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At least 13 new measles cases have been confirmed in Pennsylvania since Friday, bringing the total so far this year to 903, according to Monday's update from the state health department. Cases have been recorded in 39 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties. At least 176 people have been hospitalized, and four measles-associated deaths have been reported, the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) said. (Kekatos, 9/28)

The Kentucky Department for Public Health confirmed a large increase in measles cases in the commonwealth on Monday. The number of confirmed cases now stands at 82, up from 67 on Friday, after cases were confirmed in Christian and Trigg Counties. (9/28)

Parents who decline to vaccinate their children have been called selfish and stupid. They’ve even been accused of child abuse. But what if they’re actually acting logically? That’s the conclusion of Jennifer Reich, a sociologist at the University of Colorado, who has spent the better part of two decades studying these families’ immunization decisions. (Florko, 9/29)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are investigating a multistate outbreak of Escherichia coli infections linked to Graziers raw (unpasteurized) milk cheeses sold by Sierra Nevada Cheese Company of Willows, California. So far 13 cases in nine states have been identified, with eight patients hospitalized, including three with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). No deaths have been reported. HUS is one of the more severe outcomes of E coli infections and can cause acute kidney failure. Over half of the case-patients are under the age of 5 years. (Soucheray, 9/28)

More than one in 10 US adults reported that a preexisting health condition or concern got worse following a COVID-19 infection, according to a survey published last week on the preprint server medRxiv. Participants who reported worsening preexisting conditions also said they experienced challenges managing symptoms, completing daily activities, and accessing care. Long COVID is often described as new-onset symptoms that follow a COVID infection, but the condition also includes exacerbation of preexisting conditions. (Bergeson, 9/28)

Preteens may soon have something to celebrate: Medical experts are discussing the possibility that one dose of a life-saving cancer vaccine, instead of two, may be enough to protect them. U.S. vaccination recommendations have become splintered in the past year, with federal officials and doctors’ organizations disagreeing over guidance and even battling each other in court. But both sides have been exploring revisions in longstanding HPV vaccine recommendations. (Stobbe, 9/26)

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has now topped 8,000 cases, with officials confirming 8,067 cases and 3,901 deaths since mid-May, for a 48% case-fatality rate (CFR). The outbreak is the second-largest in history, but the fastest-growing on record. (Soucheray, 9/28)

Scientists have found a human gene lurking in a virus that causes skin infections. It may be using our own DNA to infect us. (Zimmer, 9/28)

The Trump administration is projecting significant declines in premiums for Medicare Advantage plans in 2027. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said Monday that it expects weighted MA premium costs to decline by more than 16% in 2027 compared to 2026, with Medicare Advantage prescription drug premiums set to decrease by 38% year-over-year. (Minemyer, 9/28)

Medicare Advantage insurance companies anticipate another year of enrollment declines, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Monday. Insurers project Medicare Advantage membership will fall from 36.3 million this year to 34 million in 2027, CMS said in a news release. Companies made a similar prediction for the 2026 plan year that failed to come to fruition. CMS wrote that it expects Medicare Advantage enrollment for 2027 to again be higher than insurer estimates. (Tepper, 9/28)

Medicare Advantage insurance companies chasing individuals who also qualify for Medicaid may encounter new hurdles next year. Starting in 2027, CMS will limit new enrollments in Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans, or D-SNPs, to people enrolled in Medicaid plans from the same carrier. The limitation only exists if the D-SNP holds a state Medicaid contract in an overlapping service area, usually defined as one county. (Tepper, 9/28)

The Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) model saved Medicare $180 million in its final three performance years without changing care quality, according to the program’s final evaluation released Sept. 24. CMS launched CJR in 2016 as its first mandatory bundled payment program, requiring hospitals in randomly selected cities to take financial responsibility for hip and knee replacements and the 90 days after discharge. Hospitals could earn a payment from CMS or owe money back depending on whether episode spending came in under or over a target price. The model ended in December 2024. (Emerson, 9/28)

