News: Wanted: CDC messaging partners

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Wanted: CDC messaging partners

Feb 15, 2024

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By Chelsea Cirruzzo and Ben Leonard

Presented by Humana

With Daniel Payne

Driving the Day

CDC Director Mandy Cohen testifies in Congress

CDC Director Mandy Cohen is encouraging health providers and communicators to work together to improve public health messaging. | Win McNamee/Getty Images

COHEN’S MESSAGE TO DOCTORS — CDC Director Mandy Cohen spent part of Valentine’s Day asking members of the American Medical Association to get closer — on health messaging, data-sharing and a shared vision of public health and clinical care, Daniel reports.

One of her top takeaways from the pandemic is the need for different players in the health system to work together, she told doctors at the AMA’s National Advocacy Conference in Washington on Wednesday.

“We could have done better if we were more integrated,” she added. “We need to be different.”

Trusted messaging has been a major challenge for the CDC, and Cohen said doctors talking with patients is key to turning public health priorities — such as more vaccinations — into realities.

Cohen’s ask of doctors is part of a larger CDC strategy to rebuild confidence in science and public health.

More people trust their doctor than the CDC

The CDC this month supported the creation of a “playbook for addressing health misinformation” by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. The guide included steps providers and other health communicators can take when confronted with misinformation and disinformation. It builds on an existing framework by the agency.

And it’s not just in exam rooms or on the ground in communities. Cohen said the CDC is working to “flood the zone” with good information from trusted partners on social media.

But Cohen wants public health leaders and clinicians to also work on data-sharing — between both federal agencies and doctors — to better inform individual practices and federal policymaking.

Cohen said electronic health records that share patients’ symptoms in real time helped the agency decide how to address the possibility of spiking respiratory illnesses in China last year coming to the U.S.

Dr. Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, immediate past board chair of the AMA, told Cohen, “As a practicing physician, I feel like I now have a new partner in helping me take care of my patients.”

WELCOME TO THURSDAY PULSE. The NIH put out a solicitation notice yesterday regarding its intent to pay a New York-based bookseller for several rare books, including one described as the “third-earliest medical book to be printed in Japan” and another that contains “what has been cited by scholars as the longest poem on the gout.”

Send your tips, scoops and feedback to ccirruzzo@politico.com and bleonard@politico.com and follow along @ChelseaCirruzzo and @_BenLeonard_.

A message from Humana:

Humana takes a holistic approach to clinical care, as is outlined in our tenth annual value-based care report. Value-based payment models—which prioritize quality of care—lower costs and provide better outcomes for patients and physicians. Patients spend on average more time with their primary care physicians, helping providers better understand and treat their needs. Learn more in Humana's 2023 VBC report.

At the White House

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf testifies before Congress.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf is concerned that White House support to ban menthol cigarettes is waning. | Jose Luis Magana/AP

BEHIND THE SCENES ON MENTHOL BAN — A top Biden official wants the White House to ban menthol cigarettes — and is enlisting allies outside the government to lobby for it.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf has privately asked friends and public health experts to press their White House contacts over the status of the long-delayed policy, two people familiar with the outreach told POLITICO’s Adam Cancryn and David Lim.

He has voiced concerns that White House support for the ban is waning amid warnings that outlawing a product popular with Black smokers could dent enthusiasm for Biden's reelection in the minority communities core to the president's base.

Why it matters: Califf's behind-the-scenes encouragement of outside pressure on the administration he serves represents an unconventional policymaking tactic.

Removing menthol-flavored cigarettes from the shelves would be a momentous public health achievement, he has argued, eliminating a leading cause of cancer that disproportionately affects young people and minorities.

Background: The FDA finalized its policy banning menthol cigarettes and submitted it for approval last October. But the White House has yet to give it the green light amid pushback from a handful of influential Black allies who warn outlawing the product would fuel an underground market, worsen overpolicing in minority communities and hurt Biden’s standing among Black voters.

The delay has fed worries among advocates inside and outside the administration that political considerations will override the urgency for the ban and prompt Biden to hold off on implementation until after the November election.

Despite his pleas, Califf has received few assurances, and a final verdict now rests with Biden and his top advisers.

The White House declined to comment, citing a policy against discussing rules before they’re finalized.

CONGRESS OVERDRIVE: Since day one, POLITICO has been laser-focused on Capitol Hill, serving up the juiciest Congress coverage. Now, we’re upping our game to ensure you’re up to speed and in the know on every tasty morsel and newsy nugget from inside the Capitol Dome, around the clock. Wake up, read Playbook AM, get up to speed at midday with our Playbook PM halftime report, and fuel your nightly conversations with Inside Congress in the evening. Plus, never miss a beat with buzzy, real-time updates throughout the day via our Inside Congress Live feature. Learn more and subscribe here.

