Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
FDA Fills Leadership Roles For Centers Overseeing Vaccines, Drugs, Tobacco, And AI
Stat: FDA Names Permanent Leaders For CDER, CBER
The Trump administration permanently filled four key leadership roles at the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday, after it nominated Heidi Overton to lead the agency late last month. (Manto, 9/8)
Fierce Healthcare: CMS Puts Pressure On DME Suppliers As Part Of Anti-Fraud Push
The Trump administration is cracking down further on durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers as part of its broader push to root out fraud. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said Monday that it has identified 11 medical supply companies that it will block from receiving payments under Medicare Advantage or Medicare Part D. The agency said it suspects these firms were involved in more than $3.4 billion in fraudulent billing practices in 2025 and 2026. (Minemyer, 9/8)
The New York Times: American Bar Association Ends D.E.I. Standards Under Trump Pressure
The American Bar Association, the lawyers group that sets standards for the legal profession, eliminated on Tuesday a diversity requirement for law schools after facing pressure from the Trump administration. The bar association said that the diversity requirement could jeopardize its role as an accreditor that oversees nearly 200 juris doctorate programs. (Patel, 9/8)
The Washington Post: Medical Schools Aiming To Treat Diverse Communities Face Trump Funding Threats
The Trump administration’s mounting investigations and attacks on diversity initiatives have left medical schools facing a tough choice as they consider how to select incoming classes: stick with policies they see as core to their mission or risk critical federal funding. The legal landscape is unresolved, leaving some schools to weigh potential consequences in a high-profile, high-stakes fight. (Meckler and Svrluga, 9/9)
KFF Health News: Democrats Demand Trump Administration Halt Collection Of Patients' ER Records
A group of Democratic lawmakers is calling for the Trump administration to suspend a new surveillance program it quietly launched to collect the personal and identifiable health data of Americans who visit emergency rooms. KFF Health News first reported that the Consumer Product Safety Commission — a federal agency tasked with monitoring injuries from household items — was pressuring hospitals to provide a private company with personally identifiable health information for analysis. The rollout of the program has inspired broad pushback from hospitals and privacy advocates. (Seitz, Rosenfeld, and Tahir, 9/8)
On global healthcare funding —
The New York Times: Nepal’s Flood Relief Workers Feel The Pain Of Trump’s Cuts To U.S.A.I.D.
Two days after a catastrophic earthquake shook Nepal in April 2015, the United States Agency for International Development deployed a 128-member disaster response team to assess how it could help and pledged $10 million in humanitarian aid. The agency later provided miles of tarp for shelters, helped build temporary schools out of bamboo and used mapping technology to help people find clean water. But two weeks after the country’s worst natural disaster since then — the flash floods triggered by a glacial fall that left more than 5,000 dead or missing — the United States has dialed back, sending $3.6 million to provide food for 10,000 households. (Das, Pradhan and Ghimire, 9/9)
AP: Doctors Without Borders Warns That Funding Cuts Are Forcing Health Clinics To Close
An additional three dozen health facilities serving more than 400,000 people in Sudan are closing this year due to global aid cuts, worsening a dire humanitarian situation in a country torn by more than three years of war, aid groups said Tuesday. The cuts come to a health care system that once numbered 6,500 primary healthcare facilities and 300 public hospitals, but that already was decimated in the first year and a half of war. By September 2024, the World Health Organization said that up to 70-80% of facilities in the worst-hit areas were either closed or barely functioning. (Khaled, 9/9)
Health news from Capitol Hill —
CIDRAP: Lawmakers Criticize Deal That Would Send NIH Funds To Department Of Defense
Democratic lawmakers in Congress are speaking out about an agreement that would allow the Department of Defense (DoD) to tap into billions of dollars in funding designated for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). (Dall, 9/8)
The Hill: House Democrat Sells Zyn-Style Tins Amid Tough Race
A House Democrat seeking reelection is selling Zyn-inspired campaign merchandise, leaning into an association with the explosively popular nicotine pouches that have devotees among the Trump administration. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) is selling a $50 “GLUE-ZYN-KAMP” storage tin on her office campaign website, mimicking the Zyn pouches’ ubiquitous circular container. The Democrat is among the party’s most vulnerable incumbents, running in a district President Trump carried three times. (Weixel, 9/8)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Rick Jackson Proposes ‘Intelligent Medicaid Expansion’ In Georgia
Republican Rick Jackson is pledging to close Georgia’s health insurance coverage gap by embracing what he calls an “intelligent Medicaid expansion” to address one of the state’s most politically contentious fights. (Bluestein, 9/8)
