First Edition: Tuesday, April 22, 2025

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES

KFF Health News: Fate Of Black Maternal Health Programs Is Unclear Amid Federal Cuts
Eboni Tomasek expected to take home her newborn the day after he was born in a San Jose hospital. But, without explanation, hospital staff said they needed to stay a second night. Then a third. A nurse said her son had jaundice. Then said that he didn’t. She wondered if they had confused her with another African American mother. In any event, why couldn’t she and the baby boy she’d named Ezekiel go home? No one would say. (Cohen, 4/22)

KFF Health News: The Ranks Of Obamacare ‘Fixers’ Axed In Trump’s Reduction Of Health Agency Workforce
They’re the fixers, the ones who step in when Affordable Care Act enrollees have a problem with their coverage, like a newborn incorrectly left off a policy or discovering that a rogue broker had signed them up or switched their plan without consent. Specially trained caseworkers help resolve such issues, which might otherwise cause consumers to rack up large doctors’ bills or prevent them or their family members from getting care. Now, though, the broad federal reduction in force set in motion by the Trump administration has cut the ranks of those caseworkers. (Appleby, 4/22)

AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

The New York Times: Supreme Court Wrestles With Challenge To Affordable Care Act Over Free Preventive Care
The Supreme Court appeared divided during arguments on Monday over the constitutionality of a provision of the Affordable Care act that can require insurance companies to offer some types of preventive care for free. At issue is a part of the 2010 health care law that established a task force that determines certain kinds of preventative health measures that insurance companies are required to cover. (VanSickle, 4/21)

WHAT RFK JR. IS SAYING

NBC News: RFK Jr. Announces Plan To Remove Artificial Dyes From Food And Beverages
The Trump administration said Monday it will announce a plan to remove petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the nation’s food supply. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary are expected to discuss the plan at a news conference Tuesday afternoon, according to a release from the Department of Health and Human Services. (Lovelace Jr., 4/21)

CBS News: RFK Jr.'s Autism Study To Amass Medical Records Of Many Americans
The National Institutes of Health is amassing private medical records from a number of federal and commercial databases to give to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new effort to study autism, the NIH's top official said Monday. The new data will allow external researchers picked for Kennedy's autism studies to study "comprehensive" patient data with "broad coverage" of the U.S. population for the first time, NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said. (Tin, 4/21)

People: RFK Jr. Says Autism Has Bigger Impact Than COVID ‘Because COVID Killed Old People’
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, is claiming that the impact of autism exceeds the impact of COVID-19 on American lives during a new interview. Speaking about autism on The Cats Roundtable radio show on WABC 770 AM on Sunday, April 20, Kennedy said, “It dwarfs the COVID epidemic and the impacts on our country because COVID killed old people. Autism affects children and affects them at the beginning of their lives, the beginning of their productivity.” (Sheffield, 4/20)

FEDERAL BUDGET CUTS AND FUNDING FREEZE

Stat: NIH Bans New Grants To Schools With DEI Programs, Israel Boycotts 
The National Institutes of Health will begin prohibiting the awarding of new grants to any institutions that have DEI programs or boycott Israeli companies, in an escalation of the Trump administration’s use of research funding as leverage to dismantle activities at universities that it deems discriminatory or antisemitic. (Oza, 4/21)

Stat: NIH's Jay Bhattacharya Says Trump DEI Orders 'Misunderstood' 
National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya on Monday asserted that the agency remains committed to research that advances the health of minorities — despite the Trump administration’s sharp focus on rolling back programs dealing with diversity, equity, and inclusion. (Wosen, 4/21)

The New York Times: Harvard Sues Trump Administration Over Threats To Cut Funding
Harvard, the world’s wealthiest university, sued the Trump administration on Monday, fighting back against its threats to slash billions of dollars from the school’s research funding as part of a crusade against the nation’s top colleges. The lawsuit signaled a major escalation of the ongoing fight between higher education and President Trump, who has vowed to “reclaim” elite universities. The administration has cast its campaign as a fight against antisemitism, but has also targeted programs and teaching related to racial diversity and gender issues. (Saul, 4/21)

