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Three years ago, Congress directed the Department of Defense to take steps to lower the cost of medicines discovered with the help of federal funding, but eventually cost Americans substantially more than what is paid in other countries. Now, a pair of lawmakers wants to know what, if anything, the department has done to comply with the directive, the latest move to convince federal agencies to use a controversial provision of federal law to lower the cost of certain prescription medicines. (Silverman, 7/28)

Providers that received HHS COVID-19 relief funds would get until the end of the year or the end public health emergency to spend that money under a bipartisan bill introduced Wednesday. Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) authored the legislation following HHS' decision to require some healthcare providers to spend their relief dollars by June 30. The American Hospital Association and other groups object to that pending deadline on the grounds that the pandemic is still having a negative financial impact on providers. (Hellmann, 7/28)

As the Delta variant raises fresh concerns about the safety of the nation’s nursing homes, the Biden administration has quietly reversed a controversial Trump policy that had limited the fines levied on facilities that endangered or injured residents. Deaths in nursing homes, which peaked at the end of last year, have plummeted since the introduction of the Covid-19 vaccines. They account for nearly a third of the U.S. pandemic’s overall death toll. (Abelson, 7/28)

Virtual platforms that match employers with healthcare workers through an automated process are becoming a highly utilized alternative to traditional recruitment and hiring. These digital marketplaces boast a quicker, more cost effective system that allows qualified candidates to find the position they are best suited for, and employers to skip hours of sifting through candidates who aren't a good fit. These digital solutions come at a time when the industry is struggling to find and retain staff. (Devereaux, 7/28)

Dr. Eveline Shue had always been a standout surgeon, but her most joyful moment at the hospital came when she could finally share some personal good news with her colleagues: After five cycles of in vitro fertilization, she was pregnant with twins. At 24 weeks of pregnancy, she and her husband began to make plans for their future family, purchasing car seats and picking out names. All the while Dr. Shue kept working 60-hour weeks in the hospital. At 34 weeks, she realized that the operating room shifts were wearing on her body and took a brief leave. Two days later, her mother walked into her home and found her unable to speak. Dr. Shue, 39, had suffered pre-eclampsia and a stroke. She was rushed to the hospital, got an emergency cesarean section and then underwent brain surgery. (Goldberg, 7/28)

A Texas man has pleaded guilty to involvement in a scheme to fraudulently sell 50 million N95 respirator masks he did not have for $317.6 million to the government of New South Wales in Australia, U.S. prosecutors said. Arael Doolittle entered his plea to a wire fraud conspiracy charge on Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes in Houston. (Stempel, 7/28)

KHN: Covid Renews Interest In Radiation, But Docs Caution Against Pilgrimages To Radon-Filled Mines 

Twice a year, Brian Tichenor makes the 1,200-mile drive each way from his home in Kansas to a defunct uranium mine in Montana, where he takes an elevator 85 feet below the surface to sit amid radioactive radon gas to ease the pain from his chronic eye condition. “I found it like I think a lot of people do,” said Tichenor, 67. “It’s a point of desperation with conventional treatment.” While radon is commonly known as a hazardous gas removed from basements, people in pain travel to Montana and pay to breathe, drink and bathe in its radioactive particles. (Houghton, 7/29)

KHN: Pfizer Court Fight Could Legalize Medicare Copays And Unleash ‘Gold Rush’ In Sales 

Three years ago, pharma giant Pfizer paid $24 million to settle federal allegations that it was paying kickbacks and inflating sales by reimbursing Medicare patients for out-of-pocket medication costs. By making prohibitively expensive medicine essentially free for patients, the company induced them to use Pfizer drugs even as the price of one of those medicines, covered by Medicare and Medicaid, soared 44% to $225,000 a year, the Justice Department alleged. (Hancock, 7/29)

University of Houston College of Medicine will open a low-cost direct primary care clinic on the Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital campus to assist low-income and uninsured residents. The medical school will offer direct primary care to patients — particularly those from low-income backgrounds — and will implement a low monthly membership fee for a range of primary health care services, according to a recent release. (Britto, 7/28)

Admissions rebounded for Community Health Systems in the second quarter, the 84-hospital system reported Wednesday. Adjusted admissions increased 28.5% on a same-store basis for the quarter ended June 30, compared with the prior-year period when the COVID-19 pandemic halted non-urgent procedures. But its 248,000 adjusted admissions on the quarter were still down 22% from its 303,000 adjusted admissions in the second quarter of 2019. (Kacik, 7/28)

The COVID-19 pandemic's impact on Northwell Health's patient business and cleaning and staffing costs, don't entitle the New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based health system to $1.25 billion in insurance claims, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff dismissed the suit from New York's largest healthcare provider, saying the not-for-profit system failed to prove that Boston-based Lexington Insurance Company and Chicago-based Interstate Fire & Casualty Company breached their contract and violated the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing by denying Northwell's claims. (Tepper, 7/28)