First Edition: Thursday, March 20, 2025

KFF Health News: In New York, Providers Must Put Patient Costs On The Table
The routine is familiar for most people: When checking in for an appointment with a doctor or other health care provider, patients typically complete and sign a pile of paperwork, including a form that contains some version of the statement, “I agree to pay for all charges not covered by my insurance company.” Patients may not feel comfortable making that financial promise, often before they have any idea what the charges will be. But they generally sign the form anyway, because the alternative is often not to get the services they’re seeking. (Andrews, 3/20)

KFF Health News: Amid Plummeting Diversity At Medical Schools, A Warning Of DEI Crackdown’s ‘Chilling Effect’
The Trump administration’s crackdown on DEI programs could exacerbate an unexpectedly steep drop in diversity among medical school students, even in states like California, where public universities have been navigating bans on affirmative action for decades. Education and health experts warn that, ultimately, this could harm patient care. Since taking office, President Donald Trump has issued a handful of executive orders aimed at terminating all diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives in federally funded programs. (Sciacca, 3/20)

NBC News: Trump Set To Sign Executive Order Shuttering The Education Department
President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order Thursday to close the Education Department, fulfilling a yearslong pledge to dismantle the federal agency, the White House confirmed. Trump will hold an event at the White House to sign the order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to "return education authority to the States.” ... Formally closing the department requires an act of Congress. But even without formally shutting it down, the Trump administration could effectively make it nearly impossible for employees to carry out their work, as it has done with the U.S. Agency for International Development. (Haake, Egwuonwu and Kingkade, 3/19)

Vox: What Dismantling The Education Department Means For Kids With Disabilities
Amid the upheaval, one thing is clear: Any plan to shut down the Education Department — and, indeed, the cuts and layoffs that have already happened — will disproportionately hurt students with disabilities. That includes kids who receive special education, but also those in general education classrooms who get supports or accommodations to learn, from speech therapy to sign language interpreters to counseling. Any kid who has an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or 504 plan through their school could be affected by what’s going on at the Education Department. That’s a huge group of kids. As of 2022–2023, 7.5 million students — 15 percent of all those enrolled in public school — received special education or related services (like speech therapy) under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. The most common reasons were specific learning disabilities like dyslexia. (North, 3/13)

Politico: Trump Aides Circulate Plan For Complete Revamp Of Foreign Aid Programs 
Some Trump administration officials have crafted a proposal to restructure the U.S. international aid and development architecture, making it leaner, more focused and better positioned to take on China. ...The proposal says existing U.S. aid and development programming is “inefficient and fragmented.” ... A better approach, the plan says, would be to “foster peace and stability in regions critical to U.S. interests, catalyze economic opportunities that support American businesses and consumers, and mitigate global threats such as pandemic diseases.” (Toosi and Lippman, 3/19)

Politico: Trump Drastically Cutting Back Annual Human Rights Report
The Trump administration is slashing the State Department’s annual human rights report — cutting sections about the rights of women, the disabled, the LGBTQ+ community and more. The goal appears to be a far thinner report that meets the minimum standards required by the law, according to documents obtained by POLITICO, as well as a current and a former State Department official who were familiar with the plan. (Toosi, 3/19)

Stat: AHRQ, A Small HHS Agency, Likely Target For DOGE Cuts 
A small government agency responsible for putting medical products and services to practical use and making health care safe is feared to be the latest target for mass layoffs by the Trump administration. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, has about 300 employees and a budget of $369 million, which is about 0.02% of what the government spends on health care. But AHRQ hasn’t escaped the notice of the DOGE Service, which has been slashing agency payrolls and budgets across the government. (Wilkerson, 3/20)

Stat: ME/CFS Research Program Shuts Down At Columbia Over Trump Cuts
A large research program into myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, or ME/CFS, has been forced to shut down because of Trump administration cuts earlier this month to Columbia University’s funding, one of its top researchers said. (Cueto, 3/19)

