First Edition: Monday, Jan. 27, 2025

KFF Health News: Montana Eyes $30M Revamp Of Mental Health, Developmental Disability Facilities
As part of a proposed revamping of the state’s behavioral health system, Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s administration is looking into moving a facility for people with developmental disabilities, beefing up renovations at the Montana State Hospital, and creating a Helena unit of that psychiatric hospital. The changes, backers say, would fill gaps in services and help people better prepare for life outside of the locked, secure setting of the two state facilities before they reenter their own communities. (O'Connell and Dennison, 1/27)

KFF Health News: KFF Health News’ ‘An Arm and a Leg’: The ‘Shkreli Awards’ — For Dysfunction And Profiteering In Health Care
Every year, a health care think tank called the Lown Institute ranks the 10 worst examples of “profiteering and dysfunction” in health care and “honors” the winners. The “Shkreli Awards” are a kind of Oscars for the most outrageous examples of greed, fraud, and general brokenness in American health care. (Weismann, 1/27)

KFF Health News: KFF Health News’ ‘On Air’: Reporter Assesses Rise In Vaccine Exemptions, Gives Other Stories To Watch In 2025
KFF Health News Southern correspondent Sam Whitehead discussed vaccine exemptions on WAMU’s “Health Hub” on Jan. 22. Whitehead also discussed major Georgia health stories of 2025 on WUGA’s “The Georgia Health Report” on Jan. 17. (1/25)

The New York Times: Trump Reinstates Longstanding Republican Anti-Abortion Policy
President Trump on Friday reinstated a longstanding Republican anti-abortion policy known as the “Mexico City Rule,” which bars federal funding from going to any overseas nongovernmental organization that performs or promotes abortions. The move came after he addressed thousands of abortion opponents in Washington on Friday to mark the 52nd anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which created a national right to abortion and which the court overturned in 2022. (Gay Stolberg, 1/24)

Newsweek: What Is The Mexico City Policy? Trump's Abortion Policy Change Explained
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday reinstating and significantly expanding the "Mexico City Policy." The policy cuts off U.S. aid to any foreign organization that provides abortion services, counseling, or advocacy, marking the most extensive version of these restrictions since its creation in 1984. Newsweek contacted a Trump spokesperson via email on Saturday for comment. (Adeosun, 1/25)

The Washington Post: Justice Dept. To Cut Back Prosecution Of Abortion Clinic Protest Cases
The Justice Department said Friday it will scale back Biden-era efforts to prosecute demonstrators who interfere with patient access to reproductive health clinics. ... In a memo, the department’s new chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, said cases brought under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act, would now only be allowed under “extraordinary circumstances” or in cases involving “significant aggravating factors” such as “death, serious bodily harm, or serious property damage.” (Roebuck and Stein, 1/24)

The Hill: Johnson Touts ‘New Era’ Of Abortion Opposition Under Trump
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Friday abortion opponents are “entering a new era” with President Trump and Vice President Vance in the White House. Speaking at the March for Life, Johnson praised the new administration for anti-abortion actions taken in the first week, including pardoning nearly two dozen anti-abortion activists. (Weixel, 1/24)

AP: As Hegseth Takes Charge At The Pentagon, Here’s What Changes Could Be In Store
When Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth starts his first official day on Monday morning, he will face a daunting array of issues to tackle — from global conflicts and border security to transgender and reproductive care in the military. (Baldor and Copp, 1/26)

AP: North Dakota’s Overturned Abortion Ban Won’t Be In Effect During Appeal, Court Rules
North Dakota’s abortion ban will not be enforced while the state appeals an earlier decision that found it unconstitutional, the state’s highest court ruled Friday. That appeal has yet to fully play out in the state Supreme Court after a judge struck down the law in September. North Dakota has had no abortion providers since the only one moved from Fargo to neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota, in 2022. The only scenarios in which North Dakotans can currently obtain an abortion in the state would be for life- or health-preserving reasons at a hospital. (Dura, 1/25)

San Francisco Chronicle: Thousands March In SF Against Abortion, Pin Hopes On Trump
Thousands of abortion opponents, inspired by the reelection of President Donald Trump and recent court actions restricting the procedure, united Saturday in San Francisco for the 21st annual Walk for Life West Coast. The peaceful gathering, which has attracted thousands of women, men and children annually since 2005, began with an afternoon rally at Civic Center Plaza, followed by a march down Market Street to the Embarcadero. (Ellis, 1/25)

The 19th: Facebook And Instagram Suppressed Abortion Content. It's Not The First Time.
Reproductive health advocates say they have dealt with suppression on social media for years. In a survey of organizers fielded in 2022, the reproductive justice nonprofit Reproaction found that 38 percent of respondents had posts taken down because Meta “bans the sale or use of unsafe substances.” As part of the Repro Uncensored coalition, Reproaction has helped identify content removal, account suspensions and advertising restrictions as the main struggles these types of groups face online. (Mithani, 1/24)

