First Edition: Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES

KFF Health News: Doctors With Troubled Pasts Are Performing Cosmetic Surgeries Tied To Crippling Pain And Injury
Not long after California surgeon Andrew S. Hsu landed a job with a cosmetic surgery chain in Georgia, several of his patients suffered disfiguring injuries, and even his new employer had doubts about his competence, court records allege. Hsu, a board-certified general surgeon, was one of six out-of-state doctors who joined the Atlanta Goals Aesthetics & Plastic Surgery center during the pandemic. (Schulte, 9/30)

KFF Health News: How To Pick The Right Cosmetic Surgeon
The debate over which doctors are best qualified to perform cosmetic surgery — and who gets the best results for patients — has raged for decades. Here’s why: A state-issued medical license grants a physician what a Federation of State Medical Boards policy statement called the “privilege of practicing the full breadth of medicine.” (Schulte, 9/30)

KFF Health News: Health Care’s Employment Growth Clouded By Immigration Crackdown, Medicaid Cuts
The health care sector is a bright spot in the economy this year, driving nearly half of the nation’s employment gains, but economists and experts say immigration crackdowns and looming Medicaid cuts pose a threat to future job growth. Employers added 487,000 jobs from January to August, according to the latest nonfarm payroll data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The health care sector accounted for 48% of that lackluster growth, expanding by about 232,000 jobs, even though the sector employs only about 11% of workers. (Reese, 9/30)

KFF Health News: KFF Health News’ ‘Letters To The Editor’: Readers Speak Up For Patients Who Can't, And For Kids With Disabilities
Too Close a Call With Organ Donation. When I was a third-year med student doing a rotation on the trauma surgery team, we had a patient in the surgical intensive care unit who had arrived 12 hours earlier with bullet holes in his abdomen. We worked to stabilize him all night; the next day, he was still alive. (9/30) 

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

Fierce Healthcare: No Deal In Sight Following High-Stakes White House Negotiations
President Donald Trump and congressional leaders from both parties exited a high-stakes negotiation meeting Monday afternoon with little optimism a deal could be struck before the end of the month to avoid a government shutdown. "I think we’re heading to a shutdown because the Democrats won’t do the right thing," Vice President J.D. Vance told reporters after the meeting. "I hope they change their mind, but we’re going to see.” Healthcare issues have and continue to be a sticking point of the negotiations, with Democrats demanding an extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premiums set to run dry at the end of the year as well as protections against White House recissions of appropriated funding. (Muoio and Beavins, 9/29)

Politico: Trump Posts Vulgar Deepfake Slam Of Democratic Leaders After White House Meeting 
If a government shutdown wasn’t already exceedingly likely, President Donald Trump might have made it a near certainty Monday night. The president posted a vulgar AI-generated deepfake video to his Truth Social slamming the top Democratic leaders — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — just hours after he hosted the two for an Oval Office meeting. (Hill, 9/29)

The New York Times: Explaining The G.O.P.’s Misleading Talking Point On The Looming Shutdown
With Congress at an impasse over federal spending, Republicans have emerged with a new and misleading talking point: Democrats are shutting down the government to fund free health care for unauthorized immigrants. It is a message repeated by Vice President JD Vance, the official X account of Senate Republicans and Speaker Mike Johnson. But the proposal does not provide free health care for unauthorized immigrants. Republicans may be referring to the law changing the eligibility requirements for certain immigrant groups. (Qiu, 9/29)

Politico: Top Tax-Writing Democrat Open To Negotiating Income Caps For Obamacare Subsidies
The top Democrat on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee cracked open the door to negotiating income limits for recipients of health care subsidies set to expire at the end of the year. “I think the question of subsidies for people that are making half a million dollars — I mean, that should be subject to a discussion and negotiation as well, but that shouldn’t become the pretense for shutting down the government,” Rep. Richie Neal of Massachusetts said in a brief interview, though he stressed it’d be “premature” to get too far into the specifics. (Wu, 9/29)

Axios: Government Shutdown: HHS Would Furlough Nearly 32,500 Health Workers
Federal health agencies under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would furlough more than 40% of their remaining workforce in a government shutdown, according to a contingency plan. Some 32,460 government health workers would be without work at least temporarily under the plan and could lose their jobs if Trump follows through on threats to fire those deemed nonessential in a funding lapse. (Goldman, 9/29)

