From Washington, DC,

Capitol Hill News

• Roll Call reports,
  • “House GOP leaders cleared an important hurdle Thursday morning after cutting a deal with Freedom Caucus holdouts on a budget resolution amendment that would lock in a mechanism to enact deeper spending cuts in exchange for bigger tax cuts.
  • “The agreement paved the way for Budget Committee approval later in the day Thursday of the fiscal 2025 blueprint needed to unlock their “big, beautiful” reconciliation bill. House Republicans want to use the filibuster-proof process to enact large pieces of their legislative agenda, including extensions of the expiring 2017 tax cuts, domestic energy production incentives, immigration enforcement and defense spending.”

• The American Hospital Association (AHA) News lets us know, “The Senate Feb. 13 by a vote of 52-48 confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the new secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.” 
  
• An HHS news release adds
  • “Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. today was sworn in as the 26^th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the Oval Office by Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Neil Gorsuch.
  • “Immediately following the ceremony, President Trump with Secretary Kennedy by his side, signed the “Establishing the President’s Make America Healthy Again Commission” Executive Order to investigate and address the root causes of America’s escalating health crisis, with a focus on childhood chronic disease.”

• The Journal of Accountancy informs us,
  • “A bill to extend the deadline for an estimated 32 million small businesses to report their beneficial ownership information (BOI) as mandated by the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) passed the U.S. House unanimously.
  • “The House passed H.R. 736, Protect Small Businesses From Excessive Paperwork Act of 2025, 408–0, on Monday. The bill, which goes to the Senate next, extends the deadline for filing BOI reports to Jan. 1, 2026. The deadline for most reports previously was Jan. 1, 2025, but the reporting requirements have been caught up in numerous court cases and are now on hold.
  • “A companion bill was introduced Tuesday in the Senate by Tim Scott, R-S.C., the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.
  • “This is a simple solution that we’ve worked on together, and it’s one of the most pressing concerns small businesses face,” Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, who sponsored the bill, said on the House floor before the vote. “So, whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, we all have small businesses and a hometown responsibility to fight for them today.”
  • “Both bills affect only reporting companies existing before Jan. 1, 2024. Companies formed after that date are not affected.
  • “Melanie Lauridsen, the AICPA’s vice president–Tax Policy & Advocacy, said in a LinkedIn post that the proposed deadline extension is “hopeful information” – despite the possibility of court rulings changing reporting requirements at any moment.”

White House news

• The AHA News tells us,
  • “President Trump Feb. 13 signed an executive order establishing the Make America Healthy Again Commission, to be chaired by Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The commission is tasked with “investigating and addressing the root causes of America’s escalating health crisis, with an initial focus on childhood chronic diseases.” 
  • “The commission has four main policy directives to reverse chronic disease:  
    • “Empower Americans through transparency and open-source data and avoid conflicts of interest in all federally funded health research. 
    • “Prioritize gold-standard research on why Americans are getting sick in all health-related research funded by the federal government. 
    • “Work with farmers to ensure that U.S. food is healthy, abundant and affordable. 
    • “Ensure expanded treatment options and health coverage flexibility for beneficial lifestyle changes and disease prevention. 
  • “Within 100 days, the White House said the commission will produce an assessment that summarizes what is known and what questions remain regarding the childhood chronic disease crisis, and within 180 days, the commission will produce a strategy, based on the findings of the assessment, to improve the health of America’s children.”

• For those interested, here is a link to the new DOGE website.

• The Washington Post reports,
  • “The Trump administration on Thursday moved swiftly to fire thousands of workers and directed agency heads to terminate most trial and probationary staff — a move that could affect as many as 200,000 employees, according to four people familiar with internal conversations who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly.
  • “It was not immediately clear how many of those hired by the federal government within the last two years would be affected. One person familiar with the matter said some employees, such as those working on public safety and law enforcement issues, would be spared, and agency heads could exempt others.”

• Govexec adds,
  • “Recent hires at the Office of Personnel Management were terminated on Thursday afternoon, according to three people familiar with the matter and internal communications obtained by Government Executive.
  • “The firings come as agencies across government are purging employees in their probationary status from their rolls and the Trump administration is deploying a bevy of tools to slash their workforces. 
  • “On President Trump’s first day in office, OPM instructed agencies across government to collect names of probationary employees. Those workers typically were hired within the last one-to-two years, depending on their hiring mechanism. Agencies have since gathered lists of those employees and delivered them to OPM, and some subsequently sent notices to staff reminding them of their status and their vulnerability to rapid firings. 
  • “Recent hires in probationary status do not maintain the same protections against firings as do most other federal workers, though they can still appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board if they allege the firings took place for partisan political reasons.”

