Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: Friday, May 1, 2026
KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES
KFF Health News: Delays In Visa Program Threaten Placement Of Hundreds Of Doctors In Underserved Areas
Hundreds of foreign doctors about to complete training in the U.S. will have to leave the country if the federal government doesn’t rapidly process their visa waiver applications, which have been languishing since the fall and winter, immigration attorneys say. The waiver program, run by the Department of Health and Human Services, allows physicians who aren’t U.S. citizens to stay in the country while transitioning from the visa they used during their training to temporary worker status. In exchange, the doctors agree to work in underserved areas for at least three years. (Zionts, 5/1)
KFF Health News: Gavin Newsom, Early Champion Of Single-Payer, Moderates In The Face Of Fiscal Limits
In his earliest days in the governor’s office, Democrat Gavin Newsom huddled with his advisers to consider how to realize a key campaign promise: transforming a healthcare system replete with insurance company intermediaries into the nation’s first state-run single-payer model providing comprehensive coverage to all residents, similar to those in Canada and Taiwan. (Hart, 5/1)
KFF Health News: KFF Health News’ ‘What The Health?’: The Peculiar Politics Of Hospitals
Republicans and Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee had strong words for hospital CEOs about their prices at a hearing this week. But it remains unclear whether they will follow up their words with actions to force prices down. Meanwhile, in a rare bit of positive health policy news, a study of the first two years of the new 988 suicide prevention hotline shows it reduced suicides among young people, and more so in states that fielded more calls. (Rovner, 4/30)
SURGEON GENERAL
AP: Trump Pulls Nomination For Surgeon General Nominee Casey Means
President Donald Trump said Thursday he’s nominating radiologist and former Fox News Channel contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier for surgeon general after Dr. Casey Means’ path forward stalled in the Senate over questions about her experience and her stance on vaccines. In a social media post, Trump said he would nominate Saphier, whom he called “a STAR physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer through their diagnosis and treatment.” (Swenson and Kinnard, 4/30)
The Hill: Donald Trump Accuses Republican Senator Bill Cassidy Of ‘Political Games’ After Surgeon General Nominee Switch
President Trump on Thursday accused Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) of playing “political games” that ended his second surgeon general nominee’s confirmation in the Senate, comments that came as Trump was announcing his decision to withdraw her nomination. In a post on Truth Social, Trump announced he was replacing his nominee for surgeon general, Casey Means, with former Fox News contributor Nicole Saphier. Both he and White House senior adviser Calley Means, who is Casey Means’s brother, blamed Cassidy for the failed confirmation. (Choi, 4/30)
Politico: Casey Means: Murkowski Sank My Nomination
Sen. Lisa Murkowski delivered the coup de grâce in ending the nomination of Casey Means, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s choice for surgeon general, Means told POLITICO Thursday. The Alaska Republican told the Trump administration this week she was a “no” on the nominee, Means said, effectively dooming her chances of winning the Senate Health Committee’s approval, a prerequisite for confirmation. (Friedman, 4/30)
Stat: Surgeon General Nominee Dr. Nicole Saphier, In Her Own Words
Now that Casey Means is no longer the Trump administration’s choice for surgeon general, attention is turning to the new nominee for the position. Nicole Saphier, whose candidacy was announced Thursday, is a licensed physician — unlike Means, whose license lapsed. A radiologist at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Saphier (pronounced SAA-fire) is director of breast imaging at MSK Monmouth in New Jersey. (Cooney, Branswell and Palmer, 4/30)
HEALTHCARE COSTS AND COVERAGE
The New York Times: Since Congress Let Obamacare Subsidies Expire, Millions Are Dropping Coverage
Millions of Americans appear to be dropping Obamacare coverage in the months since Congress failed to extend the generous subsidies that had become a defining feature of the Affordable Care Act. Initial sign-ups had already fallen by about 1.2 million people. But insurance companies, state officials and industry analysts are reporting that many more have lost Obamacare coverage now that people are facing long-term higher costs. The federal government has yet to report current enrollment data. (Abelson and Sanger-Katz, 5/1)
Modern Healthcare: Education Department Caps Student Loans For 'Professional' Degrees
The Education Department finalized a rule Thursday capping federal borrowing limits for graduate-level aspiring healthcare providers. The final rule, slated to go into effect July 1, will impose an annual borrowing limit of $50,000 annually, or a total of $200,000, for “professional” degree programs, including medical school. (DeSilva, 4/30)
MEDICARE
The Washington Post: Medicare Portal Exposed Health Providers’ Social Security Numbers
