First Edition: Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES

KFF Health News: After Outpatient Cosmetic Surgery, They Wound Up In The Hospital Or Alone At A Recovery House
Lisa Farris worried that a nasty infection from recent liposuction and a tummy tuck was rapidly getting worse. So she phoned the cosmetic surgery center to ask if she should head to the emergency room, she alleges in a lawsuit. The nurse who took the call at the Sono Bello center in Addison, Texas, told her she “absolutely should not” go to the ER — even though Farris “had a large gush of foul fluid” leaking from the incision, according to records in the malpractice case she filed against the cosmetic surgery chain in 2024. (Schulte, 12/23)

KFF Health News: It’s The ‘Gold Standard’ In Autism Care. Why Are States Reining It In?
Aubreigh Osborne has a new best friend. Dressed in blue with a big ribbon in her blond curls, the 3-year-old sat in her mother’s lap carefully enunciating a classmate’s first name after hearing the words “best friend.” Just months ago, Gaile Osborne didn’t expect her adoptive daughter would make friends at school. Diagnosed with autism at 14 months, Aubreigh Osborne started this year struggling to control outbursts and sometimes hurting herself. Her trouble with social interactions made her family reluctant to go out in public. (Sable-Smith and Jones, 12/23)

KFF Health News: Medical Bills Can Be Vexing And Perplexing. Here’s This Year’s Best Advice For Patients
A Texas boy’s second dose of the MMRV vaccine cost over $1,400. A Pennsylvania woman’s long-acting birth control cost more than $14,000. Treatment for a Florida Medicaid enrollee’s heart attack cost nearly $78,000 — about as much as surgery for an uninsured Montana woman’s broken arm. In 2025, these patients were among the hundreds who asked KFF Health News to investigate their medical bills as part of its “Bill of the Month” series. (Huetteman, 12/23)

KFF Health News: KFF Health News’ ‘An Arm and a Leg’: A Few More Good Things From 2025
An Arm and a Leg host Dan Weissmann breaks down how two states passed laws aimed at protecting people from things like medical debt, insurance delays and denials, and corporate profiteering. (Weissmann, 12/23)

PHARMA AND TECH

The Guardian: Five Big Global Health Wins In 2025 That Will Save Millions Of Lives
With humanitarian funding slashed by the US and other countries, including the UK, this year’s global health headlines have made grim reading. But good things have still been happening in vaccine research and the development of new and improved treatments for some of the most intractable illnesses. (Lay, 12/22)

Modern Healthcare: The Medical Devices Coming In 2026 Ready To Fuel Medtech
The medtech industry has grown beyond its pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels due to the introduction of new device categories and fresh applications for existing technologies. Large-cap medtech revenues on average grew 5% to 6% before the pandemic, have averaged 7% to 8% growth the last 10 quarters and are expected to grow about 7% going forward, said David Roman, managing director at Goldman Sachs Research, who covers U.S. medical technology and healthcare information technology. (Dubinsky, 12/22)

Stat: Trump Admin To Scrap Transparency Requirements For Health AI Tools
The Trump administration is proposing to remove requirements that developers of health information software disclose details on the development and testing of artificial intelligence tools used to help treat patients. The proposal was included in a new rule published late Monday by the federal agency that oversees patient record-keeping software and related technologies. (Ross, 12/22)

Modern Healthcare: HHS Cuts Interoperability Proposals, Streamlines Health IT Regs
The Health and Human Services Department is closing out 2025 by attempting to deregulate the health technology sector. The Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology issued two proposed rules Monday that would scrap provisions of an unfinished health information technology rule from the previous administration and streamline HHS’ health IT certification program. (12/22)

MENTAL HEALTH

MedPage Today: Air Pollution Linked To Depression
Long-term exposure to pollution from fine particulate matter and its major components -- soil dust, sulfate, and elemental carbon -- correlated with a greater risk of depression among older adults, a U.S. study showed. (Phend, 12/22)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Research Shows That Finding New Activities In Darker Months Can Help With Seasonal Depression 
Though the exact causes of seasonal affective disorder, also known as seasonal depression, are not completely understood, Dr. Robert Brady, associate professor of psychology at Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine, said it is the recurrence of depressive symptoms with a seasonal pattern. (Richardson, 12/22)

