First Edition: Friday, April 4, 2025

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES

KFF Health News: DOGE Job Cuts Hit Federal Workers’ Finances And Mental Health
Federal workers are feeling demoralized and anxious as the Department of Government Efficiency slashes tens of thousands of jobs. Federal employment used to carry the promise of job security and an opportunity to serve the nation. But in recent weeks, uncertainty may be the most defining characteristic of being a federal worker. The stress is felt especially in Washington, D.C., where nearly 50,000 people work for the federal government. (Pradhan, 4/4)

KFF Health News: Immigration Crackdowns Disrupt The Caregiving Industry. Families Pay The Price
Alanys Ortiz reads Josephine Senek’s cues before she speaks. Josephine, who lives with a rare and debilitating genetic condition, fidgets her fingers when she’s tired and bites the air when something hurts. Josephine, 16, has been diagnosed with tetrasomy 8p mosaicism, severe autism, severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, among other conditions, which will require constant assistance and supervision for the rest of her life. (Sánchez and Chang, 4/4)

KFF Health News: KFF Health News’ ‘What The Health?’: American Health Gets A Pink Slip
The Department of Health and Human Services underwent an unprecedented purge this week, as thousands of employees from the National Institutes of Health, the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other agencies were fired, placed on administrative leave, or offered transfers to far-flung Indian Health Service facilities. Altogether, the layoffs mean the federal government, in a single day, shed hundreds if not thousands of combined years of health and science expertise. (Rovner, 4/3)

Stat: Senate Confirms Oz To Run Medicare And Medicaid 
In a party-line vote of 53-45, the Senate on Thursday confirmed Mehmet Oz to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Oz’s confirmation was expected; he is not as controversial as Health and Human Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or some other Trump picks to run health agencies within the HHS. (Wilkerson, 4/3)

FUNDING FREEZE AND DEI

CBS News: Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks $11 Billion In Trump Administration's Cuts To Public Health Funding
A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the Trump administration's move to cut over $11 billion in public health funding to states after 23 states and the District of Columbia sued to keep the funding intact. The coalition of states sued the Health and Human Services Department and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., arguing that the money is used for many "urgent public health needs," including tracking diseases, funding access to vaccines and mental health and addiction services, and improving health infrastructures. (Rosen and Tin, 4/3)

CBS News: Trump Plans To Freeze $510 Million For Brown University
The Trump administration plans to freeze $510 million in federal grants to Brown University while it reviews the school's response to antisemitism and its efforts to eliminate diversity policies, the White House confirmed Thursday. Brown, however, said it was unaware of the funding freeze. (Jacobs and Cordes, 4/3)

Bloomberg: Harvard Told To End DEI And Ban Masks As Funding Threat Detailed
The Trump administration detailed a raft of changes it wants from Harvard University in a letter received by the school Thursday, days after threatening to end as much as $9 billion in federal funding for the school. The demands include nine items, including eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs, a broad ban on masks, merit-based admissions and hiring that eliminates any preferences including based on race or national origin, law enforcement cooperation, as well as additional oversight for “biased programs that fuel antisemitism.” (Lorin, 4/3)

NBC News: Trump Administration Axes More Than $125M In LGBTQ Health Funding, Upending Research Field
The nation’s LGBTQ research field is collapsing. In recent weeks, academics who focus on improving the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans have been subjected to waves of grant cancellations from the National Institutes of Health. More than 270 grants totaling at least $125 million of unspent funds have been eliminated, though the true sum is likely much greater, researchers told NBC News.  (Ryan and Bendix, 4/3)

Stat: New Federal Dietary Guidelines Complicated By DEI Ban And MAHA
Food has been front and center in the Make America Healthy Again movement, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign to solve chronic disease in the United States. That’s why forthcoming federal guidance on nutrition could draw extra attention this time around, even as a massive reorganization of the nation’s health workforce unfolds. (Cooney, 4/4)

LAYOFFS AT HHS

The Washington Post: FDA Is Looking For Laid-Off Employees To Work During Fallout Of Firings
On Tuesday, thousands of Food and Drug Administration workers were laid off. They were shut out from the government offices where they had worked and placed on administrative leave until June 2. But just hours after employees were shown the door, Barclay Butler, the agency’s new chief operating officer, asked top FDA officials to identify employees to keep working for the next two months, according to an email obtained by The Washington Post. It appears, according to the email, that the agency needed laid-off employees to help transition as it was shedding workers. (Roubein, 4/3)

