Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Congressional Report Alleges Organ Procurement Numbers Are Miscounted
A bipartisan congressional report to be released publicly Tuesday alleges that the organizations responsible for recovering donated organs for transplantation use a federal loophole to miscount the number of organs to boost performance ratings and stay certified. (Cirruzzo, 6/10)
Attention comes in wake of ex-employees鈥 allegations that insurer paid nursing homes to reduce hospital transfers and used improper tactics to gain Medicare Advantage enrollees. (Gedeon and Joseph, 6/10)
CVS Health and the executive at the center of a legal dispute with Cigna have resolved a case over a noncompete clause. Amy Bricker was president of Cigna subsidiary Express Scripts when CVS Health announced her hire as executive vice president and chief product officer for its consumer business in January 2023. Cigna swiftly sued to prevent Bricker from taking the new job on the grounds that doing so violated her employment contract. (Tepper, 6/10)
State officials broke ground Tuesday at the site of the future psychiatric hospital in Amarillo, bringing the Panhandle one step closer to inpatient mental health care. The hospital is the long-awaited result after the Texas Legislature in 2023 approved $159 million to build an inpatient psychiatric hospital in Amarillo. Mental health advocates in the area say it is desperately needed to bring mental health resources closer to the largely rural region that鈥檚 home to nearly 436,000 people. (Carver, 6/10)
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Katheryn Houghton reads the week鈥檚 news: More than 100 rural hospitals have stopped delivering babies since 2021, and the federal government failed to warn the public about a major E. coli outbreak. Jackie Fortier reads the week鈥檚 news: New programs teach Black kids to swim competitively and help their parents learn too, and people in prison are often denied basic health care at the end of their lives. (6/10)
On health care personnel 鈥
The American Medical Association underwent its annual leadership change on Tuesday, inaugurating otolaryngologist Bobby Mukkamala, M.D. as the 180th president of the nation鈥檚 largest physician association. The organization鈥檚 House of Delegates, composed of its member physicians and residents, also chose urologic surgeon William Underwood III, M.D., as its president-elect. Underwood will assume the presidency in June 2026. (Beavins, 6/10)
The US Department of Labor is reassessing a decade-old rule that extended pay protections to home health aides, a move that has the potential to impact the wages of millions of US workers. In a footnote in a court filing last month, the agency said it 鈥渋ntends to reconsider鈥 regulations issued in 2013 under President Barack Obama, which expanded the scope of minimum wage and overtime rules to cover so-called 鈥渄irect care鈥 workers such as home health aides and certified nursing assistants. (Eidelson, 6/10)
Noah Wyle is heading to the pit of political power, with a visit to Capitol Hill to push for funding for programs aimed at improving mental health services for health care workers. 鈥淭he Pitt鈥 and former 鈥淓R鈥 star will touch down in Washington on Thursday to lead a panel discussion at the Cannon House Office Building focused on the 鈥渄aily mental health, financial, and bureaucratic challenges for doctors and nurses today.鈥 Wyle will be joined by his mom, Marjorie Speer, a retired nurse, along with more than a dozen health care professionals. (Kurtz, 6/10)
Many physicians said they would consider assisted dying if they were faced with advanced cancer or severe Alzheimer's disease, survey data showed. In eight jurisdictions spanning five countries, about half of physicians would consider euthanasia a good or very good option if they had very painful end-stage cancer (54.2%) or severe end-stage Alzheimer's disease (51.5%), reported Sarah Mroz, PhD, of Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium, and co-authors. (George, 6/10)