USA Today: 'God Sent Me President Trump': RFK Jr. Sworn In As Secretary Of Health And Human Services
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was officially sworn in as leader of the nation's leading public health department, in a ceremony at the White House Thursday. The newly minted Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kennedy has long been a vocal advocate for tackling rising rates of chronic illness in the country. "For 20 years," he said Thursday, "I'm up every morning on my knees and praying that God would put me in a position where I can end the childhood chronic disease epidemic in this country." "God sent me President Trump." (Kuchar, 2/13)

Bloomberg: Trump Announces RFK Jr.-Led 'MAHA' Panel On Children’s Health
President Donald Trump announced he is moving to establish a “Make America Healthy Again Commission” chaired by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. that will seek to address what the Cabinet member has cast as an epidemic of chronic disease among the nation’s children. “This groundbreaking commission will be charged with investigating what is causing the decades-long increase in chronic illness, reporting its findings, and delivering an action plan to the American people,” Trump said Thursday at the Oval Office. (Woodhouse and Gardner, 2/13)

What's next for HHS —

NBC News: DOGE And Trump May Pose Biggest Hurdles For RFK Jr. At HHS
Now that he’s got the job, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may struggle to navigate his new position as secretary of Health and Human Services as the agency contends with potential job cuts and the administration works to pursue President Donald Trump’s agendas, experts say. The high-profile anti-vaccine activist, known for spreading misinformation, was confirmed by the Senate in a 52-48 vote on Thursday. (Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was the only Republican to break with his party and vote no.) His selection in November sparked outrage within the scientific community, with many fearing his appointment could undermine decades of public health — particularly vaccination efforts — in the United States. (Lovelace Jr., 2/13)

Time: RFK Jr. Outlines Priorities On Food, Vaccines, And Personnel
In an interview just hours after his confirmation as Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. outlined his priorities in response to specific prompts by Fox News host Laura Ingraham. “It’s MAHA time” read a chyron as Kennedy joined the program, later changing to “MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN!”—a variation on Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan. Kennedy asserted that the U.S. is “the sickest country in the world,” a talking point he has repeated many times in reference to its low ranking on various metrics among developed nations. He said that Americans face not only a health crisis but also a “spiritual crisis.” (De Guzman, 2/14)

Reuters: Trump Wants A Study Of Abortion Pills' Safety, RFK Jr Tells Fox News
U.S. President Donald Trump has asked for a study on the safety of abortion pills and he has not made a decision on whether to tighten restrictions on the pills, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Fox News in an interview on Thursday. (2/13)

Nature: Vaccine Sceptic RFK Jr Is Now A Powerful Force In US Science: What Will He Do?
Scientists are bracing for major changes in the direction of US biomedical research as Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who has promoted vaccine misinformation and public-health conspiracies, gains control over a vast swathe of science policy. “The future of America as a superpower in research appears grim,” says Theodora Hatziioannou, a virologist at the Rockefeller University in New York City, who creates new models for studying HIV ― which Kennedy has falsely suggested is not the cause of AIDS. “Even on issues he claims he supports, he does not follow scientific evidence. Picking a person like this to lead is like having the wolf guard the sheep.” (Heidt and Ledford, 2/13)

Reaction to RFK Jr.'s confirmation —

Time: ‘Terrifying’: Public Health Experts React to Senate’s Confirmation of RFK Jr. to Lead HHS
“I think it’s a sad day for America’s children. I think it’s a sad day for public health when someone who is a science denialist, conspiracy theorist, and virulent anti-vaccine activist is [leading] the biggest public health agency in the United States,” says Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who has served on vaccine advisory committees for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “I think every Senator who voted for his confirmation should be ashamed of themselves for their unwillingness to stand up for the health of the American public.” (Lee, 2/13)

NBC News: Kennedy's Confirmation Will Breed More Harm Than Good, Public Health Experts Say
Many public health experts said their fears were realized Thursday when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed as health and human services secretary. ... At Senate hearings last month, Kennedy said his priority as HHS Secretary would be to reverse rising rates of chronic diseases in the U.S., such as diabetes, cancer, asthma and obesity. Public health experts said they agreed with that goal broadly, but felt that having Kennedy at the helm of the country’s largest and most powerful health agency would do more harm than good. (Bendix and Zadrozny, 2/13)

