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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 Katherine Ellen Foley
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The Biden administration wants to see more transparency in who owns the nation’s nursing homes. | Scott Olson/Getty Images | SHEDDING LIGHT ON NURSING HOME OWNERSHIP — The Biden administration is proposing new rules that would require more transparency about the owners, managers and contractors at nursing homes, Daniel reports. HHS officials said Monday the new rules — if finalized — would allow the public to see more information about the entities making money from nursing homes — and help federal officials better understand the impact of private equity on the industry and, critically, patients’ health. How would it work? The some 15,500 nursing homes enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid would have to disclose whether the direct or indirect owners of a facility are private equity companies or real estate investment trusts. The rules would also require more information about the connections between nursing home owners and any companies and individuals they contract for services at their facilities. Would it have teeth? In a call with reporters Monday, officials emphasized the administration’s commitment to strongly enforcing the future regulation, saying they would consider kicking nursing homes out of federal programs for breaking the rules. “You want to be part of the Medicare and perhaps the Medicaid system?” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said. “You’ve got to abide by the information requests that are made to you.” WELCOME TO TUESDAY PULSE — The ‘“TikTok tics” have largely disappeared among teenagers as their lives resume some post-pandemic normalcy, but doctors still don’t understand what exactly happened. … Send news and tips to kmahr@politico.com and dpayne@politico.com. TODAY ON OUR PULSE CHECK PODCAST, host Ben Leonard talks with Ruth Reader about HHS' new pilot program that aims to help patients access their health data more easily.
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New research has found a link between the quality of education and dementia risk later in life. | Matt York/AP Photo | THE EDUCATION-DEMENTIA NEXUS — New research suggests that individuals who attend school in states with poor quality education might be more likely to develop dementia later in life. The study, conducted by Kaiser Permanente, was published by JAMA Neurology on Monday. The analysis found that individuals attending schools with “medium-to-high state-level quality for student-teacher ratio, attendance rates, and school term length” had an 8 to 21 percent lower risk of dementia compared with the respective lowest quality group. And while the risk was the same between Black and white individuals, the study found that Black individuals were more likely to be exposed to lower educational quality: 76 to 86 percent were categorized into the low-quality state education groups compared with just 21 to 23 percent of white individuals. Why it matters: The findings offer a new window into one aspect of a question that remains unanswered in public health: Why do older Black Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s or other dementias at twice the rate of white Americans? The analysis suggests how structural racism impacts states’ investment in education — and individuals’ health decades later.
| | | | A message from PhRMA: In 2021, Insurers and their pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) subjected patients to six times the out-of-pocket costs for brand medicines through the use of deductibles or coinsurance compared to patients with only copays — even when these middlemen received a discounted price. That’s not fair. Learn more. | | | | | | HHS MOVES ON HEALTH DATA-SHARING — HHS has selected six companies and organizations to facilitate the sharing of patients’ health care data, POLITICO’s Ben Leonard and Ruth Reader report. The Monday announcement is a major step in the rollout of what the department foresees as a nationwide system. The chosen ones: Electronic health records firm Epic, data-sharing trade group CommonWell Health Alliance, interoperability platforms Health Gorilla and Kno2, health information network eHealth Exchange, and KONZA, a nonprofit that supports health information exchanges. Before they can begin sharing data, the six firms must go through a preproduction testing process and undertake project planning. That could take up to a year, though they pledged Monday to go live as “qualified health information networks” later this year.
| | | A BILL MADE FOR VALENTINE’S DAY — Rep. Scott Franklin (R-Fla.) and Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) will introduce the Cardiac Arrest Survival Act today, which would set a uniform and baseline level of legal protection for people who use automated external defibrillators in an emergency. Why it matters: States’ good Samaritan laws regarding people who deploy AEDs vary widely, ultimately acting as a deterrent for individuals and businesses to move quickly in an emergency, the bill’s proponents say. The proposed law would “clarify liability protections” surrounding AEDs for people who use them and those who own or manage properties with AEDs, according to a statement from Franklin’s office. SENATE COMMITTEE TO HOLD PBM HEARING — Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, has announced a hearing on pharmacy benefit managers Thursday. The hearing will cover how the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act of 2023, introduced by Cantwell and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) last month, would impact PBM business practices and “prohibit unfair or deceptive PBM conduct that drives up costs for consumers,” according to a committee statement. COVID ORIGINS PROBE KICKS OFF — Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chair Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) and House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) have launched their investigation into Covid-19’s origins and U.S. funding of research in the Wuhan, China, laboratory. They have sent letters requesting information to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, former NIH director Anthony Fauci, EcoHealth Alliance president Peter Daszak, ODNI Director Avril Haines, and Biden adviser Francis Collins. VA COMMITTEE SKEDS WEED BILL MARKUP — The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee will mark up a bill Thursday to expand medical research into the use of cannabis for veterans, POLITICO's Natalie Fertig reports. Committee Chair Jon Tester (D-Mont.) is a lead sponsor of the VA Medicinal Cannabis Research Act of 2023, which was reintroduced late last week. Co-sponsor Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) is also a member of the committee. Key context: Tester is up for reelection in 2024. He hasn’t declared whether he’ll run again, but veterans are an important segment of the Montana vote — making up 10 percent of the population over age 18, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Cannabis was legalized for recreational use by Montana voters in the 2020 election.
| | | | DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS– DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID. | | | | | | | | NC AG WON’T DEFEND ABORTION PILL RULES — North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said he won’t defend his state’s restrictions on abortion pills, POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein reports. Stein was responding Monday to a lawsuit from a doctor who says the restrictions harm her ability to serve her patients and clash with federal rules that allow the pills to be obtained via telemedicine, mail delivery and local pharmacies. A Democrat who’s seeking his party's 2024 gubernatorial nomination, Stein told the state legislature that after reviewing the doctor’s arguments, he believes they’re “legally correct,” and his office will say as much in its filings to the federal district court hearing the case in Greensboro. He said if the GOP-controlled state legislature wants to intervene in the case in defense of the pill restrictions, it’s free to do so.
| | | | A message from PhRMA:   | | | | | | FEDS BUY MORE NOVAVAX — The U.S. government has updated its contract with Novavax to acquire an additional 1.5 million doses of the company’s Covid-19 vaccine, even as the health emergency is slated to end on May 11, Katherine reports. Novavax’s vaccine, currently available for those 12 years and older, is based on the original SARS-CoV-2 virus. The additional contract will help maintain free access to the vaccine and also support the development of smaller dose vials, selection of circulating variants “and a smooth transition to the commercial market,” Novavax said today. “This agreement acknowledges the need to offer the American people a diverse COVID-19 vaccine portfolio,” Novavax President and CEO John Jacobs said.
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | | Rachael Baitel is now VP of health care company CareBridge. She continues as chief of staff at Russell Street Ventures.
| | | Nearly 1 in 3 high school girls reported in 2021 they seriously considered suicide, reports The Washington Post. Vivek Ramaswamy made a fortune in biotech investing. Now the “CEO of Anti-Woke Inc.” is eyeing a run for the presidency, our colleague Daniel Lippman reports for POLITICO Magazine. Ground ambulances were left out of the law banning most surprise medical bills, and patients continue to be hit hard, Stat reports
| | | | A message from PhRMA: Every day, patients at the pharmacy counter discover their commercial insurance coverage does not provide the level of access and affordability they need. New data from a study by IQVIA reveal the harmful practices of insurers and their pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) can lead to significantly higher out-of-pocket costs for medicines — causing some patients to abandon their medicines completely. Learn more. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