CBS News: RFK Jr. Cuts CDC Labs Investigating Outbreaks Of STDs And Hepatitis
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has eliminated the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's laboratories for sexually transmitted diseases and hepatitis, multiple officials tell CBS News, disrupting ongoing work to respond to outbreaks. Lab staff were informed this week of the cuts as part of the 10,000 layoffs done around the Department of Health and Human Services. Within the agency, officials are now warning of delays and disruptions to testing as a result. (Tin, 4/3)

Stat: Advisory Panel On Ethical, Legal Issues In Human Health Research Disbanded
A committee of experts that advises the Department of Health and Human Services on emerging ethical and legal issues in human health research has been disbanded, according to an email obtained by STAT. (Molteni and Silverman, 4/3)

The New York Times: Entire Staff Is Fired at Office That Helps Poorer Americans Pay for Heating
The Trump administration has abruptly laid off the entire staff running a $4.1 billion program to help low-income households across the United States pay their heating and cooling bills. The firings threaten to paralyze the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which was created by Congress in 1981 and helps to offset high utility bills for roughly 6.2 million people from Maine to Texas during frigid winters and hot summers. (Plumer, 4/2)

Politico: Which Jobs Were Cut At CDC? Here’s A List
The layoffs at CDC this week hit global and environmental health as well as HIV prevention programs especially hard, according to an overview document obtained by POLITICO. The document, shared during an agency meeting Tuesday, paints a picture of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that will be more narrowly focused on infectious disease, with a significantly less holistic view of public health. The job cuts include the elimination of about a fourth of the staff at the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention and about a third of the workers at the CDC’s Injury Center. (Gardner, 4/3)

MedPage Today: Over 350K Health Workers Face Deportation Risk
More than 350,000 noncitizen healthcare workers in the U.S. may be at risk of deportation as part of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, researchers estimated. Based on the Current Population Survey (CPS) from March 2024, there were over 20 million individuals making up the workforce across formal and informal healthcare settings nationwide, of whom an estimated 16.7 million were U.S.-born citizens, 2.3 million naturalized citizens, nearly 700,000 documented noncitizens, and over 366,500 undocumented immigrants. (Lou, 4/3)

Stat: Trump's Drug Policy: Fentanyl Test Strips And 'Harshest' Penalties
The Trump administration vows to emphasize addiction treatment alongside an enforcement-first drug policy, according to a not-yet-public strategy document obtained by STAT. In an effort to reduce overdose deaths caused by fentanyl and other illicit substances, the administration plans to “disrupt the supply chain from tooth to tail,” according to the document, known as the Statement of Drug Policy Priorities. (Facher, 4/3)

ON CAPITOL HILL

The Hill: HHS Staff To Brief House Committee Following Massive Agency Layoffs
House Democrats on the Energy and Commerce committee are demanding a hearing with Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Robert F Kennedy Jr. about the massive layoffs happening at his agency. But so far, GOP leadership has committed to a staff-level briefing only, according to a spokesperson for Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.). Health subcommittee ranking member Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) in a statement Thursday said a staff briefing isn’t enough. (Weixel, 4/3)

CIDRAP: As Cases Rise Nationally, 2 Infants Die Of Pertussis In Louisiana
Just weeks after two state surgeons general said they will no longer promote vaccinations, state officials announced that two Louisiana children have died of pertussis, or whooping cough—a vaccine-preventable disease—in the past 6 months, CNN reported yesterday. The news comes as Surgeon General Ralph Abraham, MD, confirmed 110 pertussis cases in Louisiana as of last week, compared with 154 for all of 2024. (Wappes, 4/3)

CIDRAP: New Jersey Officials Warn Of Measles Exposure At Newark Airport
An adult infected with measles traveled through Newark International Airport while infectious, New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) officials said yesterday. The person, who is not a resident of New Jersey, potentially exposed fellow travelers at Newark and other places in Bergen County in the last week of March. (Soucheray, 4/3)