Fierce Healthcare: Telehealth Waivers Expire Oct. 1 As Shutdown Inches Closer
Medicare beneficiaries stand to lose access to two key virtual care programs that the federal government has offered since the start of the pandemic if the government shuts down on Tuesday at midnight. The Medicare telehealth waivers and Acute Hospital at Home (AcHaH) programs are set to expire Oct. 1 unless Congress passes a short-term government funding bill to avert the crisis. (Beavins, 9/29)

FEDERAL FUNDING

Bloomberg: US Recommends Harvard Be Excluded From Federal Funding, HHS Says
The US Department of Health and Human Services said Monday that it is referring Harvard University for administrative suspension and debarment proceedings, a move that would exclude the school from entering into contracts with all government agencies or receiving any federal funding, including research grants and student aid. If successful, the debarment attempt would cut off a key funding source for Harvard, a fresh financial blow after the Trump administration’s freeze of more than $2.6 billion in existing federal dollars. (Knox, 9/29)

MARIJUANA AND CANNABIS

The Guardian: Cannabis Stocks Soar After Trump Shares Video Promoting Drug’s Use For Seniors
Cannabis stocks are on a high after Donald Trump shared a video on Sunday promoting cannabis use for seniors and Medicaid coverage of CBD products. The nearly three-minute-long video, posted on the president’s Truth Social platform, touts the usage of hemp-derived CBD as a “gamechanger” that is a pain and stress reliever for seniors. (Aratani, 9/29)

AP: Vertanical's Drug Made From Marijuana Reduced Back Pain, Study Finds
An experimental medication made from marijuana successfully reduced back pain in a new study, offering further support for the drug’s potential in treating one of the most common forms of chronic pain. The 800-patient study by a German drugmaker is the latest evidence of the therapeutic properties of cannabis, which remains illegal under U.S. federal law even as most states have made it available for medical or recreational use. (Perrone, 9/29)

MEDICAID

Modern Healthcare: The Tools Advocate, Ascension Are Using To Ease Medicaid Cuts
Healthcare providers, payers and other companies are facing an uncertain regulatory and political environment in the coming years. Massive reductions in Medicaid funding under President Donald Trump’s tax law, known as H.R. 1, and the looming expiration of the Affordable Care Act premium tax subsidies are among the issues likely to undercut margins and operations. (Dubinsky, Early, Perna and McAuliff, 9/29)

Los Angeles Times: How California Families Are Already Bracing For Looming Medicaid Cuts
Ever since Elijah Maldonado was born at just 29 weeks, he has needed specialty treatments that his family could afford only with publicly funded healthcare. Diagnosed with cerebral palsy as an infant, he spent his first three months at a public hospital in Orange County, where the family lives. Now 7, Elijah receives physical and speech therapy among a host of other services paid for through Medicaid. He relies on a wheelchair funded by the government. An assistant paid for with taxpayer dollars makes sure he’s safe on the bus ride to and from school. (Beason, 9/29)

The CT Mirror: Rising Costs Strain Medicaid In CT – Before Federal Cuts Are Counted
Deep cuts in federal Medicaid assistance aren’t the only threat to health care for needy families and children here. Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration has identified major cost overruns in the entitlement program, known as HUSKY in Connecticut, which has struggled to stay out of the red since 2022. (Phaneuf, 9/30)

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

Modern Healthcare: UHS To Pay $500M In Prime Healthcare Lawsuit
Universal Health Services faces more than $500 million in damages after a Nevada jury ruled the system had interfered with Prime Healthcare physicians’ contracts. The lawsuit, which was filed in Washoe County, Nevada, in 2021, stems from Prime’s allegations that UHS illegally solicited physicians and other employees from Saint Mary’s Medical Group, stole trade secrets, diverted patients and triggered a mass resignation to gain an economic advantage, according to a Monday press release from Prime. (Hudson, 9/29)

The CT Mirror: Yale To Pay Prospect Medical $45M To End Hospital Sale Dispute
Yale New Haven Health will pay Prospect Medical Holdings $45 million to settle dueling lawsuits in state court, ending a contentious saga over the proposed sale of Prospect’s three Connecticut hospitals — with Yale acquiring none of them. (Altimari, 9/29)