Side Effects Public Media: Federal Funding Cancellation Threatens Major Diabetes Study, Researchers Say
The Trump administration's funding cancellations could dissolve a large nationwide study that's been ongoing for 30 years on diabetes and pre-diabetes. The research was partially conducted throughout the Midwest. Medical professionals say the landmark Diabetes Prevention Program changed the understanding of the process of developing type 2 diabetes and created the term 'pre-diabetes' — a condition in which a person's blood sugar is higher than normal and can indicate they're on the cusp of full blown disease. It also contributed to preventative treatments. (Gabriel, 4/21)

NPR: CDC Injury Prevention Team Faced Major Cuts, Putting Critical Work At Risk
Before they were fired, staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were about to launch a new data system to improve how the U.S. tracks concussions. They were planning to release updated guidance on diagnosing traumatic brain injury in children and publish new findings on drownings after natural disasters. They were combing the web for data on suicides to forecast trends and studying changes in how people are injured during car crashes. (Stone, 4/21)

The Washington Post: Trump Touts 'Beautiful' Coal But Cuts Programs That Protect Miners
Emory “Curly” Carter sometimes feels like he can’t breathe. Household chores, such as cleaning and gardening, leave him gasping for air, making him feel like he has a “real bad” case of pneumonia. After nearly four decades working in underground coal mines, Carter was diagnosed with black lung, a deadly and incurable disease caused by inhaling coal dust over a long period. Now, the 70 year-old worries that the Trump administration’s steep cuts to health and safety programs will endanger the next generation of miners across the coalfields of West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia. (Joselow and Carioti, 4/21)

MORE FROM THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

The Wall Street Journal: Roche To Invest $50 Billion In U.S. Manufacturing, R&D As Tariffs Loom
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche plans to invest $50 billion in the U.S. over the next five years, the latest major spending commitment by a big drugmaker as the industry faces President Trump’s tariff threats. Pharma companies have in recent months set out plans to ramp up investments in the U.S. to boost local production and create jobs as the Trump administration prepares to impose tariffs on medicine imports–which have so far been exempted from such levies–and seeks to revive domestic manufacturing. (Smolak, 4/22)

The New York Times: Mahmoud Khalil’s Wife Gives Birth as ICE Bars Him From Being There
The Department of Homeland Security denied Mahmoud Khalil permission to attend the birth of his first child, who was delivered at a New York hospital on Monday, according to emails reviewed by The New York Times. Instead, Mr. Khalil experienced the birth by telephone from Jena, La., more than 1,000 miles from the hospital where his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, gave birth to a son. It is unclear when he will be able to see the baby. Mr. Khalil, a legal permanent resident who was a prominent figure in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the Columbia University campus, has been detained in Louisiana for more than a month. (Bromwich, 4/21)

Modern Healthcare: Trump Inauguration Received Donations From Hims, J&J, AHA
HCA Healthcare, Centene, Molina Healthcare, Hims & Hers, the American Hospital Association and other healthcare organizations donated at least $11.5 million to the inaugural committee for President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Records the Federal Election Commission released Sunday show the pharmaceutical industry made the largest contributions among healthcare interests to the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, which collected an all-time high $239 million. (McAuliff, 4/21)

MEDICAID

South Dakota Searchlight: States That Enshrined Medicaid Expansion In Their Constitutions, Including SD, Could Be In A Bind 
Voters in Missouri, Oklahoma and South Dakota have limited their options, should Congress cut Medicaid, by enshrining its expansion in their constitutions. (Chatlani, 4/21)

MedPage Today: Medicaid Often Restricts Access To Heart-Protective Diabetes Agents
Medicaid plans often put up barriers around newer classes of diabetes medications that offer cardio protection, according to a national study of formulary policies as of March 2024. Mainly driven by restrictive formulary policies in the adult managed care organization (MCO) plans that cover over 80% of Medicaid enrollees, an estimated 1.7 million adults -- 25% of Medicaid beneficiaries with diabetes -- had restricted SGLT2 inhibitor availability, and 2.7 million (40%) had restricted GLP-1 receptor agonist availability. (Monaco, 4/21)

CANCER

CNN: Cancer Death Rates Declining, New Report Says, But Diagnosis Rates Are On The Rise For Women
A new report on cancer in the US shows a steady decline in overall deaths from 2001 through 2022. The rate of diagnoses among men fell from 2001 through 2013 and then stabilized through 2021 but these incidence rates among women increased slightly every year between 2003 and 2021. (Dillinger, 4/21)