EverythingLubbock.com: Texas Daycare Confirms Measles Cases, Works To Stop The Spread
Tiny Tots U Learning Academy on University Avenue confirmed its first case of measles in a child they take care of on March 24; since then, it had grown to several confirmed cases. The measles cases were being found in unvaccinated children and some who had received the first dose of the MMR vaccine. (Powers, 4/3)

AP: At Least Five US States Have Active Measles Outbreaks, Texas Largest With 400 Cases
Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico reported new measles cases this week, with the outbreak expanding for the first time into central Texas. Already, the U.S. has more measles cases this year than in all of 2024, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said. ... The multi-state outbreak confirms health experts’ fears that the virus will take hold in other U.S. communities with low vaccination rates and that the spread could stretch on for a year. The World Health Organization said last week that cases in Mexico are linked to the Texas outbreak. (Shastri, 4/3)

CNN: Measles Vaccination Rate May Be Even Lower Than Estimated, Leaving Kids Vulnerable Amid Outbreak 
As the United States faces one of its worst measles outbreaks in decades, a new analysis finds that nearly a third of young children who were eligible to be vaccinated against the disease did not get their first shot on schedule. (McPhillips and Mukherjee, 4/3)

Modern Healthcare: FTC Chair To Join CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, OptumRx Case
Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson said he will get involved in the agency’s legal action against the leading pharmacy benefit managers. In a post shared Thursday on the social media platform X, Ferguson said he no longer is recusing himself from the matter. (Berryman, 4/3)

Side Effects Public Media: Midwest State Attorneys General Call For The FDA To Clamp Down On Counterfeit Obesity Drugs 
Over 30 state attorneys general including in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio have urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to take action against “bad actors” selling counterfeit weight loss drugs. High demand for drugs like Ozempic, Mounjaro, Zepbound and Wegovy paired with a shortage has created a market for counterfeits, according to the letter. (Thorp, 4/3)

The Baltimore Sun: Lawsuit: University Of Maryland Medical Center Pharmacist Hacked Computers
A pharmacist at the University of Maryland Medical Center installed spyware on hospital computers, allowing him to access intimate pictures and videos of medical personnel, according to a lawsuit filed last week against the medical system. (Belson and Gluck, 4/3)

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

Stat: DOJ Asks Judge To Move Forward UnitedHealth Medicare Fraud Case 
The Department of Justice on Wednesday urged a federal judge not to toss out its long-running fraud case against UnitedHealth Group that alleges the company illegally collected billions of dollars from the Medicare Advantage program. (Bannow and Herman, 4/3)

Modern Healthcare: Ascension To Sell 4 Michigan Hospitals To Beacon Health
Ascension plans to sell four Michigan hospitals to Beacon Health System as the national hospital operator continues to narrow its acute care footprint. ... Nonprofit Beacon Health System operates six hospitals in Indiana and one in Michigan. The proposed transaction is expected to close this summer, pending customary regulatory approvals, Beacon said in a Thursday news release. (Kacik, 4/3)

Modern Healthcare: AdventHealth Names David Banks President And CEO
David Banks has been named the new president and CEO of AdventHealth, the system said in a news release Thursday. Banks succeeds Terry Shaw, who stepped down as CEO in December but will remain a member of the organization's board, the health system said. Banks previously served in multiple leadership roles across the system, including most recently as chief strategy officer, as well as CEO of the Primary Health Division and the Multi-State Division of AdventHealth, overseeing 22 campuses across eight states and three regional partnerships. (DeSilva, 4/3)

The 19th: Five Years After The Height Of COVID, Nurses Are Still Fighting For Their Rights
Taylor Crittenden still feels “righteous rage” when she thinks about her experiences at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Crittenden, a nurse at a hospital in Texas, remembers staffing shortages, limitations on personal protective equipment like heavy-duty masks, and long hours as health facilities were being overrun with COVID patients. (Rodriguez, 4/3)

STATE WATCH

AP: Nominee For South Carolina's Top Doctor Toppled By Lingering COVID Anger
A South Carolina Senate committee rejected the Republican governor’s nominee to be the state’s top doctor after hours of hearings dominated by the state’s response to the COVID pandemic. Just one of 13 Republicans on the Senate Medical Affairs Committee voted for Dr. Edward Simmer ‘s nomination to lead the new Department of Public Health — in contrast to the Republican-dominated Senate’s overwhelming endorsement of Simmer in 2021 as head of the state’s old public health and environmental agency. (Collins, 4/4)