CNN: Trump Administration Withdraws Proposed Menthol Ban 
The Trump administration has withdrawn the proposed rule that would ban menthol in cigarettes and flavored cigars according to the regulatory docket. A menthol ban is something that the US Food and Drug Administration under the Biden administration had said was a “top priority.” (Christensen, 1/24)

AP: Trump Eliminates Help For Black, Latino Communities Hit By Pollution
For four years, the Environmental Protection Agency made environmental justice one of its biggest priorities, working to improve health conditions in heavily-polluted communities often made up largely of Black, Latino and low-income Americans. Now that short-lived era is over. President Donald Trump in his first week eliminated a team of White House advisors whose job it was to ensure the entire federal government helped communities located near heavy industry, ports and roadways. (Phillis and St. John, 1/26)

The Texas Tribune: Senate Probe Finds Poor Medical Care At CBP Facilities
Poor medical care that preceded the 2023 death of an 8-year-old girl at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility in Harlingen “was not aberrant but consistent” with other incidents of inadequate medical care received by vulnerable migrants in federal custody, a U.S. Senate panel concluded in a report released Friday. (Serrano, 1/24)

NPR: Senate Confirms Kristi Noem As Trump's Secretary Of Homeland Security
Noem will be in charge of executing one of President Trump's biggest priorities in his second term: cracking down on immigration. Following Saturday's confirmation vote, Noem officially resigned as South Dakota governor, according to a statement. Lt. Gov. Larry Rhoden succeeds her in the state's top post. (1/25)

CNN: Scientists At NIH Can’t Purchase Supplies For Their Studies After Trump Administration Pauses Outside Communications
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have been told the communications pause announced by the Trump Administration earlier this week includes a pause on all purchasing, including supplies for their ongoing studies, according to four sources inside the agency with knowledge of the purchasing hold. (Goodman and Tirrell, 1/24)

Stat: ‘This Is Censorship’: Trump Freeze On Communications Forces Medical Journal To Pull HHS Authors’ Article
An article that was written by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services employees and slated for publication in a medical journal this spring was placed on hold last week, apparently as a result of the Trump administration freeze on communications from government agencies. (Silverman, 1/26)

NPR: FDA Initiative For Diversity In Cancer Studies Disappears
The Food and Drug Administration has removed webpages about diversity and inclusion in clinical trials for cancer drugs. The page for Project Equity, a 2021 initiative launched by the FDA's Oncology Center of Excellence to ensure that cancer drugs were evaluated for approval based on data from a diverse group of study participants, has gone dark. (Lupkin, 1/25)

North Carolina Health News: New Trump Directive On Research Could Affect NC Economy
Medical and biomedical researchers across North Carolina are used to pondering some of the most vexing questions in health and biology, but a directive issued last week by President Donald Trump left many without answers when it came to the future of their life-saving and life-enhancing research projects. (Hoban, 1/27)

AP: Trump Ends Fauci's Security Detail And Says He'd Feel No Responsibility If Harm Befell Him
President Donald Trump has ended the federal security detail for Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert who advised him on the COVID-19 pandemic, a person familiar with the matter said Friday. Speaking to reporters in North Carolina on Friday, Trump said he wouldn’t feel any responsibility if harm befell the former government officials. A person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security issues, said that Fauci’s federal security detail was ended on Thursday and that he has since hired private security. (Weissert and Miller, 1/24)

CNN: NIH Interim Director Comes From Its Research Ranks But Is Known For Questioning Covid-19 Vaccine Mandates
Dr. Matthew Memoli, a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases researcher focused on flu and other respiratory viruses, has been named acting director of the nearly $50 billion agency. A confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, hasn’t been scheduled yet. (Tirrell and Goodman, 1/24)

NBC News: CIA Shifts Assessment On Covid Origins, Saying Lab Leak Likely Caused Outbreak
The CIA said Saturday it has shifted its previous assessments and has concluded that it’s likely the Covid-19 virus was leaked from a Chinese lab before it became a global pandemic but added that the agency had “low confidence” in its judgment. “CIA assesses with low confidence that a research-related origin of the COVID-19 pandemic is more likely than a natural origin based on the available body of reporting,” a CIA spokesperson said in a statement. “CIA continues to assess that both research-related and natural origin scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic remain plausible.” (De Luce, 1/25)

NBC News: Flu Is Rising Nationwide, CDC Reports, With Spikes In ER Visits
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released some new flu data to the public on Friday, despite the Trump administration’s halt of nearly all scientific communication coming from federal health agencies. The information was not reported as it usually is by the CDC, in a weekly breakdown of flu activity called FluView, but was added to a section that focuses on respiratory illnesses in general. (Edwards, 1/24)

