First Edition: Wednesday, April 16, 2025

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES

KFF Health News: A Call For Comfort Brought The Police Instead. Now The Solution Is In Danger
Overcome by worries, Lynette Isbell dialed a mental health hotline in April 2022. She wanted to talk to someone about her midlife troubles: divorce, an empty nest, and the demands of caring for aging parents with dementia. “I did not want to keep burdening my family and friends with my problems,” Isbell said. But she didn’t find the sympathetic ear she was hoping for on the other end. Frustrated, she hung up. Little did she know ending that call would set off events she would regret. (Liss, 4/16)

KFF Health News: In Rural Massachusetts, Patients And Physicians Weigh Trade-Offs Of Concierge Medicine
Michele Andrews had been seeing her internist in Northampton, Massachusetts, a small city two hours west of Boston, for about 10 years. She was happy with the care, though she started to notice it was becoming harder to get an appointment. “You’d call and you’re talking about weeks to a month,” Andrews said. That’s not surprising, as many workplace surveys show the supply of primary care doctors has fallen well below the demand, especially in rural areas such as western Massachusetts. (Brown, 4/16)

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

Stat: Trump Targets Health Care Costs With Executive Order On Drug Price Negotiations, Hospital Payments
President Trump unveiled a wide-ranging executive order on Tuesday that aims to lower drug prices, boost transparency into fees charged by middlemen, and limit Medicare payments for outpatient services provided by hospitals. Much of the order would require further rulemaking or other actions to have any effect. (Bannow and Oza, 4/15)

Axios: Trump Administration Moves To Limit Trans Care In ACA Plans
The Trump administration is seeking to limit coverage of gender-affirming care for adults and minors in Affordable Care Act marketplace health insurance plans beginning next year. Why it matters: The rule, if finalized, would not ban marketplace plans from covering gender-affirming care services. But it could raise out-of-pocket costs for patients, add administrative burdens for insurance companies and inject confusion into state operations, health policy experts say. (Goldman, 4/15)

AP: Trump Exempts Nearly 70 Coal Plants From Emissions Rule
The Trump administration has granted nearly 70 coal-fired power plants a two-year exemption from federal requirements to reduce emissions of toxic chemicals such as mercury, arsenic and benzene. A list quietly posted as of Tuesday on the Environmental Protection Agency’s website lists 47 power providers — which operate at least 66 coal-fired plants — that are receiving exemptions from the Biden-era rules under the Clean Air Act, including a regulation limiting air pollution from mercury and other toxins. (Daly, 4/16)

Military.com: Misdated PACT Act Disability Decisions Costing Government, Veterans Millions
A sampling of disability claims filed under the 2022 PACT Act found that roughly one-quarter listed incorrect start dates, resulting in improper payouts of about $6.8 million to some veterans and shortchanging an estimated 2,300 others, the Department of Veterans Affairs' internal watchdog found. In a report released Tuesday, the Veterans Affairs Officer of Inspector General concluded that the legislation's complexity, along with inadequate guidance from the Veterans Benefits Administration, led claims adjudicators to assign the wrong "effective date" to an estimated 26,000 claims, resulting in overpayment by the government in the first year of the legislation. (Kime, 4/15)

FUNDING AND RESEARCH CUTS

The New York Times: Trump Threatens Harvard’s Tax Status After Freezing Funds 
President Trump threatened Harvard University’s tax-exempt status on Tuesday after the school rebuffed his administration’s demands for a series of policy changes, a dramatic escalation in the feud between the president and the nation’s richest and oldest university. ... White House officials said Tuesday that the Internal Revenue Service would make its decision about Harvard’s tax-exempt status independently, but the president has made clear in private that he has no intention of backing down from the fight with the university. Federal law prohibits the president from “directly or indirectly” telling the I.R.S. to conduct specific tax investigations, and it is unclear whether the agency would actually move forward with an investigation. A spokeswoman for the I.R.S. declined to comment. (Pager, Duehren, Haberman and Swan, 4/15)

Boston Globe: Harvard Funding Cuts Will Largely Spare Affiliated Hospitals, Trump Official Says
Teaching hospitals affiliated with Harvard University will not be affected by the federal government’s decision this week to freeze $2.2 billion in funding to the university, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Education. (Saltzman, Weisman and Damiano, 4/15)

Boston Globe: Harvard Scientist Ordered To Halt Multicenter TB Trial In Funding Freeze
A top scientist at Harvard who has spent years unraveling the mysteries of tuberculosis woke up Tuesday morning and discovered an order from the federal government telling her to halt her research. (Damiano, 4/15)

VACCINES

Stat: Vaccine Advisory Panel Meets, Avoiding Conflict With RFK Jr.
A  meeting of vaccine advisers long targeted by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unfolded Tuesday seemingly without fireworks or interference, although the new administration’s imprint could be seen from the start, when staff for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gutted by layoffs, struggled to get a livestream running. (Mast, 4/15)

