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Presented by PhRMA: Delivered daily by 10 a.m., Pulse examines the latest news in health care politics and policy. | | | | |  | | By Krista Mahr and Daniel Payne | | | With David Lim
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The White House plans to expand its free healthy school lunch program. | Mary Esch, File/AP Photo | ENDING AMERICAN HUNGER — Today, the White House released its five-pillar strategy to end hunger by 2030 in advance of the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health that begins on Wednesday, POLITICO's Ruth Reader writes. The administration sees better nutrition as key to tackling rising rates of diabetes, obesity, hypertension and certain cancers in the U.S. It’s asking Congress to help develop legislation to pilot medically tailored meals that can be prescribed for Medicare patients with health conditions like diabetes, in which diet plays a huge role. The White House wants to expand access to healthy foods through targeted pilot programs and by building public infrastructure designed to bring healthy food closer to people, including expanding online shopping for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance and Women, Infants and Children programs. As a part of the initiative, the administration has also committed to expanding free healthy school lunches to 9 million more kids by 2032. Here are the five major initiatives the White House outlined as part of its nutrition strategy:
- Expand access to Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) and SNAP to improve access to food
- Create legislation that would allow CMS to test coverage of food as medicine and nutrition counseling
- Have the FDA introduce new packaging and standards to highlight healthy foods
- Expand the CDC’s State Physical Activity and Nutrition Program to all U.S. states and territories and create parks and places where people can work out
- Provide funding for nutrition science and research
The bottom line: Ending hunger in eight years is a big goal. Is it ambitious? Certainly. Is it realistic? No comment. Whether it is or isn’t, the Biden administration needs buy-in from Congress to get these programs going and funded. WELCOME TO TUESDAY PULSE —The latest thing Uber drivers have to worry about? Drug dealers using the company’s package delivery feature to move their goods, putting the drivers in danger. Send your news and tips to kmahr@politico.com and dpayne@politico.com. WANT MORE PULSE? Listen to the latest episode of our Pulse Check podcast featuring Ben Leonard and Adam Cancryn on the aftereffects of President Joe Biden’s recent declaration that the pandemic is over. Plus, Alice Miranda Ollstein provides a reality check from Capitol Hill, where the likelihood of Congress passing any additional Covid-19 funding seems slim.
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Biogen agreed to a $900 million settlement for allegedly paying doctors to prescribe its drugs. | Steven Senne/AP Photo | BIOGEN AGREES TO PAY $900 MILLION — Biogen Inc. has agreed to pay $900 million “to resolve allegations that it caused the submission of false claims to Medicare and Medicaid by paying kickbacks to physicians to induce them to prescribe Biogen drugs,” according to a statement released by the Department of Justice on Monday. Background: The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed by a former employee who alleged the pharmaceutical company paid money to doctors so they would prescribe its multiple sclerosis drugs. The employee, Michael Bawduniak, claimed that from 2009 to 2014, Biogen offered and paid money “to health care professionals who spoke at or attended Biogen’s speaker programs, speaker training meetings or consultant programs to induce them to prescribe the drugs Avonex, Tysabri and Tecfidera, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute,” the DOJ statement read. The response: Biogen has denied all of the allegations raised in the case and said in a statement on Monday that it “believes its intent and conduct was at all times lawful and appropriate.” “The U.S. and the states did not intervene in the case and the settlement does not include any admission of liability by Biogen,” the company noted. “Biogen determined that now was the right time to resolve the litigation and allow the Company to remain focused on our patients and strategic priorities. Biogen continues to believe that it is important to equip physicians and patients with the information needed to make the best decisions for their care,” the statement said.
| | | | A message from PhRMA: According to new findings, insured Americans favor policy solutions that improve their ability to navigate and access their care while lowering their out-of-pocket costs – by tackling the barriers introduced by insurers and middlemen like PBMs. Read more. | | | | | | MCCONNELL WINS: RIDER-FREE UFA IN CONTINUING RESOLUTION — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell won his fight to attach a five-year reauthorization of the FDA’s user fee programs without additional riders to a short-term government funding bill, three people familiar with the negotiations told POLITICO. Certain FDA programs considered part of the core user fee package are being extended until Dec. 16 to create leverage to revisit many other riders that fell off the five-year reauthorization programs for brand and generic drugs, biosimilars and medical devices, one of the people said.
