Tuesday Tidbits

David Ermer–Congress, COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine, Medical / Rx research, Medicare, SDOH, U.S. Healthcare–
Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

From Washington, DC —

  • The House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce held a hearing today to examine the policies and priorities of the Department of Health and Human Services.
  • STAT News adds
    • “A key House Republican ramped up his criticism of pharmacy benefit managers Tuesday, calling for the government to dismantle companies that have consolidated drug supply chain operations.
    • “We should break these PBMs up,” House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said during an Education and Workforce Committee hearing. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra testified at the hearing on his department’s priorities. * * *
    • “Comer asked Becerra what the administration thinks should be done to reform PBMs.
    • “Transparency,” Becerra responded. “As they say, sunshine is the best disinfectant.”
  • STAT News reports from the Senate
    • “In another bid to lower prescription drug prices, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued a report showing that medicines developed with help from the National Institutes of Health have often cost Americans more than what is paid in other countries. And he called on the agency to reinstate a provision in federal law that would require companies to set reasonable prices when they license NIH inventions. * * *
    • “The report was issued as the Biden administration seeks confirmation of Monica Bertagnolli, who currently heads the National Cancer Institute and was nominated to run the NIH. But the confirmation cannot proceed without support from Sanders because, as chair of the Senate health committee, he controls when nominees are reviewed for positions in the Department of Health and Human Services.
    • “However, Sanders threatened that he will not proceed until the Biden administration provides a “comprehensive” plan to lower prescription drug prices. The White House reportedly responded by acknowledging that prescription drug costs remain high for many Americans and pointed to the Inflation Reduction Act, a recently enacted law that allows Medicare to negotiate prices for certain medicines.”
  • Fierce Healthcare reports
    • “The Biden administration is rolling out new flexibilities that aim to prevent procedural coverage losses as states work through a backlog of Medicaid eligibility determinations.
    • “The Department of Health and Human Services announced that managed care plans can take on a more direct role in assisting members in completing renewal forms. This extends to filling out certain parts of the paperwork on behalf of the member.
    • “In addition, states are able to delay administrative disenrollments by a month for further outreach, which will allow for greater time to fill out necessary forms and paperwork. The agency will also allow pharmacies and community-based organizations to assist in getting coverage reinstated for people who are still eligible but lost coverage for procedural reasons.
    • “Procedural disenrollment is a key concern during the Medicaid redetermination period, as many people who are at risk of losing coverage are not aware that the process is even going on. A recent analysis from KFF looking at early redetermination data found that in a number of states, large numbers of disenrollments are linked to administrative issues.”
  • and
    • “Industry hospital groups are pushing the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to consider a higher annual pay bump and to shed some light on why it believes the number of uninsured patients won’t be increasing during fiscal year 2024.
    • “In April, CMS released its proposed fiscal year 2024 Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems (IPPS) rule with a 2.8% increase in payments for the 12-month period beginning in October.
    • “The tentative pay raise for eligible participating hospitals translates to a collective $3.3 billion increase, CMS said at the time, and is based on a 3% projected hospital market basket update minus a 0.2 percentage point productivity adjustment.
    • “Comment letters submitted by the American Hospital Association (AHA) and other major hospital industry groups on Friday homed in on the 2.8% net update as “woefully inadequate” in light of cost pressures, such as inflation and labor spend, that have not subsided since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

From the public health front —

  • The Wall Street Journal tells us
    • “Longevity researchers have spent decades hunting for a magic pill to slow the aging process. But the best solution—at least for now—may be the simplest one: Move more.
    • “No single thing—whether it’s regular cold plunges or off-label drugs and supplements like metformin, rapamycin or taurine—has a track record that can match exercise’s in terms of protecting against age-related diseases and helping people get more from their later years, a vast body of research shows.
    • “The muscle and bone growth stimulated by exercise can help older adults maintain their independence, lessen fatigue and protect against bad injuries from falls, the leading cause of injury-related death among those over 65. 
    • “Regular exercise can reduce the risk of developing certain age-related diseases, including Alzheimer’s, cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. * * *
    • “Any amount of physical activity can help extend a person’s life, research suggests, especially for people who currently are doing very little. Federal guidelines recommend that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week. 
    • “A team of researchers who analyzed data on more than 650,000 adults over about a decade found that, compared with those who were inactive, those who got about half the government’s recommended physical activity added an average of 1.8 years to their lives. Those who exercised for roughly five to eight hours weekly gained an average of 4.2 years.
    • “When you think about that, in terms of how many years you’re gaining per how many minutes of activity, it’s a very sizable yield,” says Steven C. Moore, the study’s lead author and senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute.”
  • Healthcare Dive informs us
    • “Uber will soon be able to deliver groceries and other over-the-counter items to patients of its payer and provider clients, in the latest benefits expansion of its Uber Health platform.
    • “Uber Health, which already provides non-emergency medical transportation and prescription delivery, has been expanding beyond medical transportation to care coordination across multiple benefits, Catilin Donovan, the head of the division, said in an interview. Soon, provider users will have access to patient benefit data and eligibility files from their health insurers, so they can prescribe services they know are covered.
    • Uber is not yet giving specifics of Uber Health’s financial performance, but Uber Health grew bookings by 75% year over year in the first quarter. Donovan declined to say whether Uber Health was profitable.”
  • The Government Accountability Office released a watchdog report on law enforcement-oriented approaches to reducing deaths from drunk driving.
  • The All of Us campaign issued its June report.

From the medical research front,

  • The National Institutes of Health announced
    • “Repeat treatment with corticosteroid injections improved vision in people with persistent or recurrent uveitis-related macular edema better than two other therapies, according to results from a clinical trial funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI). Compared with methotrexate or ranibizumab intravitreal (in-the-eye) injections, the corticosteroid treatment achieved greater reductions in retinal swelling and was the only therapy in the study that improved vision. The report was published today in the journal Ophthalmology. NEI is part of the National Institutes of Health.”
  • The Cigna Newsroom relates,
    • “A new study by Cigna Healthcare found that site-of-care redirection is associated with favorable clinical outcomes and increased access and affordability for peg­filgrastim, an injection used to prevent infection in cancer patients. The results showed that patients experienced better outcomes when the injection was administered in a home setting rather than a nonhome setting. The study was recently published in the Journal of Clinical Pathways.
    • “This study shows that we can help improve health outcomes by providing cancer patients with treatment such as infusions in a setting where many are most comfortable – home,” said Dr. Scott Josephs, chief medical officer, Cigna Healthcare. “These findings confirm that home infusion of complex and expensive specialty medications presents new opportunities to maximize access, improve effectiveness, increase affordability, and enhance convenience for patients.”