UnitedHealthcare and TeamHealth have resolved a 5-year-old lawsuit involving alleged fraudulent claims. The insurance giant, which filed suit in October 2021, alleged TeamHealth had fraudulently upcoded tens of thousands of emergency services claims. In the complaint, filed in the Greenville Division of the Eastern District Court of Tennessee, the insurer alleged the claims amounted to more than $100 million in overpayments from the insurer, starting as early as 2016. (DeSilva, 9/28)

University of Iowa Health Care has for years been planning a new bed tower at its main campus in Iowa City. The health system has to turn away transfer patients due to limited capacity, and wait times for some specialty services are unacceptable, said Dr. Denise Jamieson, vice president for medical affairs at the University of Iowa. The $2 billion tower project, which began in 2025, would have eased the pressure. (Hudson, 9/28)

Studies from insurers say AI-backed billing tools used by providers raise health costs. But the companies making those tools say the problem isn’t with AI — it’s with the healthcare billing system. (LaPointe, 9/28)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: She Left After Waiting Hours In The Emergency Room. The ER Billed Her Anyway

Autumn Daniels is no stranger to migraine headaches, which have troubled her since childhood. The migraine tormenting the 32-year-old in April was even worse than usual. After a week of piercing head pain, she went to an urgent care center near her home in Champaign, Illinois, and received an injection of Toradol, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug that usually helps with her symptoms. The doctor at the clinic told her that if the pain didn’t improve, she should go to an emergency room the next day. (Andrews, 9/29)

Kaiser Permanente will lay off 147 employees across several California cities, including Oakland and Pleasanton, effective Nov. 20, the health care provider said in state regulatory filings this month. The workers are in business and administrative functions and do not affect patient care, Kaiser said. (Ho, 9/28)

HCA Healthcare plans to build a new standalone emergency room in the Hollins area of Roanoke County and add a second air ambulance helicopter based in Danville. (Busse, 9/29)

Identical twin physicians who returned to their hometown of Richmond, Virginia, to co-lead the emergency department at a local hospital have been garnering recent media attention. Travan Jasper, MD, and Travis Jasper, MD, have been featured on ABC News, in the Washington Post, and most recently on the CBS Evening News. (Fiore, 9/28)

Memorial Hermann Health System President and CEO Dr. David Callender will retire at the end of the year. Memorial Hermann Chief Financial Officer Alec King will move into the top role Jan. 1, according to a Monday news release. The system has not hired a replacement for King, a spokesperson said. (Hudson, 9/28)

For hospital patients, the incessant beeping and buzzing of alarms from monitors, pumps and other devices can make sleep almost impossible. But all that noise isn’t just annoying; it’s also potentially dangerous. For nurses, the barrage of alarms can be overwhelming, making it easier to tune them out—including when they indicate actual patient deterioration. (Landro, 9/28)

Metal mixtures found in the leftover smoke, ash and debris from the deadly 2023 Maui wildfires were harmful to the lung health of people living nearby long after the burning ended, a new study says. The work shows that major wildfires, which are worsening with the planet’s warming, could have lasting effects beyond immediate exposure. Post-wildfire air quality needs to be monitored longer term, the research suggests, and recovery efforts need to consider what might remain in contaminated soot, residue and dirt well after burning stops. (St. John, 9/29)

A Washington Post review of 12 cities found combined spending rose more than 75 percent in the past five years. Is it too little or too much? (Craig and Hacker, 9/29)

Teresita V. Morales was in for a shock when she read a letter delivered to her longtime partner recently. It was a letter from the state informing him that he would no longer qualify for Medicaid coverage after Sept. 30 because of a new federal law that changes which types of immigrants are eligible for the program. (Schencker, 9/28)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: Confusion And Angst Follow State's Early Rollout Of Medicaid Work Rules

Bethany Zulick went back to school in January to become a high school English teacher. Years ago, she taught English as a second language overseas and loved it. “It’s so exciting to me to watch someone learn a new word or have that spark of understanding,” she said. Zulick knew she could earn enough money as a substitute teacher to make going back to school financially viable — except for the cost of health insurance. She didn’t want to risk being unable to see her doctor for her allergies, or for preventative care. (Bolton, 9/29)

