to its catalog this week.
    • July 22, 2025
      • “CVE-2025-49704 Microsoft SharePoint Code Injection Vulnerability
      • “CVE-2025-49706 Microsoft SharePoint Improper Authentication Vulnerability”
        • Cybersecurity Dive explains,
          • “The [Sharefile] intrusions are exploiting ToolShell, an attack sequence that combines remote code injection and network spoofing vulnerabilities tracked as CVE-2025-49704 and CVE-2025-49706.” 
    • Also July 22, 2025,
      • CVE-2025-54309 CrushFTP Unprotected Alternate Channel Vulnerability
        • Tenable discusses the CrushFTP vulnerability
      • CVE-2025-6558 Google Chromium ANGLE and GPU Improper Input Validation Vulnerability
      • CVE-2025-2776 SysAid On-Prem Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference Vulnerability
      • CVE-2025-2775 SysAid On-Prem Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference Vulnerability
  • Security Week notes,
    • “SonicWall on Wednesday announced patches for a critical vulnerability in Secure Mobile Access (SMA) 100 series secure access gateways, urging organizations to take immediate action in the wake of the recently disclosed Overstep malware attacks.
    • “The newly addressed flaw, tracked as CVE-2025-40599 (CVSS score of 9.1), is described as an arbitrary file upload issue in the SMA 100’s web management interface.
    • “The bug can be exploited by remote attackers to upload arbitrary files to the system, which could lead to remote code execution (RCE). The attackers need administrative privileges to exploit the security defect, SonicWall’s advisory reads.”
  • and
    • “The Lumma Stealer has returned after Microsoft and law enforcement caused significant disruption to its infrastructure, Trend Micro reported on Tuesday.” * * *
    • “The ability of Lumma Stealer’s operators to regroup and innovate poses a continued risk to organizations and individuals worldwide,” Trend Micro said. “This emphasizes the need for ongoing vigilance, proactive threat intelligence, and sustained collaboration between law enforcement and the cybersecurity community. Without this, even the most significant takedowns might only offer temporary relief from evolving cyber threats.”
  • Per Dark Reading,
    • “A suspected Chinese nation-state threat group is conducting an extensive cyberespionage campaign that takes advantage of vulnerable VMware ESXi and vCenter environments.
    • “Since early 2025, researchers at Sygnia have responded to multiple incidents tied to a cyberespionage campaign they track as “Fire Ant.” According to research published Thursday, Fire Ant actors are establishing initial access in organizations’ VMware systems, which have become popular targets for attackers in recent years.
    • “More importantly, Fire Ant actors used deep knowledge of the target environments and strong capabilities to consistently bypass segmentations and reach isolated portions of the network.”

From the ransomware front,

  • In line with this week’s theme, Bleeping Computer points out,
    • “A China-based hacking group is deploying Warlock ransomware on Microsoft SharePoint servers vulnerable to widespread attacks targeting the recently patched ToolShell zero-day exploit chain.
    • “Non-profit security organization Shadowserver is currently tracking over 420 SharePoint servers that are exposed online and remain vulnerable to these ongoing attacks.
    • “Although Microsoft has observed this threat actor deploying Warlock and Lockbit ransomware in the past, Microsoft is currently unable to confidently assess the threat actor’s objectives,” the company said in a Wednesday report.”
  • July 22, 2025, CISA issued an alert and advisory on Interlock ransomware.
  • Per Bleeping Computer,
    • “Law enforcement has seized the dark web extortion sites of the BlackSuit ransomware operation, which has targeted and breached the networks of hundreds of organizations worldwide over the past several years.
    • “The U.S. Department of Justice confirmed the takedown in an email earlier today, saying the authorities involved in the action executed a court-authorized seizure of the BlackSuit domains.
    • “Earlier today, the websites on the BlackSuit.onion domains were replaced with seizure banners announcing that the ransomware gang’s sites were taken down by the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations federal law enforcement agency as part of a joint international action codenamed Operation Checkmate.”

From the cybersecurity policy and law enforcement front,

  • Cyberscoop reports,
    • “The Trump administration’s new AI Action Plan calls for companies and governments to lean into the technology when protecting critical infrastructure from cyberattacks.
    • “But it also recognizes that these systems are themselves vulnerable to hacking and manipulation, and calls for industry adoption of “secure by design” technology design standards to limit their attack surfaces.
    • “The White House plan, released Wednesday, calls for critical infrastructure owners — particularly those with “limited financial resources” — to deploy AI tools to protect their information and operational technologies.
    • “Fortunately, AI systems themselves can be excellent defensive tools,” the plan said. “With continued adoption of AI-enabled cyberdefensive tools, providers of critical infrastructure can stay ahead of emerging threats.” * * *
    • “The Trump plan states that “all use of AI in safety-critical or homeland security applications should entail the use of secure-by-design, robust, and resilient AI systems that are instrumented to detect performance shifts, and alert to potential malicious activities like data poisoning or adversarial example attacks.”
    • “The plan also recommends the creation of a new AI-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (AI-ISAC) led by the Department of Homeland Security to share threat intelligence on AI-related threats.”
  • Cybersecurity Dive lets us know,
    • “Sean Plankey, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, faced sharp questions during a Senate confirmation hearing Thursday about the looming expiration of an information-sharing law and CISA’s work on election security.
    • Plankey — currently a senior adviser to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem — explained his vision for leading an agency that has experienced major workforce cuts and faces significant budget reductions in Trump’s Fiscal Year 2026 spending proposal.”
    • The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will vote on whether to send Mr. Plankey’s nomination to the Senate floor at a business meeting next Thursday.
  • Cyberscoop adds,
    • “President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Cybersecurity and Information Security Agency told senators Thursday that he would prioritize evicting China from the U.S. supply chain, and wouldn’t hesitate to ask for more money for the shrunken agency if he thought it needed it.
    • “If confirmed it will be a priority of mine to remove all Chinese intrusions, exploitations or infestation into the American supply chain,” Sean Plankey told Rick Scott, R-Fla., at his confirmation hearing before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Scott had asked Plankey about reports of Chinese infiltration of U.S. energy infrastructure.”
  • Per a National Institute of Standards and Technology news release,
    • “NIST has issued draft updates to Special Publication (SP) 800-53 to provide additional guidance on how to securely and reliably deploy patches and updates in response to the Executive Order 14306, Sustaining Select Efforts to Strengthen the Nation’s Cybersecurity and Amending Executive Order 13694 and Executive Order 14144. A two-week expedited public comment period on the draft updates is open through August 5, 2025.” 
  • Per a July 23, 2025, HHS news release,
    • “Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement with Syracuse ASC, LLC doing business as Specialty Surgery Center of Central New York, for potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Security and Breach Notification Rules. Syracuse ASC is a single-facility, ambulatory surgery center located in Liverpool, New York that provides ophthalmic and ENT surgical services and pain management procedures to patients.” * * *
    • “The settlement resolves an OCR investigation concerning a ransomware breach of ePHI that affected 24,891 individuals. OCR initiated the investigation in October 2021 after Syracuse ASC reported to HHS that an unauthorized individual had accessed its network in March 2021. Further investigation revealed that Syracuse ASC was affected by a ransomware attack involving the PYSA ransomware variant, which is a cross-platform cyber weapon known to target the healthcare industry. OCR’s investigation found that Syracuse ASC never conducted an accurate and thorough risk analysis to determine the risks and vulnerabilities to the ePHI it held. OCR also found that Syracuse ASC failed to timely notify affected individuals and the Secretary of the breach.
    • “Under the terms of the resolution agreement, Syracuse ASC agreed to implement a corrective action plan that OCR will monitor for 2 years and paid $250,000 to OCR.”
  • Cyberscoop reports,
    • “Ukrainian authorities Tuesday [July 22, 2025] arrested the alleged administrator of XSS.is, a Russian-language cybercrime forum, following a four-year investigation by the Paris public prosecutor’s office. 
    • “Law enforcement officials from France and Europol seized the domain of the influential forum following the arrest. Authorities have not named the suspected administrator of XSS.is.
    • “The forum, which was active since 2013, had more than 50,000 registered users and was a key marketplace for stolen data, malware, access to compromised systems and ransomware services, officials said. “It has long been a central platform for some of the most active and dangerous cybercriminal networks, used to coordinate, advertise and recruit,” Europol said in a news release.”
  • Dark Reading alerts us,
    • “A “laptop farmer” [Christina Marie Chapman] in Arizona responsible for enabling North Korean IT worker infiltration into US companies is going to jail for eight and a half years, after raising $17 million in illicit funds for Kim Jong-Un’s regime. That news, however, is merely a drop in the justice bucket, and DPRK’s efforts to siphon salaries off of American companies is unlikely to wane anytime soon. So, US organizations need to wrap their heads around the magnitude of the threat.
    • “North Korea’s multiyear HR-compromise effort has the twin goals of earning money for the hermit kingdom’s nuclear program and other efforts via salaries, as well as gaining a foothold inside corporate networks for the purpose of planting cryptominers or malware for stealing secrets.”
  • Cybersecurity Dive adds,
    • “The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Thursday [July 24, 2025] sanctioned three North Koreans and their company for participating in remote IT worker scams and other operations designed to generate revenue for Pyongyang.
    • “The sanctions target the North Korean firm Korea Sobaeksu Trading Co., Sobaeksu employee Kim Se Un, Sobaeksu “IT team leader” Jo Kyong Hun and Kim’s associate Myong Chol Min. 
    • “The Treasury Department calls Sobaeksu a front for North Korea’s Munitions Industry Department, which oversees the country’s nuclear weapons program. North Korea “has previously utilized Sobaeksu to send teams of IT workers overseas, including to Vietnam, in order to generate revenue,” the department said.”

From the cybersecurity defenses front,

  • HelpNet Security explains “Why we must go beyond tooling and CVEs to illuminate security blind spots.”
  • SC Media discusses “exposure management [, which is] a new blueprint for modern cyber defense.
  • Here is a link to Dark Reading’s CISO Corner.

