First Edition: Thursday, May 22, 2025

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES

KFF Health News: Call Centers Replaced Many Doctors’ Receptionists. Now, AI Is Coming For Call Centers
At one call center in the Philippines, workers help Americans with diabetes or neurological conditions troubleshoot devices that monitor their health. Sometimes they get pressing calls: elderly patients who are alone and experiencing a medical emergency. “That’s not part of the job of our employees or our tech supports,” said Ruth Elio, an occupational nurse who supervised the center’s workers when she spoke with KFF Health News last year. “Still, they’re doing that because it is important.” (Tahir, 5/22)

CLIMATE AND HEALTH

The Hill: Wildfire Smoke Exposure Is Harming Pregnant Patients Who Have Limited Access To Health Care: Study
The U.S. health care system is ill-prepared to treat pregnant patients and their infants who have endured the impacts of wildfire smoke exposure, a new study finds. Many residents of communities prone to the proliferation of wildfire smoke lack geographic access to the treatments they might need, according to the study, published in the American Public Health Association’s Medical Care journal. “The smoke-plumes generated by wildfires can be transported over large distances and affect nearly every community in the U.S., even those far from fire activity,” the authors stated. (Udasin, 5/21)

CBS News: FEMA Rescinds Strategic Plan Less Than 2 Weeks Before Hurricane Season
Less than two weeks until the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season, Federal Emergency Management Agency acting Administrator David Richardson has rescinded the agency's strategic plan, a comprehensive policy document that outlines the disaster relief agency's priorities. In a short memo sent to FEMA employees on Wednesday and obtained by CBS News, Richardson wrote, "The 2022-2026 FEMA Strategic Plan is hereby rescinded. The Strategic Plan contains goals and objectives that bear no connection to FEMA accomplishing its mission." (Sganga, 5/21)

AP: Budget Cuts At Trump EPA Become Flashpoint At A Heated Congressional Hearing
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency clashed with Democratic senators Wednesday, accusing one of being an “aspiring fiction writer” and saying another does not “care about wasting money.’' Democrats countered that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s tenure will likely mean more Americans contracting lung cancer and other illnesses. (Daly, 5/21)

MEDICAID AND THE GOP 'MEGABILL'

Politico: House GOP's Medicaid Revisions Aim To Please Hard-Liners
House Republicans made substantial changes to the Medicaid portion of the GOP megabill in amendments unveiled Wednesday night, including accelerating work requirements and paying states not to expand the program under the Affordable Care Act. The proposal will move up the start date of Medicaid work requirements from Jan. 1, 2029, to Dec. 31, 2026, in a concession to conservative hard-liners who have been pushing for deeper cuts to the program. (Leonard, Lee Hill and King, 5/21)

Bloomberg: Tax Bill To Accelerate Medicaid Work Requirements To 2026
House Republicans leaders are planning to accelerate new Medicaid work requirements to December 2026 in a deal with ultra-conservatives on the giant tax bill, according to a lawmaker familiar with the discussions. The revised version of President Donald Trump’s economic package — which party leaders hope to release Wednesday — calls to move up work requirement to December 2026 from 2029, the lawmaker said, who requested anonymity to discuss private talks. (Wasson and Cohrs Zhang, 5/21)

Fierce Healthcare: Trump Budget Bill Would Modernize HSAs, Prompt Shift To ICHRAs
Not to be lost within a sprawling Republican-backed budget bill are new flexibilities designed to increase usage of heath savings accounts (HSAs), individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements (ICHRAs) and direct primary care (DPC) arrangements. These changes, wrapped inside a one-sided reconciliation bill, are much less controversial than other provisions to reduce Medicaid spending, drive down enrollment in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges and impose a long-term moratorium on artificial intelligence regulations. (Tong, 5/21)

