• Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), the chair and ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, released a list of reforms on pharmacy benefit managers in what appears to be an attempt to get the measures included in a legislative package of drug pricing policies coming together in the chamber. (Stat News) Meanwhile, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced legislation that would extend a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act that caps insulin costs for Medicare beneficiaries at $35 per month to people with private insurance, a policy that the Biden administration has been prioritizing over the past several months. (CNBC)
• A coalition of insurer trade groups, including AHIP and the American Benefits Council, said in a letter to congressional Democrats that the majority of U.S. health insurers would not drop coverage of certain no-cost preventive services as a lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act requirement plays out in court. The letter, which was in response to a request from House and Senate Democratic health committee leaders, stated that “the overwhelming majority do not anticipate making changes to no-cost share preventive services, and do not expect disruptions in coverage of preventive care.” (The Wall Street Journal)
  • The letter is a positive sign for millions of people after a ruling from a federal judge in Texas eliminated the requirement for plans to offer the services to patients for free. In January, at least 2 in 5 people said they would not pay for 11 of 12 preventive services surveyed, some of which can be lifesaving, according to a Morning Consult survey.
• House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s newly released plan to raise the debt ceiling includes a provision that would require Medicaid recipients to work 80 hours per month to remain eligible for benefits, though the Democrat-controlled Senate is not likely to pass the legislation. A study published in Health Affairs on Medicaid work requirements, which the GOP sells as a way to encourage people to get jobs and pull themselves out of poverty, showed that a program in Arkansas led to 18,000 people losing their health coverage with no increase in employment before a judge stopped the program. (Axios)
• The Justice Department criminally charged 18 people, including some doctors, for various COVID-19-related health care fraud schemes that allegedly totaled $490 million in false billing federal programs, as well as charges for unnecessarily supplying people with unwanted COVID-19 tests and issuing fake vaccination cards. The DOJ said it was the largest coordinated law enforcement action in the United States that targeted COVID-19 pandemic-related fraud. (CNBC)

Worth watching today:

• The Supreme Court is expected to deliver a decision on the Biden administration’s emergency request to maintain the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone.
• HCA Healthcare Inc.’s first-quarter earnings conference call.
• HIMSS 2023 Global Health Conference & Exhibition continues.

The Health Costs of Gun Violence: How the U.S. Compares to Other Countries

The Commonwealth Fund

1 in 3 US households utilized Biden administration’s free at-home COVID tests: CDC

Julia Shapero, The Hill

The report found that 32.1 percent of households surveyed between April and May 2022 had used the government test kits. Just under 60 percent of households ordered the tests and about 94 percent were aware of the program, according to the CDC.

 

New COVID coronavirus subvariant Arcturus is now in L.A. 

Rong-Gong Lin Ii and Luke Money, Los Angeles Times 

Officially designated XBB.1.16, the subvariant also has attracted attention after anecdotal reports linking it to what has been a rare COVID-19 symptom: pink eye.

 

British Man Died of Rare Blood Syndrome Linked to AstraZeneca’s Vaccine

Michael Levenson, The New York Times

One expert said the blood-clotting syndrome was estimated to occur in one in 50,000 people under 40 and one in 100,000 over 40 who received AstraZeneca’s vaccine.

 

Alnylam Declines to Trim Covid Vax Patent Claims, Moderna Says

Peter Hayes, Bloomberg Law

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. rejected Moderna Inc.’s offer to drop its dismissal bid in a suit over Covid-19 vaccine patent royalties in exchange for Alnylam “forgoing damages” for Moderna’s sales to the US government under the earlier of two contracts, according to a federal court filing.

 

Suicides and suicide attempts by poisoning rose sharply among children and teens during the pandemic

Jen Christensen, CNN

The rate of suspected suicides and suicide attempts by poisoning among young people rose sharply during the Covid-19 pandemic, a new study says. Among children 10 to 12 years old, the rate increased more than 70% from 2019 to 2021.

Biden’s Likely NIH Pick to Face March-in, Covid Origin Questions

Jeannie Baumann, Bloomberg Law

President Joe Biden’s potential nominee to lead the NIH will likely face questions about Covid-19’s origins and seizing patents to lower drug prices, but research advocates say it won’t stop her from securing the top medical research post.