Friday report

David Ermer–CDC, Congress, COVID-19, No Surprises Act, Obesity, OPM, Telehealth, U.S. Healthcare–

From Washington, DC,

  • Here is a link to OPM Director Scott Kupor’s second weekly blog post which is titled “Rightsizing with a purpose.”
  • The Wall Street Journal reports,
    • “Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is planning to remove all the members of an advisory panel that determines what cancer screenings and other preventive health measures insurers must cover, people familiar with the matter said.
    • “Kennedy plans to dismiss all 16 panel members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force because he views them as too “woke,” the people said.
    • “The White House has made a priority of targeting initiatives that promote diversity equity and inclusion, or DEI, in everything from artificial intelligence to health research grants.
    • “The task force has advised the federal government on preventive health matters since 1984. The Affordable Care Act in 2010 gave it the power to determine which screenings, counseling and preventive medications most insurers are required to cover at no cost to patients. The group, made up of volunteers with medical expertise who are vetted for conflicts of interest, combs through scientific evidence to determine which interventions are proven to work.
    • “The Supreme Court decided a case in June that centered on a task-force recommendation to cover HIV-prevention drugs. The employer plaintiffs in the case had argued that requiring them to cover such drugs for employees violated their religious rights and that the task-force members weren’t properly appointed. The high court ruled that the task- force appointments were constitutional, while highlighting that the Health and Human Services Secretary has the authority to remove the members of the panel at will.”
  • Per a Senate news release,
    • Today, U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS) highlighted the importance of fully implementing the No Surprises Act, which protects patients from surprise medical bills and ensures they know the cost of care before receiving it. This bipartisan legislation was signed into law by President Trump in 2020 as part of his efforts to improve price transparency and lower health costs for American patients.
    • “Nearly five years ago, President Trump signed the No Surprises Act (P.L. 116-260) into law. This historic, bipartisan legislation protects patients from surprise medical bills and ensures that they know the cost of care before receiving it,” wrote the senators. “Ensuring that patients have transparent, personalized cost estimates for their health care is a bipartisan priority. Full implementation of both the good faith estimate and advanced explanation of benefits are critical to providing patients with the entirety of protections enacted under the No Surprises Act…We commend President Trump’s commitment to price transparency and stand ready to assist to ensure a successful and complete implementation of the No Surprises Act.”
    • Since the bipartisan legislation led by Senators Cassidy and Hassan was signed into law by President Trump in 2020, the No Surprises Act has protected American patients from more than 25 million surprise medical bills. This would not be possible without the work of the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury.
    • To build on this success, the senators are requesting rules to implement provisions in the law to give covered patients clear cost estimates before their scheduled medical care. To date, the good-faith estimate has been implemented for uninsured and self-pay patients. Additional rulemaking is needed to implement the good-faith estimate and the advanced explanation of benefits for covered patients. For a patient with insurance, providers and facilities are required to provide the good-faith estimate to the individual’s health plan or issuer of coverage, which in turn, must use the estimate to give the patient an advanced explanation of benefits outlining what the plan will cover and what the individual will owe out of pocket.
    • Read the letter here 
  • If Congress wants to improve the No Surprises Act, it should refine the dispute resolution process.
  • Healthcare Dive tells us,
    • “More than 200 telehealth and provider organizations are asking the Trump administration to hammer out regulation governing telehealth prescriptions of controlled substances before pandemic-era flexibilities expire at the end of the year. 
    • “In a letter sent to Terry Cole, the newly confirmed administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the groups urged the administration to ensure a plan is in place by fall so patients can continue to receive remote prescriptions of controlled substances.
    • “The Biden administration proposed a framework for telehealth prescriptions just before President Joe Biden left office in January, but some industry groups have panned the proposed rule as too onerous for providers.”

From the public health and medical research front,

  • The U.S. Disease Control and Prevention announced today,
    • “COVID-19 activity is increasing in many Southeast, Southern, and West Coast states. Seasonal influenza activity is low, and RSV activity is very low.
    • “COVID-19
      • COVID-19 laboratory percent positivity is increasing nationally. Emergency department visits for COVID-19 are increasing among young children 0-4 years old. COVID-19 model-based epidemic trends (Rt) and wastewater activity levels indicate that COVID-19 activity is increasing in many Southeast, Southern, and West Coast states.
    • “Influenza
    • “RSV
      • “RSV activity is very low.”
  • The University of Minnesota’s CIDRAP adds,
    • “Emergency department visits rose 4.8% compared to the week before, mainly in children up to 4 years old. Test positivity rose slightly and is now at 5.3% nationally, with levels highest in the Southwest, followed by the South.
    • Wastewater SARS-CoV-2 detections remained at the low level and are highest in the West, with other regional hot spots, including Louisiana with very high activity and Florida with high activity.
    • “The CDC has not updated its variant proportion estimates since the middle of June owing to low numbers of sequences reported when the NB.1.8.1 subvariant was the most common. Variant proportions predicted from testing in international travelers during the same period suggested the XFG variant—one of many JN .1 offshoots— was most common. Both are considered variants under monitoring by the World Health Organization, which in late June said XFG seems to have a moderate growth advantage and a low risk of immune escape, though it added that confidence in its assessments were low because of recent expansion and low sequencing levels.”
  • The CDC also reports,
    • “Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a psychoactive substance found in Cannabis sativa plants, including varieties such as hemp, is increasingly being used in consumer products.
    • “During October 22–24, 2024, at least 85 persons, ranging from age 1–91 years, ate food from a restaurant in Wisconsin and experienced symptoms consistent with THC intoxication. The restaurant was in a building with a cooperative (i.e., shared) kitchen used by a state-licensed vendor who produced edible THC products. The restaurant mistakenly used THC-infused oil from the cooperative kitchen to prepare dough.
    • “Clinicians and public health practitioners should be alert to the possibility of mass THC intoxication events via food.
  • Doug Corley, MD, PhD, of The Permanente Medical Group, tells us why rising colon cancer rates—up 2% yearly in younger patients—demand earlier screening.
    • “Younger people are at increased risk compared to what they were,” said Doug Corley, MD, PhD, chief research officer for The Permanente Medical Group. Colorectal cancer “is a substantial problem, and it causes a lot of mortality … and morbidity.”
    • “The Permanente Medical Group is a part of the AMA Health System Member Program, which provides enterprise solutions to equip leadership, physicians and care teams with resources to help drive the future of medicine.
    • “Dr. Corley discussed the growing concerns about colon cancer in younger people, as well as how The Permanente Medical Group is helping these populations in a recent episode of “AMA Update.”
  • The American Hospital News lets us know,
    • “A report from AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving released today found nearly 1 in 4 U.S. adults (63 million) are caring for an adult or child with a complex medical condition or disability. Over half of the caretakers are managing complex medical and nursing tasks like injections, wound care or medication management, though only 20% have training to do so.”
  • Per Medscape,
    • “Urgent care visits frequently result in inappropriate prescribing, with 12.4% leading to antibiotic fills, 9.1% to glucocorticoid fills, and 1.3% to opioid fills. Analysis of over 22.4 million urgent care visits revealed concerning patterns, including 40.8% of acute bronchitis visits resulting in inappropriate glucocorticoid prescriptions.” * * *
    • “Inappropriate prescribing in urgent care is influenced by clinician knowledge, patient demands, and lack of decision support. Antibiotic, glucocorticoid, and opioid stewardship programs are needed to reduce inappropriate urgent care prescribing and support long-term glucocorticoid and opioid deprescribing efforts,” wrote the authors of the study.”
    • “The study was led by Shirley Cohen-Mekelburg, MD, MS, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was published online on July 21 in Annals of Internal Medicine.

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

  • The Wall Street Journal reports,
    • “Centene swung to a loss in the second quarter and offered a drastically reduced projection for full-year earnings, delivering a result even worse than Wall Street feared amid growing signs of a financial meltdown across the health-insurance industry.
    • “The managed-care company, which focuses on Medicaid, Affordable Care Act plans and Medicare, withdrew its earnings guidance for 2025 earlier this month, citing rising costs in Medicaid and problems in the ACA business. 
    • “Centene’s latest woes come after smaller competitor Molina Healthcare reduced its 2025 earnings projection for the second time in a month, and larger Elevance Health reported cost pressures as well. Industry bellwether UnitedHealth Group is set to report earnings next Tuesday, after earlier this year withdrawing its own guidance and replacing its chief executive. 
    • “The entire industry is contending with rising costs as well as a shifting membership and regulatory landscape across various lines of business that appear to have weakened insurers’ ability to predict the risks of the populations they enroll—a fundamental function.
    • Centene said in a conference call with analysts on Friday that it expects results to improve next year as it seeks higher payments and tightens its operations.” 
  • STAT News adds,
    • “Hospitals’ finances are strongly influenced by two factors: the prices they negotiate with insurers and how many patients they treat in their facilities. Right now, the latter does not appear to be the main driver of their strong profits. Inpatient and outpatient surgeries, which tend to be hospitals’ profit centers, were down slightly at both companies. Admissions barely budged. Another hospital chain, Community Health Systems, reported similarly underwhelming patient numbers this week. 
    • “It’s a different story among insurers, who say they’re being forced to shell out more money than usual for their members’ medical costs, particularly those who rely on Medicaid and Affordable Care Act plans. Elevance’s finance chief described what’s happening as a “market-wide morbidity shift,” meaning patients are sicker than the companies had expected when they priced their policies.
    • “One number may help explain why hospitals are faring well as insurers struggle: the amount of money hospitals make on each patient. In Tenet’s outpatient surgery business, revenue per case was up 8.3% year-over-year on a same-facility basis. In its hospital segment, that metric grew 5.2%. Tenet chalked that up to charging insurers higher prices — framed as patients having better-paying insurance — and its focus on offering higher-acuity services like cardiac care and orthopedics. At HCA, revenue per admission grew 4% year-over-year on a same-facility basis.”
    • “And consider which services are at issue for insurers. On the Medicaid front, Elevance said its members are using more home health, transportation, adult day care, and services to help them with daily activities like bathing and dressing. They’re also getting more behavioral health services and inpatient surgeries. As for people on ACA plans, the increase in care is concentrated among emergency room visits, behavioral health services, and high-cost drugs. 
    • “But on Friday, HCA said it’s seeing less demand for services among Medicaid patients.”
  • Here’s a link to a Beckers Hospital Review story about HCA’s second quarter earnings announcement.
    • “Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare has reported “16 consecutive quarters of volume growth,” highlighting the strength of its diversified network of markets and services, CEO Sam Hazen said July 25 during the company’s second-quarter earnings call.
    • “The for-profit health system reported a 1.7% year-over-year increase in equivalent admissions for the second quarter and a 2.3% rise year-to-date. YTD managed care equivalent admissions — including the exchanges — increased 4%, in line with HCA’s expectations, according to CFO Mike Marks. Medicare grew 3%, slightly below the company’s expectations.
  • Per Beckers Payer Issues,
    • “With GLP-1 medication costs being a top concern for employers heading into 2026, UnitedHealthcare is addressing the challenge through its Total Weight Support program, aimed at improving weight loss outcomes for employees while managing the costs of medication adherence. 
    • “In our conversations and consultations with employers, they are all looking for solutions for their employees who are dealing with obesity and metabolic conditions that bring better value,” Rhonda Randall, DO, chief medical officer for UnitedHealthcare’s commercial business, told Becker’s. “Total Weight Support was put into the marketplace as a comprehensive solution for employers who are looking for that full-person approach to care for their beneficiaries and employees dealing with obesity.”
  • Mercer consulting offers detailed compliance consideration for GLP-1 drug coverage.

