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Despite Democratic efforts to slam the brakes on Republican plans to limit abortion access and restructure the NIH, the House Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal 2025 HHS spending plan along party lines on Wednesday. The budget proposal, unveiled last month by Republicans, includes $107 billion for HHS — a 7 percent cut. It would streamline the NIH, slash Title X family grants and increase funding for substance-use disorder prevention block grants. (Cirruzzo and Leonard, 7/11)

A pair of Oversight Committee Democrats are asking a government watchdog to investigate the amount of federal funding directed toward crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), anti-abortion nonprofits designed to convince people not to terminate pregnancies. In a letter sent Thursday to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and shared first with The Hill, ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) asked for a study into how much federal money CPCs have received annually and from which federal accounts. (Weixel, 7/11)

In what could prove to be a lifeline for a new crop of health tech startups, Medicare regulators proposed new codes that support payment for digital mental health treatments, like apps that deliver cognitive behavioral therapy. The new codes in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule released this week would allow clinicians to bill for supplying apps and other digital treatments as part of behavioral health treatment, as well as for time spent on services related to a patient’s use of these devices. (Aguilar, 7/11)

Advocates for telehealth viewed the proposed physician payment rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as a win but emphasized the need for Congressional action. CMS’ proposed regulation of the 2025 Medicare physician fee schedule, published on Wednesday, renewed a series of telehealth flexibilities that started during the public health emergency amid the COVID-19 pandemic. But telehealth advocates say more actions will be needed by Congress before the industry can operate with certainty. (Turner, 7/11)

With no strong government rules in place to regulate AI, private companies like Google are largely responsible for policing the potential harms of their own products. The fast growth of AI has raised new worries about the risks to citizens and consumers, from potential use of private data like images and texts without consent, to possible bias in AI systems that make decisions about people’s access to housing, financial assistance and health care. (Ng, 7/11)