Modern Healthcare: CMS Extends Open Enrollment Period Until Aug. 15
The Biden administration on Tuesday extended the exchange special enrollment period until Aug. 15, giving consumers in 36 states three more months to signup for coverage through HealthCare.gov. According to CMS, the change will allow more people to take advantage of greater financial assistance for marketplace plans under the American Rescue Plan. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law earlier this month. About 1 in 4 people who enroll in coverage through the federal website will be able to upgrade to a plan with lower out-of-pocket costs or a lower premium than their current plan, the agency said. Consumers can cash in on the additional savings starting April 1. (Brady, 3/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden Administration Extends Enrollment Period For Affordable Care Act
The Covid-19 aid legislation eliminates the income cap that limits who is eligible for ACA tax credits to reduce monthly insurance premiums. It also limits the amount households pay to only 8.5% of their income on healthcare, and boosts subsidies to lower-income consumers. With the increased subsidies, costs will come down for many who buy ACA-compliant plans. For a 60-year-old with a $55,000 income, premiums will drop by around 50% to 80% depending on the plan, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis. (Armour, 3/23)

USA Today: Obamacare Enrollment Period Extended For Health Insurance Subsidies
The package increased the subsidies already available to people who don't receive health insurance from an employer or through a government plan like Medicare or Medicaid. And it made the subsidies newly available for people earning more than four times the federal poverty level, which is about $51,520 for a single person. Premiums will decrease an average of $50 a month per person, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. But some people could save hundreds of dollars each month. (Groppe, 3/23)

In related news —

MarketWatch: The New COVID Relief Bill Has Slashed Obamacare Health-Insurance Premiums — That’s Good News For Early Retirees
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 is a sweeping piece of legislation signed into law on March 11. ... The act also substantially changes health-insurance premiums and subsidies for Marketplace plans. This has gotten far less press. It may have a bigger effect on many who need to bridge the gap from employer-provided health insurance to Medicare. (Mamula, 3/23)

KHN: Democrats Gave Americans A Big Boost Buying Health Insurance. It Didn’t Come Cheap
When Democrats pushed through a two-year expansion of the Affordable Care Act in the covid-relief bill this month, many people celebrated the part that will make health insurance more affordable for more Americans. But health care researchers consider this move a short-term fix for a long-term crisis, one that avoids confronting an uncomfortable truth: The only clear path to expanding health insurance remains yet more government subsidies for commercial health plans, which are the most costly form of coverage. (Levey, 3/24)

KHN: Lots Of Health Insurance Help In Covid Relief Law — But Do Your Homework First
There’s something for everyone with private health insurance in the American Rescue Plan Act, but determining the best way to benefit may be confusing. The $1.9 trillion covid relief law that President Joe Biden signed this month will make coverage significantly more affordable for millions of people who either who have marketplace coverage, are uninsured or have lost their employer coverage. In addition, it will eliminate repayment requirements for premium tax credits. Consumers can begin to see those improvements next month, but they may need to go to healthcare.gov and update their application for the changes to take effect then. (Andrews, 3/24)

AP: Alternatives To Nursing Homes Get $12B Boost In COVID Bill
With the memory of the pandemic’s toll in nursing homes still raw, the COVID-19 relief bill is offering states a generous funding boost for home- and community-based care as an alternative to institutionalizing disabled people. Advocates hope the estimated $12.7 billion will accelerate what has been a steady shift to supporting elderly and disabled people and their overwhelmed families in everyday settings. But the money for state Medicaid programs, long in coming, will only be available over four calendar quarters this year and next. That’s raising concerns it will have just fleeting impact, and prompting calls for permanent legislation. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 3/24)

Columbus Dispatch: President Joe Biden In Ohio: COVID-19 Stimulus Boosts Health Care For Americans
President Joe Biden sold the twin pillars of his American Rescue Plan and the Affordable Care Act as forging the way toward making affordable health care a right during remarks Tuesday at the James Cancer Hospital on the Ohio State University campus. Speaking on the 11th anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act while he served as vice president to Barack Obama, Biden stressed the steps the relief act takes to expand health care and make insurance coverage more affordable.

AP: Biden Expands 'Obamacare' By Cutting Health Insurance Costs
“We have a duty not just to protect it, but to make it better and keep becoming a nation where health care is a right for all, not a privilege for a few,” Biden said at the James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. “Millions of families will be able to sleep a little more soundly at night because they don’t have to worry about losing everything if they get sick.” (Jaffe and Alonso-Zaldivar, 3/23)

AP: Becerra Visits Nevada, Stumps For Pandemic Aid And Obamacare
In his first trip since being confirmed, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra visited Nevada on Tuesday to talk up the Affordable Care Act and efforts underway to expand coverage and reduce the cost of health care. The secretary is one of several surrogates that President Joe Biden dispatched to drum up support for his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, which includes funding for people who lost health care coverage amid the pandemic. The package builds on the Affordable Care Act by expanding tax credits and subsidies to lower health care costs. (Metz, 3/24)

The Hill: Biden Adviser Clashes With MSNBC Host: 'Clearly You Have Health Insurance'
Biden adviser Cedric Richmond clashed with MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan on air Thursday during a discussion about the health care provisions in the recently passed $1.9 trillion stimulus package. During the conversation, which occurred on the 11th anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act, Hasan asked Richmond why the stimulus package spends an estimated $35 billion on covering COBRA costs for around 2 million unemployed people for six months. He called COBRA an “inefficient, overpriced way of giving people health care.” (Schnell, 3/23)

The New York Times: Senate Confirms Vivek Murthy As Surgeon General
Dr. Vivek Murthy, who helped found several health-related advocacy groups and later tackled the opioid epidemic and e-cigarettes as surgeon general during the Obama administration, was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday to reprise that role for President Biden. The vote, 57 to 43, was a much smoother ride for Dr. Murthy than the first time he was confirmed, in 2014, when Republicans cast Dr. Murthy as a politically connected supporter of President Barack Obama’s who would use his position to push for stricter gun control. The fight dragged on for months, leaving the country without a top doctor for more than a year. (Gay Stolberg, 3/23)

