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Newly revealed correspondence shows that federal health officials discussed with contractors a publicity plan to feature President Donald Trump’s Medicare and Medicaid chief Seema Verma in magazines like Glamour, win recognition for her on “Power Women” lists and get her invited to attend prestigious events like the Kennedy Center Honors. The correspondence – emails between high-profile media consultant Pam Stevens, whose services cost hundreds of dollars per hour, and Verma and Brady Brookes, Verma’s deputy chief of staff — offers fresh insight into the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ use of federal funds to employ a range of communications contractors. (Diamond and Cancryn, 11/20)

CMS Administrator Seema Verma on Tuesday criticized hospitals and insurers for opposing the Trump administration's efforts to increase price transparency, saying they want to maintain the status quo even if it's not in patients' best interests. Verma took providers and payers to task for getting in the way of new policies that she believes would improve healthcare quality, improve access to care and slash healthcare spending over the long run. People that oppose the Trump administration's efforts on price transparency like the status quo but that's not fair to patients, she said. (Brady, 11/19)

Stephen Hahn, President Trump’s nominee to helm the Food and Drug Administration, will today face his first real test in Washington — a confirmation hearing packed with hours of questions from senators on nearly every aspect of the agency’s sprawling portfolio, from mysterious vaping illnesses to the promise of gene therapies. Hahn, who currently serves as the chief medical executive of MD Anderson Cancer Center, is auditioning for the FDA’s top job at a transformational time for the agency. (Florko, 11/20)

Five former FDA commissioners today called on Senate leadership to swiftly confirm President Donald Trump's pick to lead the agency in a letter shared exclusively with POLITICO ahead of a confirmation hearing Wednesday. The letter cites cancer doctor Stephen Hahn's seven years of experience in clinical research at NIH's National Cancer Institute, his work on FDA-regulated biomedical research while in academia and his leadership experience at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he currently is chief medical executive. (Karlin-Smith, 11/19)