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CHE’s comments on its 1Q26 earnings call this morning regarding the government’s efforts to rein in Medicare waste, fraud and abuse in hospice reinforce our prior views that program integrity, instead of the sufficiency of…

The joint CMS / FDA press release this morning outlining the Regulatory Alignment for Predictable and Immediate Device (RAPID) coverage pathway for breakthrough medical devices strikes us more as a rebranding of the existing transitional…

While the passage of another ban on PBM ownership of pharmacies – this time in Tennessee – could reignite some headline risk for CVS, CI, and UNH, we think the actual risk of it going…

UnitedHealth’s (UNH) comments on its earnings call this morning, responding to a question about potential participation in CMS’s BALANCE obesity drug model, suggest that further design changes will be required for it – and likely…

Amid persistent investor questions on Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) billing / coding requirements for Inspire Medical’s (INSP) Inspire V device, we continue to believe that the MACs will ultimately instruct providers to use the -52…

With the House and Senate both in session this week, Washington’s focus will remain concentrated on the Iran-U.S. conflict, which heated up yesterday after the U.S. seized an Iranian ship. We have though an escalation…

We assign roughly 65% probability that California’s pending legislation, AB 1709, which is a bipartisan ban on kids under 16 years old from creating accounts on social media platforms (META, GOOGL, SNAP, TikTok) that have…

Congressional Republicans seem poised to move ahead with a “skinny” $65-$75 billion reconciliation bill that, importantly for investors, does not look like it will include: The ~$200 billion in additional defense funds, in part to…

With the House and Senate back in session this week after a two-week spring break, Washington’s focus will remain concentrated on the following issues:  The U.S.-Iran conflict and likely War Powers Resolution votes in both chambers.   The path for ~$200 billion in additional defense funding, $15-$25 billion in aid for farmers,…

FY27 Medicare reimbursement proposals for inpatient hospitals [HCA, THC, CYH, ARDT, UHS, MPT, muni-backed systems] largely met expectations for a smaller increase, versus FY26, with most changes appearing formulaic and math-based rather than policy-led. Despite…