Thursday report

David Ermer–Congress, FDA, Federal employment benefits, Medical / Rx research, Obesity, OPM, Patient safety, U.S. Healthcare–

From Washington, DC,

  • It’s worth noting that while the House of Representative has gone out of town for the August recess, the Senate will remain in session through next week.
  • The Wall Street Journal reports,
    • “Hospitals would be required to disclose how they make key decisions regarding extremely premature infants in a bill set to be introduced Thursday by Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.).
    • “The legislation is in part prompted by a Wall Street Journal investigation last year that found mothers had been told no lifesaving measures were possible for their extremely premature infants, even though other hospitals nearby offered care for infants born at similar gestational ages.
    • “The Neonatal Care Transparency Act of 2025 would require hospitals to disclose publicly whether there is a minimal gestational age at which they offer active care for infants, rather than comfort measures before their death. While many hospitals require lifesaving measures to be given at 25 weeks’ gestational age or above, decisions on whether to attempt to save younger premature infants can vary by hospital or even doctor.”
  • Per Senate news releases,
    • “On Thursday, July 31, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee will hold a hearing on how to lower health costs and make health care more affordable for American patients.
      • “Title: Making Health Care Affordable: Solutions to Lower Costs and Empower Patients
      • “Date: Thursday, July 31, 2025
      • “Time: 10:00 AM ET/ 9:00 AM CT
      • “Location: 430 Dirksen Senate Office Building
      • “Click here to watch live”
  • and
    • “U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) announced the Committee will hold a nomination hearing on Thursday, July 31, 2025, at 10:00 AM ET to consider Bryan Switzer to be a Deputy United States Trade Representative (USTR), Gustav Chiarello III to be an Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Michael Stuart to be General Counsel of HHS and Derek Theurer to be a Deputy Under Secretary of the Treasury.
      • “Title: Hearing to consider nominees for USTR, HHS and Treasury
      • “Witnesses: Bryan Switzer; Gustav Chiarello; Michael Stuart; Derek Theurer
      • “Date: Thursday, July 31, 2025
      • “Time: 10:00 AM ET
      • “Location: 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building
      • “Witness testimony, opening statements and a live video of the hearing will be available on www.finance.senate.gov.”
  • The Society for Human Resource Management tells us,
    • “The annual employee contribution limit for dependent care flexible spending accounts (FSAs) is increasing by 50% beginning next year, a change employers will want to communicate to employees as open enrollment season gears up. 
    • “The massive tax law that President Donald Trump signed July 4, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, raises the limit for the pretax benefit account used to pay for eligible dependent care services to $7,500 for single individuals and married couples filing jointly, up from $5,000, and $3,750 for married couples filing separately, up from $2,500. The increase is effective beginning Jan. 1, 2026.
    • “Industry experts have been pushing for a higher contribution limit for years, calling the new increase long overdue. Although other limits, such as for health savings accounts and medical FSAs, are indexed for inflation and usually increase nominally each year, that’s not the case for dependent care FSAs. The current limits have been in place since 1986, except for a temporary increase during the pandemic.
    • “The increase is a “game changer for both working parents and businesses,” said Sara Redington, co-founder of The Best Place for Working Parents (BP4WP), a Fort Worth, Texas-based organization that recognizes employers supporting working parents.”
  • Tammy Flanagan, writing in Govexec, discusses “Why federal retirements are spiking this year. A sharp rise in retirement claims may be tied to fear instead of planning. If you’re eyeing the exit, make sure you’re not rushing into something you’ll regret.”
  • Per STAT News,
    • “Everyone agrees that diet is important to good health. And yet fewer than a third of medical students receive the recommended minimum of 25 hours of nutrition education, and more than half report receiving no formal education on the topic at all. 
    • “That’s why health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may be pushing on an open door with his plans to require medical schools to include nutrition education in their curricula or else lose federal funding. 
    • “One of the things we’re gonna do at NIH is to really give a carrot and stick to medical schools across the country saying you gotta put in your first-year curriculum a really good, robust nutrition course,” he said in a video posted to his Instagram account earlier this month. 
    • “Medical experts who spoke with STAT noted that there is no standardized curriculum for nutrition, and that it’s not yet clear what specifics Kennedy may attach to funding or what training medical schools might have to cut back to make room for nutrition courses. But they were on board with Kennedy’s general goal, noting that many nutrition and food policy experts have been calling for this kind of change for years. A 2022 House of Representatives resolution on the need for better nutrition education also won bipartisan support. And some medical schools have already taken steps to strengthen their offerings on the subject.”

From the Food and Drug Administration front,

  • Fierce Pharma points out,
    • “Although Sarepta Therapeutics managed to defuse a brief stalemate with the FDA earlier this week, the U.S. drug regulator is reportedly going to put the company to work in order to affirm the safety of its Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) gene therapy Elevidys.
    • “Sarepta would need to conduct new analyses to validate the safety of Elevidys—which has had U.S. shipments paused by the company over a mounting string of controversies—to the FDA, Endpoints News reported Thursday, citing an unnamed senior FDA official.
    • “It’s unclear what sorts of studies Sarepta would need to run to get Elevidys back in the agency’s good graces, or whether the company might need to conduct a new clinical trial, Endpoints noted. The publication said it was unable to independently verify the internal FDA discussions alluded to by the official.
    • “That said, no one at the FDA thinks the treatment should return to market based on current data, an anonymous FDA official told Bloomberg.”
  • and
    • “Danish dermatology specialist Leo Pharma has scored an FDA approval that makes its JAK inhibitor cream Anzupgo (delgocitinib) the first therapeutic in the U.S. specifically indicated for chronic hand eczema (CHE).
    • “The endorsement covers adults with moderate to severe CHE for whom topical corticosteroids either have been inadequate or are not suitable. In September of last year, Anzpugo became the first topical treatment for the condition approved in Europe.
    • “Dermatologists hailed the approval as a long-awaited treatment option for a condition that is often overlooked despite it affecting 1 in 10 adults in the world. A recent study commissioned by Leo and conducted by Ipsos showed that more than half of nearly 200 dermatologists who were surveyed were frustrated by the lack of progress in the indication.
    • “They said current therapeutics for moderate to severe atopic dermatitis—which are often prescribed to treat CHE—don’t sufficiently translate as treatments for moderate to severe CHE.”
  • The American Hospital Association News lets us know,
    • “The Food and Drug Administration has identified a Class I recall of Edwards Lifesciences OptiSite Arterial Perfusion Cannula devices due to the potential for serious injury or death. Edwards identified incidents in which a 3mm to 4mm section of wire from the wire-reinforcement coil at the cannula tip was found to be exposed. The FDA said that some Femoral Arterial Cannula models are made of the same components as the OptiSite Arterial Perfusion Cannula models. Edwards has called for both products to be removed from wherever they are used or sold.”
  • Modern Healthcare reports,
    • “The Food and Drug Administration has classified Baxter’s recall of its Q-Link 13 mobile lift component as the most serious type, meaning it could lead to critical injuries or death if customers continue to use it.
    • “The Q-Link 13 is used with seven models of the company’s mobile lifts, which are used to move patients with limited mobility from one location to another or help with gait training.
    • “It’s an optional part that can be connected with a quick-release hook for sling bars, which hold the lifting sling. It could be attached incorrectly, possibly causing it to come loose and lead to a patient fall. This could result in serious injury to the patient or a caregiver trying to prevent the fall.
    • “This issue has potentially been associated with three serious injuries and one death, according to Baxter.”

From the judicial front,

  • The Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette reports,
    • “A federal judge on Wednesday said he will try to issue a ruling soon on whether a new state law banning pharmacies operated by out-of-state pharmacy benefit managers should be enjoined while the matter is being litigated in court.”
  • Govexec tells us,
    • “The Trump administration revealed to a federal court on Thursday the specific offices at which widespread layoffs were planned as of earlier this year, providing rare insight into the scale of its proposed reductions in force.” * * *
    • “The administration revealed the requests to the U.S. Court for the Northern District of California after Judge Susan Illston ordered their disclosure. Illston previously blocked the administration from moving forward with RIFs at all, but that injunction was overturned by the Supreme Court. The judge is now seeking to verify the legality of RIF plans on an agency-by-agency basis and sought information from 17 agencies the administration had told the Supreme Court were set to begin layoffs when Illston’s injunction took effect. 
    • “The Trump administration said the list in some cases undercounted the number of offices developing RIF plans and in others overcounted and has consistently maintained its plans were moving targets. An appeals court this week blocked another order from Illston requiring the administration to disclose to the court reorganization and RIF plans at every major agency, though those were not yet set to be made public.”  