AP: Newly Confirmed Surgeon General To Focus On COVID, Opioids
The Senate confirmed a soft-spoken physician as President Joe Biden’s surgeon general Tuesday. While Dr. Vivek Murthy says ending the coronavirus pandemic is his top priority, he’s also raised concerns over a relapsing opioid overdose crisis. The vote on Murthy was 57-43, giving him bipartisan support. Biden’s coronavirus response can already count on plenty of star players, but Murthy has a particular niche. As a successful author he’s addressed issues of loneliness and isolation that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. For Murthy, this will be his second tour as America’s doctor, having previously served under former President Barack Obama. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 3/23)

In case you missed it —

Miami Herald: Who is Vivek Murthy? 
Before Vivek Murthy lived in Washington, the self-proclaimed “mango aficionado” was the 16-year-old valedictorian at Miami Palmetto Senior High. He was inducted into the school’s alumni association Hall of Fame in October 2018. Murthy graduated from the Pinecrest school with a 6.09 GPA in 1994. His accomplishments won him a prestigious Silver Knight award in general scholarship, and admission to Harvard University. After receiving his bachelor’s degree from Harvard, he went on to get his M.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Yale University. Before his time as surgeon general, Murthy co-founded Doctors for America, a nonprofit mobilizing physicians and medical students to improve access to affordable care. He also co-founded with his sister VISIONS, a peer-to-peer HIV/AIDS education program in India and the U.S., according to his website. (Marchante, 12/7)

In other news from the Biden administration —

The Hill: Kamala Harris, Bill Clinton To Hold Talk On Pandemic's Impact On Women
Vice President Harris and former President Clinton will sit for a one-on-one conversation Friday, as part of the 13th annual Clinton Global Initiative University meeting, where they will discuss the pandemic’s effect on women. The meeting, which is being held in partnership with Howard University, Harris’s alma mater, will showcase “A one-on-one conversation with President Clinton and Vice President Kamala Harris on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women, and empowering women and girls in the U.S. and around the world,” according to a statement from the Clinton Foundation. (Schnell, 3/23)

Stat: Abernethy, Who Aimed To Amp Up FDA's Tech Knowhow, To Leave Post
Amy Abernethy, the number two official at the Food and Drug Administration, plans to depart the agency in mid-to-late April. The announcement was made in a memo from Janet Woodcock, the acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, who called Abernethy “a talented and inspiring leader” and said she takes heart in Abernethy’s “enduring accomplishments.” (Herper, 3/23)

Also —

KHN: Birx Joins Air-Cleaning Industry Amid Land Grab For Billions In Federal Covid Relief 
The former top White House coronavirus adviser under President Donald Trump, Dr. Deborah Birx, has joined an air-cleaning company that built its business, in part, on technology that is now banned in California due to health hazards. The company is one of many in a footrace to capture some of the $193 billion in federal funding to schools. (Jewett and Weber, 3/24)

Axios: AstraZeneca Commits To More Vaccine Data After Concerns From NIH 
AstraZeneca acknowledged on Tuesday morning that a press release about its U.S. coronavirus vaccine trial was based on data through Feb. 17, and promised to release more complete results that are "consistent with" the interim data within the next 48 hours. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) released an unusual statement early Tuesday expressing concerns that AstraZeneca's release may have used "outdated information" that "may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data." (3/23)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Health Officials Raise Concerns Over AstraZeneca Vaccine Data
AstraZeneca said it would update and reissue later this week efficacy data from human trials of its Covid-19 vaccine after U.S. officials took the rare move of publicly questioning their accuracy—the latest misstep by the British drug giant as it struggles to get its shot into American arms. ... The day before, AstraZeneca released interim data from a large-scale U.S. trial that it said found its Covid-19 vaccine to be 79% effective in preventing symptomatic disease. (Strasburg, Burton and Walker, 3/23)

Politico: Fauci: AstraZeneca Needs To 'Straighten Out' Vaccine Data
The DSMB “wrote a rather harsh note” to AstraZeneca with NIAID Director — and Biden medical adviser — Anthony Fauci copied in, he told POLITICO. “The issue that the DSMB had is straightforward and very simple: The DSMB had data that they know the company had. When they saw the press release, they said, ‘wait a minute — the data in the press release do not reflect the most recent data that we know you have,'" he said. Fauci also discussed the issue during an appearance Tuesday morning on "Good Morning America." The data board felt the data released by AstraZeneca "might, in fact, be misleading a bit, and wanted them to straighten it out," he said. (Owermohle, 3/23)

Also —

Stat: Mishaps, Miscommunications Overshadow AstraZeneca’s Covid Vaccine
Yet again, AstraZeneca is in a crisis of its own making. The latest in the drug manufacturer’s long string of mishaps and miscommunications came Tuesday, when top federal health officials accused the company of highlighting in a press release overly positive data about the efficacy of its coronavirus vaccine. It came after widely publicized snafus like administering incorrect doses during clinical trials and keeping U.S. regulators in the dark after pausing a trial entirely due to safety concerns. (Joseph and Facher, 3/23)

Stat: Swashbuckling CEO Flies AstraZeneca Into Turbulence 
It took eight years, a failed hostile takeover, and a sweeping scientific turnaround for AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot to become one of the drug industry’s leading lights. Now, after 11 bumbling months of Covid-19 vaccine development, the French-born executive finds himself at the center of a multinational credibility crisis, moving from scandal to scandal as his rivals bask in global acclaim. (Herper and Garde, 3/23)

The Wall Street Journal: AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine Dispute Shines Spotlight On Data Monitoring Boards
The dispute over AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine trial has exposed the crucial role played by independent expert panels in behind-the-scenes oversight of clinical pharmaceutical trials. The panels, called data and safety monitoring boards, are typically composed of medical experts and scientists such as biostaticians, clinicians and epidemiologists. They are tasked with safeguarding the safety of study volunteers and the scientific integrity of the studies, said Joseph Ross, professor of medicine and of public health at Yale University School of Medicine. (Walker, 3/23)

