From Capitol Hill —

Roll Call tells us, “Senators are so far standing firm on letting Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden work out how to address the debt limit.” The President’s meeting with Congressional leaders will be held on May 9.

Fierce Healthcare informs us,

• “A key Senate panel has postponed a markup hearing on several bills aimed at drug pricing until after the heads of three major drug companies and three pharmacy benefit managers appear before legislators.
• “The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee convened Tuesday morning to discuss four pieces of legislation aimed at tackling the rising costs of drugs in the U.S., including a bill that would push significant reforms to the PBM industry.
• “Instead, the committee will markup the bills on May 11, one day after hosting a blockbuster hearing on insulin and other drug pricing issues. The hearing will include testimony from Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks, Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen, Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson, CVS Health President of Pharmacy Services David Joyner, Express Scripts President Adam Kautzner and OptumRx CEO Heather Cianfrocco.”

From the public health front —

• The National Institutes of Health announced
  • Women aged 55 years and younger have nearly double the risk of rehospitalization in the year immediately after a heart attack compared to men of similar age, according to a study supported by the National Institutes of Health. Higher rates of risk factors such as obesity, heart failure, and depression among women most likely contributed to the disparity.
  • “The findings suggest a need for closer health monitoring of the approximately 40,000 American women aged 18 to 55 years who have heart attacks each year following hospital discharge, and a better understanding of the reasons behind the different outcomes. The study, funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of NIH, was published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.”

• The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force updated its recommendation for screeening asymptomatic adults at increased risk of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) with the same grade B that it last gave in 2017. The FEHBlog is impressed by the USPSTF’s routine re-evaluation of its decisions.

• The Department of Health and Human Services announced
  • “awarding the 15 winners for Phase 1 of the HHS Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals (EDC) Innovator Award Competition. This competition was developed to identify gaps in knowledge and innovative solutions to improving women’s health by reducing EDC exposure risk.  
  • “For far too long, Black women have been overexposed to harmful endocrine-disrupting chemicals in personal care products. We created this competition to help find innovative solutions to meet this challenge, and I want to congratulate all the winners for their incredible ideas,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “We will continue to prioritize the health of Black women by addressing the exposure risks caused by this environmental justice issue.”

• Kaiser Family Foundation discusses community paramedic programs.
  • Most community paramedicine programs rely on paramedics, but some also use emergency medicine technicians, nurses, social workers, and other professionals, according to the 2017 survey. Programs can offer home visits, phone check-ins, or transportation to nonemergency destinations, such as urgent care clinics and mental health centers.
  • Many programs support people with chronic illnesses, patients recovering from surgeries or hospital stays, or frequent users of 911 and the ER. Other programs focus on public health, behavioral health, hospice care, or post-overdose response.
  • Community paramedics can provide in-home vaccinations, wound care, ultrasounds, and blood tests.

From the mental health care front

• CVS Health calls our attention to
  • “A recent CVS Health® (NYSE: CVS)/Harris Poll survey found that young adults and physicians continue to see the country struggling with mental health, but most Americans aren’t seeking care.
    • “Six in 10 (60%) respondents aged 18-32 say they are concerned about their mental health, and two thirds (67%) say they know a lot of people in their community that are struggling with mental health issues.
    • “Most physicians (56%) also report declining mental health among their patients.
    • “However, only 1 in 10 (12%) Americans regularly see a mental health professional like a psychiatrist, psychologist, psychotherapist, or well-being therapist.” * *
  • “The survey also found that generations have different views of how to access mental health care.
    • “Ninety-five percent of respondents age 57+ agreed that mental health and illnesses should be taken more seriously by society, compared to 8 in 10 respondents aged 18-32 (83%).
    • “About six in 10 (58%) respondents aged 18-32 report that social media has negatively impacted their mental health, compared to just 22% of respondents age 57+.
    • “A higher number of respondents aged 33-40 believe in using technology to access care, with 85% agreeing that digital health services have made mental health more accessible.

