Tuesday report

Obesity

Tuesday report

David Ermer–Congress, HSA, Medical / Rx research, NIH, Obesity, OPM, SCOTUS, SDOH, U.S. Healthcare–

From Washington, DC,

  • The Wall Street Journal reports,
    • “The Senate passed President Trump’s tax-and-spending bill [(HR 1)] by a 51-50 vote, with Vice president JD Vance breaking the tie.
    • The bill extends tax cuts, reduces Medicaid spending and increases funding for defense and border enforcement.
    • The House will now vote on the bill, facing internal GOP divisions over Medicaid changes and spending cuts.
  • House of Representatives will convene for legislative business at 9 am on Wednesday morning. The House Rules Committee met about the Senate amendment to HR 1 this afternoon.
  • Reuters tells us,
    • “President Donald Trump‘s administration on Tuesday reported having 2.3 million people on federal payrolls in March, almost unchanged from prior months despite the Republican’s efforts to shrink the size of government.
    • “The Office of Personnel Management, which functions as the HR department for the federal government, published figures on Tuesday on hiring and firing across thousands of government offices, with growth in some areas of government largely canceling out cuts elsewhere.
    • “Overall, the number of federal jobs – excluding postal workers and the military – was down about 23,000 from September, the last published report on overall staffing levels.
    • “To be sure, the numbers are only through March and Trump, who took office in January, has continued efforts to shrink the federal workforce. The administration has signed deals, for example, with at least 75,000 federal workers, agreeing to pay them for several months before they resign. A spokesperson at the Office of Personnel Management said hundreds of thousands of such workers will drop off federal payrolls in October.”
  • NextGov/FCW adds,
    • “The Office of Personnel Management plans to update FedScope, the government’s portal for statistics on the federal civilian workforce, it announced on Tuesday.
    • “In the coming months, OPM will launch a newly designed platform featuring interactive visuals, detailed datasets, and tools tailored to answer the most frequently asked questions about federal employment,” OPM said in a press release, previewing a fall 2025 update to the website. 
    • “A banner on the website also hints at more regular updates, saying that “beginning this fall, Federal Workforce Data will be routinely available in an easily accessible, reimagined format.”
  • Mercer conveniently summarizes the 2026 inflation-adjusted amounts for health savings accounts (HSAs), high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) and excepted-benefit health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) along with the 2024 and 2025 figures.
  • The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission held listening sessions yesterday and today about lowering drug prices for Americans through competition.

From the judicial front,

  • The Washington Examiner informs us,
    • “The Supreme Court on Monday [June 30] wiped away a series of lower court decisions that favored transgender litigants, sending the cases back to the appellate level for reconsideration in light of the court’s recent ruling upholding a Tennessee ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors.
    • “The 6-3 decision in United States v. Skrmetti, handed down June 18, marked a major victory for state-level efforts to restrict transgender procedures for minors. The ruling has now prompted the justices to vacate multiple decisions from lower courts in cases involving health benefits and birth certificate policies for people who identify as transgender.
    • “In an order list issued Monday morning, the high court overturned appellate rulings that previously blocked state-level bans or coverage restrictions for transgender-related care in North Carolina, West Virginia, Idaho, and Oklahoma. The move means each case must now be reheard under the legal standard articulated in the Skrmetti ruling, which found no violation of the Constitution’s equal protection clause in a ban on medical treatments for minors who identify as transgender.
    • “The high court also declined to take up a separate appeal from Kentucky, where families challenged the state’s similar law banning transgender procedures for minors.”
  • The Court also denied reviewing two Flower court decisions holding that the Tennessee law did not violate the 14th Amendment’s due process of law clause.
    • S. Ct. Case No. 23-466 L. W., ET AL. V. SKRMETTI, JONATHAN, ET AL.
    • S. Ct. 23-492 DOE, JANE, ET AL. V. KENTUCKY
  • Fierce Healthcare lets us know,
    • “Mass layoffs and reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stalled out in federal court, as a Rhode Island federal judge sided with a coalition of 19 state attorneys general against subagencies Tuesday.
    • “Filed in early May, the Democratic attorneys general argued recent actions signed off upon by HHS leadership were unconstitutional and illegal, reported Fierce Biotech. The judge agreed, granting a preliminary injunction to halt the changes. The government must file a status report by July 11.
    • “The Executive Branch does not have the authority to order, organize, or implement wholesale changes to the structure and function of the agencies created by Congress,” said U.S. District Judge Melissa Dubose, concluding her decision.”
  • Yesterday was the effective date of the Iowa PBM reform law.  Also, yesterday, a group of employers lead by the Iowa Association of Business and Industry obtained a temporary restraining order against this law, Dropbox link to TRO order.  A preliminary injunction hearing is set for July 14. Here’s a link to an MSN article on this decision.

From the public health and medical research front,

  • Prime Therapeutic relates,
    • Only 8% of individuals (or 1 in 12) initiating a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist drug for obesity without diabetes continued to do so at three years, according to the latest real-world research from pharmacy solutions partner Prime Therapeutics LLC (Prime). Meanwhile, individuals who took a high-potency GLP-1 drug approved for obesity — such as semaglutide (Wegovy®), which is now more commonly used to treat the condition — had greater persistence at 14% three years after initiating therapy. 
    • While overall persistence continues to decrease among those taking high-potency GLP-1 products after three years, persistence among those taking the drugs over a one-year period improved throughout the span of the study. For those initiating GLP-1 therapy in 2021, 33% were persistent, while in the first quarter of 2024, 63% of new initiators were persistent. This increase is believed to be largely attributed to resolving GLP-1 drug shortages in 2024.  * * *
    • “In addition to persistence and adherence insights, the Year-3 study found 38% of individuals switched GLP-1 products during the three years of study. The mean age of individuals within the same cohort is 47 years old and nearly 80% identified as female. 
    • “For additional information and study design details, refer to Prime’s Year-3 abstract.”
  • Axios adds based on a Fair Health study that “Women approaching menopause drive GLP-1 boom.”
  • Medscape points out,
    • “A report comparing childhood obesity prevalence before the COVID pandemic and since the height of the pandemic shows a dramatic rise in the numbers for Black children and Black adolescents with obesity. Findings were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
    • “Researchers, led by Michael Liu, MD, MPhil, with the Center for Outcomes Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, found that overall, the prevalence of obesity didn’t change significantly. Prevalence was 20.3% from January 2011 to March 2020, when COVID shutdowns began, and rose to 22.0% from August 2021 to August 2023. But after accounting for secular trends, “no overall increase in obesity prevalence was seen during the pandemic relative to the pre-pandemic period (adjusted difference, 0.52 percentage points; 95% CI, 2.3-3.3 percentage points).
    • “Pandemic-related increases in obesity prevalence were observed only in Black children and adolescents, the authors wrote, for whom rates were 22.4% in the decade before the pandemic and 35% in the 2 years after the height of COVID.”
  • Per Health Day,
    • “Regular exercise can ease mood disorders in children and teens, offering an alternative to medications like antidepressants, a new evidence review has concluded.
    • “Both anxiety and depression decrease when kids take part in structured exercise programs, researchers reported June 26 in Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
    • “Further, the review found that anxiety and depression symptoms are relieved by different types of workout regimens.
    • “Exercise is a low-cost, widely accessible strategy that could make a real difference to children’s mental health,” lead investigator Ben Singh, a research fellow with the University of South Australia, said in a news release.
    • “Importantly, exercise could help improve kids’ moods without resorting to drugs like antidepressants, researchers added.”
  • Per Infectious Diseases Advisor,
    • “Adults aged 50 to 64 years and younger adults with chronic conditions are at increased risk for influenza-associated hospitalization and death, but this risk could be mitigated through the use of recombinant influenza vaccines (RIV). These results were published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.”
  • Healio reports,
    • “Nearly three-quarters of infants were immunized against respiratory syncytial virus through maternal vaccination or nirsevimab during the first season those products were available, according to data from 10 U.S. health systems.
    • “The overall immunization coverage for infants across these health systems was higher than expected based on the limited data available from single state studies and surveys,” Stephanie A. Irving, MHS, research associate at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon, told Healio.”
  • MedPage Today notes,
    • “In a European study, higher consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and potatoes was associated with a reduced risk of Crohn’s disease.
    • “High potato consumption, meanwhile, was tied to an increased risk of ulcerative colitis.
    • “The study findings may be especially relevant for children and other first-degree relatives of people with inflammatory bowel disease, researcher says.”
  • and
    • “More than half of 95 centenarians had a low amyloid load and 9% had no amyloid, autopsy data showed.
    • “A third of centenarians had a high amyloid load comparable to Alzheimer’s disease.
    • “Five centenarians maintained high cognitive performance despite a high amyloid load.”
  • NIH Research Matters covers the following topics this week: “Home test kits for cervical cancer | Education and mortality trends | Exercise and Alzheimer’s disease.”
  • CIGNA writes in LinkedIn about why it matters to close the women’s health gap in our country.
  • MedTech Dive reports on the scientific sessions at the American Diabetes Association’s conference held last month.

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

  • STAT News reports,
    • “Centene has withdrawn its financial guidance for the rest of the year after receiving data that showed its health insurance members in Affordable Care Act plans are getting a lot more care than the company had anticipated.
    • “The company is also seeing a “step-up” in medical costs among its Medicaid enrollees. Centene’s stock plummeted 23% in after-hours trading Tuesday.”
    • “The surprise disclosure may be just the beginning of problems for Centene and other insurers that rely heavily on government health care enrollees. Centene gets a majority of its revenue from ACA and Medicaid plans. Despite Centene’s pleas to Republicans not to cut the taxpayer-funded programs, Republicans are advancing a bill that would result in the largest cut ever to Medicaid.” 
  • Healthcare Dive calls attention to “six ways employers can lower healthcare costs in 2025. ‘Employers have absorbed the majority of cost increases over the past four years, and they likely cannot continue to do so,’ one expert said” and provides an updated guide to top healthcare conferences in the second half of 2025.
  • MedCity News discusses “Innovative Strategies to Enhance Financial Predictability for Self-Funded Employers. Too often, the very systems meant to provide flexibility and control are undermined by delayed reimbursements, fragmented data, and a lack of transparency across the ecosystem. Solving this isn’t about tweaking the status quo, it requires a full redesign.”
  • Modern Healthcare tells us,
    • Ascension Health has sold four Michigan hospitals to Beacon Health System. 
    • The transaction closed Tuesday and includes four hospitals — Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo, Borgess Allegan in Allegan, Borgess-Lee in Dowagiac and Borgess-Pipp in Plainwell — plus 35 outpatient clinics and an ambulatory surgery center, according to a Tuesday news release from Beacon. Beacon is rebranding the Ascension Southwest Michigan hospitals to Beacon Kalamazoo, Beacon Allegan, Beacon Dowagiac and Beacon Plainwell.
    • “The deal was announced in April. It brings more than 2,700 employees, including 259 providers, into the Beacon system, according to the release.
    • “South Bend, Indiana-based Beacon operates 11 hospitals, including the Ascension facilities, across northern Indiana and southwest Michigan. 
    • “Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.”
  • Per the American Journal of Managed Care,
    • “Prolonged ED stays and boarding times for older adults increased from 2017 to 2024, with academic hospitals experiencing the largest rise.
    • “The Age-Friendly Hospital Measure, effective 2025, aims to limit ED stays to under 8 hours and admissions within 3 hours.
    • “Epic Cosmos data analysis showed a significant increase in prolonged stays and boarding times, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
    • ‘Researchers suggest patient complexity, demand, and staffing shortages as potential drivers of increased ED stays and boarding times.”
  • Beckers Hospital Review lets us know “Physician compensation grew 4.9% in the last year, with a significant uptick for primary care physicians and specialists, according to the “AMGA 2025 Medical Group Compensation and Productivity Survey.”

Monday report

David Ermer–CMS, Congress, Medical / Rx research, Medicare, NIH, Obesity, Rx coverage, SCOTUS, Telehealth, U.S. Healthcare–

From Washington, DC.

  • The Wall Street Journal reports,
    • “Senate Republicans trudged through a marathon session Monday, aiming to pass the party’s “big, beautiful bill” and move the legislation one step further toward President Trump’s desk ahead of lawmakers’ self-imposed July 4 deadline.
    • “Voting on amendments and procedural motions started midmorning and dragged through the day as Republican leaders worked to find a balance of policies that could pass both the Senate and later the House. Trump spoke with congressional leaders by phone, and the White House said it was confident that the bill was on track even as its fate and final content remained uncertain.” * * *
    • “A final Senate vote could come late Monday or early Tuesday. If it passes, the measure would then move back to the House, where Republicans have a 220-212 majority. Moderate House Republicans argue that the Senate cut Medicaid too deeply. Others warn that the Senate is violating the House’s target that keeps tax cuts at most $2.5 trillion larger than spending cuts.” 
  • Modern Healthcare reports,
    • “Home health companies stand to lose more than $1 billion in Medicare payments under a proposed rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published Monday.
    • “The proposed changes would represent a decrease of 6.4%, or $1.14 billion, in Medicare payments to home health agencies in 2026 compared with 2025, CMS said in a fact sheet.
    • “The proposed home health prospective payment system update includes a 2.4%, or $425 million, increase, which is offset by a 3.7%, or $655 million, decrease reflecting a proposed behavior adjustment required by statute. It also includes a 4.6%, or $815 million, decrease that reflects a proposed temporary adjustment and an estimated 0.5%, or $90 million, decrease based on a proposed update to the fixed dollar loss ratio.”
  • Per a CMS announcement,
    • “On June 30, 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule to update payment rates and policies under the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System (PPS) for renal dialysis services furnished to Medicare beneficiaries on or after January 1, 2026. This proposed rule would also update the acute kidney injury (AKI) dialysis payment rate for renal dialysis services furnished by ESRD facilities for calendar year (CY) 2026 and proposes to update requirements for the ESRD Quality Incentive Program (QIP).
    • “For CY 2026, CMS is proposing to increase the ESRD PPS base rate to $281.06, which CMS expects would increase total payments to all ESRD facilities, both freestanding and hospital-based, by approximately 1.9%. The CY 2026 ESRD PPS proposed rule also includes a proposed payment adjustment for certain non-labor costs for ESRD facilities located in Alaska, Hawaii, and the United States (U.S.) Pacific Territories. 
    • “CMS is proposing shortening the In-Center Hemodialysis Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (ICH CAHPS) survey to 39 questions, removing 23 questions, and eliminating three health equity reporting measures from the ESRD QIP. Additionally, CMS is seeking input on health IT use in dialysis facilities; and input on future measure concepts. CMS also is proposing the early termination of the ESRD Treatment Choices Model.”
  • The public comment deadline for both rules is sixty days after publication in the Federal Register.
  • Per another CMS announcement,
    • “The Justice Department today announced the results of its 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, which resulted in criminal charges against 324 defendants, including 96 doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and other licensed medical professionals, in 50 federal districts and 12 State Attorneys General’s Offices across the United States, for their alleged participation in various health care fraud schemes involving over $14.6 billion in intended loss. The Takedown involved federal and state law enforcement agencies across the country and represents an unprecedented effort to combat health care fraud schemes that exploit patients and taxpayers.
    • “Demonstrating the significant return on investment that results from health care fraud enforcement efforts, the government seized over $245 million in cash, luxury vehicles, cryptocurrency, and other assets as part of the coordinated enforcement efforts. As part of the whole-of-government approach to combating health care fraud announced today, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) also announced that it successfully prevented over $4 billion from being paid in response to false and fraudulent claims and that it suspended or revoked the billing privileges of 205 providers in the months leading up to the Takedown. Civil charges against 20 defendants for $14.2 million in alleged fraud, as well as civil settlements with 106 defendants totaling $34.3 million, were also announced as part of the Takedown.
    • “Today’s Takedown was led and coordinated by the Health Care Fraud Unit of the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and its core partners from U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The cases were investigated by agents from HHS-OIG, FBI, DEA, and other federal and state law enforcement agencies. The cases are being prosecuted by Health Care Fraud Strike Force teams from the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, 50 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices nationwide, and 12 State Attorneys General Offices.”
  • The Washington Post shares some details about the Takedown.
  • The GAO issued a report today titled “Highlights of a Forum: Reducing Spending and Enhancing Value in the U.S. Health Care System.”
    • “Health care spending per capita is higher in the U.S. than in any other high-income country. Yet, people living in the U.S. don’t live as long in comparison and are more likely to die of conditions that can be prevented or treated.
    • “To find ways to help address this disparity, we convened a forum in October 2024. Experts from government, academia, and industry identified changes to the health care system that could lower costs and improve patients’ outcomes. These include improving primary care, expanding the health care workforce, and reforming health care pricing and payments.”

