The future of abortion is still with SCOTUS

Delivered daily by 10 a.m., Pulse examines the latest news in health care politics and policy.

Jul 02, 2024 View in browser   By Chelsea Cirruzzo and Ben Leonard Driving The Day Many cases in the judicial pipeline target the most common ways patients circumvent state abortion bans: traveling across state lines and ordering pills from another state or country. | Susan Walsh/AP THE NEXT WAVE OF ABORTION LITIGATION — The Supreme Court punted this term on both abortion cases the justices heard — on abortion pills and the right to an emergency abortion. Not only could those issues return to the court as early as next year, but a wave of additional abortion cases moving up the judicial pipeline could give the justices more opportunities to impose restrictions on the procedure or ban it — no matter who sits in the White House next year, POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein reports. “There’s an entire new frontier of abortion litigation that’s going to make its way to the court no matter what happens in the election. This just isn't going anywhere," said Leah Litman, a University of Michigan Law School professor. “It was ridiculous when the court said two years ago that overruling Roe was going to get the court out of the business of abortion.” Cases that could make it to the high court include challenges targeting patients’ ability to cross state lines for abortions, the regulation of abortion pills and minors’ ability to get an abortion without parental consent. The court also invited new lawsuits with its Friday decision overturning the Chevron doctrine — stripping leeway federal agencies had to interpret and implement legislation and putting it in the hands of judges — and Monday’s ruling lifting the statute of limitations on challenging older government rules. That decision could create an open season on whatever future abortion policies the next president attempts to enact, as well as rules already on the books — from FDA regulation of abortion pills to the availability of abortions at VA clinics to the recent expansion of HIPAA to protect abortion data. “For somebody who doesn’t like regulations that the current administration has put forward, the world is their oyster,” said Andrew Twinamatsiko, director of the Health Policy and the Law Initiative at Georgetown University’s O’Neill Institute. “Even regulations that have been there for decades could be opened up to new challenges.” WELCOME TO TUESDAY PULSE. The biggest pop stars of the summer can save a life. The American Heart Association says you can use the tempos of Beyoncé’s “Riiverdance,” Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club” or Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” for hands-on CPR. Send your “song of the summer” to ccirruzzo@politico.com and bleonard@politico.com and follow along @ChelseaCirruzzo and @_BenLeonard_. Programming note: We’ll be off this Thursday and Friday for the Fourth of July but will be back in your inboxes on Monday.   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.     Telehealth The CBO needs more research on telehealth before lawmakers can consider making pandemic-era telehealth rules permanent. | Toby Talbot/AP WANTED: MORE TELEHEALTH RESEARCH — The Congressional Budget Office wants more information on how providers use telehealth — including their view of a short-term extension of eased rules versus a permanent extension — as it weighs the cost of various telehealth legislation. Speaking at AcademyHealth’s Annual Research Meeting in Baltimore, Michael Cohen, a principal analyst at CBO, said that having additional research on how providers use telehealth means “more data becomes available in terms of spending effects.” What CBO wants to know: In addition to provider attitudes on the length of flexibility extensions, Cohen said it would be helpful to know: — How providers respond to changes in prices paid for telehealth — Whether telehealth as a substitution for in-person care has changed as Covid-19 has become less disruptive — Whether downstream spending is more or less likely for certain types of telehealth — The effects of telehealth coverage for nonmental health services, specifically, whether current research has looked at both mental and nonmental health services in telehealth — Telehealth’s effects on competition among health systems and smaller providers Why it matters: Lawmakers are considering whether to permanently or temporarily extend certain pandemic-era eased Medicare rules on telehealth, but questions on fraud and cost remain. A CBO score is crucial to decisions on how long to extend telehealth rules. Speaking at the same conference, Julia Harris, director of the health program at the Bipartisan Policy Center, said Congress should require CMS to study the cost of telehealth and propose a long-term reimbursement strategy by summer 2026. Hospitals PRICE RULES REQUIREMENTS — New price transparency requirements for hospitals went into effect Monday. As of July 1, hospitals must have standardized files of their price data using CMS-provided templates and more clearly outlined payer-negotiated rates for services with a description of the method used to calculate the rate, according to CMS. Those changes will better help CMS assess compliance, Carol Skenes, a health care legislation expert at Turquoise Health, a price transparency platform, told Pulse. How we got here: Hospitals must post their prices online, but compliance and the exact details of how that information is presented online have evolved. According to Turquoise Health, just over 93 percent of hospitals have posted a file containing prices. CMS has so far fined 14 hospitals for noncompliance. Last year, CMS finalized a pay rule bolstering requirements, which include mandating that hospitals post a footer link on their homepages to direct patients to price transparency tools. Will it help patients: “One of the core tenets [of the price transparency rule] was making sure patients understood their cost of care,” Skenes said. Patient advocacy groups have argued that the way hospitals have presented prices — in massive, unfriendly lists that don’t account for rates adjusted for insurance — is useless to patients. Skenes said more information for patients on negotiated rates can help clear up some confusion. Ariel Levin, director of policy at the American Hospital Association, said the group is confident that hospitals and health systems are prepared to comply with new requirements. “We appreciate the technical assistance provided by CMS to help prepare hospitals for these changes and reduce the costs associated with compliance,” Levin said in a statement. What’s next: On Jan. 1, 2025, hospitals will be required to include the average expected payment for negotiated rates. Vaccines FIRST TRIMESTER JAB OK — Covid-19 vaccination during the first trimester of pregnancy wasn’t associated with an increased risk of certain birth defects, according to a study published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics. According to researchers, research on the impacts of Covid-19 vaccination during pregnancy on a baby is limited. Among the 42,000 pregnancies, just over 18 percent of people had received a vaccine in their first trimester. Fifty-five percent remained unvaccinated the entire pregnancy. Researchers found no association between vaccination in the first trimester and birth defects, including malformed organs and cardiac defects — and say these results could reassure parents who are nervous about getting vaccinated while pregnant. The study by researchers at the HealthPartners Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College and other universities, with grant funding from the CDC, used electronic health record data from eight U.S. health care systems and included more than 42,000 pregnancies that ended in live births. The limitations: The researchers said they couldn’t differentiate between vaccine brands or certain specific defects in their analysis. Names in the News Dr. Luis Padilla has joined the National Association of Community Health Plans as chief health officer. He was previously associate administrator for the Bureau of Health Workforce at the Health Resources and Services Administration. Jacob Cintron, president and CEO of the University of Medical Center of El Paso, is now the board chair of America’s Essential Hospitals, succeeding Charlie Shields, president and CEO of University Health in Kansas City.   Understand 2024’s big impacts with Pro’s extensive Campaign Races Dashboard, exclusive insights, and key coverage of federal- and state-level debates. Focus on policy. Learn more.     WHAT WE'RE READING CBS News reports on renewed calls for mpox vaccinations. STAT reports on a novel surgical technique for amputees that could make walking easier with prosthetics. The New York Times explains the latest research on why bird flu spreads in cows.   Follow us on Twitter Dan Goldberg @dancgoldberg Chelsea Cirruzzo @chelseacirruzzo Lauren Gardner @Gardner_LM Sophie Gardner @sophie_gardnerj Kelly Hooper @kelhoops Robert King @rking_19 Ben Leonard @_BenLeonard_ David Lim @davidalim Megan Messerly @meganmesserly Alice Miranda Ollstein @aliceollstein Carmen Paun @carmenpaun Daniel Payne @_daniel_payne Ruth Reader @RuthReader Erin Schumaker @erinlschumaker   Follow us

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