Politico: New Signs J&J May Not Be Able To Hit Vaccine Delivery Goal
The supply situation has frustrated administration officials trying to deliver on President Joe Biden’s directive to offer vaccines to all U.S. adults by May. The White House was counting on the single-dose J&J shot to reach underserved populations and accelerate the country’s return to normal. POLITICO on Monday reported that the administration is increasingly concerned the company won't make its target. White House officials told governors in a private call Tuesday that the federal retail pharmacy program is slated to receive 1.5 million J&J shots next week, according to one source on the call. States are set to receive around 2 million doses, according to three individuals with knowledge of the administration’s distribution plans. (Roubein and Banco, 3/23)

Roll Call: Johnson & Johnson Under Pressure To Deliver Promised Vaccine Doses
Johnson & Johnson is under pressure to deliver its promised 20 million vaccine doses by next week, as several state public health officials indicate they are receiving few or no shots this week and have no idea how much they’ll get later. The uncertainty comes at a time when the demand for vaccines continues to overwhelm supply, a weary country braces for the spread of viral variants and hundreds of people die from COVID-19 each day. It raises questions about how successful the company was in meeting a central goal of the massive U.S. investment in vaccine development: to manufacture sufficient supplies of shots before they were proven effective in order to hit the ground running. (Kopp, 3/23)

Axios: U.S. Approves Johnson & Johnson COVID Vaccine Plant 
The FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization for a Catalent Pharma plant in Bloomington, Indiana, allowing it to produce and ship doses of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine, the company announced Tuesday. The plant will help J&J increase COVID vaccine shipments this spring and eventually fulfill the 200 million doses the pharmaceutical company agreed to deliver to the United States, according to Bloomberg. (Knutson, 3/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Vaccine Manufacturing In U.S. Races Ahead 
After a slow start, Pfizer Inc., its partner BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc. have raised output by gaining experience, scaling up production lines and taking other steps like making certain raw materials on their own. Pfizer figured out how to stretch scarce supplies of special filters needed for the vaccine production process by recycling them. Moderna shortened the time it needed to inspect and package newly manufactured vials of its vaccine. (Loftus, 3/21)

Axios: Vaccine Manufacturing Output Expected To Have Tripled From February To March 
Vaccine makers have drastically increased their manufacturing capacity, and output of the three vaccines authorized in the U.S. is expected to in March be nearly triple the amount produced in February, the Wall Street Journal reports. The faster shots are made, the faster they can be put in arms, and the sooner life can begin to approach normal. (Owens, 3/22)

Also —

The Washington Post: Becerra Says Government Must Reach People Where They Are To Surmount Vaccine Inequities
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said the federal campaign to vaccinate Americans against the coronavirus must “reach people where they are,” bringing vaccine-filled syringes into farm fields and onto construction sites to ease profound racial and ethnic disparities in who has been receiving the protective shots. “We’re not going to say, ‘Now, just come get your vaccine,’ which is a very different model than we’ve done in the past,” Becerra said in his first interview since being sworn in as the nation’s top health official late last week. Too often, he said, Black and Latino Americans in low-wage jobs believe “their government thinks they are invisible.” (Goldstein, 3/23)

Health News Florida: Vice President Visits Jacksonville, Emphasizes Importance Of Getting Vaccinated 
Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday visited Jacksonville, where she visited the city's federally run COVID-19 vaccine distrbution site and touted the benefits of the recently passed $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan with a visit to a local food bank. "We're going to be here visiting a vaccination site saying, 'Look everybody ... when it's your turn go and get vaccinated,' and that's the message of the day and that should be the message everyday, including reminding folks to wear a mask and wash their hands and social distance," the vice president said. (Bortzfield, 3/23)

Columbus Ledger-Enquirer: CDC COVID Vaccine Data Issue Uncovered In GA, Other States 
Health officials are unable to accurately track the number of vaccines administered in several states because of a reporting issue between pharmacies and state databases, CDC officials confirmed to McClatchy. The CDC could not specify the states affected or when the issue began, only that there was a reporting issue among a “small subset” of shots. Federal officials say they are working with vendors and pharmacy partners to rectify the issue “as soon as possible.” (Wooten, 3/23)

Roll Call: Americans At Military Bases Overseas Struggle To Get COVID-19 Vaccine
Emilee Seger watched as her home state of Ohio announced that it would open COVID-19 vaccinations to all adults by the end of the month. If she were home, it would have been cause for celebration. But Seger, who lives more than 4,000 miles away at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, felt abandoned. On base, vaccinations are only available to the highest-priority groups, and the supply is so limited that some second doses have been canceled. (Satter, 3/24)

The New York Times: Texas, Indiana And Georgia Are Making All Adults Eligible For Covid-19 Vaccination
Texas, Indiana and Georgia announced Tuesday that residents 16 years and older will be eligible for Covid-19 vaccinations starting Thursday for Georgia residents, Monday for Texans and on March 31 for Indianans. They joining a growing list of states that plan to broaden vaccine eligibility to all adults ahead of a May 1 deadline set by President Biden. “With every dose, Texas gets closer to normal and protects more lives from COVID-19 hospitalization and death,” the state’s health department said in a Twitter post. (3/24)

The Oregonian: COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Headed To Oregon Pharmacies Has Nearly Doubled In Last Two Weeks 
The number of COVID-19 vaccine doses headed to Oregon pharmacies has grown dramatically over the last several weeks as the federal government has continued to ramp up its pharmacy program. Oregon pharmacies will receive more than 44,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses this week through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program. Two weeks ago, pharmacies within the state were receiving just 24,000 doses per week. (Goldberg, 3/23)

