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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 Daniel Payne | | | With Ben Leonard and Evan Peng
| | |  HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra says the government looks to build up the 988 mental health crisis hotline. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo | ONE YEAR IN — The 988 mental health crisis hotline turns 1 year old on Sunday — and will soon be fully available in Spanish, HHS officials said Thursday. The new language option, available for the text and chat functions, comes after the department announced new specialized services for LGBTQ people earlier this month. The expansions represent the administration’s view that the initiative has worked — but has plenty of room for improvement. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said states have been increasingly “picking up the slack” for the program as the federal government looks to build it up. “They’re becoming more committed to devoting resources to 988,” he said at an event Thursday. The year-over-year growth in usage rates has been significant in recent months. Compared with May 2022, May 2023 saw 45 percent more calls answered, 52 percent more chats answered and 938 percent more texts answered. The program has consistently routed more than 300,000 network contacts in the last year, with over 400,000 routed in May. But one big challenge for 988’s future is public awareness. The expansions come as few Americans are familiar with the hotline, according to a National Alliance on Mental Illness/Ipsos poll released Thursday. The poll found that about 82 percent of Americans are unfamiliar with 988, POLITICO’s Kelly Hooper reports. Still, the poll showed a slight improvement in awareness of the lifeline from NAMI’s last survey in October 2022: More than 3 in 5 respondents now say they’ve at least heard of 988, up 19 percentage points from eight months ago. NAMI CEO Daniel Gillison Jr. said the data shows more people are becoming aware of the resource — but not enough. Still, Becerra defended the program’s growth and potential. “Remember, 911 didn’t start off with instant success either,” he said. “It takes a while.” WELCOME TO FRIDAY PULSE, where we can’t believe all the health news from yesterday. Let us know what we missed — and what’s ahead — at dpayne@politico.com. TODAY ON OUR PULSE CHECK PODCAST, host Alice Miranda Ollstein talks with Katherine Ellen Foley, who looks at the implications of the FDA's decision to approve the first-ever over-the-counter birth control.
| | | | | | | A message from PhRMA: Research and development of cancer medicines after their initial FDA approval can help expand treatment populations, find new ways of treating a cancer or help patients earlier in their cancer battle. Unfortunately, provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act put this progress in jeopardy by selecting medicines for price setting before many of these critical advancements can be fully realized. Read the new report. | | | | | | | 
The new OTC birth control pill, Opill, is expected to be on store shelves early next year. | Perrigo via AP | ‘THE PILL’ GOES OTC — The FDA approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill on Thursday, POLITICO’s Katherine Ellen Foley and Alice Miranda Ollstein report. The medication, Opill, is a daily hormonal contraceptive pill that will be available without a prescription — a move that could dramatically expand access to birth control. Opill is expected to be available in stores and online in early 2024. Though the drug and the campaign for its approval go back decades, pressure on the Biden administration to approve a hormonal over-the-counter birth control option increased after the fall of Roe v. Wade last year. Perrigo, the pill’s manufacturer, has pledged to make the pill “accessible and affordable to women and people of all ages.” Have questions about the approval? Alice and our Robert King have answers.
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ADMIN PROPOSES CUTS TO DOC PAY — The Biden administration is proposing to cut Medicare payments to doctors by 3.3 percent next year, POLITICO’s Robert King reports. The move is likely to set off a flurry of lobbying from doctors' groups asking Congress to intervene. The proposed cut is already getting blowback from some provider groups. The Medical Group Management Association said the cut “further increases the gap between physician practice expenses and Medicare reimbursement rates.” CMS LAUNCHES NEW PRICE TRANSPARENCY DEMANDS — CMS wants to insert new requirements for the way hospitals post and display prices for certain services to make it easier on consumers, Robert reports. The agency released new price transparency proposals in the 2024 Hospital Outpatient Payment System rule. One proposal would create a template for hospitals to share certain price data per a controversial rule. In 2021, hospitals had to start posting standard prices for certain items and services and the rates they negotiated with insurers. The facilities only had to post the data in a single, machine-readable file, but there’s no standardization in how that data is displayed. CMS proposes templates that facilities can use to display the pricing data. AND THEN THERE WERE TWO — Senate HELP ranking member Bill Cassidy (R-La.) introduced a bill that would reauthorize several health programs — from community health centers to workforce initiatives. Cassidy’s plan is similar to a bipartisan bill in the House, offering relatively modest increases for community health centers, HHS’ National Health Service Corps and graduate medical education programs. Deadlocked? A Cassidy aide told POLITICO little progress has been made in the bipartisan negotiations over the reauthorizations in the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions — but Chair Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) office disputed that claim. Sanders’ plan, first reported by POLITICO in May, offered large funding bumps for the community health and provider programs. At the time, Cassidy dismissed the plan amid congressional battles over spending. The partisan divide in the committee has worried advocates, who have pointed to the longstanding cooperation between parties. Without reauthorization, the programs’ funding will expire at the end of September.
