First Edition: Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025

KFF Health News: Amid Wildfire Trauma, L.A. County Dispatches Mental Health Workers To Evacuees
As Fernando Ramirez drove to work the day after the Eaton Fire erupted, smoke darkened the sky, ash and embers rained onto his windshield, and the air smelled of melting rubber and plastic. He pulled to the side of the road and cried at the sight of residents trying to save their homes. (Castle Work, 1/21)

KFF Health News: Dogs Paired With Providers At Hospitals Help Ease Staff And Patient Stress
Outside HCA HealthONE Rose medical center, the snow is flying. Inside, on the third floor, there’s a flurry of activity within the labor and delivery unit. “There’s a lot of action up here. It can be very stressful at times,” said Kristina Fraser, an OB-GYN in blue scrubs. Nurses wheel a very pregnant mom past. “We’re going to bring a baby into this world safely,” Fraser said, “and off we go.” (Daley, 1/21)

KFF Health News: Days From Trump Inauguration, Journalists Weigh California, Federal Health Policies
KFF Health News senior correspondent Angela Hart discussed California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s health legacy on KVPR’s “Central Valley Daily” on Jan. 16 and on KQED’s “Forum” on Jan. 13. (1/18)

Stat: Trump Executive Orders On Health Care: Drug Pricing, ACA, Covid-19
President Trump began his second term Monday with a sweeping order aimed at reversing dozens of former President Biden’s top priorities, from regulations aimed at lowering health care costs, to coronavirus outreach, Affordable Care Act expansions, and protections against gender-based discrimination. (Owermohle, Wilkerson, Zhang and Lawrence, 1/20)

Politico: Trump Promises Health Actions Starting This Week
President Donald Trump said he will begin to make changes this week to a handful of health measures. In his inaugural speech in Washington on Monday, the 47th president promised to reverse actions taken against military members who declined to follow the Covid-19 vaccine mandate, which Congress repealed in 2023. Trump, despite largely focusing his address on immigration and the economy, also said his administration will reform the public health system. He noted chronic disease prevention and treatment as priorities, in line with the Make America Healthy Again agenda he shares with his pick to lead HHS, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Trump also said he would change how public health agencies respond to disasters, noting flooding in North Carolina last year and the more recent wildfires in California. (Payne, 1/20)

The New York Times: Trump Withdraws U.S. From World Health Organization
President Trump moved quickly on Monday to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization, a move that public health experts say will undermine the nation’s standing as a global health leader and make it harder to fight the next pandemic. In an executive order issued about eight hours after he took the oath of office, Mr. Trump cited a string of reasons for the withdrawal, including the W.H.O.’s “mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic,” and the “failure to adopt urgently needed reforms.” (Gay Stolberg, 1/20)

Advocate: Donald Trump’s Government Declares That Transgender And Nonbinary People Don’t Exist
As one of his first executive orders since returning to office on Monday, President Donald Trump declared that the federal government would no longer recognize transgender people. The sweeping directive, titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” defines sex as strictly male or female based on the “immutable biological reality of sex” characteristics at birth. The new Republican administration claims this move will “defend women’s rights” and restore “trust in government itself.” (Wiggins, 1/20)

The 19th: Trump Clears The Way To Ban Transgender People From Military Service
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday clearing the way to bar transgender people from military service by revoking a Biden-era policy that allowed trans service members. Trump did not lay out a new ban, though he is expected to do so soon as his administration moves swiftly to target transgender rights. Once that ban is in place, it is expected to result in one of the largest layoffs of transgender people in history and is likely to face legal challenges; the military is the largest employer in the nation, and transgender people are twice as likely to serve as their cisgender peers. (Sosin and Rummler, 1/20)

AP: Trump Seeks To Designate Drug Cartels As Foreign Terrorist Organizations 
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday saying the United States would designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations in a move that could push a militarized agenda for the border and Latin America. The order highlighted Mexican drug cartels and other Latin American criminal groups like Venezuela gang Tren de Aragua and Salvadoran gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), which it said “threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere.” (Janetsky, 1/21)