From the public health and medical research front,

  • The AP reports,
    • “The fertility rate in the U.S. dropped to an all-time low in 2024 with less than 1.6 kids per woman, new federal data released Thursday shows.
    • “The U.S. was once among only a few developed countries with a rate that ensured each generation had enough children to replace itself — about 2.1 kids per woman. But it has been sliding in America for close to two decades as more women are waiting longer to have children or never taking that step at all. 
    • “The new statistic is on par with fertility rates in western European countries, according to World Bank data.
    • “Alarmed by recent drops, the Trump administration has taken steps to increase falling birth rates, like issuing an executive order meant to expand access to and reduce costs of in vitro fertilization and backing the idea of “baby bonuses” that might encourage more couples to have kids.
    • “But there’s no reason to be alarmed, according to Leslie Root, a University of Colorado Boulder researcher focused on fertility and population policy. 
    • “We’re seeing this as part of an ongoing process of fertility delay. We know that the U.S. population is still growing, and we still have a natural increase — more births than deaths,” she said.”
  • The Hill tells us,
    • “A new study suggests diets including eggs, especially the yolk, may help reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
    • “Published in The Journal of Nutrition, the study followed more than 1,000 U.S. adults and found that those who consumed more than one egg weekly had a 47 percent reduced risk of Alzheimer’s.
    • “Over an average follow-up of 6.7 years, 280 participants, or 27.3 percent, were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia. Researchers found that 39 percent of the “total effect of egg intake” was linked to choline, a nutrient found in egg yolks known to support memory and brain function.
    • “Egg yolks also contain omega-3 fatty acids, which have neuroprotective benefits, further supporting brain health.”
  • The New York Times relates,
    • “Tens of millions of people in the United States struggle with obstructive sleep apnea, a condition that occurs when the throat muscles narrow during sleep, leading to temporary pauses in breathing that can cause people to snore and jolt awake, gasping for air.
    • “Poor sleep can leave people feeling exhausted, irritable and unfocused during the day. And if left untreated, sleep apnea can increase the risk for serious conditions like high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, heart attack and stroke.
    • “For decades, the primary treatment for sleep apnea has been continuous positive airway pressure (or CPAP). Before bed, those with the condition put on a face mask that is connected to a CPAP machine, which keeps the airway open by forcing air into it. The machines are effective, but many find them so noisy, cumbersome or uncomfortable that they end up abandoning them.
    • “Now, a more appealing option may be on the way, according to a news release from Apnimed, a pharmaceutical company focused on treating sleep apnea. On Wednesday, the company announced a second round of positive Phase 3 clinical trial results for a first-of-its-kind oral pill that can be taken just before bedtime to help keep a person’s airway open.” * * *
    • “Dr. Phyllis Zee, a sleep doctor and researcher at Northwestern Medicine who was not involved with the trial, said that if approved, the drug could transform the lives of many. That includes not only those who can’t tolerate CPAP machines, but also those who can’t — or prefer not to — use other interventions, such as other types of oral devices or weight loss medications. (Excess weight is a risk factor for sleep apnea.)”
  • Per STAT News,
    • “A Phase 3 study of AstraZeneca’s gefurulimab hit its primary and all secondary endpoints, teeing up talks with regulators about the potential blockbuster treatment for generalized myasthenia gravis, Fierce Biotech writes. AstraZeneca’s high hopes for the drug rest on the belief that the weekly, self-administered medicine can unlock an earlier, broader population than its existing gMG drug Ultomiris. In the study, people on gefurulimab performed significantly better on a gMG scale that assesses the ability to perform daily activities versus those on placebo, achieving the primary endpoint of the study.”
  • The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released its Final Research Plan for Vision in Children Ages 6 Months to 5 Years: Screening.
  • Aunt Minnie adds,
    • “Changing national lung cancer screening guidelines in 2021 may have contributed to a surge in screening exams, but less lung cancer was detected in newly screened participants, and racial, ethnic, and sexual disparities persisted overall, according to a study published July 21 in the Journal of Thoracic Imaging.
    • “While numerous studies have examined the effects of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)’s 2021 lung cancer screening (LCS) guidelines on eligibility, this study focused on participation and lung cancer outcomes over the first 10 years of implementing an LCS program.” * * *
    • “Simply revising the guidelines increases eligibility but does not guarantee participation in LCS for these populations,” Lin and colleagues wrote. “These findings underscore the need for continued emphasis on active outreach and patient education efforts to promote LCS among racial and ethnic minority groups, as well as the further evaluation of how these initiatives impact participation and outcomes.”

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

  • Yahoo Finance lets us know,
    •  “Independence Blue Cross (IBX) is helping to improve recovery outcomes for its Medicare Advantage members after they leave the hospital and reduce costs with its Post-Acute Care Program. The program combines predictive analytics, proactive case management, and a focus on home-based recovery, to ensure members receive the right care at the right time after a stay at the hospital. Since its launch in July 2022, it has helped to improve CAHPS survey scores—a tool used to measure members’ experiences with health care services and strengthen health care in the U.S. It has also delivered $13 million in cost savings and earned the prestigious Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s (BCBSA) North Star Award for its measurable impact.”
  • Per Beckers Payer Issues,
    • “Priority Health, the insurance arm of Grand Rapids, Mich. based Corewell Health, will become the governing member of Group Health Cooperative of Eau Claire, a Wisconsin-based health plan with more than 61,000 members.
    • “Both organizations expect the transaction to close by the end of 2025, pending regulatory approvals.
    • “The agreement will make Priority Health a four-state health plan with more than 1.3 million members across Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin.”
  • Per the AHA News,
    • “The AHA July 24 announced it is collaborating with health care technology leader Epic to help hospitals adopt tools that support the early detection and treatment of postpartum hemorrhage, a leading cause of maternal mortality. 
    • “The organizations have released a toolkit that includes dynamic risk assessments, clinical decision support and treatment guidance embedded in the electronic health record. With the proper permissions from applicable content providers, users of any EHR should be able to implement a similar set of tools. 
    • “The American Hospital Association and Epic share a deep commitment to improving health outcomes for moms and babies,” said Chris DeRienzo, M.D., AHA chief physician executive and a neonatologist. “This new collaboration amplifies our efforts to drive continuous improvement by sharing evidence-based resources to help reduce this tragic condition. It’s a natural extension of AHA’s Patient Safety Initiative, a collaborative data-driven effort to highlight and learn from patient safety progress at hospitals and health systems around the country.” 
    • “The AHA and Epic will support hospitals in their implementation journey with programming, resources and a space to learn from each other and engage with hospitals already seeing successful outcomes with items that are included in the toolkit.”
  • Healthcare Dive informs us,
    • “Labcorp has agreed to acquire certain ambulatory outreach laboratory assets from Community Health Systems, furthering an expansion push that has seen the testing services provider forge deals with a growing list of local and national health systems.
    • “The $195 million cash agreement with CHS includes patient service centers and in-office phlebotomy locations in 13 states, where Labcorp will assume some facility leases.
    • “Evercore ISI analyst Elizabeth Anderson, in a note to clients Tuesday, called the deal “very much in-line with [Labcorp’s] long-stated hospital management and outreach strategy where it continues to build a strong track record.”

Midweek update

David Ermer–CDC, CMS, Congress, FDA, Generative AI, Medical / Rx research, Medicare, Rx coverage, U.S. Healthcare–

From Washington, DC,

  • Roll Call reports,
    • “Senate Republicans say they are working on a bipartisan health package to lower drug and health insurance costs, a development that’s news to some Democrats who remain skeptical that their GOP colleagues will work with them.
    • “Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., is leading the talks, with a particular focus on more transparency from pharmacy benefit managers, so-called upcoding practices in Medicare Advantage and other health items.
    • “A group of Republican senators, including Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, are pushing to extend expiring health insurance subsidies for people who buy their own insurance on the marketplaces.
    • “Republicans are tight-lipped about the package, which is in the very early stages, said Sen. Michael D. Crapo, R-Idaho, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee.
    • “We’re going to have PBM legislation that hopefully will remain bipartisan, and there have been a number of other initiatives. I’m not going to start singling things out,” Crapo said Tuesday. “We are discussing everything that people want to look at as issues,” including Medicare Advantage, a private alternative to traditional Medicare, adding that he was disappointed certain changes weren’t addressed in the reconciliation package.”
  • Healthcare Dive offers more details on Tuesday’s Senate hearing about the Medicare Advantage program.
  • Mercer tells us,
    • “The Affordable Care Act (ACA) benchmark for determining the affordability of employer-sponsored health coverage will increase significantly for the 2026 plan year according to IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-25 — to 9.96% of an employee’s household income up from the 2025 plan-year level of 9.02%. This affordability percentage can affect individuals’ eligibility for federally subsidized coverage from a public exchange, as well as employers’ potential liability for shared-responsibility (or “play or pay”) assessments.” * * *
    • “Employers should review the required employee contribution for 2026 coverage if they plan to meet the ACA’s affordability limit under the applicable safe harbor. For the many plans using the FPL affordability safe harbor, the considerations differ for calendar- and non-calendar-year plans.”
  • Modern Health lets us know,
    • “Medicare may soon test a plan to equalize reimbursements for outpatient services regardless of where the care is provided.
    • “This foray into so-called site-neutral payment would begin next year and focus on physician-administered medications such as chemotherapy drugs. Hospitals would get paid less than they are now for providing those services.
    • “The plan, contained in the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System proposed rule for 2026 that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued last Tuesday, reflects growing interest in setting uniform Medicare rates for services across settings.”
  • The American Hospital Association New informs us,
    • The White House July 23 released an action plan with a series of more than 90 policy recommendations to expand the use of artificial intelligence. The plan follows a directive from the administration’s Jan. 23 executive order, “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence.” The policy recommendations are aligned across three pillars — accelerating innovation, building American AI infrastructure, and leading in international diplomacy and security. The action plan recommends the launch of sector-specific efforts, including health care, to convene stakeholders to accelerate the development and adoption of national standards for AI systems. It also calls for testing AI system pilots in real-world settings across health care and other sectors through regulatory sandboxes and AI centers of excellence.
    • Other policy recommendations include removing onerous federal regulations that hinder AI development and deployment; expediting permits for building data centers and semiconductor facilities; expanding AI literacy and skills for education and workforce training; and bolstering critical infrastructure cybersecurity pertaining to AI.
  • and
    • “The Department of Health and Human Services July 23 announced it is recommending the removal of thimerosal from all U.S. flu vaccines. The announcement follows a recommendation last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.”

