�������ýҕ�l

Four members of the 19-person expert panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccination policy have been informed that their status as special government employees has been terminated — a development that throws into question their ability to continue to work on the body, STAT has learned. (Branswell, 6/8)

Infectious disease physicians expressed alarm over how the Trump administration bypassed open and established processes for changing vaccine recommendations, and voiced particular concern over restrictions to COVID-19 vaccines in pregnancy. During a briefing hosted by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) on Friday, experts urged clinicians seeking information on COVID vaccination to look to specialty societies for evidence-based guidance in lieu of government websites. (Firth, 6/6)

Prior to becoming Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had espoused the idea of "medical freedom," the ability of people to make personal health decisions for themselves and their families without corporate or government coercion. It's an idea supported under Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement to reduce the prevalence of chronic disease in the U.S. by making healthier lifestyle choices. ... Some public health experts told ABC News, however, that the HHS has been limiting choices on some products for many Americans despite Kennedy's talk about "freedom of choice." (Kekatos, 6/6)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: In Axing MRNA Contract, Trump Delivers Another Blow To US Biosecurity, Former Officials Say

The Trump administration’s cancellation of $766 million in contracts to develop mRNA vaccines against potential pandemic flu viruses is the latest blow to national defense, former health security officials said. They warned that the U.S. could be at the mercy of other countries in the next pandemic. “The administration’s actions are gutting our deterrence from biological threats,” said Beth Cameron, a senior adviser to the Brown University Pandemic Center and a former director at the White House National Security Council. (Maxmen, 6/6)

FBI Director Kash Patel said in an interview this week that his agency made a “breakthrough” as it continues to investigate former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, a key player in the U.S.’s early response to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, Patel cautioned Fauci’s critics from expecting too much. (Crisp, 6/6)

The number of measles cases in the U.S. so far this year has quadrupled compared to 2024 and is nearing a 30-year high. As of Friday, there have been 1,168 confirmed measles cases across 33 states nationwide, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year, the U.S. saw just 285 measles cases, CDC data shows. (Benadjaoud and Kekatos, 6/6)

Dr. Katherine O’Brien, the WHO’s vaccines director, told POLITICO’s Carmen Paun that U.S. political leaders should clearly endorse and promote measles vaccination to prevent the country from losing its disease-elimination status — and become a location that gives rise to future outbreaks that can easily spread domestically and abroad among travelers. If the disease spreads continuously for a year, it would be considered endemic for the first time in 25 years. “It’s really a sign of a country going backwards in terms of their ability to protect people,” O’Brien said. (Gardner and Hooper, 6/6)

Outside the emergency room of the St Thomas Elgin general hospital, about 125 miles southwest of Toronto, a large sign with bright yellow block letters issues an urgent warning: “NO MEASLES VAX & FEVER COUGH RASH – STOP – DO NOT ENTER!” To see such an imperative in the 21st century might have been previously unimaginable for Canada, which in 1998 achieved “elimination status” for measles, meaning the virus is no longer circulating regularly. (Bowden, 6/6)

The Trump administration’s gutting of global aid is threatening to collapse a critical network of laboratories responsible for measles and rubella surveillance around the world. Now, philanthropic leaders are rushing to try to save it. (Branswell, 6/9)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s plans to consolidate data on diseases like measles and polio are raising concerns about patient privacy, delays in spotting long-term trends and ways the Trump administration may use the information. The agency told state officials earlier this week that it would shift disease information to a new system managed by Palantir, the data analysis and technology firm co-founded by Peter Thiel. (Mandavilli, 6/6)

Several American Medical Association (AMA) members Saturday impatiently protested what they see as the lack of aggressive AMA pushback to many Trump administration budget cuts and other actions, specifically cuts to Medicaid and NIH. They also said at the AMA House of Delegates annual meeting that the AMA needs to be more vocal about how trade tariffs will increase the cost of drugs and other health services. (Clark, 6/8)

Chiseling away at President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Rolling back the green energy tax breaks from President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. At its core, the Republican “big, beautiful bill” is more than just an extension of tax breaks approved during President Donald Trump’s first term at the White House. The package is an attempt by Republicans to undo, little by little, the signature domestic achievements of the past two Democratic presidents. (Mascaro, 6/7)

