Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: Friday, May 22, 2026
KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES
KFF Health News: 3 Medical Routines That Older People May Not Need
Enough time had passed since the patient’s previous colonoscopy that she met the criteria to undergo another, said Steven Itzkowitz, a gastroenterologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. She was in “reasonably good health,” and the risks of the procedure — bleeding, reaction to anesthesia, perforation of her colon — were fairly low. But she was 85. And she would need to briefly discontinue the blood thinners she took because of the cardiac stents keeping her arteries open; doing so could increase the risks. (Span, 5/22)
KFF Health News: Trump’s $50B Rural Health Bet Meets A Healthcare Desert In North Carolina
WILLIAMSTON, N.C. — Two years after her brother’s death, Debra Pierce still wonders whether the 50-year-old would have survived his heart attack if her local hospital hadn’t closed. “The sad thing is we’ll never know if he could have been saved that night or not, because we don’t have a higher level of care in this county,” Pierce said as she stood outside the mobile home where she last hugged her brother. Emergency crews from a neighboring town worked on Stanley Sears for a half hour but couldn’t revive him for the long drive to the closest hospital, records show. (Tribble and Seitz, 5/22)
KFF Health News: 'What The Health? From KFF Health News': Sen. Cassidy Unleashed
Just days after Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who is also a doctor, was ousted in a primary election, he has already begun to separate himself from the agenda of President Donald Trump, who endorsed one of his opponents. Cassidy has half a year left in office and could, in that time, reshape health policy in an administration from which he’s now effectively freed. Meanwhile, a potentially serious Ebola outbreak in central Africa has experts worried that the U.S.’ dismantling of much of the nation’s public health infrastructure leaves it more vulnerable than in earlier outbreaks. (5/21)
EBOLA OUTBREAK
CNN: US-Bound Flights With Passengers Who Were In Ebola-Affected Region Must Land At Dulles Airport For Health Screening
US-bound flights carrying passengers who were recently in an Ebola-affected region of Africa must land at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, where they will undergo health screening. (Tirrell, Cooper, Hansler and Kottasova, 5/21)
Politico: Trump Administration Temporarily Pauses Deportation Flights To Congo Amid Ebola Outbreak
The Trump administration has temporarily stopped deportation flights to the Democratic Republic of the Congo amid the Ebola outbreak that has infected at least 600 people in the region so far, according to an administration official. This includes general removal flights but also third-country removals of migrants whose home countries refuse to take them back from the U.S., said the official, who was granted anonymity to discuss the matter. It’s unclear how long the pause will last. (Ward, 5/21)
The New York Times: Trump Officials’ Strict Stand On Ebola Leaves Health Experts ‘Stunned’
Trump administration officials, confronted by overlapping outbreaks of Ebola and the hantavirus, have taken a more aggressive approach to locking down potentially exposed people than in past outbreaks, surprising many public health experts. The instructions from President Trump’s top health appointees, some of whom were vocal opponents of Covid-era public health restrictions, go well beyond tactics that were used to successfully contain previous outbreaks of the diseases. Many senior federal officials, including the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have been staunch supporters of medical freedom, championing people’s right to choose or decline medical countermeasures, including vaccines. (Mandavilli and Fortin, 5/21)
AP: Residents Burn An Ebola Treatment Center In Congo As Anger Grows Over The Outbreak
People set fire to an Ebola treatment center in a town at the heart of the outbreak in eastern Congo on Thursday after being stopped from retrieving the body of a local man, a witness and a senior police officer said, as fear and anger grow over a health crisis that doctors are struggling to contain. The arson attack in Rwampara reflects the challenges of health workers trying to curb a rare Ebola virus by using stringent measures that might clash with local customs, such as burial rites. The disease has been spreading for weeks in a region lacking in adequate health facilities and where many people are on the move to escape armed conflicts. (Kabumba, Pronczuk and Imray, 5/21)
CBS News: U.S. Doctor With Ebola Feared He 'Wasn't Going To Make It' Before Evacuation From Congo
An American doctor who was infected with Ebola while working with a medical missionary organization in Africa said in a statement that he is feeling "cautiously optimistic" as he fights the deadly virus. Dr. Peter Stafford was working with the missionary group Serge in the Democratic Republic of Congo when he was infected with the virus, the group said. He was evacuated to a hospital in Berlin, Germany, to receive care, the group said Tuesday. (Breen, 5/21)
