First Edition: Friday, Jan. 17, 2025

KFF Health News: For Homeless Seniors, Getting Into Stable Housing Takes A Village — And A Lot Of Luck
Over two years ago, Kim Hilton and his partner walked out of their home for the final time. The house had sold, and the new landlord raised the rent. They couldn’t afford it. Their Social Security payments couldn’t cover the cost of any apartments in northwestern Montana’s Flathead Valley. Hilton’s partner was able to move into her daughter’s studio apartment. There wasn’t enough space for Hilton, so they reluctantly split up. (Bolton, 1/17)

KFF Health News: Junk Food Turns Public Villain As Power Shifts In Washington
For years, the federal government has steered clear of regulating junk food, fast food, and ultra-processed food. Now attitudes are changing. Some members of President-elect Donald Trump’s inner circle are gearing up to battle “Big Food,” or the companies that make most of the food and beverages consumed in the United States. Nominees for top health agencies are taking aim at ultra-processed foods that account for an estimated 70% of the nation’s food supply. (Armour and Hilzenrath, 1/17)

KFF Health News: KFF Health News' 'What The Health?': Hello, Trump. Bye-Bye, Biden
With just days to go before the official launch of a new administration, the GOP-led Congress is putting together plans on how to enact incoming President Donald Trump’s agenda, with a particular emphasis on cutting spending on the Medicaid program. Meanwhile, the Biden administration makes major moves in its last days, including banning a controversial food dye and ordering cigarette companies to minimize their nicotine content. (Rovner, 1/16)

The New York Times: With A Series Of Actions, Biden Races To Constrain Trump 
In the final days of his term, President Biden has issued a series of policy decisions intended to cement his agenda and, in some cases, make it harder for President-elect Donald J. Trump to put in place his own. The 11th-hour decisions, many of them executive actions, include measures on environmental justice, prison reform, immigration and foreign relations. Some are intended to preserve Mr. Biden’s legacy, while others are last-ditch efforts to expand his approach. Many are likely to be undone after Mr. Trump takes office next week. (Kanno-Youngs, 1/16)

MedPage Today: Healthcare In The Mix In President Biden's Farewell Address
In a brief and somber farewell address to the nation on Wednesday night, President Biden touched on a number of his administration's accomplishments in healthcare as he summed up his time in office. ... Biden, 82, said it was an "honor to see essential workers getting us through a once-in-a-century pandemic, the heroism of servicemembers, and the first responders keeping us safe." (Frieden, 1/16)

The New York Times: Biden to Commute Sentences of Nearly 2,500 Drug Offenders
President Biden announced on Friday that he would commute the sentences of nearly 2,500 inmates serving long prison terms for nonviolent drug offenses, the broadest commutation of individual sentences ever issued by a U.S. president. ... Mr. Biden said his latest commutations would help those who received sentences based on now-discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine, or faced inflated charges for drug crimes. (Green and Kanno-Youngs, 1/17)

The New York Times: State Attorneys General Ask Courts To Preserve Biden-Era Gun Control Measures
More than a dozen state attorneys general, all Democrats, asked on Thursday to join federal legal efforts to preserve two Biden-era gun control policies, a signal of partisan legal fights to come as President-elect Donald J. Trump returns to power. The two policy shifts are different. One would require buyers at gun shows to undergo a background check. ... The other, to ban a kind of trigger that can make a semiautomatic weapon fire like a machine gun. (Schwartz, 1/16)

The 19th: Young People Urge Biden To Publish The Equal Rights Amendment
Every day for the final week-and-a-half of Joe Biden’s presidency, Rosie Couture and other members of the Young Feminist Party she co-founded in high school have been picketing in sub-freezing temperatures outside the White House, urging the outgoing president to make sure the U.S. Constitution protects their rights before he leaves office. (Becker, 1/16)