The New York Times: Trump Promises Tariffs On Canada And Mexico, And Paves Way For Further Trade Action 
President Trump said on Monday night that he planned to impose a 25 percent tariff on products from Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1 ... because those nations were allowing “mass numbers of people to come in and fentanyl to come in.” (Swanson, 1/20)

NPR: Trump Is Withdrawing From The Paris Agreement (Again), Reversing U.S. Climate Policy
President Donald Trump is withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement – again. Under the international climate accord, first negotiated in 2015, countries around the world agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to limit global warming and forestall the worst impacts of climate change. (Perez and Waldholz, 1/21)

AP: Trump Signs Death Penalty Order Directing Attorney General To Help States Get Lethal Injection Drugs 
President Donald Trump signed a sweeping execution order Monday on the death penalty that directs the attorney general to “take all necessary and lawful action” to ensure that states have enough lethal injection drugs to carry out executions. Trump’s order, coming just hours after he returned to the White House, compels the Justice Department to not only seek the death penalty in appropriate federal cases but also to help preserve capital punishment in states that have struggled to maintain adequate supplies of lethal injection drugs. (Richer, 1/20)

The New York Times: Trump Revokes Biden Executive Order Related To Use Of Chokeholds 
Donald Trump has revoked a Biden executive order on law enforcement reforms that sought to end the use of chokeholds by federal agents and reduce the number of no-knock warrants, a type of sudden entry into a home that has at times ended in violent confrontations. (Barrett, 1/20)

The Washington Post: Trump Team Taps Dorothy Fink To Serve As Interim HHS Secretary
Incoming Trump officials have tapped Dorothy Fink, an endocrinologist and career civil servant, as the interim secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. Fink, who leads the health agency’s Office on Women’s Health and is a specialist in treating menopause, is in line to lead the nearly $2 trillion agency while Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for HHS secretary, undergoes Senate confirmation. (Diamond, 1/19)

The Washington Post: Pressure Builds On RFK Jr. As Confirmation Hearing Remains Unscheduled
Bipartisan critics of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are sharpening their arguments that he is unfit to serve as the nation’s top health official, embracing the extra time they have been given while Kennedy waits for his confirmation hearings to be scheduled. The Office of Government Ethics as of Friday was still evaluating Kennedy’s financial disclosures, which are required for potential Cabinet officials, delaying his anticipated hearings in front of the Senate’s finance and health committees. (Diamond, 1/18)

The New York Times: RFK Jr. Sought To Stop Covid Vaccinations 6 Months After Rollout
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice to lead the nation’s health agencies, formally asked the Food and Drug Administration to revoke the authorization of all Covid vaccines during a deadly phase of the pandemic when thousands of Americans were still dying every week. Mr. Kennedy filed a petition with the F.D.A. in May 2021 demanding that officials rescind authorization for the shots and refrain from approving any Covid vaccine in the future. (Jewett, 1/17)

The New York Times: Kennedy’s Plan For The Drug Crisis: A Network Of ‘Healing Farms’
In dark bluejeans and work shirt, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stood in a Texas farm field, faced a camera and outlined his plan to combat drug addiction. “I’m going to bring a new industry to these forgotten corners of America, where addicts can help each other recover from their addictions,” ... “We’re going to build hundreds of healing farms where American kids can reconnect to America’s soil, where they can learn the discipline of hard work that rebuilds self-esteem and where they can master new skills,” he continued. (Hoffman, 1/18)

CBS News: Government Website Offering Reproductive Health Information Goes Offline
Government website reproductiverights.gov appeared to be offline on the evening of President Donald Trump's inauguration. The site, launched in 2022 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as part of a public awareness campaign, contained information on access to abortion and reproductive health care and a Know-Your-Rights patient fact sheet. (Fichten, 1/20)

The Hill: Trump Expected To Quickly Revive ‘Global Gag Rule’ On Abortion
President-elect Trump is expected to reinstate a controversial policy soon after taking office that would further bar foreign nongovernmental organizations that perform, counsel on or provide information on abortions abroad from receiving U.S. funding. The Mexico City Policy, referred to as the global gag rule by its opponents, was first introduced during the second Reagan administration and has been rescinded by every Democratic president and reinstated by every Republican president since then. (O’Connell-Domenech, 1/19)

