Democratic primary elections

• Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg released a health care plan focused on rural America, proposing “Medicare for All Who Want It” as a pathway to universal coverage for all rural Americans, using loan forgiveness plans to grow the workforce and raising Medicare reimbursement for providers in underserved areas, among other things. 

Drug pricing

• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finalized a set of rules establishing when Medicare will cover the cost of CAR-T therapies, which cost roughly $375,000 to $475,000, such as when the treatment is administered in health care facilities compliant with the Food and Drug Administration’s special safety rules.

Trump administration

• President Donald Trump is scheduled to deliver a speech next month introducing his plan to restructure the health care system, according to White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, and it is expected to include the international pricing index — a proposal to link drug prices in the United States with prices in comparable nations. Conway has already met with House Republicans about the plan.

• Canada’s pharmaceutical lobby, Innovative Medicines Canada, is pushing the federal government to act quickly to prevent drug shortages as the U.S. weighs drug importation as a method to reduce domestic prices, according to documents viewed by a media organization. 

Health IT

• Apple Inc. and Eli Lilly & Co. are working in collaboration to add features to the iPhone and Apple Watch that could detect early signs of cognitive impairments such as Alzheimer’s, and the companies, which partnered with health tech startup Evidation Health Inc., said the results show potential for differentiating people with mild dementia and those without symptoms. 

• Electronic health records vendor Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc. says it has tentatively agreed to a $145 million settlement with the Justice Department concerning an investigation into Allscripts-owned Practice Fusion, which had been flagged for potentially violating anti-kickback statutes and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. 

• Amazon.com Inc.’s dispute with e-prescriptions company Surescripts LLC continues to escalate as Surescripts, which accused Amazon-subsidiary PillPack of using a third-party service to inappropriately access medical data, has referred the allegation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Earnings

• CVS Health Corp. posted net income of $1.93 billion in its second-quarter earnings report, up from a $2.56 billion loss in the same quarter of 2018. Revenue also grew 35 percent to $63.43 billion, largely attributable to the acquisition of health insurer Aetna Inc.

• In its second-quarter earnings report, Mallinckrodt PLC posted net income of $6.8 million, down from $15.6 million in the same quarter of last year, with the reduction attributable to a $113.5 million impairment charge related to a drug rejected by U.S. regulators. 

• Insulin manufacturer Novo Nordisk A/S reported $2.02 billion in profit in its second-quarter earnings report, up from $1.83 billion in the same quarter of last year, with sales rising 9.6 percent to $4.5 billion. 

Federal agencies

• According to an audit by the Veterans Affairs Department’s internal watchdog, 31 percent of claims for emergency services at non-VA facilities that the agency denied or rejected were inappropriately processed, putting veterans at risk for unfair medical bills.

• According to a new report from the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, dozens of complaints between August 2017 and January 2019 about fraud, waste and abuse in KanCare, the state’s privatized program that oversees Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, were directed to an unmonitored, defunct health department email account. 

• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ final rule for fiscal 2020 payment rates for hospital inpatient services and long-term care hospitals will bolster rural hospitals’ wage index by capping any payment cuts at 5 percent beginning Oct. 1 and, according to CMS Administrator Seema Verma, increasing Medicare payments in every state. 

• The Food and Drug Administration has directed Mighty Vapors LLC, Liquid Labs USA LLC, V8P Juice International LLC and Hookah Imports Inc. to remove from market 44 of their flavored liquids for electronic cigarettes and hookah tobacco products that have not won federal approval. 

• The FDA said it has received 92 reports of people having seizures after using vaping products since it announced an investigation into the connection between seizures and electronic cigarettes in April, bringing the total number of cases under review to 127. 

Pharmaceutical industry

• Novartis AG said that it was aware of discrepancies in data concerning its $2 million gene therapy treatment, Zolegensma, as the drugmaker brought its product to the FDA for approval but that it had decided not to share that information with the agency until June 28, after completing an internal investigation. 

• Opioid distributors McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Corp. verbally offered a $10 billion settlement to resolve allegations they helped ignite the opioid epidemic, according to people aware of the negotiations between the companies and state attorneys general, which have been ongoing for two years. The National Association of Attorneys General responded with a proposed $45 billion payment, according to the sources.

• Novo Nordisk A/S, the largest producer of diabetes treatments in the world, has purchased a North Carolina factory to assist the drugmaker in manufacturing and packaging its new type 2 diabetes treatment, a once-a-day tablet that stimulates the production of insulin. 

• According to federal health officials, in 2018, U.S. retail pharmacies dispensed 557,000 prescriptions of the overdose-reversal drug naloxone, which was twice the amount dispensed in 2017, and what experts said likely helped stunt the rise of overdose deaths for the first time in almost 30 years. 

• Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) will discuss rural health at the Bipartisan Policy Center on Tuesday.

• The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission meets Sept. 5-6 in Washington, D.C.

1) Psychological association warns against blaming mass shootings on mental illness
Nathaniel Weixel, The Hill

2) Trump to Unveil Drug Price Index in September Health-Care Speech
Justin Sink, Bloomberg

3) White House Weighs September Rollout of Health Plan
Stephanie Armour and Andrew Restuccia, The Wall Street Journal

4) Medicare will cover pioneering cancer treatment nationwide
Laurie McGinley, The Washington Post

5) Diabetes drug maker Novo Nordisk buys pill factory in North Carolina
Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Reuters

6) FDA investigating 127 reports of seizures after vaping
Angelica LaVito, CNBC

7) How Pete Buttigieg would overhaul rural health
Brianna Ehley, Politico

8) Short-term health plans spend little on medical care
Shelby Livingston, Modern Healthcare

9) Drug industry urges Canada to act early on U.S. import plan
Allison Martell, Reuters

10) 23andMe had devastating news about my health. I wish a person had delivered it
Dorothy Pomerantz, Stat News