The New York Times: ‘This Is A Dangerous Virus’
A bird flu pandemic is not inevitable even now, more than a dozen experts said in interviews. But a series of developments over the past few weeks indicates that the possibility is no longer remote. Toothless guidelines, inadequate testing and long delays in releasing data — echoes of the missteps during the Covid-19 pandemic — have squandered opportunities for containing the outbreak, the experts said. (Mandavilli, 1/27)

NBC News: FDA Recommends Pet Food Companies Revisit Safety Plans Amid Bird Flu Outbreak
As a growing number of cats have gotten sick or died after consuming raw pet food or raw milk contaminated with the H5N1 virus, health officials have advised pet food companies to take extra precautions to protect against bird flu. In recent guidance, the Food and Drug Administration suggested that pet food manufacturers take precautions in their food safety plans, such as “seeking ingredients from flocks or herds that are healthy” and “taking processing steps, such as heat treatment, that are capable of inactivating viruses.” (Carroll, 1/26)

AP: Skeptical Health Experts Say They’re Willing To Work With RFK Jr. 
As Kennedy faces Senate confirmation hearings Wednesday and Thursday, health advocates find themselves in an uncomfortable position: voicing cautious support for some of Kennedy’s ideas while warning of the catastrophic consequences of others “If there’s an opportunity to advance the public health, you have to seize it,” said Dr. Peter Lurie, a former FDA official who now leads the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest. “So you can’t ignore the guy on everything because you oppose him on some things.” (Perrone, 1/26)

MedPage Today: Autism Prevalence Is Climbing, But It's Not Due To Vaccines
President Trump has said that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his nominee to run HHS, would investigate why autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses are rising. ... "There have been extensive studies researching potential links to routine childhood vaccinations and autism diagnoses, and the results have shown that no such link exists," said Eric Burnett, MD, of Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City. (George, 1/24)

The Texas Tribune: A Flurry Of Bills Filed To Weaken Texas’ Vaccine Mandates
When speech pathologist Rebecca Hardy recalls her up-close seat to lawmaking during the 2015 state legislative session, she remembers how tough it was to find anyone interested in what she wanted: more choice for Texans when it came to getting vaccinated. (Langford, 1/27)

The New York Times: The Evidence For The Childhood Vaccine Schedule, Explained
Before their immune systems mature, young children are especially vulnerable to infections — and to falling far more ill than adults might with certain common illnesses. That’s why childhood vaccination programs have been such a boon for public health. In the past 30 years, recommended childhood vaccines have prevented an estimated 1.1 million deaths and 32 million hospitalizations in the United States. (Whitcomb, 1/25)

Modern Healthcare: Change Healthcare Data Breach Affected 190M
A ransomware attack against Change Healthcare last year exposed data on a record-breaking 190 million people, parent company UnitedHealth Group reported Friday. That's 90 million more people than the company, which operates Change Healthcare through its Optum subsidiary, disclosed to federal regulators in October. It also amounts to 55% of the U.S. population. A cyberattack against Anthem (now Elevance Health) in 2015, which affected nearly 80 million people, was the previous record holder in the healthcare sector. (Berryman, 1/24)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Pulls Appeal For UnitedHealth Medicare Advantage Ratings Case
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reversed course Friday on a plan to appeal UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage star ratings win. Outgoing U.S. Attorney Damien Diggs notified the court on his last day in office Tuesday that CMS intended to appeal the unfavorable ruling. Acting U.S. Attorney Abe McGlothin Jr. reversed course on his first day in office, swiftly withdrawing the notice to appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. (Tepper, 1/24)

Modern Healthcare: Longitude Health Names Brett Moraski Interim CEO
Longitude Health named Brett Moraski interim chief executive officer of the health system-backed company following the death last week of former CEO Paul Mango. Mango was deputy chief of staff at the Health and Human Services Department and chief of staff at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services during President Donald Trump’s first term. He is survived by his wife Dawn Rucker and five daughters. (Kacik, 1/24)

Modern Healthcare: University Of Minnesota, Essentia In Talks To Form Nonprofit
The University of Minnesota and Essentia Health are in early discussions to form a nonprofit entity that aims to boost financial support for the school and improve rural healthcare. The university and the Duluth, Minnesota-based integrated health system said in a news release Friday they are in talks to create an “all-Minnesota health solution,” although the release included minimal details about how the proposal is structured. (Kacik, 1/24)

Modern Healthcare: Hospitals, Medtech Companies Partner On Devices To Lower Costs
Health systems are forming multi-year partnerships with medtech companies, investing millions of dollars to keep up with the latest technology and develop a more holistic way of managing their operations. It’s an involved process that pairs a company's technology consultants, technicians and program managers with health systems to evaluate their equipment and operations, advise on upgrades and provide service, training and consulting. (Dubinsky, 1/24)

