From Washington, DC

• The Wall Street Journal reports,
  • “The Republican-led House approved stopgap spending legislation to avert a government shutdown and provide more than $100 billion in disaster and farm aid, sending the measure to the Senate just hours ahead of the midnight deadline.
  • “Lawmakers voted 366 to 34 to approve the proposal, well above the two-thirds threshold needed under special fast-track procedures. 
  • “The bill marked House Speaker Mike Johnson’s third attempt to combine a three-month funding extension with emergency aid this week, after wrestling with competing demands from President-elect Donald Trump, his billionaire efficiency czar Elon Musk, internal GOP critics and Democrats.”

• Govexec adds,
  • “The continuing resolution now heads to the Senate and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has indicated he is supportive of the bill. The White House has told lawmakers President Biden will sign it. Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he expected his chamber could move the bill before the midnight deadline.” 

• Fierce Healthcare lets us know,
  • “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Friday that 64 Part B drugs will have a reduced price for Medicare patients at the pharmacy counter in the first quarter of 2025.
  • “CMS said patients may save between $1 and $10,818 per day on co-insurance costs for the Part B drugs included on the list.
  • “As part of the Inflation Reduction Act, drug manufacturers must give rebates to the federal government for single source drugs and biological products, including certain biosimilar biological products, whose price increased more than the rate of inflation. The list of discounted drugs changes each quarter.
  • “The 64 drugs (PDF) with reduced co-insurance costs for Medicare patients include Kepivance, which treats mouth sores caused by chemotherapy, Talvey, used to treat patients with multiple myeloma, and Yescarta for recurrent or treatment-resistant blood cancer.”

• Per HHS press releases,
  • “Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) launched the Let’s Get Real campaign to cut through the noise of misinformation and give parents the balanced information they need about childhood vaccines. The campaign provides verifiable facts so parents can get the information they want to make informed vaccine decisions, and it shares stories from doctors and peers on why most of us rely on vaccines to protect our children. Let’s Get Real also offers tools for health care professionals with pediatric patients.”
• and
  • “Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Office of Global Affair’s (OGA) U.S. Section of the U.S. – Mexico Border Health Commission (Commission), released Healthy Border 2030 – PDF.
  • “This framework includes an assessment of health data and priority issues that affect the health of the population on the U.S. side of the border as well as high-level strategic recommendations for federal, state and local governments, and community-based stakeholders on how to take action to address them. Building on previous reports in 2010 and 2020, the recommendations in the 2030 framework focus on the U.S. context and consider, when feasible, the importance of a binational approach in improving the health and well-being for populations along the U.S. southern border.”

In Food and Drug Administration News,

• The New York Times reports,
  • “The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the weight loss drug Zepbound to treat obstructive sleep apnea. It is the first prescription medication approved to treat the common sleep disorder.
  • ‘The drug’s maker, Eli Lilly, announced that the agency authorized Zepbound for people with obesity and moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea. Millions of Americans have the condition, and many of them also have obesity. The company said that the drug should be used with a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity. 
  • “When people have obstructive sleep apnea, they struggle to breathe properly during sleep and can wake up gasping for air. If untreated, obstructive sleep apnea raises the risk for a range of health issues, including cardiovascular problems, diabetes, stroke and dementia.
  • “In June, two studies found that people who took the drug saw a greater improvement in sleep apnea symptoms, including fewer interruptions in sleep, than those who took a placebo. Eli Lilly funded both studies.”

