With the election a week away, attention is turning to the next president's prospective nominees to head the federal health agencies, Victoria and Peter report.

• Former President Trump could draw on veterans from his first administration, along with wild cards like Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
• Vice President Kamala Harris could turn to some Biden administration officials or elevate key staff.

Here are some of the names in circulation:

Trump

Bobby Jindal: He's currently leading the health policy division of the America First Policy Institute, a Republican think tank mostly comprised of former Trump staffers.

• A former governor of Louisiana and principal adviser to the HHS secretary under former President George W. Bush, he could be in line to lead the department.
• At AFPI, he's promoted policies that would crack down on PBMs and implement Medicaid work requirements. Recently, he's also spoken about the impact and cost of allowing non-citizens to have access to government health care.

Eric Hargan: A deputy HHS secretary under Trump who briefly served as acting HHS secretary after the resignation of Tom Price, he also could be in line to return to the department.

• Hargan helped oversee Operation Warp Speed and assisted with pandemic initiatives like the provider relief fund and increased telehealth access.

Ben Carson: The retired neurosurgeon was Trump's HUD secretary and remains close friends with the former president.

• Active on the 2024 campaign trail, especially with evangelical voters and faith leaders, he was previously floated as a potential VP candidate and could return to Trump's Cabinet.

Brian Blase: He currently leads the Paragon Health Institute, a GOP health care think tank.

• Blase served in the Trump administration as the special assistant to the president for economic policy at the National Economic Council from 2017 to 2019.
• During that time, he worked on major health regulations, including on price transparency rules, individual coverage HRAs and association health plans.

Jim O'Neill: He's a Silicon Valley guy who also served a stint in HHS as the principal associate deputy secretary under George W. Bush.

• O'Neill's name was previously floated as a potential FDA head in the first Trump administration, and he's said that he supports reforming the FDA drug approval process so that efficacy is proved once drugs are on the market.
• He was the managing director for Mithril Capital Management, which is a Peter Thiel investment firm. He's invested in science and technology companies and has an interest in anti-aging treatments.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Casey and Calley Means:

• The anti-vaxxer and former independent presidential candidate is pushing an initiative known as "Make America Healthy Again," which is focused on chronic disease prevention and removing harmful toxins from the environment.
• Trump said at a Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday that he would let RFK Jr. "go wild" on health, food and medicines in a second administration.
• Casey and Calley Means are siblings and health entrepreneurs who are helping to run the MAHA movement. They've been mentioned for potential health roles, even if informal.

Harris

Harris is not surrounded by an extensive network of D.C. health policy people, so it's possible she could turn to some familiar faces from the Biden administration.

• Among staffers, perhaps the most influential on health is Rohini Kosoglu, a former congressional health policy staffer who moved up to be Harris' Senate chief of staff and the VP's domestic policy adviser.

Mandy Cohen: The CDC director could be nominated for HHS secretary or another high-ranking role.

• She is more politically experienced and savvy than the previous CDC director, Rochelle Walensky, who had not served in Washington.
• Cohen has drawn some praise even from Republicans for her work as North Carolina's health secretary during the pandemic.

Michelle Lujan Grisham: The New Mexico governor was said to be in the running for HHS secretary at the start of President Biden's term, and could be considered for the post again.

• She demurred when asked on a Monday press call with Protect Our Care if she is interested.

Chiquita Brooks-LaSure: The current CMS administrator could be tapped to be secretary or stay in her current role.

• She is a health policy veteran who has been at the center of efforts to negotiate lower drug prices, experience that could come in handy as Harris seeks to build on those efforts.

Sens. Bill Cassidy and Maggie Hassan are set to release a framework for Medicare site-neutral payment reforms as early as Friday, multiple lobbyists tell Victoria and Peter.

Why it matters: Changes to the way hospitals are paid for outpatient procedures could be on the agenda in a lame duck session, and this framework fleshes out more options.

• Site-neutral proposals address the way hospitals charge Medicare more for the same services that independent doctors deliver in their offices.

What's inside: The framework is slated to be more expansive than some previous site-neutral policies and could look similar to what's been proposed in the June 2023 MedPAC report.

• MedPAC recommended that for certain services, Medicare payments to hospital outpatient departments, ambulatory surgery centers and freestanding physician offices should be more closely aligned.
• That means this policy would apply to a number of outpatient services that could be provided in each type of setting.
• The savings from the site-neutral policy could then be reinvested into certain hospitals.

While the hope is to get the framework out by Nov. 1, the timeline could slip. The goal is to release it before the election though, sources said.

• Both Cassidy and Hassan's offices declined to comment.

The big picture: Hassan has previously been a leader on site-neutral payments with her SITE Act, but Cassidy's involvement adds an influential Republican, who could potentially be HELP chair next year.

• The health cost transparency bill that the House passed last year only applied site-neutral payments to physician-administered drugs.
• Any site-neutral bill still faces an uphill climb this year given hospital opposition, and many expect a narrower policy like the House's to have the best chance.

A bipartisan group of House physician-lawmakers is rolling out a bill today that would temporarily delay Medicare physician payment cuts scheduled to take effect next year, Victoria reports.

Why it matters: It's the first "doc fix" this session geared toward the nearly 3% payment cut for 2025 that physicians warn could jeopardize patient care.

What's inside: Rep. Greg Murphy is the lead sponsor with Reps. John Joyce, Larry Bucshon, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Raul Ruiz, Ami Bera, Kim Schrier and Jimmy Panetta.

• The legislation averts for one year the 2.8% Medicare payment cut for doctors that's slated to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025.
• It also adds an additional slight inflationary adjustment of 1.8%, which is 50% of the Medicare Economic Index that measures practice cost inflation.

What's next: A partial doc fix is one of the likelier health policies to be addressed during the lame duck session, but longer-term changes to Medicare reimbursements that many members are pushing for seem off the table.

1. Paxlovid boost: Facing pressure from an activist hedge fund, Pfizer today reported strong third-quarter earnings, primarily due to growth from its COVID treatment Paxlovid.
2. Long COVID: Obesity could raise the likelihood of long COVID in children and young adults, researchers wrote in JAMA Network Open.
3. IV fluids: The FDA approved extending the expiration dates of more than 50 IV and irrigation products to address shortages connected to hurricane damage at a Baxter International plant in North Carolina.