The 19th: How Trump Could Impact Abortion Policy As Soon As His Second Term Begins
Four years after Trump left office the first time, the state of access looks radically different. Since the 2022 fall of Roe v. Wade, voters across the political spectrum have repeatedly shown they favor reproductive rights, even while voting for GOP lawmakers. It’s deterred some Republicans, Trump among them, from at least publicly endorsing restrictions that could be politically toxic. Still, once in office, Trump and his administration would have substantial power to further restrict abortion. And with Roe overturned, the avenues to do so are larger than they were last time. (Luthra, 1/16)

The Hill: Federal Judge Allows Idaho, Missouri, Kansas To Resume Lawsuit Against Mifepristone
Three Republican-led states will be allowed to move forward with a lawsuit to restrict access to mifepristone, a Texas federal judge ruled Thursday, months after the Supreme Court rejected an earlier argument in the case. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who was appointed during President-elect Trump’s first term, said Idaho, Missouri and Kansas can intervene and file a complaint in the case that was originally brought by a group of anti-abortion activists and doctors. (Weixel, 1/16)

The Hill: North Carolina Governor Announces New Abortion Protections
Democratic North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein issued an executive order Thursday that he believes will further protect reproductive health care access across the state. The order directs Cabinet agencies to protect women’s medical privacy, protect doctors providing abortions in the state and not cooperate with efforts to impose penalties, investigations or prosecutions of those seeking reproductive health care like abortion. (O’Connell-Domenech, 1/16)

The CT Mirror: CT Not Planning To Stockpile Mifepristone, Aka The Abortion Pill
Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration has rejected proposals that would have allowed Connecticut to stockpile mifepristone, a drug used to end pregnancies, according to a state legislator. (Golvala, 1/17)

Politico: Top Senate Republican Says PEPFAR Program In Jeopardy
Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), the chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, said Thursday the global AIDS-fighting program started by President George W. Bush “is certainly in jeopardy” because the Biden administration allowed some of its funding to be spent on abortions. Congressional Republicans had raised concerns about funds from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief going to groups that support abortion rights or provide abortions in 2023 when they allowed the program’s authorization to expire. They ultimately renewed it for one year last March. (Paun, 1/16)

The War Horse: Republicans Propose Bills That Steer More Veterans Into Private Health Care
With the new Congress sworn in and President-elect Trump poised for his second inauguration, Republicans have queued up a number of bills that could widely expand veterans’ access to the private health care system, setting up the latest battle over VA’s reliance on what’s known as community care. Efforts to reform how the Department of Veterans Affairs provides health care to millions of veterans are heating up in 2025 as pressures to bring down costs and lower wait times for care mount. (Marshall-Chalmers, 1/16)

WLRN Public Media: Florida Nurses Rally For Improved Staffing, Health Insurance And AI Safety
Nurses at Palmetto General Hospital in Hialeah joined thousands of fellow caregivers nationwide Thursday morning to express concerns over low staffing levels, the need for up-to-date equipment, quality health insurance and artificial intelligence safeguards. The march was organized by the National Nurses United to highlight broad support among nurses for solutions that prioritize patient care. (Cooper, 1/16)

CBS News: Many Northern California Registered Nurses March In Support Of Staffing, Patient Protections Against AI
Thousands of registered nurse members of National Nurses United, including many in Northern California, participated in marches and rallies on Thursday, demanding safe staffing levels and patient safeguards with the introduction of artificial intelligence, the NNU says. More than 100,000 NNU members are entering contract negotiations, saying they "plan to confront industry decisions that undermine patients' health and well-being and fail to address chronic RN recruitment and retention issues –  in favor of increasing profits." (Downs, 1/16)

MedPage Today: Do Stressed Out Surgeons Have Better Or Worse Patient Outcomes?
Surgeons with higher physiological stress in the first 5 minutes of surgery had fewer major surgical complications, a post-hoc analysis of a prospective study found. Increased sympathovagal balance -- which was used as a measure of surgeon stress -- at the beginning of surgery was significantly associated with reduced major surgical complications (adjusted OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.41-0.98, P=0.04), reported Jake Awtry, MD, of the department of general surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and colleagues in JAMA Surgery. (Robertson, 1/16)