The sweeping tax legislation Republicans in Congress are trying to send to President Donald Trump to sign into law underscores a striking evolution in the party’s economic agenda: away from tax policy that prioritizes economic growth and toward populist giveaways inspired by Trump’s campaign promises. House Republicans last month approved a $2.4 trillion proposal that included attention-grabbing provisions such as exempting tips and overtime pay from income taxes and a new deduction for seniors. The bill’s cornerstone, making up the vast majority of its price tag, is the permanent extension of the individual cuts from the 2017 GOP tax law, which lowered rates across income brackets. (Stein, 6/9)

Medicaid provides health insurance for nearly 80 million people but was long the electoral forgotten sibling of Social Security and Medicare. It’s clear in the ads: TV ads for House and Senate races last election cycle were 26 times as likely to mention Medicare, the health care program for seniors, as Medicaid, according to a POLITICO analysis of transcripts from AdImpact, which tracks political advertising. But that’s already changing. “I saw elections 16 years ago where people ran on cutting Medicaid, and there were folks who were on Medicaid who were in the crowd cheering them on,” said Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a potential Democratic candidate for president in 2028. “That’s not the case of where we are today.” (Piper, Schneider and Otterbein, 6/9)

UnitedHealth Group wants Congress to crack down on how Medicare Advantage plans bill the government for home visits. On Thursday, the Medicare Advantage market share leader called on lawmakers to implement new standards for how the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reimburses for home visits. The same day, Humana offered similar suggestions to limit billing for conditions logged through in-home visits and chart reviews. (Tepper, 6/6)

Standalone children’s hospitals say the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is unfairly preventing them from offering hospital-at-home. The Children’s Hospital Association – which represents approximately 200 children’s hospitals nationwide — wants the agency to allow all children’s hospitals to be able to provide hospital-level services at home through Medicaid. However, the waiver on which hospital-at-home programs are built runs through Medicare, creating roadblocks for standalone hospitals that don't participate in the program. (Eastabrook, 6/6)

New research on Medicare Advantage claims raises concerns that lost revenue from denials could affect providers' administrative costs and may discourage them from treating patients from groups that face higher denial rates. The study by Harvard University researchers, of 270 million Medicare Advantage claims from 2019, found of the 17% of initial claims that were denied, 57% of those were later overturned. (Broderick, 6/6)

Members of the AMA House of Delegates seemed divided on that question here Sunday. "I opted out of Medicare 9 years ago, and I've never been happier as a private-practice physician," said Rebekah Bernard, MD, of Fort Myers, Florida, speaking on behalf of the Florida delegation. "AMA has made Medicare payment reform our top priority, and yet ... there is very little political will to increase physician payment. Physicians need to be aware that we have the option of leaving this broken payment system, and perhaps if enough of us take that step, our legislators will hear our pleas to fix the Medicare payment model." (Frieden, 6/8)

Preparation for the unknown was always in Alan Harris’s job description as emergency manager for Seminole County, Florida, where thousands of homes suffered flood damage during Hurricane Ian in 2022. But as hurricane season begins this year, there is a fresh layer of uncertainty to contend with. The Trump administration has declared a desire to reshape a federal disaster response system widely considered to be too complicated and winding, and has already taken steps to upend it. Hundreds of Federal Emergency Management Agency veterans have left the agency, and those who remain will no longer go door to door in search of disaster victims who need financial aid, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Post. (Dance and Dennis, 6/8)

Nearly 1 in 5 positions across the Food and Drug Administration's human food inspection divisions are now vacant, multiple agency officials tell CBS News, in the wake of departures encouraged by the Trump administration's cost-cutting efforts and a government-wide hiring freeze that had stalled efforts to replenish their ranks. While the FDA has long struggled with hiring and retaining qualified investigators to inspect food producers and distributors, multiple federal health officials... say that the staffing gap has worsened due to early retirements and resignations. (Tin, 6/6)

Leaders of an aid organization that has sent more than 100 Haitian children with serious cardiac conditions to the U.S. for heart surgery said President Donald Trump’s ban on travelers from 19 countries will stall or cancel lifesaving procedures for at least a dozen children or young adults. The ban, which goes into effect Monday, has led to widespread uncertainty for many and drawn condemnation from international leaders. (Bellamy, 6/7)

New Mexico’s senior US senator is once again calling for the closure of one of his state’s most notorious immigration detention facilities, citing a recent tour he said confirmed that conditions there had deteriorated. Democrat Martin Heinrich said his staff visited the Torrance County Detention Facility in late May, two weeks after Bloomberg published a story that detailed a series of problems at the facility, which primarily detains people on behalf of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (Adams-Heard and Mejía, 6/6)