From the judicial front,

  • The Supreme Court accepted the Solicitor General’s recommendation by declining to review a U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit pro-ERISA preemption opinion captioned PCMA v Mulready (S. Ct. No 23-1213). What’s good for ERISA preemption is good for FEHB preemption.

From the public health and medical research front,

  • Health Day reports,
    • “A person’s body fat percentage provides a better estimate of their risk for early death than their body mass index (BMI), a new study says.
    • “People with a high body-fat percentage were 78% more likely to die within 15 years from any cause and 3.6 times more likely to die from heart disease, researchers reported June 24 in the Annals of Family Medicine.
    • “On the other hand, BMI — an estimate of body fat based on height and weight — was not associated with a statistically significant higher risk of death from any cause, researchers found.
    • “Waist circumference also proved to be more accurate than BMI in assessing the risks posed by excess weight, researchers added.
    • “This is a game changer for body composition assessment,” lead researcher Arch Mainous III, a professor of health services, management and policy at the University of Florida, said in a news release.”
  • The American Medical Association lets us know what doctors wish patients knew about cosmetic dermatology.
  • Endocrinology Advisor tells us, “Compared with self-monitoring, continuous glucose monitoring did not improve obstetric or neonatal outcomes among women with gestational diabetes.”
  • Per Medscape,
    • The American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) has issued updated guidance on the management of Crohn’s disease (CD) that reflects the surge in development of therapeutic options available since 2018, when the last guideline was published.
    • These newer treatment options include interleukin-23 (IL-23) blockers risankizumab, mirikizumab, and guselkumab; the anti-IL-12/23 agent ustekinumab; the Janus kinase inhibitor upadacitinib; and the anti-integrin vedolizumab.
    • The intent of the guideline is to suggest “preferable approaches” to CD management established through “interpretation and collation of scientifically valid research, derived from extensive review of published literature,” said the writing group, led by Gary Lichtenstein, MD, director, Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
  • Per a National Institutes of Health press release,
    • “Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have found that two common types of hormone therapy may alter breast cancer risk in women before age 55. Researchers discovered that women treated with unopposed estrogen hormone therapy (E-HT) were less likely to develop the disease than those who did not use hormone therapy. They also found that women treated with estrogen plus progestin hormone therapy (EP-HT) were more likely to develop breast cancer than women who did not use hormone therapy. Together, these results could help to guide clinical recommendations for hormone therapy use among younger women.
    • “The two hormone therapies analyzed in the study are often used to manage symptoms related to menopause or following hysterectomy (removal of uterus) or oophorectomy (removal of one or both ovaries). Unopposed estrogen therapy is recommended only for women who have had a hysterectomy because of its known association with uterine cancer risk.
    • “Hormone therapy can greatly improve the quality of life for women experiencing severe menopausal symptoms or those who have had surgeries that affect their hormone levels,” said lead author Katie O’Brien, Ph.D., of NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). “Our study provides greater understanding of the risks associated with different types of hormone therapy, which we hope will help patients and their doctors develop more informed treatment plans.”
  • The Wall Street Journal reports,
    • “Moderna said Monday its seasonal influenza vaccine candidate, mRNA-1010, showed superior efficacy in a Phase 3 study that compared it with a licensed standard-dose seasonal flu vaccine in adults aged 50 years and older.
    • “MRNA-1010 achieved the most stringent superiority criterion prespecified in the study protocol, with a relative vaccine efficacy of 26.6% in the overall study population, Moderna said.
    • “Subgroup analyses confirmed a consistently strong relative vaccine efficacy point estimate across age groups, risk factors and previous influenza vaccination status, it said. In participants aged 65 years and older, mRNA-1010 demonstrated a relative vaccine efficacy of 27.4%.
    • “The severity of this past flu season underscores the need for more effective vaccines,” Moderna Chief Executive Stephane Bancel said.”
  • BioPharma Dive points out the top 10 clinical trials to watch in the second half of 2025.
    • “Expected readouts in obesity, lung cancer and atopic dermatitis headline a series of study results that could give the biotechnology sector a boost in another down year.”

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

  • Beckers Payer Issues relates,
    • “Clear answers to questions are the top driver of members’ experience with their insurers, according to a report from Forrester. 
    • “The research firm scored insurers on the brand experience index, which measures customers’ and noncustomers’ brand perception, and customer experience index, which rates customer service and loyalty. 
    • “The health insurance industry had the lowest overall consumer ratings of the 10 industries studied by Forrester. 
    • “Based on consumer responses, Forrester rated answering questions with clear answers as the top driver of customer experience. Across the industry, 60% of consumers said their insurer answered questions clearly. CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, the industry leader in this category, scored 71%. 
      • “Here are the five other key drivers of total experience for insurers, and insurers’ average scores, according to Forrester:
      • “Keeps personal and financial information secure: 54% 
      • “Helps manage care: 53% 
      • “Offers needed healthcare plans and services: 59% 
      • “Resolves problems on the first call: 56% 
      • “Has a website that meets customers’ needs: 58%” 
  • Modern Healthcare reports,
    • “OptumRx is removing prior authorization mandates for more drugs. 
    • “So far this year, the pharmacy benefit manager has eliminated reauthorizations for 140 medications patients use to treat chronic conditions, the UnitedHealth Group subsidiary said in a news release Monday. Insurance companies and PBMs require patients and clinicians to obtain reauthorizations for some drugs in cases of long-term safety concerns or potential dosing changes. Beginning Tuesday, OptumRx will cut prior authorizations for another 60 medications that treat seven chronic conditions, including HIV, high cholesterol, hypertension and and others. 
    • “Eliminating reauthorization requirements for established and effective treatments underscores our commitment to make these needed drugs more accessible, which also supports better health outcomes,” Dr. Sumit Dutta, chief medical officer, said in the release.”
  • OptumRx, writing in LinkedIn, discusses taking action against drug price hikes.
  • Healthcare IT News notes, “Taking a patient history upfront via telemedicine has been very fruitful for the high-demand specialty provider [the Kennedy-Krieger Institute]. By combining history via virtual care with a then more limited in-person visit, care can be delivered more efficiently to more patients.”
  • Per Beckers Hospital Review,
    • “Nearly 800 rural U.S. hospitals are at risk of closure due to financial problems, with about 40% of those hospitals at immediate risk of closure.
    • “The count is drawn from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform’s most recent analysis, based on hospitals’ latest cost reports submitted to CMS and verified as current through June 2025. The analysis identifies two distinct tiers of rural hospital vulnerability: those at risk of closure and those facing an immediate risk of closure. * * *
    • [The article] includes a state-by-state listing of the number of rural hospitals at risk of closure in the next six to seven years and at immediate risk of closure over the next two to three years. 
  • BioPharma Dive reports,
    • “Abbvie has agreed to acquire cell therapy developer Capstan Therapeutics in a deal worth up to $2.1 billion, the companies announced Monday. 
    • “The acquisition will hand AbbVie access to technology developed by Capstan that uses small fatty spheres known as lipid nanoparticles to deliver into the body genetic instructions able to engineer specific cells. It’s an ambitious scientific approach that blends the science behind CAR-T cell therapy with that of messenger RNA vaccines.
    • “Capstan is a few weeks removed from dosing the first patient in a Phase 1 trial of its lead drug candidate, which it’s testing as treatment for B cell-mediated autoimmune diseases. Dubbed CPTX2309, the therapy is designed to reprogram immune T cells to target a protein called CD19 that’s commonly found on B cells.”

Thursday report

David Ermer–CDC, Congress, Federal employment benefits, Medical / Rx research, Obesity, OPM, SDOH, U.S. Healthcare–

From Washington, DC,

  • The Wall Street Journal reports,
    • “Several of Republicans’ largest proposed spending reductions can’t be done as written in the fast-track budget process they are using to advance their megabill, the Senate parliamentarian determined, dealing a setback to the GOP’s hopes of passing their plans quickly. 
    • “The ruling affects several of the largest and most controversial reductions in President Trump’s “one, big, beautiful bill,” and Republicans will likely be forced to drop or rewrite them. The changes could amount to hundreds of billions of dollars, making it harder for Republicans to hit their budget targets.
    • “But the ruling wasn’t the final word, and Senate Republicans said by Thursday afternoon that they thought some slight tweaks to the wording of some proposed Medicaid cuts would be enough to break the logjam.
    • “There are things that we can do, there are other ways of getting to that same outcome,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.). Sen. John Hoeven (R., N.D.) said that such a plan was already under way, and that Republicans expected to hear back soon from the parliamentarian. 
    • “We’ve proposed some things to the parliamentarian that we think can work,” Hoeven said.’
  • Fierce Pharma tells us,
    • “The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has blessed Merck’s new respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) shot Enflonsia, but the decision was hardly resounding from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s newly formed panel of advisors.
    • “The ACIP signed off on recommending Merck’s newly approved monoclonal antibody by a vote of 5 to 2. The committee endorses one dose of Enflonsia to be given to infants younger than 8 months of age who are born during or entering their first RSV season and who are not already protected by a maternal vaccine.” * * *
    • “The new recommendation for Enflonsia, which was approved by the FDA just two weeks ago, matches that of Sanofi and AstraZeneca’s Beyfortus, which has been on the market for the last two years and generated sales of $1.8 billion in 2024.”
  • BioPharma Dive adds,
    • “Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Thursday that influenza vaccines used in the coming flu season be free of the preservative thimerosal, addressing unproven fears the mercury-containing substance can lead to developmental disabilities.
    • “If confirmed by the CDC, the recommendation from the Advisory Committee on Immunizaiton Practices, or ACIP, would affect about 5% of flu shots administered in the U.S., distributed in multidose vials that necessitate the use of a preservative to prevent bacterial or fungal contamination. Only three such vaccines are approved for U.S. use, two from CSL and one from Sanofi.
    • “Meeting for the first time with members appointed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., ACIP also reviewed a change in its recommendations for measles vaccines, although it won’t vote on that proposal until a meeting later this year.”
  • The Wall Street Journal sums it up as follows:
    • “The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, was established in 1964 to offer the federal government advice on which vaccines Americans should get and when. After Kennedy dismissed its 17 members and picked new ones, the committee spent two days examining science’s weapons to combat flu, measles and other diseases—with a new emphasis on the risks of the weapons themselves.
    • “Vaccines are not all good or bad,” said the committee’s new chair, Martin Kulldorff, a former Harvard professor. “No questions should be off-limits.” * * *
    • “In a joint statement after the two-day session concluded Thursday, the committee said it had “no predetermined ideas and will make judgments as if we are treating our own families,” adding that “unbiased scientific thinking is fundamental to the committee’s charge.”
  • The Census Bureau informs us,
    • “The U.S. population age 65 and older rose by 3.1% (to 61.2 million) while the population under age 18 decreased by 0.2% (to 73.1 million) from 2023 to 2024, according to the Vintage 2024 Population Estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.
    • “The data show the population continued to age, with the share of the population age 65 and older steadily increasing from 12.4% in 2004 to 18.0% in 2024, and the share of children declining from 25.0% to 21.5%.
    • “Ongoing growth among the older population, coupled with persistent annual declines in the population under age 18 has reduced the size difference between these two age groups from just over 20 million in 2020 to just below 12 million in 2024. From 2020 to 2024, the older population grew by 13.0%, significantly outpacing the 1.4% growth of working-age adults (ages 18 to 64), while the number of children declined by 1.7%.
    • “Children still outnumber older adults in the United States, despite a decline in births this decade,” said Lauren Bowers, chief of the Census Bureau’s Population Estimates Branch. “However, the gap is narrowing as baby boomers continue to age into their retirement years. In fact, the number of states and counties where older adults outnumber children is on the rise, especially in sparsely populated areas.”
  • Tammy Flanagan, writing in Govexec, offer guidance to those who are “Retired and confused about Medicare Part B. You’re not alone. From late penalties to premium reimbursements, here’s what every retired fed should understand about enrolling in Medicare Part B—and how it works with your FEHB plan.

From the judicial front,

  • The Supreme Court will complete issuing opinions from its October 2024 term tomorrow morning at 10 am.
  • Beckers Hospital Review relates,
    • “Several Iowa businesses and health plans are suing to block a new state law regulating pharmacy benefit managers, arguing it violates federal law and the Constitution, Iowa Capital Dispatch reported June 23. 
    • “The lawsuit, filed June 23 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, challenges Senate File 383, a measure signed in early June by Gov. Kim Reynolds. The plaintiffs include the Iowa Association of Business and Industry, Des Moines Orthopaedic Surgeons PC, Iowa Springs Manufacturing & Sales Co., and health plans like the Iowa Bankers Benefit Plan and Iowa Laborers District Council Health and Welfare Fund. 
    • “While supporters said the provisions will help struggling pharmacies in many Iowa communities, the lawsuit argued the new law will “raise healthcare costs for businesses across the state — large and small — by tens of millions of dollars.” 
  • Bloomberg Law adds,
    • “Four lawsuits seeking to invalidate a first-of-its kind Arkansas law prohibiting companies that manage prescription drug benefits from acquiring pharmacies will be heard together in federal court, a judge ruled Tuesday.
    • “The order from Judge Brian S. Miller for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas grants an unopposed motion filed by the Arkansas attorney general’s office to consolidate the cases. The challenges were brought by pharmacy benefit managers Express Scripts, CVS Health Corp., and OptumRx, as well as the industry group Pharmaceutical Care Management Association.” * * *
    • “Miller ordered Tuesday that all future filings in the four cases be filed in the docket for Express Scripts’ lawsuit. The members of the Arkansas pharmacy board, who are represented by the state attorney general’s office, must file by July 11 a consolidated response to PBMs’ motion for a preliminary injunction on the law, according to the order. 
    • “The case is Express Scripts v. Richmond , E.D. Ark., No. 4:25-cv-00520, motions to consolidate granted 6/24/25.” 
  • Beckers Hospital Review lets us know about ten recent healthcare billing fraud cases.