| | | | A message from PhRMA:   | | | | | GOP TAKES CHAINSAW TO HEALTH FUNDING — House GOP appropriators propose to drastically reduce federal spending on several health agencies, Ben reports. The measure would cut or eliminate a slew of programs that tackle everything from HIV to teen pregnancy. The Appropriations Committee’s draft Labor-HHS spending bill would mean a 29 percent reduction in topline funding and give HHS $103.3 billion — $14 billion less than 2023 levels. The committee will meet this morning to mark up the bill. The bill would significantly cut funding for HHS agencies, including reducing CDC funding by $1.6 billion and NIH funding by $3.8 billion and eliminating funding for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. At least a dozen other health care programs, such as Title X family planning and the CDC’s new Center for Forecasting and Analytics, would be affected. The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health would take a $1 billion hit, down to $500 million. Appropriators say the program has $1.5 billion in unspent dollars. The legislation also has a number of controversial policy riders related to abortion, CMS’ vaccine mandate and gain of function research and would require HHS to give Congress an annual report on how many abortions were provided under Hyde Amendment exceptions. Reality check: This is the House Republicans’ preferred outcome, but the Democrat-controlled Senate will likely restore much of this funding. ROGUE-PHARMACY BILL ADVANCES — The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced legislation that would require social media companies and digital communication service providers to work more closely with federal agencies to stop the illegal sale of drugs on their platforms, Ben reports. The legislation from Sens. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) would mandate that firms tell the DEA when drugs are sold on their platforms or rogue pharmacies distribute drugs. The FDA has pressured social media sites and internet service providers to do more to help crack down on rogue pharmacies.
| | | | LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today. | | | | | | | | | BOTTOMS UP (WITHIN REASON) — Aspartame, the common artificial sweetener, is safe to consume — despite some weak evidence linking a common type of liver cancer, according to two reports previewed by World Health Organization-affiliated researchers Friday. POLITICO’s Carlo Martuscelli reports that WHO officials advised moderation — instead of withdrawing products or no longer consuming them. One assessment found no new health risks linked to aspartame and the other found a possible cancer link. Both are based on reviews of existing scientific literature and don’t include new research. The WHO presented only the reports’ summaries, with the full evaluations to be published within six months, the health authority said.
| | | | FREE COVID SHOTS — The CDC will offer free Covid-19 vaccines for people who are uninsured or whose insurance doesn’t cover the shots, Kelly reports. The launch of the Bridge Access Program comes as Covid vaccines will transition to the commercial market in the fall, after the federal government decided it would stop ordering the vaccines starting Aug. 3. The program will offer the free shots to uninsured or under-insured adults through December 2024.
| | ER visits linked to cannabis spiked during the pandemic, our Paul Demko reports. KKF Health News reports that excessive drinking during the pandemic led to increased alcoholic liver disease death rates.
| | | | A message from PhRMA: A new report showcases the vital role of post-approval R&D in nine critical oncology treatments. This research can help expand treatment populations, find new ways of treating a cancer or help patients earlier in their cancer battle. Unfortunately, provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act put this progress in jeopardy by selecting medicines for price setting before many of these critical advancements can be fully realized. See how post-approval R&D in cancer is at risk. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
