Politico: The CDC And Its Advisers Have Quietly Expanded Access To The Covid-19 Vaccine For Pregnant Women
The CDC and its independent panel of vaccine advisers have quietly opened the door to wider access to Covid-19 vaccination during pregnancy, softening an earlier decision by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to stop recommending that pregnant women get the shots. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted in September to advise that adults get the Covid-19 shot through shared clinical decisionmaking between patients and providers. (Gardner, 10/8)

Bloomberg: Key Meeting On US Vaccine Recommendations Delayed From October
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will reschedule a late October meeting of an influential vaccine panel that’s been weighing changes to long-standing advice around childhood shots. The Advisory Committee of Immunization Practices, or ACIP, will no longer meet on Oct. 22 and 23, according to the panel’s website. No indication was given of when a future meeting will take place or why it was moved. (Cohrs Zhang and Nix, 10/8)

NBC News: How People Are Finding Ways To Get Covid Shots Despite Eligibility Limits
A Covid vaccine rollout unlike any other has given rise to confusion over who’s eligible and concerns that the shots might be harder to obtain this fall — especially for young children. Unlike in past years, when the vaccines were approved and recommended for everyone 6 months and older, the Food and Drug Administration this summer approved updated Covid shots only for people 65 and older and those with medical conditions that put them at risk of severe illness. (Bendix, 10/8)

NBC News: Covid Booster Vaccine Offers More Protection For Adults 65 And Older Than Younger People, New Research Finds
Covid vaccines continue to protect against serious illness and death, especially for people ages 65 and older, although the benefits for younger adults are not as clear, according to a large new study of veterans. Researchers from the VA St. Louis Healthcare System analyzed data from nearly 300,000 veterans and found that last season’s Covid vaccine reduced the risk of emergency room visits by 29%, hospitalizations by 39% and deaths by 64% for all ages. (Syal, 10/8)

In related news on HHS and RFK Jr. —

ABC News: HHS Hits Back At Former Surgeons General Who Wrote Op-Ed Saying RFK Jr. Is Endangering Nation's Health
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) hit back at an op-ed written by the most recent six surgeons general, who said they wanted to warn the U.S. about the dangers of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The op-ed, published in The Washington Post on Tuesday, called the health secretary’s policies and positions an "immediate and unprecedented" threat to the nation’s health. In a statement to ABC News, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the doctors are the same officials "who presided over the decline in America's public health." (Kekatos, 10/8)

The Washington Post: Why RFK Jr.'s Surgeon General Pick Says You Shouldn’t Always Trust Your Doctor
Casey Means, the surgeon general nominee, has criticized the medical establishment. She could be put in position to change it. (Weber and Roubein, 10/9)

MedPage Today: HHS Social Media Takes On Influencer Vibes
Federal health officials have been sharing videos on social media, ranging from wacky to downright dangerous, which experts say contribute to a broader shift in social media strategy. Many of the videos are posted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s official health secretary accounts and feature other top officials. (Robertson, 10/8)

Axios: Dems Open To Income Cap On ACA Subsidies
Some moderate Senate Democrats say they are open to placing an income cap on eligibility for Affordable Care Act tax credits to help facilitate a deal with Republicans. (Sullivan, 10/8)

Stat: House Speaker Supports Emergency Medical Care For Immigrants 
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Wednesday that Republicans don’t want to change a law requiring hospitals to provide care to any individual experiencing a medical emergency, including immigrants without legal status. His remarks capped off more than a week of comments from Republican politicians related to the idea of undocumented immigrants receiving medical care. (Wilkerson, 10/8)

