• The Biden administration plans to end COVID-19 vaccination requirements for federal workers and contractors, health care workers, most international travelers and Head Start educators on May 11, when the nation’s coronavirus pandemic public health emergency declaration ends. The requirements, which were ordered by President Joe Biden in late 2021, have been challenged in court and criticized by Republicans — and more recently public health experts and Democrats — for being unnecessary. (The Washington Post)
• The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is scheduled to markup legislation today to increase oversight of pharmacy benefit managers, but the pharmaceutical middlemen will get some relief as senators have pushed back the implementation date of the reforms to November 2025 at the earliest, a delay of at least 10 months, according to documents obtained by Stat News. (Stat News) Meanwhile, Reps. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) and Cory Mills (R-Fla.) introduced a bill last week that would require drug manufacturers to notify the Food and Drug Administration if they have experienced six consecutive weeks of increased product demand to help the agency better respond to potential drug shortages. (Endpoints News)
• The federal government has concluded that hospitals in Missouri and Kansas that refused to provide an emergency abortion for a woman who was experiencing life-threatening premature labor broke federal law, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press, the first investigation of its kind that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has publicly acknowledged since the fall of Roe v. Wade. The findings come as new state laws that ban or severely restrict abortion access compete with a federal requirement for doctors to provide abortions when a person’s life is at risk. (The Associated Press)
• A bipartisan group of attorneys general from 23 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands have asked for CMS to provide full coverage of antibody treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. The letter, which was sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, is the latest move in an ongoing fight for the federal government to expand coverage for new, costly treatments. (CNBC)

Worth watching today:

• Milken Institute Global Conference continues. Today’s speakers include Planned Parenthood Chief Executive Alexis McGill Johnson, Mayo Clinic CEO Gianrico Farrugia and Susan Winckler, CEO of the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA.

3 in 10 Americans Say They Know Someone Affected by Opioid Addiction Amid Surge in U.S. Drug Overdose Deaths

Morning Consult

Why viral reservoirs are a prime suspect for long COVID sleuths

Will Stone, NPR News

Scientists are turning up more evidence that some people may harbor a viral reservoir in the wake of COVID-19. What could that tell us about long COVID?

Bird Flu Detectives Seek Clues to Next Global Pandemic

Michelle Fay Cortez and Suzi Ring, Bloomberg

Scientists are using the lessons learned from Covid to track new mutations of a virus that experts say is even more dangerous

Will COVID’s Spring Lull Last?

Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic

Things look calm right now. They may even stay that way—but we won’t know for sure for a good long while.

Free Covid-19 tests aren’t guaranteed after May 11, but there’s still time to stock up

Deidre McPhillips, CNN

For the past two years, the federal government has required private insurance companies to cover up to eight Covid-19 tests each month. Packs of home tests can be found at pharmacies and other local retailers, and costs may be covered upfront or reimbursed by insurance plans.

New DEA requirements may limit access to buprenorphine, a popular drug for opioid recovery

Ken Alltucker, USA Today

With the public health emergency set to end May 11, the Drug Enforcement Administration proposal would require people to visit a doctor or clinic within 30 days of getting a telehealth prescription for buprenorphine.

More than 30 percent of LGBTQ youth attribute poor mental health to anti-LGBTQ laws

Brooke Migdon, The Hill

Nearly one in three LGBTQ young people said their mental health is poor either “most of the time” or “always” because of policies and legislation that takes aim at their sexual orientation or gender identity, according to Monday’s report, which analyzed survey responses from more than 28,000 LGBTQ young people ages 13 to 24 across the U.S.

Emergency Room Visits Have Risen Sharply for Young People in Mental Distress, Study Finds

Matt Richtel, The New York Times

From 2011 to 2020, the proportion of mental health-related visits to emergency rooms by young people roughly doubled, health experts report.

Missouri gender-affirming care restrictions temporarily blocked by court

Oriana González, Axios

A Missouri state court on Monday temporarily stayed an order by the state’s attorney general imposing restrictions on gender-affirming care for transgender youth and adults from taking effect.

Oklahoma governor signs gender-affirming care ban for kids

Sean Murphy, The Associated Press

Oklahoma on Monday became the latest state to ban gender-affirming medical care for minors as Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill that makes it a felony for health care workers to provide children with treatments that can include puberty-blocking drugs and hormones.

For Spanish-speaking Latinas, language gaps — real or perceived — tied to discrimination during labor

Ambar Castillo, Stat News

The research question that pursued Jessica Valdez, an OB-GYN resident physician at the University of California, San Francisco, stemmed from her mother’s womb: How important is it to a birthing woman’s experience to be seen by health care providers who share her primary language?

Oregon lawmakers advance bill on abortion, trans health care

Claire Rush, The Associated Press

Oregon lawmakers have advanced a sweeping bill intended to protect abortion and gender-affirming health care for transgender people by boosting legal safeguards and expanding access and insurance coverage.

Abortion Clinics Ineligible to Challenge Six-Week Ban, Ohio Says

Eric Heisig, Bloomberg Law

Parties must have a “sufficiently close relationship” to the patient to sue on their behalf and can only do so if there is a compelling reason they couldn’t sue on their own behalf, the state’s top law enforcement official argued in a brief filed in front of the Ohio Supreme Court.

Australia cracks down on vaping, accuses Big Tobacco of targeting youths

Rachel Pannett and Frances Vinall, The Washington Post

Australia, which will prohibit recreational vaping, already bans children from purchasing e-cigarettes. But current rules are loosely enforced, researchers say.

