| | | | |  | | By Chelsea Cirruzzo and Ben Leonard | | Presented by |  | | | | | ARIZONA SAYS GOODBYE TO 1864 ABORTION BAN — Arizona lawmakers on Wednesday voted to repeal the state’s Civil War-era abortion ban, a move that will preserve access to the procedure for millions of women in the state, POLITICO’s Megan Messerly reports. The votes in the state’s House and Senate come after the Arizona Supreme Court last month set off a national firestorm when it ruled the state’s 1864 abortion ban, which prohibits abortion unless necessary to save the life of the mother, was enforceable. Five Republican lawmakers joined Democrats in both chambers to support the repeal. Still, the future of abortion access in the state remains uncertain in the short term. The repeal won’t kick in until 90 days after the legislative session ends, which is a moving target. That means abortion could be banned before the repeal takes effect. Once it does, most abortions will be prohibited after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a position that polling shows enjoys majority support nationally. “Abortion advocates are going to have a hard time messaging against” the state’s 15-week law, said Kelsey Pritchard, director of state public affairs at Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. Despite overwhelming opposition from GOP state lawmakers, the repeal is largely seen as a political positive for Republicans. It threatens to tarnish the political gold Democrats found in the high court’s decision, and salve turnout-boosting Democratic outrage ahead of the November election. “Would it be easier if Republicans just stuck to their guns and didn’t repeal this thing and went down with their ship? Sure,” said Matt Grodsky, a Democratic strategist in Arizona. Exactly how impactful the repeal will be for former President Donald Trump and Senate GOP hopeful Kari Lake’s campaigns in the swing state remains to be seen. Democrats and abortion-rights groups, including proponents of a ballot measure to codify the right to abortion until viability in Arizona’s constitution, plan to argue that banning abortion after 15 weeks takes away a woman’s choice. "Women are pissed. Families are scared. And people don’t want to live in a world where these rights can be just taken away by Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans in the Arizona legislature,” said Jen Cox, a senior adviser for President Joe Biden in Arizona. … Abortion rights groups in Florida, meanwhile, are working to overturn the state’s six-week ban at the ballot box. But it won’t be easy, POLITICO’s Liz Crampton and Alice Miranda Ollstein explain. WELCOME TO THURSDAY PULSE. After landmark research scared many women away from menopause therapies two decades ago, a new analysis says those drugs are safe to use for short-term symptom relief. Send your tips, scoops and feedback to ccirruzzo@politico.com and bleonard@politico.com and follow along @ChelseaCirruzzo and @_BenLeonard_.
| | A message from HCA Healthcare: HCA Healthcare is honored to be named for the 14th time as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies® by Ethisphere. Ethisphere evaluates companies based on over 200 categories, including their approach to environmental, social and governance practices and ethics and compliance programs. Through a variety of programs, resources and opportunities, we demonstrate how we show up for our patients, communities and colleagues. Learn more about our ethical business practices here. | | | | | TAKING STOCK OF AI — Six months after President Biden signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to beef up their artificial intelligence policies, HHS has submitted a number of plans for responsible use of AI in health care to the White House. Why it matters: The artificial intelligence market is booming with companies racing to offer the latest technology to the health care sector, however, policymakers are still probing how to regulate it. An HHS spokesperson told Pulse via email it submitted all deliverables required last month to the White House, including a strategy on how to test AI tools to enable pre-market assessment and post-market oversight. That plan is not yet public. The department did make public a plan on the safe and responsible use of AI for states, tribes and localities when administering public benefits. That document touts the use of AI to improve workflow and organization, but also warns that its use for chatbots and call centers, for example, could potentially violate the rights of people, such as inaccurately telling callers they’re ineligible for certain benefits. A civil rights regulation the department finalized last month also touched on the use of artificial intelligence in health care. The rule reversed a Trump-era regulation narrowing civil rights protections for patients, particularly LGBTQ+ patients.
| | | | THE GOLD STANDARD OF HEALTHCARE POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries, like healthcare, equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists.
Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced and better sourced than any other. Our healthcare reporting team—including Alice Miranda Ollstein, Megan Messerly and Robert King—is embedded with the market-moving legislative committees and agencies in Washington and across states, delivering unparalleled coverage of health policy and the healthcare industry. We bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY. | | | | | | | | ‘DEEPLY, DEEPLY SORRY’ — UnitedHealth Group’s CEO said on Wednesday that a third of Americans were likely impacted by the Change Healthcare cyber attack in February, POLITICO’s Robert King and Chelsea report. Andrew Witty endured a full day of grilling by lawmakers in the Senate Finance Committee and the House Energy and Commerce's Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee about the attack that scrambled provider payments across the nation. To both committees, Witty said he was “deeply, deeply sorry” for the breach and said UnitedHealth had failed to update security procedures at Change after acquiring it in October 2022. He also tried to reassure lawmakers that UnitedHealth would make hospitals and doctors — whose payments were delayed — whole. Other takeaways from the hearings: —While Witty insisted the payments system is “broadly back to normal,” lawmakers on both committees said their constituents still have concerns. “There is a backlog that many of our providers have of nine weeks of not being able to get in and make these claims,” said Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) UnitedHealth has loaned $6.5 billion to help providers stay financially afloat, Witty said. —Some lawmakers worried that UnitedHealth could benefit from the cyber attack by acquiring medical practices that have lost value as a result of the attack. “UnitedHealth Group is a monopoly on steroids,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a frequent critic of health care consolidation. “UnitedHealth is using its own data breach to snap up doctor practices that have been driven to the brink of bankruptcy.” Witty pledged that UnitedHealth would not take advantage of the breach.
| | | | A message from HCA Healthcare:   | | | ECOHEALTH FACES DEFUNDING CALLS — The head of an environmental research group, whose work proponents of the Covid lab leak theory suspect triggered the pandemic, faced bipartisan criticism from lawmakers Wednesday who said the group didn’t comply with federal rules for grantees, POLITICO’s Carmen Paun reports. Peter Daszak, president of research group EcoHealth Alliance, faced angry members of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic over an alleged lack of transparency about his group’s collaborations with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China on coronavirus research. “This is not an organization that shows leadership, committed to protecting taxpayers’ funds or conducting research in an appropriate manner, as set in the terms of the grant,” said Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), the panel’s chair. “It is our recommendation that you do not receive any more” funding, Wenstrup told Daszak, referring to a report Republicans in the subcommittee released Wednesday, which calls for a criminal investigation and for changes at the National Institutes of Health, which funded the group. Daszak defended his organization and said EcoHealth’s mission is to help prevent future pandemics by identifying potentially risky viruses and making sure they’re contained before they can cause a global outbreak. The EcoHealth Alliance head also maintained that his outfit was not doing risky research, sometimes called “gain-of-function,” because the viruses it worked on at the time were not known to infect humans. “I have a letter from the NIH that says [our work is] not gain-of-function,” Daszak said. ENDING THE ‘RESET’: — VA Secretary Denis McDonough hopes the agency will be able to resume updated rollouts of its troubled Oracle Cerner electronic health record system by the end of the fiscal year in September, Ben reports. Still, McDonough said whether that timeline can be met will be decided by “the facts on the ground.” The rough timeline came in response to a question from Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) at a Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday. Murray noted there are still system outages occurring and that she’s still hearing from providers about their struggles with the system. Murray asked why the agency needs $894 million for the program in fiscal 2025 despite the program’s pause since last year. McDonough said it was a “significant drawback” from previous fiscal requests — about half of 2023 enacted levels. The background: The digital records modernization program is billions of dollars over budget and has been tied to 1,100 safety incidents, including the deaths of several veterans. Internal messages obtained by POLITICO in 2023 showed deep frustration with the software and providers struggling to access key data needed for patient safety.
| | | | POLITICO IS BACK AT THE 2024 MILKEN GLOBAL CONFERENCE: POLITICO will again be your eyes and ears at the 27th Annual Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles from May 5-8 with exclusive, daily, reporting in our Global Playbook newsletter. Suzanne Lynch will be on the ground covering the biggest moments, behind-the-scenes buzz and on-stage insights from global leaders in health, finance, tech, philanthropy and beyond. Get a front-row seat to where the most interesting minds and top global leaders confront the world’s most pressing and complex challenges — subscribe today. | | | | | | | | | POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill, Marcia Brown and Chelsea report on federal officials’ warnings to people exposed to cows amid the current avian flu outbreak. POLITICO’s Lauren Gardner reports that an federal appeals court seems open to taking on the constitutional issues raised in drugmakers’ challenges to the Biden administration’s signature Medicare drug pricing negotiations program. KFF Health News details a new WHO report on how airborne diseases are transmitted — and why the CDC may not be paying attention.
| | A message from HCA Healthcare: HCA Healthcare is honored to be named for the 14th time as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies® by Ethisphere, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices. This recognition is a gratifying acknowledgment of our commitment to show up for our patients, our communities and our colleagues.
Ethisphere evaluates companies based on over 200 categories, including their approach to environmental, social and governance practices and ethics and compliance programs. HCA Healthcare encourages the highest standards of ethical conduct through a comprehensive, values-based ethics and compliance program. We are proud to be one of four honorees in Ethisphere’s Healthcare Providers category.
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