Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
UnitedHealth Skips Hearing Focused On Change Ransomware Attack
Modern Healthcare: Lawmakers Rip UnitedHealth At Change Healthcare Hearing
The House Energy and Commerce Committee had a lot to discuss during Capitol Hill's first hearing on the Change Healthcare breach and cybersecurity. UnitedHealth Group's absence from the proceedings was high on the list. "I'm extremely disappointed, I have to say, that the UnitedHealth Group did not send representatives to today's hearing," ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) said Tuesday of the conglomerate, whose Optum subsidiary operates Change Healthcare. (McAuliff, 4/16)
Axios: Lawmakers Target Mergers In First Hearing On Change Healthcare Hack
During the first congressional hearing on the Change Healthcare hack Tuesday, lawmakers appeared to zero in on the risks of massive consolidation in health care. (Reed, 4/17)
Stat: UnitedHealth Skips Hearing In The Wake Of Change Cyberattack, Triggering Call For Subpoena
Multiple representatives, including House Energy and Commerce Committee chair Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-Wash.) and ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), expressed their disappointment that UnitedHealth failed to make anyone available to testify about the cyberattack on its subsidiary. “I would actually encourage the chair to subpoena UnitedHealthcare. I think they should be here today and I’m appalled, frankly, [that] as a corporate citizen that they didn’t choose to participate,” said Rep. Ann Kuster (D-N.H.). (Trang, 4/16)
Bloomberg: UnitedHealth CEO Witty Defends Change Healthcare Deal After Cyberattack
UnitedHealth Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Andrew Witty said the cyberattack that interrupted payments throughout the health-care system for weeks would have been harder to recover from if UnitedHealth didn’t own the company that hackers targeted. UnitedHealth is under fire for its response to the attack that halted the flow of money and data in the US medical system, prompting outcry from hospitals, doctors and lawmakers. (Tozzi and Griffin, 4/16)
Bloomberg: UnitedHealth Beats Profit Estimates Despite Hack Impact
UnitedHealth Group Inc. shares jumped after the company beat Wall Street’s profit expectations and affirmed its outlook for the year, despite the costs associated with a cyberattack on one of its subsidiaries that has roiled the health-care industry. Adjusted earnings of $6.91 a share exceeded analysts’ average estimate of $6.59 a share, the health-care giant said in a statement Tuesday. UnitedHealth affirmed its outlook for adjusted net earnings of $27.50 to $28.00 a share in 2024. (Tozzi, 4/16)
In other news from Capitol Hill —
Fierce Healthcare: House To Discuss National Data Privacy Bill With Implications For Healthcare
The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on innovation will hold a hearing Wednesday to discuss data privacy and the protection of kids online. Among a slew of bills to be discussed is a draft data privacy bill unveiled last week that would regulate all sectors of the American economy, including healthcare. The legislation is sponsored by E&C Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Washington, and Senator Maria Cantwell, D-Washington. (Beavins, 4/16)
The Boston Globe: Warren, Markey Call On Steward Hospital Landlords To Cut Or Terminate Lease Payments
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey are calling on two companies that own Steward Health Care’s hospital buildings in Massachusetts to reduce lease payments or terminate their leases to enable new owners to buy the financially squeezed hospitals. (Weisman, 4/16)
USA Today: Why Is Levemir Being Discontinued? Senators Demand Answers
Three U.S. Senators say they are "alarmed" Novo Nordisk discontinued U.S. sales of a popular insulin brand and are demanding answers from the pharmaceutical giant they say left patients without an affordable substitute. In a letter Tuesday to Novo Nordisk's top executives, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said the company's decision to discontinue Levemir, a long-acting insulin, "failed to take into consideration patient access to affordable, long-acting insulin substitutes." (Alltucker, 4/16)