North Carolina Health News: Daunting Logistics To Vaccinate Homebound Folks 
A few days ago, Jay Smith and his wife, Yolanda, loaded up his wheelchair in the car and went down to the state Division of Motor Vehicles office near his Raleigh home to surrender his license. “You can’t do it by mail, you have to go there,” Jay Smith said. “It’s like 3 months to get an appointment.” Smith, 57, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known more commonly as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, in December and he’s had rapid loss of ability. By the time his appointment rolled around, he could barely transfer from his car to a wheelchair to go into the building. (Hoban, 3/24)

USA Today: Many Won't Travel, Dine Out Until Herd Immunity Arrives
A growing share of Americans would feel safe resuming activities like dining out or flying within a few weeks of their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine, but about 25% to 30% would wait until the nation reaches herd immunity, according to a Harris Poll survey for USA TODAY. Their attitudes bode well for what’s expected to be a historically robust recovery from the coronavirus recession. But the sizeable share of people who prefer to wait until at least 70% of the population is immune could mean a less roaring launch to the rebound as some activity shifts to late summer and fall from midyear. (Davidson, 3/24)

In updates from Maryland —

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland COVID Vaccine Eligibility Expands Next Week To Include All With CDC Underlying Conditions, Disabilities 
Starting next week, people with a range of underlying medical conditions identified by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as risk factors for severe cases of the coronavirus will be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccination appointments, state officials said Tuesday. Currently, cancer patients, people with end-stage renal disease on hemodialysis, sickle-cell disease patients, people with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and solid organ transplant recipients qualify for vaccines in the state, though they have to be receiving inpatient or outpatient treatment in a hospital setting. (Miller, 3/23)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland To Double Mass COVID Vaccination Sites As Hogan, Health Officials Warn Of Threat Of Virus Variants 
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced Tuesday the state would double the number of state-run mass COVID-19 vaccination clinics by mid-April, while offering a new warning about the spread of coronavirus variants. As he unveiled plans to open mass immunization sites in six of the state’s most populous counties, the Republican governor rebranded the inoculation effort “as a race between the vaccines and the variants.” (Mann and Stole, 3/23)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland’s Emergency Contracts For COVID Vaccine Rollout To Get Public Review 
A set of emergency contracts signed by the Hogan administration to help the state with its COVID-19 vaccine rollout will get their first official review Wednesday, providing a window into the millions in public spending done quickly and in private to combat the pandemic. The Maryland Board of Public Works is expected to consider the contracts, one with New York-based consulting firm Ernst & Young and the other with Bethesda-based Digital Management. Together, they could reach a combined value of $46 million. (Miller and Cohn, 3/23)

Bloomberg: Pfizer Begins Human Trials Of New Pill To Treat Coronavirus 
Pfizer Inc. said it has begun human safety testing of a new pill to treat the coronavirus that could be used at the first sign of illness. If it succeeds in trials, the pill could be prescribed early in an infection to block viral replication before patients get very sick. The drug binds to an enzyme called a protease to keep the virus from replicating. Protease-inhibiting medicines have been successful in treating other types of viruses, include HIV and Hepatitis C. (Langreth, 3/23)

Axios: COVID Infections Among Vaccinated People Are Very Rare 
Fully vaccinated people can still get COVID, but it's pretty rare, according to a pair of studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine. One study published Tuesday found that only four out of 8,121 fully vaccinated employees at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas became infected. (Fernandez, 3/24)

CIDRAP: Infliximab Associated With Lower Likelihood Of COVID-19 Antibodies
People with COVID-19 infections who also used the inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) drug infliximab had significantly fewer detectable antibodies than those who used vedolizumab, which treats IBD without the immune suppression, according to a study yesterday in Gut. Dubbed CLARITY (ImpaCt of bioLogic therApy on saRs-cov-2 Infection and immuniTY), the study looked at 6,935 patients ages 5 and above with IBD from 92 UK hospitals from Sep 22 to Dec 23, 2020, and researchers plan to follow them up to 40 weeks thereafter. About two thirds (67.6%) of the cohort took infliximab, while the remainder took vedolizumab. Patients' median age was 39 years. (3/23)

CNN: How Beards Fit In Masks May Affect Your Covid-19 Risk 
Growing a beard may seem as harmless as committing to elastic waistbands, as far as pandemic trends go. But for some, choosing to forego shaving could impact one crucial method for ending the pandemic. An important part of wearing face masks to reduce the risk of contracting or spreading coronavirus is that the mask fits snugly. Depending on a beard's length and thickness, experts have said it may reduce the effectiveness of mask-wearing by creating more space between your face and the mask. (Rogers, 3/23)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 'Long Haulers' Need Dedicated Clinics, Experts Say
The United States should create multispecialty COVID-19 clinics dedicated to treating patients still experiencing serious multiorgan effects of infection well after recovery from acute illness, say the authors of a comprehensive review of literature on so-called coronavirus "long-haulers" published yesterday in Nature Medicine. The exact number of US long-haul COVID-19 cases is unknown, but the researchers said that many patients struggle in silence or become frustrated when their doctors don't consider that their symptoms could be related to their previous infection. (Van Beusekom, 3/23)

CNBC: Lingering Covid Symptoms Pose 'Really Serious Problem,' Researcher Says
A researcher who studies so-called Covid long-haulers warned that lingering symptoms are a grim reality and can pose a serious problem. “We’ve been tracking around 60 distinct symptoms in this patient population,” said David Putrino, the Director of Rehabilitation Innovation at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. “We really just need to focus on helping these patients and spreading awareness that this is, indeed, a really serious problem associated with Covid.” (DeCiccio, 3/23)

NBC News: 'Brain Fog' And Other Neurologic Symptoms Can Last For Months After Covid
Ongoing, and in some cases debilitating, problems with thinking affect a large majority of Covid-19 patients who were never sick enough to be hospitalized, according to a study published Tuesday in the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology. The research, from Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, is based on an analysis of 100 Covid-19 "long-hauler" patients whose symptoms have lasted at least six weeks. All originally had a mild illness: sore throat, cough, low-grade fever. (Edwards, 3/23)

