• World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the end of the COVID-19 pandemic is “in sight,” after weekly global deaths last week reached their lowest point since March 2020 and new weekly cases simultaneously declined by 28%. (NBC News) In a long-awaited Lancet Commission report released yesterday to U.N. member states, agencies and bodies, researchers wrote that the pandemic has been “a massive global failure at multiple levels,” noting that “too many governments” did not adhere to norms and were influenced by misinformation, resulting in disrespect and protests “against basic public health precautions.” (CNN)
• The House passed a bill that would modernize Medicare Advantage, requiring insurers in the network to opt in to electronic prior authorization programs, submit lists of items and services subject to prior authorization on a yearly basis and implement beneficiary protection rules. With more than 300 co-sponsors in the House, and backing from provider and payer groups, there’s optimism among lawmakers that the bill, which is called the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act, will sail through the Senate after the midterm elections. (Modern Healthcare)
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said during a Senate HELP Committee hearing that new monkeypox cases have slowed over the past few weeks, and while there are pockets of the country where the virus still spreads rapidly, the agency is approaching the overall slowdown “with cautious optimism.” (CNBC) Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle railed against the federal government’s response to the outbreak during the hearing, levying critiques over everything from the slow vaccine rollout during the initial stages of the spread to gaps in the availability of doses in hard-hit communities of color. (Politico)
• The CDC is moving forward with plans to monitor and test wastewater for polio in communities facing high risk of the disease, a move that comes after a man in Rockland County, N.Y., was diagnosed with the illness in July and the virus was subsequently detected in wastewater samples in nearby areas. (The Washington Post) The National Security Council has hosted several conversations in recent weeks with White House, CDC and Health and Human Services Department officials about polio, with the talks centering on improving vaccination rates and bolstering surveillance, two senior administration officials said. (Politico)

 

Worth watching today (all times local): 

• 10 a.m. Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission public meeting.
• 10 a.m. House Science subcommittee hearing: The Fountain of Youth? The Quest for Aging Therapies.
• 10 a.m. House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing: The Sustainable Development Goals and Recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for U.S. Policy.
• 11 a.m. House Ways and Means Committee hearing: Preparing America’s Health Care Infrastructure for the Climate Crisis.
• 12:30 p.m. Axios event on superbugs with Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) and the CDC’s Dr. Arjun Srinivasan.
• 2 p.m. House Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing: Examining Women Veterans’ Access to the Full Spectrum of Medical Care, Including Reproductive Healthcare, Through the VA
• 6 p.m. Stat News event: Rare Disease Research: A Prescription

6 charts that show how money and influence shaped the world’s Covid plan

Politico

How Bill Gates and his partners took over the global Covid pandemic response 

Erin Banco et al., Politico

Four health organizations, working closely together, spent almost $10 billion on responding to Covid across the world. But they lacked the scrutiny of governments, and fell short of their own goals, a POLITICO and WELT investigation found.

 

Pandemic fatigue threatens COVID-19, monkeypox funding requests 

Ariel Cohen, Roll Call 

“It isn’t a question of authority; you have the authority. It isn’t a question of money; you have been given astonishing amounts of money,” Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee ranking member Richard M. Burr, R-N.C., told top administration public health officials during a hearing Wednesday, noting the series of pandemic funding bills Congress has passed since the pandemic began in March 2020.

 

Johns Hopkins is reducing its COVID data tracking

Herb Scribner, Axios

Johns Hopkins University is scaling back how much and how frequently it tracks COVID-19 pandemic metrics due to a slowdown in local data reporting, the university confirmed to Axios.

 

Moderna open to supplying COVID vaccines to China, CEO says 

Reuters 

Moderna Inc has held talks with the Chinese government about supplying COVID-19 vaccines, but no decision has yet been made, CEO Stephane Bancel told Reuters on Wednesday.

 

Paul clashes with Fauci over child vaccinations 

Nathaniel Weixel, The Hill 

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Wednesday clashed with White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci about whether children who were previously infected with COVID-19 need to be vaccinated, the latest in his long-running feud with the nation’s top infectious diseases doctor.

FDA warns monkeypox could mutate if antiviral drug is overused 

Alexander Tin, CBS News 

The monkeypox virus is only one mutation away from evading a key antiviral drug being used to treat at-risk patients, federal health officials are now warning — and they’re urging doctors to be “judicious” in prescribing the sought-after treatment. 

