SCOTUS Upholds FDA Mifepristone Approval, Congress Inspects COVID-19 Relief
Court battles continue over abortion pills, and a congressional investigation will explore COVID-19 relief allocation.
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By - Policy news this week looks at the SCOTUS decision to protect abortion pills in the interim and the decision of the congressional oversight committee to investigate hospitals that may have misused COVID-19 relief funds.
VA Executives Seek EHR Legislation Reform
Deputy executive director of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Acquisition Logistics and Construction, Phillip Christy, told the House Oversight and Investigations Committee that the VA supports elements of House Republican’s EHR Modernization Improvement Act and that it would request to modify the legislation before the VA fully endorses it. Specifically, the Department wants to ensure that all contracted improvements and modifications to the Oracle Cerner EHR are completed before deployment continues at VA facilities. READ MORE.
DC Health Link Finds Human Error Behind Data Leak
The DC Health Benefit Exchange Authority (DCHBX) shared a testimony with the House Oversight Committee last week, admitting that a data breach affecting 56,000 customers was due to human error.
“The server was misconfigured to allow access to the reports on the server without proper authentication. Based on our investigation to date, we believe the misconfiguration was not intentional but a human mistake. Also, at no point was the DC Health Link enrollment system breached and or exposed,” said Mila Kofman, executive director of DCHBX. READ MORE.
FDA Won’t Recommend Another Booster for Most
In a news release published on the FDA’s website last Tuesday, officials recommend that most individuals don’t receive an additional bivalent COVID-19 mRNA booster unless they are over 65 or have immunocompromised status.
“At this stage of the pandemic, data support simplifying the use of the authorized mRNA bivalent COVID-19 vaccines, and the agency believes that this approach will help encourage future vaccination,” said Peter Marks, MD, PhD, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. READ MORE.
SCOTUS Upholds Mifepristone Approval
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) upheld the legitimacy of the FDA’s mifepristone approval last week. Earlier this month, two dueling cases at once struck down and supported the FDA approval of mifepristone. After the SCOUTS decision, the availability of abortion pills will be protected pending Biden Administration appeals to lower court rulings. READ MORE.
Congress Investigates COVID-19 Relief Allocation
Republican House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer and Representative Nick Langworthy (R-NY) recently launched an investigation into the allocation of COVID-19 relief funds to hospitals. The two representatives stated in a letter that hospitals received billions of dollars in relief while reporting massive profits during the pandemic and cutting job roles. The representatives will use their position to investigate all hospitals and providers that received Provider Relief Funds while cutting pay and collecting medical debt. READ MORE.
