Uncategorized


November 3, 2025

Capitol Policy Weekly: Govt. Shutdown Ending in Sight?; Elections; and IEEPA and the Supreme Court

By Joe Lieber

We see three topics that will be front and center in Washington this week: The government shutdown, which we believe will end this week. Tuesday’s gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia and the redistricting…

Read More >>

November 3, 2025

PRCT: Nominal Rates vs Opportunity Costs

By John Leppard

CMS’s final CY26 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) released late Friday will reduce payments for PRCT Aquablation services by -29% in 2026, going from a volume-weighted $765 across the seven Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) to $542,…

Read More >>

October 31, 2025

Merit Medical (MMSI): Net vs List Price in Pass-Through Payments

By John Leppard

We remain skeptical of MMSI’s prospects for a Wrapsody Medicare hospital outpatient transitional pass-through (TPT) payment following company confirmation last night that its application relies on an $8K list price, rather than the $5.8K net…

Read More >>

October 29, 2025

Trade and Tariff Conference Call Takeaways

By Joe Lieber

With President Trump in Asia and trade agreements expected between the U.S. and various countries, including at least a narrow deal with China, we held a conference call yesterday with trade expert Dr. Derek Scissors. …

Read More >>

October 29, 2025

[MDT, Otsuka] Renal Denervation: Broad Coverage, With New Guardrails

By John Leppard

We view CMS’s final coverage policy for renal denervation (RDN) [Medtronic (MDT), Otsuka (4578.JT)] as largely consistent with the initial proposal, but with some modest new guardrails that may incrementally slow utilization and delay /…

Read More >>

October 27, 2025

Capitol Policy Weekly: Trade, the Fed and the Continuing Government Shutdown

By Joe Lieber

This week’s main policy focus will be on: 1) trade; 2) the Fed’s decision on interest rates, where a 25-bps cut is widely anticipated on Wednesday; and 3) the government shutdown. President Trump is in…

Read More >>

October 27, 2025

GKOS: iDose Coverage Question Tea Leaves

By John Leppard

The questions to be addressed at a November 12 Contractor Advisory Committee (CAC) on GKOS’s iDose bolster our expectations for real, but likely manageable, headwinds via an eventual local coverage determination (LCD), which we suspect…

Read More >>

October 27, 2025

Health Insurers & Providers 4Q25 Issue Items

By Beth Steindecker

Even amid a government shutdown, the remaining months of 4Q25 promises various policy catalysts across the health insurer and provider landscapes, informing company growth and revenue prospects for the year ahead. To help investors keep…

Read More >>

October 23, 2025

GKOS: iDose Smoke or Fire?

By John Leppard

We view the weakness in GKOS shares this week as somewhat overdone following the announcement that iDose will be the subject of a Nov. 12 Contractor Advisory Committee (CAC) meeting among five Medicare Administrative Contractors…

Read More >>

October 22, 2025

(DE, ADM, MOS, TSCO) The Farm Complex: We’re from Washington and We’re Here to Help

By Joe Lieber

We continue to see a few positive developments for the farm complex and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins’ comments late yesterday that the administration was going to provide $3 billion in aid to farmers from…

Read More >>