Hello from the Common Health Coalition! The 2-4-2 Digest is a weekly snapshot for health leaders that highlights four key things to know and can be read in less than two minutes or with two swipes on your phone. 

Join the Common Health Coalition on Thursday June 26 for a briefing on a special report examining the impacts of public health funding reductions on the health care sector, with a focus on implications for respiratory virus season. Register here: The Health Care Costs of Public Health Cuts

Weekly Health Insights

HIV: The FDA has approved Gilead’s lenacapavir (Yeztugo), the first long-acting injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) requiring just two doses a year. While an estimated 2.2 million people in the U.S. could benefit, PrEP uptake remains low, and questions remain around funding, coverage, and rollout.

Gender-Affirming Care: The Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors, shielding similar laws in 20 other states. In Missouri, a 2026 ballot initiative would permanently ban such care by embedding it in the state constitution, underscoring how state-level policy continues to shape access to treatment.

Prior Authorizations: Major insurers covering over 260 million individuals announced plans to streamline prior authorization processes, including reducing the number of services requiring approval and aiming to provide real-time decisions for 80% of requests by 2027.

Medicaid: Hospitals have raised concerns that Medicaid provisions in the Senate tax bill could affect access to care, particularly in rural areas. Proposals under consideration include stricter eligibility checks, changes to state payment mechanisms, and also a potential $10–25 billion rural hospital fund, with final negotiations ongoing. Check out this video from Common Health Coalition chair, Dr. Dave Chokshi, on why Medicaid matters.

Colleague Corner

Today, Yale School of Public Health will be announcing PopHIVE – a bold new platform that puts near real-time, reliable health data directly into the hands of the public. Short for Population Health Information and Visualization Exchange, PopHIVE is free, easy to use, and designed to help people see and act on population health trends.

Datawatch

A recent JAMA Network Open study showed that continuous Medicaid eligibility during the pandemic boosted retention and lowered per-enrollee spending, driven by reduced care use–particularly among children. 

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Measles reports: The number of confirmed measles cases in the U.S. has surpassed 1200. To continue following Measles updates, visit our Resources page for the latest Measles Briefs from Yale School of Public Health (under Situational Awareness Briefs). Read the latest deep-dive here.  

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