As the Trump administration prepared to cancel contracts at the Department of Veteran Affairs this year, officials turned to a software engineer with no health care or government experience to guide them. The engineer, working for the Department of Government Efficiency, quickly built an artificial intelligence tool to identify which services from private companies were not essential. He labeled those contracts “MUNCHABLE.” (Roberts, Coleman and Umansky, 6/6)

Last year, for the first time, the Veterans Administration announced it would begin funding its own clinical trials to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and addiction, using two psychedelic drugs psilocybin and MDMA. Even if these trials are successful, it would be years before the VA could prescribe either drug for its patients. Thousands of veterans who are suffering aren't waiting, desperate for help, they're attending psychedelic retreats in countries where the drugs are legal to use, mostly in indigenous ceremonies. (Cooper, 7/8)

The Trump administration sowed confusion and fear among physicians with its move this past week to rescind Biden-era guidelines to hospitals that provide life-saving abortions. While the move doesn’t change the law, doctors and reproductive-rights advocates fear it will have a chilling effect on health care workers in states with abortion bans, ultimately harming pregnant women. (O’Connell-Domenech, 6/7)

The American Medical Association (AMA) should speak out more forcefully on the Trump administration's rescission of guidance on provision of abortions during a medical emergency, AMA delegates said Saturday. "I'm terrified for my patients," Allie Conry, MD, of Memphis, Tennessee, a delegate for the Resident and Fellows Section who spoke for herself during a reference committee hearing. "I work in a county hospital that is publicly funded and will likely get wrapped up in this in some way or shape or form." (Frieden, 6/8)

Nearly 100 House Democrats are calling on Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to restore tens of millions of dollars in federal family planning grants to more than a dozen organizations that have been frozen for more than two months. In a letter to Kennedy sent Friday and seen first by The Hill, 95 lawmakers said the organizations that had their Title X funding frozen on March 31 — including nine Planned Parenthood clinics — are still in the dark about the status of their grants. (Weixel, 6/6)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: �������ýҕ�l Health News’ ‘On Air’: Journalists Recap State Of NIH Cancer Research And Abortion Law's Effect On Clinical Decisions

�������ýҕ�l Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner discussed Trump administration cuts to the National Institutes of Health on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” on June 3. �������ýҕ�l Health News Southern correspondent Sam Whitehead discussed Georgia’s abortion laws on WUGA’s “The Georgia Health Report” on May 30. (6/7)

Health care, social services, food preparation and personal care workers such as hair stylists and childcare providers reported the highest rates of depression among more than half a million workers surveyed nationwide, a study published Friday found. More than one in five people in those professions said they had been diagnosed with depression, well above the 14% of all workers surveyed between 2015 and 2019. (Amponsah, 6/6)

Chip Kahn, president and CEO of the Federation of American Hospitals, will retire at the end of the year, ending his 24-year run at the helm of the trade association. Kahn has worked in healthcare and politics for nearly 50 years, holding various roles on Capitol Hill and leading the Health Insurance Association of America before joining the Federation of American Hospitals. The Federation, which represents more than 1,000 for-profit hospitals and health systems, has yet to name a replacement and has tasked management consulting company Korn Ferry to help its search. (Kacik, 6/6)

Adventist HealthCare will wind down its hospital management agreement with Howard University and end potential acquisition discussions, the organizations said Thursday. Adventist in 2020 began managing Howard University Hospital’s operations, leading to another management services agreement in 2023 for the hospital’s physician group. (Kacik, 6/6)

BayCare on Thursday said it secured a “final key piece” in its development as an academic health system through a new collaboration with Chicago’s Northwestern Medicine. The partnership, which includes Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, gives BayCare expanded access to treatments, enhanced clinical research, and improved training and education for current and future physicians,” according to a news release. (Mayer, 6/8)

Four years ago, an unconscious Kentucky man began to awaken as he was about to be removed from life support so his organs could be donated. Even though the man cried, pulled his legs to his chest and shook his head, officials still tried to move forward. Now, a federal investigation has found that officials at the nonprofit in charge of coordinating organ donations in Kentucky ignored signs of growing alertness not only in that patient but also in dozens of other potential donors. (Rosenthal, 6/6)

