The Regulator

The federal government’s health care fraud watchdog told Congress this week that it recovered or saved 5.56 billion dollars from Medicare and Medicaid over just six months, a return of 12 dollars and 70 cents for every dollar Congress spends running the office. The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General posted its Spring 2026 Semiannual Report to Congress on July 13, 2026, covering October 1, 2025 through March 31, 2026: 4.3 billion dollars in investigative receivables, 814.1 million dollars in audit and evaluation receivables, and 447.6 million dollars in potential cost savings, built on 604 criminal and civil actions (down from 833 in the prior six months) and 1,212 people and companies excluded from federal health programs. The report evaluated more than 40,800 tips and flagged sham hospice convictions, improper Medicaid payments for autism services, and gaps in foster care tracking systems as recurring problems, alongside the period’s largest single case, a health care software executive sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay 452 million dollars in restitution for a 1 billion dollar telemedicine and durable medical equipment fraud scheme. Confidence: High on the report’s own figures; Medium on why criminal and civil actions fell from the prior period, since OIG’s release does not explain the drop. Sources: Spring 2026 Semiannual Report to Congress, HHS Office of Inspector General, Spring 2026 Semiannual Report to Congress (PDF), HHS Office of Inspector General.

The FDA approved the first Alzheimer’s treatment patients can start at home, without an initial round of clinic infusion visits, on July 13. The Food and Drug Administration cleared a new starting-dose regimen for Leqembi Iqlik (lecanemab-irmb), letting adults with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia from early Alzheimer’s disease begin treatment with a self- or caregiver-administered injection instead of the biweekly infusion visits the drug previously required at the outset. The new regimen delivers 500 milligrams once a week as two 250-milligram injections, each taking about 15 seconds, through the same autoinjector already approved for maintenance dosing; in developer Eisai’s Clarity AD trial, the drug slowed disease progression 27 percent compared with placebo over 18 months. Eisai and co-marketer Biogen plan a US launch in late August 2026. Confidence: High. Sources: FDA Approves First At-Home Starting Dose for Alzheimer’s Disease Treatment, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA Approves LEQEMBI IQLIK (lecanemab-irmb) Subcutaneous Injection as an Initiation Dose for Early Alzheimer’s Disease, Eisai.

HHS doubled how long refugees can draw cash and medical assistance, from four months to eight, effective the moment the rule posted today. The Office of Refugee Resettlement announced in a Federal Register notice published July 14, 2026 that it is extending Refugee Cash Assistance and Refugee Medical Assistance eligibility from four months to eight months, effective immediately under its authority at 45 CFR 400.211(b); states have up to 30 days to update their systems and processes. The change gives newly arrived refugees, asylees, and other eligible populations twice as long to draw cash and medical benefits while they look for work, and it will show up first in the states with the largest refugee resettlement caseloads. Confidence: High on the effective date and legal citation; Low on how many people it affects nationally, since ORR’s notice does not include a caseload estimate. Source: Federal Register Notice: Change in Eligibility Period for Refugee Cash Assistance and Refugee Medical Assistance, Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Missouri’s governor signed six health care bills into law this week that expand Medicaid doula coverage, guarantee a year’s worth of birth control at once, and force more hospital pricing and prior-authorization disclosure. Governor Mike Kehoe signed House Bills 2372 and 2974 and Senate Bills 878, 999, 1019 and 1233 on July 13, 2026, a package that takes effect August 28, 2026. House Bill 2372 expands Missouri Medicaid’s doula benefit from six to 16 visits covering pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and lactation support, lets patients establish a telehealth relationship with a physician without an in-person visit first, allows community paramedics to deliver more primary and preventive care in underserved areas, bars insurers from restricting coverage of anesthesia and contrast-enhanced mammograms, and adds hospital price and prior-authorization transparency requirements. Senate Bill 999 creates the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, requiring providers to give life-saving care to infants who survive an abortion attempt, and expands the state’s Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review Board to track maternal deaths in maternity care deserts. House Bill 2974 lets physician assistants practice across state lines under interstate licensing compacts without additional Missouri licenses. Confidence: High on the bill provisions; the governor’s office did not release a cost or enrollment estimate. Sources: Governor Kehoe Signs Healthcare Legislation into Law, Office of Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe, HB 2372, Missouri House of Representatives.

The DEA’s hearing on rescheduling marijuana nationwide closed its evidentiary record today after state witnesses delivered the last testimony opposing the move. Chief Administrative Law Judge Derek C. Julius closed the record in the hearing on July 14, 2026 after witnesses from Nebraska, Idaho, Indiana, and Louisiana testified against moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act. Every party selected to testify in the six-week hearing opposed rescheduling, and Judge Julius faces no deadline to rule once closing arguments wrap; any eventual decision would only affect the broader Schedule I to Schedule III question, since an April 2026 DEA order already moved FDA-approved and state-licensed medical marijuana products to Schedule III. Confidence: High on the hearing schedule; Low on timing of any ruling. Source: Marijuana Rescheduling Regulatory Actions, Drug Enforcement Administration.