NIH’s $8B grant cuts violated law, watchdog says | 54% of rare disease patients denied drugs | ACIP: Pharmacist group biased

The Government Accountability Office wrote in a new report that the National Institutes of Health violated the Impoundment Control Act, which bars delays in allocating funds approved by Congress, when it pulled funds for research grants linked to “equity-related” initiatives.

Patients told the PAN Foundation they were helped by charities and manufacturer rebate programs, with some advised by alternative funding programs to get their drugs from outside the country.

The American Pharmacists Association is being labeled as a biased special interest group under new rules for the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a move that seems to be politically motivated when APhA did not support changes in COVID vaccines earlier this year. 

No single CMS strategy has proven an inarguable success at delivering significant cost savings while optimizing patient outcomes and minimizing clinical risks. Two researchers think they’ve found a way. 

GE Healthcare reports Q2 revenue growth of 3% and lower than expected tariff losses at $550 million.

Growing physician shortages have spurred rising salaries as health systems and practices attempt to attract or retain staff. Survey data from over 37,000 physicians shows the average physician pay in the U.S. increased 3.7% from 2023 to 2024 but remains lower than in 2022.

Shareholders of the retail pharmacy giant voted in favor of the terms of the sale to Sycamore Partners for $11.45 a share. The deal is expected to close later this year. 

The Pennsylvania-based health system reported drug diversion incidents to authorities involving a pharmacy technician who used employee passwords to steal pills from one of its hospitals.

Ultromics plans to use the new funds to help expand its presence throughout the United States. In addition, the company is focused on developing additional AI-enabled software offerings.

The payment program spent $484 million on 15 different low-value imaging services, a figure that balloons to $584 million when factoring for out-of-pocket costs.