NBC News: New Images Could Change Cancer Diagnostics. ICE Detained Harvard Scientist Who Analyzes Them
A groundbreaking microscope at Harvard Medical School could lead to breakthroughs in cancer detection and research into longevity. But the scientist who developed computer scripts to read its images and unlock its full potential has been in an immigration detention center for two months — putting crucial scientific advancements at risk. The scientist, the 30-year-old Russian-born Kseniia Pertova, worked at Harvard’s renowned Kirschner Lab until her arrest at a Boston airport in mid-February. (Lee, 4/21)

BioPharma Dive: Enhertu Combo Tops Standard Drugs In First-Line HER2 Breast Cancer 
A two-drug regimen involving AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s Enhertu topped standard therapy in a large study in HER2-positive breast cancer, the companies said Monday. In a Phase 3 trial, a combination of Enhertu and the targeted therapy pertuzumab held tumors in check longer than THP, a regimen of chemotherapy and precision medicines that’s commonly used as an initial treatment for metastatic breast tumors expressing the HER2 protein. The companies didn’t provide specifics, but said the regimen displayed a “highly statistically significant and clinically meaningful effect” on so-called progression-free survival in the study, with benefits across all patient subgroups. (Fidler, 4/21)

Live Science: Simple Blood Test Could Reveal Likelihood Of Deadly Skin Cancer Returning, Study Suggests
A simple blood test could reveal who is at high risk of skin cancer recurrence after tumor-removal surgery. The test can detect fragments of tumor DNA with a simple blood draw to reveal the lingering presence of Stage III melanoma — a metastatic form of the deadliest form of skin cancer — that can't be seen with CT scans. Although the test isn't perfect, it could help flag patients who need aggressive treatment because their cancer is likely to come back. (Pappas, 4/21)

Fortune Well: Vitamin D May Play A Big Role In Lowering Colorectal Cancer Risk, Study Finds
Vitamin D plays an important role in your energy levels and the health of your bones, brain, heart, and gut. Now, researchers say this powerhouse vitamin may also play a crucial role in lowering risk for colorectal cancer, which has been on the rise in younger adults, becoming the leading cause of cancer death for men under 50, and the second leading among women under 50, according to the American Cancer Society. A study published in the journal Nutrients has linked vitamin D levels with colorectal cancer risk. Reviewing data from 50 different studies on vitamin D and colorectal cancer, researchers found that those with the highest dietary intake of vitamin D (80 ng/mL) had a 25% decrease in colorectal cancer risk compared to those with the lowest amount (10 ng/mL). (Freedman, 4/21)

MedPage Today: Women Don't Want AI As Sole Reader Of Breast Cancer Screenings
Few women wanted artificial intelligence (AI) as the sole reader of their screening mammograms, according to a survey, though most respondents generally supported some use of the technology. Among more than 500 women who presented for a screening mammography during a 6-month period in 2023, just 4% of survey respondents accepted the idea of stand-alone AI interpretation, whereas 71% were comfortable with AI as a second reader, reported Basak Dogan, MD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and colleagues. (Bassett, 4/21)

OUTBREAKS AND HEALTH THREATS

SciTechDaily: Scientists Discover Drug That Could Finally End Long COVID Suffering
Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research In Australia have discovered that a new drug compound can prevent long COVID symptoms in mice, a major breakthrough that could pave the way for future treatment of this debilitating condition. In this world-first study, mice treated with an antiviral compound, developed by a multidisciplinary team at WEHI, were protected from long-term brain and lung dysfunction, two hallmark symptoms of long COVID. (4/20)

CIDRAP: Analysis Suggests COVID-19 Diminishes Sperm Quality
A study in China has found that COVID-19 is associated with poor sperm quality, researchers reported earlier this month in Scientific Reports. ... "Further research is needed to observe the long-term effect of COVID-19 on sperm quality or reproductive outcomes," the study authors wrote. "In addition, there may be a need to constantly monitor the SARS-CoV-2 infection and integrate screening and diagnosis of the disease in the management of male infertility." (Dall, 4/21)

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

AP: Abortions Are Resuming At A Wyoming Clinic After Judge Suspends Laws
Wyoming’s only abortion clinic is resuming abortions after a judge on Monday suspended two state laws. One suspended law would require clinics providing surgical abortions to be licensed as outpatient surgical centers. The other would require women to get an ultrasound before a medication abortion. Wyoming Health Access in Casper had stopped providing abortions Feb. 28, the day after Republican Gov. Mark Gordon signed the licensing requirement into effect. (Gruver, 4/21)

