Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
FDA Approves First-Ever Needle-Free Insulin For Kids 6 And Older
ABC News: Inhaled Insulin Now FDA-Approved For Kids 6 And Over With Diabetes
Taisie Seigrist, a 15-year-old track and cross-country athlete in Oklahoma, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes five years ago. “It was a big life shift,” Taisie’s mom, Jennifer Seigrist, told ABC News. “[She] spent a week in the hospital getting her blood sugars down and learning everything we could learn in a week, and … it's been a roller coaster.” Learning to manage her new diagnosis meant Taisie needed to learn how to dose and inject herself with insulin, a necessary but painful process. (Cobern, 5/29)
MedPage Today: Cardiac Amyloidosis Diagnosis Gets A More Extensive AI Model
Researchers unveiled a new multimodal artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm for cardiac amyloidosis (CA) diagnosis, a tool showing promise for greater accuracy and sensitivity in the real world. (Lou, 5/29)
Modern Healthcare: TAVR Market: Boston Scientific Targets Edwards Lifesciences' Lead
Boston Scientific Corp.’s $1.5 billion investment in MiRus LLC last week is the latest move by medtech vendors to capture hospital market share in the fast-growing cardiology segment. The transcatheter aortic valve replacement market is hot due to the rise in heart valve disorders. Health systems across the U.S. are launching and expanding structural heart programs, in part to offer the procedure. Medtech companies, meanwhile, are developing next-generation devices and competing for market leadership. (Dubinsky, 5/29)
KFF Health News: Telehealth Booms As Demand For GLP-1s Surges And Questions Mount About Safety, Oversight
Within 24 hours of injecting the first dose of a weight loss medication she received following a visit with a telehealth doctor, Karleigh McClain was admitted to the hospital, she said. The 31-year-old compliance consultant from Hendersonville, Tennessee, said she couldn’t stop vomiting. “Sunday morning, it all hits,” McClain recalled, as she described what happened that weekend in January. “I can’t keep anything down.” (Sausser and Rosenfeld, 6/1)
The New York Times: China’s Rise In Drug Development Looms Over U.S.
For decades, an annual gathering of oncologists has featured drug trials that were run mainly at American and European hospitals. But at this year’s meeting, which is being held in Chicago this weekend, the signs are everywhere of China’s ascendance as a powerhouse in drug development — and of the threat that many believe it poses to American biotechnology. The clearest sign: In what appears to be a first, one of the conference’s five coveted headliners is a presentation of a clinical trial conducted only in China. (Robbins and Kolata, 5/30)
Healthcare industry developments —
Modern Healthcare: Massachusetts Sues UnitedHealthcare Over Alleged Medicaid Fraud
Massachusetts sued UnitedHealthcare over allegations of fraud related to the commonwealth’s Medicaid program. The complaint, filed Friday by Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell (D) in Suffolk Superior Court, claims UnitedHealthcare allegedly received $100 million in overpayments from MassHealth over the course of 10 years. UnitedHealth Group’s UnitedHealthcare contracts with MassHealth to offer plans for seniors who are eligible for Medicaid and Medicare. (DeSilva, 5/29)
Modern Healthcare: Elevance Avoids Medicare Advantage Enrollment Freeze From CMS
Elevance Health has forestalled a federal freeze on its Medicare Advantage enrollments. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in March announced the suspension, saying the company allegedly submitted risk-adjustment data improperly for some of its members. CMS in a Friday letter wrote it “will not impose intermediate sanctions at this time” on Elevance Health because the insurance company submitted initial corrected risk-adjustment data and paid the federal government back for alleged Medicare Advantage overpayments. (5/29)
Stat: Executives Reveal Tech Initiatives At Summa Health After General Catalyst Acquisition
People across northeast Ohio are now receiving AI phone calls to help them prep for surgery and navigate care after they leave the hospital. It’s all part of the “transformation” plan that venture capital firm General Catalyst is implementing at Summa Health, the Akron-based safety-net hospital it bought in October. In some of the first media interviews since its parent company bought the health system, Health Assurance Transformation Company executives shed light on how the holding company is approaching its “transformation” of the hospital system and planning to share its innovations with more than two dozen of HATCo’s partner health systems. (Trang, 6/1)
Modern Healthcare: Hospital Construction Trends: Inpatient, Urgent Care Costs Rise
The healthcare construction and design pipeline is holding steady — with a few exceptions. Modern Healthcare’s 2026 Construction and Design Survey signals rising investments in standalone emergency departments and inpatient hospital projects. Demand may be softening, however, for urgent care facilities and behavioral health buildings. (Davis, 5/29)
KFF Health News: Baffling. Frustrating. Frightening. What It’s Like To Be Sued Over Medical Debt
When Christine Wood received a $12,000 bill from Bristol Hospital, she thought it must be a mistake. It was more than she and her husband made in a month combined. “I’m freaking out,” said Wood, who lives in a 1,700-square-foot home in Terryville, a village just outside Bristol, Connecticut. “I don’t understand it.” (Golvala, Carlesso and Levey, 6/1)