 

Cost of over-the-counter Narcan could put lifesaving drug out of reach for many, experts say

Berkeley Lovelace Jr., NBC News

The opioid overdose reversal drug will be available without a prescription later this year, but experts fear the price could be too high.

 

Supreme Court abortion pill ruling: Four ways it could go, and what it would mean

Nathaniel Weixel, The Hill

The decision could have sweeping ramifications about access to one of the two drugs used as part of the most common method of terminating a pregnancy.

 

Pence: ‘I fully support efforts to take the abortion pill off the market’

Julia Shapero, The Hill

Pence, who is considering a White House run in 2024, has been the only person in the field of current and potential Republican candidates to praise a ruling earlier this month that sought to ban the prescription and distribution of mifepristone nationwide.

 

European group that mails abortion pills to the U.S. says it saw enormous surge in requests this month

Chantal Da Silva, NBC News

A group in Europe that prescribes abortion pills to people in the U.S. online said it has seen a surge in requests since a federal judge in Texas issued a decision imperiling future access to mifepristone.

 

Altria faces first trial over claims it helped market Juul to teens

Brendan Pierson, Reuters

The San Francisco Unified School District says teachers and staff “have had to go to extreme lengths to respond to the ever-growing number of students using e-cigarettes on school grounds,” and is seeking to force Altria to pay for the cost of tackling the problem.

 

Tired of ‘dead end’ approach, herpes patients mobilize to demand government action

Jason Mast, Stat News

Although the lifelong infection has often been portrayed in popular culture as more punchline than disease, and ridiculed in media as disparate as “John Oliver” and “The Mindy Project” and “The Hangover,” advocates have in the last couple years pushed authorities to take it more seriously. It affects massive swaths of the population, they point out, and can have real consequences.

 

Virus Hunters Search for Diseases Supercharged by Climate Change

Riley Griffin, Bloomberg

As extreme weather events and warming temperatures threaten to create new and deadly pathogens, some of the biggest names in public health have joined forces to launch a new consortium, known as CLIMADE, aimed at thwarting climate-amplified diseases and epidemics.

 

America’s problem with managing chronic pain and the addiction crisis

Sabrina Moreno, Axios

The Food and Drug Administration’s attempts to manage the overdose crisis by reining in on the use of narcotics are weighing on patients with chronic pain, who say the result has been harder-to-fill prescriptions and heightened withdrawal and suicide risks.

 

The Fight Over a Drug That Is Great for Horses but Horrific for Humans

Jan Hoffman, The New York Times

Drug dealers are mixing xylazine, an animal tranquilizer relied on by veterinarians, into fentanyl, with deadly results. But controlling it is tricky.

 

Ageism, stigma hinders response to senior alcohol use disorder

Jessie Hellmann, Roll Call

Older adults are increasingly drinking excessively and dying of alcohol-related deaths, and the problem has been compounded by ageism, stigma, a lack of interest from policymakers and health care providers and few age-appropriate treatment options, experts say.

 

North Dakota governor signs veto-proof law restricting transgender health care

The Associated Press

North Dakota’s Republican Gov. Doug Burgum signed a bill into law that restricts transgender health care in the state, immediately making it a crime to give gender-affirming care to people younger than 18.

 

Minnesota could soon join these other states in protecting transgender care this year

Dana Ferguson et al., NPR News

Friday, the Minnesota Senate will vote on a House-approved bill that would prevent state courts or officials from complying with child removal requests, extraditions, arrests or subpoenas related to gender-affirming health care that a person receives or provides in Minnesota.

 

Kansas governor vetoes 4 anti-trans bills as overrides loom

John Hanna, The Associated Press

Gov. Laura Kelly rejected restrictions for transgender people in using restrooms, locker rooms and other public facilities; limits on where they are housed in state prisons and county jails; and even restrictions on rooming arrangements for transgender youth on overnight school trips.

States fighting scammers as Medicaid redeterminations resume

Nona Tepper, Modern Healthcare

Scammers are betting states’ best efforts won’t be enough and are calling and texting Medicaid enrollees in some areas to say that unless they pay as much as $500, they will lose their insurance, said Lindsey Browning, director of Medicaid programming at the National Association of Medicaid Directors, which represents state officials.

 

Express Scripts aims to boost rural independent pharmacists

Paige Minemyer, Fierce Healthcare

The pharmacy benefit management giant said Thursday that the IndependentRx Initiative is designed to build on a slew of recently announced updates to its model that put a focus on greater transparency.