The Hill: GOP Bill Raises Fears Of Major Reduction In Home Care For Seniors, Disabled
Rep. Judy Chu (D-Ca.) said she worries over the future of at-home care for seniors if President Donald Trump’s federal funding package passes in the House. Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” proposes cutting billions from social benefit programs, including $800 billion from Medicaid and $300 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Chu called the proposed reduction in Medicaid funding the most “devastating cut to services for seniors in our lifetime” since it will force states to heavily reduce the amount of money they spend on at-home care for older people and people with disabilities. (O’Connell-Domenech, 5/21)

Modern Healthcare: Hospital Support Staff Layoffs Risk Patient Safety
Health systems are cutting support staff as they brace for potential federal funding cuts, a move that could limit hospital capacity and care quality. Providers have laid off thousands of workers over the last several months — predominantly nonclinical employees — as Congress looks to decrease federal spending through potential cuts to National Institutes of Health grants and Medicaid. (Kacik, 5/21)

FEDERAL BUDGET CUTS AND FUNDING FREEZE

The New York Times: Federal Cuts Become ‘All Consuming’ At Harvard’s Public Health School
In a windowless conference room at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health last Thursday, Amanda Spickard, an associate dean, sat with half a dozen colleagues, improvising a plan for the havoc about to unfold. Within a few hours, more than 130 researchers at the graduate school would receive emails canceling the federal funding for their work. No other division of the university relies as heavily on government support, and Ms. Spickard’s team was all too aware that the loss of tens of millions of dollars would end careers, halt progress toward medical breakthroughs and reshape the institution. (Russell, 5/21)

The Hill: Universities Struggle To Keep Cancer Research Afloat Amid Trump Funding Cuts
The pause of billions of dollars in research funding to universities has had devastating effects on cancer research as lab work is put on hold and schools are halting the acceptance of new Ph.D. students. The Trump administration’s war with higher education, combined with efforts to reduce government spending by the Department of Government Efficiency, has left significant casualties in cancer research, which in the U.S. is largely done at colleges and universities. (Cochran, 5/21)

Bloomberg: Trump’s Research Funding Cuts Create Job Drought For Scientists
US job openings in research and development are plunging as the Trump administration ramps up funding cuts to government agencies, private contractors and universities, leaving some of the nation’s brightest minds scrambling to find work. Scientific research and development job postings are down 18% since President Donald Trump took office in January, compared to a 4% drop in overall vacancies in both the public and private sector, according to a report Thursday from the Indeed Hiring Lab. The decline was broad-based across the science sector, which also impacted data collection jobs and life sciences consulting. (Saraiva and Sasso, 5/22)

Stat: LGBTQ+ Physicians Sue HHS, NIH Over Grant Cuts 
A group of physicians and researchers working on LGBTQ+ health sued the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services Tuesday over the sweeping grant terminations that have impacted medical research on queer people as part of the implementation of President Trump’s executive orders targeting transgender people and diversity initiatives. (Gaffney, 5/21)

CAPITOL WATCH

NPR: RFK Jr. Says That A Lead Poisoning Prevention Team Is Working. Senators Say It's Not
"We have a team in Milwaukee," Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified to senators in a hearing on Tuesday. He was speaking about a lead exposure crisis in the public schools there. The city health department had requested support from experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to address it. "We're giving laboratory support to the analytics in Milwaukee and we're working with the health department in Milwaukee," Kennedy added. (Simmons-Duffin, 5/21)

Bloomberg: Sugar Added To RFK Jr.'s Targets In Make America Healthy Agenda
Sugar producers thought they had escaped Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again agenda. After all, the health secretary had spent much of his time fighting things like pesticides, seed oils and colorings. If anything, his criticism of high-fructose corn syrup could have benefited sugar consumption. (Peng and Kubzansky, 5/21)

Politico: GOP Allies In Farm And Food Are Sweating RFK Jr.’s Big Report
An expected report Thursday from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. assessing the causes of chronic disease in children could test whether Republicans in Congress can get along with a health secretary keen on regulating farm and food companies. Republican lawmakers representing agriculture and food manufacturing districts have warned Kennedy to lay off, but they and the industries they represent are still fretting the report. They worry it will point to pesticides and food dyes as potential causes for kids’ diseases and propose regulation that could cut profits and cost jobs. (Paun, Nguyen, Brown and Oprysko, 5/21)