Stat: Senate Reaches Deal To Boost Medicare Pay For Providers Through 2021
Senate leaders have reached an agreement to extend a Medicare pay bump for health care providers through 2021, a major lobbying win for hospitals. Senate leaders cut a deal on Tuesday, just days ahead of the March 31 deadline when the 2% pay boost is set to expire, according to bill text obtained by STAT. Congress last year gave providers the boost to help their bottom lines during the Covid-19 pandemic. (Cohrs, 3/23)

Modern Healthcare: Providers Expect Senate To Vote On Medicare Sequester Cuts This Week
Hospital and provider groups feel optimistic the Senate will vote this week to avert a 2% cut to Medicare payments just days before they're scheduled to take effect, but political squabbling behind the scenes means action is still far from certain. Without congressional action, Medicare sequester cuts will resume April 1 after being paused for most of the pandemic. The cuts originally took effect in 2013 but were paused by Congress last year in response to the pandemic and its effect on providers' finances. (Hellmann, 3/23)

In legislative news from Maryland —

The Baltimore Sun: Complaints Filed About Maryland Lawmaker Who Tuned Into Legislative Meetings From The Operating Room 
Complaints have been filed with the Maryland Board of Physicians and the General Assembly’s ethics committee against a state lawmaker who twice joined legislative meetings by video from the operating room. Del. Terri Hill, a board-certified plastic surgeon, has acknowledged she twice logged in from the OR, once in February to testify on a bill and once for about an hour this month during a voting session. (Wood, 3/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Hospitals Stung Financially By Covid-19 Pandemic Seek Remainder Of Relief Fund Payouts
Hospitals are pressing the Biden administration to pay out the remaining relief funds that Congress granted last year to cover financial losses from the Covid-19 pandemic, saying it has been more than three months since the government’s last announcement of a large disbursement. Congress last year approved $178 billion to create a relief fund for health providers. The last announcement about payouts from the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the disbursements, was Dec. 17, when the department said it would send about $24.5 billion to 70,000 health organizations. (Armour and Evans, 3/23)

Modern Healthcare: Five Ways To Better Equip Hospitals For The Next Pandemic
About a year ago Mary Margaret Health CEO Timothy Putnam realized something horrifying: his hospital was never designed for a pandemic. On March 13, 2020, the 25-bed critical-access hospital in Batesville, Ind., saw its first patient with COVID-19. Two weeks later, the hospital was slammed with patients presenting with severe abdominal pain, headaches and backaches, many of whom were crashing and needed a ventilator within five to six hours. ... Putnam has made changes to the hospital, he told a virtual audience at the American College of Healthcare Executives' annual congress on healthcare leadership. He and three other panelists provided tips for how health systems can rethink their facilities for life after the pandemic, and prepare for the next public health crisis. (Gillespie, 3/23)

Bloomberg: Blackstone Invests In Mental Health App At $1 Billion Valuation 
Blackstone Group Inc. is leading a $100 million funding round in on-demand mental-health company Ginger, accelerating a push into fast-growing technology startups. The funds will come out of the investment firm’s growth equity arm, Blackstone and Ginger said. The stake values the San Francisco-based service at about $1 billion, vaulting it to unicorn status. (Tan and Perlberg, 3/24)

USA Today: Prince Harry Has A New Job With Mental Health Organization BetterUp
More than a year after first stepping back from his official duties with the British royal family, Prince Harry has a new job with an American employee coaching and mental health organization. BetterUp, Inc. announced Tuesday the Duke of Sussex would be joining their team as its first chief impact officer, in a role in which he'll aim to "lift up critical dialogues around mental health, build supportive and compassionate communities, and foster an environment for honest and vulnerable conversations. (Yasharoff, 3/23)

The Washington Post: Saliva Test For Concussions Found By University Of Birmingham Researchers
Researchers say they can diagnose concussions accurately using a biomarker in saliva, a groundbreaking finding that raises the possibility that doctors and athletic trainers could rapidly determine whether someone suffered a concussion using an objective test, according to a peer-reviewed article published Tuesday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The implications reach beyond the playing field but are significant for sports — especially football, which for years has grappled with how to diagnose concussions and when to allow players to return to play after potentially suffering a brain injury. An objective test would not replace the standard clinical assessment based on symptoms, but it could provide a crucial supplement for confirming concussions or even finding ones that went unreported. (Kilgore, 3/23)

Axios: Researchers Developing Drug Delivery Device 
A research-stage company is developing a wearable dosing and delivery device for medication, including for the painkiller drug ketamine. Wearable drug delivery systems allow doctors to precisely control doses delivered to someone at home, which could help reduce the risk of drug abuse while ensuring patients receive their medication seamlessly. (Walsh, 3/20)

In pharmaceutical industry news —

Modern Healthcare: Boston Scientific To Pay $189 Million Settlement Over Vaginal Mesh Devices
Boston Scientific will pay $188.6 million to settle allegations that it used deceptive marketing practices to sell its transvaginal surgical mesh products to doctors and patients. A coalition of 48 state attorneys general alleged in a complaint that Boston Scientific failed to sufficiently disclose risks associated with the mesh use and the safety and efficacy of the devices. (Gillespie, 3/23)

AP: German Firm Plea, $50M Payment Settles US Drug Purity Probe
An international pharmaceutical company pleaded guilty as planned Tuesday in a U.S. court after agreeing to pay $50 million for destroying manufacturing records during a federal Food and Drug Administration inspection in India. Fresenius Kabi Oncology Ltd. said in a statement it was pleased to conclude the drug purity investigation after eight years and regretted that “such events happened years ago at one of its plants.” The company said it informed the public in July 2013 that employees at a company plant in Kalyani, West Bengal, India, had been fired for failing to provide records during an FDA inspection earlier that year. (3/24)

Stat: AbbVie Accuses Company Of Recruiting Employee To Steal Humira Secrets
Two years ago, a manufacturing team leader at AbbVie (ABBV) took a similar job at an erstwhile rival that planned to make a biosimilar version of Humira, its best-selling product. But before leaving, the employee allegedly transferred a raft of confidential information about the steps needed to produce the blockbuster medicine, according to a lawsuit filed by AbbVie in a federal court. (Silverman, 3/23)