From the public health and medical research front,

  • Fox Business reports,
    • Trader Joe’s said Friday [June 20] that a “single lot code” of the cheese curds have been recalled in response to the potential risk of Listeria monocytogenes contamination.
    • The recalled product was offered at some Trader Joe’s locations in Northern California as well as stores in the Nevada cities of Carson City, Reno and Sparks, according to a notice posted on the popular grocery store chain’s website. 
    • The stores in Northern California included those in Monterey, Fresno and “all locations North,” Trader Joe’s said. 
    • “The recalled cheese curds have a use-by date of “082925” on their container.” 
  • Beckers Hospital Review ranks states by opioid overdose deaths.
    • “West Virginia had the highest rate of fatal opioid overdoses of any state in 2023, according to a new analysis from KFF. 
    • “The analysis is based on finalized 2023 opioid overdose death totals from the CDC’s WONDER database, which uses ICD-10 codes to identify deaths where synthetic and prescription opioids are listed as a contributing cause.
    • “Becker’s calculated each state’s death rate per 100,000 residents using 2023 U.S. Census population estimates to enable fair comparisons across states.
    • “The national opioid overdose death rate was 23.69 per 100,000 residents in 2023.”
  • News Medical points out,
    • “Weight loss surgery has long been an effective treatment for the more than 40 percent of American adults struggling with obesity. Previous studies have shown that Black patients lose less weight overall following bariatric surgery compared to other racial groups, but less attention has been paid to the relationships between economic and social factors that may help explain differences in weight loss.
    • “New research led by NYU Langone Grossman School of Medicine found that Black patients who had a sleeve gastrectomy, the most common weight loss surgery, between 2017 and 2020 lost 6.2 percent less weight than their White counterparts, and 4.9 percent less than Hispanic patients, after one year. However, further analyses found that a lot more complexity and interplay between non-biological factors than previously known appear to impact weight loss surgery incomes.
    • “Published online in the journal Obesity, this is the first study to investigate the relationship between a variety of economic and social factors that include income, sleep disturbances and stress, and weight loss differences among racial groups, the study authors said.”
  • Per Health Day,
    • “Fitness trackers aren’t accurately assessing the physical activity of people with obesity, a new study argues.
    • “Differences in walking gait, speed, energy burn and other factors mean that folks with excess weight aren’t getting an accurate read from their devices, researchers wrote in the journal Scientific Reports.
    • “People with obesity could gain major health insights from activity trackers, but most current devices miss the mark,” senior researcher Nabil Alshurafa, an associate professor of behavioral medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, said in a news release.
    • “Alshurafa’s team has developed a new algorithm that enables smartwatches to more accurately monitor the calories burned by people with obesity, researchers said.
    • “Lab tests show that the new algorithm achieves over 95% accuracy in real-world situations, the study says.
    • “Without a validated algorithm for wrist devices, we’re still in the dark about exactly how much activity and energy people with obesity really get each day — slowing our ability to tailor interventions and improve health outcomes,” Alshurafa said.”
  • Per MedPage Today,
    • “AS01-adjuvanted RSV and shingles vaccines were tied to a lower dementia risk in older adults.
    • “Compared with flu vaccine recipients, those who had the AS01 RSV shot had 29% more dementia-free time over 18 months.
    • “No differences emerged between the two AS01 vaccines, implying the adjuvant may play a role.”

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

  • Modern Healthcare reports,
    • “The leader of UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s Optum Health care delivery unit has left the role, an early indication of management changes under Stephen Hemsley, UnitedHealth’s new chief executive officer.
    • “The division will now be led by Patrick Conway, who was recently promoted to CEO of the broader Optum division that includes Optum Health. Conway will add the title of Optum Health CEO, according to a company memo reviewed by Bloomberg News.
    • “Amar Desai had been CEO of Optum Health since 2023. He’ll become president of Optum integrated care and vice-chairman of Optum Health, according to the memo, and will continue to work with Conway and Hemsley.”
  • Healthcare Dive tells us,
    • “Declines in Walgreens’ front-of-store retail sales continued in Q3, falling 5.3% year over year, due largely to store closures and lower same-store sales. The drugstore retailer last year announced it would shutter 1,200 U.S. stores over three years.
    • “Weak sales in grocery and household, health and wellness, and beauty drove store comps down 2.4%. The international and U.S. healthcare segments fared better, helping drive a 7.2% overall Q3 sales increase to $39 billion.
    • “The drugstore retailer swung into the red with a net loss of $175 million, a decrease of $519 million compared to last year’s $344 million in net earnings.”
  • Per MedTech Dive,
    • “Johnson & Johnson has partnered with Nvidia and Amazon Web Services, or AWS, to support the use of artificial intelligence in surgery, the medtech company said Wednesday.
    • “The Polyphonic AI Fund for Surgery builds on J&J’s existing collaboration with Nvidia and creation of a digital platform for in-house and third-party surgical applications.
    • “Through the fund, J&J, Nvidia and AWS will evaluate, and support projects related to AI model development, data engineering and management, and AI governance.”
  • Per Tech Target,
    • The Lown Institute is recognizing 125 hospitals nationwide for their performance on health equity, value and outcomes, honoring these for this corporate social responsibility in healthcare.
    • “These hospitals show that no matter how tough the environment gets, putting patients and communities first is always possible,” Vikas Saini, M.D., president of the Lown Institute, said in a press release. “Those returning to the list prove that equitable, high-value care doesn’t have to be rare; it’s a standard that hospitals can uphold year after year.” * * *
    • “The top 10 acute care hospitals for health equity, value and outcomes include the following:
      • “Duke Regional Hospital (Durham, N.C.).
      • “Fort Loudoun Medical Center (Lenoir City, TN..).
      • “Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Pflugerville (Pflugerville, TX.).
      • “Denver Health Main Campus (Denver, CO.).
      • ‘Methodist Medical Center (Oak Ridge, TN.).
      • “Prisma Health Baptist Hospital (Columbia, S.C.).
      • “TriStar Horizon Medical Center (Dickson, TN.).
      • “Sharon Hospital (Sharon, CT.).
      • “Inspira Medical Center Vineland (Vineland, N.J.).
      • “Southern California Hospital at Hollywood (Los Angeles, CA.).”
  • MedCity News reports,
    • “Novavax’s alliance with Sanofi came at an opportune time for the beleaguered vaccine developer. Its protein-based Covid-19 vaccine never reached the revenue highs achieved by the messenger RNA vaccines for the novel coronavirus. A corporate restructuring slashed headcount and R&D spending, but Novavax’s financial reports still flagged concerns about the company’s ability to continue.
    • “The Sanofi partnership(Opens in a new window) inked a little more than a year ago infused Novavax with $500 million up front, staving off the immediate financial worries. Starting this year, Sanofi will record sales of the Covid-19 shot vaccine Nuvaxovid, paying Novavax royalties on those sales. The deal is more than a financial lifeline. Beyond sharing in Nuvaxovid’s commercialization, Sanofi can research potential combinations of the Covid-19 shot with its own influenza vaccines. The pharmaceutical giant may also explore using Novavax’s adjuvant in its own vaccines. This agreement is a blueprint for the kinds of alliances Novavax is now pursuing, according to Ruxandra Draghia-Akli, executive vice president, head of research and development.
    • “It’s a multifaceted partnership and we thought that is a model, or maybe components of that model can be developed with other partners,” she said in an interview during the recent BIO International Convention in Boston.”
  • Per Fierce Pharma,
    • “After blueprinting an injectables facility in North Carolina in 2020, it didn’t take long for Eli Lilly to draw up designs for a second in the Tar Heel State.
    • “Following declines in the manufacturing, textiles and tobacco industries that once formed the core trades in the state, North Carolina has increasingly put its chips behind biotechnology. It’s a strategy that has attracted not only Lilly but myriad other pharma majors like Fujifilm Biosciences, Johnson & Johnson and Thermo Fisher Scientific.
    • “For Lilly, building a new parenteral products and devices facility in the city of Concord was a natural evolution following the decision to throw down $470 million on a similar injectables plant at North Carolina’s famed Research Triangle Park back in 2020.” * * *
    • “Together, Lilly’s two North Carolina facilities—which are used in part to make incretin medicines such as Zepbound and Mounjaro—are part of the drugmaker’s ongoing, multibillion-dollar investment in U.S. infrastructure. They also form part of a bulwark against the immense demand for Lilly’s dual GIP/GLP-1 products for diabetes and obesity.”
  • and
    • “Novo Nordisk continues to expand its partnerships with telehealth companies to broaden access to its blockbuster weight loss drug Wegovy.
    • “The pharma giant is now partnering with WeightWatchers to offer consumers access to Wegovy, using CenterWell Pharmacy to fulfill and deliver the medications. CenterWell is owned by Humana.
    • “WeightWatchers aims to provide patients with a more streamlined experience, along with convenient access to FDA-approved medication with the lifestyle support shown to improve outcomes, the company said in a press release.
    • “The partnership will start July 1.”




Midweek report

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

From Washington, DC,

  • The Wall Street Journal reports,
    • “Senate Republican leaders kept pressing the gas pedal Wednesday to get their “one big, beautiful bill” passed by this weekend, even while hundreds of billions of dollars in crucial decisions are being negotiated, key senators are holding out, and some House lawmakers are crying foul.
    • “President Trump wants the legislation on his desk by July 4, and Republicans hope the megabill’s perceived inevitability overcomes any momentary implausibility. Senators aim to start votes as soon as Friday on the legislation, which would cut taxes, reduce spending on Medicaid and nutrition assistance, and boost spending on border security and national defense. The House could send the bill to Trump early next week. 
    • “For now, there aren’t enough votes for a bill that isn’t finished yet. 
    • “It is this mysterious process of trying to be able to move specific ideas through 53 other people and trying to be able to get ideas and opinions,” said Sen. James Lankford (R., Okla.). “And where do people land? It’s a moving target.”
    • “Senators aren’t quite ready to vote, and they expect to change the legislation in the days ahead. Several senators, including Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) and Dan Sullivan (R., Alaska), said they want to be able to review the whole bill before taking the first procedural step—a vote to open debate. 
    • “Our guys are all going to keep advocating for what they want, till the final minute, till we pass it,” said Sen. John Hoeven (R., N.D.) “That’s how it works.” 
  • and
    • “Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new panel of vaccine advisers will re-evaluate the recommended schedule for vaccines for children and teenagers, including for measles and hepatitis B, its new chairman said Wednesday.
    • “The new slate of advisers met for the first time Wednesday in Atlanta, kicking off a two-day meeting with an agenda partially set by political appointees. Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, the nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Susan Monarez, told senators she believes vaccines save lives and there is no causal link between vaccines and autism.” * * *
    • “Monarez, if confirmed, would have the power to decide whether or not to adopt ACIP recommendations. Asked if she agreed with Kennedy’s decision to remove all members of the previous committee, Monarez responded “that the secretary had to make a decision related to ensuring that the ACIP could be supportive of restoring public trust in decision-making.”
    • “The vaccine advisory panel is set Thursday to hear a presentation on thimerosal, a preservative that antivaccine activists have often blamed for autism, from Lyn Redwood, a nurse practitioner who is president emerita of Children’s Health Defense, an antivaccine nonprofit previously helmed by Kennedy. Antivaccine activists have long claimed that thimerosal causes autism. Rates of the disorder have continued to climb even after thimerosal was removed from most vaccines in the early 2000s.”
  • Beckers Health IT tells us,
    • “Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he wants every American using a wearable health device within four years, Politico reported June 24.
    • “Speaking during a June 24 hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, Mr. Kennedy said the department is preparing “one of the biggest advertising campaigns in HHS history” to promote wearable technology.
    • “The devices are central to Mr. Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative. He told lawmakers that wearables give people a way to “take control of their own health.”
  • Govexec fills us in on what happened at yesterday’s House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations hearing titled “The Route Forward for the U.S. Postal Service: A View from Stakeholders.”
  • The American Hospital Association News informs us,
    • “The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response June 25 announced it conducted an exercise transporting simulated patients with high-consequence infectious diseases in a new portable biocontainment unit from Toronto to U.S. hospitals in the northeast and southeast. The hospitals are all Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Centers for highly infectious diseases. ASPR said the biocontainment unit is the first domestic resource for isolating and transporting patients with high-consequence infectious diseases, such as Ebola, across long distances to RESPTCs. The unit can be transported by air or by ground.”
  • CMS called attention to its Medicare website explaining how to get medical assistance in a disaster or emergency.

From the state and local government front,

  • Politico lets us know,
    • New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced [June 22] he will not move forward with a contentious effort to cut costs by shifting retired city workers to a Medicare Advantage plan, bringing a sudden end to a four-year saga.
    • “We have heard concerns from retirees about these potential changes at numerous older adult town halls and public events, and our administration remains focused on ensuring that New York City remains an affordable place to live,” Adams said in a statement Friday.
    • Just two days earlier, the state Court of Appeals ruled in City Hall’s favor in a lawsuit over the Medicare Advantage transition, handing Adams a rare win in the long legal battle to implement a plan he inherited from former Mayor Bill de Blasio.

From the Food and Drug Administration front,

  • STAT News reports,
    • Outgoing Food and Drug Administration regulator Jacqueline Corrigan-Curay acknowledged to staff [June 24] that much is still in flux at the agency, weeks before she retires.
    • “We are leaner and therefore we have to find ways to be efficient and do things in new ways,” she told staff, according to a recording of a town hall meeting obtained by STAT. 
    • She did not say who will be the next leader of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research once she retires next month. Her retirement is the latest in a series of departures of senior officials at the FDA, who have either chosen to take early retirements, left for other jobs, or been forced out by political appointees.
    • “CDER has filled one leadership position, though. At the meeting, Corrigan-Curay introduced staff to the new deputy director of CDER, Mike Davis. Davis, a psychiatrist and pharmacologist, was most recently chief medical officer at the Usona Institute, a nonprofit organization developing psychedelic drugs for the treatment of depression and PTSD. He previously spent six years at the FDA as a clinical team leader in the psychiatry division.” 
  • Per BioPharma Dive,
    • “The Food and Drug Administration is investigating two deaths among [over 900] patients treated with Sarepta Therapeutics’ gene therapy Elevidys for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Both patients died this year of acute liver failure after receiving Elevidys, with the second case reported earlier this month. The FDA said their deaths appear to be related to treatment and that it will evaluate “the need for further regulatory action.”
  • Per MedPage Today,
    • “The FDA said Wednesday it has expanded existing warnings on the two leading COVID-19 vaccines about a rare heart side effect mainly seen in young men.
    • “Myocarditis, a type of heart inflammation that is usually mild, emerged as a complication after the first shots became widely available in 2021. Prescribing information from both Pfizer and Moderna already advises doctors about the issue.
    • “In April, the FDA sent letters to both drugmakers asking them to update and expand the warnings to add more detail about the problem and to cover a larger group of patients. While the FDA can mandate label changes, the process is often more of a negotiation with companies.”