The Hill: Hakeem Jeffries, Mike Lawler Get Into Confrontation Over ObamaCare: 'You're Embarrassing Yourself'
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) traded pointed barbs in the halls of the Capitol on Wednesday, after the moderate Republican confronted the Democratic leader about his opposition to a short-term extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies. Lawler approached Jeffries when he emerged from the House Democratic leadership press conference and repeatedly pressed the Democrat to sign on to a proposal that would extend the ObamaCare subsidies by one year, which Jeffries earlier dismissed as a “nonstarter.” (Fortinsky, 10/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Who Gets Healthcare Subsidies Under The Affordable Care Act
At the heart of the fight that has shut the federal government are health-insurance subsidies that help people like Khadija B. Wallace—a swing voter in a battleground state. Wallace runs the catering company she founded in Ypsilanti, Mich., and she relies on the federal help to cover most of the monthly $560 premium for her Affordable Care Act health plan. She has voted for both Republicans and Democrats in recent elections. (Wilde Mathews and Siddiqui, 10/8)

Becker's Hospital Review: Government Shutdown Rolls Into Its 2nd Week: 4 Updates
The eighth day of the federal government shutdown was marked by another round of failed votes on a pair of dueling funding bills. Here are four updates to know on the government shutdown as it entered its second week: For the sixth time, a pair of funding bills was rejected by the Senate, Politico reported Oct. 8. (Cass, 10/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: California To Ban Ultra-Processed Foods In School Lunches
California on Wednesday became the first state in the U.S. to ban ultra-processed food in school lunches — including soda, energy drinks and other foods high in sugar or salt and low in nutrients. The new law, AB1264, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and authored by Assembly Member Jesse Gabriel, D-Encino, will define “particularly harmful” ultra-processed foods by 2028, require schools to begin phasing them out of breakfasts and lunches by 2029, and ban them altogether by 2035. (Ho, 10/8)

On Medicaid cuts, hunger, and research funding —

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: 'Big Beautiful Bill' To Cost Missouri $67M More For Medicaid
It could cost the state an additional $67 million next year to ensure Missouri complies with new federal work requirements for Medicaid recipients under rules brought forth this summer by President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill.” (Erickson, 10/8)

Modern Healthcare: State Medicaid Reimbursement Rates Risk Cuts To Balance Budgets
States are ratcheting down Medicaid reimbursement rates, squeezing providers already bracing for short- and long-term cuts from state and federal governments. Idaho and North Carolina have lowered Medicaid payments amid rising healthcare costs and budget pressures. Other states are expected to follow suit to offset budget shortfalls that are set to deepen when federal Medicaid funding declines under the new tax law. (Kacik, 10/8)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Hunger Fight In Georgia Complicated By SNAP Overhaul, Lost Data
Gloria Simmons has spent the last decade fighting hunger in a county where nearly one in two children lack or have uncertain access to adequate food. Rural Hancock County, about 100 miles southeast of Atlanta, has the highest estimated rate of childhood food insecurity in the nation — about 47%, according to Feeding America’s latest report tracking data from 2023. (Groves, 10/8)

KFF Health News: University Of California Researchers, Patients Wary Of Trump Cuts Even As Some Dollars Flow Again
In August, an 80-year-old woman walked into the emergency room at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. She was lucid but experiencing a stroke. Within minutes, doctors asked for permission to pull out the stroke-causing clot before any more brain damage could occur. She hesitated. The procedure was part of a clinical trial, and she’d heard about a federal freeze on research grants to UCLA. She wanted to know: Would this study be at risk, potentially affecting her care? (Mai-Duc, 10/9)

In mental health news —

CBS News: Colorado Men's Group Works To Connect And Uplift Men During Male Loneliness Epidemic
A Gallup poll found that one in four American men under 35 feels lonely. A growing men's group with chapters across the country, including in Colorado, is hoping to encourage men to connect and serve their communities, amid the so-called "male loneliness epidemic." Wednesday and Friday mornings, a group of men gather in a Castle Pines park for a workout that they say strengthens so much more than their bodies. (Young, 10/8)

NPR: As Schools Embrace AI, More Students Are Using It As A Friend
New survey data finds that nearly 1 in 5 high schoolers say they or someone they know has had a romantic relationship with artificial intelligence. And 42% of students surveyed say they or someone they know have used AI for companionship. That's according to new research from the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), a nonprofit that advocates for civil rights, civil liberties and responsible use of data and technology. (Gaines, 10/8)