MedPage Today: Half Of Transgender, Gender Diverse Youth Report Suicidal Thoughts
Nearly one in two transgender and gender diverse (TGD) youth reported suicidal ideation or self-injury, and one in four attempted suicide, a global meta-analysis showed. (Monaco, 12/22)

Verite News New Orleans: Immigration Sweeps Take A Mental Toll On Area Students
High school senior Talia Joseph was taking a test at St. Mary’s Academy when she got a call saying that her family members had seen immigration enforcement officers in their neighborhood in Gretna. Joseph is an American citizen but ever since the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s immigration crackdown has begun in greater New Orleans, she said she has been worried about her family members who are not. Joseph said she has undocumented relatives on both sides of her family. Her father’s family is from Grenada and her mother’s is from Honduras. (Syed, 12/22)

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

MedPage Today: Nirsevimab Might Top Maternal Vax For Infants' RSV Protection
Infants given the monoclonal antibody nirsevimab (Beyfortus) to provide passive immunity against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) had a lower rate of related hospitalizations and severe outcomes than those whose mothers got immunized with the RSVpreF vaccine (Abrysvo), a population-based cohort study from France indicated. (Henderson, 12/22)

CIDRAP: Mpox Infection Early In Pregnancy Linked To Poor Fetal Outcomes, Study Suggests
A prospective cohort study from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) suggests that mpox infection during pregnancy, particularly in the first trimester, is associated with a high risk of fetal loss. The study, published late last week in The Lancet, pooled data from four studies conducted between December 2022 and June 2025 in one DRC region where mpox clade 1b is in circulation and two regions in which mpox clade 1a is endemic. (Bergeson, 12/22)

MedPage Today: Benzodiazepines Linked With Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes
Use of benzodiazepines during pregnancy, particularly in the second trimester, was linked to some adverse pregnancy outcomes, a Taiwanese cohort study found. (Robertson, 12/22)

CIDRAP: European Report Calls On Countries To Update Strategies On Sexually Transmitted Infections
A new report by European health officials indicates outdated national strategies and gaps in testing are hindering European countries’ efforts to stem a continent-wide surge in sexually transmitted infections (STIs). (Dall, 12/22)

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

NBC News: FDA Approves Wegovy Weight Loss Pill From Novo Nordisk
The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a pill version of Wegovy, Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster weight loss drug. The Wegovy pill, as it’s called, is first oral version of a GLP-1 drug that has been brought to market for weight loss. A second pill, from Eli Lilly, is also expected to be approved in the coming months. (Lovelace Jr., 12/22)

MedPage Today: FDA Opens Door To Quicker Approval Of Osteoporosis Drugs
The FDA gave the greenlight to use total hip bone mineral density (BMD) as a validated surrogate endpoint for clinical osteoporosis drug trials, the FDA announced on Friday. (Monaco, 12/22)

The Hill: Former FDA Chief Sounds Alarm Over HHS Childhood Vaccine Overhaul
Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb expressed concern over the Trump administration’s pending overhaul of the childhood vaccine schedule. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will release a new vaccine schedule next year that recommends fewer shots, NewsNation reported Friday. The move would bring the U.S., which recommends 72 childhood vaccines doses targeting 18 diseases, in line with Denmark, which recommends 11 doses targeting 10 diseases. (Rego, 12/22)

AP: US Signs New Health Deals With 9 African Countries
The U.S. government has signed health deals with at least nine African countries, part of its new approach to global health funding, with agreements that reflect the Trump administration’s interests and priorities and are geared toward providing less aid and more mutual benefits. The agreements signed so far, with Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda among others, are the first under the new global health framework, which makes aid dependent on negotiations between the recipient country and the U.S. (Magome and Gumede, 12/22)