Axios: Scientists Publish Criteria For Diagnosing CTE In Living People For First Time 
Scientists have produced the first consensus criteria to diagnose chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in living people. As of now, CTE can only be diagnosed after death. But a new paper, written by over 20 scientists, is a step toward a "biomarker" that could definitively say whether a living person has the disease. (Baker, 3/23)

In other public health news —

Dallas Morning News: Texas Expands Nursing Home Visitation To Allow More Contact Between Residents And Loved Ones
The state is expanding visitation at nursing homes, allowing fully vaccinated residents to have close contact with loved ones. The Texas Department of Health and Human Services laid out the new guidelines Tuesday. (Morris, 3/23)

The Washington Post: Nearly Half Of All Schools In The U.S. Are Open Full-Time, Survey Says
The first federal data on education during the pandemic finds nearly half of public schools were open for full-time, face-to-face classes, with White children far more likely than Black, Hispanic or Asian American students to be attending in person. The data suggests the nation is both close to a goal set by President Biden for a return to school and a considerable distance to a full return to normalcy. The survey also raised questions about the quality of education being delivered to those learning from home. About one-third of schools offer two hours or less of live instruction per day for those learning either full or part-time at home. Some offer none. (Meckler, 3/24)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Braves: All-Star Game Will Be `First Global Event’ With Capacity Crowd Since Pandemic
The Atlanta Braves estimate that Truist Park will be operating at 100 percent capacity by June and that 100,000 people will attend events as part of Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game, which the Braves will host in July. Longtime Braves’ executive Mike Plant told Cobb County commissioners on Tuesday that the Mid-Summer Classic will be “the first global event” to be held with a full-capacity crowd since the pandemic took hold last year. The game will be held at Truist Park on July 13. (Deere, 3/23)

The Virginian-Pilot: A Norfolk Hot Dog Shop Started Feeding Those In Need For Free. A Flood Of Nationwide Support Followed.
At the end of February, Tarah Morris began a program called Franks for Friends at her Norfolk hot dog and burger shop, Perfectly Frank, offering one free meal per day to anyone who needs one. “If you’re broke and hungry, we got you!” read the sign they put out in front of the restaurant, at 4408 Monarch Way on the Old Dominion University campus. “One free meal per person per day. No questions asked. ”The idea came after a customer gifted her shop $2,000 to help employees and anyone else in need. From there, she started a fund, allowing customers to pay forward a meal if they’d like to do so. Enough did so that the program became self-sustaining: She’s given out 125 meals so far. (Korfhage, 3/23)

Also —

The Washington Post: World Happiness Report Has Surprisingly Good News
In a conclusion that even surprised its editors, the 2021 World Happiness Report found that, amid global hardship, self-reported life satisfaction across 95 countries on average remained steady in 2020 from the previous year. The United States saw the same trend — despite societal tumult that yielded a national drop in positive emotions and a rise in negative ones. The country fell one spot, to 19th, in the annual rankings of the report, which was released Saturday. The report is good news regarding global resilience, experts say. (Bacic, 3/23)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Prescription-Drug Prices Keep Rising In The Pandemic. Yet Public Opinion Of The Pharma Industry Is Soaring Too.
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, tackling the high cost of prescription medication was a rare unifying cause for Republicans and Democrats. The Trump administration ordered price information in television commercials and set the stage for importing medications from countries where they are cheaper. But some of the most meaningful changes, such as allowing Medicare to negotiate prices, were put on hold while Congress dealt with the more pressing issue of COVID-19. ... But the last year has also led to an unprecedented rise in positive public opinion of the pharmaceutical industry. Once the villains of stories about unaffordable drugs, pharmaceutical companies are now the heroes teaming up to deliver lifesaving coronavirus vaccines. (Gantz, 3/18)

CNN: Bernie Sanders Making Plans To Push Prescription Drug Reforms Through Reconciliation 
Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont and the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, is set to unveil a trio of bills designed to lower the cost of prescription drugs and give American consumers access to the competitive global drug market. On Tuesday, Sanders will introduce the three bills ahead of a hearing in a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions subcommittee that Sanders also chairs. One bill is designed to index the price of popular drugs according the global market. A second will give Medicare the opportunity to pay for drugs through a competitive bidding process, and the third would allow Americans to buy drugs at cheaper prices from foreign sellers. The policy proposals are very similar to ones Sanders has previously championed as a senator and as a Democratic Presidential candidate. (Nobles, 3/22)

CBS 4 Denver: Governor Would Appoint A Board To Set Prescription Drug Prices Under A Bill At The State Capitol 
Prescription drug prices in Colorado could soon be controlled by a five person board. A bill by Senators Sonya Jacquez Lewis and Julie Gonzalez would create a Prescription Drug Affordability Review Board. It would start with 12 drugs the first year, and for each one, come up with a maximum purchase price. No one would pay more than that price for that drug. The lower the price, the lower the co-pay. (Boyd, 3/17)

AP: Beshear Signs Bill To Cap Out-Of-Pocket Insulin Costs 
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear signed legislation Monday to make insulin more affordable, calling it a “game changer" for many people in a state with one of the nation's highest diabetes rates. The bill will limit the cost of insulin to $30 per 30-day supply for many Kentuckians. The cap applies to people with state-regulated health care plans or plans purchased on the marketplace exchange, state employees and people under group plans, the governor's office said. (Schreiner, 3/22)

Bossier Press-Tribune (Louisiana): Senate Passes Two Pieces Of Cassidy Legislation To Lower Prescription Costs 
The U.S. Senate unanimously passed two pieces of bipartisan legislation, the Advancing Education on Biosimilars Act and the Ensuring Innovation Act, introduced by U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, MD (R-LA) aimed at lowering prescription drug costs. “These two pieces of legislation passed the Senate with unanimous support. The Advancing Education on Biosimilars Act and the Ensuring Innovation Act both work to lower the price patients pay for their prescriptions,” said Dr. Cassidy. “Increasing competition decreases the price you pay for your prescriptions.” (3/11)