CBS News: Maryland Enshrines Access To Abortion In State Constitution After Voters Approve Amendment
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed a proclamation enshrining access to abortion into the state's constitution after voters approved ballot question 1 in the 2024 election. About 76% of voters were in favor of the constitutional amendment, according to the Associated Press. Despite a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, abortion has remained legal in Maryland. (Moodee Lockman, 1/20)

Newsweek: Is Baby Brain Real? Pregnancy Changes Whopping 95% Of Gray Matter
Almost all of the gray matter in the brains of women changes during pregnancy, according to a recent study, and these changes are linked to hormone fluctuations and the psychological wellbeing of mothers after giving birth. Neuroscientists tested the effects of pregnancy and motherhood on the brains of nearly 180 women using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. (Willmoth, 1/20)

NPR: Medicare Targets 15 More Drugs For Price Cuts, Including Ozempic 
The Biden administration, in its last full weekday in office, announced the next 15 drugs up for Medicare price negotiation. Blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic is on the list. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services negotiated prices for a first batch of drugs last year — something it could only do because of the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed in 2022. Those new prices go into effect in January 2026. (Lupkin, 1/17)

Modern Healthcare: ACA Enrollment For 2025 Breaks Another Record
At least 24.2 million people purchased health insurance on the exchange marketplaces during open enrollment for 2025, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Friday. That tally surpasses a record set a year ago, as sign-ups for exchange plans accelerated mostly due to the enhanced subsidies enacted in 2021 and extended in 2022. (Young, 1/17)

The Hill: Fauci Says He Will Accept Preemptive Pardon From Biden
Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), told The Hill on Monday that he intends to accept the pardon preemptively offered to him by President Biden. Fauci said in an email that the White House approached him about the pardon about a month ago and that he did not ask for one. His pardon covers any offenses from Jan. 1, 2014, to Sunday that are related to his service as NIAID director, a member of the White House’s COVID-19 task force or response team or as chief medical adviser to the president. (Lee, 1/20)

The Hill: Marijuana Rescheduling Hearing Postponed By DEA Judge
A Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) judge canceled an upcoming hearing on the Biden administration’s marijuana rescheduling proposal pending appeals, effectively kicking the process to the Trump administration. Advocates of more lenient marijuana laws alleged DEA officials had colluded with rescheduling opponents and are hopeful the process will move ahead under President-elect Trump. (Choi, 1/18)

Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Data Breaches Topped 700 In 2024
After the worst year for healthcare data breaches, where the number of reported attacks topped 700 for the fourth-straight year and a record 184 million people had their healthcare data compromised, one would be hard-pressed to find a silver lining. John Riggi, national adviser for cybersecurity and risk at the American Hospital Association, sees one. "I have never seen the healthcare sector so engaged in cybersecurity," he said, "from the [C-suite] level all the way down to operational staff." (Broderick, 1/17)

Modern Healthcare: MultiPlan, Aetna, Other Insurers File For Lawsuit Dismissal
Data analytics firm MultiPlan and several large insurance companies launched their first legal defense against hospitals and the American Medical Association on Thursday, arguing that an antitrust lawsuit filed by providers should be dismissed because a market for out-of-network services among payers does not exist. (Tepper, 1/17)

The Washington Post: Medicare Patients Seeking Neurology Appointment Face Weekslong Wait
Medicare patients referred to a neurologist had to wait a median of 34 days before being seen, and nearly 1 in 5 patients waited more than 90 days, in 2018 and 2019, according to a study published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The researchers studied a sample of Medicare patients — 163,313 people, average age 73.8 years old — who were referred to a neurologist in 2018 and 2019. The median wait time between referral and appointment was 34 days, and 18 percent of patients waited more than 90 days, the study found. (Docter-Loeb, 1/20)

Politico: Succession Battle Brews Within 1199SEIU
Top officials at the nation’s largest health care union are spearheading an historic bid to unseat their longtime leader, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East President George Gresham, setting the stage for the organization’s first competitive election in decades. ... They are arguing that the union needs new leadership to strengthen the organization as it gears up to challenge congressional Republicans over potential Medicaid cuts, among other health and labor policy issues expected to rise to the forefront with Donald Trump back in the White House. (Kaufman, 1/20)

