CMS on Thursday announced that Medicare will cover Alzheimer's drugs that target amyloid plaque in the brain for enrollees who meet coverage criteria, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from Arkansas and the District of Columbia.

• Arkansas: Walmart on Wednesday announced it is increasing the wages for 7,700 of its pharmacists and opticians. According to Walmart, more than 3,700 pharmacists will see their average salary increase to more than $140,000 but declined to share what the current average salary is, saying it was based on location and role. Meanwhile, Walmart said opticians can now "expect" to make an average of $22.50 an hour — higher than the mean hourly wage for opticians in the United States, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics says is $21.58 per hour. (Holman, New York Times, 5/31)
• District of Columbia: CMS on Thursday announced that Medicare will cover Alzheimer's drugs that target amyloid plaque in the brain for enrollees who meet coverage criteria. Previously, CMS' policy stated that patients needed to be enrolled in clinical trials in ordered to receive coverage for the drugs. According to a CMS official who spoke on condition of anonymity to the Washington Post, the new policy will expand the number of patients eligible for Alzheimer's drugs once they receive FDA approval and will allow CMS to collect important information on how the medications affect patients. (McGinley/Roubein, Washington Post, 6/1)
• District of Columbia: FDA on Wednesday approved Pfizer's vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) for adults ages 60 and older, marking the second approval an RSV vaccine has received from the agency following its approval of GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) vaccine on May 3. Pfizer's drug, called Abrysvo, was found to be almost 67% effective against cases of RSV with two symptoms and 86% effective against cases with at least three symptoms, according to data submitted to FDA. By comparison, GSK's vaccine, called Arexvy, was found to be nearly 83% effective against severe RSV. (Jewett, New York Times, 5/31; Gonzalez, Axios, 5/31)