OUTBREAKS AND HEALTH THREATS

The Hill: Officials Warn Of Measles Exposure At Shakira Concert In New Jersey
New Jersey officials warned of “potential exposures” to measles after a new case was identified in a non-state resident who was infectious while attending a Shakira concert at MetLife Stadium last week. The New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) issued a statement on Tuesday telling residents “to be aware of the symptoms of this highly contagious virus and to ensure they are up to date with the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) shots.” (Fortinsky, 5/21)

NBC News: A Surge Of Texas Parents Fought Measles Outbreak By Stepping Up Vaccine Effort
New data from Truveta, a health care and analytics company, shows that the percentage of 6-month-old babies in Texas getting their measles vaccination in April increased by more than 30 times the prior year’s average. “That means parents aren’t just getting the vaccine early, they’re getting it as early as they can,” Nina Masters, a senior scientist at Truveta and part of the research team, said in an interview with NBC News. (Edwards and Murphy, 5/21)

Bloomberg: CVS Vaccine Shots Push Means Bonuses, Drugstore Profits 
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is questioning vaccines and the Food and Drug Administration just set a higher bar for Covid booster approvals, but CVS Health Corp. is pushing hard to make sure people get their shots. The pharmacy chain is giving bonuses to some staff whose stores exceed vaccination goals. And earlier this month in Rhode Island, CVS offered some pharmacies an extra incentive — raffling off a pizza party, taco lunch, donuts and ice cream for staff, according to an email reviewed by Bloomberg News. Another prize is a day off at the beach for the pharmacy manager. (Swetlitz, 5/21)

PUBLIC HEALTH

The New York Times: American Breakfast Cereals Are Becoming Less Healthy, Study Finds
Breakfast cereals, a heavily marketed, highly processed mainstay of the American diet, especially among children, are becoming less healthy, filled with increasing amounts of sugar, fat and sodium, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Network Open. The study also found that cereals’ protein and fiber content — nutrients essential for a healthy diet — have been in decline. (Jacobs, 5/21)

Fortune Well: Food Allergies Are Soaring, And Hundreds Of Moms Are Fed Up With 'Dangerous' Jokes About Them
Following a Saturday Night Live skit that mocked people with peanut allergies, suggesting they should just “take a Benadryl” and shut up, moms of the severely allergic have been speaking out on social media. Such jokes, they say, gaslight people with allergies and contribute to bullying that can turn deadly. “Satire is so powerful—it can highlight social flaws. But to us, there’s blind spot about food allergies to begin with, and this type of joke just magnifies it,” Lianne Mandelbaum, mom to a 19-year-old son with a deadly peanut allergy and founder of the advocacy nonprofit the No Nut Traveler, tells Fortune. (Greenfield, 5/21)

SCIENCE AND INNOVATIONS

NPR: First FDA-Cleared Alzheimer’s Blood Test Set To Boost Diagnoses' Speed, Accuracy
A new blood test that detects a hallmark of Alzheimer's is poised to change the way doctors diagnose and treat the disease. The test, the first of its kind to be cleared by the Food and Drug Administration, is for people 55 and older who already have memory problems or other signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's. (Hamilton, 5/21)

MedPage Today: Link Between Viral Infection And Alzheimer's Emerges In New Data
People diagnosed with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), the virus responsible for cold sores, were more likely to have a subsequent Alzheimer's disease diagnosis, an analysis of U.S. commercial insurance claims suggested. (George, 5/21)

MedPage Today: MS Disability Progression May Vary By Race, Ethnicity
Racial and ethnic differences in the severity, prognosis, and mortality of multiple sclerosis (MS) have been the focus of intensifying research over the last decade, and emerging evidence suggests that Black and Hispanic MS patients have more disability risk than white patients. (Smyth, 5/21)