From the public health and medical research front,

  • The American Hospital Association News tells us,
    • “A study published June 25 by the Journal of the American Heart Association found that heart disease death rates fell 66% from 1970 to 2022. Deaths from heart attacks decreased 89% in that time span. The study attributed the declines to advancements in intervention and prevention efforts. Meanwhile, deaths from other types of heart disease, including arrhythmia, heart failure and hypertensive heart disease, increased by 81% during the same period. The study said the rising prevalence of obesity, diabetes, hypertension and physical inactivity have contributed to those causes.”
  • Cardiovascular Business adds,
    • “A team of surgeons with Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston has made history, performing what is believed to be the first fully robotic heart transplant in the United States. 
    • “The procedure occurred in March 2025. Kenneth K. Liao, MD, PhD, chief of cardiothoracic transplantation and circulatory support at Baylor College of Medicine and chief of cardiothoracic transplantation and mechanical circulatory support at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, and colleagues completed the transplant using an advanced Da Vinci surgical system. 
    • “The patient’s chest did not need to be opened all for the procedure—everything was done through small incisions.
    • “Opening the chest and spreading the breastbone can affect wound healing and delay rehabilitation and prolong the patient’s recovery, especially in heart transplant patients who take immunosuppressants,” Liao explained in a statement. “With the robotic approach, we preserve the integrity of the chest wall, which reduces the risk of infection and helps with early mobility, respiratory function and overall recovery.”
    • “The patient in question was a 45-year-old male who had been hospitalized with advanced heart failure for four months. He was discharged after being observed in the hospital for a month. There have been no complications.”
  • Per Medscape,
    • “The investigational non-peptide small-molecule oral GLP-1 agonist orforglipron significantly reduced A1c over 40 weeks in adults with early type 2 diabetes, according to the results of ACHIEVE-1 sponsored by Eli Lilly. 
    • “In the trial, orforglipron reduced A1c to the 6.5% range and produced clinically meaningful weight loss with a safety profile similar to that of other GLP-1 drugs. ACHIEVE-1 is the first of seven phase 3 studies of the safety and efficacy of the drug in over 6000 patients with type 2 diabetes and obesity,
    • “Orforglipron and other similar non-peptide small molecules “have the potential to be widely accepted as a much earlier therapy for type 2 diabetes,” Julio Rosenstock, MD, senior scientific advisor for Velocity Clinical Research and clinical professor of medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, said at a press briefing here at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) 85th Scientific Sessions. The findings were simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine.”
  • STAT New relates,
    • “A study tracking nearly 250,000 Swedish people using ADHD medication for 14 years found that these treatments can reduce risks of traffic crashes, injuries, and criminal behavior — and that conclusion remained true even as more girls, women, and adult men received a diagnosis.
    • “I wish we had access to this kind of data for the U.S.,” said Ryan Sultan, who was not part of the study and is a psychiatrist and professor at Columbia University Irving Medical Center where he specializes in ADHD. “Being able to follow them from birth means that their data is really, really powerful.”
    • “The study arrives as providers in the United States contend with twin realities: ADHD medication prescriptions are skyrocketing — largely thanks to telehealthand diminishing stigma — while medication shortages are imperiling people’s access to these critical treatments. Scientists are also learning more about how the condition interacts with other variables, such as how menstrual periods can affect symptoms and treatment. 
    • “We’re in a moment in U.S. society where … everyone and their grandmother are asking whether they have ADHD or not,” said Sultan. “It’s really interesting to be thinking about, when we’re expanding [access], who are we actually expanding it to, and who are we actually treating?”
  • Medical Economics points out,
    • “According to Dexcom’s 2025 State of Type 2 Report, most U.S. physicians now consider continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) one of the most impactful interventions for managing type 2 diabetes, surpassing even medications and lifestyle counseling in future importance.
    • “The findings are based on a national survey of 310 adults with type 2 diabetes and 111 U.S. health care professionals (HCPs), including primary care physicians, nurse educators and diabetes specialists.
    • “CGM adoption remains relatively low among patients — just 16% of U.S. adults with type 2 diabetes currently use the technology — but satisfaction among users is high. The vast majority report improved quality of life, reduced stress and better engagement with their glucose data. Physicians, meanwhile, see CGM as a key solution to longstanding pain points, including poor adherence, low health literacy and difficulty tracking glucose fluctuations outside clinic visits.
    • “The report highlights a disconnect between CGM’s perceived value and its real-world accessibility. Most patients cite cost or insurance coverage as the top reason for not trying it. Most physicians say they lack the tools to educate patients on its benefits. And nearly three-quarters of people with type 2 diabetes say they need better understanding of how diabetes technology can help them manage their condition.”
  • Per the American Journal of Managed Care,
    • The use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for prevention of HIV has helped to curb the spread of the virus nationally. Knowing how much PrEP is needed in certain areas can help to more specifically target vulnerable populations who need it more.
    • A model was developed that could estimate the need for PrEP, according to a study published in Annals of Epidemiology. Public health authorities can use this information to monitor progress and establish resource allocation.

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

  • Modern Healthcare reports,
    • “U.S. households, businesses and governments will spend $8.6 trillion on healthcare in 2033, when the sector will comprise just over one-fifth of gross domestic product, according to a federal report issued Wednesday.
    • “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Office of the Actuary attributes its forecast to factors such as a rapidly aging population and high demand for healthcare. The independent CMS division published its analysis in the journal Health Affairs.
    • “National health expenditures will increase 5.8% a year on average from 2024 to 2033, the actuaries predict. The healthcare spending trend is expected to continue outpacing economic growth, which the office projects will average 4.3% annually over the coming decade.”
  • Fierce Healthcare adds,
    • “In an uncertain policy and macroeconomic environment, healthcare finance leaders are concerned about what the future holds, a new report showed.
    • “Analysts at Deloitte surveyed 64 finance leaders, split evenly between executives from health systems and insurers, to capture what they view as the biggest challenges and opportunities coming down the pike. Most (84%) of those surveyed said they are worried about business conditions given the cloudy policy outlook, economic concerns and potential disruptions from tariffs and the supply chain.
    • “Over the past several years, workforce challenges, cost reductions and cybersecurity have all been top concerns for finance leaders in healthcare. However, this year’s survey found external factors taking on a much greater role.”
    • “Internal concerns like workforce challenges, cost reduction, and cybersecurity—once top priorities for healthcare chief financial officers in our previous surveys—seem to have become less urgent amid rising external factors, according to survey respondents,” the researchers said.”
  • Per a press release,
    • “Optum is accelerating the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) for health care technology companies, providers and payers with the launch of the Optum AI Marketplace. The new marketplace is the only health care-specific AI digital platform of its kind, built by health care developers to simplify AI integration across clinical and administrative systems.
    • “Many emerging health care organizations want to modernize their systems but don’t have the time, resources, or infrastructure to build AI solutions on their own. The new marketplace addresses these gaps by offering a centralized, health care-specific ecosystem of curated solutions and APIs that are ready to implement, helping organizations streamline operations, reduce integration costs, and scale AI adoption.
    • “Optum brings decades of health care expertise and advanced data infrastructure to the AI Marketplace. This foundation ensures the platform is built for real-world health care needs and supports faster, more effective AI and API implementation. With more than 1.4 billion API transactions each year, the marketplace powers real-time insights and seamless integrations across the health care landscape.” * * *
    • Discover more at Optum AI Marketplace.
  • Per Beckers Hospital Review,
    • Overall demand for healthcare services is poised to continue its significant growth across various service lines over the next decade, with outpatient care expected to experience the highest growth rate and inpatient services seeing more moderate increases, according to Sg2’s 2025 Impact of Change Forecast published in June.
    • Sg2’s forecasting model integrates a broad range of factors, including national data, institutional data, and market trends. National population changes, epidemiological shifts, economic influences, policy developments and advances in technology were considered in the projections.
    • Sg2 used data from the HCUP National Inpatient Sample and CMS Limited Data Sets, alongside its own analysis of healthcare usage trends.
  • Per Beckers Payer Issues,
    • “Medicare Advantage enrollees experience longer hospital stays before being discharged to post-acute care settings compared to individuals enrolled in traditional Medicare, according to a June 2025 analysis by NORC at the University of Chicago.
    • “The analysis was commissioned by the Coalition to Strengthen America’s Healthcare, a group of more than 5,000 hospitals, businesses and hospital associations that includes the AHA and FAH. 
    • “The researchers found that while hospital discharges overall declined over the five-year study period, discharges to post-acute settings increased for MA enrollees and decreased slightly for traditional Medicare enrollees. At the same time, MA enrollees had longer hospital stays prior to post-acute discharge, with the gap widening over time.
    • “While the data is age-adjusted, the study did not control for clinical or demographic differences that could affect length of stay or discharge destination. Future research is recommended using tools like HCC risk scores and claims-based frailty index to better isolate coverage-related effects.”

Monday report

David Ermer–CDC, Congress, FDA, Federal employment benefits, HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules, Medical / Rx research, Obesity, U.S. Healthcare–
  • Govexec tells us,
    • “Last week, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., unveiled his panel’s portion of congressional Republicans’ budget reconciliation package, which aims to reduce federal spending to partially pay for extended tax cuts for the ultrawealthy and increased immigration enforcement. The measure abandoned a series of House-passed proposals to cut the retirement benefits of currently serving federal workers but would have required future federal hires to pay nearly 15% of their paychecks toward their retirement benefits if they wished to accrue civil service protections.
    • “But Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, announced Sunday that the Senate parliamentarian had ruled that most of the Senate’s proposals governing federal benefits and workforce policies violated the Byrd rule, which aims to limit reconciliation measure—and its simple majority threshold for passage—to topics that are budgetary in nature.” * * *
    • “Provisions that would require a 60-vote majority to advance include the plan to require all new federal employees to pay 9.4% toward the Federal Employees Retirement System and to choose between paying an additional 5 percentage points toward FERS or serving as at-will employees; a requirement that federal employees challenging an adverse action before the Merit Systems Protection Board pay a $350 filing fee, as well as a proposal to charge federal employee unions for use of agency property and official time on a quarterly basis.
    • “The parliamentarian also said that a provision effectively giving the Trump administration “carte blanche” to reorganize federal agencies and lay off thousands of federal workers would similarly run afoul of the Byrd rule. Earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that he would not consider overruling the parliamentarian as part of the bid to send the reconciliation package to President Trump’s desk by July 4.
    • “Still remaining in the package is a provision tasking the Office of Personnel Management with conducting an audit of enrollees in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program to ensure family members remain eligible as dependents, and a requirement that the government charge a 10% fee on deductions from federal workers paychecks, such as unions dues and charitable contributions as part of the Combined Federal Campaign.”
  • The American Hospital Association News informs us,
    • “The Department of Health and Human Services June 23 announced an initiative coordinated with multiple health insurance companies to streamline prior authorization processes for patients covered by Medicare Advantage, Medicaid managed care plans, Health Insurance Marketplace plans and commercial plans. Under the initiative, electronic prior authorization requests would become standardized by 2027. HHS stated that these reforms complement ongoing regulatory efforts by CMS to improve prior authorization, including building upon the Interoperability and Prior Authorization final rule. 
    • “The plan is expected to make the prior authorization process faster, more efficient and more transparent, the agency said. Participating insurers pledged to expand real-time responses by 2027. HHS said that the insurers would also commit to reducing the volume of medical services subject to prior authorization by 2026, including those for common procedures such as colonoscopies and cataract surgeries. 
    • “During a news conference, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said unlike previous attempts by insurers, this initiative would succeed because the number of insurers participating represent 257 million Americans. “The other difference is we have standards this time,” he said. “We have … deliverables. We have specificity on those deliverables, we have metrics, and we have deadlines, and we have oversight.” 
    • “Mehmet Oz, M.D., CMS administrator, said that the pledge “is an opportunity for industry to show itself.” Sen. Marshall, R-Kan., said that Congress could pursue codifying at least some portions of the initiative in the future. 
    • “Additionally, participating insurers would honor existing prior authorizations during coverage transitions.” 
  • Here are links to AHIP and BCBSA announcements concerning this prior authorization development.
  • Think Advisor points out,
    • “Most Medicare programs use current premium revenue and government contributions to pay for their operations.
    • “One Medicare program, the Medicare Part A inpatient hospitalization program, is supposed to use the earnings on assets stored in a trust fund to cover some costs.
    • “Assets at the trust fund have fallen below $209 billion — less than the asset total at UnitedHealth or CVS Health.
    • ‘Medicare trustees say they now expect the trust fund to run dry in 2033. That’s down from a depletion year of 2036 included in last year’s report.
    • “But if the Part A trust fund runs dry, and Congress makes no changes, payroll taxes and premium revenue should be high enough to cover about 89% of the promised inpatient hospitalization benefits, according to the trustees.
    • “The trustees’ estimate of the share of promised benefits ongoing revenue can pay is unchanged from last year.”
  • HHS lets us know,
    • “On June 18, 2025, [as the FEHBlog noted at the time] the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued an order declaring unlawful and vacating most of the HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy at 89 Federal Register 32976 (April 26, 2024).
    • “With regard to the modifications to the HIPAA Privacy Rule Notice of Privacy Practices (NPP) requirements at 45 CFR 164.520, the court vacated only the provisions that were deemed unlawful, namely 164.520(b)(1)(ii)(F), (G), and (H).
    • “The remaining modifications to the NPP requirements are undisturbed and remain in effect, see Carmen Purl, et al. v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, et al., No. 2:24-cv-00228-Z (N.D. Tex. June 18, 2025).
    • “Compliance with the remaining NPP modifications is required by February 16, 2026. HHS will determine next steps after a thorough review of the court’s decision.”
    • In the FEHBlog’s view, it’s a safe bet that HHS will not appeal this decision.
  • BioPharma Dive notes,
    • “A top Food and Drug Administration official responsible for overseeing drug reviews is reportedly retiring from the agency, adding to an exodus of senior staff who have either left or been forced out by Trump administration leadership.
    • “Jaqueline Corrigan-Curay, who serves as acting head of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, will depart next month, according to reports from Endpoints News, Stat News and other publications.
    • “Corrigan-Curay became acting CDER director after Patrizia Cavazzoni left the position shortly before the Trump administration took office. A physician and lawyer, Corrigan-Curay joined the FDA in October 2016 and was appointed principal deputy center director at CDER in 2021.”
  • Bloomberg Law reports,
    • “Republican Senator Bill Cassidy is seeking to delay a scheduled meeting of vaccine advisers selected by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. out of concern they’re not sufficiently qualified.
    • “Cassidy, who’s from Louisiana and leads the Senate’s health committee, publicly called on the Trump administration to put off the meeting slated for Wednesday via a post on the social platform X on Monday.
    • “Wednesday’s meeting should not proceed with a relatively small panel, and no CDC Director in place to approve the panel’s recommendations,” posted Cassidy.” * * *
    • “Cassidy will run the hearing for President Donald Trump’s CDC director nominee, Susan Monarez, on Wednesday. That’s the same day that the vaccine advisers are expected to begin their meeting. 
    • “Spokespeople for CDC and HHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.”