McKnights Long-Term Care News: Provider Groups Push Newly Confirmed HHS Leader RFK Jr. To Protect Medicare, Promote Workforce Solutions 
Provider organizations rushed to embrace Kennedy’s confirmation and his mission to “Make America Healthy Again” — and to subtley slip in points of self-interest — after the votes were counted. “We want to thank Secretary Kennedy for his commitment to protecting Medicare and Medicaid — programs that the majority of our residents rely on to cover their daily care. Proper federal resources and policies can help us strengthen the care being delivered and support those who deliver it,” said Clif Porter, president and CEO of the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living. (Marselas, 2/13)

How RFK Jr. did it —

Stat: The Perfect Storm That Carried RFK Jr. From Fringe To Center Of Trump Administration
From fringe candidate to the center of Trumpworld: The remarkable story of Robert Kennedy Jr.'s journey from MAHA advocacy to confirmation as HHS Secretary. (Facher and Owermohle, 2/13)

The Washington Post: Judge Blocks Trump Order On Transgender Youth Health Care
A federal judge on Thursday blocked executive orders signed by President Donald Trump that target transgender people and their health care, giving temporary relief to LGBTQ+ individuals and their families, who braced for legal battles to continue. At least one health system — the hospital affiliated with the University of Virginia — said it would resume providing services that had been paused under the order. (Portnoy and Rizzo, 2/13)

The New York Times: Judge Extends Halt On Trump Plan To Dismantle U.S.A.I.D.
A federal judge on Thursday moved to extend by one week a temporary restraining order preventing the Trump administration from carrying out plans that would all but dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development. The order, which Judge Carl Nichols of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said he would file later Thursday, continues to stall a directive that would put a quarter of its employees on administrative leave while forcing those posted overseas to return to the United States within 30 days. (Demirjian and Sullivan, 2/13)

AP: Fourth Federal Judge Blocks Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order
A federal judge in Boston on Thursday blocked an executive order from President Donald Trump that would end birthright citizenship for the children of parents who are in the U.S. illegally, becoming the fourth judge to do so. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin came three days after U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante in New Hampshire blocked the executive order and follows similar rulings in Seattle and Maryland. (Casey and Catalini, 2/14)

More on the federal freeze —

The New York Times: How Trump’s Medical Research Cuts Would Hit Colleges And Hospitals In Every State
A proposal by the Trump administration to reduce the size of grants for institutions conducting medical research would have far-reaching effects, and not just for elite universities and the coastal states where many are located. Also at risk could be grants from the National Institutes of Health to numerous hospitals that conduct clinical research on major diseases, and to state universities across the country. North Carolina, Missouri and Pennsylvania could face disproportionate losses, because of the concentration of medical research in those states. (Badger, Bhatia, Cabreros, Murray, Paris, Sanger-Katz and Singer, 2/13)

AP: Federal Funding Freeze Disrupts Rural Organizations Supporting Foster Youth, Job Growth
After surviving teen homelessness and domestic violence in West Virginia, 23-year-old Ireland Daugherty was finally feeling stable. ... Ashley Cain, 36, was celebrating four years of sobriety and working with a nonprofit that trains workers to remediate long-abandoned factories and coal mines into sites for manufacturing and solar projects. Federally funded programs provided both women with a social safety net and employment in one of the nation’s poorest states, where nonprofits play a vital role in providing basic services like health care, education and economic development. (Willingham, 2/14)

Bloomberg: LGBTQ Web Pages Deleted From Federal Government Web Sites, Report Says
If a teacher wanted to find guidance in early January on how to support LGBTQ students, they could have accessed a government website for resources. That web page no longer exists. It’s one of more than 350 government web pages related to the LGBTQ community that have been deleted from federal government websites, according to a report published Thursday by the Center for American Progress, a liberal research and advocacy group. (Butler, 2/13)

Stat: Examining Options For U.S. Researchers Seeking Opportunities Abroad
The Trump administration’s early moves to restrict scientific studies and limit payments to universities and other institutions have stoked concerns that some academics may look to leave the U.S. The question is, where will they go? (Joseph, 2/14)

KFF Health News: KFF Health News’ ‘What The Health?’: Courts Try To Curb Health Cuts
Some of the Trump administration’s dramatic funding and policy shifts are facing major pushback for the first time — not from Congress, but from the courts. Federal judges around the country are attempting to pump the brakes on efforts to freeze government spending, shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development, eliminate access to health-related webpages and datasets, and limit grant funding provided by the National Institutes of Health. (Rovner, 2/13)

Talk to us —

We’d like to speak with personnel from the Department of Health and Human Services or its component agencies about what’s happening within the federal health bureaucracy. Please share your story here or contact reporter Arthur Allen directly by email or Signal at ArthurA@kff.org or 202-365-6116.