The letter Brian Bauer received in the mail hit hard — with one sentence, his northern Colorado nonprofit providing addiction counseling and sober living to people fresh out of prison and homeless shelters was over. (Brown, 9/28)

Earlier this month, Jacob Dehart’s daughter was in the emergency room in Winston-Salem after she attempted to harm herself. The family was asking for help. Days later, when it was time to admit his daughter to a psychiatric hospital, a uniformed law enforcement officer transported the vulnerable teen in a marked car. In between, Dehart said he and his child’s mother were shut out of the decision-making process. (Knopf, 9/29)

More than 40 million Americans live with diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. One of them is billionaire oil tycoon Harold Hamm, who just donated $150 million to the University of Oklahoma to study the disease he was diagnosed with in his 50s. (Lake, 9/29)

Christa Pike was convicted in a brutal 1995 killing committed when she was 18. Advocates pushing for her life to be spared point to abuse she suffered as a child. (Mettler and Dennis, 9/29)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: After Failed Execution, Health Workers Say State’s Rules Flout Medical Ethics

In May, a group of healthcare workers spent about an hour trying to establish complete IV access so they could inject Tony Carruthers, an inmate at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee, with a lethal dose of sedative. Maria DeLiberato, an attorney for Carruthers, was in the room. She said the workers stuck his arms and feet with needles, to no avail. A doctor then tried to insert a central line through his collarbone and shoulder. That didn’t work, either. (Sweeney, 9/29)

When male mosquitoes are infected with a naturally occurring microbe called Wolbachia, the eggs laid by their female mates don’t hatch. (Douglas, 9/28)

A leading abortion rights group in Nevada is launching a $1 million ad campaign to mobilize voters around a ballot initiative to enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution. Abortion is legal by statute up to 24 weeks after conception in the state, thanks to a 1990 citizen-driven referendum. That meant the state Legislature was legally prohibited from amending or repealing the law without taking it back to the voters for a direct ballot vote. But given the onslaught of attacks on abortion rights in the Trump era, advocates want to ensure there are as many protections in place as possible. (Weixel, 9/28)

The battle over California’s proposed tax on billionaires is growing increasingly personal. Weeks after reports substantiated allegations that Dave Regan, the leader of the healthcare union behind California’s controversial billionaire tax initiative, bullied, intimidated and attempted to extort fellow labor leaders in his quest to marshal support for the measure, Proposition 40 supporters are targeting another leader opposing the proposal. (Garofoli, 9/28)

Jamaa Birth Village Cultural Heritage Center opened Missouri’s first midwifery school in Ferguson this month. Okunsola’s School of Traditional Midwifery will provide students a path toward becoming a certified midwife through African Indigenous and professional birthing methods. (Henderson, 9/28)

Legal proceedings resume Tuesday for Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother who strangled her three children to death in 2023. Clancy’s trial ended without a verdict in early September after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous decision about whether she should be held criminally responsible for the killings. The judge eventually declared a mistrial. Prosecutors, Clancy and her legal team are expected to appear before Judge William Sullivan at 9 a.m. to determine how the case will move forward. (Jira, 9/29)

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced new measures on Monday that will require written informed consent by patients before they are prescribed certain psychiatric drugs. The shift reflects a growing disenchantment with psychotropic medications that has animated the Make America Healthy Again movement and its chief standard-bearer, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Ghorayshi and Jacobs, 9/28)

Unaccredited companies are reportedly charging Ohio veterans thousands of dollars to file VA disability claims for assistance veterans could receive for free. “Claims sharks” charge veterans to prepare and file disability claims, sometimes for far more than the resulting benefits are worth, while promising results. That is even though federal law requires paid representatives to be accredited and generally bars charging veterans for help with an initial claim. (Gramegna, 9/29)