MedPage Today: Here's What Happened The First Time Ebola Hit U.S. Shores
Reports about American doctors contracting or being at risk of developing Ebola hearken back to the 2014 outbreak in West Africa, when a patient fell ill on U.S. soil and ultimately sickened two healthcare workers. On Sept. 28, 2014, Thomas Eric Duncan sought care for fever, vomiting, and diarrhea at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. A Liberian citizen, he was visiting family in Texas when he became sick. (Fiore, 5/21)
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Stat: Acting Head Of NIH’s Infectious Disease Institute Reported To Have Stepped Down
Yet another leadership position at the National Institutes of Health appears to be vacant. Jeffery Taubenberger, who has been serving as acting head of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has stepped down, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) revealed Thursday during a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee. (Branswell and Oza, 5/21)
Politico: Trump Punts Climate Rule In Hopes Of Lowering Food Prices
The president and his EPA chief on Thursday postponed requirements that grocery stores and frozen foods companies buy more climate-friendly refrigeration systems beginning this year — claiming the move would cut consumer food prices. Speaking from the Oval Office flanked by grocery industry executives, President Donald Trump asserted that pausing the Biden-era rule that supermarkets buy new refrigeration systems that don’t contain climate superpollutants would produce savings that would be passed along to consumers. (Chemnick, 5/21)
The Washington Post: Trump Says He Will Work To Enact Permanent Daylight Saving Time
President Donald Trump on Thursday evening applauded House Republicans for advancing legislation to enact year-round daylight saving time, saying that he would “work very hard” to pass the bill and end the nation’s semiannual clock changes. ... The Republican-led House Energy and Commerce Committee earlier Thursday passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would end the practice of “springing forward” and “falling back” by permanently advancing the nation’s clocks by one hour. States would be able to opt out of the change. (Diamond, 5/22)
Politico: RFK Jr. Announces 'The Largest Autism Fraud Bust In American History' And It’s In Minnesota
The Department of Justice said Thursday it has arrested and indicted 15 people in Minnesota for fraud schemes involving $90 million in Medicaid funds. Mehmet Oz, who oversees Medicaid and Medicare, said at a press conference that Minnesota’s government, led by Democratic 2024 vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, had not done enough to prevent it. It’s the latest salvo in a battle between the Trump administration and Walz this year over Medicaid fraud. Medicaid is the state-federal health insurance program for low-income and disabled people. (Paun and King, 5/21)
Stat: Elevance's Peter Haytaian To Testify In Medicare Fraud Case
Peter Haytaian, a former top executive at health insurance company Elevance Health, will have to sit for a deposition in the federal government’s case that alleges Elevance committed fraud in its Medicare Advantage plans, a judge ruled late Wednesday. (Herman, 5/21)
Becker's Hospital Review: HHS Launches AI-Powered Audit Crackdown On States, Grantees
HHS has unveiled a department-wide initiative to pursue states and grantees that have repeatedly failed to address deficiencies flagged in federally required audits, with consequences that could include losing access to federal funding across programs that include Medicaid. The initiative, called AERO (Audit Enforcement and Risk Oversight), uses “next-generation AI analytical tools” to scan at least five years of audit history across all 50 states, the agency said May 21. The Wall Street Journal reported the tool was built in part using ChatGPT. HHS said it sent letters to all 50 state governors and treasurers putting them “on notice” of the new initiative. (Emerson, 5/21)
ON CAPITOL HILL
Politico: Collins Pushes Back On Trump’s Plan To Cut Health Research Funding
President Donald Trump’s request to cut the National Institutes of Health budget by roughly $5 billion next year is “inexplicable,” Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins told the agency’s director on Thursday. The Maine Republican pressed Jay Bhattacharya at an Appropriations Health Subcommittee hearing on the White House proposal, which she said would “undermine the foundation of our nation’s global leadership in biomedical research and technological innovation.” (Hooper, 5/21)
MedPage Today: House Hearing On The Physician Fee Schedule, MACRA Finds Much Agreement On Problems