Health systems in limbo as Medicaid redeterminations get underway

Alex Kacik and Caroline Hudson, Modern Healthcare

Through the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government allowed people to remain on Medicaid even when their income should’ve excluded them from the program. The decision benefited providers, which saw fewer uninsured patients, and insurers that have large contracts with states to administer Medicaid coverage.

GOP, Democrats Clash Over Linking Aid for Poor Americans to Work

Andrew Duehren et al. The Wall Street Journal

Proposed restrictions on federal aid are among several demands Republicans are making in exchange for raising the nation’s borrowing limit.

CVS’ Karen Lynch was the highest paid payer CEO last year. Here’s what her competitors earned

Paige Minemyer, Fierce Healthcare

CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch takes the top spot in our annual look at compensation for CEOs at the six major national insurers, bringing in $21.3 million in total compensation last year, according to annual proxy filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Michigan, Vermont Blue Cross plans to partner

Nona Tepper, Modern Healthcare

Under the proposed agreement, the Michigan insurer will acquire the the Vermont company’s coveted Blue Cross and Blue Shield license, said Lynda Rossi, executive vice president of strategy, innovation and public affairs at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. 

California contract dispute mirrors national trends

Alex Kacik, Modern Healthcare

Stalemates are increasingly common between providers and insurers as providers try to set multiyear contracts that account for providers’ higher-than-average labor and supply costs, looming Medicare reimbursement cuts and other financial pressures.

‘A crisis in nursing is upon us,’ nursing survey shows, even after the pandemic

Jen Christensen, CNN

The biannual survey of 18,000 nurses, published Monday, points to what AMN Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Cole Edmonson called a “perfect storm” of problems for the profession that could leave the US health care industry without the nurses it needs.

Report on medical access finds one-third of Black Americans live in ‘cardiology deserts’

Elaine Chen, Stat News

About 16.8 million Black Americans — roughly 1 in 3 — live in counties with little or no access to heart specialists, according to a report from GoodRx, a telehealth company that provides drug discounts and also researches health trends.

Cardiac care is more intense in hospitals, study finds

Tina Reed, Axios

Heart patients were more likely to receive a high-intensity, hospital-based intervention when their doctor was employed by a hospital compared to patients whose care was managed by an independent cardiologist, a study published Monday in Health Affairs found.

Community Paramedics Don’t Wait for an Emergency to Visit Rural Patients at Home

Arielle Zionts, KFF Health System

Community paramedicine is expanding nationwide, including in rural areas, as health care providers, insurers, and state governments recognize its potential to improve health and save money.

Millions Are Stuck in Dental Deserts, With No Access to Oral Health Care

Lauren Peace, Tampa Bay Times

Vulnerable and marginalized communities are getting left behind in dental deserts, where patient volume exceeds provider capacity or too few dentists are willing to serve the uninsured or those on Medicaid.

Biogen prices new ALS drug at more than $14K per dose

Nicole DeFeudis, Endpoints News

At 14 doses the first year and 13 doses each year after, Qalsody amounts to more than $199,200 the first year and nearly $185,000 in subsequent years, a spokesperson confirmed.

Gilead, US square off in billion-dollar HIV drug patent trial

Blake Brittain, Reuters

Gilead Sciences Inc is headed to trial in Delaware federal court this week to fight claims that it owes the U.S. government a share of multibillion-dollar profits from its HIV-prevention drug regimen.

Prometheus reportedly drew a competing AbbVie bid, initial partner interest from 16 pharmas before inking $10.8B Merck buyout

Andrew Dunn, Endpoints News

Sunil Patel, Merck’s head of business development and licensing, rang up McKenna on Jan. 19, just a week after McKenna had chatted with execs from Merck, along with five other mid- to large-cap pharma companies at JPM in San Francisco.

Struggling Biogen paid its 2 CEOs more than $57M last year, including $30.5M to new chief Chris Viehbacher

Kevin Dunleavy, Fierce Pharma

The former CEO at Sanofi, who was hired by Biogen in November, was compensated $30.5 million last year, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The figure will make him one of the highest-paid execs in the industry in 2022. Also on the list will be the man Viehbacher replaced, Michel Vounatsos, who collected $26.6 million in total pay in 2022.

Labeling error forces Teva to recall 13 lots of fentanyl buccal tablets

Kevin Dunleavy, Fierce Pharma

A labeling problem has forced Teva to recall 13 lots of fentanyl buccal tablets. Safety updates on the product insert were omitted, leaving the possibility of misuse that “could lead to life-threatening adverse events,” the FDA said.

New AI system could help people who lost their ability to speak

Sara Moniuszko, CBS News

Researchers have developed a decoder that can reveal stories in people’s minds, sparking hope that this can one day help people who have lost the ability to speak due to strokes or ALS.

Amazon closes Halo health tracking unit as wave of tech layoffs continues

Nick Paul Taylor, MedTech Dive

Amazon was a late arrival in the competitive wearables market. Launched in 2020, the company’s first device, Halo Band, was a screenless, wrist-worn wearable that tracked basic health and activity metrics such as steps, heart rate and sleep time.

CMS designation hints at virtual reality reimbursement

Brock E.W. Turner, Digital Health Business & Technology

Virtual reality companies in this area have three options as the market becomes more defined: They can appeal to providers on the clinical impact and cost savings of their solutions, market products directly to consumers or seek regulatory and payer approvals. Getting regulatory approval will be a time-consuming process, experts say.

A decoder that uses brain scans to know what you mean — mostly

Jon Hamilton, NPR News

Scientists have decoded streams of words in the brain using artificial intelligence and the data from MRI scans.