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With help from Ben Leonard and Megan R. Wilson

CDC IN THE SPOTLIGHT — Outgoing CDC Director Rochelle Walensky will testify this morning before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, a hearing that could provide more clues about where the agency goes post-pandemic.

Committee staffers on both sides of the aisle, granted anonymity to discuss plans for the hearing, told Pulse what’s likely to come up:

— The CDC’s relationship with and communications to the public during the pandemic will likely be a thread that runs through Republican questioning.

The policies and guidance from the agency — from vaccines to masks to lockdowns — will be put under the microscope, GOP staffers said.

And it’s more than just the policies: Several lawmakers will dig into how the public views the CDC in light of its work over the past three years.

— How the CDC made decisions on its pandemic guidance for schools is a big part of that throughline for several Republicans.

Staffers said the committee has gotten more information in recent weeks on how groups like the American Federation of Teachers were communicating with CDC leaders on their guidance for schools — an issue already brought up by some on the committee in earlier hearings.

— Which parts of the CDC can be built up based on its experience since 2020 is a topic of more interest to Democratic lawmakers.

One of the Democratic staffers who was granted anonymity told Pulse there’s a specific interest in ensuring the agency has adequate resources to improve its emergency response systems — adding that the future of the agency’s data collection will be a key focus in those conversations.

“We really want this to be a forward-looking conversation,” the aide said. “We recognize there’s a lot we can learn from the [Covid] pandemic response.”

And it’s not just Congress looking for change at the agency post-pandemic. Walensky has repeatedly spoken about the need for reforms at the CDC, planning an overhaul of its structures and operations.

A CDC spokesperson told Pulse in a statement that Walensky will use the opportunity to not only tout the agency’s work through the pandemic — including vaccine distribution and school reopening — but also highlight what Congress can do to help the agency improve, such as establishing new data authorities, making budgets more flexible and modernizing infrastructures.

WELCOME TO TUESDAY PULSE. A black bear graced Florida beach-goers’ presence, and we want to know: Would you welcome these fuzzy swimming companions? Send your best animal encounters, tips and news to guest author Katherine Ellen Foley at [email protected] and to your regular Pulse author Daniel Payne at [email protected].

TODAY ON OUR PULSE CHECK PODCAST, host Ben Leonard talks with Katherine, who reports on the Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi, which the FDA is considering for traditional approval and what that could mean for patients.

COMPROMISE TO PRESERVE OBAMACARE MANDATE — The Texas conservatives challenging Obamacare’s preventive care mandate have reached a tentative compromise with the Justice Department that preserves free coverage for a range of services while the case proceeds, POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein reports.

The agreement still needs approval from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but it keeps coverage intact nationwide for preventive services like syphilis testing and depression screenings while the case proceeds. In return, the Biden administration pledged not to enforce the mandate to cover HIV prevention drugs and other preventive care services against the employers and individual workers who sued, claiming that doing so violated their religious beliefs.

Disruptions to the insurance market could still be on the horizon: The challengers, represented by Texas abortion ban architect Jonathan Mitchell, seek to strike down the preventive care mandate entirely, arguing that because the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is made up of outside experts who were neither Senate-confirmed nor chosen by a Senate-confirmed agency head, their recommendations of what services should be covered by insurance must be “set aside” and can’t be enforced.

Their suit also claims the requirement for insurance to cover the pre-exposure prophylaxis pill used to prevent transmission of HIV — known as PrEP — violates the challengers’ religious rights.

ANOTHER IRA LAWSUIT — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Washington lobbying giant, has sued the federal government and two of its local chamber groups over the Inflation Reduction Act’s drug negotiation provisions, Megan reports. It follows on the heels of a lawsuit filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by Merck. The drugmaker, which is likely to have medicines chosen for Medicare price negotiation, called the provisions unconstitutional.

The Chamber’s suit, filed against the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the U.S. District Court in Dayton, Ohio, also leans on claims that the negotiation process violates the Constitution, though some of the arguments differ from Merck’s complaint.

“When Congress delegates authority to an administrative agency to impose price controls, the momentous nature of the delegation and the potential consequences for both private rights and the public as a whole raise fundamental separation-of-powers and other serious constitutional concerns,” the Chamber lawsuit reads.

PUSH AGAINST STAND-ALONE TELEHEALTH EXPANSION — A House committee is set to mark up a bill on Tuesday that would permanently allow telehealth access as a tax-free benefit separate from other health plans. But a coalition of mental health and substance use disorder groups is skeptical of the effort, Ben reports.

The American Psychological Association; the American Society of Addiction Medicine; the Eating Disorders Coalition for Research, Policy & Action; and 23 other organizations argue it will erode comprehensive treatment coverage and create more barriers to care.

“For individuals who need a higher level of outpatient care, residential care, or inpatient care to treat their MH/SUD condition(s), a ‘telehealth only’ option can negatively impact treatment options, further delay an appropriate level of care, and can be a significant financial barrier if individuals find they must pay out-of-pocket for additional services,” the groups said in a letter to committee leadership. “Further, even for outpatient services, in-person services may be most appropriate.”

Although the bill has three Democratic co-sponsors, some in the party have been skeptical of it, arguing that beneficiaries could misunderstand their plans’ scope. The bill has substantial support from the telehealth industry. Backers argue it would expand access to care and help employees ineligible for other employer-sponsored health insurance coverage.

In prepared remarks, committee ranking member Bobby Scott (D-Va.) will argue that the legislation would “fragment care while failing to provide appropriate safeguards for consumers.”

ONCOLOGY FLY-IN — More than 120 nurses, caregivers, patients and oncologists plan to hit the Hill today as part of the Community Oncology Alliance’s advocacy day, Megan reports. They plan to meet with lawmakers and congressional staff to discuss policies that would crack down on pharmacy benefit managers, the pharmaceutical middlemen that manage prescription drugs for health insurers. Lawmakers in both parties in the House and Senate have proposed legislation and held hearings looking to compel PBMs to be more transparent about their business practices.

Mary Grealy will retire from her position as president of the Healthcare Leadership Council at the end of the year.

Tom Perez has joined the White House as the director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, a senior adviser and an assistant to the President.

For The Wall Street Journal, Sarah Toy and Brianna Abbott report that weight-loss drug Ozempic might be able to treat some kinds of eating disorders.

Fentanyl caused a record number of overdose deaths in the U.S. military in 2021, Meryl Kornfield, Kyle Rempfer and Steven Rich report in The Washington Post.

Chronic lifeguard shortages disproportionately impact low-income families’ access to summer enrichment, Michelle Andrews writes for KFF Health News.