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Congress could actually pass a bill to crack down on violence against healthcare workers this year, lawmakers and advocates said at a Capitol Hill briefing Tuesday. The Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees Act of 2023, or SAVE Act, would make it a federal crime to attack healthcare workers in the process of doing their jobs and authorize penalties up to 10 or 20 years in jail, on a par with laws protecting airline workers. The American Hospital Association-endorsed measure also would supply $25 million in grants for hospital safety initiatives. (McAuliff, 1/30)

If anyone were to ask members of Congress if doctors should be contending with Medicare pay cuts after a pandemic and a period of extraordinary inflation, and amid a chronic physician shortage, nearly all would say no. Yet, that is what happened on Jan. 1, and even powerful lawmakers who would like to ease or reverse that cut can't promise it will happen, even after recent actions to forestall hospital cuts and to extend expiring healthcare programs such as federally qualified health centers. (McAuliff, 1/30)

The government is set to begin negotiating prices on the 10 costliest prescription drugs covered by Medicare this week, setting the stage for a fierce tug of war between U.S. officials and drugmakers as the Biden administration attempts to lower soaring prescription drug costs for older adults. Medicare provides health insurance coverage to more than 65 million people in the U.S., according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS. (Lovelace Jr., 1/30)

A group of Democratic senators called on the Biden administration Tuesday to completely deschedule marijuana, arguing the White House’s recommendations to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to reschedule the drug do not go far enough to address the harm that has occurred from the current system. In a letter addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland and DEA Administrator Anne Milgram, 11 Democratic senators, along with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), argued the administration “should deschedule marijuana altogether.” (Choi, 1/30)

Members of the Senate will interrogate CEOs of five social media giants Wednesday about their efforts to address child sexual exploitation. ... The grilling will take place amid growing concerns about social media’s impact on young users’ mental health. And as a recent episode involving AI-generated, sexually explicit images of pop star Taylor Swift — distributed without her knowledge or consent — drives home, artificial intelligence is amplifying the dangers of online platforms. (Stein, 1/30)