A jury has convicted the owner of a Texas mental health clinic for a $26 million TRICARE fraud, kickback and money laundering scheme. Licensed professional counselor Kevin Curry, 64, of Frisco, Texas, was found guilty Sept. 24 in Fort Worth of health care fraud, kickbacks and money laundering, according to the Department of Justice. The jury convicted Curry of three counts of health care fraud, three counts of offering and paying illegal health care kickbacks, and three counts of engaging in monetary transactions in criminal derived property. (Mordowanec, 9/29)

Vice President JD Vance and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will speak for the second year in a row Tuesday at an event organized by Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again allies in Washington. Vance and Kennedy will close the all-day event with a “fireside chat,” according to the agenda. They will talk about MAHA’s “accomplishments, its regulatory reform agenda and its priorities for the year ahead,” according to the organizers. (Paun, 9/28)

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to let it enforce, for now, restrictions on gender-affirming care in federal prison. The emergency appeal comes after lower courts blocked officials from immediately carrying out the policy adopted after an executive order from President Donald Trump. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ordered the government to continue providing gender-affirming care like hormone therapy. (Whitehurst, 9/28)

The Education Department will scrap Biden-era Title IX rules that sought to bolster nondiscrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity, officials announced Monday, marking a return to rules from the first Trump administration. The regulations, initially released in 2020, outline how schools must handle reports of sexual misconduct, including setting a stricter definition for what constitutes sexual harassment and giving more due process rights to those accused. The rules, which take effect Tuesday, will not change much for schools. The Trump administration has been enforcing its own rules, including targeting schools that allow transgender athletes to play on girls’ and women’s sports teams, since the president took office last year. (Lumpkin, 9/28)

Without Amy Miller, some elderly and disabled people wouldn’t be able to vote. The attorney for Disability Rights Nebraska travels the state, investigating the quality of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. As she reminds the residents how they can report abuse or neglect, she also offers voter registration forms. Last month, she helped a veteran with a traumatic brain injury fill out change-of-address paperwork so he could vote in the upcoming midterm elections. “He 100% knew who he wanted to vote for,” Miller said, but he struggled to write with a pen. (Song, 9/29)

A Democratic super PAC on Monday launched a new ad campaign attacking Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) for the closure of about a dozen birthing centers in Maine, arguing she helped enable the massive Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act even though she voted against the legislation. The Senate Majority PAC, which supports efforts to establish a Democratic majority in the Senate, announced a $2 million ad campaign to air across Maine, tying her vote to advance the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year to the closure of birthing centers in Maine. (Choi, 9/28)

Health industry leaders, still contending with the new rules of President Trump’s Washington, are about to face another shift. November’s midterm elections are likely to shake up key health policy debates, from Medicaid funding to the price of medication. That’s especially true if Democrats seize control of a chamber of Congress, though any major policymaking would still need Trump’s signature. (Payne, 9/29)

One in eight of the cancer cases worldwide in 2024 are believed to have been caused by infections, a new study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) found. This equates to 2.3 million (or 12 percent) of the new cancer cases that year, with five infections causing a considerable proportion of those cases. The researchers at the IARC therefore said that the findings suggest a "significant proportion of the global cancer burden is preventable through better infection control." (Laws, 9/28)

Kids born with certain congenital infections are approximately three times more likely to be diagnosed as having autism, according to a study out of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. These children were also more likely to have an intellectual disability compared to those born without an infection, with the risk of severe to profound intellectual disability being up to 30 times higher than the general population. (Boden, 9/28)

Insomnia may be linked to an increased risk of stroke, dementia and several mental health conditions, a new study finds. Researchers from Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland analyzed approximately 20 comprehensive review studies, involving millions of participants across multiple countries, to evaluate the impact of insomnia on health. The study, published Sunday in the journal Sleep Medicine Reviews, found that insomnia was linked to a 26% increased risk of stroke. (Tsapatsaris and Thomas, 9/28)

A new study suggests frequent marijuana use may worsen seizures in people with hard-to-treat epilepsy. "There isn't definitive data that cannabis use worsens epilepsy," senior author Dr. Aaron Struck, an associate professor of neurology at WashU Medicine in St. Louis, said in a news release. "But if someone is using cannabis to help with anxiety or sleep," he added, "I'd prefer to treat those problems with drugs we understand rather than something largely unregulated whose impact on the brain we don't really know." (9/28)