On USAID —

CIDRAP: USAID Funding Freeze Disrupts Global Tuberculosis Control Efforts
The Trump administration's freeze on foreign aid delivered through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and the subsequent shutdown and dismantling of the agency altogether, has sent shockwaves throughout the community of people working on tuberculosis (TB) treatment, diagnosis, and prevention. The 90-day funding freeze, which sources tell CIDRAP News came with no warning or ability to make contingency plans, has left no parts of the global TB control community untouched. (Dall, 2/13)

AP: Trump's Foreign Aid Freeze Forces Health Clinics In A Vulnerable Region Of Syria To Close
In the town of Sarmada in northern Syria, Dr. Mohammad Fares unlocked a clinic that once bustled with patients. Now it’s empty, and shelves of medicine reduced to a few boxes of bandages and expired drugs. This is what it looks like after the Trump administration halted U.S. foreign assistance last month. The U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, issued stop-work orders during a 90-day review for what the administration has alleged is wasteful spending. (Badendieck and Alsayed, 2/14)

The New York Times: Louisiana Health Department Says It Will Stop Promoting ‘Mass Vaccination’
Louisiana’s top health official said in an internal memo to the state’s Health Department on Thursday that it would no longer use media campaigns or health fairs to promote vaccination against preventable illnesses. The official, Dr. Ralph L. Abraham, Louisiana’s surgeon general, wrote in the memo that the state would “encourage each patient to discuss the risks and benefits of vaccination with their provider” but would “no longer promote mass vaccination.” (Balk, 2/13)

New Hampshire Public Radio: NH Doctors Warn Against Bill That Could Gut Childhood Vaccine-Buying Program
Doctors, nurses and other public health professionals are speaking out against a bill that would dismantle New Hampshire's universal childhood vaccine purchasing program, saying it would increase barriers to vaccination and put kids’ health at risk. The bill – along with several others that would weaken childhood vaccination requirements – comes at a time of declining childhood vaccination rates, in New Hampshire and around the country. (Cuno-Booth, 2/13)

Honolulu Civil Beat: Hawaiʻi Lawmakers Want To Make It Harder For Kids To Skip Vaccines
Hawaiʻi has seen an explosion in the number of families using religious exemptions to opt out of the state’s mandate that children receive vaccinations to attend school. (Tagami, 2/14)

Also —

Bloomberg: What RFK Jr.'s New Power Means for Vaccines, Weight-Loss Shots and Drug Ads
For vaccine makers, there’s a lot at stake. The Covid-19 shot, which Kennedy once-called the “deadliest vaccine ever made,” is still one of Pfizer’s largest-selling products. Merck & Co.’s HPV shot, Gardasil, is the company’s second-best-selling product, and the company also makes one of the MMR vaccines Kennedy refused to say don't cause autism during his confirmation hearings. Moderna Inc.’s entire business so far, and most of its late-stage pipeline, is focused on various vaccines. And it’s not just manufacturers that are potentially at risk. In its annual report, CVS Health Corp. said that “regulatory changes or consumer sentiment shift for immunizations” may hurt demand at its stores. (Muller and Shanker, 2/13)

The Hill: McConnell On RFK Jr.: ‘I Will Not Condone The Relitigation Of Proven Cures’
Sen. Mitch McConnell issued a blistering indictment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday, with the Kentucky Republican saying his childhood bout with polio heavily influenced his decision to vote against Kennedy as Health and Human Services secretary. “In my lifetime, I’ve watched vaccines save millions of lives from devastating diseases across America and around the world. I will not condone the relitigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles,” McConnell said in a statement. (Weixel, 2/13)