CIDRAP: Risk Of Getting Flu By Touching Contaminated Items Likely Low
An experimental evaluation of the risk of influenza transmission from contaminated objects finds that viable virus was rarely transferred to fingertips from tainted floors, tables, or door levers, even when the viral loads far surpassed those occurring in real life. Expanding on a previous study involving face masks, researchers in Japan assessed the likelihood of flu spread from a floor or table placed within the trajectory of artificial coughs, stainless-steel door levers exposed to simulated coughs, and door levers exposed to a contaminated hand. (Van Beusekom, 5/21)

MENTAL HEALTH

CBS News: AmeriCorps Funding Cuts Threaten Mental Health Program That Serves Colorado Students
Each year since the Spark Health Corps program started in 2022, roughly 10 to 13 associates fill the gap in mental health services that may be absent in underserved schools across the state. As a Title I school, Bryant Webster's principal Brian Clark says they wouldn't otherwise have the budget for a social worker. ... This is a concern that now appears to be settling in for those involved in the program, after Spark Health Corps lost critical funding from AmeriCorps last month amid ongoing federal budget cuts. (Vidal, 5/21)

Newsweek: Gen Z More Likely Than Boomers To Say People In Therapy Are 'Mentally Weak'
Despite often being seen as more progressive, Gen Z is surprisingly more anti-therapy than many of their elders. A new report from BetterHelp reveals a generational divide exists when it comes to the stigma of therapy, and perhaps not in the way you'd expect. Demand for mental health therapy has been skyrocketing in recent years. The number of U.S. adults who received psychotherapy went up from 6.5 percent in 2018 to 8.5 percent in 2021, according to a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry this year. (Blake, 5/21)

New Hampshire Public Radio: After Losing Her Sister, She Now Works To Help Other Moms Take Care Of Their Mental Health
Nearly 16 years ago, Heather Martin lost her sister to suicide. “It happened so fast, about three weeks postpartum,” Martin recalled. “She struggled with what we know now was postpartum psychosis.” As Martin has tried to figure out how this could happen to her sister — who seemed happy and healthy one moment, gone the next — she’s tried to use her family’s experience to prevent others from going through the same. (Liu and Furukawa, 5/21)

AP: In Lawsuit Over Teen's Death, Judge Rejects Arguments That AI Chatbots Have Free Speech Rights
A federal judge on Wednesday rejected arguments made by an artificial intelligence company that its chatbots are protected by the First Amendment — at least for now. The developers behind Character.AI are seeking to dismiss a lawsuit alleging the company’s chatbots pushed a teenage boy to kill himself. The judge’s order will allow the wrongful death lawsuit to proceed, in what legal experts say is among the latest constitutional tests of artificial intelligence. (Payne, 5/21)

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

Modern Healthcare: Sens. Durbin, Duckworth Question Prime Healthcare On Care Issues
Prime Healthcare has received a letter from Illinois U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D) and Tammy Duckworth (D) seeking answers about recent changes in care delivery at several of the system’s hospitals in the state. The Ontario, California-based system acquired the eight hospitals and other facilities from Ascension in March. The letter asks Prime Healthcare CEO Dr. Prem Reddy to respond to questions related to closed service lines across multiple facilities and a drop in trauma designation at one hospital. (DeSilva, 5/21)

CIDRAP: Moderna Pulls Licensing Submission For Combo Flu-COVID Vaccine
Today vaccine maker Moderna announced it voluntarily pulled its licensing submission for the combination seasonal influenza–COVID-19 mRNA vaccine candidate, mRNA-1083, so that it can submit efficacy data. The news comes a day after the US Food and Drug Administration announced that seasonal COVID-19 boosters would now be recommended only for adults ages 65 and older or for those who are at risk for severe COVID-19 because of underlying health conditions. (Soucheray, 5/21)

The Guardian: Revealed: UnitedHealth Secretly Paid Nursing Homes To Reduce Hospital Transfers
UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest healthcare conglomerate, has secretly paid nursing homes thousands in bonuses to help slash hospital transfers for ailing residents – part of a series of cost-cutting tactics that has saved the company millions, but at times risked residents’ health, a Guardian investigation has found. Those secret bonuses have been paid out as part of a UnitedHealth program that stations the company’s own medical teams in nursing homes and pushes them to cut care expenses for residents covered by the insurance giant. (Joseph, 5/21)