The Trump administration inadvertently exposed the Social Security numbers of health care providers in a database powering a new Medicare portal, The Washington Post found. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) last year created a directory to help seniors look up which doctors and medical providers accept which insurance plans, framing it as an overdue improvement and part of the Trump administration’s initiative to modernize health care technology. (Diamond and Ence Morse, 4/30)
VACCINES
Stat: FDA Names Katherine Szarama Acting Director Of CBER
The Food and Drug Administration has named Katherine Szarama as the acting director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, which regulates vaccines, gene therapies, and the blood supply. (Lawrence, 4/30)
The New York Times: The Vaccine Skeptic In Trump’s New C.D.C. Leadership Team
When President Trump named a new leadership team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention two weeks ago, public attention focused on Dr. Erica Schwartz, his nominee to be the agency’s director. Her public support of vaccines was interpreted by some as a sign that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s quest to limit childhood immunizations might be coming to an end. But another senior official Mr. Trump named to the team shares many of Mr. Kennedy’s views, suggesting the potential for continuing tension at the public health agency. (Mandavilli, 4/30)
MedPage Today: New CDC Messaging May Be Eroding Trust In Vaccines, Survey Finds
The CDC's shift to an uncertainty-based approach when conveying the scientific evidence on vaccines and autism could already be increasing vaccine hesitancy and strengthening agreement with science-denial strategies, according to an online survey of U.S. adults. (Rudd, 4/30)
MORE ON THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Fierce Healthcare: DOJ Launches West Coast Force Targeting Health Fraud
The Department of Justice has formed a new fraud strike force to target schemes across Arizona, Nevada and Northern California, the agency announced Thursday. The West Coast Health Care Fraud Strike Force launched under DOJ's National Fraud Enforcement Division and will unite that division's fraud section with U.S. Attorney's Offices in those regions. DOJ said in the announcement that this model has proven to be a powerful tool for fraud enforcement when deployed elsewhere. (Minemyer, 4/30)
The New York Times: FEMA Is Reversing Job Cuts Made Under Kristi Noem
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is reversing job cuts that Kristi Noem, the former homeland security secretary, had overseen before she was fired last month. FEMA has reinstated 14 people who had signed a public letter that became known as the Katrina Declaration, which warned that the agency risked repeating mistakes learned during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, said Abby McIlraith, one of the reinstated workers and an emergency management specialist. Another 21 people who signed their names are no longer at the agency, Ms. McIlraith said. (Dance, 4/30)
The 19th: MAHA Movement Scores Win Over Pesticides In Farm Bill
The Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, movement notched a win Thursday when the House voted to strip a pesticides provision from the farm bill. (Kutz, 4/30)
CBS News: New White House Drug Abuse Strategy Floats Wastewater Testing, AI, More Treatment And Faith-Based Options
The Trump administration is proposing wastewater testing on a national level to try to ferret out data on illegal drug use in real time, according to a draft of a new drug control strategy obtained by CBS News. The administration also aims to apply artificial intelligence technologies to screen cargo for illicit drugs at ports of entry, examine electronic health records to "identify patients at high risk of overdose" and create search algorithms to detect emerging threats, the plan says. (Jacobs and Breen, 4/30)
Stat: Experts Analyze PFAS Results In FDA Infant Formula Safety Review
The big takeaway from a new government survey of infant formula is that the U.S. supply is largely safe. But experts and health officials say there are still steps that can be taken to make a product consumed by two-thirds of infants in the U.S. even safer. (Todd, 5/1)
HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
Verite News: University Medical Center Nurses To Launch 5-Day Strike
Nurses at University Medical Center will begin a five-day strike on May 1 (Friday) following more than two years of bargaining with the hospital’s administration for an initial collective bargaining agreement. The union filed a charge against UMC with the National Labor Relations Board last Monday, accusing the hospital of “surface bargaining” — dragging out negotiations with no intent of reaching a contract that satisfies both parties. In November, UMC filed a similar charge of bad faith bargaining against the National Nurses Organizing Committee, which represents UMC’s unionized nurses. (Yehiya, 4/30)
Stat: OpenAI Model Outperforms Doctors In Diagnostic Reasoning Study
Getting a paper published in Science is a highlight of many researchers’ careers. But for internist and clinical artificial intelligence researcher Adam Rodman, it’s also been a source of some agita. (Palmer, 4/30)
MedPage Today: Physician Groups Want Better Enforcement Of No Surprises Act
Dozens of physician groups, including the American Medical Association and the American College of Emergency Physicians, sent a letter to HHS and other federal agencies urging stronger enforcement of legislation meant to prevent "surprise billing." The No Surprises Act, signed into law in 2020 by President Donald Trump, was intended to protect patients from unexpected bills for care from out-of-network providers and to ensure fair contracts between health plans and physicians. (Firth, 4/30)
