We doubt Medicare Payment Advisory Commission’s (MedPAC) FY/CY26 Medicare payment recommendations for home health agencies, inpatient rehab facilities, skilled nursing facilities, hospices, dialysis centers, hospitals, and physician offices, which were voted on Thursday in nearly…

Our long-held belief has been that defense spending for FY25 would clock in at ~$920 billion; however, that figure seems too low in our view, given the recent news flow.  We now believe defense spending…

UnitedHealth’s (UNH) comments during its 4Q and full year 2024 earnings call about changes its it taking to head off certain public policy concerns (PBMs, prior authorization/claim denials) seem like the company is in catch-up…

We see little positive legislative movement for the sports gambling sector [DKNG, FLUT, CZR, MGM], since we do not expect any of the 11 states that have yet to legalize the practice to make further…

The FTC’s unanimously-supported release of its second interim report on pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), focused on specialty drug dispensing at affiliated pharmacies [CVS, CI, UNH] that generated an extra $7.3B in revenue over six years,…

In keeping with expectations laid out in our note late last week, CMS’s opening of a National Coverage Analysis (NCA) for renal denervation (RDN) [Medtronic (MDT), Otsuka (4578.JT) / ReCor] this afternoon has a target…

INSP’s disclosure today that physicians will likely be billing its Inspire V device procedures under CPT 64568 ($596) during a “transition period” – rather than existing Inspire IV code CPT 64582 ($816), as we had…

This week starts a host of hearings on President-elect Trump’s cabinet nominees (see below). The Senate is also expected to pass an immigration bill, the Laken Riley Act (S. 5), which would require the Dept….

The Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS) decision on Friday to hear oral arguments in Becerra v. Braidwood, presumably in late March / early April, will likely serve as an overhang for screening test manufacturers [EXAS, GH, MYGN,…

CMS’s Friday release of the CY26 Advance Notice (AN) for Medicare Advantage (MA) insurers [HUM, UNH, CVS, ELV, ALHC, CLOV, CNC] came in better than our net YoY benchmark expectations with a proposed net increase…

This morning’s opening of a Medicare National Coverage Determination (NCD) for privately-held Impulse Dynamics’ Optimizer System bolsters our view that coverage for renal denervation (RDN) systems [Medtronic (MDT), Otsuka / ReCor (4578.JT)] is unlikely to…

We continue to believe that Congress is likely to pass a massive $5 trillion- plus tax bill that would extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts, known as the Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA). We…

With a handful of healthcare provider and insurance companies headed to San Francisco next week for a key investor conference, below we provide a set of significant policy-related questions we would like to see management teams address…

A Jan. 1 update to CMS’s colorectal cancer (CRC) screening guide appears to support our view that Medicare coverage of EXAS’ Cologuard Plus (0464U: $592) and its 16% rate premium over the legacy version (81528:…

With medical device, equipment, diagnostics, and life science tools (LST) companies set to descend on San Francisco next week for a key investor conference, below we provide a set of significant policy-related questions for clients…