Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½Ò•îl

Eli Lilly & Co. is stepping up its fight against a booming black market for retatrutide, an experimental drug that the company is counting on to expand its crucial weight-loss franchise. For almost two years, Lilly has been warning consumers not to take knockoff versions of the shot that are being sold online and at wellness clinics and medical spas. It hasn’t been approved by regulators anywhere in the world. (Muller, 8/12)

Internal medicine physicians who were not born in the U.S. treated 22 million Medicare beneficiaries in 2024, but Trump administration immigration policies may put a dent in that workforce, exacerbating care shortages for the underserved, researchers said. Patients treated by doctors born abroad were more likely to come from underserved populations than those treated by doctors born in the U.S., Giacomo Meille, PhD, of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), and colleagues reported in a research letter in JAMA. (Clark, 8/12)

Sharp HealthCare has laid off an estimated 260 staff members as it navigates financial challenges. The cuts affect less than 1% of Sharp HealthCare’s workforce. Employees in behavioral healthcare and some outpatient services were impacted, according to a news release Tuesday. Many affected employees were immediately provided with an offer of alternative employment, the system said. (DeSilva, 8/12)

Intermountain Health and AdventHealth have signed a definitive agreement to merge services at multiple hospitals, clinics and medical practices through a joint venture in the Denver area. The deal is slated to close in early 2027, pending regulatory approval, according to a Wednesday notice from AdventHealth. The organizations signed the definitive agreement last week. Financial terms were not disclosed. (DeSilva, 8/12)

Never events — the most severe, preventable harms in patient safety — are often seen as some of healthcare’s worst-case scenarios. But they also carry an overlooked distinction: They can only happen to patients who made it far enough into the system to receive care in the first place. (Bean, 8/11)

Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½Ò•îl Health News: Listen To The Latest ‘Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½Ò•îl Health News Minute’

Rachel Spears reads the week’s news: Many people with disabilities fear that a new Justice Department legal opinion could roll back protections that have given them access to in-home care. Plus, some cities are using 911 to respond to mental health distress calls with mobile crisis teams instead of police. (8/13)

Health insurers are growing more confident in their long-term earnings potential, so much so they expect to stick with their current strategies into next year. Nearly three-quarters of insurers reported operating losses last year as medical costs outpaced premium revenue, according to a report published this month by HealthScape Advisors, a Chartis company. That dynamic was more pronounced for Blue Cross Blue Shield companies and regional nonprofit insurers than for national carriers, the report said. (Tong, 8/12)

Smaller pharmacy benefit managers are chipping away at their larger rivals’ dominance by securing smaller clients, according to a survey released Wednesday. UnitedHealth Group subsidiary Optum Rx, CVS Health division CVS Caremark and Cigna Group unit Express Scripts collectively control about 80% of U.S. prescription drug claims. They have had to overhaul their business practices to comply with legislation, regulations and settlement terms. As employers grow more receptive to unconventional strategies to reduce rising healthcare costs, dozens of companies have emerged, pitching themselves as transparent and cost-effective PBM alternatives. (Tong, 8/11)

Prader-Willi syndrome experts are warning of potential safety risks associated with extended-release diazoxide choline (Vykat XR), a drug approved last year for treating the extreme bouts of hunger experienced by patients with the rare genetic condition. (Monaco, 8/12)

U.S. News & World Report released its debut ratings Aug. 12 for the best GLP-1 telehealth platforms, its first evaluation of the online companies prescribing brand-name weight loss drugs. The media company rated 20 platforms offering FDA-approved, brand-name GLP-1 medications, including Wegovy, Zepbound, Ozempic and Foundayo, according to an Aug. 12 news release. Companies that offer only compounded GLP-1s were excluded, and for platforms selling both, U.S. News evaluated only the branded portion of the business. (Gooch, 8/12)

In 2007, Dr. Raj Panjabi, a physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, traveled to Liberia, where he was born. He had just been married and brought the $6,000 he had raised from wedding guests to help co-found a health initiative to provide care to those who lived in the country's most remote, inaccessible regions. The organization's name, Last Mile Health (LMH), reflected its mission: the belief that no one should be beyond the reach of life-saving medical help. Today, Last Mile Health is receiving an honor that comes with a $3 million gift. (Cole, 8/12)