Columbus Dispatch: DeWine Plan Will 'Substantially' Lower Prescription Drug Costs
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s recently proposed budget continues his leadership in addressing the challenges of the pandemic, accelerating economic recovery and meeting the needs of Ohioans. The budget proposes an important health care reform that would reduce prescription drug costs for patients, public employees and taxpayers. This innovation championed by DeWine would increase competition in the state’s selection of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) — the middlemen that manage prescription drug benefits — to lower what they charge for medications. It’s called a PBM reverse auction modeled after a successful program we enacted in New Jersey, which is saving taxpayers approximately $500 million each year. Forward-looking states like Ohio are pursuing this to benefit taxpayers and public employees. (Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, 3/22)

Colorado Sun: To Fix Soaring Prescription Costs, Colorado Lawmakers Have A New Plan: A Board To Cap Drug Prices
Kris Garcia, a Denver father of three and community activist, lives in fear of simple accidents. Garcia lives with four bleeding disorders, including hemophilia. Any injury could quickly result in a health emergency. But it’s not just the physical risks that worry him. Garcia uses a drug called Humate-P to control his conditions. One vial costs $10,000, he said. He needs four vials every time he gets an infusion, meaning huge medical bills and financial disaster also loom constantly over him. He said he works multiple jobs to make sure he can afford his health coverage and medications. (John Ingold, 3/17)

Detroit Free Press: Bipartisan Legislation Would Lower Prescription Drug Costs 
Far too many of our families, friends and neighbors lay awake at night stressing about the cost of their medications. They toss and turn, wondering what will happen if they skip a week’s worth of the pills the doctor prescribed to protect their health so they can pay this month’s rent. Over the past six years, the average price of drugs prescribed to treat diabetes, heart disease, depression and other common conditions has more than doubled. There’s little transparency about how or why this is occurring, but there’s no doubt that the trend is having a detrimental impact on families in our state. (Julie Calley and Abdullah Hammoud, 3/22)

Bloomberg: Biden Uses Trump’s ‘America First’ Vaccine Plan To Corner Market 
The U.S. has injected more than a quarter of the world’s coronavirus vaccine doses so far, thanks to two presidents who share little except a strategy to corner domestic production of shots, employing a 70-year-old law that’s so far prevented exports. From the moment the FDA authorized the first vaccines by Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc., the U.S. government, first under Donald Trump and then under President Joe Biden, had already arranged to buy all of the companies’ known U.S. production for months to come, assuring hundreds of millions of doses for American arms. Countries without their own capacity to manufacture vaccines have had to wait or turn to sources other than the U.S., including shots developed in Russia and China under less regulatory scrutiny. (Wingrove, 3/23)

Reuters: Nearly All Havana To Receive Experimental Cuban COVID-19 Vaccines
Cuba will administer experimental COVID-19 shots to nearly the entire population of the capital Havana by May as health authorities carry out massive interventional studies and late stage trials, officials said on Tuesday. Cuba, which has a long history of developing and exporting vaccines, this month began late phase trials of two of its five experimental shots, Soberana 2 and Abdala, which will be Latin America’s first homegrown COVID-19 vaccines if they prove successful. (Marsh, 3/24)

Bloomberg: Paraguay Says Offers Of Chinese Vaccine Tied To Dumping Taiwan 
Like many nations, Paraguay faces an uphill battle to procure coronavirus vaccines. But its quest is being complicated by fraught relations between China on one side, and Taiwan and the U.S. on the other. The Paraguayan government has been approached with offers of Chinese-made vaccines in exchange for breaking ties with Taiwan, the country’s foreign ministry said in statement earlier this week. The ministry said that the offers were made by individuals “whose legitimacy and ties to the government of the People’s Republic of China are not proven.” (Horton, 3/23)

AP: Hong Kong Halts Use Of Pfizer Vaccine, Cites Defective Lids
Hong Kong suspended use of the Pfizer vaccine Wednesday after its Chinese distributor informed the city that one batch had defective bottle lids. The city’s government said the suspension was immediate while the matter is investigated by distributor Fosun Pharma and BioNTech, the German company which created the vaccine with American pharmaceutical firm Pfizer. BioNTech and Fosun Pharma have not found any reason to believe the product is unsafe, according to the statement. However, vaccinations will be halted as a preventive and safety measure. (Soo, 3/24)

The New York Times: E.U. Set To Curb Covid Vaccine Exports For 6 Weeks
The European Union is finalizing emergency legislation that will give it broad powers to curb exports for the next six weeks of Covid-19 vaccines manufactured in the bloc, a sharp escalation in its response to supply shortages at home that have created a political maelstrom amid a rising third wave on the continent. The draft legislation, which is set to be made public on Wednesday, was reviewed by The New York Times and confirmed by two E.U. officials involved in the drafting process. The new rules will make it harder for pharmaceutical companies producing Covid-19 vaccines in the European Union to export them and are likely to disrupt supply to Britain. (Stevis-Gridneff, 3/23)

Bloomberg: When Will Covid End? We Must Start Planning For A Permanent Pandemic 
For the past year, an assumption — sometimes explicit, often tacit — has informed almost all our thinking about the pandemic: At some point, it will be over, and then we’ll go “back to normal. ”This premise is almost certainly wrong. SARS-CoV-2, protean and elusive as it is, may become our permanent enemy, like the flu but worse. And even if it peters out eventually, our lives and routines will by then have changed irreversibly. Going “back” won’t be an option; the only way is forward. But to what exactly? (Andreas Kluth, 3/24)