U.S. District Court Judge James Selna in California has tripled the damages to $442 million in a case where a jury found Johnson & Johnson’s medical technology unit Biosense Webster had violated antitrust laws. On May 16, a jury found Biosense Webster guilty of withholding clinical support from hospitals that purchased reprocessed catheters from Innovative Health, and ordered the company to pay $147 million in damages. (Dubinsky, 6/6)

It wasn’t exactly Shark Tank, but a recent competition at Yale New Haven Health in Connecticut showed how artificial intelligence has paved the path for physicians to become entrepreneurs. As tech companies, health system, insurers and investors pour money into developing AI, doctors are going beyond just using the technology. Some are creating algorithms with their free time to improve clinical care, even potentially looking to turn this interest into a full-time business as they watch the success of physician-led companies such as Abridge and Viz.ai. (Perna, 6/6)

A salmonella outbreak linked to a large egg recall has made dozens of people sick in seven states in the West and Midwest, federal health officials said Saturday. The August Egg Company recalled about 1.7 million brown organic and brown cage-free egg varieties distributed to grocery stores between February and May because of the potential for salmonella, according to a posted announcement Friday on the Food and Drug Administration’s website. At least 79 people in seven states have gotten a strain of salmonella that was linked to the eggs, and 21 people have been hospitalized. the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. (6/7)

The Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services struggles to provide adequate services to many teens, leaving them to languish in a violent detention center. (Dungca, Harden and Alexander, 6/9)

Opioid overdose deaths in Michigan are projected to drop in 2024, marking the third consecutive year of decline, according to the Department of Attorney General. Data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services shows a 34% reduction in overdose deaths between 2023 and 2024, which is around 1,000 fewer deaths, state officials said. The death rate from 2022 to 2023 decreased by 5.7% from 2,998 to 2,826. The state credits the three-year decline to investments in prevention, treatment, recovery and harm-reduction efforts, funded in part by national opioid settlements. (Lentz, 6/8)

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health says that a string of botulism cases from Botox injections has been linked to a spa in Milton. Ten people are suspected to have contracted iatrogenic botulism, a rare but serious illness, after receiving a procedure at Rodrigo Beauty on Granite Avenue. Health officials advise that anyone who received Botox injections between May 1 and June 4 at the Milton Spa should contact their nearby health department or DPH. (Rourke, 6/8)

A convicted killer in Utah who developed dementia while on death row for 37 years is competent enough to be executed, a state judge ruled late Friday. Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, was sentenced to die in 1988 for killing Utah mother of three Maurine Hunsaker. Despite his recent cognitive decline, Menzies “consistently and rationally understands” what is happening and why he is facing execution, Judge Matthew Bates wrote in a court order. (6/7)

The sun was out in full force on May 16 when DeMarco K. Davidson walked into Centennial Christian Church in St. Louis’ Fountain Park neighborhood. The executive director of Metropolitan Congregations United had a 1:30 p.m. meeting with longtime Centennial church member Sherrill Jackson. Davidson and Jackson were in the church’s north chapel. His phone was on silent. They were talking about the church’s future. Its pastor had resigned recently. (Lewis-Thompson, 6/9)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: $20K Bonuses Among Latest Moves To Improve California’s Prison Mental Health System

After decades of unsuccessful efforts to improve California prison conditions ruled unconstitutional and blamed for record-high suicides, advocates and a federal judge are betting that bonuses and better work accommodations will finally be enough to attract and keep the mental health providers needed to treat prisoners. The funds come from nearly $200 million in federal fines imposed because of California’s lack of progress in hiring sufficient mental health staff. (Thompson, 6/9)

Air quality regulators in Southern California voted 7 to 5 to reject rules that would have curbed harmful emissions from gas-powered furnaces and water heaters, but the majority voted to send the rules back to committee to be changed and reconsidered. The rules aimed to reduce emissions of smog-contributing nitrogen oxides, also called NOx, a group of pollutants linked to respiratory issues, asthma attacks, worse allergies, decreased lung function in children, premature death and more. Burning natural gas is also one of the primary drivers of climate change. (Pineda, 6/6)

As Louisiana Rep. Kimberly Landry Coates stood before her colleagues in the state’s Legislature she warned that the bill she was presenting might “seem strange” or even crazy. Some lawmakers laughed with disbelief and others listened intently, as Coates described situations that are often noted in discussions of “chemtrails” — a decades-old conspiracy theory that posits the white lines left behind by aircraft in the sky are releasing chemicals for any number of reasons, some of them nefarious. ... Louisiana is the latest state taking inspiration from a wide-ranging conspiratorial narrative, mixing it with facts, to create legislation. (Cline and Goldin, 6/9)