Minnesota Public Radio: Clergy Hold 24-Hour Vigil Urging Lawmakers To Fund HCMC
Dozens of Twin Cities clergy members and supporters gathered outside Hennepin County Medical Center Thursday for a 24-hour prayer vigil, as they urge state lawmakers to fund the hospital. The hospital is the state’s biggest trauma center, and a major training site for the region’s doctors, but it’s facing financial struggles. (Timar-Wilcox, 4/30)
Becker's Hospital Review: Decades-Old Formula Error May Be Causing Hospitals To Underbudget Nursing Staff: 4 Notes
A structural calculation error embedded in nursing workforce planning textbooks, government frameworks and credentialing programs since at least 1960 may be causing hospitals to systematically underestimate the number of full-time equivalent nurses they need to budget, according to an April 17 analysis published by nursing informatics specialist Robert Wingo, BSN, RN. Here are four things to know. (Bean, 4/30)
PHARMACEUTICALS
MedPage Today: FDA Panel Gives Thumbs Down To Novel Strategy For Switching Breast Cancer Therapy
A novel strategy for switching breast cancer therapy intrigued members of an FDA advisory committee but failed to sway the panel to recommend approval of the strategy. (Bankhead, 4/30)
The New York Times: Top Psychiatrists Call For A Greater Focus On Ceasing Medication
As Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sets out to rein in the use of psychiatric medications, a group of prominent psychiatrists are developing guidance for helping patients to stop taking them, noting that providers sometimes “park” patients on medications that are no longer necessary or effective. The experts, whose first recommendations appeared in JAMA Network Open and the British Journal of Psychiatry, identify structural problems that may lead to overprescribing: There are few clinical trials showing when it is advisable to stop a medication; many providers do not regularly review whether a prescription is still needed; and psychiatry residents receive more training in starting drug prescriptions than stopping them. (Barry, 5/1)
Stat: Julia Vitarello Launches New Push For Scalable Bespoke Medicines
Julia Vitarello, whose daughter Mila eight years ago received a bespoke medicine designed for her particular disease-causing mutation, said this week that she is in the process of starting a new company to try to create these individualized therapies at scale. (Joseph, 5/1)
Bloomberg: J&J’s Ketamine-Derived Nasal Spray Paves The Way For Psychedelic Therapy
Lisa Harding’s first seven patients are already getting high by 8 a.m. With a few spritzes, Johnson & Johnson’s ketamine-derived nasal spray Spravato is rewiring their brains. Their reactions vary: Some patients sob uncontrollably; others close their eyes and drift off. A few reach for J&J-designed coloring books. By 10 a.m., those patients are out the door. Fifteen minutes later, seven more take their seats at the Milford, Connecticut, clinic. (Muller and Gorrivan, 4/30)
WEIGHT LOSS DRUGS
Modern Healthcare: Amazon, Walmart, CVS Make Push Into The GLP-1 Market
Retailers’ efforts to infiltrate the complex world of healthcare services haven’t been as successful as planned. Now they see promise in weight-loss drugs. Several retailers, including Amazon and Walmart, have launched weight management programs to improve access to glucagon-like peptide-1 drugs and wraparound resources to support lifestyle changes. They are weaving the services into existing pharmacy and primary care offerings to tap into the demand for GLP-1s and capture market share with a less cost-intensive strategy. (Hudson, 4/30)
Bloomberg: Novo Obesity Shot Wegovy Helped Alcoholics Drink Less In Study
Novo Nordisk A/S’s obesity shot Wegovy helped people with alcoholism reduce their drinking, in the first controlled study of patients who sought help with their addiction. Volunteers on Wegovy reported drinking heavily for five days in a 30-day period after six months of treatment, 12 fewer days than before they started. The improvement showed in other measures of addiction, such as total alcohol consumption and bloodwork. (Kresge, 4/30)
Bloomberg: Ozempic Breath Boosts Sales Of Hershey Ice Breakers Gum, Mints
New weight-loss drugs are making people eat less food, but chew more gum. Hershey Co. Chief Executive Officer Kirk Tanner said GLP-1 drugs are helping to boost sales of mints and gum, including the company’s Ice Breakers. Retail sales of the line, now its third largest confection brand, grew 8% last quarter, the CEO said Thursday. “We’ve also seen strong demand for gum and mint products as the category benefits from functional snacking tailwinds, including GLP-1 adoption,” Tanner said in prepared remarks. (Peterson, 4/30)
STATE WATCH
Iowa Public Radio: Bill Requiring Radon Mitigation In Homes Heads To Governor's Desk
New single and two family homes would need to have passive radon mitigation systems installed, under a bill (HF 2297) now headed to the governor’s desk. (Luu, 4/30)
The CT Mirror: Senate Passes Bill Creating Long-Term Care Insurance Safeguards
Saying they want to help policyholders who’ve faced skyrocketing rates on long-term care insurance plans, senators on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to advance a bill that imposes consumer safeguards and requires greater financial transparency from insurance companies. (Carlesso, 4/30)