Outbreaks and health threats across the U.S. —

CBS News: Bat Tests Positive For Rabies In Monterey County; Pets Placed In Quarantine
Officials in Monterey County are urging pet owners to ensure their animals are up to date on rabies vaccinations, after a bat in an unincorporated area tested positive for the virus. In a statement Tuesday, officials said the positive case involves a Mexican free-tailed bat that was found in the Cachagua area on Sep. 29. Hitchcock Road Animal Services investigated the incident and determined there was exposure to pets. (Fang, 10/8)

CIDRAP: More Measles Cases Confirmed In South Carolina, Michigan As US Total Climbs To 1,563
A recent measles outbreak in South Carolina has grown by two cases, according to health officials in the state, as the US outbreak total has reached 1,563 cases, the most in decades. Seven measles cases have been reported in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, since Sept. 25, and the state has had 10 total cases this year. The current outbreak has no identified source, which suggests measles is circulating in the community. (Soucheray, 10/8)

Newsweek: CDC Reveals Cause Of Malaria’s Return To US After 20 Years
After two decades, malaria made an unexpected return to the United States, catching health officials off guard and revealing how a warming world can breathe new life into old threats. Between May and December 2023, ten people across Florida, Texas, Maryland and Arkansas contracted the serious disease from local mosquito bites rather than through international travel, according to new research. (Notarantonio, 10/8)

NBC News: Listeria Outbreak Linked To Pre-Cooked Pasta: Here's What To Know
More precooked pasta meals have been recalled because of possible links to a sprawling listeria outbreak that has led to four deaths. The outbreak, which was announced in June, has led to a wave of recalls of ready-to-eat pasta meals that use pasta from food supplier Nate’s Fine Foods, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Some of the meals were distributed by FreshRealm, a food service company. Others were sold at major supermarket chains. (Ozcan, Miller and Fattah, 10/8)

CBS News: Amazon To Start Offering Prescription Drugs Through Vending Machines
Amazon announced it is rolling out "pharmacy kiosks" beginning in December. The self-service kiosks will allow Amazon's One Medical patients to bypass brick-and-mortar pharmacies and get their prescribed medications at the doctor's office at the end of their appointment. Starting in December, the kiosks will be available at One Medical locations in downtown Los Angeles, West LA, Beverly Hills, Long Beach and West Hollywood, the e-commerce giant said Tuesday. (Cunningham, 10/8)

More on the high cost of prescription drugs —

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Excludes Generics From Big Pharma Tariff Plan
The Trump administration said it isn’t planning to impose tariffs on generic drugs from foreign countries, after months of wrangling over whether to impose levies on the vast majority of drugs that are dispensed in the U.S. The administration has been weighing duties on a range of pharmaceutical products and ingredients, using a tariff investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which covers threats to national security. President Trump last month posted online that he would impose 100% tariffs on name-brand drugs on Oct. 1, but didn’t mention generics. (Bade, 10/8)

The Hill: Oz Seeks To Soothe MAHA 
Speaking during a weekly call with MAHA supporters on Wednesday, Oz said he recognized that some were not happy when the administration last week announced a deal with Pfizer about lowering drug prices for Medicaid patients. “Some of the companies we’re working with are not companies that folks in the MAHA movement have thought highly of,” said Oz, who is the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Weixel and Choi, 10/8)

KFF Health News: Listen: Why “TrumpRx” Might Not Save You Money
KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner appeared Oct. 6 on the podcast “Today, Explained” to discuss TrumpRx, President Donald Trump’s proposal for a direct-to-consumer website aimed at lowering prescription drug costs. While few details were made public when the program was announced on Sept. 30, Rovner explains that consumers who are enrolled in health plans through their employers or government programs may save more money on drugs using their insurance or drugmakers’ patient discount programs. (Rovner, 10/9)