KUNC: Colorado Law Meant To Restore Trust In Funeral Homes Blocked Public Access To Inspection Reports 
Until last summer, Coloradans who wanted to learn more about problems inspectors found at funeral homes could get copies of their reports. The documents would reveal whether refrigerators storing bodies were set at the correct temperature, whether the facility was sanitary, whether or not workers had the proper equipment and if records were properly maintained. But state regulators say the legislature removed the public’s access to funeral home inspection reports last year in the same bill they passed to tighten regulations on the industry. (Franz, 4/4)

CBS News: A Majority-Black Louisville Neighborhood Went More Than 150 Years Without A Hospital, Until Now
It's not something you hear often, but Regina Mitchell of Louisville, Kentucky, loves going to the doctor. ... Her appointments are at Norton West Louisville Hospital, the first to open here in Louisville's majority-Black West End neighborhood in more than 150 years. ... Bringing a hospital to the West End was the dream of Corenza Townsend, chief administrative officer for Norton West. Eight years ago, she was a nurse manager at another Norton hospital with that crazy dream and an elevator pitch. (Brown and Hastey, 4/3)

The Washington Post: Baltimore Sues DraftKings, FanDuel For Driving ‘Compulsive Gambling’
The city of Baltimore filed a lawsuit Thursday against sports betting companies DraftKings and FanDuel, accusing them of violating state and city law by engaging in “unfair and deceptive practices. ”In a complaint filed with the Baltimore City Circuit Court on behalf of the city’s mayor and municipal council, the two sites were accused of employing misleading promotions to lure people into signing up with their platforms, then using reams of data to identify users least able to resist enticements to keep gambling. (Bieler, 4/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: People In This Rural California Town Are Dying Of Rodent-Borne Virus
Three people in Mammoth Lakes (Mono County) have died of hantavirus, the rodent-borne virus that killed Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, health officials announced Thursday. Human cases of hantavirus — which spreads through contact with infected deer mice — are rare. Fewer than 100 California residents have been diagnosed with the respiratory illness since 1980, according to the state Department of Public Health. (Mishanec, 4/3)

The Washington Post: EPA Cuts Could Leave Small Rural Towns Choking In Smoke
When wildfire smoke drifts into the Methow Valley, it tends to stay, settling in the folds of the Cascade foothills like a choking fog. Recent summers have brought weeks-long binges of unhealthy air to one of Washington state’s poorest counties, rivaling some of the most polluted cities in the world. Countering this intensifying threat are small nonprofit organizations such as the Methow Valley Citizens Council, which has been distributing air purifiers, maintaining a network of air quality monitors, and spreading the message about how to keep safe when the smoke rolls in. Much of that work was funded by a three-year, $440,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, which got cut off last week amid the agency’s push to slash spending. (Partlow and Ajasa, 4/3)

Kansas City Star: KC Fire Stations Could Become Drop Off Points For Newborns 
Rather than seek an abortion, parents who want or need to give their newborns up for adoption anonymously could surrender their babies at climate-controlled boxes installed at Kansas City fire stations under a proposal introduced Thursday by 1st District Councilman Nathan Willett. (Hendricks, 4/4)

PUBLIC HEALTH

ProPublica: Unsanitary Practices Persist at Baby Formula Factory Whose Shutdown Led to Mass Shortages, Workers Say
Workers at one of the nation’s largest baby formula plants say the Abbott Laboratories facility is engaging in unsanitary practices similar to those that led it to temporarily shut down just three years ago, sparking a nationwide formula shortage. Current and former employees told ProPublica that they have seen the plant in Sturgis, Michigan, take shortcuts when cleaning manufacturing equipment and testing for microbes. ... One worker complained to the Food and Drug Administration in February. (Vogell, 4/4)

NBC News: It Doesn't Take Much For Microplastics To Leach Into Food, Researchers Warn
Scientists are finding microplastics everywhere from brain tissue to arteries and warning of the health risks posed by their buildup inside our bodies. They’re also discovering just how easily the tiny particles get there. Microplastics don’t just shed off of plastic items from overuse, like when a water bottle breaks down over weeks or months of being washed and refilled. They also leach into our food and drinks with even the brief use of a product with plastic components, alarming scientists. (Steinberg and Nguyen, 4/3)