The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will hear a case regarding the abortion pill mifepristone and review a decision by an appeals court that would impose significant limitations on access to the drug, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from the District of Columbia and Maryland.

• District of Columbia: The Supreme Court last week said it will hear a case regarding the abortion pill mifepristone and review a decision by an appeals court that would impose significant limitations on access to the drug. In April, the Supreme Court said mifepristone could remain on the market with no new restrictions while the case against it plays out. Mifepristone was first approved in 2000 and is widely used nationwide to end a pregnancy within the first 10 weeks of gestation. (Weixel/Schonfeld, The Hill, 12/13; Fritze, USA Today, 12/13)
• District of Columbia: The House last week passed a spending package that would impose site-neutral payments for providers administering medicine to Medicare beneficiaries, equalizing payments between hospital outpatient departments and doctors' offices in those instances. The bill would also implement new transparency and pricing rules on both pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and hospitals. Specifically, the Lower Costs More Transparency Act of 2023, which passed in the House 320-71, would require new disclosures of prices and costs by hospitals, insurers, imaging services, diagnostic laboratories, and PBMs. The bill would also restrict PBMs from spread pricing in Medicaid and instead would require them to pass their savings on and receive a set administrative fee. The American Hospital Association has urged members of Congress to oppose the bill unless site-neutral payment provisions are removed. (Cohrs, STAT, 12/11; McAuliff, Modern Healthcare, 12/11; American Hospital Association, 12/11)
• Maryland: Earlier this month, FDA approved the first gene editing therapy to be used in humans to treat sickle cell disease, as well as a second treatment for sickle cell that doesn't use gene editing. Casgevy, developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics, utilizes the gene-editing tool CRISPR to alter a patient's DNA. The treatment would potentially eliminate the need for bone marrow transplants to cure the disease, which affects at least 100,000 Americans, most of whom are Black. Following FDA's approval, nine hospitals announced they will provide Casgevy for sickle cell patients, however the New York Times notes the treatment will be expensive, as Vertex announced Casgevy's price will be set at $2.2 million. (Kolata, New York Times, 12/8; Robbins/Nolen, New York Times, 12/8; Bellamy, NBC News, 12/7; DeSilva, Modern Healthcare, 12/11)