• The U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory on the healing effects of social connection.
  • “Connection plays a critical role in individual, community, and societal health. This advisory calls attention to that role and offers a framework for how we can all contribute to improving social connection.”

From the U.S. healthcare business front —

• BioPharma Dive relates
  • “Pfizer on Tuesday reported first quarter revenue that beat Wall Street forecasts despite declining by more than one-fourth compared to the same period in 2022 due to plummeting sales of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine.
  • “Sales of the COVID antiviral Paxlovid, at $4 billion for the quarter, were substantially higher than analysts expected, although the total was tied to the timing of the final delivery under a U.S. supply contract. CFO David Denton told investors that 2023 will be a “transitional” year as Paxlovid distribution shifts from government purchasing to commercial insurance.
  • “Executives affirmed guidance of 7% growth in non-COVID revenues for the full year, higher than the 5% growth in the first quarter. Hitting that target will require successful new drug launches, such as for a respiratory syncytial virus vaccine now under regulatory review and an experimental multiple myeloma treatment. Investors are also looking for better performance from drugs bought via dealmaking, such as the migraine pill Nurtec.”
• and
  • “Johnson & Johnson has acquired rights to two experimental cell therapies for blood cancer in a move meant to build on the success it’s had developing a CAR-T treatment for multiple myeloma.
  • “The deal, announced Tuesday with the Maryland-based Cellular Biomedicine Group, has J&J paying $245 million upfront to gain access to two CAR-T therapies that have shown positive early-phase results in patients with recurrent diffuse large B cell lymphoma, or DLBCL, the most common form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
  • “The agreement increases J&J’s presence in the field of cell therapy. The big drugmaker already sells one treatment, known as Carvykti. The newly added therapies are in early testing or soon will be.  
    
• Healthcare Dive reports
  • CVS has closed its acquisition of Oak Street Health for $10.6 billion in cash, pushing the retail health giant further into direct care delivery, CVS announced on Tuesday.
  • With the deal’s completion, CVS adds a multi-state chain of doctor-staffed medical clinics for seniors to its primary care roster.
  • CVS first announced the acquisition, which values Oak Street at $39 a share, in February.

• On Monday,  “Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont announced an agreement to formally affiliate and work together across both companies. The affiliation will enable the organizations to broaden the range of health plan and service solutions that will further benefit members and customer groups, while remaining within and committed to local communities in both states. The agreement is pending approval of state regulators.”

From the healthcare spending front —

• Buck Consultants announced
  • “The impact of inflation is not yet fully reflected in medical trend factors, according to Buck, an integrated HR, pensions, and employee benefits consulting, technology, and administration services firm. The findings were released today in Buck’s 44^th National Healthcare Trend Survey, a report that identifies trend factors that are used to project employers’ healthcare costs for 2023-2024.
  • “Buck’s annual survey of nearly 100 health insurers and health plan administrators covering more than 100 million plan participants found that while medical trend factors have yet to fully adjust for recent inflationary increases, they continue to increase at a rate consistent with trends reported in the prior survey, which will likely drive healthcare premiums higher in the coming year.

• Health Payer Intelligence informs us,
  • “Payers with larger market shares tend to have lower prices nationally, a study published in Health Affairs confirmed.
  • “The researchers used data from Turquoise Health, a company that collects hospital price data from the hospitals’ websites, to determine the impact that payer market share can have on prices. The study covered prices for 14 potentially shoppable services with data from 1,446 acute care hospitals. The data was collected through the end of 2021.
  • “Prices were stable within hospitals but not across different payers. And the pricing was dependent, at least in part, on the payers’ market shares. * * *
  • “just as payers can use their market share to negotiate lower prices, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that providers with higher market shares can use their market position to get higher reimbursement out of payers. Hospital consolidation was a key factor in price increases, the CBO report found.”