Axios: OB-GYNs Rethink Prenatal Care Schedules
The professional association for OB-GYNs is recommending a shift in the way prenatal care is delivered, away from a dozen or more office visits to a more individualized approach built around social needs and patient choice. (Bettelheim, 4/21)

MedPage Today: Ob/Gyns Mostly Stayed Put After SCOTUS Overturned Roe, Study Finds
In the post-Roe v. Wade era, ob/gyns continued to practice in similar locations as before, according to a descriptive cohort study. From the quarter right before the June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision through the end of the study in September 2024, 95.8% of ob/gyns remained in states that protect access to abortion, 94.8% remained in states threatening bans, and 94.2% remained in states with abortion bans, reported Becky Staiger, PhD, of the University of California Berkeley, and colleagues. (Robertson, 4/21)

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

CBS News: Crozer Health Hospitals In Pennsylvania Are Closing, Prospect Medical Holdings Says
Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Taylor Hospital in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, will close after months of uncertainty, according to Prospect Medical Holdings, the parent company of Crozer Health. Thousands of employees who work for Crozer Health received emails Monday morning that the system will be shutting down despite efforts to find a buyer to assume ownership of Crozer Chester Medical Center, Taylor Hospital and other facilities. (Dougherty, Corrado, Wright and Holden, 4/21)

Modern Healthcare: Providence Hiring Freeze To Affect Nonclinical Roles
Providence has implemented a hiring freeze for nonclinical roles as the health system struggles to reach profitability. President and CEO Erik Wexler expressed concerns for the company's financial challenges in a Thursday memo to employees. He emphasized the need for action as expenses continue to outpace revenue. Wexler noted issues with low reimbursement rates, high labor and supply costs, the Crowdstrike outage and Los Angeles wildfires. (Hudson, 4/21)

The Boston Globe: Mass General Brigham Primary Care Doctors To Hold May Union Election
The National Labor Relations Board dealt an unequivocal victory to primary care doctors seeking to unionize at Mass General Brigham, ruling that the proposed bargaining unit of about 400 physicians can proceed with an election next month. The health system, the state’s largest, had tried to pare down the size of the bargaining unit vying to join the Doctors Council. In December, lawyers for MGB argued before the National Labor Relations Board that 18 of the 29 locations in the proposed bargaining unit were actually part of MGB’s acute-care hospitals, rendering those doctors ineligible to join the primary care physicians unit with the rest of their colleagues. (Gerber, 4/21)

Modern Healthcare: Providers To See More Dialysis Options From Fresenius Medical Care
Dialysis therapy in the U.S. has remained largely unchanged for decades. That may be changing. Fresenius Medical Care is trying to get a foothold in the U.S. for its more advanced form of dialysis called high-volume hemodiafiltration, which has been used in Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific for more than a decade. It is more expensive than traditional hemodialysis systems, but the company has equipped it with advanced features designed to justify the cost. (Dubinsky, 4/21)

American Homefront Project: How Much Of The VA's Budget Savings Will Go To Patient Care?
When Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins cut the ribbon this month for a new outpatient clinic in Chesapeake, Virginia, the event underscored the challenges facing the agency as it attempts to implement President Donald Trump's spending cuts. This part of Virginia has one of the fastest growing veteran populations in the country, and the clinic is opening with less than a third of the staff it needs to run at full capacity. Collins has said the VA will increase staffing in stages. (Walsh, 4/21)

The War Horse: For-Profit Firm Spends Millions To Maintain Stake In VA Benefits Claims
It started in 2017 with a group of friends and colleagues—the first 40 clients whom U.S. Army veterans Scott Greenblatt and Bill Taylor signed up to help. They had come home from combat zones weary and weakened by illness and injury, with a promise of monthly disability payments from the country they served. But first, they had to navigate the lumbering bureaucracy of the Department of Veterans Affairs. (Rosenbaum, 4/18)

Stat: UnitedHealth Executive Security Spending Amid Brian Thompson Killing
UnitedHealth Group spent nearly $1.7 million on security for its top executives last year, and it appears the expenses all occurred in the final weeks of 2024, after top executive Brian Thompson was killed, new filings show. (Herman, 4/21)

