Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
CDC Revokes Work-From-Home For Employees With Disabilities — For Now
Stat: CDC Pauses Work-From-Home Permission For Those With Disabilities
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has revoked permission for employees with disabilities to work from home, at least temporarily, and paused approving reasonable accommodations for new applicants seeking to work from home, according to a Sept. 15 email obtained by STAT. The agency’s decision stems from the Trump administration’s January directive to mostly end remote work for federal employees and is tied to an August update to a broader Health and Human Services telework policy, which the CDC email said did not include long-term telework as an option for federal employees with disabilities. (Broderick, 9/16)
In other health industry news —
Modern Healthcare: Vital, Penguin Ai Offering Guaranteed ROI To Compete Against Epic
The landscape for companies selling artificial intelligence tools was already crowded before Epic bolstered its offerings. The electronic health record company made it clear last month that it wasn’t going to cede the market to other vendors when it announced new AI tools for patients, for providers and for revenue cycle management functions. For some startups, the competition from Epic and elsewhere has meant adjusting their strategies to attract potential customers. (Perna, 9/16)
The Boston Globe: Colon Cancer In Young People Is One Focus Of New Harvard Center
Is sleep loss contributing to the increasing rate of colon cancer in young people? Can nerve cells in our skin be manipulated to ease hyper-sensitivity to touch for patients with autism? And can the breathtakingly complex layer of protective cells around our brain be unlocked so cancer drugs might be more effectively delivered to tumors? Amid a chaotic and uncertain time for federal funding of scientific research, a $30 million gift to Harvard Medical School for a new Brain-Body Center will fuel cutting-edge research to help answer these and other pressing health questions scientists say. (Lazar, 9/17)
CIDRAP: NIH Funds New Center Focused On Preventing Drug-Resistant Infections
Boston Children's Hospital and Tulane University have received a $25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish a center that will focus on strategies to prevent infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria. The Center of Excellence for Translational Research, housed at Boston Children's, will be called IMPACT (Immunization against Multidrug-resistant Pathogens: Activating T Cell Immunity) and will target Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumoniae—three pathogens that are frequently resistant to broad-spectrum antibiotics. (Dall, 9/16)
Stat: Black In Neuro Conference Marks Growth Despite Difficult Times
Last year, when organizers were planning 2025’s Black in Neuro week, the conference was meant to be a celebration. Little did they know that hosting the event at the University of the District of Columbia would put attendees just up the road from an administration that has ordered a wholesale defunding of work to diversify the scientific workforce and terminated training grants that supported many of the group’s scientists. The conference, which took place over three days last week, ended up being something between a victory lap marking the organization’s growth and a sober assessment of the political landscape as the Trump administration works in opposition to Black in Neuro’s goal of creating better support systems for Black neuroscientists. (Oza, 9/17)
Also —
MedPage Today: Consider Anal Cancer Screening In Some Older Women, Study Says
The risk of anal cancer in older women with a history of cervical cancer exceeded a "critical threshold" indicated for screening, a large retrospective cohort study showed. The total number of cases of anal cancer after cervical cancer was small, 64 in 85,524 women, but the incidence increased with age, reaching 17.6 cases per 100,000 person-years in women ages 65 to 74, double the rate for similar-age women in the general population, reported Haluk Damgacioglu, PhD, of the Medical University of South Carolina Hollings Cancer Center in Charleston, and coauthors. (Bankhead, 9/16)
The New York Times: Pig Organ Transplants May Pose A Dilemma For Some Jews And Muslims
The sacred texts of Judaism and Islam are in absolute agreement when it comes to the pig: It is taboo, unclean and unfit for human consumption. For Jews, pork is “treyf,” the very opposite of kosher. Pigs have one of the characteristics needed to be kosher (split hooves) but lack the other (they don’t chew their cud). For Muslims, the pig is also forbidden, or “haram,” along with carrion and blood. The Quran mentions the proscription repeatedly. (Caryn Rabin, 9/16)