HCA raises 2023 forecasts on improved staffing

Reuters

A spate of resignations by healthcare staff due to pandemic-related fatigue left hospitals high and dry, forcing them to pay premiums to hire workers. But the costs have begun to normalize as staff shortages are minimized and workflows optimized.

 

FTC countersues HCA, Louisiana hospital system to stop acquisitions

Bob Herman, Stat News

The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday sued two hospital systems, HCA Healthcare and LCMC Health, asking a judge for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that would stop LCMC from absorbing its newly acquired hospitals from HCA.

 

HHS unveils database on hospice, home health ownership

Lauren Berryman, Modern Healthcare

The department, through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, unveiled a public database Thursday containing ownership information on more than 6,000 hospices and 11,000 home health agencies that receive Medicare reimbursement. The announcement builds on the Biden administration’s efforts to promote competition and protect consumers.

 

The cost of senior care is rising while caregivers are ‘drowning’ without help

Amanda Musa, CNN

About 53 million US adults are caregivers, according to a 2020 report from AARP. Sixty-three percent of US caregivers who look after adults said the person they were looking after needed care because of “long-term physical conditions,” the report says.

 

Hospitals look for immediate return on investments in tough operating environment

Rebecca Pifer, Healthcare Dive

Hospitals are curbing non-essential expenses in today’s tricky operational environment, but they’re still looking to invest — just with more due diligence and in companies that can immediately save money or add revenue, executives said at the annual HIMSS conference in Chicago.

 

Diversity in medicine can save lives. Here’s why there aren’t more doctors of color

Maria Godoy, NPR News

The U.S. desperately needs more Black and Hispanic doctors, research shows. But financial pressures and discrimination can keep young people from even applying to med school.

 

What for-profit systems’ top execs earned in 2022

Caroline Hudson, Modern Healthcare

Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare executives saw the biggest drops in compensation—nearly 48% for CEO Saum Sutaria and about 62% for Chief Financial Officer Daniel Cancelmi, who will retire at the end of 2023. Executives at Encompass Health, based in Birmingham, Alabama, and specializing in post-acute care, fared the best of the group, with an approximately 6% drop in CEO Mark Tarr’s compensation and just over a 7% decrease for CFO Doug Coltharp.

U.S. bankruptcy judge halts 40,000 Johnson & Johnson talc and cancer lawsuits

Annika Kim Constantino, CNBC

The decision is part of J&J’s second attempt to settle thousands of talc cases in bankruptcy proceedings. J&J in 2021 spun off its subsidiary, LTL Management, to carry its talc-related liabilities and file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections.

 

Lilly expects US Medicare to reverse course, fully cover Alzheimer’s drugs

Deena Beasley and Julie Steenhuysen, Reuters

Lilly plans to release results from a trial of its experimental amyloid-targeting drug donanemab before the end of June. More study data on Leqembi, a rival drug from partners Eisai Co. Ltd. and Biogen Inc. is also expected in the coming months.

 

Appeals court sides with Amgen in patent fight over psoriasis drug Otezla

Kristin Jensen, BioPharma Dive

The case concerns Otezla, a psoriasis and arthritis treatment that Amgen agreed to buy from Celgene for $13.4 billion before Celgene’s takeover by Bristol Myers Squibb in 2019. After acquiring the medicine, Amgen also took over a raft of lawsuits Celgene started in 2018 to protect Otezla from generic competition.

Apple Plans iPhone Journaling App in Expansion of Health Initiatives

Aaron Tilley, The Wall Street Journal

The software will compete in a category of so-called journaling apps, such as Day One, which lets users track and record their activities and thoughts. The new Apple product underscores the company’s growing interest in mental health.

 

Moderna, IBM turn to quantum computing in hunt for new mRNA medicines

Kyle LaHucik, Endpoints News

Moderna plans to build a “quantum-ready workforce,” in CEO Stéphane Bancel’s words, with the help of global tech conglomerate IBM, the companies said Thursday morning.

 

HCA Healthcare adds AI voice dictation from Augmedix

Brock E.W. Turner, Modern Healthcare

The Nashville, Tennessee-based HCA Healthcare will add dictation software for its acute care clinicians. The AI solution will convert clinician-patient conversations into medical notes that physicians and nurses can review before they’re transferred in real time to the electronic health record system.