CNN: With Future Of Gun Research In Question, New Report Finds US Emergency Departments See A Firearm Injury Every 30 Minutes 
When Dr. Christina Johns, a pediatric emergency medicine physician, thinks about her time working at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, one case always comes rushing back: Two-year-old. Gunshot wound. Chest. ETA five minutes. The child was rushed to the emergency department after being accidentally shot by an older sibling who was playing with a gun that was left unlocked in the house. (Mukherjee, 4/21)

PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

CBS News: Walgreens To Pay $300 Million To Settle Claims It Illegally Filled Invalid Opioids Prescriptions
Walgreens Boots Alliance has agreed to pay $300 million to settle claims that it unlawfully filled millions of invalid prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances. In its complaint, the Justice Department, along with other federal agencies, alleges that for more than a decade pharmacists at the second largest pharmacy chain in the U.S. knowingly filled prescriptions of controlled substances, despite clear signs of their illegitimacy. (Cunningham, 4/21)

FiercePharma: TV Drug Ad Spending Grows Nearly 30% In Q1
Pharma advertisers have kicked off 2025 with a bang, with the top 10 spenders throwing almost 30% more money behind their TV commercials in the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago. Across the first three months of this year, according to iSpot.TV, drugmakers have spent a combined $729.4 million to air commercials for the top 10 brands, up from $567.3 million in the first quarter of 2024. That represents a slight sequential increase, too, growing close to 2% over the $717.4 million outlay from the biggest spenders in the fourth quarter of 2024. (Park, 4/17)

Politico: The Government Embraces AI Lab Rats
The Food and Drug Administration wants to replace animal testing with artificial intelligence, POLITICO’s Lauren Gardner reports. Politically speaking, the change has wide support. In 2022, Congress passed a bipartisan law, co-sponsored by Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), to drop an FDA mandate that all experimental drugs be tested on animals before they’re tested on humans, opening the door for new methods. But the FDA hasn’t fully implemented that rule, and in January, Booker and Paul reintroduced an updated version of the bill, the FDA Modernization Act 3.0, to nudge the process along. (Reader, 4/21)

STATE WATCH

Los Angeles Times: Newsom Makes $24 Generic Narcan Available To All Californians
California residents are now eligible to buy naloxone — a drug commonly sold under the brand name Narcan and used to treat opioid overdoses — for $24 through the state’s prescription website CalRx, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said in a news release Monday. “Life-saving medications shouldn’t come with a life-altering price tag. CalRx is about making essential drugs like naloxone affordable and accessible for all — not the privileged few,” Newsom said. (McDonald, 4/21)

CBS News: Minnesota Lawmakers Debate Over Healthcare For Undocumented Residents
Applications for free state health care by undocumented Minnesota residents are exceeding expectations. Applications are three times higher than lawmakers expected in the first year. Some lawmakers are pushing back on the free state health care expansion. "This program creates an incentive for illegal immigrants to come to Minnesota," Sen. Jordan Rasmusson, R-Fergus Falls, said. (Murphy, 4/21)

PUBLIC HEALTH

CNN: Psilocybin Use Rising Along With Calls To Poison Control Centers, Study Says 
Unsupervised use of psilocybin, or “magic mushrooms,” has accelerated among all age groups in the United States, but especially among adolescents and people 30 and older, a new study found. “The prevalence of psilocybin use in 2023 rose dramatically over the prior five years since states began liberalizing policy in 2019,” said study coauthor Dr. Andrew Monte, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. (LaMotte, 4/21)

Stat: Lower Blood Pressure Lowers Dementia Risk; Local Care Key Factor In Study
High blood pressure earned its reputation as the silent killer by causing heart attacks, heart failure, and strokes. It’s also been a suspect in dementia. Some studies have hinted at a correlation between lower blood pressure and fewer dementia cases, but they were too small and too short to lend statistical significance to the link. It’s also been noted that people with untreated high blood pressure carry a 42% higher risk of developing dementia. (Cooney, 4/21)

GLOBAL WATCH

CBS News: Pope Francis' Cause Of Death Was Stroke And Irreversible Heart Failure, Vatican Says
"We don't have a lot of details," said CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook. "But the bottom line is, you know, he had all these underlying conditions. He had the stroke, which is [when] you have too little blood supply to the brain. That can cause death in a number of ways, including shutting down the ability— the centers in the brain that allow you to breathe normally, and even the centers that allow the heart to work correctly." (Moniuszko, 4/21)