Modern Healthcare: House Budget Talks Heat Up Over Medicaid Cuts
Medicaid cuts emerged as an especially sensitive flash point Thursday during the first public debate over a House Republican plan to extend tax cuts and slash federal spending. Republicans at a House Budget Committee markup insisted they only want to target waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid, and defended themselves against Democratic assertions that GOP policies would hurt people and medical providers. Democrats said harm is inevitable if Republicans want the Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicare and Medicaid, to find $880 billion in budget cuts over the next decade. (McAuliff, 2/13)

Politico: Republicans May Find It Harder To Cut Medicaid Than They Think
Amid the chaos of President Donald Trump’s now-rescinded domestic funding freeze, Medicaid portals across the country went offline, which meant states couldn’t get their Medicaid dollars. It was something the administration said was never supposed to happen and which provoked public outrage and a bipartisan outcry. Now Republicans are considering whether and how to target Medicaid as part of their effort to defray the cost of massive tax cuts, the centerpiece of Trump’s legislative agenda. (Kenen, 2/13)

KFF Health News: As States Mull Medicaid Work Requirements, Two Scale Theirs Back
President Donald Trump’s return to the White House sent a clear signal about Medicaid to Republicans across the country: Requiring enrollees to prove they are working, volunteering, or going to school is back on the table. The day after Trump’s inauguration, South Carolina GOP Gov. Henry McMaster asked federal officials to approve a work requirement plan. Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine plans to soon follow suit. Republicans in Congress are eyeing Medicaid work requirements as they seek to slash billions from the federal budget. (Rayasam and Whitehead, 2/14)

More Medicaid news from Colorado, Indiana, and Ohio —

Newsweek: Colorado Removes 500,000 People From Health Care Plan
More than a half-million people in Colorado have been disenrolled from their public health care, following the conclusion of policies that were put in place to safeguard public insurance coverage during the COVID-19 health emergency. Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollment in Colorado has fallen from more than 1.7 million to less than 1.2 million between March 2023 and October 2024, according to health care research nonprofit the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). (Cameron, 2/14)

Indy Star: As Medicaid Costs Outpace State Revenue, Indiana Lawmakers Want To Scrutinize Eligibility
The cost of Indiana's Medicaid program is expected to become $5 billion more expensive over the next four years, which has become one of the dominant issues of this year's legislative session. So the Indiana Senate is considering some controversial changes to shrink the program. A priority Senate Bill was sent to the Senate floor Thursday that would potentially cap enrollment in the Healthy Indiana Plan, a Medicaid program for adults who don't qualify for traditional Medicaid, and heavily scrutinize eligibility of those currently on the plan. (Dwyer, 2/14)

Ohio Capital Journal: Hundreds Submit Comments Opposing Ohio's Proposed Medicaid Work Requirements 
More than 400 people submitted comments opposing Ohio’s proposed Medicaid work requirements, according to records obtained by the Ohio Capital Journal. “I am disabled and unable to work,” one person said in their submitted comments. “I have major mental health issues and physical issues. Without insurance you are signing my death warrant.” (Henry, 2/14)

The Washington Post: Delayed CDC Report Shows Increased Evidence Of Bird Flu Spread To People
A scientific report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Thursday shows some veterinarians who provide care for cattle were unknowingly infected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus last year. The report is the latest evidence that the outbreak in dairy herds is spreading undetected in cows, and the spillover into people at highest risk of exposure is going unnoticed. (Sun, 2/13)

CIDRAP: Ohio Announces Human H5N1 Avian Flu Case, State's First 
A man from Mercer County, Ohio, is that state’s first human case of H5N1 avian flu, according to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH). The man is a farm worker who was in contact with deceased commercial poultry. ... Ohio is one of the epicenters of the US bird flu outbreak, with 54 outbreaks since the middle of January. The outbreaks have led to the loss of more than 10 million birds. (Soucheray, 2/13)

CBS News: Michigan Officials Detect Bird Flu In Monroe County
Michigan officials confirmed a positive case of the bird flu has been found in a backyard flock in Monroe County. CBS News Detroit reached out to the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, which couldn't provide details about what happened to the remainder of the flock. However, farmers nationwide have eradicated entire flocks of birds to stop the spread, which is almost always fatal to domestic poultry. (Murphy, 2/14)