In other Trump administration news —

Bloomberg: Trump To Undergo Regular Physical Exam At Walter Reed On Friday
President Donald Trump will undergo a physical exam on Friday following mounting questions about his health prompted by noticeable bruising and swelling in recent months. “On Friday morning, President Trump will visit Walter Reed Medical Center for a planned meeting and remarks with the troops. While there, President Trump will stop by for his routine yearly check up,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Wednesday. “President Trump is considering going to the Middle East shortly thereafter.” (Dezenski, 10/8)

Fierce Healthcare: AMA's Handling Of CPT Codes Enters Congress' Crosshairs
The top senator on healthcare policy is taking a hard look at the American Medical Association’s “anti-patient and anti-doctor” handling of the healthcare system’s near-ubiquitous billing and claims processing codes. Bill Cassidy, M.D., R-Louisiana, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, chastised the nation’s leading physician association for “abusing” the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) coding system and said he will be “actively reviewing” the issue. (Muoio, 10/8)

Modern Healthcare: Why Aetna, Cigna's Downcoding Policies Alarm Providers
Physicians and hospitals are up in arms about new tactics some health insurance companies are using to reduce payments. Under a policy Cigna is rolling out this month, six Current Procedural Terminology Evaluation and Management billing codes are being “downcoded” through an automated process that results in lower reimbursements for services such as office visits and outpatient consultations. (Tong, 10/8)

More news from the health care industry —

Axios: Medicare Paid For 200K Unneeded Back Surgeries: Study
U.S. hospitals performed more than 200,000 unnecessary back surgeries on older adults that cost taxpayers $1.9 billion, according to a new analysis of Medicare and Medicare Advantage claims data. (Bettelheim, 10/9)

MedPage Today: Private Equity Tightens Its Grip On Outpatient Surgery
Amid billions of dollars of private equity investment in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), there is a need for greater monitoring and oversight, according to a new report. In recent years, ASCs have been reported to account for more than 60% of outpatient procedural care in the U.S. and represent an approximately $30 billion market, noted the research brief from the nonprofit Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP). (Henderson, 10/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Microsoft Tries To Catch Up In AI With Healthcare Push, Harvard Deal 
Microsoft has a lofty goal: to become an artificial-intelligence chatbot powerhouse in its own right rather than leaning on its partnership with the ChatGPT maker, OpenAI. In an effort to steal a march on its more-advanced rivals, the company has seized on healthcare as a lane in which it believes it can deliver a better offering than any of the other major players and build the brand of its Copilot assistant. (Herrera, 10/8)

Modern Healthcare: OneOncology To Acquire Cancer Clinics From GenesisCare 
Medical practice network OneOncology has acquired GenesisCare USA of Florida and is relaunching the practice as SunState Medical Specialists. The deal adds more than 100 physicians, including urologists, oncologists and surgeons, at 104 clinics throughout Florida to OneOncology’s portfolio, according to a Wednesday news release. (Hudson, 10/8)

Fierce Healthcare: Allara Health Expands Women's Metabolic Care To 50 States
Allara Health, a virtual women’s health provider, has expanded to all 50 states. The provider, specializing in women’s hormonal, metabolic and reproductive health, was in 30 states at the start of the year. Alongside news of the expansion, Allara has also published clinical outcomes data that demonstrate improvements in patient health in a health impact report. (Gliadkovskaya, 10/8)

Chicago Tribune: Lake Forest Hospital Gets A New Name, After Ken Griffin Gift
Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital is getting a new name after a donation from formerly Chicago-based billionaire Ken Griffin. The hospital will now be called Northwestern Medicine Catherine Gratz Griffin Lake Forest Hospital, after Griffin’s mother who used to live in Lake Forest. (Schencker, 10/8)

MedPage Today: Experts Push To Expand Role Of Nutrition In Medicine
Diet should be considered an important part of a patient's treatment along with medication, surgery, and other options, several experts said Wednesday at a "Food Is Medicine" meeting sponsored by Tufts University. "I would want to see, in 2030, food as a vital sign," said Sean Hashmi, MD, a nephrologist at the Southern California Permanente Medical Group in Woodland Hills. (Frieden, 10/8)