WCHSTV: W.Va. Governor Urges Congress To Classify Fentanyl As A Weapon Of Mass Destruction
Newly-inaugurated West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey started off his second day with a list of executive orders, among those, he signed a letter to the congressional delegation to declare fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction. This is legislation Morrisey has been vocal about since 2022, when a group of 18 Attorneys General came together and introduced a bill into the United States House of Representatives aiming to declare fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction. (Burrough, 1/18)

Mission Local: Mayor Lurie's Fentanyl Plan Is Missing Only One Detail So Far: A Plan
Last week saw the introduction of San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s first piece of legislation, which ostensibly aims to combat fentanyl and mental illness on the streets, boost law-enforcement hiring and other laudable goals by speeding up contracting. But, beyond speeding up contracting, there are no specifics about how this plan would actually accomplish its underlying goals. As such, all this plan is missing — is a plan.  (Eskenazi, 1/20)

The New York Times: Airborne Lead And Chlorine Levels Soared As L.A. Wildfires Raged
At the height of the Los Angeles County wildfires, atmospheric concentrations of lead, a neurotoxin, reached 100 times average levels even miles from the flames, according to early detailed measurements obtained by The New York Times. Levels of chlorine, which is also toxic at low concentrations, reached 40 times the average. The spiking levels underscore the added danger from wildfires when cars, homes, and other structures burn, researchers said. (Tabuchi and Rojanasakul, 1/20)

WUSF: St. Petersburg Wants A Hurricane Wall Like The One Used By Tampa General Hospital
You might've seen video of a large wall keeping Hurricane Helene's 7-foot-tall waves away from Tampa General Hospital. After having to shut down multiple sewage treatment plants after damages from Helene's storm surge, the city of St. Petersburg wants a wall of its own. (Kukday, 1/20)

ABC News: Moderna Awarded $590M To Help Accelerate Development Of MRNA-Based Bird Flu Vaccine: HHS
Moderna has been awarded approximately $590 million from the federal government to help speed up the development of an mRNA-based bird flu vaccine, alongside other influenza vaccines, health officials announced Friday. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a press release that the funding will allow the pharmaceutical company to accelerate the development of an H5N1 mRNA influenza vaccine "that is well matched to strains currently circulating in cows and birds and expands the clinical data supporting the use of mRNA vaccines that may be needed if other influenza strains emerge with pandemic potential." (Benadjaoud and Deliso, 1/18)

ABC News: What 3rd Case Of Bird Flu With Unknown Source Of Infection Could Mean In Fight Against Disease
A child in San Francisco was recently confirmed to be the third human case of bird flu in the United States in which it's unclear how the person got infected. Cases have been spreading across the country since April 2024 with 67 confirmed as of Thursday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Most human cases have occurred after coming into contact with infected cattle, infected poultry farms or other culling operations. (Kekatos, 1/17)

Bloomberg: Group Involved In Wuhan Virus Studies Debarred By US Health Dept
The US Department of Health and Human Services has cut off all funding and formally debarred EcoHealth Alliance Inc. and its former president, Peter Daszak, for five years following scrutiny over its involvement in virus research in Wuhan, China, ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic. The department made its decision based on evidence uncovered by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said on its website Friday. (Wei Wong, 1/18)

The Washington Post: Sweeping Review Suggests Weight-Loss Drugs’ Effect On 175 Conditions
A study by the Department of Veterans Affairs on the relationship between GLP-1 weight-loss drugs and 175 diseases and conditions supports a lot of what scientists already suspected about potential benefits, but contains a few surprises, too. The findings, published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine and based on an analysis of medical records from about 2.5 million patients in the VA system, support the idea that the medications might be able to help patients with Alzheimer’s disease and who are suffering from substance abuse involving alcohol, cannabis and narcotics. (Eunjung Cha, 1/20)

The Washington Post: Research Indicates Recreational Ketamine Use Is On The Rise
Recreational ketamine use has increased in the United States in recent years, outpacing its rise as a treatment for depression, a new analysis suggests. The hallucinogenic drug — a controlled substance designed for use as an anesthetic — has been touted for its potential as a therapy for depression. The recent study, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, used data from the 2015-2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health to gauge ketamine use among U.S. adults. (Blakemore, 1/19)