Stat: A Biomanufacturing Initiative Will Increase Vaccine, Therapeutics Supplies
The coronavirus pandemic is generating pressure on the manufacturing of vaccines and therapeutics. Every day that passes with inadequate production leads to excessive suffering and even death for thousands of Americans. We can do so much better — and we must — by maximizing advances in biomanufacturing, a field that uses biological systems to efficiently create drugs, tissues, and even products that go into foods and beverages. (Krishanu Saha, 3/24)

San Jose Mercury News: Why U.S. Should Prioritize Vaccinating The World
In 1948, Europe lay in ruins, entire cities laid waste by the destruction of World War II. Even though many of the countries in Western Europe were our erstwhile enemies, the United States recognized the necessity of rebuilding the continent and so enacted the Marshall Plan. We eventually lavished more than $78 billion (in today’s terms) on the continent, rebuilding vital infrastructure, reviving their economy and very possibly preventing whatever internecine struggles could have resulted from the poverty that likely otherwise would have ensued. In 2003, the United States recognized that much of the world was still languishing without lifesaving HIV/AIDS medications. Nowhere was this truer than in Sub-Saharan Africa, where HIV, tuberculosis and poverty made for a particularly deadly mix. (Tyler Johnson, 3/23)

Newsweek: Stop Saying Black People 'Distrust' Scientists. You're Blaming The Victim
Lining up in New York's Javits Center on a chilly Thursday morning to receive my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, I was nervous and excited. The last time I'd visited the space was for Comic Con two years ago. The spaces that once held massive booths for DC and Marvel Comics were now filled with hundreds of New Yorkers pouring in to get vaccinated. And I couldn't help but notice that most of those in line were white—in a city that is majority people of color. I saw members of the National Guard stationed through the space. The sight of so many Caucasians in uniform usually worries me and signals trouble. But seeing the service members helping us get a shot at a post-pandemic life was comforting. More disconcerting was the absence of people who look like me. (Michael Crawford, 3/23)

Boston Globe: A Shot Against COVID-19 — And A Fear Of Needles 
One of the most vivid memories of my childhood is running from a pediatrician. The doctor intended no harm. He was just trying to give me a flu shot. It was a Saturday morning, back in the days when doctors made house calls. Being at home should have made me calmer, yet when I saw the syringe I bolted, ducking under and around the furniture. Only a cutting eye from my very unamused mother halted my escape and allowed the doctor to administer the shot into my quivering arm. I have trypanophobia. (Renee Graham, 3/23)

Miami Herald: Unvaccinated GOP Men Will Delay The End Of COVID Pandemic 
Millions of elderly Americans are still hunting for appointments to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Millions of younger Americans are waiting impatiently for their turn in line. But there’s one group whose members are far more skeptical about the vaccine — and in some cases are actively refusing to get jabbed at all — Republicans, especially Republican men. In a recent NPR/PBS/Marist survey, fully 49 percent of Republican men said they do not plan to get vaccinated — a higher share of refusers than any other demographic group. Among Democratic men, the number saying No was only 6 percent. (Doyle McManus, 3/22)

LA Daily News: Inoculate Yourself Against Bad Information About COVID Vaccine 
The COVID-19 vaccine is safe. It is effective. It has been tested on a diverse cohort of people. And no one manufacturer’s vaccine is better than another’s. Unfortunately, due to a constant drumbeat of misinformation, nearly a third of all Americans still say they don’t want to get vaccinated, or that they only want to get vaccinated by a specific maker’s vaccine. As someone who helped successfully care for the first known COVID-19 patient in California, let me be as clear as I possibly can be: You want the vaccine, because you don’t want this disease. (Philip Robinson, 3/23)

The Baltimore Sun: Treat Drug Use As A Health Issue, Not A Criminal One: Decriminalize Paraphernalia
As the COVID-19 pandemic devastates our communities, the country continues to grapple with another urgent epidemic that is killing people every day from coast to coast. Over the past decade, nearly half a million people in the United States have died from a preventable drug overdose. The pandemic has increased risk of overdose, as millions of people struggle with loneliness, isolation, anxiety, stress and loss of income. One key evidence-based strategy is to support our loved ones with using drugs more safely. When people use new needles every time they inject and test their supply to understand potency, the rate of overdose and diseases such as HIV and hepatitis drop significantly. Our community-based organizations operate syringe service programs in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Every day we see the good our programs, and our supplies, accomplish. By meeting people where they are, we build trust; often this relationship can be lifesaving. ( Rajani Gudlavalleti and Shane Sullivan, 3/23)

Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Leaders Must Keep Patient At Center Of Decisions
As I begin my term as chair of the American College of Healthcare Executives, I’ve been thinking a great deal about integrity, the fundamental value that is one of our profession’s most essential attributes. Indeed, it has been critical in our ability to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. I witness it daily in the superhero-like resilience and excellence—and the vulnerability and emotional exhaustion—of our front-line clinicians. Just recently I spoke to one of my organization’s own intensive-care unit nurses, who was beaming with pride from the progress of a COVID-19 patient who had come off his ventilator and was sitting up in a chair. His recovery was headed in the right direction, and the tenacity and joy she exhibited made clear to me her rock-solid dedication to patient care. What an inspiration! (Carrie Owen Plietz, 3/20)

Kansas City Star: Kansas Senator Pushes Junk Health Insurance She Consulted On 
Kansans who care about open government, and quality health care, should pay close attention to an argument going on in Topeka. For years, Americans have been allowed to buy “short-term, limited duration” health insurance policies. The policies are cheaper than regular insurance, for a good reason — they provide far less coverage. Under the Affordable Care Act, these short-term policies lasted for just 90 days. The idea was to provide the option of low-quality insurance for people between jobs, or nearing retirement, but only as a stopgap solution. (3/24)

CNN: My Covid Life As A Single Mom: Like Juggling Bowling Pins And Chainsaws (Opinion) 
The life of a single parent is challenging to begin with, but when you add in a pandemic, it's like someone dropping a chainsaw into the mix when you're already trying to juggle bowling pins. 2019 was a hard year for my family, but 2020 would be better for me and my son — and for my second one who was on the way. Or so I thought. (Kaylah Dessausure, 3/23)