CBS News: How Dangerous Is Bird Flu? Doctors Say Humans And Pets Should Avoid Any Dead Birds
A new CDC report shows an outbreak of bird flu among U.S. dairy and poultry workers, renewing concerns among dogwalkers and hikers in Massachusetts about how safe it is to be outdoors. The H5N1 virus isn't new but the resurgence of the bird flu has many people rethinking their daily routines. (Chan, 2/13)

Politico: Key Bird Flu Lab Threatens To Strike As California Cases And Egg Prices Climb
Workers at a key lab for testing animal disease are threatening to go on strike, raising concerns about California’s ability to respond to the growing outbreak of bird flu that has sent the price of eggs soaring nationwide. Technicians at the California Animal Health and Food Safety Lab at the University of California, Davis, have been sounding the alarm for months, alleging staffing shortages and strains as their union has been in contentious negotiations with the University of California system. (Bluth, 2/13)

On flu and covid —

MedPage Today: Neurologic Complications Of Flu In Kids May Be Up This Year
Public health officials are looking into reports of a small potential uptick in neurologic complications of influenza in children -- particularly a rapidly progressing and dangerous condition called acute necrotizing encephalopathy (ANE). Adrienne Randolph, MD, MSc, of Boston Children's Hospital, said she reported about 12 potential cases of flu-associated ANE to CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) in the past few weeks. (Fiore, 2/13)

CIDRAP: Five Years Later, Americans Say Pandemic Drove Them Apart
A new Pew Research Center poll shows 72% of Americans said the pandemic did more to divide the country than bring it together, with 75% saying COVID-19 took a toll on their own lives. The poll was conducted in late October 2024 with 9,593 respondents. The poll suggests that, 5 years after the pandemic was officially declared in March 2020, the nation has not yet healed from the societal effects of the novel coronavirus, with Americans citing the once-in-decades event as an accelerator of the political divide between the left and the right, the distrust of government institutions, and the rise of disinformation. (Soucheray, 2/13)

The New York Times: After Abortion Bans, Infant Mortality And Births Increased, Research Finds 
Infant mortality increased along with births in most states with abortion bans in the first 18 months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, according to new research. The findings, in two studies published Thursday in the journal JAMA, also suggest that abortion bans can have the most significant effects on people who are struggling economically or who are in other types of challenging circumstances, health policy experts said. (Belluck, 2/13)

Also —

The New York Times: Abortion Provider Won’t Be Extradited To Louisiana, N.Y. Governor Says
Louisiana officials seeking to prosecute a New York doctor who sent abortion medication to a resident of that state were thrown a roadblock on Thursday, when New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, said she would block extradition attempts. Ms. Hochul’s declaration sets the stage for a likely battle in federal court over whether states that support abortion rights can protect doctors who provide abortion services to patients in states with abortion bans. (Belluck, Oreskes and Cochrane, 2/13)

The Hill: Texas Judge Fines NY Doctor For Prescribing Abortion Pills To Woman Near Dallas
A judge in Texas on Thursday fined a doctor from New York for prescribing abortion pills to a woman outside of Dallas in a ruling that could change the landscape of abortion law in Democratic states. Earlier Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) rejected a request from Louisiana to extradite the same doctor, Maggie Carpenter, who was charged for prescribing a Louisiana pregnant minor abortion pills. (Irwin, 2/13)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Missouri GOP Wants To Hike Tax Credit For Pregnancy Centers
Voters chose to protect abortion rights last year, and Missouri Republicans are now responding with multiple plans to boost pregnancy centers that discourage abortions. One proposal, which would increase the current 70% tax credit for donations to qualified pregnancy resource centers to 100%, is quickly emerging as a partisan flashpoint in the current legislative session. (Suntrup, 2/13)

The 19th: Sen. Warren, Rep. Bonamici Introduce SAD Act To Regulate Anti-Abortion Centers
Democratic lawmakers are pushing for the federal government to better regulate anti-abortion centers, facilities that seek to dissuade people from terminating their pregnancies, The 19th is first to report. (Luthra, 2/13)

Politico: Knives Are Out For Planned Parenthood. In All 3 Branches Of Government
Anti-abortion activists and their allies in government are hoping this is the year they finally take down Planned Parenthood by going after the federal funding that makes up more than a third of the organization’s budget — with efforts moving simultaneously through Congress, the courts and the executive branch. ... The Supreme Court announced this week that it will hear arguments in April on South Carolina’s ability to strip Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood — a landmark case that could prompt dozens of GOP-controlled states to take a significant bite out of the organization’s finances. (Ollstein, 2/13)