From the Food and Drug Administration front,

  • STAT News reports,
    • “The FDA posted a webpage yesterday allowing drug companies to indicate their interest in participating in a pilot voucher program that aims to cut product review times down to just one to two months. The agency will be choosing five companies in the first round.
    • “The FDA announced last month that it would launch this program to reward companies whose actions align with certain policy priorities, including addressing unmet public health needs, beefing up domestic production of drugs, and delivering more innovative cures.
    • “The webpage states that another “program priority” is increasing affordability, such as lowering drug prices in line with President Trump’s most favored nation policy.
    • “Critics say the voucher program raises concerns that the FDA is injecting politics into drug review decisions that should be centered around science, and that one to two months is not a sufficient amount of time to review new drugs.”
  • Per BioPharma Dive,
    • “Roche is pausing sales of the Duchenne gene therapy Elevidys in some countries outside the U.S. after partner Sarepta Therapeutics agreed Monday to a Food and Drug Administration request to do the same in the U.S.
    • “Roche said Wednesday it is temporarily and voluntarily halting shipments of the treatment in countries that reference the FDA’s approval of Elevidys in their local decision. The Swiss pharmaceutical company markets the gene therapy outside the U.S. under a 2019 alliance with Sarepta and will continue to ship Elevidys in countries that don’t rely on FDA decisions.
    • “The FDA asked Sarepta to stop shipping Elevidys following the deaths from acute liver failure of two teenagers treated with it earlier this year. Both Sarepta and Roche maintain the benefit-risk balance to treatment remains positive in younger patients who can still walk.”
  • Fierce Pharma points out,
    • “Just when the future looked bleak for GSK’s Blenrep comeback in the U.S., the FDA has blessed the company’s multiple myeloma ambitions with a glimmer of hope.
    • “Following last week’s negative feedback from the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC), the agency was scheduled to make the final call on the drug’s use in patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior line of therapy by July 23. 
    • “Now, the FDA has pushed back its decision date to Oct. 23, tacking on extra time to “review additional information provided in support of the application,” GSK announced Wednesday.”
  • The AHA News notes,
    • “The Food and Drug Administration July 22 released an early alert for Novum IQ large volume infusion pumps by Baxter. The company stated that the pump has potential for under infusion when transitioning to a higher flow rate. The FDA said Baxter has reported 79 serious injuries and two deaths associated with the issue as of June 27.”

From the judicial front,

  • Federal News Network reports,
    • “Details of the imminent reductions in force and staffing reorganizations planned across government will remain under wraps after an appeals court blocked a judge’s order for a list of those plans to be released.
    • “The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted the Trump administration’s request for an emergency stay on U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston’s order for the government’s lawyers turn over the dozens of RIF plans they said are ready for implementation.
    • “The appeals court’s decision means agencies can still move forward with any planned RIFs and staffing reorganizations without needing to divulge that information either to the court or to the public, at least for the time being.”
  • Per Bloomberg Law,
    • “Neurological Surgery Practice of Long Island, PLLC sued the Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury departments in April 2023, alleging the agencies failed to establish and enforce procedures to resolve surprise billing disputes as required by Congress under the No Surprises Act. The law requires insurers and doctors to resolve unexpected out-of-network bills through arbitration, rather than billing the patient.”
    • The district court ruled against the provider, and today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed (Dropbox link) the district court’s ruling (No. 24-1884).

From the public health and medical research front,

  • CBS News reports,
    • “Rich’s Ice Cream is recalling 110,292 cases of frozen dessert products across 23 states due to potential listeria contamination, which can lead to serious illness.
    • “The recall, which was first initiated in June, was recently updated to a Class II threat, meaning the product “may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences,” the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says.
    • “According to federal health officials, the products were distributed to Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. They were also sold in Nassau, Bahamas.” * * *
    • “Customers can visit the Rich’s Ice Cream website for more information on product labels.”
  • The University of Minnesota informs us,
    • “Amid ongoing record post-elimination measles activity in the United States, four states have reported more measles cases, including Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico, and Wyoming.
    • “Meanwhile, in its weekly update, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) added 10 more cases to the national total, which has now reached 1,319 cases.
    • “In early July, the United States passed its previous post-elimination record of measles cases, and though cases in the West Texas outbreak have declined steadily, smaller outbreaks and travel-linked cases continue to push the nation’s total higher. The surge in US measles activity is part of a global rise in cases made worse by dropping childhood immunization rates.
    • “The CDC said the number of affected states remained at 40, with the number of outbreaks holding at 29. So far, 87% of the nation’s cases are connected to outbreaks and 92% of affected patients are unvaccinated or have unknown vaccination status. Children ages 5 to 19 years old are the most affected age group, followed closely by adults ages 20 and older.”
  • Per STAT News,
    • “The H5N1 bird flu virus has historically extracted a heavy toll when it infects humans, with nearly half of confirmed cases ending in death over the past three decades. But of the 70 cases reported in the United States over the past 18 months, only a single death occurred, leaving experts puzzled at how to explain the phenomenon.
    • “A new study published Wednesday adds weight to an argument that the immunity people have developed to the virus that caused the most recent flu pandemic, an H1N1 virus that emerged in 2009, has induced some cross-protection that may be making it harder for H5N1 to infect people, and mitigating the severity of the ensuing disease when such infections occur.
    • “The paper, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, reports on a number of studies done in ferrets, the closest animal model for what happens when humans are infected with influenza. It showed that while H5N1 is lethal to ferrets with no immunity to influenza, animals that have previously been infected with influenza A — either H3N2 or H1N1 — appear to have some protection when they are later exposed to the bird flu virus. The protection is particularly strong with H1N1.
    • “Seema Lakdawala, one of the authors of the study, said the findings provide hope that, should H5N1 — long considered a major pandemic threat — acquire the ability to spread easily to and among humans, the resulting pandemic might not be as disastrous as people have feared.”
  • MedPage Today tells us,
    • “A meta-analysis pooled data on dose-response associations between daily steps and a broad range of health outcomes.
    • “Increasing daily step counts above 2,000 was associated with risk reductions in mortality and cardiovascular, cancer, and other outcomes.
    • “A goal of 5,000 to 7,000 steps per day [not 10,000 steps] was deemed appropriate for achieving good health.”
  • HCPLive points out,
    • “A study found no significant differences in IBS symptom severity between gluten, wheat, and sham challenges, questioning the role of these ingredients as triggers.
    • “Despite findings, many patients continued a gluten-free diet, indicating psychological factors may influence symptom perception and dietary choices.”
  • HHS, FDA and USDA discuss their approach to ultra-processed food here.

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

  • Fierce Healthcare reports,
    • “Molina Healthcare is seeing sustained pressure as the insurer released its second quarter financial results.
    • “For the full year, the company anticipates a floor of $16.90 per diluted share and adjusted earnings to be at least $19.00 per diluted share. Earlier this month, the insurer warned medical cost pressures would affect adjusted earnings, lowering its target to $21.50 to $22.50 per share.
    • “Molina’s stock has dipped about 4% in after-hours trading.
    • “The current earnings pressure we are experiencing results from what we believe to be a temporary dislocation between premium rates and medical cost trend which has recently accelerated.,” said CEO and President Joseph Zubretsky in a statement. “We are still performing near our long-term target ranges, and nothing has changed our outlook for the long-term performance of the business.”
    • “Adjusted net income for the quarter is $5.48 per diluted share, similar to its preview from early July, for a decrease of 6% year-over-year.”
  • MedCity New tells us,
    • “Aeroflow Health, a health tech company, has teamed up with Cigna to provide virtual nutrition services to its members nationally, the company announced (Opens in a new window)on Tuesday.
    • “Asheville, North Carolina-based Aeroflow Health was founded in 2001 and offers an array of medical devices covered by insurance. The company has four lines: Aeroflow Breastpumps, Aeroflow Diabetes, Aeroflow Sleep and Aeroflow Urology. In addition to medical devices, it provides education and consultations. The company has partnerships with more than 1,000 insurance plans.
    • “Through the partnership with Cigna, Aeroflow Health will serve Cigna members who would “most benefit from nutrition interventions,” such as new mothers, those with diabetes or those with a chronic disease, according to the announcement. These patients will have access to registered dietitians, who can create personalized meal plans and provide tips to support their goals, such as boosting breast milk production, losing weight, reducing cholesterol or lowering the risk of heart disease.”
  • Healthcare Dive relates,
    • “Tenet Healthcare raised its 2025 financial guidance on Tuesday after releasing second-quarter earnings that showed year-over-year growth in revenue and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
    • “The hospital operator now expects between $20.95 billion and $21.25 billion in revenue for 2025 on net income of $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion. Previously, Tenet projected $20.6 billion to $21 billion in revenue and $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion in income.
    • “Still, Tenet declined to answer questions on a Tuesday morning call with investors about the future financial impacts from the recently enacted “One Big Beautiful Bill” and potentially expiring Affordable Care Act exchange premium tax credits. Tenet’s stock declined about 15% by market close on Tuesday.”
  • Per Fierce Healthcare,
    • “Community Health Systems (CHS) shared word that it beat Q2 consensus estimates for both revenue and earnings, as well as news that CEO Tim Hingtgen will retire later this year.
    • “The public for-profit logged net operating revenues of $3.13 billion for the quarter, above the $3.02 billion estimate. That’s a 0.2% dip from the second quarter of 2024 though same-store net operating revenues rose 6.5%, reflecting divestitures the company underwent during the past year.
    • “The revenues outline a 7.4% year-over-year decline in admissions and an 8.3% decline in year-over-year admissions. However, same-store admissions rose by 0.3% while same-store adjusted admission fell by 0.7%.
    • “Net income attributable to stockholders was $282 million ($2.09 per share), as opposed to the $13 million net loss (-$0.10 per share) a year prior. Those decrease to a $0.05 net loss per share for Q2 2025 and $-0.17 net loss per share for Q2 2024 when excluding adjusting items related to early extinguishment of debt and asset sales.”
  • Beckers Hospital Review lets us know how health systems are staying ahead of drug shortages, and
    • “Pfizer and Bristol Myers Squibb have launched a direct-to-patient program offering their blood thinner Eliquis at a 40% discount for cash-paying patients. 
    • “The list price for Eliquis (apixaban) is $606 for a 30-day supply, but through the new program, the discounted price is approximately $242. More than 15 million Americans have prescriptions for Eliquis, according to a July 17 news release from Bristol Myers Squibb.” 
  • Optum, writing in LinkedIn, discusses the connection between AI and Rx benefits.
  • Per a news release, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) has issued its Draft Evidence Report on Treatment for Non-Cystic Fibrosis Bronchiectasis. The public comment period is now open until August 19, 2025; Requests to make oral comment during public meeting also are being accepted.
  • Per BioPharma Dive,
    • “A new biotechnology company debuted Wednesday with a hefty bankroll and an immunotherapy approach it claims has the potential to treat an array of tough-to-reach solid tumors.
    • “Called Dispatch Bio, the startup was formed in 2022 through a collaboration between Arch Venture Partners and the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and built around technologies from scientific labs in Pennsylvania and California. It has since raised $216 million and developed a lead program that’s expected to enter clinical testing next year.
    • “Dispatch aims to deliver to cancer cells a sequence for a unique type of protein flag, known as an antigen, that it says can draw in specially engineered immune cells it plans to administer afterwards. The company believes its approach could yield a “universal” solid tumor treatment.”
  • and
    • “Abivax’s shares soared more than 500% on Wednesday after the company released positive Phase 3 results for its experimental ulcerative colitis medicine.
    • “The Paris-based biotech conducted two studies of its drug, obefazimod, in patients with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis who didn’t receive enough relief from prior therapies. The 50 milligram dose of the medicine achieved a pooled 16.4% placebo-adjusted clinical remission rate at week 8, better than what was reported in Phase 2 testing, Abivax said late Tuesday.
    • “Researchers are now conducting a 44-week maintenance trial that should yield topline results in the second quarter of next year. If those results are also positive, Abivax plans to submit applications to U.S. and European regulators in the second half of 2026.”