Undark: CDC To Fund Controversial Study On Infant Hepatitis B Vaccines
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sending $1.6 million to a Danish vaccine research group with ties to the U.S. anti-vaccine movement to study the effects of the hepatitis B vaccine in infants in West Africa. Notice of the new grant — which the University of Southern Denmark submitted to the CDC “unsolicited” — was quietly posted to a federal website last Wednesday. (Manto, 12/23)

CIDRAP: As Marrazzo Prepares For Helm At IDSA, Scientific Community Praises Choice
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has tapped Jeanne Marrazzo, MD, MPH, as its next chief executive officer (CEO), which some observers in the scientific community hail as a bold move that signals the society’s willingness to push back against the Trump administration’s perceived attempts to muzzle academics and health professionals who defy it. (Van Beusekom, 12/22)

Bloomberg: USDA Lost A Third Of DC Staff Before Planned Relocation, Inspector General Finds
About a third of the US Department of Agriculture’s employees in the Washington area left the agency from January to June, as the Trump administration sought to aggressively trim what it sees as excessive government spending. More than 1,000 employees at the agency’s Washington, DC, headquarters departed in the first half of the year, according to a Dec. 17 report from the agency’s Office of Inspector General. About 18% of the USDA’s total employees — amounting to more than 20,000 workers — left during the period. (Peng, 12/22)

PUBLIC HEALTH

CBS News: Flu Season Is Ramping Up, And Some Experts Are "Pretty Worried"
Doctors and scientists say this year's influenza season could be tougher than usual. A new version of the flu virus, called H3N2, is spreading quickly. At the same time, fewer people are getting flu shots. "This flu season is no joke. We are seeing more cases than we would expect for this time of year," Dr. Amanda Kravitz, a pediatrician at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, said on "CBS Mornings." Specifically, she explained, "we are seeing influenza A, and within influenza A we are seeing a subtype or variant called H3N2." (Gounder, 12/22)

CIDRAP: Study Finds That Despite Broad COVID Vaccine Availability, COVID Still Deadlier Than Flu In Hospitalized Patients
While the mortality gap between COVID-19 and influenza has narrowed since the onset of the pandemic, COVID continues to carry a substantially higher short-term risk of death than seasonal flu despite the availability of a COVID vaccine, according to a large population-based cohort study from South Korea. (Bergeson, 12/22)

CIDRAP: USDA Says H5 Avian Flu Detection In Wisconsin Dairy Herd Is New Spillover Event 
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed last week that the recent detection of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in a Wisconsin dairy herd represents a new spillover event from wildlife. (Dall, 12/22)

CIDRAP: Poll Shows Small Yet Significant Drop In Americans’ Willingness To Recommend MMR Vaccines
At the end of a year of escalating measles outbreaks and on the verge of the United States losing its measles elimination status, the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) published a new poll showing that compared to last year, fewer Americans are willing recommend their family member receive the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine. (Soucheray, 12/22)

Bloomberg: Target, Walmart, Whole Foods Added To ByHeart Botulism Lawsuits Over Formula Sales
Target Corp., Whole Foods Market and Walmart Inc. will be added as defendants in lawsuits against baby formula maker ByHeart for selling a product potentially contaminated with spores that cause infant botulism. Bill Marler, a prominent foodborne-illness attorney who is suing ByHeart on behalf of families whose babies were hospitalized with botulism, said Sunday he plans to add the grocery store chains to the lawsuits this week. (Edney, 12/22)

SCIENCE AND INNOVATIONS

MedPage Today: New Drug Approved For Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
The FDA on Friday approved aficamten (Myqorzo) for symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), drugmaker Cytokinetics announced. Aficamten is an allosteric and reversible inhibitor of cardiac myosin motor activity that reduces cardiac contractility and left ventricular outflow tract obstruction; the drug is indicated to improve functional capacity and symptoms in adults with the symptomatic obstructive form of HCM, the most common monogenic inherited cardiovascular disorder. (Ingram, 12/22)

