Tuesday Tidbits

The Hill reports that the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing on its bipartisan bill to lower health care costs next Tuesday June 18. The Committee Chairman, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R TN) plans to move the bill through Committee quickly as he reported "has said he hopes the full Senate can vote on the package in July. It could be combined with another bipartisan health care package aimed at lowering drug prices that the Senate Finance Committee is working on."

Today, the House Appropriations Committee approved for floor consideration the financial services and general government appropriations bill for the next fiscal year. The vote was along party lines.  The Federal Times reminds us that "Appropriations legislation often goes through thorough changes as it moves from House to Senate consideration and back, making it likely that the general government and financial services bill will likely look different in some ways by the time it is signed into law."

Following up on Express Script's roll out of a digital formulary, CVS Health has announced a new vendor management services for employers and other plan sponsors. Healthcare Dive explains that the new program "will allow employers to contract and manage their relationship with third-party vendors that offer employee benefits, which could be both digital and non-digital tools." Big Health's Sleepio app is the first available tool. CVS Health advises that "Moving forward, CVS Health will be actively working to identify and onboard additional vendors to participate in the new service. This may include solutions such as smoking cessation and substance abuse support, care management solutions, medication optimization and adherence, and tools that help members navigate their benefits."

Finally, here's a Reuter's report on the state of the measles breakout.