The New York Times: Food Safety Jeopardized By Onslaught Of Funding And Staff Cuts
In the last few years, foodborne pathogens have had devastating consequences that alarmed the public. ... In each outbreak, state and federal officials connected the dots from each sick person to a tainted product and ensured the recalled food was pulled off the shelves. Some of those employees and their specific roles in ending outbreaks are now threatened by Trump administration measures to increase government efficiency, which come on top of cuts already being made by the Food and Drug Administration’s chronically underfunded food division. (Jewett, 3/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Drug Overdoses, Including Fentanyl, On The Decline
The U.S. is making progress against one of its most devastating public health threats: drug overdoses. Over the 12 months ending in October 2024, the country saw a 25% decline in overdose deaths compared with the same period the year prior, according to the latest preliminary estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 82,000 overdose deaths were reported. (Wernau, Abbott and Ulick, 3/20)

NPR: Trump Administration Extends Opioid Emergency As Fentanyl Deaths Drop
The Trump administration is extending through mid-June an emergency declaration linked to the opioid overdose crisis that was set to expire on Friday. In a statement, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. acknowledged drug deaths in the U.S. "are starting to decline" but said the Trump administration will continue treating the opioid crisis as "the national security emergency that it is." (Mann, 3/19)

CIDRAP: USDA Launches Biosecurity Steps For Poultry Producers, Adds Details On H7N9 Avian Flu Detection
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced the rollout of two biosecurity assessment programs available for commercial poultry farms, one targeting wildlife hazards and the other reviewing biosecurity plans and measures. The programs are part of plans to prevent the introduction and spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza and dovetail with up to $1 billion in emergency funding announced last month by USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins. (Schnirring, 3/19)

CBS News: More Egg Product Seizures Than Fentanyl Seizures At The Border So Far This Year
As the bird flu continues to wreak havoc on the U.S. egg supply, U.S. Customs and Border Protection data show there have been significantly more egg products seized at U.S. borders than the number of seizures of the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl so far in fiscal year 2025. According to the CBP data, there have been 413 drug seizure events involving fentanyl in fiscal year 2025, with December, January and February all having fewer fentanyl seizures than in those months the year before. (Cohen, 3/19)

The Hill: Hegseth Says Pentagon Appealing Block On Trump Transgender Military Ban
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he is appealing a block on an executive order from President Trump effectively preventing transgender people from serving openly in the military. “We are appealing this decision, and we will win,” Hegseth said in a Wednesday evening post on the social platform X. (Suter, 3/19)

Bloomberg: Trump Freezes $175 Million To University Of Pennsylvania Over Trans Athletes
The Trump administration has frozen $175 million in federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania, citing policies allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports, according to the White House. The move follows a pattern of escalating federal scrutiny of elite universities as political pressure mounts over their handling of campus unrest and allegations of discrimination. (Cattan and Lowenkron, 3/19)

Politico: Clashes Over Abortion Clinic Safety Intensify After Trump’s Pardons: ‘I Knew That Threats Would Increase’
Abortion rights supporters across the country are scrambling to strengthen protections for clinics in response to moves by the Trump administration that they believe will put providers and patients in danger. Democratic lawmakers have introduced bills in Illinois, Michigan, New York and elsewhere to restrict demonstrations outside of clinics, increase criminal penalties for people who harass doctors and patients, or allocate more funds for abortion providers to buy security cameras, bulletproof glass and other protections. (Ollstein and Friedman, 3/19)

The Hill: Hawley Expresses Skepticism Of Oz Over Abortion, Trans Rights
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) expressed skepticism about Dr. Mehmet Oz’s, President Trump’s pick to oversee Medicare and Medicaid, views on abortion and transgender rights. “I’ve been reading up on Dr. Oz – I see he’s praised trans surgeries for minors and supported hormone treatments & puberty blockers for kids in the past,” Hawley wrote on X. “And has also criticized state laws protecting life. I hope he’s changed his views to match President Trump!” (Irwin, 3/19)

Modern Healthcare: Cigna, HCSC Close $3.3B Medicare Deal
Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee Health Care Service Corp. has closed its $3.3 billion purchase of Cigna’s Medicare operations, the companies announced Wednesday. The deal, which includes Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D and Medicare supplement assets along with the CareAllies consulting unit, quadruples Health Care Service Corp.'s Medicare Advantage membership to about 800,000 and closes the book on Cigna's Medicare plan business. (Berryman, 3/19)