Tuesday report

David Ermer–Congress, FDA, Medical / Rx research, Medicare, NIH, Obesity, OPM, U.S. Healthcare–

From Washington, DC

  • Roll Call reports,
    • “No more votes are scheduled beyond Wednesday in the House, a change from the previous schedule that reflects a Rules Committee dispute over release of the Jeffrey Epstein case files that will prevent any rules for debate from coming to the floor.
    • “The House is expected to continue to consider legislation under suspension of the rules through Wednesday afternoon but won’t have any more floor votes on Thursday.
    • “That’s a shift from Monday night when Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters that the chamber would remain in session through Thursday because of suspension votes and committee meetings.”
  • Because the House of Representatives is scheduled to be on an August recess until September 2, 2025, the House Appropriations Committee will not be taking up the FY 2025 Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill until September.
  • The American Hospital Association News tells us, “The House Ways and Means Subcommittees on Health and Oversight held a joint hearing today to discuss lessons learned, challenges and opportunities to improve the Medicare Advantage program,” and “The AHA today expressed support for the Medicare Mental Health Inpatient Equity Act, a bill that would eliminate the 190-day lifetime limit on inpatient psychiatric hospital services for Medicare patients.” 
  • STAT News adds,
    • “Members of a [House Energy and Commerce oversight committee] said Tuesday that they fear public trust in organ donation has been fractured after a federal report found that an organ procurement organization ignored signs of life in patients when authorizing attempted organ removals.
    • “The hearing followed a federal investigation by the Health Resources and Services Administration that found that a group responsible for overseeing the removal of organs from deceased patients and getting them to patients in need exhibited “concerning patterns of risk to neurologically injured patients.” * * *
    • “During Tuesday’s hearing, lawmakers sharply questioned and criticized the practices of Network for Hope, the OPTN, and UNOS in conducting oversight of patient safety. The OPTN had launched a separate investigation into Network for Hope that was closed without further action.” 
  • Govexec informs us,
    • “The new, Senate-confirmed head of the Office of Personnel Management, venture capital alum Scott Kupor, says that he wants to operationalize the focus on efficiency in his agency and throughout government, but that OPM won’t be taking orders from the Department of Government Efficiency.
    • “OPM is its own agency,” Kupor told reporters Monday when asked about its relationship with DOGE moving forward. “To the extent that they’re helpful in the overall goals and objectives we have, then we’re happy to partner with people, but we’re going to ultimately make the decisions that we think are in the best interests of OPM.” * * *
    • “The agency is down by 322 employees since the start of Trump 2.0, OPM says. Once voluntary separations are finalized by the end of the year, OPM will be down from 3,110 employees when Trump took office to about 2,000, or around one-third of the agency, according to OPM.” * * *
    • “Kupor, who only started the job last week, said that he may have to make up for some of those losses. The agency is looking at what gaps in service exist, which need to be filled, which can be made up for with technology and what was “nice to have,” but not essential.” * * *
    • “We’ve got to really just rethink our entire recruiting efforts,” Kupor said. “I want every really smart person in this country to wake up every day and say, ‘you know what, I want to go work for the government because I can work on super hard problems that are very complex.’”
  • The AHA News relates,
    • “The AHA yesterday responded to a request for information from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on price transparency policy, specifically the accuracy and completeness of hospitals’ machine-readable files. The AHA said that determining the accuracy and completeness of machine-readable file data is challenging given that exact rates do not exist in the way they were envisioned by the policy. In addition, the AHA said that additional enforcement of hospital price transparency requirements is not necessary due to CMS’ improved enforcement efforts.  
    • “The AHA encouraged CMS to instead focus its efforts on the information that will best help patients understand and compare their expected costs prior to care and on streamlining price transparency policies to remove complexity and administrative burden.”

From the Food and Drug Administration front,

  • MedPage Today points out,
    • “Women should be better informed about the potential risks of using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) during pregnancy, and these risks should be weighed against their benefits, most speakers on an FDA panel selected by Commissioner Marty Makary, MD, MPH, agreed on Monday.
    • “Up to 5% of women in pregnancy are on an antidepressant. Antidepressants like SSRIs can be an effective treatment for depression,” said Makary during his opening remarks, though he warned that SSRIs “may be unique” because of their potential interaction with pregnancy.
    • “Serotonin may play a crucial role in the development of organs of a baby in utero, specifically heart, brain, and even the gut,” he continued. “SSRIs have also been implicated in different studies to be involved in postpartum hemorrhage, pulmonary hypertension, and cognitive downstream effects in the baby, as well as cardiac birth defects.”
  • STAT News reports,
    • “Sarepta Therapeutics, the maker of a gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy that is being temporarily shelved because of safety concerns, faces an “arduous and treacherous path” to try to get it back onto the market, a senior Food and Drug Administration official told STAT, suggesting the treatment’s license could be revoked. 
    • “The official, who spoke to STAT on condition of anonymity, did not rule out the possibility that the therapy, Elevidys, could eventually be brought back on the market. But it would be difficult for Sarepta to prove that any new safety protocols could eliminate the risk of liver injuries — which have been tied to the deaths of two patients — the official added.”

From the judicial front,

  • The Chief Judge for the Southern District of Iowa federal court entered a preliminary injunction today against certain provisions of a recently enacted Iowa PBM reform law that interfere with operations of ERISA governed health plans based on ERISA’s preemption law. The 87-page decision is well reasoned and quite balanced. What’s good for ERISA preemption is good for FEHB Act preemption.
  • Healthcare Dive reports,
    • “Humana on Monday refiled its lawsuit against the federal government for allegedly miscalculating its Medicare Advantage quality scores for 2025, after its previous suit was dismissed on procedural grounds.
    • “The new suit in a Texas district court is slimmer than its predecessor, focusing on allegations that regulators improperly dinged its plans’ star ratings on the basis of three mishandled customer service phone calls. The original suit made broader arguments about the integrity of the star ratings system and review process.”

From the public health and medical research front,

  • Cigna, writing in LinkedIn, discusses “the importance of treating both mental and physical health together.
  • USA Today lets us know,
    • “About five million swimming pools, specifically above-ground pools, have been recalled for a potential drowning risk after nine children died in a 15-year span.
    • “The impacted models include 48-inch and taller above-ground pools sold over the past two decades under the brand names Bestway, Coleman, Intex, and Polygroup, according to a release from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
    • “The CPSC believes between 2007 and 2022, nine children under 3 years old drowned after gaining access to the pools via compression straps that wrap around the outside of the product, according to the release.
    • “These straps wrap around the pool on the outside of the supporting poles, and may create a foothold, allowing a child to access the pool and drown,” the release said.”
  • STAT News reports,
    • “People suffering from long Covid finally had reason for hope: A German biotech had repurposed a drug candidate initially meant for heart disease as a potential treatment and enrolled patients in a rare double-blind Phase 2 study. For some participants, the results were transformative. One patient told Betsy Ladyzhets of The Sick Times that thanks to the infusion, BC 007, “I have literally regained life.”
    • “But last fall, the biotech company Berlin Cures abruptly announced the trial results were a failure, that it was out of money, and that it was done researching BC 007 as a treatment for long Covid. The story serves as a case study in the difficulty of developing long Covid therapies, as well as a window into the real-world impacts the hope and pain that clinical trials can inspire as they ramp up and then suddenly vanish. However, the drug may still have a future. Read more.“
  • and
    • “People with diabetes who were just a little physically active in their leisure time reduced their risk of dying from any cause — and from cardiovascular disease in particular — compared to people who weren’t active at all, according to a new Annals of Internal Medicine study that followed more than 51,000 people for 21 years. That benefit showed up for people who met the American Diabetes Association’s recommended 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise a week over at least three days, but it was also apparent for “weekend warriors” who hit 150 minutes in just two days, matching research in people without diabetes. “Insufficiently active” types whose activity fell short of the 150 minutes per week also fared better than those who did no exercise.”
  • Per Medscape,
    • “Patients treated with tirzepatide have a significantly increased likelihood of attaining combined key therapeutic targets in the control of type 2 diabetes (T2D) compared with semaglutide, a post hoc analysis of the phase 3 SURPASS-2 trial showed. 
    • “In this post hoc analysis, we showed that tirzepatide was superior to semaglutide in achieving standard and intensive goals in type 2 diabetes control,” said first author Ana Rita Leite, MD, of the Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, São João Local Health Unit, Porto, Portugal, in presenting the findings at ENDO 2025: The Endocrine Society Annual Meeting.
    • “All doses of tirzepatide were superior in achieving these goals compared with semaglutide 1 mg, and there was a dose-dependent increase in the number of therapeutic goals attained with higher doses of tirzepatide,” she said.”
  • Per Health Exec,
    • “Researchers at the University of Florida College of Medicine have made a surprising finding that they say could “wake up” the immune system to fight cancer, possibly leading to a universal vaccine. 
    • “According to an announcement, a new study showed that an experimental vaccine developed using mRNA technology boosted tumor resistance in mice, when compared to a cohort that was given standard anti-cancer drugs. 
    • “The results seem to indicate the mice given the vaccine developed an immune response that allowed them to more effectively resist cancerous tumors. The findings were published in Nature Biomedical Engineering. [1]
    • “The promising results have spurred interest in how humans would react to the mRNA vaccine, with the researchers hoping it could be used as a treatment, either by itself or in conjunction with surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.”