A House hearing on how to improve the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and encourage more use of advanced alternative payment models (AAPMs) included lots of agreement on problems, but not as much discussion of solutions. "Medicare payments to physicians impact not just the 70 million Medicare beneficiaries, but essentially all patients, given that more than 95% of clinicians are paid through the program," Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, said at a hearing Wednesday. However, she added "these payments aren't keeping up with inflation, which means that America's physicians are paid less and less every year. In fact, Medicare physician payment has declined 33% in real terms since 2011." (Frieden, 5/21)
SUPREME COURT
The Washington Post: Supreme Court Dismisses Hamm V. Smith, On Mental Disabilities, Death Penalty
The Supreme Court on Thursday chose not to weigh in on what standards states should use to assess whether a person who commits a crime must be spared the death penalty because of intellectual disabilities. The high court dismissed on procedural grounds the case of Joseph Clifton Smith, who was convicted of capital murder in Alabama, leaving in place a lower-court ruling blocking his execution. (Jouvenal, 5/21)
GUN VIOLENCE AND MENTAL HEALTH
The New York Times: San Diego Mosque Shooter So Alarmed Police, They Seized Father’s Guns
More than a year before Caleb Vazquez and a friend attacked a mosque in San Diego and killed three people, the police were so alarmed by Mr. Vazquez’s behavior that they secured a court order to confiscate his father’s guns. “Child was involved in suspicious behavior idolizing nazis and mass shooters,” a police officer wrote in a January 2025 protective order. Mr. Vazquez, who was found dead on Monday shortly after the police say he and a friend attacked the Islamic Center of San Diego, had at some point been placed in an involuntary psychiatric hold, according to documents filed at San Diego Superior Court. (Mayorquín, Arango and Marcius, 5/21)
ABORTION
NPR: Abortion Pills "Just In Case"? Planned Parenthood Will Offer Them In Two States
When abortion restrictions are in the news, as they have been for several weeks, research shows that many Americans take that as a signal to stock up on abortion medications even if they're not pregnant. Now, for the first time, a Planned Parenthood affiliate is offering what's called the "advance provision" of abortion medication. The initiative, shared exclusively with NPR, launched Thursday and is called "Just In Case Abortion Pills." It means people can have the abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol on their shelf to be used in the future if they want to end an early pregnancy. (Simmons-Duffin, 5/21)
HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
Fierce Healthcare: Hospitals Allege CVS Health Subsidiaries Pocketed 340B Savings
Several academic and nonprofit health systems have filed lawsuits against CVS Health, accusing the company and its subsidiaries of improperly pocketing about $250 million of 340B Drug Pricing Program savings from 2020 to 2025. The providers’ legal complaints were filed earlier this week in New York, Kansas and Michigan federal courts. Among the plaintiffs are member hospitals of Mount Sinai, the University of Kansas Health System and the University of Michigan Health. (Muoio, 5/21)
Becker's Hospital Review: ‘Rural Healthcare Is Under Attack’: California Hospital Turns To Strategic Partnerships To Combat Medicaid Cuts
Mad River Community Hospital in Arcata, Calif., is tackling rural healthcare challenges head-on through a partnership with Ovation Healthcare to help improve certain revenue cycle functions. Matt Anderson, COO of the hospital, said approximately 30 employees will be part of this “insourcing” partnership as the hospital works to navigate anticipated Medicaid cuts. (Scheetz, 5/21)
The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: $31.1M In FEMA Grants Go To Two Northeast Ohio Hospitals
The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency has awarded the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Canton’s Aultman Health Foundation a combined $31 million in federal funding for costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Washington, 5/21)
Iowa Public Radio: New Iowa Behavioral Health Hospital Aims To Address Mental Healthcare Shortage
When people experiencing a mental health crisis arrive at emergency rooms in western Iowa, they can spend hours — sometimes days — waiting for psychiatric treatment because there simply are not enough beds available. A new facility opening soon in Council Bluffs hopes to change that. (Brummer, 5/21)
PHARMACEUTICALS
Stat: Closely Watched Experimental Parkinson’s Drug Fails Key Clinical Trial
Biogen and Denali Therapeutics said Thursday that their experimental therapy for Parkinson’s disease failed to slow the degenerative brain disorder in a randomized trial, dealing a substantial blow to a scientific approach that stoked excitement among advocates and academics. (Mast and Herper, 5/21)