North Carolina Health News: NC Youth Vaping Bill Targets Teen Access
Be Lanier, a sophomore at Cape Fear Academy, recently turned 16 years old — a milestone that often brings new independence. But for Lanier, it’s hard to think about getting older when she thinks about Solly Wynn, a 15-year-old from Wilmington who died from health complications related to vaping. (Fredde, 5/1)
New Hampshire Bulletin: Hassan Raises Concerns About Methadone Clinic’s Business Practices And Substandard Care
U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan this week accused a national chain of opioid addiction clinics with multiple locations in New Hampshire of improper business practices that undermine the quality of care in pursuit of profit. (Skipworth, 4/30)
AP: Transgender Idaho Residents Challenge Nation's Strictest Bathroom Ban In Federal Court
Six transgender Idaho residents are suing the state in federal court, asking a federal judge to declare a strict new bathroom ban unconstitutional. The law, which goes into effect in July, is the strictest bathroom ban in the nation, subjecting people to time behind bars if they knowingly enter a bathroom, locker room or changing area that does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth — even if the bathroom is in a privately owned business. Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and sentenced to a year in jail for a first offense, or a felony with up to five years in prison for a second offense. (Boone, 4/30)
MPR News: For Some In St. Cloud’s Somali Community, Stress From ICE Surge Strained Mental Health
The surge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in St. Cloud earlier this year created a climate of intense fear and anxiety in the Somali American community that lasted for months, and left some still feeling the effects on their mental health. (Marohn, 5/1)
The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: Mental Health Center Expansion Aims To Boost Care In Geauga County
An expanded residential mental health facility is opening Friday in Geauga County, increasing local capacity for people who need intensive, short-term support outside of a hospital setting. (Walsh, 4/30)
Bridge Michigan: They Sought Help For Son With Mental Illness. He Ended Up In Jail
With their son in the throes of a mental health crisis last November, Bill and Faith Piersing did what they’d been told to do countless times before: They dialed 911. The couple were hoping for a helping hand to deescalate the situation and transport him to a hospital. Instead, the law enforcement officers who showed up at their home seemed intent on arresting their son, sparking an altercation that would quickly escalate, Bill Piersing told Bridge Michigan. “They came in the house and made him a felon,” he said. (Gibbons, 4/30)
Honolulu Civil Beat: Aging Hawaiʻi: 60,000 More Housing Units Needed By 2050
Hawaiʻi will need nearly 60,000 additional housing units by 2050 to meet future demand driven largely by an aging population and to prevent younger residents from getting squeezed out of the housing market. Residents age 65 or older will need 44,000 of the new units, according to a new report released by AARP Hawaiʻi, which also said the housing shortage is driving up prices and pushing younger residents to leave the state. (Hay, 4/30)
AP: Camp Mystic In Texas Will Not Reopen This Summer After All
Camp Mystic on Thursday halted plans to reopen this summer on the Texas river where floodwaters killed 25 girls and two teenage counselors, backing down in the face of outraged families and investigations that accused the all-girls Christian camp of dangerous safety and operational deficiencies. The decision, a striking reversal of the camp owners’ determination to reopen, follows weeks of testimony in court hearings and legislative investigations. (Vertuno and Murphy, 4/30)
MPR News: Minneapolis High School Swimmer Invents Device That Detects Harmful Pool Chemicals
Aditi Gandhi spends a lot of time in the pool. The 17-year old started swimming when she was four, and she now swims competitively for her high school, the Blake School in Minneapolis. (Bloch, 5/1)
PUBLIC HEALTH
CIDRAP: Public Health Alerts: Detection Of A Single Measles Infection Using Untargeted Ultra-Deep Metagenomic Sequencing Of Wastewater In Cook County, Illinois
A Public Health Alerts report today describes the detection of measles virus in wastewater in the Chicago area that was linked to a single measles case in the community that same day, “demonstrating that untargeted metagenomics appeared to detect a single measles infection in a large municipal wastewater stream,” according to the authors. The report could serve as a template for using untargeted wastewater surveillance for identifying infectious diseases in the surrounding community, say the authors, from the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Illinois Department of Public Health, the University of Missouri, and elsewhere. (Wappes, 4/30)
CIDRAP: Avian Flu Detections Drop Across The US
Avian flu detections among both commercial poultry and wild birds have dropped significantly this past week, per the latest updates from the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). Only one new poultry detection was reported this week, in Meade County, South Dakota, affecting 60 birds. This is the ninth facility in either North or South Dakota to be hit with H5N1 in April. (Soucheray, 4/30)