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Provider groups are asking HHS for more time on a new rule mandating the sharing of medical records. | M. Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO | PROVIDERS ASK FOR MORE TIME ON MEDICAL RECORDS — Several provider groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association, asked HHS on Monday for more time on a new rule mandating the sharing of medical records, POLITICO’s Ben Leonard reports. Health care providers, health IT developers and health information exchanges and networks must share all electronic health information, with some exceptions for security and privacy, beginning Oct. 6. In a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and National Coordinator for Health IT Micky Tripathi, the organizations called for HHS to delay the deadline for a year, citing technical challenges. “It is evident that both healthcare providers, clinicians and vendors are not fully prepared for the October 6th deadline,” the organizations wrote. “Small providers/clinicians’ awareness remains very low, and they are relying heavily on their vendors.”
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don’t miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY. | | | | | | | | A NEW ERA FOR THE EPA — EPA Administrator Michael Regan launched the agency’s environmental justice office on Saturday, pledging before a crowd of longtime activists in his home state of North Carolina that he would “change the structure of the system,” our E&E colleague Kelsey Brugger writes. What will it do? The new Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights will provide technical assistance to communities and enforce civil rights laws, among other duties, with the objective of infusing equity and environmental justice principles into everything the agency does. Who’s running the show? For now, Marianne Engelman-Lado, Matthew Tejada and Lilian Dorka.
| | | | A message from PhRMA:   | | | | | | COULD VA BE A VACCINATION MODEL? — A new study published Monday found that veterans with VA coverage are more likely to get a flu vaccine compared with veterans without coverage and non-veterans. It also reported that racial and ethnic disparities were narrower among those with VA coverage compared with other adults. That improved equity holds true in other, though not all, VA treatment areas, including Covid-19 vaccination, suggesting, the researchers wrote, that “the integrated, single-tier, low-cost access provided by the VA has improved equity.” Backstory: During its 1990s revamp, the VA expanded its primary care enrollment, staffing and resources and made flu vaccination a quality goal. To that end, the agency increased nursing staff support and clinical reminders for providers and made the cost low to nil for beneficiaries. The implications: As the U.S. battles low vaccination uptake for Covid-19 and the flu each year, “efforts to minimize health system barriers to care, as the VA has made, could prove critical to controlling” both Covid-19 and future pandemic threats, the authors wrote.
| | | VACCINE MAKERS ASK FDA FOR KIDS’ EUA — Pfizer and BioNTech said Monday they have applied to the FDA for emergency use authorization for their Omicron-targeting Covid-19 booster shot in kids ages 5 to 11 years old, POLITICO’s Lauren Gardner reports. Their bid to boost children under 12 with a 10-microgram dose of the updated vaccine formula comes as federal officials anticipate a wave of Covid cases later this fall. The FDA will consider the application over the coming weeks. MRNA COVID-19 VAX SAFE DURING PREGNANCY — A national CDC-funded study published on Monday found that mRNA Covid-19 vaccines protected expectant individuals against severe disease when administered before or during pregnancy. It’s the first large, real-world study of the vaccines’ effectiveness during pregnancy, conducted by researchers at the CDC and health research center the Regenstrief Institute, among others. Pregnant individuals weren’t included in the vaccines’ initial trials, but the CDC recommends vaccines for the group. CANADA DROPS BORDER RESTRICTIONS — Canada announced that, starting on Saturday, travelers to Canada won’t have to test, quarantine, declare their Covid-19 vaccination status or use ArriveCAN to provide vaccination status and travel information, POLITICO Canada staff reports. But Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stopped short of agreeing with his counterpart down south that the pandemic is over. “Anyone who thinks the pandemic is over should visit our hospitals right now, where we still see the impact of people struggling with Covid-19,” Trudeau said.
| | | | STAY AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Our Future Pulse newsletter will continue to bring you the biggest stories at the intersection of technology and healthcare, but now five times a week. Want to know what’s next in health care? Sign up for our Future Pulse newsletter. If you aren’t already subscribed, follow this link to start receiving Future Pulse. | | | | | | | | Charles Williams is now manager for advocacy and government affairs (federal) for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. He most recently was legislative assistant for Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.).
| | | In Uganda, the Ebola outbreak has increased to 36 cases, 23 of which have been fatal, CIDRAP reports. The Atlantic reports how a neglected syndrome has become central to understanding many cases of long Covid. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists reports on the alarming global spread of the avian flu.
| | | | A message from PhRMA: According to new data, insured Americans are struggling to navigate their health care coverage, particularly the insurer- and PBM-imposed barriers and cost sharing practices that stand between them and their medicines:
· 39% of insured Americans say they don’t understand what’s covered by their insurance.
· Even with insurance, 15% report they would be unable to afford health care if they were to become seriously ill because of high out-of-pocket costs.
Americans want policy reforms that improve their insurance by providing more predictability and transparency in what is covered and lowering what they pay out of pocket. Read more in PhRMA’s latest Patient Experience Survey. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