The Boston Globe: Commonwealth Care Alliance: State Preps In Case Of Insurer Collapse
State officials said this week they are preparing in case Commonwealth Care Alliance collapses, in an effort to protect the health care of the struggling insurer’s nearly 50,000 elderly, disabled, and low-income members. In case members must transfer to a more basic version of the state’s Medicaid program, MassHealth, the state has sought proposals from vendors who could take over the intensive work of coordinating patients’ care, a service that Commonwealth Care provided but MassHealth‘s basic platform typically does not. (Bartlett, 3/19)

Modern Healthcare: Veradigm Overstated Revenue In Financial Statements, Company Says
Veradigm, a healthcare data company, confirmed on Tuesday it overstated its revenue in prior year-end financial statements. The company found discrepancies in its financial statements from 2020-2022, overstating revenue in 2020 and 2022 while understating revenue in 2021. It blamed the errors on “internal control failures." (Turner, 3/19)

CNN: Anti-Amyloid Therapy May Keep Alzheimer’s Symptoms At Bay In Certain Patients, Study Suggests 
For the first time, scientists say, they have evidence that using a biologic drug to remove sticky beta amyloid plaques from the brains of people destined to develop Alzheimer’s dementia can delay the disease. The researchers have been testing amyloid-removing therapies in a group of people who have rare genetic mutations that make it almost certain they’ll develop Alzheimer’s. (Goodman, 3/19)

NBC News: Experimental Treatment Borrowed From Blood Cancer Shows Promise For Pediatric Brain Tumors
Gavin Nielsen was 2 years old when he was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive brain cancer. The smiley toddler had diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG, a cancer that occurs in the part of the brain stem that controls vital functions including breathing, blood pressure and heart rate. Very few treatment options exist, and the prognosis for children diagnosed with the disease is, on average, less than one year. (Sullivan, Syal and Martin, 3/19)

AP: This Cutting Edge Hair Loss Treatment Is A Repurposed Drug From The 1990s
The latest trend in treating hair loss may sound familiar — essentially, it’s a repurposed drug first popularized in the 1990s. Back then, TV viewers were inundated with ads for Rogaine, a sticky topical solution that could help treat thinning hair when applied to the scalp. Now dermatologists are increasingly prescribing the drug, known generically as minoxidil, in low-dose pills to help men and women maintain or regrow hair. (Perrone, 3/19)

NBC News: Adult ADHD Prescriptions Still On The Rise, Especially Among Women Over 35
Prescriptions for ADHD medications have been spiking in recent years, with the sharpest increase among middle-aged and older women. They’re also the least likely to misuse the prescription stimulants, a new study found. The rise among women ages 35 to 64 has been substantial. At the end of 2022, 1.7 million women in this age group were prescribed stimulants such as Adderall and Ritalin for ADHD, compared to 1.2 million prescriptions in 2019. (Carroll, 3/19)

MedPage Today: Type 2 Diabetes Patients Also Reap Benefits Of Automated Insulin Delivery
An automated insulin delivery (AID) system boosted glycemic control in insulin-treated adults with type 2 diabetes using continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), a randomized trial showed. (Monaco, 3/19)

Modern Healthcare: FDA Deems Medtronic’s Pipeline Vantage Recall ‘Most Serious’
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday classified Medtronic’s recall of its Pipeline Vantage embolization devices as the most serious type of recall. The recall removed Pipeline Vantage 027 models from the market, which have been linked to 13 reported injuries and four deaths. The action also updated instructions for Pipeline Vantage 021 models, which have been tied to four reported injuries. (Dubinsky, 3/19)

Chicago Tribune: Northwestern Medicine To Try Robotic Device To Draw Blood
The practice of drawing blood has changed very little over the decades. It looks about the same now as it did 50 years ago. That process, however, may be about to get a modern makeover. Several health systems across the U.S. — including Northwestern Medicine — are gearing up to try a new way of drawing blood: using a robot. (Schencker, 3/19)

The CT Mirror: CT Bill With Long-Term Care Insurance Reforms Passes Committee
A third legislative committee has advanced a broad bill that would add protections for purchasers of long-term care insurance and boost transparency around rate hike requests. (Carlesso, 3/19)