Modern Healthcare: DEA Drug Prescribing Proposal May Change Providers' Strategies
Telehealth companies are unsure they'll feel the impact of the Drug Enforcement Administration's proposed rule on remote prescribing of controlled substances. ... The timing of the proposal, issued in the final days of Biden administration, has led to uncertainty among telehealth companies that aren't sure if the Trump administration will finalize it. (Turner, 1/16)

North Carolina Health News and The Charlotte Ledger: OrthoCarolina Plans To Sell Its Physical Therapy Business To A Private-Equity Backed Firm
OrthoCarolina, one of the nation’s largest independently owned orthopedic practices, is close to a deal to sell its physical therapy business to PT Solutions Physical Therapy, an Atlanta-based company backed by private equity, the Charlotte Ledger/NC Health News has learned. (Crouch, 1/17)

Modern Healthcare: Private Equity, Consolidation Concerns Highlighted In Report
Three federal agencies on Wednesday said "more effective and vigorous" enforcement is needed to protect patients harmed by healthcare's continued consolidation. In a report released just days before a new administration takes over, the Health and Human Services Department, Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department said comments they sought earlier this year on the state of the industry made clear that worries about access to services and costs have intensified as consolidation and private equity's role have grown. (DeSilva, 1/16)

Bloomberg: Big Talk, Little Action Is The Best Hope For Health-Care Stocks
On the surface, the US health-care industry is facing a pivotal year in 2025 as President-elect Donald Trump re-enters the White House. Trump has promised to “knock out” drug-industry middlemen, a potential disaster for pharmacy benefit managers. He named prominent vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run the Department of Health and Human Services, which could wreak havoc on shot developers. And his nomination of celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is considered a boon for companies that offer private versions of government health insurance. (Adegbesan, 1/16)

AP: Arkansas Governor Wants To Revive State's Medicaid Work Requirements Under Trump Administration
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday she wants to impose work requirements on some Medicaid recipients, hoping to revive and expand a restriction that was blocked by the courts but could get a new life under the Trump administration. Sanders’ comments come as fellow Republicans in several other states are seeking similar requirements along with other cuts or restrictions to Medicaid, which covers about 80 million people nationally. More than 18,000 people lost coverage when Arkansas previously enacted work requirements under Sanders’ predecessor, Asa Hutchinson, in 2018. (DeMillo, 1/16)

The Boston Globe: State Of Commonwealth: Healey Vows Lower Costs, Improve Healthcare
Saying it is time to “build our future,” Governor Maura Healey on Thursday laid out a wide-ranging agenda in her State of the Commonwealth address, vowing to rebuild roads and bridges, make it easier to get a doctor’s appointment, and transition homeless families out of hotels and motels by the end of the year. Addressing lawmakers, elected officials, and a primetime audience, the first-term Democrat laced her near hour-long speech with a series of new plans and calls for the Democratic-led Legislature to join her in realizing her initiatives. (Stout and Huynh, 1/16)

CBS News: New State Reports Aim To Educate Coloradans About Health Care Costs And Investments
New reports out Thursday provide an inside look at the health of Colorado hospitals: what's coming in and what's being put back into the community. And while hospital profits grow, so do expenses. After years of operating in the dark, hospitals across Colorado are now required to disclose more information than ever before. (Morfitt and Alejo, 1/16)

The New York Times: Sick Prisoners In New York Were Granted Parole But Remain Behind Bars
When the letter arrived at Westil Gonzalez’s prison cell saying that he had been granted parole, he couldn’t read it. Over the 33 years he had been locked up for murder, multiple sclerosis had taken much of his vision and left him reliant on a wheelchair. ... But six months have passed, and Mr. Gonzalez is still incarcerated outside Buffalo, because the Department of Corrections has not found a nursing home that will accept him. Another New York inmate has been in the same limbo for 20 months. Others were released only after suing the state. (Kliff, 1/17)

