From Washington, DC,

• The House of Representatives and the Senate return to Capitol Hill this week for Committee business and floor voting.

• The deadline for Congress to take action on Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations is Friday December 20.

• FedWeek lets us know,
  • “Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., is due to remain chairman of the Oversight and Accountability Committee for the 2025-2026 Congress.” * * *
  • “On the Senate side, another Kentucky Republican, Sen. Rand Paul, is set to become chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs when the GOP takes control of that chamber.” * * *
  • “There has been no indication of a nominee for OPM director, but one potential candidate would be Michael Rigas, who was deputy director late in the first term and then acting director from March 2020 when the second of the directors confirmed in that administration resigned after disputes over the White House’s intent to move OPM’s policy functions directly under OMB. Rigas was not then nominated to become director, however.”
    
• The Medicare open enrollment period ends this Saturday December 7, while the Federal Employees Benefits Open Season is scheduled to end the following Monday, December 9. It remains to be seen whether OPM will extend the first open season for the Postal Service Health Benefits Program as some have urged.

• The FEHBlog urges OPM and PSHBP carriers to share with Postal Service annuitants over age 65 the substance of this Washington Post article about “How to take advantage of Medicare’s expanded drug benefit in 2025. “It will be easier to spread out Part D drug costs over the year, while the total annual cost of medicines will be capped at $2,000.” The new Medicare Part D features make Part D a viable alternative to folks who currently rely on manufacturer coupons.

• The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas announced last Wednesday,
  • “A 53-year-old Sugar Land [Texas] man has agreed to pay $2,095,946 to resolve allegations he submitted false claims for the placement of electro-acupuncture devices, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.
  • “Dr. Rajesh Bindal used the entity Texas Spine & Neurosurgery Center P.A. to conduct his medical practice. From March 16, 2021, to April 22, 2022, Bindal billed Medicare and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) for the surgical implantation of neurostimulator electrodes. 
  • “These are invasive procedures usually requiring use of an operating room. As a result, Medicare and the FEHBP pay thousands of dollars per procedure. 
  • “However, neither Bindal nor his staff performed these surgical procedures, according to the allegations. 
  • “Instead, patients allegedly received devices used for electro-acupuncture, which only involved inserting monofilament wire a few millimeters into patients’ ears and taping the device behind the ear with an adhesive. In some instances, a device sales representative or a physician assistant allegedly performed these placements, which were then billed as surgeries. All device placements took place in Bindal’s clinic, not a hospital or surgical center, and no incision was made on a patient. Most patients claimed the adhesive came loose and the device fell off on its own accord within a few days.”

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

• The Wall Street Journal reports,
  • “Many of the manufacturing jobs that are being moved overseas, replaced by automation or phased out of the American economy were mostly filled by men. As a result, other occupations traditionally dominated by women are now gaining a larger share of men, including elementary and middle-school teachers and customer-service representatives. 
  • “Still, nursing is a relative outperformer in the proportion of men joining what has long been considered a “pink collar” sector. The number of male registered nurses has increased from about 140,000 in 2000 to about 400,000 in 2023. This means that about 14% of nurses are now men, up from about 9% roughly two decades ago. 
  • “Economists at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth found that men who were becoming registered nurses tended to do so in their late 20s or early 30s rather than as their first job.”
• and
  • “The obesity duopoly has been pierced as Amgen positions itself to have a drug on the market in a few years. While this adds competition to a market currently controlled by Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, it also reinforces the dominance of the makers of Wegovy and Zepbound.
  • “Amgen reported on Tuesday that its highly anticipated obesity-drug candidate, MariTide, helped patients shed around 20% of their body weight, though side effects such as nausea and vomiting were common. The company didn’t disclose detailed data, which is expected at a medical conference next year. If all goes well in a larger late-stage study, Amgen could have a drug on the market within a few years. 
  • “But what we already know suggests that Lilly and Novo Nordisk’s market leadership isn’t about to be upended. Not only did MariTide fail to outperform Lilly’s Zepbound, but both Lilly and Novo also have next-generation medications under development, with promising data showing even more impressive weight loss results.”

• HR Dive tells us
  • “What employers should know now that the 2024 [Fair Labor Standards Act] overtime rule is vacated.
  • “One attorney cautioned against dropping workers’ recently changed nonexempt status too quickly or without careful consideration.”