Read today’s Kaiser Health News
In other news:
Judge issues preliminary injunction blocking Trump cuts to NIH research overhead payments: A federal judge on Wednesday issued a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from slashing National Institutes of Health payments for research overhead, a decision that suggests plaintiffs seeking to overturn the sweeping policy change are likely to eventually succeed.
The order halts implementation of a cap on payments for indirect costs — facility and administrative fees linked to research — while the judge hears full arguments in three lawsuits that will determine the fate of billions of federal dollars that flow to universities, medical centers, and other grant recipient
About health insurance/insurers
Commonwealth Fund: How letting the ACA premium subsidies expire could impact states: Enhanced premium subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans are set to expire at the end of this year, and, if they do, the financial impacts would be felt in all 50 states, according to a new report.
Researchers at the Commonwealth Fund and George Washington University's (GWU's) Milken Institute School of Public Health estimate that the end of the tax credits would cost states $34 billion in gross domestic product as well as more than $2 billion in tax revenue. The report also estimates it could lead to 286,000 job losses.
The study noted that states would lose out on $26.1 billion in federal subsidies in 2026, and those lost funds would compound over time. The states that would feel the pain the most are those that did not expand Medicaid, as the marketplace subsidies are critical to extending coverage to more people.
CVS terminates ACO REACH contracts, sells MSSP business to Wellvana: March 4, the company announced value-based care company Wellvana is acquiring CVS Health’s Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) business under the CVS Accountable Care umbrella for an undisclosed sum. Wellvana now supports providers in 40 states and serves more than 1 million Medicare patients, according to a news release.
About hospitals and healthcare systems
Hospital patient volumes up (almost) everywhere: Patient volumes are climbing for most hospitals across the U.S. as hospitals direct more care outpatient and alleviate capacity constraints.
Recent data from Strata Decision Technology and reported by Kaufman Hall shows how much hospital volumes have increased nationwide over the last three years:
Inpatient: 9.3%
Observation: 7.8%
Emergency: 8.5%
Outpatient: 7.2%
About pharma
Growing insurer restrictions limit GLP-1 coverage: GoodRx: Commercial insurance coverage of blockbuster GLP-1 drugs has not expanded much over the past year, despite growing demand and expanded indications, according to a new report from GoodRx.
Data from 2024 to 2025 indicates coverage of these drugs is increasingly restricted, causing around 6 million people to lose coverage.
About the public’s health
A short-term, high-caloric diet has prolonged effects on brain insulin action in men: Brain insulin responsiveness is linked to long-term weight gain and unhealthy body fat distribution. Here we show that short-term overeating with calorie-rich sweet and fatty foods triggers liver fat accumulation and disrupted brain insulin action that outlasted the time-frame of its consumption in healthy weight men. Hence, brain response to insulin can adapt to short-term changes in diet before weight gain and may facilitate the development of obesity and associated diseases.
About healthcare IT
HIMSS25: Baxter debuts voice-activated wearable device for hospital clinical teams: At the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society 2025 Global Health Conference & Exhibition on Tuesday, Baxter unveiled its new Voalte Linq device, a wearable badge powered by voice-activated technology in the form of a digital assistant named "Scotty."
A nurse or other clinical team member can activate the technology by simply saying, "Hey Scotty' and then give an instruction such as "Call nurse for patient in room number 101" or can call a specific medical team member by name.
Baxter's Voalte platform is a unified digital care communications solution. The Linq device integrates with existing products in Baxter's connected care portfolio including Voalte mobile, nurse call, a hospital call bell system and precision locating, according to the company. Clinical care staff can use the voice-activated device to assign a patient in the hospital as a fall risk so Baxter's bed exit alert is armed.
About health technology
AI-enabled digital stethoscope detects heart failure early: study:An artificial intelligence model for digital stethoscopes can identify patients with weakened hearts that can’t pump blood effectively, according to a new peer-reviewed study published in the March issue of JACC: Advances.
This condition, known as reduced ejection fraction, is an indicator of heart failure. An echocardiogram is typically used to diagnose it, but it’s not widely available because the technology is expensive, it requires specialist training and it’s a time-consuming examination. The new AI model is intended to be used by primary care physicians to detect heart problems earlier before symptoms escalate…
The researchers found that the AI model accurately identified 77.5% of true cases of reduced ejection fraction.
Shift toward imaging outside the hospital could save billions: A recent study published in the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR) highlights the potential for billions of dollars in healthcare savings by shifting imaging services away from hospitals to outpatient centers…
The study determined that up to 25% of hospital-based radiology services could be transitioned to outpatient centers. Mass General Brigham has already adopted this model, with 83% of its imaging performed outside of hospitals, far surpassing the 42% recommended by the study. Rosman believes this indicates that potential savings may be even greater than the study estimates.
Continuous glucose monitor [CGM] overestimates glycemia, with the magnitude of bias varying by postprandial test and individual – A randomized crossover trial.: CGM overestimated glycemic responses in numerous contexts. At times this can mischaracterize the GI [Glycemic index]. In addition, there is inter-individual heterogeneity of the accuracy of CGM to estimate fasting glucose concentrations. Correction for this difference reduces, but does not eliminate, postprandial overestimate of glycemia by CGM. Caution should be applied when inferring absolute or relative glycemic responses to foods using CGM, and capillary sampling should be prioritised for accurate quantification of glycemic response
About healthcare finance
Blackstone buys majority stake in CMIC, Japan's largest contract research organization: Blackstone now owns 60% of the CRO, the New York-based firm announced in a March 3 release, while CMIC’s holding company owns the remaining 40%. Blackstone didn't reveal the purchase price for the CMIC stake.