New Hampshire Bulletin: NH Officials Discuss Solutions For Surprise Ambulance Bills
New Hampshire lawmakers are trying to address the yearslong struggles of patients who take an ambulance and end up surprised with massive bills even when they have health insurance. The House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee held hearings Wednesday on dueling bills that each offer proposed solutions to the problem. (Skipworth, 1/16)

CBS News: San Francisco Public Health Director Dr. Grant Colfax Announces Resignation
Dr. Grant Colfax, the San Francisco's public health director who oversaw the city's responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and fentanyl crisis, announced his resignation on Thursday. Colfax is stepping down after spending nearly six years as the city's leading health official. The San Francisco Department of Public Health did not provide a reason for his resignation. (1/16)

The Washington Post: As Bird Flu Affects More People And Animals, CDC Urges Faster Testing
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an advisory Thursday urging health-care workers treating patients hospitalized with the flu to perform an additional test for bird flu within 24 hours of admission. The advisory reflects increasing concern about the widening outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza that is sickening more people and animals in the United States and Canada. (Sun, 1/16)

The Washington Post: Bird Flu Almost Killed This Teen. It’s A Cautionary Tale For Trump Officials
By the time the 13-year-old arrived at the main children’s hospital in Vancouver, Canada, in early November, a bird flu infection had robbed her ability to breathe. Pneumonia shrouded her left lung. Her kidneys were failing, her blood platelets plummeting. Within four days, the previously healthy teen, whose initial symptoms were pink eye and a low-grade fever, had deteriorated so dramatically that doctors at BC Children’s Hospital had to deploy a battery of medical interventions to save her life. (Sun, 1/17)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Dartmouth Health Ends COVID Vaccination Requirement For Kidney Transplants
Dartmouth Health will no longer require someone to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before receiving a kidney transplant, after the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office intervened on behalf of a patient. The Attorney General’s Office said the health system changed its policy after state officials raised concerns it could violate state law. The law at issue, passed in 2022, forbids health care providers from denying care to patients based solely on vaccination status. (Cuno-Booth, 1/16)

CIDRAP: Kids Exposed To Zika Virus In Utero Can Have Development Delays Later In Life—Even Without Congenital Zika Syndrome
Two recent studies, including one published today in Pediatrics, show that exposure to the Zika virus (ZIKV) in utero can have affect children's development later in childhood, with today's study showing the finding holds true even when the children are born without signs of congenital Zika syndrome (CZS). The study in Pediatrics is based on outcomes seen in Brazil among mother-infant pairs from 2018 to 2022. The children were assessed for early (congenital anomalies) and long-term adverse outcomes (neurodevelopmental delay), and the study included children with and without CZS, which is a group of birth defects associated with the disease. (Soucheray, 1/16)

CNN: Young Women Almost Twice As Likely To Be Diagnosed With Cancer As Young Men, New Report Says
Charmella Roark remembers the shock that stopped her in her tracks when she learned about her younger sister’s cancer diagnosis. In 2018, Kiki Roark wrote in their family’s group text that she had been diagnosed with stage I breast cancer – the same disease that had taken their aunt’s life just a few years prior. (Howard, 1/16)

AP: Surprise Finding Sheds Light On What Causes Huntington's Disease, A Devastating Fatal Brain Disorder
Scientists are unraveling the mystery of what triggers Huntington’s disease, a devastating and fatal hereditary disorder that strikes in the prime of life, causing nerve cells in parts of the brain to break down and die. ... New research shows that the mutation is, surprisingly, harmless for decades. But it quietly grows into a larger mutation — until it eventually crosses a threshold, generates toxic proteins, and kills the cells it has expanded in. (Ungar, 1/16)

Bloomberg: Calorie Labels Have Limited Impact On Food Choices, Study Finds
Calorie labels in supermarkets and restaurants have little impact on consumer choices, researchers found, fueling doubts about whether the practice is worth keeping. The effect of the dietary information is a calorie reduction of about 1.8%, which amounts to removing two almonds from a 600-calorie meal, according to a review by the UK nonprofit Cochrane. The researchers aggregated results from 25 studies from countries including the US, UK and France. (Wind, 1/17)