PHARMA AND TECH

The Wall Street Journal: Novartis To Launch Direct-To-Patient Platform For Cosentyx In U.S.
Novartis said it is launching a direct-to-patient platform in the U.S. to sell a discounted version of its Cosentyx drug, the latest big pharma company to move to cut prices ahead of the Trump administration’s deadline. The Swiss pharmaceutical company said Monday that it would offer select units of Cosentyx—a drug treating immune-mediated inflammatory conditions like psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis—at a 55% discount to cash-paying patients with a prescription. The platform will come into effect on Nov. 1. (Look, 9/29)

MedPage Today: Gabapentin Use Skyrockets Despite Risks, CDC Analysis Shows
Gabapentin prescribing rose sharply in recent years, with the generic drug becoming the fifth most dispensed product in retail pharmacies in 2024, a CDC analysis showed. From 2010 to 2024, prescriptions jumped from 79.5 to 177.6 per 1,000 people, according to Gery Guy Jr., PhD, of the CDC National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, and co-authors. (George, 8/29)

CIDRAP: Inhaled Heparin Slashes Ventilation, Death In COVID Patients, Analysis Suggests
A meta-trial of randomized clinical studies conducted in 6 countries suggests that the use of inhaled heparin dramatically reduced the risk of intubation, death, and in-hospital death in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. (Van Beusekom, 9/29)

Fox News: GLP-1 Drugs Linked To Lower Cancer Risk, Particularly In Women, New Study Finds
The potential benefits of GLP-1 medications continue to expand. New research has found that the weight loss and diabetes drugs — officially known as glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists — are associated with a reduced risk of some cancers, especially in women. (Stabile, 9/29)

Newsweek: Chemical Body Odors May Help Detect Cancers Early
Volatile chemicals released by the body—through urine, feces and odor—could one day help to noninvasively detect cancer early. In mouse models, researchers at Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences found volatile organic compounds (VOCs) could offer helpful clues in screening for multiple types of cancer at once. (Millington, 9/29)

Stat: Why Risk Factors Matter: 99% Of Heart Attack, Stroke Victims, Had One 
Heart attacks, heart failure, and strokes don’t come out of nowhere, a new study concludes. The first time they strike, patients, clinicians, and researchers might think there were no red flags.  But a prospective cohort study reports that more than 99% of people who experienced these illnesses had at least one of four risks for cardiovascular disease. (Cooney, 9/29)

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

CNN: Abortions Provided By Clinicians In The US Dropped In The First Half Of 2025, Report Shows 
The number of abortions provided by clinicians in the United States has declined this year as the effects of new restrictions bear out and it becomes more common to manage an abortion outside the formal health care system, a new report suggests. (McPhillips, 9/30)

AP: California Doctor Is 2nd To Face Louisiana Arrest Warrant Over Abortion Pills
Louisiana is pursuing a criminal case against another out-of-state doctor accused of mailing abortion pills to a patient in the state, court documents filed this month revealed. A warrant for the arrest of a California doctor is a rare charge of violating one of the state abortion bans that has taken effect since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and allowed enforcement. (Cline and Mulvihill, 9/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Catholic Hospitals Sued — Emergency Abortion Denial Alleged
A Northern California woman was twice denied an emergency abortion and sent home after Dignity Health doctors determined her pregnancy wasn’t viable but could not provide the procedure due to Dignity’s religious restrictions, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in San Francisco County Superior Court. In one instance, she developed life-threatening sepsis, the suit said. Rachel Harrison, 30, of Carmichael (Sacramento County), alleges she lost both pregnancies at 17 weeks’ gestation after her water broke and her amniotic fluid was lost. (Gafni, 9/29)

AP: Student Activists Go Underground At Catholic Colleges To Provide Contraception
College student Maya Roman has the handoff down to a science: a text message, a walk to a designated site, and a paper bag delivered with condoms and Plan B emergency contraception. At DePaul University, it’s the only way students can get a sliver of sexual health support, she said. DePaul, a Catholic school in Chicago, prohibits distribution of any kind of birth control on its campus. To get around that, a student group runs a covert contraceptive delivery network called “the womb service.” (Fernando, 9/30)

