CDC has announced new leadership for the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease (NCIRD), which led the agency's COVID-19 response during the pandemic, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from the District of Columbia, Georgia, and Maryland.

• District of Columbia: A group of bipartisan senators, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), on Monday sent letters to the IRS commissioner and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration calling for them to investigate whether nonprofit hospitals complied with community benefit requirements to receive state or federal subsidies and tax exemptions. According to STAT, advocates have argued that the tax code's broad definition of "community benefits" has led hospitals to report costs like physician training and research instead of direct community benefits such as health screenings, free clinics, and care for uninsured patients. "These practices — along with lax federal oversight — have allowed some nonprofit hospitals to avoid providing essential care in the community for those who need it most," the senators wrote. (Owermohle, STAT, 8/8)
• Georgia: CDC Director Mandy Cohen on Tuesday announced new leadership for NCIRD, which led the agency's COVID-19 response during the pandemic. According to Cohen, José Romero, who led NCIRD over the last 14 months, is leaving CDC at the end of August. Succeeding Romero, at least on an acting basis, is Demetre Daskalakis, the current deputy director of the national mpox response team. Previously, Daskalakis was the director of CDC's division of HIV/AIDS prevention in the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention and led CDC's COVID-19 vaccine task force in 2021. Two other high-ranking NCIRD officials are also moving to other roles within CDC. Sam Posner, who is currently principal deputy director of NCIRD, will become acting director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Kristin Pope, current deputy director of NCIRD, will have a new role at the Center for Forecasting and Analytics. (Branswell, STAT, 8/9)
• Maryland: Last month, FDA approved RiVive, a new over-the-counter (OTC) naloxone nasal spray that can be used to reverse opioid overdoses.  It is the second OTC naloxone spray, with the first being Emergent BioSolutions' Narcan. In response to RiVive's approval, Harm Reduction Therapeutics, the treatment's nonprofit manufacturer, said it planned to give away 200,000 doses of the spray to Remedy Alliance, an organization dedicated to making naloxone affordable and accessible. "We founded Harm Reduction Therapeutics with the singular mission to prevent opioid overdose deaths," said Michael Hufford, the organization's CEO. "We're dedicated to making free or low-cost over-the-counter naloxone nasal spray available to the communities who need it most." According to the organization, the 200,000-dose donation will represent around 10% of its expected annual production of the treatment. (Facher, STAT, 8/9)