From the public health and medical research front,

  • Health Day reports,
    • “Hypertension is the most common chronic condition among adults aged 85 years and older, with prevalence higher among women than men, according to a report published in the June Health E-Stats, a publication of the National Center for Health Statistics.
    • “Yelena Gorina, M.P.H., and Ellen A. Kramarow, Ph.D., from the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, used data from the 2022 and 2023 National Health Interview Survey to present estimates of the percentage of adults aged 85 years and older with 11 selected chronic conditions.
    • “The number of American adults aged 85 years and older was 6.1 million in 2023 and is projected to reach 13.7 million by 2040. The authors note that the most common of the selected chronic conditions reported were hypertension, arthritis, and high cholesterol among civilian noninstitutionalized adults aged 85 years and older (66.9, 55.9, and 46.5 percent, respectively). For both men and women, hypertension was the most common chronic condition reported, with a higher prevalence for women than men (68.9 versus 63.7 percent). The prevalence of arthritis was also higher for women than men (63.2 versus 44.2 percent), but men had a higher prevalence of high cholesterol (50.5 versus 44.0 percent), cancer (39.8 versus 28.6 percent), heart disease (31.5 versus 26.3 percent), and diabetes (19.3 versus 14.5 percent).”
  • The American Medical Association tells us what doctors wish their patients knew about thyroid cancer.
  • Beckers Hospital Review lists by state the 514 U.S. hospitals 514 hospitals with “a catheter associated urinary tract infection rate of zero, as based on the healthcare-associated infections dataset from CMS.”
  • The New York Times reports at length on the impact of the measles outbreak on healthcare providers and public health officials in rural America.
  • Consumer Reports, writing in the Washington Post, discusses “using cannabis for health problems It’s being used for everything from pain to insomnia. When it might help and when it won’t — in any case, don’t vape or smoke it.”
  • FiercePharma relates,
    • “Roche has demonstrated the power of combining two of oncology’s hottest modalities—bispecifics and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs)—in a Lunsumio-Polivy regimen in large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL).
    • “The combination of the CD20xCD3 bispecific Lunsumio and the CD79b-directed ADC Polivy significantly reduced the risk of progression or death by 59% versus the traditional R-GemOx regimen in patients with previously treated LBCL who are not eligible for stem cell transplant. R-GemOx includes Roche’s own Rituxan and the chemotherapies gemcitabine and oxaliplatin.
    • “Patients in the Lunsumio-Polivy group went a median 11.5 months without disease progression versus 3.8 months for R-GemOx, according to the primary analysis of the phase 3 Sunmo study presented at the International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma.
    • “Roche said it will submit the trial results to global health authorities, including the FDA. While Lunsumio is currently approved as an intravenous infusion to treat follicular lymphoma, the Sunmo trial uses a subcutaneous formulation of the drug. Polivy, meanwhile, received the FDA’s approval as part of a combination for certain previously untreated patients with LBCL in 2023.”
  • The Wall Street Journal reports,
    • “Novo Nordisk’s new weight-loss drug helped patients lose even more weight on average than its current Wegovy blockbuster treatment, an early-stage trial showed, as the drugmaker races to develop the next generation of obesity medicines.
    • “The company’s drug, known as amycretin, helped patients lose over 24% of their weight, which compares with an average of about 17% for its Wegovy treatment.
    • “The drug mimics the same gut hormone as the Wegovy treatment to suppress appetite, delay stomach emptying and control blood sugar, but combines it with amylin, a hormone in the pancreas that also regulates appetite.
    • “The new treatment was administered as a once-weekly shot and a daily pill, with results showing that side effects were mostly in line with other obesity medications. Patients taking the amycretin injection lost an average of 24.3% of their weight when dosing up to a 60-milligram shot over 36 weeks of treatment, while those on the pill lost up to 13.1% over 12 weeks.” * * *
    • “The data was published in the Lancet and presented at the American Diabetes Association conference over the weekend. Novo Nordisk plans a late-stage trial for the new drug early next year.”
  • STAT News also reports from the American Diabetes Association meeting,
    • “An investigational therapy from Eli Lilly helped preserve lean mass and drive greater loss of fat in patients taking the popular obesity treatment Wegovy.
    • “In a Phase 2 trial, patients taking the highest-dose combination of Wegovy and the drug, called bimagrumab, lost 22% of their weight at 72 weeks. Ninety-three percent of that was fat mass, and the rest was lean mass. People taking Wegovy alone lost a smaller 16% of their weight, and 72% of that was fat mass, according to results that will be presented Monday at the American Diabetes Association meeting.”
  • and
    • “Amgen’s monthly obesity candidate led to substantial weight loss but a high rate of side effects and discontinuations in a mid-stage trial, results that support the company’s decision to use a slower dosing schedule to make the drug more tolerable in further testing. 
    • “In the Phase 2 study, patients with obesity taking the injectable drug, called MariTide, lost up to 16.2% of their weight in one year when taking into account all participants regardless of discontinuations. Patients lost up to 19.9% when analyzing only those who stayed on treatment.”
  • and
    • “Obesity drugs were first approved to treat type 2 diabetes, but there’s a growing movement to test them in type 1 diabetes, too. Research presented Monday at a large diabetes meeting showed some promise for this approach.
    • “Patients who took a GLP-1 drug fared better than those in a control group at keeping their blood glucose levels in a healthy range while also losing more weight than those who weren’t taking the drug.”
  • Per BioPharma Dive,
    • “One of the most closely watched clinical trials in the burgeoning field of psychedelics research has delivered results that, while positive, appear to have unnerved some investors.
    • “Sponsored by U.K.-based biotechnology company Compass Pathways, the trial enrolled 258 people with treatment-resistant depression. Participants were given either a placebo or the company’s proprietary version of psilocybin — a psychedelic compound found in many mushroom species — and evaluated for an initial period of six weeks.
    • “According to Compass, a single dose of its drug significantly reduced scores on a 60-point scale that healthcare providers use to gauge depressive symptoms.”
    • The article explains why investors were not impressed by these results.

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

  • Fierce Healthcare discusses the top ten nonprofit health systems by 2024 operating revenue, and points out
    • “Despite an uncertain regulatory environment and higher hold period for investments in healthcare, deal volumes remain steady.
    • “So says a new report from PwC. In addition to regulatory scrutiny, persisting valuation gaps between buyers and sellers have contributed to hesitation in the market. Nonetheless, deals continue to pace significantly ahead of pre-COVID levels—though are down from the boom years of 2020 to 2022. The three-year running average of the number of healthcare transactions weighs in at 1,375. 
    • “The subsector leading with the most deals (454) in the last 12 months was a group of services that includes contract research organizations, ambulatory surgical centers, home infusion care and medical office buildings. These deals represented more than $31 billion in value. In second place were physician groups (413 deals totaling $11.3 billion) followed by labs and diagnostics (110 deals worth $7.6 billion).”
  • and
    • “Concern about the cost of GLP-1s remains high, and a new study suggests it’s not uncommon for patients to overpay for these drugs.
    • “E-prescribing company DoseSpot released a study Monday that analyzed more than 100,000 prescriptions for GLP-1s and found they likely overpaid by a collective $10.2 million. Most (92%) of prescriptions included at the study could have been obtained at a lower price.
    • “The data were provided exclusively to Fierce Healthcare. The report said that the $10.2 million in savings extrapolated across the approximately 32 million individuals who currently take GLP-1 ones mean there’s an opportunity here for potentially billions in savings.
    • “The bulk of the savings identified in the study, or about $7 million, would have been generated by being in one of the manufacturers’ savings programs. Josh Weiner, CEO of DoseSpot, told Fierce Healthcare in an interview that stakeholders can do more to keep providers in the loop about what patients may be eligible for.”
  • The Wall Street Journal reports,
    • “Novo Nordisk ended its partnership with Hims & Hers, accusing it of illegally selling copycats of Wegovy and deceptive marketing.
    • “Hims & Hers accused Novo Nordisk of pressuring it to steer patients to Wegovy, regardless of whether it was the best option.
    • “Hims & Hers’ shares dropped after the deal was scrapped. Novo Nordisk will continue to make Wegovy available via telehealth.”
  • Beckers Health IT takes a look at Google Healthcare’s moves.
  • Per Healthcare Dive,
    • “Ohio’s attorney general has conditionally approved venture capital firm General Catalyst’s acquisition of Summa Health, according to a press release Wednesday. 
    • “General Catalyst’s Health Assurance Transformation subsidiary, or HATCo, and the Akron, Ohio-based health system must meet 10 conditions to allow the deal to move forward, including increasing the purchase price by $15 million in cash and an additional $15 million in equity to the surviving nonprofit foundation, according to a letter sent by Attorney General Dave Yost’s office. The equity interest can’t be sold for three years. 
    • “HATCo will also have to file a yearly report with the attorney general to show it’s complying with post-closing obligations, as well as provide notice of new deals that could trigger antitrust concerns.”
  • Per MedTech Dive,
    • “Illumina said Monday it agreed to acquire SomaLogic and other assets from Standard BioTools for $350 million in cash to expand in the proteomics market.
    • “The deal includes additional near-term payments of up to $75 million tied to performance milestones, plus royalties.
    • “Illumina said the acquisition of SomaLogic, a leader in data-driven technology, will advance the company’s multiomics strategy and strengthen the value of its NovaSeq X products.
    • “Illumina and SomaLogic have partnered closely for more than three years, and this combination increases our ability to serve our customers and accelerate our technology roadmap towards advanced biomarker discovery and disease profiling,” Illumina CEO Jacob Thaysen said in a statement.”

Weekend update

David Ermer–Congress, Generative AI, Medical / Rx research, Obesity, SCOTUS–

From Washington, DC,

  • Per a Senate news release,
    • “Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) today [June 22] released the Joint Committee on Taxation’s (JCT) revenue estimate of the Finance Committee’s tax title [of the budget reconciliation bill], which shows that under a current policy baseline, the legislation has a net revenue impact of $442 billion.
    • “Washington has a spending problem, not a tax problem.  Extending the Trump tax cuts prevents a $4 trillion tax increase—this is not a change in current tax policy or tax revenue. This score more accurately reflects reality by measuring the effects of tax policy changes relative to the status quo.”
  • Roll Call discusses expected Congressional activities on Capitol Hill this week.
    • “The budget reconciliation package continues to dominate the agenda in Congress this week, as lawmakers are also expected to debate President Donald Trump’s weekend military strikes against Iranian nuclear targets.
    • “An all-senators briefing on the situation with Iran is slated for Tuesday afternoon, and a war powers resolution from Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., could see quick floor action. Kaine wants senators on the record on whether the United States should engage in hostilities against Iran.
    • “While a Senate aide said the measure does not formally ripen for expedited consideration until the end of the week, Republicans may seek to clear it from the decks earlier in the week in order to get their sweeping budget reconciliation package on the floor.” * * *
    • “The House, meanwhile, returns from a Juneteenth recess poised to begin floor debate on fiscal 2026 appropriations, while waiting for the Senate to amend and send back the budget reconciliation package.”
  • The Supreme Court will be releasing more opinions on Thursday June 26 and likely also Friday June 27.
  • Per MedPage Today,
    • “Updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which could be released as early as this month, will drop a long-standing recommendation to limit alcohol consumption to one or two drinks per day, Reuters reported this week, citing three sources familiar with the matter.
    • It’s “surprising, especially given what we now understand about how alcohol impacts health,” Lindsay Malone, MS, a registered dietitian nutritionist at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, told MedPage Today by email.
    • “In the absence of clear guidance, people are left wondering: how much, if any, is actually safe and healthy?” she said. “I don’t see any upside to this.”
    • “The guidelines will likely still include a brief statement that encourages drinking in moderation or limiting intake due to associated health risks, Reuters‘ sources said.”