Also —

Medical Xpress: The AI Doctor Is Not Ready To See You Now: Stress Tests Reveal Flaws
Robust performance under uncertainty, valid reasoning grounded in evidence, and alignment with real clinical need are prerequisites for trust in any health care setting. Microsoft Research, Health & Life Sciences reports that top-scoring multimodal medical AI systems show brittle behavior under stress tests, including correct guesses without images, answer flips after minor prompt tweaks, and fabricated reasoning that inflates perceptions of readiness. (Jackson, 10/7)

Becker's Hospital Review: A New Model To Measure Nurses’ Economic Value
A new model aims to help hospitals and health system leaders better understand how investments in nursing contribute to financial sustainability. Researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing in Baltimore and Marquette University College of Nursing in Milwaukee introduced the Nursing Human Capital Value Model Oct. 7, during a preview event for the American Nurses Enterprise’s annual Research Symposium. (Cerutti, 10/7)

The New York Times: ‘Bluetoothing’: Blood-Sharing Drug Trend Fuels Alarming Global H.I.V. Surge 
A dangerous drug trend called “bluetoothing,” in which people inject themselves with the blood of other drug users to get a cheap high, is contributing to spikes in H.I.V. rates in infection hot spots around the world. The blood-sharing practice, which is many times riskier than sharing needles, has helped fuel one of the fastest-growing H.I.V. epidemics in Fiji and grown widespread in South Africa, another infection capital, according to public health authorities and researchers. (Baskar, 10/8)

More on substance abuse —

Stat: More People With Psychosis Are Using Cannabis. Physicians Are Worried 
Cannabis use rates among people with psychosis have surged in states that have legalized the drug, according to a new study. Medical professionals say the trend — especially when combined with more potent variants of the drug available on the market — could worsen existing mental illnesses and endanger people with a genetic predisposition for psychosis. (Broderick, 10/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Drug Rehabs Lure In Patients For Insurance Money—Then Leave Them On The Street 
Penny Lamb and Jeffery Lichtenberg were 1,500 miles from their home in Oklahoma with no money and no prospects when they were kicked out of their drug rehab program. None of it had gone as expected. Months earlier, Lichtenberg said, a man he knew from a past prison stay had promised to help if they ever wanted to kick their meth habits. The man texted photos of rehabs that looked like Hollywood mansions for movie stars, with swimming pools and hot tubs. They wouldn’t have to pay a cent, he said, including for their flight to California—and he would help them sign up for a health insurance policy that would cover the rehab costs. (Elinson and Wernau, 10/8)

The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: DeWine Declares Public Health Emergency, Orders Intoxicating Hemp Products Off Shelves 
Gov. Mike DeWine on Wednesday declared a public health emergency over intoxicating hemp products in Ohio, essentially banning sale of the products, at least temporarily. (McGowan and Pelzer, 10/8)

In news about organ transplantation —

The New York Times: Chinese Surgeons Perform First Pig-To-Human Liver Transplant 
Surgeons in China have for the first time transplanted a section of liver extracted from a genetically modified pig into a human cancer patient, they reported on Thursday. The surgeons, who described the procedure in a paper in The Journal of Hepatology, grafted the portion of pig liver onto the left lobe of a 71-year-old patient’s liver after removing the larger right lobe, where a tumor the size of a grapefruit had grown. (Caryn Rabin, 10/9)

Becker's Hospital Review: Children’s Atlanta Performs World’s Youngest Domino Liver Transplant
Surgeons at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta performed the world’s youngest domino liver transplant. Domino liver transplants involve one patient with a metabolic disease receiving a donor liver while their native liver is transplanted into another patient with end-stage liver disease, but without metabolic disease. The liver in the non-metabolic disease donor functions normally due to the lack of genetic defect which causes the metabolic disorder. (Taylor, 10/6)

Word In Black: The Call That Saves A Life  
Not everybody survives the wait for an organ transplant. We spoke to eight Black Americans who received a transplant. Here’s what they said. (Durham, 10/8)