In Congress

DOC PAY REFORM UNLIKELY — Hopes of reforming doctors’ Medicare pay are dwindling even as Congress could still rescind a recent 3.4 percent cut in pay rates.

An election-year slowdown in legislative activity will likely forestall action, House members told disappointed doctors attending the American Medical Association conference in Washington on Wednesday, Daniel reports.

Both Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), a member of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee and the co-sponsor of a reform bill, and Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) said lawmakers’ short-term priority is to stop at least part of the cut that took effect Jan. 1.

Why it matters: Congress ordered the creation of the complex formula for setting the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule decades ago, and in recent years, it’s typically proposed a cut.

Doctors say reducing their pay will prompt more of them to stop accepting Medicare patients or close their practices.

What’s next: Lawmakers in both parties are interested in a broader reform to end the annual scramble of doctors lobbying Congress to block cuts.

But a number of doctors in the House who have worked on reforms aren’t seeking reelection, and without new champions of Medicare reform, it could be even more difficult to achieve than it is now, Bera said.

But: On Tuesday, Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.) told attendees at the same conference that a doctor pay fix could be included in a government funding package next month.

INACCURATE EHRs — The VA Office of Inspector General is expected to tell the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee today about widespread errors in veterans’ electronic health records, including ones that might make drug interaction information inaccurate.

Background: The VA’s attempts to revamp its EHR system with vendor Oracle Health have been hit with a number of safety issues that prompted the OIG to issue a recommendation with corrective action in April 2020. The rollout has been halted since last spring.

According to prepared remarks by David Case, the VA’s deputy inspector general, 250,000 veterans’ medication records at five medical centers using the Oracle software contained errors that could result in unintentional drug interactions and allergic reactions.

“These patients face an ongoing risk of an adverse medication-related event if they receive care and medications from a VA medical center using the legacy EHR system,” the testimony reads.

Slated to testify are several VA officials working on the EHR revamp and Oracle’s executive vice president, who is expected to say the company hasn’t had a chance to review the forthcoming OIG report and will talk about the changes the company has made to the system.

Oracle did not respond to a request for comment.

A message from Humana:

Around the Agencies

MIDDLEMEN TIED TO DRUG SHORTAGES? The FTC and HHS issued a request for information today to understand whether the practices of group purchasing organizations, or GPOs, and drug wholesalers could have led to the shortages of generic antibiotics and drugs for ADHD and cancer, POLITICO’s Carmen Paun reports.

GPOs are the middlemen that negotiate deals for generic drugs between manufacturers or distributors and health care providers like hospitals. Drug wholesalers purchase drugs directly from manufacturers and deliver them to providers.

The group representing GPOs hit back at the request in an emailed response to POLITICO on Wednesday.

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration identifies manufacturing quality control issues as the primary cause of drug shortages, along with production delays, lack of raw materials, and manufacturer business decisions to discontinue products,” said Todd Ebert, president and CEO of the Healthcare Supply Chain Association.

Ebert said GPOs help fight shortages and “help stabilize the market for generic drugs by working with manufacturers on contracts that provide the certainty and predictable demand they need to remain in the market.”

The Healthcare Distribution Alliance, which represents drug wholesalers, said in an emailed statement it will provide the group’s perspective to the FTC and HHS “within the time frame provided.”

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Names in the News

Jaylen Black is now VP of comms and marketing at Planned Parenthood Southeast. She previously was a comms and political consultant and is a Stacey Abrams gubernatorial campaign and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) alum.

WHAT WE'RE READING

POLITICO’s David Lim reports on forthcoming FDA plans on how to pull certain drugs from the market.

POLITICO’s Garrett Downs reports on holdups over the Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration spending bill.

Reuters reports on the FDA’s approval of the first drug for severe frostbite.

A message from Humana:

Coordinating primary care and value-based care solutions can lead to better health outcomes.

Patients at CenterWell, a Humana Inc. company, experience improved health outcomes, including 31% fewer avoidable hospital admissions and 22% fewer emergency department visits.¹

By connecting people with individualized and holistic care options, Humana helps increase patient satisfaction and health.²

1) Humana and CenterWell data. For details, see here.
2) Humana, "Value Based Care Report 2023," November 2023.

Learn more about the benefits of primary care.