Stat: Merck-Kelun Lung Cancer Drug Cut Tumor Progression Risk By 65%
A type of targeted chemotherapy developed by China-based Kelun-Biotech and licensed to Merck cut the risk of tumor progression by 65% in patients with lung cancer, according to Phase 3 study results reported Thursday. (Feuerstein, 5/21)
STATE WATCH
The Guardian: Meta Settles Major Social Media Addiction Lawsuit With Kentucky School District
Meta agreed to settle a major lawsuit on Thursday with a school district in Kentucky over claims that its social networks are designed to be addictive, leading to harm in children. The settlement comes less than three weeks before the case was scheduled to go to trial in federal court in California. (Kerr, 5/21)
The Colorado Sun: Polis Signs Executive Order Banning Sugary Drinks At State Functions
Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday prohibited the state from buying soda and other sugary drinks for official state functions, part of a multi-department effort to promote healthy eating and drinking for Coloradans. (Brown, 5/21)
North Carolina Health News and Charlotte Ledger: Lawmakers Target Hospitals – And Atrium Health In Particular – In Reform Bills
Atrium Health would have to add four local elected officials to its board under a North Carolina state Senate bill — one of several proposals this session taking aim at the growing power of large hospital systems. (Crouch, 5/22)
The New York Times: Tennessee Calls Off Execution After Staff Can’t Find Prisoner’s Vein
Tennessee called off the execution of Tony Carruthers, convicted in connection with three 1994 murders, after staff members were unable to find a vein to administer lethal injection drugs. The State Department of Corrections said in a statement on Thursday that medical staff members were unable to find a “suitable vein” to administer the drugs after a series of attempts. (Cochrane and Bogel-Burroughs, 5/21)
The Texas Tribune: Camp Mystic Health Officer’s Nursing License Suspended
The Texas Board of Nursing has temporarily suspended the license of Camp Mystic’s chief health officer, saying her continued practice “constitutes a continuing and imminent threat to public welfare.” (Nguyen, 5/21)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Affordable Healthcare Center Opening In Dutchtown. Patient Care Begins May 26.
After two years in development, a non-emergency healthcare complex has opened in Dutchtown to serve residents there and in nearby neighborhoods, regardless of their ability to pay. (Bauman, 5/21)
LIFESTYLE AND HEALTH
Minnesota Public Radio: Teens Today Sleep Less Than Prior Generations, New Study Says
On the cusp of a holiday weekend and the end of the school year not far off, sleep schedules are bound to change for many Minnesota kids. A new study shows teenagers are sleeping less than any prior generation. (Bright and Stockton, 5/22)
HealthDay: Quitting Smoking May Lower Dementia Risk, Study Finds
Quitting smoking might protect your future brain health, a new study says. People who quit smoking had a lower risk of developing dementia, especially if they didn’t gain excess weight afterward, researchers reported May 20 in the journal Neurology. (Thompson, 5/22)
The New York Times: Can Allegra And Pepcid AC Really Ease Menopause Or Period Symptoms?
Lauren Herrod, 31, is one of many people who say on social media that taking two antihistamines — often Pepcid AC along with Allegra or Zyrtec — has eased symptoms associated with health conditions like P.M.D.D., perimenopause and menopause. Some of these women, including Ms. Herrod, say they have struggled to get doctors to take their symptoms seriously. (Shakin, 5/21)
The Hill: Squeeze Toys Sold At Walmart, Ollie's Recalled Over Asbestos Concern
A popular squeeze toy sold at Walmart and Ollie’s Bargain Outlet stores is being recalled over concerns of “serious injury or death” because of the potential presence of asbestos. A recall notice shared by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission on Thursday warns that certain Orb Funkee Squeeze Toys — specifically, two models of Funkee Monkees — may have asbestos in the sand they are filled with. (Bink, 5/21)
SPORTS AND HEALTH
AP: 2-Time NASCAR Champ Kyle Busch Dies At 41 After Being Hospitalized With A 'Severe Illness'
Kyle Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion who won more races than anyone across NASCAR’s three national series, has died. He was 41. The Busch Family, Richard Childress Racing and NASCAR issued a joint statement Thursday saying Busch died after being hospitalized. No cause of death was given. Busch’s family said earlier Thursday that he was hospitalized with a “severe illness,” three days before he was to compete in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Busch was testing in the Chevrolet racing simulator in Concord on Wednesday when he became unresponsive and was transported to a hospital in Charlotte, several people familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because details have not been disclosed by Busch’s team or family. (Reed, 5/22)