Sylvester Stallone is known for playing tough guys and action heroes, but he’s revealing the punishing toll his career took on his mind and body. The actor suffered from an eating disorder, used steroids and endured anxiety attacks, he said in a new interview. (Pawlowski, 9/28)

Fasting less than 8 hours before routine blood tests generally did not change results, with few exceptions, according to an observational study. In paired within-person analyses of over 100,000 patients undergoing multiple blood collections, the vast majority of 372 test items did not have established analytical performance specifications exceeded with less than 8 hours of fasting, reported Sollip Kim, MD, PhD, of the University of Ulsan College of Medicine in Seoul, Korea, and colleagues in JAMA Internal Medicine. (Lou, 9/28)

If you are one of millions of Americans taking medication to lower blood pressure, you may want to check the label. Inventia Healthcare Limited, based in Mumbai, India, is voluntarily recalling 13,567 bottles of chlorthalidone tablets that may not dissolve properly, potentially lowering the dosage that gets absorbed by the body. The bottles of 25 mg tablets being recalled nationwide have the batch number RISA24002 and an expiration date of March 2027. (Tanner, 9/28)

In an unexpected move, Merck discontinued an important antibiotic from the U.S. market earlier this month, underscoring concerns about the commitment large pharmaceutical companies are willing to make to a field that is crucial to public health. (Silverman, 9/28)

Commercial insurance formularies have posed a barrier to cutting greenhouse gas emissions from metered-dose inhalers used to treat asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a study showed. (Phend, 9/28)

Amid the pending litigation against GLP-1 drugmakers, Novo Nordisk’s new obesity drug led to greater weight loss than Zepbound in patients, according to new research. A late-stage clinical trial found that a 1 mg dose of CagriSema led to 12.4 percent weight loss in patients with Type 2 diabetes after 60 weeks. By comparison, patients receiving a 5 mg dose of Zepbound (tirzepatide) experienced 9.1 percent weight loss. “The results from CagriSema are very encouraging, demonstrating the strong potency of the combination of semaglutide and cagrilintide,” Novo Nordisk Chief Scientific Officer Martin Holst Lange said. (Taub, 9/28)

GLP-1 medications continue to be discussed as a treatment option for obstructive sleep apnea, but researchers say CPAP remains the preferred treatment for the condition. The review, published in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, found that the weight loss drugs consistently reduce apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) scores, meaning patients experience fewer breathing interruptions during sleep. (Taub, 9/28)

In the last month, manufacturers have announced “breakthrough” status from the Food and Drug Administration for a menagerie of devices: triage algorithms for abdominal CT scans, diagnostic panels for urinary tract infections, and thrombectomy robots, to name a few. (Palmer, 9/29)

Employer-sponsored health insurance is rapidly deteriorating. In 2027, premiums are expected to see their largest single-year increase in two decades, jumping 11% and closing in on a nearly four-fold increase this century. The amount workers pay for their portion today would have covered the entire premium in 2000. (Kathryn Anne Edwards, 9/28)

The MIT professor’s new book examines the hazards of ‘pretend empathy.’ (Hope Reese, 9/28)

Concerns about military readiness, workforce shortages, rising health care costs, affordability, and America’s ability to compete in an increasingly challenging world seem to play on a loop without any sign of progress. Maybe that’s because these challenging and seemingly intractable problems are usually treated as separate crises requiring separate solutions. They are not. (Tina L. Cheng, James M. Perrin and Stanley McChrystal, 9/29)

As the largest SNAP cuts in the program’s history have taken effect around the country, at least 1.5 million children have stopped receiving food assistance. The consequences go beyond hunger. Research suggests that when families lose access to food assistance, they may face a greater risk of investigation by child protective services — and, ultimately, being separated. (Sandy Santana and Kristen Weber, 9/29)

We have built a culture that views a death in the I.C.U. as a failure. (Daniela J. Lamas, 9/28)