A medical device maker turns to bitcoin

Semler Scientific has a brand new bag, and it's full of cryptocurrency.

Casey Ross, Bob Herman, Lizzy Lawrence, and Tara Bannow deliver a fascinating investigation into the curious transition from medical device company to digital currency fund.

It's not just an article about business strategy. The team of STAT reporters delves into the tactics that Medicare Advantage insurers use to upcode patients so they get more money from Medicare. The article even manages to make the incredibly boring topic of billing codes interesting.

Just read the damn article.

advisory panels

Radical transparency is hard without staff and funding

HHS leaders want to make the work that FDA advisers do more transparent and they want to root out financial conflicts, but those tasks are jeopardized by funding cuts and mass firings, Lizzy Lawrence reports.

Recent funding and staff cuts at the FDA are already making it more difficult to plan and run advisory committee meetings.

The 3,500 employees whom FDA fired include people working in roles that would seemingly help the administration achieve its stated goal of "radical transparency." Workers processing requests under the Freedom of Information Act were let go, and then rehired a month later. But many of the advisory committee staff, including the drug center's conflict of interest team, have not been brought back. Read more.

fda

Top drug regulator retiring

Lizzy scooped that Jacqueline Corrigan-Curay, the top drug regulator at the Food and Drug Administration, is retiring in July.

Corrigan-Curay, who took over as acting director of the FDA's drug center in January, broke the news to staff in an email. She said she decided to leave the agency after taking a recent vacation, and thanked staff for their "unwavering support, especially during recent challenging times."

Read more from Lizzy here, and if you're having a difficult time keeping up with senior agency officials who've departed, Lizzy and J. Emory Parker created this handy tracker for you.

vaccines

The Balkanization of vaccine policy

The U.S. may be headed for a "choose your own adventure" approach to vaccine policy, Helen Branswell writes.

The CDC has been the authority on vaccine policy, but that might no longer be the case after HHS Secretary Roberty F. Kennedy Jr. fired all members of a key CDC expert advisory panel and replaced them with members who have less notable credentials. Some deeply distrust vaccines, and one embraces the moniker "anti-vaxxer."

Without the CDC as the North Star, specialists may consult their respective professional organizations, and parents who believe in vaccinating their children will consult one information source, while vaccine-skeptic parents will pick and choose vaccinations based on unfounded claims that support their predetermined beliefs. Read more.

vaccine advisers

Cassidy chimes in

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a doctor, vaccine advocate and chair of the Senate health committee, is calling for a delay of this week's CDC advisory panel meeting, citing the new members' lack of experience and potential bias against some vaccines, Chelsea Cirruzzo reports.

"Although the appointees to [the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices] have scientific credentials, many do not have significant experience studying microbiology, epidemiology or immunology. In particular, some lack experience studying new technologies such as mRNA vaccines, and may even have a preconceived bias against them," Cassidy wrote on the social media site X.

Cassidy cast the key vote to confirm Kennedy in February, but only after Cassidy said Kennedy had given him reassurances on vaccines.

congress

Medicaid expansion targeted

Many lobbyists, and some senators, were surprised when the Senate Finance Committee proposed more cuts to Medicaid funding than their House colleagues. Now some senators are pushing for even deeper cuts, and they're targeting Medicaid expansion, Daniel Payne reports.

Previously, Senate Republicans had further restricted states' ability to boost federal funding for increasing Medicaid payment rates to hospitals and other health care providers. Now, they're considering eliminating the higher federal match rate that states receive for people who became eligible for Medicaid after the Affordable Care Act expanded the program.

Hospitals were freaking out even before the new proposal popped up.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said Monday evening that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told him the proposal is dead.

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First Opinion: The Senate's version of Trump's tax-cut bill threatens safety-net hospitals like ours, STAT
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