Pharma

Illustration: Morning Brew Design, Photos: Adobe Stock

After months of uncertainty about whether they’d even happen, pharmaceutical tariffs have made a comeback.

Tariffs up to 100% on patented or brand-name pharmaceutical products and active ingredients take effect on July 31 for some large companies, and will take effect on Sept. 29 for all other companies that haven’t gotten an exemption, per an April 2 proclamation from President Donald

Trump. Certain specialty drugs such as orphan drugs, fertility treatments, cell and gene therapies, and plasma therapies are exempt.

Haven’t been keeping up with this issue? We’ve got you! Here are three things to keep in mind as discussions on tariffs ramp up over the next few months.

Learn more about tariffs here.—CC

      

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Hospitals

Illustration: Anna Kim, Photos: Adobe Stock

Welcome back to Signed and Scrubbed, a monthly roundup of hospital deals, developments, and bankruptcies.

Among this month’s players are AdventHealth and Intermountain Health.

Altamonte Springs, Florida-based AdventHealth and Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Health signed a letter of intent on July 21 to affiliate five AdventHealth hospitals and three Intermountain hospitals in the Denver area.

Get your dose of dealmaking here.—CM

      

Payers

Getty Images

In-vitro fertilization (IVF) is widely popular among Americans, and an increasingly coveted workplace benefit.

Nevertheless, legislation threatening access to these family-building procedures has picked up in the years since the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to an abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. One major threat to IVF occurred in 2024 when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled embryos should be considered children, prompting many clinics to temporarily pause services.

While Alabama legislators ultimately passed a law to shield IVF clinics from legal liability, other states have since considered bills that would grant personhood to embryos. Such bills have been introduced repeatedly in South Carolina, though they haven’t passed.

“There is an increasingly—while they’re still small—loud and organized and well-funded anti-IVF movement, and they’re trying to find creative ways to target access,” Danielle Melfi, CEO of RESOLVE, the national infertility and family-building association, told HR Brew.

Keep reading on HR Brew.—CV

      

vital signs

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top healthcare reads.

Stat: Nearly 80%. That’s how much fallopian tube removal can reduce ovarian cancer risk. But there’s little awareness of this, even among doctors. (the New York Times)

Quote: “People in the hospital—social workers, everyone—are just floundering trying to help these people.”—Kimiya Nourian, a hospitalist at University of Iowa Physicians in Iowa City, on an increase in uninsured patients following changes in federal healthcare policy (Modern Healthcare)

Read: Hospice operators worry the federal government’s increased scrutiny of bad actors is hurting the industry’s reputation. (KFF Health News)

Friday Quiz

Amelia Kinsinger

The week’s biggest HCB stories, now in quiz form. Test yourself on the latest headlines in pharma, hospital operations, patient care, and more in a quick, competitive challenge built for healthcare professionals. Challenge your coworkers and see how your score stacks up!

Jobs

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• Director of Nursing at Vascular Surgery
• Director of Nursing at Camden PostAcute Care
• Medical Director at Attovia Therapeutics
• Director of Nursing at a confidential healthcare nursing center
• Director of Nursing at Vancouver Specialty & Rehabilitation Care