Becker's Hospital Review: Health Systems Sharpen Focus On Outpatient Safety
Efforts to improve quality and patient safety have historically focused on the inpatient setting. But as more care moves outside of hospital walls, health systems are beginning to craft structures and processes to better measure and improve safety in ambulatory settings. "We have to focus on outpatient safety because it's just going to come up more, as more care that would have traditionally been dealt with inpatient moves outpatient," said Esme Singer, MD, senior vice president of Philadelphia-based Temple Health's physician enterprise and chief medical officer of Temple Faculty Physicians. (Carbajal, 2/13)

Modern Healthcare: SSM Health-Inbound Health's Home Care Program Shows Good Results
SSM Health hopes to expand home-based skilled nursing to other hospitals in its system after achieving good results from a program it launched last spring in Madison, Wisconsin. The St. Louis, Missouri-based health system launched the Recovery Care at Home program with technology company Inbound Health at St. Mary’s Hospital. The program provides nurse visits, therapy, durable medical equipment, infusion services, imaging and telehealth support to certain patients in their homes following a hospitalization. (Eastabrook, 2/13)

Modern Healthcare: Humana, Eastern Kentucky University Launch Partnership 
Humana announced a partnership Thursday with Eastern Kentucky University to teach nursing students how to deliver healthcare in the home. Humana is contributing $75,000 to add a home studio lab within the university’s nursing simulation center, the Louisville, Kentucky-based company said in a news release. The studio will help student nurses learn how to provide care to patients in diverse settings and better assess social determinants of health. The partnership with the university expands Humana and its CenterWell division’s collaboration with approximately 50 nursing schools nationwide. (Eastabrook, 2/13)

Modern Healthcare: How Masimo, Cardinal Health Are Approaching Hospital-At-Home
Medtech companies have their eye on the growing hospital-at-home market, which is driven largely by the rising elderly population, the prevalence of chronic diseases and favorable reimbursement policies. There have been hiccups but some of the largest health systems have leaned into providing hospital-level care at home. Other systems, meanwhile, are establishing smaller programs that don't involve acute-level care and are less costly to scale. (Dubinsky, 2/13)

More health care industry updates —

Stat: Judge: Lawsuit Over UnitedHealth AI Care Denials In Medicare Advantage Can Move Forward
Medicare Advantage beneficiaries who are suing UnitedHealth Group over allegedly wrongful denials of care that were based on artificial intelligence scored a victory Thursday, as a judge ruled their case could move forward. (Herman, 2/13)

Modern Healthcare: Cigna's Customer Service Improvements May Inspire Other Insurers
Cigna’s new plan to bet big on customer service could be a blueprint for other health insurers to follow as the sector grapples with public discontent. The sweeping changes — at least on paper — to how Cigna interacts with its insurance members and Express Scripts pharmacy benefit manager customers could augur a new era for health insurance. (Berryman, 2/13)

Newsweek: Every Health System Faces Crisis—Here's What Industry Leaders Recommend
Nearly five years after the global COVID-19 shutdowns began, health care leaders continue to grapple with all manner of emergent situations and challenges—both large scale and small, the anticipated and the unforeseen. Newsweek brought five health care industry experts together for a virtual panel event on Thursday, to discuss best practices for managing future crises. The hourlong event, programmed and led by Newsweek's health care editor, Alexis Kayser, featured insights from a former CEO of The Permanente Medical Group, the current chief physician executive at Press Ganey and the field chief information security officer with Lumifi Cybersecurity, among others. (Taheri, 2/13)

MedPage Today: Meet The World's Healthcare Billionaires
Six of the world's 500 richest people are Americans who have reaped fortunes from healthcare -- and two of them are physicians. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, only 32 people globally have become mega-rich from healthcare enterprises. The richest person to make their fortune in healthcare is Thomas Frist, Jr., MD, who alongside his father in the 1960s co-founded Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) Healthcare. (Robertson, 2/13)

The Colorado Sun: Colorado Senate Gives Preliminary OK To Semiautomatic Gun Ban After Adding Big Carveout
The Colorado Senate gave preliminary approval early Friday to a bill that would ban the manufacture and sale of semiautomatic rifles, shotguns and pistols, but the chamber added a major carveout for people who complete a training course to be regulated by and offered through the state. (Paul, 2/14)