Modern Healthcare: How NeueHealth Went From Insurtech Darling To Cautionary Tale
Four years after a spectacular initial public offering, NeueHealth's retreat is notably quiet. The company formerly known as Bright Health Group is set to exit the New York Stock Exchange soon, all but bringing to a close an intriguing but ultimately forgettable era of "insurtech" startups that were darlings of venture capital investors but duds on the public markets. (Tepper, 5/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Sanofi To Buy Vigil Neuroscience For About $470 Million
Sanofi said it entered an agreement to acquire Vigil Neuroscience for approximately $470 million, a deal that adds a new investigational treatment for Alzheimer’s disease to the French pharmaceutical company’s pipeline. The transaction would see Sanofi purchase all of Vigil’s outstanding shares for an upfront payment of $8 a share, the companies said Wednesday. Vigil’s shareholders would also receive the right to an additional $2 a share in cash, payable following the first commercial sale of the in-development Alzheimer’s disease treatment, if achieved within a set period. (Hart, 5/21)

STATE WATCH

AP: Texas Lawmakers Advance Bill To Clarify Exceptions To Restrictive Abortion Ban
Texas lawmakers advanced a bill Wednesday to clarify medical exceptions under one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the U.S., putting the GOP-backed proposal on the brink of reaching Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk. The changes would not expand abortion access in Texas or list specific medical exceptions under the state’s near-total ban, which took effect in 2022 and only allows for an abortion to save the life of the mother. It also would not include exceptions for cases of rape or incest. (Lathan, 5/21)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Poised To Completely Ban THC Sales 
The Texas House late Wednesday gave initial approval to a bill that would ban all products containing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, likely spelling the end for the state’s short-lived hemp industry. (Scherer, 5/21)

Becker's Hospital Review: Dayton Hospitals Increase Staffing To Support Kettering Health Amid Cyberattack
Hospitals across the Dayton, Ohio, region are stepping in to support Kettering (Ohio) Health, after a May 20 cybersecurity incident disrupted the health system’s electronic systems. Here are four things to know: The Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association said in a May 21 news release shared with Becker’s that its member hospitals are coordinating to manage patient care and are increasing staffing at unaffected facilities to handle the higher demand resulting from the incident at Kettering Health, which canceled all elective inpatient and outpatient procedures across its facilities on May 20. (Diaz, 5/21)

CBS News: Michigan Organizations Speak On Possible Impact Of Federal Medicaid Cuts
House Republicans are debating a federal spending bill that would cut at least $880 billion over the next 10 years from energy and health care programs, like Medicaid. Metro Detroit organizers, including Danielle Atkinson with Mothering Justice, say those decisions could have major local impacts. "When we're talking about these cuts, these drastic cuts, we're talking about really the difference between thriving and surviving," said Atkinson. (Rojas-Castillo, 5/21)

CBS News: Fourth Case Of Whooping Cough Reported At Rostraver Elementary School
A fourth case of whooping cough has been reported at Rostraver Elementary in the Belle Vernon Area School District. Belle Vernon Area Superintendent Dr. Timothy Glasspool notified the school community in a letter on Wednesday, saying that the district was notified of the confirmed case by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Three previous cases were reported in late April and early May and Dr. Glasspool says there's no known connection or link between the four students who have tested positive for the illness. (Darnay, 5/22)

CBS News: 1 Month After Northern Colorado Oil & Gas Leak, CSU Researchers Share Concerning Level Of Toxins In Air
More than one month after a Chevron oil and gas pad spewed a mixture of oil, gas and water into the sky around Galeton for several days, researchers say the toxins released into the community may be more concerning than initially reported by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Students and staff at Colorado State University say their testing showed a much higher level of toxins, such as benzene, in the air around Galeton than that which CDPHE and other researchers reported to the community. (Thomas, 5/21)