A few miles from where American crocodiles swim by the hundreds in the cooling canals of the Turkey Point nuclear power plant, engineers are fighting an invisible threat to Miami’s drinking water. The hulking plant, which provides power to run air conditioners and appliances for 1 million homes and businesses, sits about 25 miles south of Miami, in the middle of paradise. A few feet to its east are the azure waters of Biscayne Bay. The lush islands of the Florida Keys beckon to the south. To the west are the vast and vital Florida Everglades. (Smith, 6/6)

Drinking your sugar may be worse for you than previously thought. That is, according to a recent study conducted by Brigham Young University (BYU) researchers in collaboration with several researchers from Germany-based institutions. The study, which analyzed data from over half a million people across multiple continents, found that sugar consumed through drinks, such as soda and juice, was consistently linked to a higher risk of Type 2 diabetes. Sugar from other sources reportedly showed no such link or were, in some cases, associated with a lower risk of diabetes. (Fox, 6/7)

BowFlex is recalling millions of units of its adjustable dumbbells because their weight plates can dislodge and cause injury to users. The recall comes after over 100 reports of injuries including concussions, abrasions, broken toes or contusions, according to the CPSC. (Cerullo, 6/8)

Jenny O’Hara initially signed on to a dating app to bump up her confidence. ... O’Hara is among the some 95.6 million people 18 and over who have used dating websites or apps, according to the research firm SSRS. And she’s not alone in seeing her mood shift downward the longer she was online. “My experience with patients who are on dating apps is it leads to fatigue, that people just get exhausted,” said Paul Hokemeyer, a licensed marriage and family therapist based in Telluride, Colorado. “It takes up a lot of energy. It takes up a lot of time. It takes up a lot of emotions. And there’s a huge potential for rejection.” (Chesler, 6/7)

Ray Loewe, an 83-year-old retiree in Lancaster, Pa., spent his career as a financial planner guiding people through the complexities of preparing for retirement. But it wasn’t until he was well into his own retirement and switched to a concierge medical practice that charges an annual fee for more-personalized care that he learned a hard truth: He had significantly underestimated the cost of healthcare. (Marks Jarvis, 6/8)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: As Cannabis Users Age, Health Risks Appear To Grow

Benjamin Han, a geriatrician and addiction medicine specialist at the University of California-San Diego, tells his students a cautionary tale about a 76-year-old patient who, like many older people, struggled with insomnia. “She had problems falling asleep, and she’d wake up in the middle of the night,” he said. “So her daughter brought her some sleep gummies” — edible cannabis candies. (Span, 6/9)

Many of the Republicans pushing for Medicaid work requirements — permanent program cuts that will strip up to 14 million people of their health care coverage — likely have no idea what it takes to comply with them. We do. (Kevin De Liban and Trevor Hawkins, 6/8)

If enacted, the House-passed reconciliation bill will mean more Americans will die — at 100,000 more over the course of the next decade. (Natasha Sarin, 6/9)

As places of healing, our nation’s hospitals are built on a promise to do no harm. We implement systems to prevent “never events” — serious incidents that should never occur when proper procedures and safeguards are in place. When failures do happen, we study them closely and make changes to prevent them from recurring. (Marty Bonick, 6/5)

As a researcher and medical device designer, I’ve spent years immersed in pediatric hospitals and homes, observing and listening. One moment from my recent research still keeps me up at night. A mother described how her toddler stopped breathing one afternoon at home. Instead of calling 911, she grabbed a faulty suction machine, the only one Medicaid had provided and prayed it would keep working long enough to clear her son’s airway. The hospital-grade unit she needed exists, but her Medicaid plan wouldn’t cover it. Thankfully, it worked — this time. (Jules Sherman, 6/9)

After several unexplained memory slips, there came a day when my wife, Geri, didn’t recognize her own face in the mirror. That’s when we knew it was time for her to get checked out. It was 2012, and Alzheimer’s was a feared diagnosis. At the time, billions of dollars of investments into research and development had failed to produce treatments that could prevent, slow or cure the disease. Getting a definitive diagnosis would be extremely difficult, but the alternative was living with years of uncertainty. (Jim Taylor, 6/8)