From the public health and medical research front,

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today,
  • “COVID-19 activity is increasing from low levels in some areas of the nation. Seasonal influenza activity is moderate and continues to increase across the country. RSV activity is high and continues to increase in most areas of the United States, particularly in young children.
  • “COVID-19
    • “COVID-19 activity, including wastewater levels, emergency department visits, and laboratory percent positivity, is increasing from low levels in some areas of the nation. Based on CDC modeled estimates of epidemic growth, we predict COVID-19 illness to increase in the coming weeks as it usually does in the winter.
    • “There is still time to benefit from getting your recommended immunizations to reduce your risk of illness this season, especially severe illness and hospitalization.
    • “CDC expects the 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine to work well for currently circulating variants. There are many effective tools to prevent spreading COVID-19 or becoming seriously ill.
  • “Influenza
    • “Seasonal influenza activity continues to increase across the country. Additional information about current influenza activity can be found at: Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report | CDC
  • “RSV
    • “RSV activity is high and continues to increase in most areas of the United States, particularly in young children. Emergency department visits and hospitalizations are increasing in children and hospitalizations are increasing among older adults in some areas.
  • “Vaccination
    • “Vaccination coverage with influenza and COVID-19 vaccines are low among U.S. adults and children. Vaccination coverage with RSV vaccines remains low among U.S. adults. Many children and adults lack protection from respiratory virus infections provided by vaccines.
  • “Season Outlook
    • “As of December 19, CDC continues to expect the fall and winter virus season will have a similar or lower peak number of combined hospitalizations from COVID-19, influenza, and RSV compared to last year. However, peak hospitalizations from all respiratory viruses remain likely to be much higher than they were before the emergence of COVID-19.
    • “CDC has updated the outlook this week. This update uses historical data and COVID-19 scenario modeling to assess when peak hospital demand may occur nationally and regionally. Additional updates will occur if there are big changes in how COVID-19, flu, or RSV are spreading. Read the entire 2024-2025 Respiratory Season Outlook- December Update. (12/20/2024).”

• The University of Minnesota’ CIDRAP tells us based on two new studies that “6% of US adults have long COVID, and many have reduced quality of life.”

• Per Health Day,
  • “The sicker a senior becomes, the more likely they’re going to develop kidney problems on top of their other health challenges.
  • “A new study published Dec. 17 in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS) shows that as a person’s number of chronic illnesses increases, a decline in their kidney function becomes both more likely and steeper.
  • “This is particularly true of people with many heart problems, and people with a large number of chronic illnesses that require lots of medication and treatments.
  • “Our findings emphasize the importance of a comprehensive assessment that considers not only the overall chronic disease burden, but also the complex interplay between diseases when evaluating the risk of kidney function decline in older adults,” said lead researcher Giorgi Beridze, a doctoral student in geriatric epidemiology with the Karolinska Institute.”
• and
  • “Knee arthritis could become easier to detect and diagnose thanks to a new test involving the lubricating fluid inside the joint.
  • “A new study shows that arthritis of the knee often is diagnosed in its late stages, after cartilage has degraded and bones are rubbing against each other in the joint.
  • “At that point, it’s tough to tell whether knee arthritis has been caused by natural wear and tear, or if an inflammatory disease is behind a person’s joint problems, the researchers noted in a new study published Dec. 18 in the Journal of Orthopaedic Research.
  • “But a new test involving two markers found in the synovial fluid of patients’ joints might be able to help docs suss all this out more promptly.
  • “The test “addresses an unmet need for objective diagnosis of osteoarthritis to improve clinical decision-making and patient outcomes,” researcher Daniel Keter with CD Diagnostics, a division of Zimmer Biomet, said in a journal news release.”

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

• HCPLAN shares summaries of reports presented at its recent summit.

• Kaufmann Hall points out four trends to help health systems accelerate their 2025 strategies.

• The Wall Street Journal reports,
  • “Novo Nordisk’s big bet to improve on the success of its weight-loss drug franchise hit a stumbling block Friday, wiping out nearly $100 billion of the drugmaker’s stock-market value.
  • “The Danish company—which had become Europe’s biggest by market capitalization on booming sales of Ozempic and Wegovy—reported disappointing results of a closely watched clinical trial testing an experimental anti-obesity treatment that the company hoped would be its next big weight-loss product.
  • ‘The two-drug combination, dubbed CagriSema, helped study volunteers lose a significant amount of weight, some 22.7% on average after more than a year’s treatment. And the drug might still make it to market. But the magnitude of weight loss it induced in the study fell short of the company’s and investors’ expectations.”

• The American Hospital News informs us,
  • “After incurring damage from Hurricane Helene on Sept. 27, Baxter reports that as of Dec. 19, nearly all of its manufacturing lines in its North Cove, N.C., facility have been restarted. The producer of IV and peritoneal dialysis solutions says that the lines represent 85% of the site’s total pre-hurricane capacity.  
  • “Baxter officials say they expect production across the plant to rise to pre-hurricane levels early in the first quarter of 2025. “Note that it will take some time for product to flow through the distribution channels,” according to the Baxter website.”