Mercer Consulting offers us this background

• “On June 19 this year, 96 year-old Opal Lee will once again invite others to join her on a 2.5 mile Walk for Freedom in Fort Worth, Texas. Known as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” Opal began campaigning decades ago for a national holiday to commemorate the anniversary of the day in 1865 when news of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached the enslaved people in Galveston, Texas. In 2016, at age 89, Opal began a symbolic walk from Fort Worth to Washington D.C. in an effort to get 100,000 people to sign a petition to create the holiday. She was transported from city to city where she would walk 2.5 miles, representing the 2.5 years it took for freedom to reach Texas. By the time she made it to Washington, she had obtained over 1.5M signatures. In June 2021, her efforts succeeded – a bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden.  
• “Juneteenth has long been celebrated by Black people; Opal Lee has vivid memories of celebrating Juneteenth as a child in East Texas with music, food, and games. Since the creation of the federal holiday, more employers are recognizing its importance and embracing their role in promoting Juneteenth in the workplace. In 2021, just 9% of employers had made Juneteenth a paid company holiday. That jumped to 33% in 2022 and rose again this year, to 39%.”

Mercer Consulting adds

• “For employers, the JAMA Open Network study [on healthcare disparities] underscores the pressing need to expand provider networks to be inclusive of diverse clinicians. By improving networks, and actively working with partners to dismantle barriers and biases within healthcare, we can begin to empower employees with choice – the ability to connect with providers who better understand their unique needs, experiences, and challenges. Diverse physician networks lead to stronger doctor-patient relationships, which ultimately lead to better health outcomes for marginalized populations.”

From Washington, DC —

• The House of Representatives and the Senate are in session this week for floor voting and Committee business.

• The U.S. Supreme Court handed down five opinions last week. NPR identifies the remaining cases that it is tracking. (One of them the Indian Child Welfare Act was decided last week in favor of the Indian tribes.)

• Last week, OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs posted its Spring 2023 federal regulatory agenda. Here is a link to the OPM agenda. OPM is planning a second Postal Service Health Benefits Program rule and a rule that would accelerate the effective date of FEHB coverage for new federal employees.

Healthcare Dive reports

• “The group that advises Congress on Medicare policy released a new report Thursday [June 15] with recommendations on telehealth, overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans and site-neutral payments across some outpatient care settings.
• “The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MedPAC, included telehealth in the report to satisfy a mandate from Congress after virtual care surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Telehealth coverage under Medicare was limited before the public health emergency, and it was expanded to preserve access to care.
• “The report found fee-for-service Medicare spending for telehealth care was $4.8 billion in 2020 and $4.1 billion in 2021, more than 30 times greater than 2019. Early findings show more telehealth use was associated with little change in quality, slightly improved access to care for some beneficiaries and slightly increased costs to Medicare.”

From the MD opinion front —

• An emergency room doctor writing in MedPage Today gives us his take on the fentanyl crisis.

• An oncologist writing in STAT News gives us her take on the cancer drug shortage. Her article’s title says it all: “Cancer drug shortages should have patients rioting in the streets.”

From the generative AI front, Healthcare IT News tells us, “An NYU Langone Health [large language model] LLM can predict hospital readmissions. The large language model is still in testing, but the AI tool had a median accuracy score of 77.8% compared to a physician score of 62.8%. The code base is now available to all healthcare organizations [via GitHub].

From the semaglutide drug front —

• The Wall Street Journal reports that these drugs designed for weight loss also may bring alcohol and tobacco use from an addiction to a controllable level.
• Politico discusses manufacturer lobbying efforts to convince Congress to cover these drugs for weight loss unconnected to diabetes.
• Bloomberg informs us
  • “Some dosages of Eli Lilly & Co.’s Mounjaro are again in shortage, the latest in a line of recurring supply issues caused by patients using the diabetes medication as a weight-loss treatment.
  • “The latest shortage will result in “intermittent backorders” for three of six doses through July, according to an update posted by the US Food and Drug Administration on its website on Friday.
  • “Lilly spokesperson Jessica Thompson said the backorders were “due to continued dynamic patient demand” and would affect the three highest doses of Mounjaro. She also said the company is investing in expanding manufacturing capacity.”

From the miscellany front –

• CNBC reports
  • “Bristol Myers Squibb on Friday sued the Biden administration over Medicare’s new powers to slash drug prices, the third such lawsuit to be filed against the program in a matter of days.
  • “The lawsuit filed in federal district court in New Jersey argues the Medicare negotiations violate the First and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
  • “Bristol Myers Squibb has asked the court to declare the program unconstitutional and prevent the Health and Human Services Department from forcing the company to enter negotiations.
  • “Bristol Myers Squibb’s arguments mirror those lodged last week by Merck, the first company to sue the federal government over the drug negotiations. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has also sued HHS over the program with similar arguments.”

• Fierce Healthcare relates
  • “Simple HealthKit has inked a deal with Walmart to bring at-home diagnostic tests, including diabetes, respiratory wellness and sexual wellness labs, to the largest retailer in the world.
  • “Through the retail giant’s website, customers can purchase tests bolstered by Simple HealthKit’s end-to-end healthcare infrastructure, including testing, follow-up and treatment. The digital health company’s HbA1c test identifies key markers for Type 2 diabetes. Respiratory wellness tests include influenza A, influenza B and respiratory syncytial virus. In light of a decrease in sexual health testing during the pandemic, customers can test for three of the most common STDs at home, chlamydia, gonorrhea and trichomoniasis.”

• Health Payer Intelligence points out
  • Employer-sponsored health plan enrollment among nonelderly Americans will grow after 2025, accompanied by higher private payer premiums, a Health Affairs study found.
  • The study used Congressional Budget Office projections to estimate future coverage trends. However, the researchers noted many uncertainties embedded in these trends, including future economic, policy, and healthcare utilization changes. * * *
  • After 2025, enhanced subsidies will end and employment will increase, driving more people to employer-sponsored coverage. Approximately 157 million individuals may have employer-sponsored coverage in 2027. By 2033 this population will grow to 159 million.
  • Private-payer premiums will also trend upward from 2023 through 2033. In 2023, the private payer premium growth rate will be 6.5 percent. Premiums will grow 5.9 percent from 2024 to 2025 and 5.7 percent from 2026 to 2027. By 2033, the average premium increase will be 4.6 percent.
• Of course, depending on the outcome of the 2024 federal election, it is possible that the ACA subsidies could be made permanent in 2025. Time will tell.