In other health and wellness news —

NBC News: 'I'm Not Normal Anymore': Hair Stylist Sues Companies Over Link Between Hair Dye And Cancer
Though it was 40 years ago, Hector Corvera still remembers the uneasiness he felt when he cut someone’s hair for the very first time. “Your first day out of beauty college, you’re nervous and you don’t want to mess up,” he said. ... Corvera wanted to find a different kind of profession. Hairdressing appealed to him because it would be less physical and bore the promise of cooler temperatures — he would never be out of work because people’s hair always grows, he thought. He now believes the choice upended his life. Corvera was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2023. (Snow, Salam and Brooks, 2/13)

AP: Igloo Recalls Over A Million Coolers After Fingertip Amputation Injuries
Igloo is recalling more than 1 million of its coolers sold across the U.S., Mexico and Canada due to a handle hazard that has resulted in a handful of fingertip injuries, including some amputations. The now-recalled “Igloo 90 Qt. Flip & Tow Rolling Coolers” have a tow handle can pinch users’ fingertips against the product — posing potential amputation and other crushing risks, according to a Thursday recall notice from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. (2/13)

CBS News: FDA Warns Users Of Popular Weight-Loss Drugs To Watch For Counterfeits
Weight loss is a common New Year's resolution and studies show more people are turning to weight loss drugs, like Ozempic and Wegovy. Both are GLP-1 drugs, which stands for glucagon-like peptide-1, a natural hormone that helps regulate blood sugar, slow down digestion and reduce appetite. But as GLP-1 drugs spike in popularity, the FDA says hazardous counterfeits are also on the rise and pose serious health risks. (Rozner, 2/14)

Have you experienced Rx sticker shock? —

The podcast “An Arm and a Leg” is collecting stories from listeners about what they’ve done to get the prescription drugs they need when facing sticker shock. If you’re interested in contributing, you can learn more and submit your stories here.

KFF Health News: A Dose Of Love: The Winning Health Policy Valentines
Nothing sweeps us off our feet like a health policy valentine. Readers showed their love this season, writing poetic lines about surprise medical bills, bird flu, the cost of health care, and more. Here are some of our favorites, starting with the grand prize winner, whose entry was turned into a cartoon by staff illustrator Oona Zenda. (2/14)

The New York Times: Meet The Cook Who Wants You To Love Hospital Food
It’s not easy working in a kitchen where your customers don’t exactly have high expectations for the food. That’s the daily challenge for Bill Freeman, a cook at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital in Pittsburgh. At many hospitals, food is an afterthought, and what to eat is often the last thing on a patient’s mind. Mr. Freeman, an upbeat Pittsburgh native, has a different approach — he wants his meals to be part of people’s recovery. He makes each dish from scratch, whether it’s a three-egg omelet or French toast, accommodating numerous dietary restrictions and even adding thoughtful touches like flower garnishes. His creations land in the rooms of everyone from new parents to cancer patients, none of whom ever get to meet Mr. Freeman, the face behind their lovingly prepared club sandwich. (Krishna, 2/7)

ProPublica: What a $2 Million Per Dose Gene Therapy Reveals About Drug Pricing
Taxpayers and charities helped develop Zolgensma. Then it debuted at a record price, ushering in a new class of wildly expensive drugs. Its story upends the widely held conception that high prices reflect huge industry investments in innovation. (Fields, 2/12)

Stat: Are Seed Oils Bad For You? The Science Behind The MAHA Crusade
When guests at the Make America Healthy Again inaugural ball sat down for dinner last month at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C., they were greeted with menus featuring butternut squash salad, a choice between a prime filet and lobster dish and a vegetarian chickpea option, and three words sure to appeal to many involved with the movement: “No seed oils.” (Todd, 2/12)

AP: This Is What Happens To The Body When HIV Drugs Are Stopped For Millions Of People 
Millions of people take drugs known as antiretrovirals that keep HIV from spreading in the body. Stopping those drugs lets the virus start multiplying in the body again, and it could become drug-resistant. HIV can rebound to detectable levels in people’s blood in just a few weeks, putting sexual partners at risk. Babies born to mothers with HIV can escape infection only if the woman was properly treated during pregnancy or the infant is treated immediately after birth. If the drugs are not taken, a body is heading toward AIDS, the final stage of infection. (2/13)

