Tune in to POLITICO’s Health Care Summit

By SHAWN ZELLER, CARMEN PAUN, BEN LEONARD and ERIN SCHUMAKER

06/07/2023 02:00 PM EDT

Becerra is headlining today's POLITICO Health Care Summit. | Alex Wong/Getty Images

POLITICO's Health Care Summit is happening — now — and you still have time to tune in for the day's biggest newsmakers:

— Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) on the health care cost crisis

— Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) on financially sustainable care

— White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Ashish Jha on winding down the public health emergency

– Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on the Biden administration's record and priorities

POLITICO's David Lim detailed the critical issues the White House, Congress and regulators face and that our reporters will ask about:

— Ensuring the solvency of entitlement health care programs for retired adults and at-risk families even as many Democrats want health care to be free for all;

— Making certain the current regulatory structure is up to the task of reviewing and approving ever-more complex gene and cell therapy products developed by the pharmaceutical industry;

— Restoring lost trust in government when it comes to messaging and managing public health emergencies.

Catch it all on POLITICO.com's livestream.

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This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care.

Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Ben Leonard at [email protected], Ruth Reader at [email protected], Carmen Paun at [email protected] or Erin Schumaker at [email protected].

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Today on our Pulse Check podcast, join us for a discussion of today's POLITICO Health Care Summit where we’ll explore the transformative impact of technology and innovation on health care and the challenges that lie ahead for the U.S. as the country grapples with improving access to quality care for all Americans. Megan Messerly chats with David Lim, who tells us what to expect.

Smith just made it a lot harder to get a bipartisan PEPFAR reauthorization bill this year. | Pool photo by Ken Cedeno

Legislation to update PEPFAR, the AIDS-fighting program created by former President George W. Bush, is in doubt after a key Republican said it must include anti-abortion language.

The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief has long enjoyed bipartisan support and is widely credited with stemming the spread of HIV and AIDS. It's up for congressional reauthorization this year.

But a letter to colleagues from Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), the chair of the Foreign Affairs Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations Subcommittee, is likely to create a partisan rift.

"Any multi-year PEPFAR reauthorizing legislation must ensure that Biden's hijacking of PEPFAR to promote abortion be halted," Smith wrote in the letter that Carmen obtained.

Smith referenced Biden administration policy documents that he says seek to use PEPFAR to fund organizations that support abortion rights or provide abortions, as well as more than $100 million in funding that has gone to groups like Population Services International, Village Reach and Pathfinder International since Joe Biden became president.

Anti-abortion groups wrote to Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, to raise concerns about PEPFAR grants last month.

Why it matters: Smith sponsored the last reauthorization law in 2018, and the bill would normally pass through his subcommittee.

Congress can maintain PEPFAR as it is without passing new legislation, but the reauthorization process is an opportunity to make policy changes or to update authorized funding levels.

What's next? Smith's stance could dim Democrats’ enthusiasm for PEPFAR reauthorization this year.

That will disappoint HIV/AIDS activists and public health officials who say that a bipartisan reauthorization of the program would signal renewed U.S. commitment to fighting the disease, which spread more widely during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Many doctors still prefer traditional methods. | Getty Images

Getting more doctors to offer telehealth faces a significant hurdle: Many of them don't trust virtual care.

According to a new study of 2,000 clinicians globally from health tech company GE Healthcare, just over half of clinicians think they can accurately diagnose patients using telehealth and remote patient monitoring.

Overall, two-thirds of providers aren't confident that patients could do the necessary at-home testing unsupervised in a way that would reassure their doctors.

Culture rift: That sentiment varied significantly in the eight countries GE Healthcare surveyed.

Along with the U.K., the U.S. had the second-highest level of distrust in out-of-clinic testing without supervision at 79 percent, lower only than South Korea at 82 percent.

Germany had the lowest level of distrust in such testing at 48 percent, followed by Brazil at 55 percent, India at 60 percent, China at 62 percent and New Zealand at 63 percent.

The difference might lie in telehealth adoption rates, the company said. In Germany, which had relatively high levels of trust in self-testing, nearly three-quarters of providers frequently see patients virtually.

On the other hand, in South Korea, where fewer than 1 in 5 providers frequently use telehealth, roughly the same share trust that patients can self-test sans supervision.