Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Taubenberger Has Reportedly Stepped Down As NIAID Acting Chief
Stat: Acting Head Of NIH’s Infectious Disease Institute Reported To Have Stepped Down
Yet another leadership position at the National Institutes of Health appears to be vacant. Jeffery Taubenberger, who has been serving as acting head of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has stepped down, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) revealed Thursday during a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee. (Branswell and Oza, 5/21)
Politico: Trump Punts Climate Rule In Hopes Of Lowering Food Prices
The president and his EPA chief on Thursday postponed requirements that grocery stores and frozen foods companies buy more climate-friendly refrigeration systems beginning this year — claiming the move would cut consumer food prices. Speaking from the Oval Office flanked by grocery industry executives, President Donald Trump asserted that pausing the Biden-era rule that supermarkets buy new refrigeration systems that don’t contain climate superpollutants would produce savings that would be passed along to consumers. (Chemnick, 5/21)
The Washington Post: Trump Says He Will Work To Enact Permanent Daylight Saving Time
President Donald Trump on Thursday evening applauded House Republicans for advancing legislation to enact year-round daylight saving time, saying that he would “work very hard” to pass the bill and end the nation’s semiannual clock changes. ... The Republican-led House Energy and Commerce Committee earlier Thursday passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would end the practice of “springing forward” and “falling back” by permanently advancing the nation’s clocks by one hour. States would be able to opt out of the change. (Diamond, 5/22)
Politico: RFK Jr. Announces 'The Largest Autism Fraud Bust In American History' And It’s In Minnesota
The Department of Justice said Thursday it has arrested and indicted 15 people in Minnesota for fraud schemes involving $90 million in Medicaid funds. Mehmet Oz, who oversees Medicaid and Medicare, said at a press conference that Minnesota’s government, led by Democratic 2024 vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, had not done enough to prevent it. It’s the latest salvo in a battle between the Trump administration and Walz this year over Medicaid fraud. Medicaid is the state-federal health insurance program for low-income and disabled people. (Paun and King, 5/21)
Stat: Elevance's Peter Haytaian To Testify In Medicare Fraud Case
Peter Haytaian, a former top executive at health insurance company Elevance Health, will have to sit for a deposition in the federal government’s case that alleges Elevance committed fraud in its Medicare Advantage plans, a judge ruled late Wednesday. (Herman, 5/21)
Becker's Hospital Review: HHS Launches AI-Powered Audit Crackdown On States, Grantees
HHS has unveiled a department-wide initiative to pursue states and grantees that have repeatedly failed to address deficiencies flagged in federally required audits, with consequences that could include losing access to federal funding across programs that include Medicaid. The initiative, called AERO (Audit Enforcement and Risk Oversight), uses “next-generation AI analytical tools” to scan at least five years of audit history across all 50 states, the agency said May 21. The Wall Street Journal reported the tool was built in part using ChatGPT. HHS said it sent letters to all 50 state governors and treasurers putting them “on notice” of the new initiative. (Emerson, 5/21)
Updates from Capitol Hill —
Politico: Collins Pushes Back On Trump’s Plan To Cut Health Research Funding
President Donald Trump’s request to cut the National Institutes of Health budget by roughly $5 billion next year is “inexplicable,” Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins told the agency’s director on Thursday. The Maine Republican pressed Jay Bhattacharya at an Appropriations Health Subcommittee hearing on the White House proposal, which she said would “undermine the foundation of our nation’s global leadership in biomedical research and technological innovation.” (Hooper, 5/21)
MedPage Today: House Hearing On The Physician Fee Schedule, MACRA Finds Much Agreement On Problems
A House hearing on how to improve the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and encourage more use of advanced alternative payment models (AAPMs) included lots of agreement on problems, but not as much discussion of solutions. "Medicare payments to physicians impact not just the 70 million Medicare beneficiaries, but essentially all patients, given that more than 95% of clinicians are paid through the program," Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, said at a hearing Wednesday. However, she added "these payments aren't keeping up with inflation, which means that America's physicians are paid less and less every year. In fact, Medicare physician payment has declined 33% in real terms since 2011." (Frieden, 5/21)
KFF Health News: 'What The Health? From KFF Health News': Sen. Cassidy Unleashed
Just days after Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who is also a doctor, was ousted in a primary election, he has already begun to separate himself from the agenda of President Donald Trump, who endorsed one of his opponents. Cassidy has half a year left in office and could, in that time, reshape health policy in an administration from which he’s now effectively freed. Meanwhile, a potentially serious Ebola outbreak in central Africa has experts worried that the U.S.’ dismantling of much of the nation’s public health infrastructure leaves it more vulnerable than in earlier outbreaks. (5/21)