 

New CDC data: STD rates shot up in 2021

Alice Miranda Ollstein, Politico

Syphilis rates jumped 26 percent last year — the biggest annual increase since the Truman administration — amid a broader rise in sexually transmitted infections that worsened considerably during the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

HIV Vaccine Still Years Away, Former AIDS Society Head Warns 

Michael Cohen, Bloomberg 

The use of messenger RNA to make vaccines for the first time during the coronavirus pandemic has reinvigorated a decades-long hunt for a shot to safeguard against HIV, but the development process will still be a protracted one, according to a leading South African scientist. 

 

Pfizer starts late-stage trial of mRNA-based flu vaccine 

Reuters 

Pfizer Inc said on Wednesday it had started a late-stage U.S. trial of an influenza vaccine involving 25,000 patients, among the first such studies for a messenger RNA flu shot.

 

Poll: Americans say politicians aren’t ‘informed enough’ to set abortion policy

Elena Schneider, Politico

Seven in 10 Americans don’t think politicians “are informed enough” about abortion to “create fair policies” — a position held by majorities of both Democrats and Republicans, according to the survey of more than 20,000 adults by The 19th, a news organization focused on gender and politics, and SurveyMonkey. A majority of Americans also said they think abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 35 percent said abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.

 

Daily multivitamin potentially linked with improved cognition in older adults in new study 

Jacqueline Howard, CNN 

Taking a daily multivitamin might be associated with improved brain function in older adults, a new study says, and the benefit appears to be greater for those with a history of cardiovascular disease.

 

Anti-abortion rights groups on calls for help: “We knew this was coming.” 

Sarah McCammon, NPR News

With abortion now illegal or severely restricted in a growing number of states, groups that help patients travel for the procedure as well as those who oppose abortion and offer assistance with unintended pregnancies, are reporting more calls for help.

 

Experts Question the Role of White Mulberry in the Death of Congressman’s Wife 

Samantha Young, Kaiser Health News 

Scientists, doctors, and pathologists are questioning the Sacramento County coroner’s conclusion that Lori McClintock’s death was related to white mulberry, a plant that has been used as an herbal remedy for centuries — and one that the coroner’s botanical consultant called “not toxic” in a letter to her office.

 

Judge temporarily blocks Ohio law banning most abortions

Julie Carr Smyth, The Associated Press

A judge temporarily blocked Ohio’s ban on virtually all abortions Wednesday, again pausing a law that took effect after federal abortion protections were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in June.

 

‘Disgusted and angry’: WVa clinic ends abortions post ban 

Leah Willingham, The Associated Press

A pregnant 16-year-old girl panicked when she got a call from the only abortion clinic in West Virginia telling her that her appointment had been canceled and she needed to book one out-of-state.

 

Forty percent of women in military have little to no abortion access, RAND study says 

Mike Brest, Washington Examiner 

Roughly 80,000 of the approximately 450,000 active-duty service members serve in states that have implemented or will soon implement additional abortion restrictions, per a new paper from RAND Corporation that was released Wednesday. The other 370,000 male soldiers and their families could also be affected by the push from conservative state legislatures to curb abortion access.

 

Are you an active couch potato? How sitting all day can erase a workout 

Gretchen Reynolds, The Washington Post 

The study, which involved more than 3,700 men and women in Finland, found that many dutifully exercised for a half-hour, but then sat, almost nonstop, for another 10, 11 or even 12 hours a day. These were the study’s active couch potatoes, and their blood sugar, cholesterol and body fat all were elevated.

 

Melanie Fontes Rainer Sworn in as HHS Civil Rights Office Head

Bloomberg Law

Melanie Fontes Rainer has been sworn in as director of the Office for Civil Rights in the US Department of Health and Human Services, the department said Wednesday.

 

Seth Rogen: Alzheimer’s care shouldn’t just be for rich guys like me 

Jim Saksa, Roll Call 

The actor and comedian came at Sen. Bob Casey’s invite along with his wife, screenwriter and director Lauren Miller Rogen. They were joined by actress Sarah Rafferty for a short panel discussion moderated by National Domestic Workers Alliance President Ai-jen Poo on the steep financial and psychological costs of caring for a loved one with dementia. The celebrities lent their fame to the Pennsylvania Democrat in support of his bill aimed at increasing Medicaid funding for home health aides.  

