From Capitol Hill, Roll Call reports

Congressional leaders and top appropriators are set to meet as early as Wednesday to work through differences on a potential omnibus spending agreement, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer said Tuesday.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, along with a few top White House aides, met with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Schumer earlier Tuesday to discuss the lame-duck agenda.

Schumer said the leaders had a “productive discussion” about funding the government, and said all four leaders aim to come together to pass an omnibus.

“We all agreed that it should be done this year, we all agreed we have to work together and everyone has to give a little bit,” he said. “We also…said we would all work toward getting an omnibus as opposed to a CR.”

The prospects of a lame duck omnibus remain murky as Republicans and Democrats have not reached a topline spending agreement. The current continuing resolution runs out Dec. 16, though lawmakers have discussed a stopgap extension of perhaps a week to buy extra time.

The FEHBlog sees these developments as a good sign.

From the Omicron and siblings front, MedPage Today informs us

What happens to people who get reinfected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19? A recent paper in Nature Medicinehas been misinterpreted by some as providing evidence that repeat infections are somehow worse than first-time infections.

Here’s the actual situation: second infections are far less dangerous than first infections, with respect to severe, critical, and fatal COVID-19. This is true regardless of vaccination status.

Health Payer Intelligence offers three interesting survey findings about health insurance in our country

• “Health insurance coverage disruptions were associated with higher mortality risks for people with private and public insurance, a JAMA Health Forum study found.”

• “In two-adult families with and without children, the majority of members had the same type of health insurance coverage, whether they had group plans, non-group plans, or Me,dicaid” according to a brief from the Employee Benefit Researcher Institute (EBRI).

• “Even though many Americans are concerned about health insurance costs, most plan to remain in their current health plan for 2023, according to a survey by ValuePenguin.”

From the public health front, the FEHBlog ran across The PCORI Health Care Horizon Scanning System identifies and monitors developing innovations with potential to change health care. This database can be used by patients, care partners, and others to track advancements in care options.

The Wall Street Journal reports

The rate of gun deaths in the U.S. reached a 28-year high in 2021 after sharp increases in homicides of Black men and suicides among white men, an analysis of federal data showed.

A record 48,953 deaths in the U.S., or about 15 fatalities per 100,000 people, were caused by guns last year, said the analysis published Tuesday in the journal JAMA Network Open. Gun deaths declined in the 1990s, but have been rising steadily over the past decade and skyrocketed during the Covid-19 pandemic, said researchers who conducted the analysis.

Gun-related deaths of women and children have risen, the analysis said, but men remain far more likely to die from guns.

“The disparities are so marked,” said Chris Rees, a co-author of the study and an assistant professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at Emory University School of Medicine.

On a related note, Federal News Network relates

The Pentagon is looking to hire hundreds of clinicians and mental health professionals in the coming months, as part of the initial cohort of its worldwide suicide prevention workforce.

Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, speaking Tuesday at a Washington Post Live event, said DoD is building up a “first of its kind” suicide prevention workforce that will eventually reach an end strength of 2,000 personnel.

Hicks said hiring, onboarding and training the suicide prevention workforce is “at the top of the list” of priorities for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. This DoD workforce, she added, is expected to outpace any similar effort led by universities or state governments.

“This prevention workforce will be a first of its kind, and we’re going to do it right here in the United States military, because that’s what we owe our people and their families,” Hicks said.

From the medical research and development front, the Wall Street Journal reports

Researchers released new details from a study of a closely watched drug for Alzheimer’s disease on Tuesday, shedding more light on the drug’s risks and benefits as U.S. health regulators weigh approving it. 

Eisai Co. and Biogen Inc.’s drug, called lecanemab, slowed cognitive decline by 27% compared with a placebo over 18 months in a study of more than 1,700 people with early-stage Alzheimer’s, researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine on Tuesday. 

The drug’s effect was moderate, and was associated with swelling and bleeding in the brain, the researchers said. They recommended further, longer study of the drug.

Some 17.3% of patients taking lecanemab had signs of brain bleeding, compared with 9% in the placebo group. Brain swelling occurred in 12.6% of people getting the drug, versus 1.7% who got placebos. 

The study data have been eagerly anticipated by Alzheimer’s researchers since Eisai disclosed high-level results in September, raising the hopes of doctors and patients that a new treatment proven to help Alzheimer’s patients is on the horizon.

The companies have asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to conditionally approve lecanemab based on an earlier study showing that the drug reduced levels of a protein in the brain called amyloid associated with Alzheimer’s. The agency is expected to make a decision by Jan. 6. 

Eisai, which is leading the development of lecanemab, has said it plans to seek full approval using the new study data. 

The NIH DIrector’s Blog tells us about the NIH clinical center doctors who are testing 3D-printed miniature, single-use ventilators. Cool.

Healthcare Dive informs us

Google’s health division has inked its first commercial agreement to use its mammography AI research model in real-world clinical practice, with the goal of improving breast cancer screening, Google Health announced Monday.

Google Health has partnered with cancer detection and therapy medtech iCAD on the 5-year deal. Under the agreement, iCAD will work to validate and incorporate Google’s mammography AI — which Google has been building and testing for several years — into its products for use in clinical practices.

From the U.S. healthcare business front, the Wall Street Journal reports

Apoorva Mehta, a co-founder of Instacart Inc., is working on his next act after saying earlier this year that he would step down as executive chairman from the startup he built into a grocery delivery giant once it goes public.

Mr. Mehta earlier this month raised $30 million for Cloud Health Systems, a new healthcare startup aiming to offer consumers medical consultations and other health-related services, according to people familiar with the matter. 

Good luck.