The War Horse: Veterans Suffering With PTSD, Aid Each Other With Psychedelic Treatment
Lena Ramsay lives with two aging chihuahuas—Diesel and Daisy—in rural Maine, down a long dirt road overlooking a glassy pond surrounded by layers of thick wilderness. It’s here, in her quiet 5-acre outpost, that she started feeling a lot better. A deployment in Afghanistan left her with a traumatic brain injury, a shattered ankle, and a broken vertebra. Like many veterans, she obliged when VA doctors prescribed pain and sleep medication to help numb constant physical pain. But the antidepressants and sedatives she was also taking for PTSD, anxiety, and depression barely touched the gnawing anguish that would occasionally leave her unable to sleep, in a ball beneath her kitchen table. (Marshall-Chalmers, 2/13)

The New York Times: California’s Scary Product Warning Labels Might Be Working, Study Says 
Products must state if they contain chemicals tied to cancer or other risks. As a result, manufacturers have pulled back from using the chemicals, researchers found. (Tabuchi, 2/12)

The Marshall Project: Why This Physician Testifies in Favor of the Firing Squad
Executioners have only turned to guns a handful of times in the last century. The last time was in Utah in 2010. But recently, in at least 10 states, death row prisoners said they would prefer the firing squad over other options. They’re doing this because 10 years ago the Supreme Court ruled they needed to suggest such alternatives in order to fight lethal injection. At the center of these legal debates sits Dr. James Williams. Born in Canada and based in Texas, he is now arguably America’s leading expert on the firing squad. He has appeared in courtrooms across the country to testify about the method’s effectiveness — always on the side of prisoners, never the state. His expertise is based on a career spent treating gunshot victims, teaching police how to shoot more effectively, and competing in shooting competitions. Before all that, he survived a gunshot himself. (Chammah, 2/4)

Bloomberg: Bird Flu Is A Big Threat. The US Needs To Start Acting Like It.
The H5N1 bird flu may not officially qualify as a pandemic pathogen yet, but it could easily kill many more people and wreak economic havoc in 2025.In the last few weeks, the virus has spun off a new variant that has killed one person and sent a teenager into critical condition. (F.D. Flam, 2/13)

The New York Times: When ‘Just Asking Questions’ About Science Turns Into 300,000 Dead
The Senate has just confirmed as health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a science denialist who once said there is no vaccine that is safe and effective, who has suggested that Covid might have been genetically engineered to spare Jewish and Chinese people and who spent more than 100 pages in his recent book breathing new life into the idea that H.I.V. does not cause AIDS. (Gregg Gonsalves, 2/13)

The Atlantic: I've Never Seen Parents This Freaked Out About Vaccines 
In pre-COVID times, I published a book about how to use data in early-childhood parenting, and one of the book’s long chapters was on vaccines and evidence for their safety. When the book was published, I wondered whether I would get questions on this topic. Breastfeeding, sleep training, and day care all came up regularly. But I remember being asked about vaccines only once. People seemed to have read the chapter, accepted it, and moved on. (Emily Oster, 2/13)

The Boston Globe: NIH Funding Cuts Would Devastate Scientific Research
Trump has taken issue with the way the National Institutes of Health funds “indirect costs” through research grants. It’s a topic ripe for Congress, with input from scientific researchers, to reconsider. But the president’s slash-and-burn approach threatens ongoing research and precludes reasoned discussion of how best to allocate money. (2/13)

Stat: The Doctor Who Saved My Life Has Been Indicted For Practicing Good Medicine
Margaret Carpenter, based in New Paltz, New York, has been indicted for prescribing abortion pills to a person in Louisiana — where nearly all abortions are illegal, even in cases of rape or incest. It isn’t the only legal threat she faces: In December, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Carpenter for sending abortion pills to someone in the state. On Thursday, a judge fined her more than $100,000 and ordered her to stop prescribing and mailing abortion drugs to Texas patients. I know Carpenter as “Dr. Maggie.” She has been a hero of mine for a long time, but not just for standing up for people’s rights to reproductive health. When I was 35, she helped save my life. (Maya Gottfried, 2/14)