From the public health and medical research front,

  • Fortune Well reports,
    • “Millions more Americans should be taking weight-loss drugs to prevent heart disease, according to the American College of Cardiology. 
    • “Exercise and a clean diet aren’t always enough for heart health, the nation’s top cardiology organization said in new recommendations released on Friday. Weight-loss drugs should be used earlier, making them part of the first line of defense for obese patients, the group said.
    • “Novo Nordisk A/S’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly & Co.’s Zepbound should be considered when choosing primary treatments to avert heart disease, the leading cause of death in the US, according to the new guidelines. The popular drugs are more effective than lifestyle changes and have fewer risks than surgery, the nonprofit medical association said.”
  • and
    • I woke up from surgery groggy, with three minuscule incisions in my abdomen and huge peace of mind. I’d just had my fallopian tubes laparoscopically removed, as it’s the best—and possibly only—defense against ovarian cancer, which, though rare, is the most lethal gynecological cancer there is.
    • “There is no detection method for ovarian cancer (a common misunderstanding is that it’s the Pap smear, but that’s for cervical cancer). That’s largely because of something discovered relatively recently: About 80% of the time, cancer of the ovaries forms in the fallopian tubes, which are not easily reached or biopsied. So, the cancer is not found until it spreads beyond the tubes, by which point it has typically reached a later stage and is harder to treat, with cure rates as low as 15%. 
    • “The cancer and its pre-cancer lesions are also not detectable through blood tests. 
    • “I myself had no idea about any of this until 2023, when I wrote about the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance (OCRA) making sweeping recommendations: that all women get genetically tested to know their risk of the disease, and that all women, regardless of their risk factor, consider having what’s called an opportunistic salpingectomy—the prophylactic removal of fallopian tubes if and when they are already having another abdominal surgery.
    • “The strategy—endorsed by the American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology since 2015—was believed to cut down the risk of ovarian cancer by up to 60%. It was adopted as a wide recommendation after a sobering U.K.-based clinical trial followed 200,000 women for more than 20 years and found that screening and symptom awareness do not save lives.”
  • The New York Times adds,
    • “Doctors call the new weight-loss drugs revolutionary. Game-changing. Unprecedented.
    • “Soon, they may also call them obsolete.
    • “Drugmakers are racing to develop the next wave of obesity and diabetes medications that they hope will be even more powerful than those currently on the market.
    • “I think what we are going to see very quickly is that Wegovy has received a lot of the press attention, because it got there first,” said Simon Cork, a senior lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University in England who has studied obesity. “But it will be rapidly overtaken by much more potent medications.”
    • “On Saturday, researchers presented data at an annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association on perhaps the most anticipated of these medications: a daily pill. A late-stage study showed that the drug, called orforglipron, appeared to be about as effective as a weekly Ozempic injection at inducing weight loss and lowering blood sugar. It is just one of over a dozen experimental medications that researchers will share data about at the conference this weekend.
    • “Some of these drugs are still in early trials, but others could hit the market as soon as next year. They include medications that may lead to more weight loss than the roughly 15 to 20 percent body weight people lose on existing drugs. They may also be easier to take than weekly injections and help people shed pounds without dropping as much muscle. More competition — and, in the case of the pill, lower manufacturing costs — might also mean that, eventually, patients pay less.”
  • and
    • “A single infusion of a stem cell-based treatment may have cured 10 out of 12 people with the most severe form of type 1 diabetes. One year later, these 10 patients no longer need insulin. The other two patients need much lower doses.
    • “The experimental treatment, called zimislecel and made by Vertex Pharmaceuticals of Boston, involves stem cells that scientists prodded to turn into pancreatic islet cells, which regulate blood glucose levels. The new islet cells were infused and reached the liver, where they took up residence.
    • “The study was presented Friday evening at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association and published online by The New England Journal of Medicine.
    • “It’s trailblazing work,” said Dr. Mark Anderson, professor and director of the diabetes center at the University of California in San Francisco. “Being free of insulin is life changing,” added Dr. Anderson, who was not involved in the study.
  • Per STAT News,
    • “GLP-1 drugs could treat more than just diabetes and obesity. They may also reduce migraine frequency.
    • “That is according to the findings of a study presented on Friday at the European Academy of Neurology congress. The pilot study found that GLP-1 agonists reduced monthly migraine days by almost half. The authors hypothesized that the drug lowers migraine frequency by reducing intracranial pressure.”
  • The Washington Post reports,
    • “The lung tissue of people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease contains triple the sootlike particle buildup found in similar tissue in smokers’ lungs, a recent analysis finds.
    • “The study found that COPD patients’ alveolar macrophages — a type of lung cell that removes dust, particles and microorganisms from the lungs — contain more carbon than those of smokers. The carbon-containing alveolar macrophages in COPD patients’ lungs were also larger than macrophages without visible carbon, the study found.
    • “Published in ERJ Open Research, the study looked at carbon deposits in the cells. Alveolar macrophages are an important part of the immune system, activating other immune defense cells to protect the body from inhaled invaders. People with COPD have inflamed airways and more alveolar macrophages than healthy people.” * * *
    • “The study does not prove what caused the changes in the COPD patients’ lung tissue. Those with COPD may be less able to clear carbon from their lungs, the researchers write, or perhaps those with a reduced ability to clear carbon are likelier to develop COPD. Pollution or indoor particulate matter may also be to blame, they conclude.”
  • and
    • “The thought of getting back to an exercise routine after surgery might make you wince. It can be a struggle to know where to begin, especially if your body isn’t working the way it used to.
    • “The good news is that heading to your local pool or aquatic therapy can be a great alternative to land-based physical therapy and exercise. Research, including a 2024 study, says aquatic exercise can significantly help patients recover both mentally and physically after most surgeries.
    • “Water therapy is sometimes even more effective than land-based therapy because surgery patients don’t have the same range of motion and mobility,” says Mara Karamitopoulos, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at NYU Langone Health in New York.”

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

  • Beckers Payer Issues tells us,
    • “At Becker’s 15th Annual Meeting, leaders from Microsoft and Blue Shield of California shared how AI is one tool to help transform payer operations — not by replacing humans, but by personalizing care, cutting friction and restoring trust.
    • “Christine McKinney, vice president of customer experience and digital transformation at Blue Shield of California (Oakland) emphasized the strategic use of AI as both a data enabler and an engagement enhancer.”
    • The article offers takeaways from the presentation.
  • Kauffman Hall adds,
    • “As AI transformation remains top of mind for healthcare leaders, I’ve noticed two common pitfalls plaguing new entrants and early adopters.
    • “Those in the early stages are often susceptible to the “ready, fire, aim” approach – quickly identifying a tool and searching for a problem to match.
    • “Early adopters are having trouble defining clear return on investment (ROI), which may go beyond financials.
    • “These pitfalls are reflected in our data as well. 36% of health systems lack a formal AI prioritization framework, and a recent Vizient benchmarking survey found the top barrier to implementing AI is a lack of clear ROI.
    • “A successful AI strategy must include a clear prioritization framework and a deeper understanding of value. With this in mind, here is an example of one organization’s success and three steps to move beyond the hype and maximize ROI.”

Weekend Update

David Ermer–CDC, CMS, Congress, Medical / Rx research, Obesity, SCOTUS, U.S. Healthcare–

Happy belated Flay Day!

From Washington, DC

  • The Daily Caller explains,
    • The Senate’s confirmation of Trump nominees as of June 5 outpaced the Biden administration by 16 nominees and the first Trump administration by 33 nominees, according to information compiled by the Senate GOP leadership-aligned Senate Republicans Communications Center (SRCC).
    • Still, nearly 100 nominees are awaiting floor consideration, according to the Senate executive calendar.
    • The backlog is due in part to Senate Democrats placing blanket holds on hundreds of Trump nominees, requiring the Senate to use finite floor time to confirm each civilian nominee individually through multiple roll call votes. As a result, nearly 60% of the votes taken in the Senate during the 119th Congress have been related to nominations, according to the SRCC.
  • Roll Call summarizes other Senate work during this short workweek here.
  • The Supreme Court will be issuing opinions on Wednesday June 18 this week.
  • Tammy Flanagan, writing in Govexec, asks “Think you’re ready to tap your TSP? Here’s what you might be missing. Before touching your Thrift Savings Plan funds, make sure you understand the rules—and the risks—you might not have planned for.”

From the public health and medical research front.

  • STAT News reports,
    • “Sarepta Therapeutics said Sunday that it was halting shipments of its Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy for patients who can no longer walk, following the death of a second [male] person who received the treatment.
    • “Sarepta disclosed the first patient death — a 16-year-old boy — in March. Both occurred from acute liver failure, a side effect that has been seen with other gene therapies. The company said both patients were non-ambulatory, meaning their disease had progressed to the point they relied on a wheelchair. Most children with Duchenne lose the ability to walk by adolescence.
    • “The company said early Sunday it was working with experts to come up with an enhanced immunosuppressive regimen that could make the therapy, called Elevidys, safer for non-ambulatory patients. It said it would talk with the Food and Drug Administration about the the proposed regimen. 
    • “Sarepta also said it was pausing dosing in an ongoing clinical trial of Elevidys, called ENVISION, that’s focused on older ambulatory and non-ambulatory patients.” 
  • Per Fortune Well,
    • “Researchers at the University of California San Francisco have identified the U.S. regions, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where dementia occurs most often.
    • “The large and comprehensive study, published in JAMA Neurology, examined data on more than 12.6 million veterans 65 and older enrolled in the Veterans Health Administration system; only 2% were women. 
    • “Researchers found the highest incidence in the Southeast (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida) and the lowest in the Mid-Atlantic states (Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, New Jersey, Washington D.C.).” 
  • The Washington Post informs us,
    • A common genetic variant is linked to a doubled dementia risk for older men, a recent analysis in Neurology suggests.
    • The study used data from Aspirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE), which followed elderly patients in the United States and Australia with no history of cardiovascular disease, dementia or cognitive decline between 2010 and 2017.
    • Researchers focused on 12,174 Australians of European ancestry over age 70, and looked for variants in the HFE gene. The gene is critical to regulating the body’s iron levels, and variants are common among people of European descent.
    • Those who carry two copies of the p.C282Y variant in the HFE gene can develop hemochromatosis, a condition that causes iron overload in the body, and resulting conditions such as liver cirrhosis, liver cancer, frailty, arthritis and dementia.
    • One in 3 people carry a gene variant called H63D, and 1 in 36 carry two copies, John Olynyk, a professor at the Curtin Medical Research Institute in Perth, Australia, says in a news release about the new study.
    • “Having just one copy of this gene variant does not impact someone’s health or increase their risk of dementia. However, we found having two copies of the variant more than doubled the risk of dementia in [previously healthy] men, but not women,” Olynyk says.
  • NPR offers “Advice for trying GLP-1 drugs for weight loss from a doctor who’s been there.”
  • The New York Times reports,
    • “Many older people embrace vaccines. Research is proving them right.
    • “Newer formulations are even more effective at preventing illnesses that commonly afflict seniors — perhaps even dementia.”
  • and
    • “Many Falls Are Preventable. These Tips Can Help. Small changes and good habits make a difference.”
  • The Wall Street Journal reports,
    • When Officer Chelsea Johnston came across a wanted felon one evening in May, Johnston jerked her cruiser in front of him, sprinted after him and tackled him to the ground. Still catching her breath, Johnston motioned for someone to step out of the cruiser: Joy Bogese.
    • “Thank God,” the man said. “It’s you.” 
    • Bogese, who served time for financial crimes that fed a heroin addiction, now spends many of her evenings in a police cruiser as a recovery specialist helping people with addiction get into treatment. The man asked Bogese to help him get into a drug-treatment program at the local jail, where Bogese occasionally facilitates groups. 
    • She is part of a growing effort in Chesterfield County’s [Virginia] fight against addiction. In this county of nearly 400,000, overdose deaths have dropped by half in a single year—about double the decline of the rest of the country—to levels seen before the crisis began in 2015.
    • The precipitous drops have astounded public officials and health-policy experts, who have traveled across the country in an attempt to learn the formula and replicate it. Governors, members of Congress and sheriffs from as far away as Alaska have all come through, along with an acting U.S. drug czar.
  • Per Medscape,
    • “A prospective study found that increased consumption of olive oil was associated with a reduced risk for breast cancer, particularly oestrogen receptor–negative (ER−) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2–negative (HER2−) breast cancers. A systematic review revealed that case-control studies more frequently reported this protective association, whereas prospective studies did not report any association.”

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

  • Kauffman Hall points out,
    • Mehmet Oz, MD, the new CMS Administrator, in a Senate confirmation hearing, expressed support for exploring multi-year products for Medicare Advantage. While his remarks were made in the context of avoiding unnecessary member churn and associated elevated broker commissions, there are much broader ramifications of transitioning from single-year to multi-year health plan products. His remarks have sparked interest in the industry to explore this idea further.” * * *
    • “Multi-year health plan products have the potential to change a lot about how healthcare business models work today. Given the inherent complexity, it is likely to be a slow journey towards the destination. Even so, incumbent health insurers and risk-bearing providers would be well-advised to start strategizing and building / experimenting with prototypes to manage their risk of being disrupted by multi-year-native health plan innovators. The new administration has already shown that it can move with alacrity and is not afraid to be disruptive in the process. The shift to multi-year plans could come sooner than expected. Or it may not. But in any case, it is better to be prepared.”
  • The FEHB Program was offered on a multi-year basis for two years in the 1980’s although an Open Season was held between the two years in which there were no benefit changes.
  • The Washington Post reports, “Nurse practitioners step in as geriatrician ranks shrink. Nurse practitioners are not trying to replace doctors — they’re trying to meet patients’ needs, wherever those patients are, an expert said.”
  • Per MedTech Dive,
    • “Chris Scoggins is taking the helm of Abbott’s diabetes business at a busy time for the company and the diabetes tech industry. Scoggins was promoted to Abbott’s executive vice president of diabetes care in December. Since then, Abbbott has collaborated with insulin pump firms Tandem Diabetes Care and Sequel Med Tech to integrate its planned glucose-ketone sensor with their devices. 
    • “Scoggins spoke with MedTech Dive about the company’s strategic approach ahead of the American Diabetes Association’s Scientific Sessions in June.”
    • The article includes the interview.

Friday report

David Ermer–ACA, CDC, Congress, COVID-19, FDA, Federal employment benefits, Medical / Rx research, Obesity, Telehealth–
Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

From Washington, DC,

  • Govexec tells us,
    • “On Thursday night, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee published its portion of the budget reconciliation bill, which aims to cut federal spending to partially pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and increased immigration enforcement.
    • “Gone from the bill are House-passed provisions that would require all federal workers to contribute 4.4% of their basic pay toward the Federal Employees Retirement System, reduce their FERS benefit calculation from the average highest three years of salary to the highest five years, and eliminate the FERS supplement for employees who retire before Social Security kicks in at age 62.
    • “But in their place is a more draconian iteration of the controversial plan to force future federal workers to choose between a more expensive defined benefit annuity and at-will employment, meaning they can be fired “for good cause, bad cause, or no cause at all.” Under the Senate plan, all new federal hires would pay more than double toward FERS compared to feds hired after 2014—9.4% of their basic pay—and those who elect to accrue civil service protections would pay an additional 5 percentage points on top of that, or 14.4% of basic pay.”
  • Federal News Network adds,
    • “The Trump administration would proceed with plans to downsize the federal workforce and reorganize agencies with minimal interference from Congress, under a Senate committee’s proposal.
    • “The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, in its contribution to the budget reconciliation package, would allow the Trump administration to proceed with sweeping changes to the federal workforce — including those currently stalled by federal judges — without approval from Congress.
    • “The committee’s section of the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” which passed the House last month, also sets aside $100 million for the Office of Management and Budget to oversee and implement the Trump administration’s reorganization plans over the next decade.”
  • Fierce Pharma lets us know,
    • “Independent Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine have introduced a bill that would ban pharmaceutical companies from advertising directly to consumers.
    • “The End Prescription Drug Ads Now Act would prevent drugmakers from promoting prescription drugs through television, radio, print, digital platforms and social media.” * * *
    • “The proposal is likely to receive support from the Trump administration.” 
  • KFF released a report about “ACIP, CDC, and Insurance Coverage of Vaccines in the United States.”
  • The Sequoia Blog notes,
    • Recent guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and the United State Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) will impact coverage for women that must be provided by group health plans at no-cost, explained further [in the blog post].
  • Radiology Business adds,
    • “Radiology Partners was the No. 1 initiator of No Surprises Act payment disputes in the second half of 2024 with 136,784, according to new data released Wednesday. 
    • “The El Segundo, California-based industry giant accounted for about 15% of all disputes in Q4 of 2024 and 18% in Q3. HaloMD, a San Antonio, Texas, firm specializing in NSA dispute resolutions, was No. 2, initiating 134,318, followed by Knoxville, Tennessee, multispecialty group TeamHealth with 94,598. 
    • “In a summary document, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services highlighted the “high volume of disputes” handled between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2024. Provider groups such as Rad Partners initiated a total of 853,374 disputes through the federal independent dispute resolution (IDR) portal, up 40% from the first half of 2024. Across all of last year, a small number of organizations were responsible for the majority of disputes, CMS noted.
    • “Many of the top initiating parties are (or are represented by) large practice management companies, medical practices or revenue cycle management companies representing hundreds of individual practices, providers or facilities,” the agency said May 28. “The top three initiating parties (Radiology Partners, HaloMD, and TeamHealth) represent thousands of clinicians across multiple states and accounted for approximately 43% of all disputes initiated in the last six months of 2024.”
  • STAT News points out,
    • “The links between ultra-processed food and higher risk of diabetes will be the focus of the first wave of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s national “Take Back Your Health” campaign, according to a notice posted on a government site for contractors.
    • “The notice invites public relations agencies to pitch strategies for the launch of the ad campaign, “a wake-up call to Americans that eating processed foods dramatically increases the risk of diabetes and chronic disease.”