ABC News: New Drug May Slow Progression Of ALS In Small Group Of Patients: Study
A new drug may slow progression of -- and even reverse --  symptoms of a rare form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a new study published Monday finds. The drug, tofersen, targets a very specific mutation -- SOD1 -- which applies to only 2% of the ALS population. Among this group, the drug has the potential to slow muscle degeneration by targeting SOD1 mRNA, genetic material that tells the body how to make proteins, and reduces the proteins being made. (Kekatos and Neporent, 12/22)

MedPage Today: Once-Weekly Oral Combo For HIV Maintains High Rates Of Virologic Suppression
A once-weekly oral combination of islatravir plus lenacapavir (Sunlenca) for HIV maintained similarly high rates of virologic suppression compared with standard daily oral treatment in an open-label phase II trial. (Rudd, 12/22)

CIDRAP: Early Trial Of Nipah Virus Vaccine Shows Promise 
A phase 1 randomized clinical trial of a novel Nipah virus vaccine is leading to hope that there could soon be a way to prevent infection. The study found that the shots were safe and generated an immune response, according to a study published Dec. 13 in The Lancet. (Szabo, 12/22)

MedPage Today: Study: Keep Hydroxychloroquine Doses High In Lupus
Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) doses of at least 400 mg/day provided better symptom relief for Taiwanese people with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) compared with lower doses, with the added benefit of less risk for cardiovascular problems, researchers said. (Gever, 12/22)

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

CalMatters: Aetna To Cover IVF Treatments For Same-Sex Couples In National Settlement
Last week, in a landmark settlement, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of California Haywood Gilliam, Jr. approved a preliminary agreement for the class action lawsuit requiring Aetna to cover fertility treatments for same-sex couples — like artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization — as they do with heterosexual couples. It is the first case requiring a health insurer to apply this policy nationally across all of its enrollees. An estimated 2.8 million LGBTQ members will benefit, including 91,000 Californians. Under the settlement, Aetna will also pay at least $2 million in damages to California-based members who qualify. (Hwang, 12/22)

Modern Healthcare: CVS' 2025 Reset Driven By Aetna Market Exits, Oak Street Closures
CVS Health shuttered faltering business units and overhauled its C-suite during a year that saw the insurance, pharmacy benefit manager and drugstore conglomerate rethink its strategy. A reset was deemed in order after earnings plummeted 45% in 2024, leading to slashed executive bonuses and nearly 3,000 layoffs. CVS Health initiated a $2 billion cost-cutting plan and considered divesting businesses. (Tong, 12/22)

Bloomberg: Truemed Raises $34 Million In Series A Led By Andreessen Horowitz
Truemed, a wellness company, closed a $34 million Series A fund-raising round led by Andreessen Horowitz, Chief Executive Officer Justin Mares told Bloomberg Television. The company, which helps people use tax-advantaged health savings accounts for wellness products like exercise equipment, saunas and supplements, isn’t profitable yet, said Mares, who co-founded the company with Calley Means, a top adviser to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Cohrs Zhang, 12/22)

MedPage Today: CMS Funds 400 New Residency Slots
The decision to fund 400 new medical residency positions at hospitals across the U.S. marks a meaningful -- though limited -- step toward addressing a looming physician shortage expected to worsen over the next decade, public health officials said. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) last week allocated the 400 Medicare-funded residency slots to 135 hospitals in 37 states. Nearly two-thirds of the positions will support primary care and psychiatry residency programs. (McCreary, 12/22)

Crains New York Business: NYC Nurses Vote To Authorize Potential Strike At 12 Hospitals
Roughly 20,000 nurses citywide are preparing to go on strike if their private hospital employers don’t agree to new labor contracts before the end of this year, setting the stage for a large-scale work stoppage across New York City’s major health systems. Approximately 97% of union members at 12 private hospitals voted to authorize a strike if they do not reach a deal with their employers by Dec. 31, when the current labor contracts expire, the New York State Nurses Association said Monday. (D'Ambrosio, 12/22)