BorderBelt: UNC Southeastern Updates Maternity Ward 
When Mary Campbell gave birth to her first daughter in 2021, her maternity room at UNC Health Southeastern was cramped and loud. The hospital’s thin walls did little to muffle the sounds of crying babies and foot traffic in the hallways, and Campbell could barely nap during her 36-hour stay. But when Campbell, who works as an emergency room nurse at the hospital in Lumberton, had her second child last month, her experience was very different. (Perez-Moreno, 1/25)

AP: North Dakota's Ban On Gender-Affirming Care For Kids Heads To Trial
A lawsuit seeking to strike down North Dakota’s ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors will go to trial Monday, more than a year after families of transgender children and a doctor filed the suit that argued the law violates the state’s constitution. North Dakota is one of more than two dozen states that have banned gender-affirming care. Like North Dakota, many of those states have faced court challenges to the laws. (Dura, 1/27)

ProPublica: Madison, Nashville School Shooters Appeared To Cross Paths Online 
While there isn’t any evidence that 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow and 17-year-old Solomon Henderson plotted their attacks together, extremism researchers who have tracked their social media activity told Wisconsin Watch and ProPublica that the two teenagers were active in the same online networks that glorify mass shooters, even crossing paths. Across various social media platforms, the networks trade hateful memes alongside terrorist literature, exchange tips on how to effectively commit attacks and encourage one another to carry out their own. The researchers had been tracking these networks for months as part of work looking into growing online extremist networks that have proliferated across gaming, chatting and social media platforms and that they believe are radicalizing young people to commit mass shootings and other violence. (Petrovic, 1/24)

The New York Times: Charges Dropped Against Doctor Who Leaked About Minors’ Transgender Care
Federal prosecutors have dropped charges against a surgeon in Texas who was accused of obtaining and sharing private medical information about gender-transition-related treatments for minors at one of the largest children’s hospitals in the country. The surgeon, Dr. Eithan Haim, was indicted last May in U.S. District Court in Houston on four counts of obtaining, under false pretenses, personal medical information from the online system at Texas Children’s Hospital. (Macur and Harmon, 1/26)

Iowa Public Radio: From 'Evolution' To 'Biological Change,' Iowa Science Standards Face Controversial Wording Changes
Iowa’s current draft of its K-12 science standards, which include changing the word “evolution” to “biological change over time” drew ire from some parents, educators, students and residents across the state at a public forum held at the Grimes State Office Building in Des Moines on Jan. 23. (Luu, 1/26)

AP: World's Only Person With Functioning Pig Organ Passes Record 2 Months
An Alabama woman passed a major milestone Saturday to become the longest living recipient of a pig organ transplant – healthy and full of energy with her new kidney for 61 days and counting. ... Looney’s vibrant recovery is a morale boost in the quest to make animal-to-human transplants a reality. Only four other Americans have received hugely experimental transplants of gene-edited pig organs – two hearts and two kidneys – and none lived more than two months. (Neergaard, 1/25)

San Francisco Chronicle: UCSF Study Finds Microdosing Buprenorphine Fails Most Fentanyl Users
A new study from researchers at UC San Francisco has found that a treatment approach designed to help people addicted to fentanyl, using low doses of buprenorphine, is not working as expected. The microdosing method, called low-dose initiation (LDI), aimed to reduce withdrawal symptoms and make it easier for people to switch from fentanyl to buprenorphine, a drug that helps treat opioid addiction. (Vaziri, 1/25)

Stat: Liver Disease's Progression Halted By Bariatric Surgery In Study 
Right now, patients with obesity and cirrhosis have few treatments for their progressive liver disease, but a new study offers one available option: bariatric surgery. Weight loss operations significantly cut the long-term risk of developing serious liver complications when compared to standard nonsurgical therapy. (Cooney, 1/27)

The Washington Post: Sugary Drinks Caused Some 2.2 Million Type 2 Diabetes Cases In 2020
In 2020, consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages caused an estimated 2.2 million new cases of Type 2 diabetes globally, according to new research published in Nature Medicine. In the study, researchers assessed data from 184 countries to estimate global cases of Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease attributable to sugar-sweetened beverage intake. In addition to cases of Type 2 diabetes, researchers estimated that 1.2 million new cases of cardiovascular disease were caused by drinking such beverages. (Docter-Loeb, 1/27)

Axios: Pain Meds During IUD Insertion Still Rare: Study
While clinicians may be paying more attention to women's pain, it's still uncommon to give patients pain or anxiety drugs with a IUD insertion, a new review of 2.4 million outpatient procedures found. (Bettelheim, 1/27)