From the judicial front,

• The Associated Press via MedPage Today relates,
  • “A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s recent executive order aimed at restricting gender-affirming healthcare for transgender people under age 19.
  • “The judge’s ruling came after a lawsuit was filed earlier this month on behalf of families with transgender or nonbinary children who allege their healthcare has already been compromised by the president’s order. A national group for family of LGBTQ+ people and a doctors organization are also plaintiffs in the court challenge, one of many lawsuits opposing a slew of executive orders Trump has issued as he seeks to reverse the policies of former President Joe Biden.
  • “Judge Brendan Hurson, who was nominated by Biden, granted the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order following a hearing in federal court in Baltimore. The ruling, in effect for 14 days, essentially puts Trump’s directive on hold while the case proceeds. The restraining order could also be extended.”

From the public health and medical research front,

• The New York Times reports,
  • “Three dairy veterinarians, including one who worked only in states with no known bird flu outbreaks in cows, had recent, undetected bird flu infections, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The results are based on antibody testing of 150 veterinarians working in 46 U.S. states.
  • “The findings were not entirely surprising, experts said, but did suggest that the virus, known as H5N1, could be infecting cows and people in more states than have been officially reported.
  • “We do not know the extent of this outbreak in the U.S.,” said Seema Lakdawala, a virologist at Emory University. “There are clearly infections happening that we’re missing.”
  • “Since the bird flu outbreak in dairy cows was first reported last March, the virus has been confirmed in more than 950 herds in 16 states. It has also been detected in 68 people, 41 of whom had contact with sick cows. Most people have had mild symptoms.”

• The American Medical Association lets us know “What doctors wish patients knew about UTI prevention.”

• The National Cancer Institute released Cancer Information Highlights about “Fructose Fuels Cancer Growth | Lung Cancer Stigma | Multiple Myeloma.”

• The National Institutes of Health posted “Research in Context: Detecting Cancer.”

• Per MedPage Today,
  • “The blood test achieved high accuracy, with 98% specificity and 73% sensitivity for detecting pancreatic cancer.
  • “When combined with CA 19-9 biomarker testing, the sensitivity increased to 85% while maintaining high specificity.
  • “The test successfully differentiated between cancer and non-cancer pancreatic conditions using protease activity detection.”
  • “Integrating an early test for pancreatic cancer into clinical practice will be difficult, Suneel Kamath, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic, continued. Although incidence and mortality continue to increase, the cancer is much less common than breast, colon, and lung cancers. In addition to targeting high-risk populations, another possible strategy would be a one-time screening at a certain age.
  • “Early-stage pancreatic cancer still carries a poor survival rate of just 44% at 5 years,” he told MedPage Today. “The majority of people with stage I or II pancreatic cancer will die of their cancer in the first 5 years after diagnosis. For breast, colorectal, and prostate cancers, those rates are over 90%, often over 95%, so we will not screen our way into curing pancreatic cancer. We will have to find better ways to treat it once it has occurred too because early detection alone is not enough.”
• and
  • Epidural steroid shots for back pain had mixed results, an AAN review showed.
  • The treatment demonstrated promising short-term benefits for radiculopathy patients.
  • In other situations, benefits were unclear or limited.

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

• Beckers Payer Issues offers more observations on how “CVS is working ‘tirelessly’ to improve Aetna.”

• Healthcare Dive points out,
  • “Tenet Healthcare brought in profits of $3.2 billion in 2024, up from $611 million in 2023, on strong same-store revenue, growth in high-acuity care and effective cost management strategies, health system executives said during an investor call Wednesday.
  • “The earnings performance was stronger than expected based on Tenet’s full year guidance, which the company updated midway through the year.
  • “Still, Tenet faced challenges during the fourth quarter and underperformed on operating revenue compared to Wall Street’s expectations. Analysts also pressed executives during the call about the health system’s plans to weather possible regulatory changes in Washington moving forward, including proposed cuts to the Medicaid program.”
    
• Per Fierce Pharma,
  • “As Alnylam Pharmaceuticals approaches its highly anticipated March 23 FDA decision date for a potential expansion of Amvuttra to treat patients in an increasingly competitive indication—transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM)—the company is emphasizing market dynamics.
  • “The category is rapidly growing and it’s been largely underserved,” Tolga Tanguler, Alnylam’s chief commercial officer said during a conference call Thursday.” This will be a market-growth story.”
  • “After Alnylam divulged last month at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference that it expects Onpattro and Amvuttra to generate between $1.6 billion and $1.7 billion in 2025, there was little suspense left in Thursday’s fourth-quarter earnings presentation about the company’s expectation for its potential launch into the new indication.”
  • “The projection compares to the ATTR franchise’s combined 2024 sales of $1.23 billion, including $970 million for Amvuttra, which nearly achieved blockbuster status in just its second full year on the market.”