STATE WATCH

The Florida Times-Union: Canadian Family Pays It Forward To UF Health For Care After Crash
In March 2022, a Canadian attorney lost two of his children in a deadly car crash in Clay County while the family was returning home from a Florida vacation. Pieter Kort recently returned to UF Health Jacksonville, which cared for him, wife Jamie and two surviving children Ethan, then 15, and Hannah, then 16, after the crash. He made a $20,000 donation to the hospital's Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. (Reese Cravey, 12/22)

The New York Times: Mexican Medical Plane Crashes In Galveston Bay, Killing At Least 2
The Mexican Navy said at least five people were killed on Monday when one of its medical aircraft crashed into Galveston Bay in Texas. The navy said the aircraft, a King Air ANX-1209, was carrying four civilians and four crew members. It later said in a statement that there were two survivors and a rescue operation was underway for one person on board who had gone missing. (Rodríguez Mega and Albeck-Ripka, 12/22)

The Maine Monitor: Here’s How The Maine Attorney General's Office Is Spending Its Share Of The Opioid Settlement Money
Over the past five years, the attorney general’s office, with Aaron Frey at the helm, has secured for Maine more than $260 million in settlements with major pharmaceutical companies accused of “supercharging” the opioid epidemic. It has overseen the settlements’ distribution and contributed to efforts to help a state council and local governments spend their shares deliberately and transparently. (Bader, 12/22)

Montana Free Press: Montana Medical Board Revokes Cancer Doctor's License After Accusations Of Harming Patients
A panel of Montana state medical board members on Friday voted unanimously to revoke the medical license of Dr. Thomas Weiner, the former Helena cancer doctor who has been accused of prescribing unnecessary treatments and harming patients. On Friday, four members of the board’s adjudication panel accepted the findings of board investigators that Weiner “violated” rules of professional conduct and prohibited him from practicing medicine in Montana ever again. (Silvers, 12/22)

Post-Tribune: Porter County, Northwest Health Reach EMS Deal
After an autumn of angst over the impending expiration at the end of the month of Porter County’s ambulance contract with Northwest Health, the county and hospital have come to a two-year agreement at an annual cost of $1.5 million for a minimum of four advanced life support and one basic life support ambulances. It’s a considerable, but expected, increase from the yearly ambulance subsidy of $450,000 the county currently pays. (Jones, 12/22)

Bloomberg: Chicago Homicides On Track For Lowest Annual Total Since 1965
Chicago is on pace to end the year with the fewest homicides since the 1960s, a triumph for a city that since the pandemic has been beset with high levels of violence. The third-largest US city has recorded 398 homicides through Dec. 14, according to Chicago Police Department data, a 32% drop from last year. The final tally from 2025 will likely rise before year-end, but without a drastic increase, it will be the lowest on record since 1965. At the height of the pandemic in 2021, Chicago recorded over 800 killings. (Davis, 12/22)

AP: Indiana Community Fights To Keep Needle Exchange Going After Trump Order
Inside a storage room at the Clark County Health Department are boxes with taped-on signs reading, “DO NOT USE.” They contain cookers and sterile water that people use to shoot up drugs. The supplies, which came from the state and were paid for with federal money, were for a program where drug users exchange dirty needles for clean ones, part of a strategy known as harm reduction. But under a July executive order from President Donald Trump, federal substance abuse grants can’t pay for supplies such as cookers and tourniquets that it says “only facilitate illegal drug use.” Needles already couldn’t be purchased with federal money. (Ungar, 12/22)

Good News Network: Idaho Secret Santa Is Giving A Million Dollars To Local Residents Dealing With Chaos
Santa has arrived early in Idaho—in the form of a mystery donor who is giving away a million dollars to families in crisis. ... One of the earliest gifts was a 2025 Honda minivan and $1,000 for a family that has conjoined twins, which occurs about once in every 50,000 births. (Frederick, 12/21)