“Hang on lady, we going for a ride!” As a health policy consultant, I feel like this is what the guys at HHS are constantly saying to me with all their announcements. But this is not a Dr. Oz quote, it is what “Shorty” says to “Willie” in the movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Shorty is our hero’s sidekick, so when Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is about to cut the rope bridge they’re standing on, it is Shorty’s job to warn Willie (director Steven Spielberg’s future wife, Kate Capshaw) so she doesn’t get eaten by crocodiles. We all need helpers right now as we try to keep up with the pace of things. In the One Thoughtful Paragraph below, I explain how you, too, can avoid bad things happening to you.
Other people who are helping:
- Jeremy Walsh, the newly appointed FDA Chief AI Officer, and Sridhar Mantha are going to help coordinate a new agency-wide rollout of AI tools, targeting full internal deployment by June 30, 2025.
- Nader Kabbani, previously an executive at Amazon, will help Hims & Hers as they issue $1B in convertible notes, as the new COO.
- John Whyte, M.D. is going to help the AMA as its new CEO, starting on July 1, 2025, succeeding Jim Madara.
“Hey, Dr. Jones, no time for love. We’ve got company.” Just like Shorty’s warning to Dr. Jones in the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, we, too, are struggling with extracurricular activities right now. Just this week, Secretary Kennedy testified (argued with) the U.S. Senate HELP Committee and House Appropriations Committee, HHS and the FDA issued a request for information about which federal rules should be eliminated, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released 35 recommendations HHS should act on right away, CMMI announced a new strategic plan, and CMS gave industry stakeholders just 30 days to respond to 26 pages worth of questions about how the agency can promote the adoption of digital health technology. Some of these announcements came with their own uncomfortable short films that do not feature characters named Shorty (see here). But like Shorty, Maverick Health Policy is here to help. If you are interested in receiving timely updates or need advice about any of this, click here. It is important to heed the good advice Shorty gave in the Temple of Doom movie: “I keep telling you, you listen to me more, you live longer!”