From the Food and Drug Administration front,

  • Per Fierce Pharma,
    • “The FDA has approved Moderna’s mRESVIA for the prevention of lower respiratory tract disease caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in adults ages 18 to 59 who are at an increased risk for severe disease.
    • “Back in May, mRESVIA scored an FDA approval in adults 60 and older, becoming Moderna’s second commercial product behind the company’s first-generation COVID-19 shot, Spikevax.”
  • and
    • “Despite a recent rebuff from an FDA advisory committee, the first treatment for a specific and underserved cohort of U.S. bladder cancer patients has crossed the FDA finish line as UroGen Pharma’s Zusduri.
    • “The New Jersey-based pharma paired chemotherapy mitomycin with a sterile hydrogel using its sustained-release RTGel technology to create a localized therapy for potent tumor ablation of recurrent low-grade intermediate-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (LG-IR-NMIBC). It’s a drug delivery combo familiar to UroGen from its 2020 approved Jelmyto, another hydrogel and mitomycin pairing formulated as a liquid solution made for delivery in the kidney’s pyelocalyceal system that is indicated for low-grade upper tract urothelial cancer.”
    • “In its phase 3 ENVISION trial, UroGen found that Zusduri could deliver a 78% complete response for patients with LG-IR-NMIBC at three months, with 79% of those patients still event-free 12 months later.”

From the judicial front,

  • The Wall Street Journal reports,
    • “Anne Wojcicki, the co-founder and former CEO of 23andMe, is poised to regain control of the DNA-testing company after a nonprofit she controls topped a prior bid.
    • “23andMe said Friday that a nonprofit backed by Wojcicki was the new buyer for the company’s assets, offering $305 million.
    • “Last month, 23andMe said Regeneron, a biotech based in Tarrytown, N.Y., had won the bidding during a bankruptcy auction to buy the company for $256 million. 
    • “The bidding reopened early this month, after Wojcicki, through her nonprofit, TTAM Research Institute, made the unsolicited offer. TTAM is an acronym that aligns with the first letters of 23andMe.
    • “Regeneron declined to make a bid that topped TTAM’s offer, which is being financed by Wojcicki and her affiliated entities, according to a court filing. The TTAM bid still needs to be approved by the court.”

From the public health and medical research front,

  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today,
    • Reported on Friday, June 13, 2025
    • Seasonal influenza activity is low. COVID-19 and RSV activity is very low.
    • COVID-19
      • COVID-19 wastewater activity, emergency department visits, and laboratory percent positivity are at very low levels.
    • Influenza
    • RSV
      • RSV activity is very low.
  • The University of Minnesota’s CIDRAP adds,
    • Dozens of medical and public health organizations have signed a letter urging insurers to continue covering COVID-19 vaccination in pregnant patients.
    • The letter from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is in response to the recent move by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to no longer recommend COVID-19 shots for healthy pregnant women.
  • and
    • “In its latest update on variant proportion estimates, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the level of NB.1.8.1 viruses, recently added as a variant under monitoring (VUM) by the World Health Organization (WHO), has grown from 15% to 37% since late May, bringing it nearly even with LP.8.1, which has been dominant over the last few months.” * * *
    • “The CDC also reported a rise in XFG variant proportions, which rose from 6% to 8% over the same period. Both viruses are descendants of the JN.1 Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant.”
  • and
    • “The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today in its weekly measles update reported 29 more cases, bringing the national total to 1,197 cases and coming within 77 cases of matching the total from 2019, which was the most since the disease was eliminated from the country in 2000.
    • “So far, 35 states have reported cases, one more than a week ago, which likely reflects Arizona’s first cases of the year.
    • “Four more outbreaks were reported, bringing the national total to 21. For comparison, the CDC recorded 16 outbreaks for all of 2024. Of measles cases reported this year, 90% have been part of outbreaks. Last year, 69% of the illnesses were related to outbreaks.
    • “School-aged children are the most affected group (37%), followed closely by adults ages 20 and older (33%), and children younger than 5 years old (29%).”
  • The AHA New relates,
    • “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has added new resources for health care providers to its Be Ready for Measles Toolkit. They include a decision tree to help providers determine when to give measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations to adults; checklists for summer camps; and immunity records templates.” 
  • CBS News reports,
    • “The average age of moms giving birth in the U.S. continues to rise, hitting nearly 30 years old in 2023, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
    • “In the report, published Friday by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, researchers found the average age of all mothers giving birth in the United States increased from 28.7 years old in 2016 to 29.6 in 2023. For new first-time moms, average age also increased, from 26.6 in 2016 to 27.5 in 2023. The data was taken from the National Vital Statistics System, which includes all birth records in the country.” 
  • The New York Times reports, “In Some Ozempic Households, the Weight Loss Is Contagious. Patients taking the drugs are finding their families are benefiting, too.”
  • Managed Healthcare Executive adds,
    • “Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) — a class of drugs typically prescribed for type 2 diabetes and weight loss — may significantly reduce the risk of developing several common age-related eye diseases, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and glaucoma, according to a study published online earlier this year in Ophthalmology.
    • “The study, based on an analysis of electronic health records (EHRs) from older patients in the United States, revealed that GLP-1RAs were associated with lower rates of age-related macular degeneration, as well as primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), when compared with other common medications such as metformin, insulin, statins and aspirin.”
  • Per MedPage Today,
    • Starting fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) at ages 40 to 49 was associated with reduced colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence and mortality compared with starting screening at age 50, a Taiwanese cohort study suggested.
    • Among over 263,000 participants, the incidence of CRC was 26.1 per 100,000 person-years for those who participated in early screening (at ages 40 to 49) versus 42.6 per 100,000 person-years for those who participated in regular screening (at age 50 and older), reported Tony Hsiu-Hsi Chen, PhD, of National Taiwan University in Taipei, and colleagues.
    • The mortality rate was 3.2 per 100,000 person-years for the early screening group compared with 7.4 per 100,000 person-years for the regular screening group, they noted in JAMA Oncology.
  • Per Health Day,
    • “A good number of people don’t know that high blood pressure is a silent killer, increasing a person’s heart risk with no obvious symptoms, a new poll has found.
    • “More than a third of Americans (37%) erroneously think high blood pressure always has noticeable symptoms like dizziness or shortness of breath, according to a survey by the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center.
    • “In truth, high blood pressure usually has no signs or symptoms to indicate its presence, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
    • “Likewise, nearly 4 in 10 people (39%) mistakenly believe that “feeling calm and relaxed” is an indication that blood pressure is normal, the poll shows.
    • “And very few people — only 13% — know the correct reading that reflects high blood pressure, 130/80, poll results show.
    • “Because controlling blood pressure reduces one’s risk of serious health problems, including heart attacks and strokes, correcting misperceptions about ways to identify it should be a public health priority,” Patrick Jamieson, director of the policy center’s Annenberg Health and Risk Communication Institute, said in a news release.”

From the healthcare business front,

  • The Wall Street Journal reports,
    • “AstraZeneca said it entered into a strategic research collaboration with China’s CSPC Pharmaceuticals, focused on artificial intelligence-driven research, valued at up to $5.33 billion.
    • “The partnership aims to advance the discovery and development of novel oral candidates, with the potential to treat diseases across multiple indications, the British pharmaceutical giant said Friday.
    • “Under the terms of the deal, CSPC will receive an upfront payment of $110 million. It is also eligible to receive up to $1.62 billion in potential development milestone payments and up to $3.6 billion in sales milestone payments, as well as potential single digit royalties based on annual net sales of the products.
    • “The British group will have rights to exercise options for exclusive licenses to develop and commercialize worldwide candidates identified under the agreement.
    • “The research will be carried out by CSPC and will utilize its AI-driven technology.
    • “The collaboration boosts AstraZeneca’s presence in China following the $2.5 billion investment in the country announced earlier this year, while it also strengthens its collaboration with the Chinese group.”
  • Modern Healthcare reports,
    • “Amazon is restructuring its healthcare division and another high-profile executive is departing the company.
    • “As part of the restructuring, Amazon’s Vice President of Health Partnerships and Marketing Aaron Martin is planning to leave the company later this summer after assisting with the transition, according to a person familiar with the situation.
    • “The moves were made to simplify the company’s structure, reduce layers and elevate tenured leaders across six teams, said Neil Lindsay, senior vice president at Amazon Health Services, in a statement on Friday. 
    • “Two of Amazon’s healthcare teams will focus on Amazon’s One Medical virtual and in-person care product, with one focused on clinical care delivery while the other is centered on operations and performance. The four other teams will focus on pharmacy, growth and network development, compliance as well as a segment focused on marketing and technology.”
  • Medscape tells us,
    • “Hospitals are struggling with long emergency room (ER) wait times, capacity issues, and staffing shortages. A growing number of patients with cellulitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, pneumonia, and other chronic conditions are being asked to skip hospital stays and return home.
    • “Hospital at Home models may be the answer. The explosion of Hospital at Home programs now makes it possible to provide acute level care at home. Today, 378 hospitals in 140 health systems and 39 states have been approved to provide healthcare at home. And a recent report found that 71% of health systems planned to launch Hospital at Home models.
    • “Digital care is the way of the future,” said Melissa Meier, MSN, RN, manager of Digital Care for OSF OnCall, the Digital Health Division for OSF HealthCare in Peoria, Illinois. “We’re always looking at ways to help reach more patients [and] always being on the cutting edge to reach our patients wherever they are is super important…[Hospital at Home] is certainly an answer for that.”
  • Per Beckers Hospital Review,
    • Becker’s has compiled a list of the hospitals with a CMS five-star rating for care transitions.
    • CMS’ “Patient survey (HCAHPS)-Hospital” database listed hospital ratings based on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey. This is a national, standardized survey of hospital patients about their experience during a recent inpatient hospital stay. The survey was completed between July 2023 and June 2024. The data was last updated April 30. 
    • [The article lists] the 195 hospitals by state with five-star care transition ratings.
  • Per BioPharma Dive,
    • “Quest Diagnostics has partnered with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to develop a cancer risk blood test.
    • “The collaboration, which Quest disclosed Tuesday, builds on MD Anderson’s research into protein biomarkers that may indicate a patient is at high risk of cancer diagnosis in the coming years.
    • “MD Anderson’s approach is potentially a cheaper way than liquid biopsies to find patients who would benefit from conventional screening, according to the announcement. Quest is aiming to launch the test next year.”
  • and
    • “Novo Nordisk is planning Phase 3 clinical trials for a obesity drug combination called amycretin, adding another emerging weight-loss medicine to the list of prospects it has in advanced testing.
    • “The Danish drugmaker said Thursday the trials could begin in early 2026 and will test both an injectable and an oral formulation. In a Phase 2 trial, amycretin helped people with obesity lose up to 22% of their body weight over 36 weeks, topping Novo’s marketed medication Wegovy as well as Eli Lilly’s rival Zepbound.
    • “Amycretin targets GLP-1, as Wegovy does, but also a separate metabolic hormone called amylin that has drawn increasing interest from drugmakers. Earlier this week, shares of Metsera climbed by double digits after the biotechnology company reported promising Phase 1 data for an amylin-targeting agent.”

Weekend update

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

From Washington, DC,

  • The Senate maintains a daily Executive Calendar. There are now eight nominees whose names were reported to the Senate floor before Scott Kupor. According to the unanimous consent resolution page in the front of the calendar, the Senate will consider tomorrow the nominations of the earliest reported nominee David Fotouhi (March 13) and two nominees reported in May after Mr. Kupor (April 9). The FEHBlog think that this is the pattern that the Senate leadership is following, which means that the Senate is likely to take up Mr. Kupor’s nomination later this month. 
  • Roll Call summarizes expected Congressional activities for this week here.
    • As Senate committees continue to release their proposals for the House-passed reconciliation package this week, the House plans to vote on President Donald Trump’s proposals to rescind foreign aid and other spending, including for public broadcasting.
    • “The rescissions request sent to Congress by the Trump Administration takes the federal government in a new direction where we actually cut waste, fraud, and abuse and hold agencies accountable to the American people,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said in a statement.
  • The Supreme Court will be issuing another batch of opinions this coming Thursday.
  • Last Thursday, HR Dive tells us,
    • “A federal appeals court’s “background circumstances” requirement for majority-group plaintiffs who seek to prove job discrimination cuts against both Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and U.S. Supreme Court precedent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote for a unanimous SCOTUS on Thursday.
    • “The court reversed the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, which had dismissed a heterosexual woman’s claim that she was unlawfully passed over for a promotion in favor of a lesbian woman and subsequently demoted, after which a gay man was hired to fill her original role. The plaintiff alleged that those decisions constituted illegal discrimination on the basis of her sexual orientation, which the Supreme Court has said is a form of sex-based discrimination under Title VII.
    • “The 6th Circuit held that the plaintiff could not show background circumstances to support her suspicion that her employer discriminated against her on the basis of her status as a member of a majority group.
    • “Justice Jackson, however, wrote that such requirements flout the Supreme Court’s case law, which “makes clear that the standard for proving disparate treatment under Title VII does not vary based on whether or not the plaintiff is a member of a majority group.”
    • “The court vacated and remanded the case to the 6th Circuit for further proceedings.”
  • Federal News Network interviews Tammy Flanagan about “what retiring feds need to know about their benefits in transition.”
    • “Timing is everything when thinking about when to drop your retirement paperwork. Understanding what happens to your leave balances, health insurance, and survivor benefits can inform that decision. Hear with more on those key considerations is the Founder and Principal Retirement specialist at Retire Federal, Tammy Flanagan.”