STATE WATCH

MedPage Today: 'We Are Exhausted, Frustrated, And Sad': Docs Vent During Meeting With Senator
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a member of the Senate health committee, heard from a variety of providers Monday about their frustrations with the healthcare system. "We are exhausted, frustrated, and sad, and trying to claw our way back up there," said Ashley Zelenak, MD, a pediatric emergency physician at Bon Secours St. Mary's Hospital in Richmond, Virginia. "We took such a hit during COVID and now to be hit [again] as a pediatrician, it's hard." (Frieden, 9/29)

Politico: Gavin Newsom Signs First-In-Nation AI Safety Law 
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a first-in-the-nation law on Monday that will force major AI companies to reveal their safety protocols — marking the end of a lobbying battle with big tech companies like ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Meta and setting the groundwork for a potential national standard. (DeFeliciantonio, 9/29)

The Nevada Independent: Physicians: Rule That Doctors ID Athlete’s Sex At Birth ‘Inappropriate’ For School Physical
Pediatricians and advocates urged the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association (NIAA) to remove a new requirement on sports physical evaluations that physicians identify a student’s birth sex and recommend whether they should play boys’ or girls’ sports, calling it “medically inappropriate.” The request came in the form of a letter signed by 18 doctors and medical professionals sent via email last week to Executive Director Timothy Jackson, who leads the association that governs high school sports in Nevada. (Mueller and Hernandez, 9/29)

Rhode Island Current: R.I. Reports First Probable Human Case Of West Nile Of 2025
A Providence County resident in their 60s is the first probable human case of West Nile virus in Rhode Island this year, the state Department of Health announced Thursday. The case will be confirmed through further testing by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Health officials did not disclose where the person was exposed, but said they began showing symptoms in early September and have remained hospitalized since.  (Shea, 9/25)

CIDRAP: US Poll Shows West Nile Anxiety Low, As Is Insect Repellent Knowledge
A new Annenberg poll finds that, despite an increase in US infections, worry about West Nile virus remains low among Americans, and most people don't know how to correctly apply insect repellent in certain situations. West Nile is the leading mosquito-borne illness in the continental United States, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has tracked 1,137 cases so far in 2025 in 42 states. (Soucheray, 9/29)

AP: Seattle Bakers Donate Homemade Bread To Help Fight Hunger
On a recent Saturday near Seattle, Cheryl Ewaldsen pulled three golden loaves of wheat bread out of her kitchen oven. The fragrant, oat-topped bread was destined not for her table, but for a local food bank, to be distributed to families increasingly struggling with hunger and the high cost of groceries. ... Ewaldsen is a volunteer with Community Loaves, a Seattle-area nonprofit that started pairing home bakers with food pantries during the COVID-19 pandemic — and hasn’t stopped. (Aleccia, 9/29)

PUBLIC HEALTH

Axios: Opioid Use Disorder Cases Jumped Post-Pandemic
Diagnoses of opioid use disorder among the commercially insured jumped nearly 40% nationwide between 2021 and 2024, according to data from FAIR Health's Opioid Tracker shared first with Axios. (Reed, 9/30)

Newsweek: Why Millennials Need To Rethink Eye Care To Avoid Blindness
If you're in your 20s or 30s, eye disease or vision care might not be high on your list of priorities. But experts warn that this is exactly the time to start protecting your sight to avoid serious problems later in life. Newsweek spoke to two leading eye specialists who explained how everyday lifestyle choices can set the stage for poor eye health—and what you can do now to prevent blindness in the future. (Notarantonio, 9/29)

AP: Arkansas Egg Producer Recalls Eggs Over Salmonella Contamination Risk
An Arkansas egg producer is recalling 12-count and 18-count cartons of free-range large brown eggs after federal health inspectors detected salmonella contamination at a processing site. ... The move came after U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspectors collected samples from the processing site and found 40 that were positive for salmonella bacteria. Seven different strains of salmonella were identified, including some known to cause human illness. (Aleccia, 9/29)

The New York Times: ‘Kpop Demon Hunters’ Noodle Cup Trend May Increase Burn Risks For Kids 
TikTok users have rushed to get their hands on the instant noodles that appear in the film. One prominent Boston hospital has sounded the alarm. Dr. Colleen Ryan, a doctor at the hospital, said in the statement that she had been treating children two to three times a week for burn injuries from instant noodles. Even before the movie, burn injuries from instant noodles made up almost a third of overall pediatric scald burn injuries, according to a study. (Young, 9/29)