WFSU: Bill Would Allow Caregivers To Give Insulin To A Disabled Client At APD-Licensed Group Homes
Two aging Florida parents are fighting for their diabetic son to be able to get his insulin shots administered by the caregivers in a group home. A bill (SB 1736) under consideration in the Legislature could help make that happen. (Menzel, 3/19)

MedPage Today: West Virginia On The Verge Of Banning Certain Food Dyes
West Virginia is on track to become one of the first states to outlaw food dyes in school meals -- and eventually across the state. Under the legislation, known as HB 2354, starting on Aug. 1, the following additives will be banned from any meals served at West Virginia public schools as part of a school nutrition program: Red Dye No. 3, Red Dye No. 40, Yellow Dye No. 5, Yellow Dye No. 6, Blue Dye No. 1, Blue Dye No. 2, and Green Dye No. 3. (Frieden, 3/19)

North Carolina Health News: N.C. House And Senate Bills Would Raise Tobacco Sales Age To 21
Rob Crane watched his father struggle with lung cancer for months before he died in his mid-60s. It was “really horrendous,” Crane said. As a doctor specializing in family medicine, Crane was inspired by that experience to start raising awareness about the effects of tobacco addiction. He founded the Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation in 1996 and began to push for state legislatures to raise the tobacco sales age. (Vitaglione, 3/20)

Chicago Tribune: Lawmakers Back Bill Tackling Sexual Misconduct In Health Care
A sweeping bill that would expand reporting requirements related to sexual misconduct allegations against health care workers and impose fines for failure to report serious incidents gained initial approval from a House committee Wednesday. The bill follows a Tribune investigation last year that exposed how Illinois health care systems failed to protect patients from sexual abuse and how state government failed to hold them accountable. (Hoerner and Schencker, 3/19)

Politico: What The New AI Report Could Mean For Health Care
Assembly Health Chair Mia Bonta sees an opportunity to make California healthier with the new AI report commissioned by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office. ... Bonta introduced a bill last month, AB 489, that would ban companies from marketing AI chatbots as licensed health professionals like nurses and psychologists. Her committee may soon take up another bill that would outlaw chatbots from luring in kids with addictive reward structures. (Katzenberger and DiFeliciantonio,3/19)

CBS News: Possible Measles Exposure Reported At Tuolumne County School And Emergency Room
Tuolumne County Public Health officials on Tuesday warned about possible measles exposure at a high school and an emergency room. ... In an update Wednesday, health officials confirmed the two suspected cases were confirmed positive for measles. Their vaccination status at this time is not known. Health officials said the two cases are from the same household and stem from traveling internationally. (Fabian, 3/19)

CBS News: Smartphone Addiction Is Leading To "Brain Rot," Doctors Say
Katy Paige Rosenberg, a freshman at the University of North Carolina Asheville, recently realized what too much scrolling on her phone was doing to her. She estimates she was probably spending about nine hours a day on her phone. ... Stories like hers are familiar, but now it is possible to see the science behind it, according to Dr. Brent Nelson, a psychiatrist and the chief medical information officer for Southern California-based Newport Healthcare, which operates mental health treatment centers for teens nationwide. (Oliver, 3/19)

AP: Lean Cuisine And Stouffer's Meals Recalled For 'Wood-Like Material' Linked To Choking
Nestle USA is recalling certain batches of its Lean Cuisine and Stouffer’s frozen meals for possible contamination with “wood-like material” after a report of potential choking. The recall applies to limited quantities of meals with best-before dates between September 2025 and April 2026. They include Lean Cuisine Butternut Squash Ravioli, Lean Cuisine Spinach Artichoke Ravioli, Lean Cuisine Lemon Garlic Shrimp Stir Fry and Stouffer’s Party Size Chicken Lasagna. (Aleccia, 3/19)

CBS News: U.S. Falls To Lowest-Ever Ranking On 2025 World Happiness Report
The United States this year fell to its lowest-ever place on the World Happiness Report, which highlights the positive effects benevolence and social connections have on people's life satisfaction. Finland remained the happiest nation for the eighth year in a row, while Mexico and Costa Rico ranked among the top 10 for the first time since the report was first published in 2012. (Brown Chau, 3/19)