HHS requests info on explanation of benefits policy changes 

Maya Goldman, Modern Healthcare 

The government wants feedback on how to regulate the advanced explanation of benefits and cost estimate provisions of the surprise billing ban, several departments announced in a request for information issued Wednesday.

 

Medicare is found to give insufficient access to opioid addiction treatment

Andrew Joseph, Stat News 

Medicare is vastly underserving older Americans with opioid use disorder, with only 18% of enrollees with the diagnosis receiving recommended medication treatment, according to a new federal oversight report.

 

Here’s how much Blue Cross NC’s value-based care program saved last year

Frank Diamond, Fierce Healthcare 

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina touted major savings thanks to improved outcomes racked up by providers and the insurer through its Blue Premier program that relies heavily on value-based healthcare.

 

The Affordable Care Act’s biggest gender-based protections are under threat

Shefali Luthra, The 19th 

The Texas-based case examines the ACA’s guarantee that preventive medicine be fully covered. It could affect coverage of PrEP, breastfeeding counseling, STI screening and contraception.

House bill aims to get rid of 2023 Medicare cuts to physicians 

Robert King, Fierce Healthcare 

The Supporting Medicare Providers Act of 2022 takes aim at a 4.5% cut to payments that was included in the 2023 Physician Fee Schedule payment rule. Physician groups have clamored that the planned cuts are going to detrimentally affect practices, especially considering record inflation and the lingering COVID-19 pandemic. 

 

Lawmaker requests investigation into HCA over billing practices 

Rachel Cohrs, Stat News

A Democratic House lawmaker with oversight authority is calling for an investigation into the largest for-profit hospital chain in the country, HCA Healthcare.

 

Required Training Urged for Nursing Home Infection Specialists

Tony Pugh, Bloomberg Law 

A government watchdog agency is recommending that the Biden administration establish minimum training standards for infection prevention control specialists in nursing homes.

FDA’s Drug Industry Fees Fuel Concerns Over Influence 

Christina Jewett, The New York Times 

The pharmaceutical industry finances about 75 percent of the agency’s drug division, through a controversial program that Congress must reauthorize by the end of this month.

 

U.S. to spend more than $2B to launch Biden’s biomanufacturing initiative

Allison DeAngelis, Stat News 

The federal government is pledging more than $2 billion to launch President Biden’s new national biomanufacturing initiative, funding efforts to build or expand drug manufacturing sites in the U.S. and readying the raw materials needed to respond to a new pandemic.

 

Medical pioneers team up to launch new cell therapy biotech 

Allison DeAngelis, Stat News

Medical pioneers Carl June, Bruce Levine, and Drew Weissman have teamed up to launch a new biotech that hopes to use the industry’s buzziest technologies to boost the beleaguered cell therapy field. Their new venture, Capstan Therapeutics, launched Wednesday with a combined $165 million in seed and Series A financing.

 

Abortion Pill Maker Eyes Changed Judiciary as It Mulls New Suit

Ian Lopez, Bloomberg Law 

Generic abortion pill maker GenBioPro is searching for a new court to revive its battle against state restrictions, though the company’s hunt for a favorable judicial forum will prove complicated thanks to appointments from the Trump administration.

 

FDA, NIH Partner for Rare Neurodegenerative Disease Research

Bloomberg Law 

The Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health have launched a public-private partnership for rare neurodegenerative diseases, according to a Wednesday news release.

LifePoint teams up with Google Cloud on healthcare data 

Annie Burky, Fierce Healthcare 

Google Cloud has penned a multi-year strategic partnership with the healthcare company LifePoint Health in order to implement Google Cloud’s healthcare data engine in its hospitals.

 

DEA Investigating ADHD Telehealth Provider Done

Rolfe Winkler, The Wall Street Journal

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents have questioned people about telehealth company Done Global Inc.’s practices for prescribing controlled substances, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and people familiar with the inquiries.

Congress needs to preserve seniors’ access to pharmacist care

Ilisa BG Bernstein and Paul W. Abramowitz, Stat News

Covid-19 demonstrated how quickly the United States can mobilize to produce and distribute new tests, vaccines, and treatments for a previously unknown virus. The pandemic also highlighted significant inequalities and gaps in its health care system, with many rural and underserved urban areas lacking sufficient access to care.