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

  • Fierce Healthcare reports,
    • “Ahead of the company’s second-quarter earnings call Aug. 6, Oscar Health is slashing its full-year guidance by about half a billion dollars.
    • “The insurer is expecting a loss from operations of $200 million to $300 million just months after estimating earnings from operations of $225 million to $275 million, partly due to elevated utilization.
    • “Oscar’s medical loss ratio is also climbing to between 86% and 87%, more than 5% higher than initially proposed. Total revenue is projected to climb to no more than $12.2 million.
    • “Wakely, an actuarial firm analyzing claims submissions through the end of April for Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace carriers, determined marketplace risk scores have risen more than Oscar previously estimated. The company foresees a net loss of $228 million for the second quarter.
    • “We are taking appropriate pricing actions for 2026 that reflect higher acuity in the individual market, and we will continue to take steps to deliver for our members, partners, and shareholders,” said Oscar Health CEO Mark Bertolini in a statement. “Oscar has successfully navigated dynamic markets before, and we remain committed to our long-term strategy to bring more employees, individuals, and families healthcare choices that fit their needs through the individual market.”
  • Per Drug Channels,
    • “It’s time for Drug Channels’ annual update on drug pricing trends at the largest pharmaceutical manufacturers.
    • “This year’s review includes the following nine companies: Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Company, Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, Takeda, Teva, and UCB. You can find links to each company’s data below.
    • “These data highlight divergent trends reshaping the gross-to-net bubble:
      • “Rebates, discounts, and other fees reduced the selling prices of brand-name drugs at the biggest drugmakers to less than half of their list prices.
      • “When accounting for all list price reductions, average brand-name drug prices declined at four manufacturers and increased at five others. 
      • “Gross-to-net difference in price changes ranged from −12.8% to +4.2%, reflecting significant differences in the manufacturers’ portfolio mix and pricing strategies.”
  • Fierce Health adds,
    • “Humana is accelerating its efforts to reform the prior authorization process through a series of new policies, following the broader insurance industry’s recent pledge to reduce and streamline prior auth requirements.
    • “By January 1, 2026, Humana will eliminate one-third of prior authorization requirements for outpatient services, including for diagnostic services across colonoscopies, transthoracic echocardiograms, and select CT scans and MRIs. 
    • “Under the same timeline, the company is committing to providing decisions within one business day on at least 95% of all complete electronic prior authorization requests. Currently, a decision is provided within one business day on more than 85% of outpatient procedures.
    • “Also in 2026, Humana will launch a new gold card program that waives prior authorization requirements for certain items and services for providers with a record of submitting 
    • coverage requests that meet medical criteria and specific outcomes metrics for members.”
  • Fierce Pharma tells us,
    • “With the threat of tariffs looming for medicines imported to the United States, AstraZeneca has unveiled a plan to invest $50 billion in the country by 2030. The centerpiece of the effort is a drug substance manufacturing facility—the highest-priced plant in company history—that will be located at a yet-to-be-determined site in Virginia.
    • “The massive investment is part of a push by the company to generate $80 billion in sales by the end of the decade, with 50% of the haul coming in the United States. Last year, the British/Swedish company reported revenue of $54 billion, with U.S. sales accounting for 42% of the figure.”
  • BioPharma Dive reports,
    • “French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi said Tuesday it will pay $1.15 billion to acquire the privately held London-based private biotechnology company Vicebio and its portfolio of experimental vaccines.
    • “Through the deal, Sanofi will gain a combination shot now in clinical testing for protection against respiratory syncytial virus and human metapneumovirus, or hMPV. Vicebio specializes in a vaccine technology it dubs “molecular clamp.”
    • “Per deal terms, Vicebio could also receive up to $450 million in additional payments based on achievement of developmental and regulatory milestones. The companies expect the acquisition to close in the fourth quarter.”

Monday report

David Ermer–Congress, FDA, Government Contracting, Medical / Rx research, U.S. Healthcare–

From Washington, DC

  • Fierce Healthcare reports,
    • “The Department of Health and Human Services said Monday it has launched “a major initiative” to overhaul the nation’s organ transplant system.
    • “The announcement cites an investigation conducted earlier this year by the department’s Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) “that revealed disturbing practices by a major organ procurement organization.”
    • “The news also came a day after a New York Times report that vividly described the case of a patient taken off life support and declared dead, but whose heart and respiratory system were found to still be active after surgeons had made an incision into her chest to secure her organs for donation.”

From the Food and Drug Administration front,

  • BioPharma Dive poses and answers five questions about Sarepta, the FDA and a Duchenne gene therapy crisis.
  • STAT News adds,
    • “Sarepta Therapeutics said Monday evening it will pause all shipments of Elevidys, its gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, acceding to a request made by the Food and Drug Administration after several patient deaths.
    • “It’s a surprising reversal by Sarepta. The company had initially rejected the agency’s request, which was issued Friday. 
    • “Shipments will halt by close of business Tuesday evening, the company said.
    • “The decision wasn’t entirely in Sarepta’s control. On Monday, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) said it was pausing use of Elevidys while the drug is in regulatory limbo. “Patient safety is paramount at CHLA and the hospital has communicated its decision with affected patient families while it awaits any further determination by the FDA,” the hospital told STAT.” * * *
    • “Sarepta did not indicate how long the Elevidys suspension might last. Ritu Baral, a biotech analyst at Cowen, estimated 3-6 months, during which time the company will test a proposed immune-suppressing protocol designed to mitigate the serious liver toxicity caused by the gene therapy, and share those data with the FDA.” 
       
  • Fierce Pharma tells us,
    • “FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, M.D., has made his pick for the next director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) in veteran biotech executive George Tidmarsh, M.D., Ph.D.
    • “Tidmarsh takes over CDER after a lengthy career in biotech and academia that saw the development of seven FDA-approved drugs, the formation of several biopharma companies and the establishment of Stanford University’s Master of Translational Research and Applied Medicine (M-TRAM) program.
    • “Some of the biopharma companies that Tidmarsh had a hand in founding and leading include Metronome Therapeutics, Revelation Biosciences and Horizon Therapeutics, which has since been picked up by Amgen for $27.8 billion. He’s been stationed at his alma mater at Stanford University’s School of Medicine for the last 15 years, most recently serving as an adjunct professor of pediatrics and neonatology.”

From the public health and medical research front,

  • The American Medical Association lets us know what doctors wish their patients knew about bronchitis.
  • The New York Times reports,
    • “[U]sing genetic data from five million people, an international group of hundreds of researchers reports that it has developed an obesity risk score, known also as a polygenic risk score. It combines thousands of gene variants to estimate individuals’ predicted body mass indexes, which continue to be used by doctors to anticipate weight-related health dangers.
    • “The researchers showed that the scores can predict which young children are at risk of obesity as adults. And, in another test, they found that overweight and obese adults with high-risk scores quickly regain any weight that they lose with lifestyle programs.
    • “Their paper was published on Monday in the journal Nature Medicine.”
  • Per Health Day,
    • “Doctors should ask diabetic women at every visit about their intention to have a child, to make sure they get the appropriate care prior to conception, new guidelines say.
    • “This will help avoid miscarriages and birth defects among women who have diabetes before pregnancy, the authors write in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
    • “We developed these guidelines as diabetes rates are rising among women of reproductive age and very few women with diabetes receive proper preconception care,” lead author Dr. Jennifer Wyckoff, an endocrinologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, said in a news release.”
  • and
    • “Hispanic people are more likely to develop peripheral neuropathy than white people, and it’s not clear why, a new study has found.
    • “Hispanic folks were 32% more likely than white people to have this nerve disorder even after accounting for known health, lifestyle and social risk factors, researchers reported July 16 in the journal Neurology.
    • “It is likely that unknown social risk factors exist for this population,” lead researcher Evan Lee Reynolds, an assistant professor at Michigan State University in East Lansing, said in a news release. “Identifying additional risk factors for Hispanic people should be the focus of future studies.”
  • The Washington Post reports,
    • “Children with twice the level of the antimicrobial chemical triclosan in their urine were 23 percent more likely to report eczema symptoms than those with lower concentrations, according to research published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
    • “Triclosan was commonly found in antibacterial soaps and body washes before 2016, when the Food and Drug Administration restricted its use in consumer wash products after finding that it was no more effective than standard soap and water. However, according to the Cleveland Clinic, triclosan can still be found in some toothpastes, deodorants, cosmetics and detergents.”
  • Per BioPharma Dive,
    • “A potential multibillion-dollar drug is advancing to late-stage testing now that its developer, Alkermes, has in hand positive results from a smaller study focused on a certain kind of narcolepsy.
    • “According to Alkermes, the study found all three doses of its drug under evaluation were significantly better than a placebo at improving scores on a test that places participants in a quiet, dark, peaceful room and monitors how awake and alert they are. Alkermes described the results as clinically meaningful and said all the drug-treated groups achieved “normative wakefulness” — in this case, taking more than 20 minutes to fall asleep.
    • “All doses of the drug, previously dubbed ALKS 2680 and now named alixorexton, were also generally well tolerated. Alkermes said there were no so-called serious treatment-emergent adverse events. Nor were there any treatment-related safety signals seen in participants’ vital signs, or on liver, kidney and eye exams.”
  • Per Fierce Pharma,
    • “AstraZeneca is raising its defenses against Johnson & Johnson in a fierce competition in EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer.
    • “Following an FDA approval last year based on a tumor progression benefit, AZ said Monday that its Tagrisso combination with chemotherapy extended patients’ lives compared with Tagrisso alone in first-line advanced EGFR-mutated NSCLC.
    • “The readout came from the final overall survival analysis of the phase 3 Flaura2 trial, which had previously shown that the Tagrisso-chemo combo reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 38% versus Tagrisso monotherapy. The latest update found that the combo’s overall survival improvement was statistically significant and clinically meaningful, AZ said.”