From the public health and medical research front,

  • The University of Minnesota’s CIDRAP informs us,
    • “A new gene-tracking study in Nature shows that mpox spread among people in Nigeria for 8 years before it sparked a global outbreak in 2022.
    • “Using genomic tracing, researchers from Nigeria, the United States, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Belgium estimate that the ancestor of the clade 2 mpox virus (mpxv) that ignited an international outbreak beginning in May 2022 first emerged in southern Nigeria in August 2014 and spread to 11 Nigerian states before human infections were detected in 2017. 
    • “In light of the findings, the authors write, “We need improved surveillance in the wildlife population in the forest systems to better understand the transmission and maintenance of MPXV in animal hosts,” as well as better human surveillance.
    • “We could have very easily prevented the 2022 multi-country outbreak if countries in Africa were given better access to therapeutics, vaccines, and surveillance technologies,” says first author Edyth Parker, PhD, MPhil, a researcher with the Institute of Genomics and Global Health and with the International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science, in a Scripps Research news release. “In a vulnerably connected world, we cannot neglect epidemics until they get exported to the Global North.”
  • Medscape offers these reports from the recent American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) 2025 Annual Meeting.
    • Changing the prescribing protocol for low-dose aspirin (LDA) for preeclampsia prevention from risk-based to universal significantly increased aspirin use in pregnant patients, based on new data presented at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) 2025 Annual Meeting.
    • The use of LDA to reduce the risk for preeclampsia has been well established as an inexpensive and simple intervention, but it has remained underutilized nationwide, said lead author Meryl Y. Grimaldi, MD, of SBH Health System, New York City, in an interview.
    • “Many of the patients we care for at SBH Health are at high risk for preeclampsia, but we wanted to ensure that our eligible patients received the benefits of this intervention,” said Grimaldi, who presented the study at the meeting.
  • and
    • “Clinicians need to discuss and offer all patients a variety of pain management options for in-office gynecologic procedures ranging from intrauterine device (IUD) insertion to biopsies, according to new guidance published by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). The guidelines, published on May 15, are the first formal ones from ACOG to not only acknowledge the range of pain experiences that can be associated with different procedures but also to explicitly lay out recommendations for the conversations providers should have with their patients about what pain management options are available.
    • “This guidance speaks to more than just Ob/Gyns,” Co-Author Genevieve Hofmann, DNP, women’s health nurse practitioner and assistant professor of Ob/Gyn at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora, Colorado, said during a discussion with the press on May 17 at American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Annual Meeting in Minneapolis. “It speaks to any physician who’s providing these types of services and certainly to advanced practice registered nurses who work in women’s health and provide these services.”
  • Medscape adds,
    • Regeneron said on Monday [June 2, 2025,] its experimental drug helped patients preserve up to 51% of lean mass and lose more fat when used in combination with Novo Nordisk’s popular obesity drug Wegovy in a mid-stage trial. 
    • In the 599-patient study, those on Wegovy alone lost about 7.9 pounds of muscle, while those on a combination of Regeneron’s trevogrumab and Wegovy lost up to 4.2 pounds. 
    • The combination helped patients shed up to 11.3% of their body weight compared with 10.4% for those on only Wegovy. 
    • The results mark an early win for Regeneron in the race against nearly a dozen companies to develop obesity treatments that preserve muscle, as they vie for a share of the potential $150 billion weight-loss drug market. 

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

  • Medical Economics “spoke with Mark McClellan, M.D., Ph.D., director, Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy, and a former administrator at CMS, about why value-based care hasn’t been adopted more quickly.” and let us know that “New Marit Health data from May, 2025, reveal that physicians feel most satisfied where compensation aligns with cost of living, practice expectations and quality of life. These 10 states show that perceived fairness matters just as much as raw earnings.”
  • The Wall Street Journal reports,
    • Unexpected healthcare costs can arise in retirement, such as uncovered drugs, isolation and concierge care.
    • Medicare Part D may not cover all drugs, potentially leading to high out-of-pocket expenses for uncovered medications.
    • Retirees may face unexpected travel costs for medical care based on retirement location or feel compelled to pay for concierge medical care.
  • All PSHB plans and Most FEHB plans offer Medicare Part D plans which are integrated with the regular plan formulary, thereby reducing one of the Journal’s identified risks.
  • Per BioPharma Dive,
    • “Hiroyuki Okuzawa holds an enviable position. The veteran Daiichi Sankyo executive took over as the Japanese drugmaker’s new CEO two months ago and inherited a company whose cancer medicines have, over the past half-decade, won it three of the pharmaceutical industry’s largest licensing deals.
    • “One of those medicines, the antibody-drug conjugate Enhertu, again took the spotlight at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting here, showing potential to become part of standard therapy for the frontline treatment of advanced breast cancer. It did the same in 2022 and 2024.
    • “Okuzawa can point to Enhertu and four other antibody-drug conjugates Daiichi Sankyo’s developing with AstraZeneca and Merck & Co. as proof of the strength of its research laboratories. By 2030, the company plansto have these five “ADCs” approved across more than 30 tumor types, which would allow it to treat nearly 400,000 cancer patients each year.
    • “We’d like to become one of the most important players in oncology,” said Okuzawa, noting aspirations to crack the top 10 companies by cancer drug sales. “Our senior leaders are now talking about not only top 10, but maybe top 5. We’re very much confident in our ADCs.”
  • Per Fierce Healthcare,
    • Neuroscience technology company Brooklyn Health is using artificial intelligence to target a fundamental problem in neurology and psychiatry: the flawed approach to mental health outcomes measurement.
    • The startup aims to modernize mental health measurement and scoring in central nervous system (CNS) drug development, an area of CNS research that faces limitations in objectivity and standardization. 
    • “Clinical interviews, the standard for symptom assessment, are fundamentally unreliable and imprecise,” said Anzar Abbas, Ph.D., a neuroscientist and founder of Brooklyn Health, in an interview.
    • “Brooklyn’s platform uses AI and digital phenotyping methods it developed to evaluate the quality and scoring of clinical interviews in real time.” * * *
    • “Brooklyn’s current focus in on drug development and central nervous system clinical trials to improve outcome measurement, essentially, how well a drug is working. But the company has ambitions beyond clinical trials to support outcome measurement across all forms of behavioral health delivery, including in-clinic psychiatric care and virtual mental health platforms.” 
  • The Washington Post reports on a smartphone app Death Clock AI that predicts how many years a user has left before beginning to push daisies as they day.

Thursday Report

David Ermer–Congress, COVID-19 testing, Federal employment benefits, Medical / Rx research, Mental health care, Obesity, OPM, U.S. Healthcare–
Photo by Josh Mills on Unsplash

From Washington, DC

  • Modern Healthcare reports,
    • “Senate Republicans are considering cuts to Medicare spending to help pay for Donald Trump’s signature legislative package.
    • “The GOP lawmakers are proceeding cautiously as they expand their search for savings to a popular health insurance program nearly all Americans rely upon in retirement, presenting the move as an effort to root out waste, fraud and abuse. That includes cutting payments to health insurance companies that run private Medicare plans.”
  • The Wall Street Journal adds,
    • “Humana, the second-biggest Medicare insurer, has told congressional staffers that it will support moves that would curtail billing practices worth billions in extra payments to the industry, according to staffers and a document viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
    • “The stance by a leader in the Medicare Advantage business—in which insurers offer privately run Medicare plans—represents an important development in a growing debate over how the companies are paid in the $460 billion program.
    • “Insurers get paid more for covering sicker patients in Medicare Advantage, giving companies an incentive to record more diagnoses. Humana has told congressional staffers that it is willing to back new limits on lucrative payments insurers can gain from diagnoses recorded by nurse practitioners who visit millions of enrollees in their homes, according to a one-page policy overview shared with congressional staffers.
    • “After the Journal published this article Thursday morning, the biggest Medicare insurer, UnitedHealth Group, posted a statement saying that it too would support a new limit on the use of diagnoses from home visits.”
  • Healio points out,
    • HHS has ended a government-funded program that distributed free COVID-19 tests to community organizations, a department spokesperson confirmed to Healio.
    • “With COVID-19 behaving more like the seasonal flu — rising and falling through the year — and tests widely available at retail stores nationwide, continued federal distribution is a significant waste of taxpayers’ dollars,” the spokesperson said. “The COVID-19 pandemic is over.” * * *
    • “The program differed from the mail-based program that was started and stopped several times throughout the pandemic and provided U.S. residents the opportunity to get free COVID-19 tests delivered directly to their homes.”
    • “HHS is in the process of purchasing a supply of tests that can distinguish between COVID-19 and influenza to have on hand for emergencies.”
  • Tammy Flanagan, writing in Govexec, discusses “Should you stay, or should you go? 10 tips for navigating your federal retirement decision. What to consider—financially and emotionally—before leaving government service.”

From the public health and medical research front,

  • Chief Healthcare Executive tells us,
    • Two years ago, the American Diabetes Association and The Leapfrog Group announced that they were joining forces to recognize hospitals for providing excellent care to patients with diabetes.
    • Now, the groups are announcing honors for a second batch of recipients, and they’re recognizing more than twice as many hospitals.
    • The American Diabetes Association and the Leapfrog Group have announced 36 hospitals as 2025 Recognized Leaders in Caring for People Living with Diabetes. A year ago, the groups recognized 17 hospitals [which are listed in the article].
    • The organizations say they want to give public recognition to hospitals, but they are also highlighting the importance of providing proper care for patients with diabetes.
    • Nearly one-third of patients admitted to hospitals (30%) are diagnosed with diabetes. Some of those are patients that are being treated in the hospital for another illness or injury.
  • The New York Times reports,
    • “The technology that powered Covid vaccines may also lead scientists to a cure for H.I.V. Using mRNA, Australian researchers said they were able to trick the virus to come out of hiding, a crucial step in ridding the body of it entirely.
    • “The research, published last week in Nature Communications, is still preliminary, and so far, has been shown to be successful only in a lab. But it suggests that mRNA has potential far beyond its use in vaccines as a means to deliver therapies against stubborn adversaries.
    • “Short for messenger RNA, mRNA is a set of instructions for a gene. In the case of Covid vaccines, the instructions were for a piece of the coronavirus. In the new study, they are for molecules key to targeting H.I.V.
    • “Dr. Sharon Lewin, director of the Cumming Global Center for Pandemic Therapeutics in Melbourne, who led the study, called mRNA a “miraculous” tool “to deliver things that you want into places that were not possible before.”
  • STAT News adds,
    • “People with diabetes who were taking GLP-1 drugs had a low but elevated risk of an age-related eye disease that can sometimes lead to blindness, a new observational study concludes, adding to a short list of concerns about eye health in people taking the powerful medications.
    • “The research, published Thursday in JAMA Ophthalmology, found that after one year, more than twice as many people on GLP-1 drugs developed neovascular age-related macular degeneration compared to similar people who were not taking the drugs. The risk was 0.2% in people taking GLP-1s and 0.1% in those who didn’t. Participants, drawn from health records of nearly 140,000 patients in Canada, were matched for socioeconomic status and a long list of conditions in addition to diabetes.” * * *
    • “Seeing such a clear signal in our study was striking,” co-author Reut Shor of the University of Toronto told STAT. “The absolute risk remains low, but the advanced form of AMD is a condition with serious implications for vision and quality of life. So a doubling of risk is clinically meaningful, particularly for vulnerable populations like older adults who may already be at elevated baseline risk.”
  • Per Health Day,
    • “A quality improvement strategy can improve electronic health record-based screening for depression and anxiety in people with epilepsy, according to a study published online April 16 in the Journal of Clinical and Translational Science.
    • “Heidi M. Munger Clary, M.D., M.P.H., from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and colleagues developed an implementation strategy for anxiety and depression screening among people treated at an epilepsy center. Implementation outcomes were evaluated five months postimplementation compared to two three-month preimplementation time frames.”
  • and
    • Dietary patterns seem to be associated with depressive symptoms, according to a study published online June 3 in BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health.
    • Gabriella Menniti, M.D., from Unity Health Toronto, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional study using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007 to 2018 data to examine the association between restrictive dietary patterns and depressive symptoms stratified by sex and body mass index.
  • Per MedPage Today,
    • High blood pressure (BP) awareness increasingly slipped under the radar since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to nationally representative health data.
    • Results from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) cycles, spanning the years 2013 to 2023, showed no improvement in the proportion of adults having hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol who self-reported being unaware and never diagnosed. In fact, hypertension awareness stood out for trending significantly in the wrong direction:
      • Adults with hypertension not realizing it: 14.6% in 2013-2014 to 17.8% in 2021-2023
      • Adults with diabetes not realizing it: 27.5% to 28.9%
      • Adults with high total cholesterol not realizing it: 11.5% to 11.9%
    • “Given declining cardiometabolic health in young adults, it is concerning that approximately one in three with hypertension, two in five with diabetes, and one in four with a high cholesterol level are unaware of having these conditions. Policy efforts to address these gaps in awareness are needed to prevent future cardiovascular events,” wrote Rishi Wadhera, MD, MPP, MPhil, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues in JAMA Cardiology“

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

  • Beckers Hospital Review informs us,
    • “Nonprofit hospitals are seeing margins improve as patient demand for care soars, according to Kaufman Hall’s “National Hospital Flash Report” released June 5.
    • “Kaufman Hall, a Vizient company, analyzed data from 1,300 hospitals collected by Strata Decision Technology for its monthly report.
    • “Hospital performance from January to April outpaced the first four months of 2024, largely driven by patient volume and hospital efficiency,” said Erik Swanson, managing director and group leader, data and analytics, at Kaufman Hall. “Operating room minutes, ED visits and inpatient revenue are trending upward, demonstrating a strong demand for services. A decline in average length of stay indicates that hospitals are triaging, treating, and discharging patients effectively and appropriately.”
  • Modern Healthcare reports,
    • “Nineteen critical access hospitals in Nebraska have formed a clinically integrated network, the third coalition of its kind created over the past three months.
    • “The Nebraska High Value Network aims to give rural hospitals the scale to lower costs, invest in new technology, improve treatment and expand value-based contracts while remaining independent. The network, announced Thursday, follows similar alliances in Montana, Ohio, Minnesota and North Dakota.” * * *
    • “Cibolo Health, the rural health advisory firm that helped launch these hospital collaborations, will manage daily operations of the Nebraska High Value Network. The network will include clinical and business integration committees led by member hospital executives who will oversee quality and administrative initiatives.”
  • Beckers Clinical Leadership lets us know,
    • “The District of Columbia has the most physicians per 100,000 population, while Idaho has the fewest specialist physicians and Nevada has the fewest primary care physicians per 100,000, KFF data found.
    • “KFF used data from Redi-Data to find the number of MD and DO active state-licensed physicians as of April 2025. Becker’s used Census data from 2025 to find the population of each state.
    • “There are 535,542 primary care physicians and 570,655 specialist physicians in the U.S. this year.
    • “[The article includes a chart with] the number of primary care and specialist physicians per 100,000 people in each state and the District of Columbia.”
  • Per MedTech Dive,
    • “Johnson & Johnson CFO Joseph Wolk, at the Bernstein investor conference last week, tempered the company’s expectation that it would suffer a $400 million tariff impact this year.
    • “Wolk gave the update after the U.S. and China reached a temporary agreement to pause escalating tariff rates between the two countries for 90 days.
    • “Weeks before the pause, J&J had predicted on an April’s earnings call that it would incur tariff-related costs of about $400 million this year, primarily affecting its medtech business.
    • “But Wolk, at the Bernstein conference, suggested the forecasted tariff hit could change in the future.
    • “Just based on the retaliatory China tariffs that we had in our $400 million assessment, that probably cuts the $400 million down to $200 million,” Wolk said, responding to a question about the shifting tariffs landscape. That does not include any impact that could result from the Trump administration’s Section 232 investigations, he said. The Trump administration has launched special investigations into the pharmaceutical and semiconductor industries that could lead to tariffs.
    • “In addition, Wolk noted, tariffs between the U.S. and Europe remain in flux.”