NBC News: Your 'Sleep Profile' Sheds Light On Health, Lifestyle And Cognition, New Study Shows
Five distinct sleep patterns are tied to your health, lifestyle, cognition and even how different regions of your brain connect to one another, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Biology. (Leake, 10/8)

The Hill: Alcohol Dependency Study: Scientists Identify Brain Region Behind Compulsive Drinking
A new study suggests the brain physically adapts to rely on alcohol to relieve stress and anxiety, creating a powerful feedback loop that makes quitting drinking extremely difficult. Researchers at Scripps Research identified a set of brain cells that become more active when drinkers start associating alcohol with relief from withdrawal. The finding pinpoints a biological mechanism behind addiction, offering more evidence that alcoholism is not just about pleasure or willpower but about deep changes in brain function. (Delandro, 10/8)

Medical Xpress: Epigenetic Shifts Link Maternal Infection During Pregnancy To Higher Risk Of Offspring Developing Schizophrenia
Researchers at University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University recently carried out a study aimed at further investigating the processes through which maternal infections during pregnancy could increase the risk that offspring will develop schizophrenia later in life. Schizophrenia is a typically debilitating mental health condition characterized by hallucinations, false beliefs about oneself or the world (e.g., delusions) and cognitive impairments. (Fadelli, 10/6)

Medical Xpress: Human Ability To Focus On Specific Sounds Not Found To Originate In Auditory Nerve Or Brainstem
Research led by the University of Michigan's Kresge Hearing Research Institute and the University of Rochester illuminates the mechanisms through which humans can pick out and focus on single sounds in noisy environments. Previous studies had established that this ability to filter sound, called "selective attention," involved the auditory cortex of the brain. (10/6)

CIDRAP: Vaccine For Typhoid, Invasive Salmonella Shows Promise In Phase 1 Trial 
An international team of researchers today reported promising results from a phase 1 trial of a novel vaccine designed to protect against typhoid fever and non-typhoidal Salmonella infections. (Dall, 10/8)

The Washington Post: AI Is Health Care’s Last Best Hope
Health care remains one of the most stubborn failures of American society. Costs keep climbing at unsustainable rates. More than 27 million people remain uninsured and more than 100 million lack a primary care provider. While some are fortunate to receive state-of-the-art care, as many as 200,000 patients die each year from preventable medical errors. (Leana S. Wen, 10/7)

Undark: NIH Student Grant Cancellation Will Weaken Scientific Innovation
As a PH.D. candidate in computational neuroscience at the University of Chicago, I’ve always found it easy to engage people across the political spectrum in my research. I study the vestibular system, the organs in our inner ear that detect gravity and head motions to maintain balance, stabilize gaze, and provide a sense of spatial orientation. This system is crucial not only in everyday life but also in extreme environments such as spaceflight, where minimal gravity challenges how our bodies sense motion and orientation. (Olivia Lutz, 10/9)

Stat: ‘CRISPR Cure’ Headlines Disappoint Rare Disease Parents 
In May, a historic moment in science and medicine was captured in a single photo that circulated across news outlets worldwide. It showed “Baby KJ,” the first infant treated with a personalized gene-editing drug, in the arms of the research team behind the breakthrough. (Celena Lozano, 10/9)

Stat: Pharma R&D Changes Spell Trouble For Global South 
In 2023, Johnson & Johnson announced it had stopped research and development on therapeutics for many infectious diseases, including hepatitis and tuberculosis. Less visibly, AbbVie shuttered last year its pro bono technical R&D support on infectious diseases such as malaria and Chagas’ disease. These are not isolated cases. (Laurent Fraisse, 10/9)

The New York Times: Relax, America, There Is Life After Nonstick Pans
These PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are called forever chemicals for good reason. They don’t break down, lingering in our blood, water and soil. They’ve been linked to cancer, infertility, thyroid disease, developmental delays and immune dysfunction. (Andrew Zimmern, 10/8)