From the healthcare business front,

  • Fierce Healthcare reports,
    • “UnitedHealthcare is rolling out a new benefit to encourage preventive cancer screenings.
    • “The insurer’s new breast and colon cancer detection benefit will be available for eligible commercial plans starting Jan. 1, 2026. Through the program, UHC will cover members’ first diagnostic imaging tests for breast cancer and diagnostic tests for colon cancer.
    • “This closes a care gap, UHC said, as follow-up testing may not be classified as a preventive service, which can lead to costs the member does not expect. Rhonda Randall, D.O., chief medical officer of UHC’s commercial business, told Fierce Healthcare in interview that concerns about costs can lead patients to skip key preventive services.
    • “We wanted to do remove that real or perceived barrier for beneficiaries,” Randall said.
    • “For example, about half of routine colonoscopies identify polyps that lead to follow-up testing, and 11% of mammogram screenings lead to additional imaging tests, both of which can draw higher costs if the resulting diagnostics are not covered as preventive.
    • “Under the new benefit, both the initial preventive screenings and follow-up testing will be covered at in-network providers, the insurer said.”
  • Axio tells us, “Hospitals are steadily buying small physician practices and, in the process, driving up the price of care, a new National Bureau of Economic Research study shows.”
  • MedCity News relates
    • CMS proposed a 2.4% Medicare payment increase for hospitals’ outpatient departments and ambulatory surgery centers in 2026, along with a new two-tiered physician reimbursement structure based on participation in value-based care models. Provider groups are welcoming the short-term boosts, but they fear the changes don’t go far enough to address their long-term financial pressures.
  • Beckers Hospital Review offers nine statistics from Press Ganey’s 2025 patient experience report.
    • “Press Ganey found higher scores in patient experience across all care settings in 2025, and a few metrics distinguish top-quartile facilities from the rest, according to a July 21 report. 
    • “Experience isn’t just a reflection of care — it’s the new frontier of care delivery,” Patrick Ryan, chairman and CEO of Press Ganey, said in a July 21 news release. “The systems that will lead in the next decade are those that approach trust, communication, and consistency not as soft skills, but as hard strategy. Our data makes it clear: when organizations embed experience into the core of how they deliver safe, high-quality care, they earn lasting loyalty and drive better outcomes cross the board.”
  • Per Fierce Pharma,
    • “Since starting operations in North Carolina 30 years ago, Biogen has spent approximately $10 billion to bolster its manufacturing presence in the Tar Heel state.
    • “But that’s not enough for the Massachusetts-based biotech, which says it will spend $2 billion more over the next three years, adding factories and upgrades at its two sprawling campuses in the Research Triangle Park (RTP).
    • “The investment pledge comes as biopharma companies respond to tariff threats from President Donald Trump by touting manufacturing expansions in the U.S.
    • “Biogen said the investment will fuel the advancement of its “late-stage clinical pipeline,” and will include expansion of its antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) capabilities and infrastructure. ASOs are snippets of RNA and DNA used in the development and production of gene therapies and cancer treatments.”

Weekend update

David Ermer–Congress, FDA, Generative AI, Medical / Rx research, Mental health care, OPM, U.S. Healthcare–

From Washington, DC

  • Roll Call discusses expected floor activities this week on Capitol Hill.
  • The House Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee will meet on Monday July 21 to mark up its appropriations bill which includes OPM appropriations.
    • The bill includes the following FEHB Program measures
      • Ban on applying full federal cost accounting standards on FEHB and PSHB carriers (Sec. 611).
      • Banning abortion coverage except “where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term, or the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest. (Sec. 614, also known as the Hyde Amendment).
      • A contraception mandate with certain exceptions (Sec. 726) which has been modified by the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate.
      • A new ban for 2026 (Sec. 761) which reads as follows:
        • “None of the funds made available by this Act, or in any previous appropriation, may be provided for in insurance plans in the Federal Employees Health Benefits program to cover the cost of surgical procedures or puberty blockers or hormone therapy for the purpose of gender affirming care.”
  • OPM Director Scott Kupor has begun writing a weekly blog about OPM. Here is a link to his first post which is worth reading. 
  • USA Today reports,
    • “Social Security recipients could get a 2.7% raise next year, up from last month’s estimate of 2.5%, based on the latest inflation report, according to a new estimate.
    • “The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), the index used to calculate the annual adjustment to Social Security benefits, gained 2.6% in June. Overall inflation rose 2.7%from May’s 2.4% increase. The Federal Reserve’s inflation goal is 2%.” * * *
    • [However,] Medicare Part B costs are rising several times faster than its average rate of increase in recent years.
    • “According to the 2025 Medicare Trustees annual report released in June [2025], the Medicare Part B premium for 2026, is expected to increase to $206.50 from $185.00 in 2025 for a jump of $21.50 per month, or 11.6%. That’s the largest Part B increase since 2022 when it rose 14.5%.” 
  • MedTech Dive informs us,
    • “A warning letter sent by the Food and Drug Administration to wearable company Whoop has sparked a debate on when wellness claims should be regulated as medical devices.
    • Whoop, a company selling a wearable wristband to track metrics such as sleep, heart rate and strain, received the warning letter on Monday for marketing a blood pressure insights feature without FDA authorization. 
    • “The feature provides daily systolic and diastolic blood pressure estimates by measuring heart rate variability during sleep. Whoop’s website states that the feature is intended to help users track blood pressure trends and have a deeper understanding of how blood pressure affects their wellness. The website also marketed the feature as an example of how Whoop is “delivering medical-grade health & performance insights,” according to the warning letter. 
    • “In a response posted Tuesday, one day after the letter was sent to the company, Whoop said it disagrees with the FDA’s assertion that the blood pressure feature should be reviewed as a medical device before being available in the U.S., claiming it is a wellness feature, not a medical device.
    • “This interpretation is also inconsistent with the 21st Century Cures Act, which clarifies that functions intended to promote a healthy lifestyle — and unrelated to the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, prevention, or treatment of a disease or condition — are excluded from the definition of a medical device,” a Whoop spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement.” 

From the public health and medical research front,

  • The New York Times reports,
    • “Across the United States, an intricate system of hospitals, doctors and nonprofit donation coordinators carries out tens of thousands of lifesaving transplants each year. At every step, it relies on carefully calibrated protocols to protect both donors and recipients.
    • “But in recent years, as the system has pushed to increase transplants, a growing number of patients have endured premature or bungled attempts to retrieve their organs. 
    • “Across the United States, an intricate system of hospitals, doctors and nonprofit donation coordinators carries out tens of thousands of lifesaving transplants each year. At every step, it relies on carefully calibrated protocols to protect both donors and recipients.
    • “But in recent years, as the system has pushed to increase transplants, a growing number of patients have endured premature or bungled attempts to retrieve their organs. 
    • “Circulatory death donation is different. These patients are on life support, often in a coma. Their prognoses are more of a medical judgment call.
  • The FEHBlog certainly will be taking another look at his living will.
  • NPR Shots tells us
    • “After about age 40, our brains begin to lose a step or two.
    • “Each year, our reaction time slows by a few thousandths of a second. We’re also less able to recall items on a shopping list.
    • “Those changes can be signs of a disease, like Alzheimer’s. But usually, they’re not.
    • “Both of those things, memory and processing speed, change with age in a normal group of people,” says Matt Huentelman, a professor at TGen, the Translational Genomics Research Institute, in Phoenix.
    • “Huentelman should know. He helps run MindCrowd, a free online cognitive test that has been taken by more than 700,000 adults.”
    • “About a thousand of those people had test scores indicating that their brain was “exceptional,” meaning they performed like a person 30 years younger on tests of memory and processing speed.
    • “Genetics played a role, of course. But Huentelman and a team of researchers have been focusing on other differences.” * * *
    • “Early results suggest that sleep and maintaining cardiovascular health are a good start. Other measures include avoiding smoking, limiting alcohol and getting plenty of exercise.”
  • New York Times Well lets us know “Want More Self-Control? The Secret Isn’t Willpower. People who can delay gratification and master their impulses thrive in life. And experts say that you can learn skills to rein in bad habits.”
  • The Wall Street Journal reports,
    • “Long contentious, chronic Lyme, as it is called by patient advocates, has gained more acknowledgment and investment by researchers after Covid-19 showcased how an infection can leave people with lingering symptoms that last months or longer. The virus’s aftermath looked strikingly similar to what some Lyme disease patients had been describing for years.
    • * * * “In May, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine published a report saying that research funders should put more emphasis on developing treatments for patients with lingering symptoms after Lyme disease, even as the root cause behind why patients experience the symptoms remains a mystery.” * * *
    • “Some laboratory researchers are investigating what might be behind the symptoms, including whether a molecule that the bacteria left behind could be driving inflammation. Newer trials are now looking at whether certain antibiotics or electrical nerve stimulation might help treat the condition, since persistent infection and immune-system or neural-network dysfunction are also theories doctors have proposed. Prior trials haven’t found a benefit to more antibiotics after initial treatment.
    • “We’re not just focusing on one mechanism but many different possible mechanisms as to why people might have persistent symptoms,” said Dr. Brian Fallon, director of the Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Research Center at Columbia University and head of the Lyme-focused clinical trial network that launched in 2021. 
    • “Preventing tick bites remains a person’s best defense against Lyme and other tickborne diseases. People should avoid wooded and brushy areas with high grass, walk in the center of trails and cover up extremities, health officials say. Wearing insect repellent, checking your body for ticks and showering soon after being outdoors also help reduce the risk.”
  • Modern Healthcare relates,
    • “People are beginning to trust AI for getting their health information, according to survey data from the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Nearly eight out of 10 U.S. adults say they’re likely to look online for the answer to a question about a health symptom or condition. Of who are using AI, 75% say that AI-generated responses provide them with the answer they need. Most Americans (63%) think AI-generated health information is reliable.”