Stat: RFK Jr. Plans Changes To Vaccine Injury Reporting System
Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday that he plans to roll out changes to the vaccine injury monitoring system that would automate and increase data collection as well as look for negative impacts of the shots. (Payne, 4/15)

CBS News: CDC Weighing End To Universal COVID Vaccine Recommendations
A majority of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's work group on COVID-19 vaccines now supports ending the agency's pandemic-era recommendation for virtually all Americans to get vaccinated against the virus each year, officials said Tuesday. Instead of the agency's longstanding "universal" recommendation, most of the CDC's advisers and health officials favor shifting to guidance based on people's individual risk of more severe disease. (Tin, 4/15)

WHAT RFK JR. IS SAYING

MedPage Today: RFK Jr. Says The Medical System Has 'Perverse Incentives' For Doctors
HHS is trying to change the "perverse incentives" in the medical system, including the way doctors are paid, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday. "A lot of the negative behavior and self-destructive behavior in both the medical system -- how we pay for healthcare -- and how we eat is driven by perverse incentives," Kennedy said at a press conference at the Indiana State Library in Indianapolis. "Today, we have a healthcare system that reimburses doctors and hospitals for procedures rather than for health outcomes. We have to change that." (Frieden, 4/15)

Politico: ‘Whole Generation Of Kids Is Damaged’: RFK Jr. Takes MAHA On The Road
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz took the Make America Healthy Again movement on the road Tuesday, reveling in their power to shape public health in an appearance riddled with false statements and dubious claims. Kennedy, the Health and Human Services secretary, spoke of the current “crisis” of chronic disease, autism and reminisced about his childhood years when rates of diseases such as diabetes were significantly lower. (Wren and Brown, 4/15)

AUTISM

The Hill: CDC Report Says Autism Rates Are Rising Due To Better Screening, Contradicting RFK Jr.
ASD prevalence has been rising, but demographics have also been shifting, as autism diagnoses are now more prevalent in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods than wealthy ones. CDC researchers said the demographic shift was consistent with increased access to identification services among previously underserved groups. (Weixel, 4/15)

Stat: RFK Jr. Says Rising Autism Rate Is Alarming. Researchers Disagree
A new federal report suggests that U.S. autism rates are rising modestly, an increase that health researchers said reflected expanded diagnostic tools and access to care, among other factors. But health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. instead has pointed to the data as evidence of a growing crisis. (Broderick, 4/15)

OUTBREAKS AND HEALTH THREATS

CBS News: Large Number Of Measles Cases Being Missed, CDC Says
A large number of measles cases are being missed by health authorities, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official said Tuesday, as the agency is now struggling to keep up with requests for support from states responding to outbreaks. "We do believe that there's quite a large amount of cases that are not reported and underreported," said Dr. David Sugerman, senior scientist for the CDC's measles response this year. (Tin, 4/15)

ABC News: Measles Cases Linked To Texas Outbreak Reach 561, With 20 New Infections Confirmed
The measles outbreak in western Texas continues to grow, with 561 confirmed cases, according to new data published Tuesday. This is an increase of 20 new cases over the last five days. Almost all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or in individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). (Kekatos, 4/15)

CIDRAP: Study Shows Oropouche Virus May Be More Widespread Than Previously Thought
A new study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases shows the Oropouche virus may be more widespread in Latin America than previously thought, and as many as 1 in 10 people living in the region have likely experienced a prior infection with the pathogen. (Soucheray, 4/15)

CIDRAP: Research Links COVID To Poor Kidney Outcomes In US Youth
COVID-19 infection was linked to a higher risk of new-onset mild and moderate chronic kidney disease (CKD) in US children and adolescents from 2020 to 2023, according to recent findings from the National Institutes of Health's Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) initiative. (Van Beusekom, 4/15)

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

CBS News: Some Crozer Health Employees Receive Layoff Notices Amid Potential Shutdown: "People Are Going To Die"
Despite efforts to find a buyer to save the bankrupt Crozer Health System in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, people say they've received layoff notices. Renee Masella has been with Crozer for nine years as an occupational therapist with the home care and hospice department. She said some workers got the bad news on Friday. (Holden, 4/15)

Modern Healthcare: Ascension Health To Buy CHS' Stake In Texas Hospital
Ascension Health has signed a definitive agreement to buy Community Health System's majority ownership in a Texas hospital for $460 million. The deal involves CHS' 80% ownership stake in Cedar Park Regional Medical Center and related businesses in Cedar Park, Texas. The buyer, Ascension Seton, already holds a minority interest in the 126-bed medical center, according to a Tuesday news release. (Hudson, 4/15)

Bloomberg: Humana Faces Setback In Fight To Reverse Medicare Bonus Cuts
Humana Inc. lost an administrative appeal in its ongoing battle to reverse changes to Medicare quality ratings that threaten billions of dollars in revenue next year. The health insurer disclosed the decision in a legal filing Tuesday. Humana is still pursuing a separate lawsuit against the federal government in Texas district court. (Tozzi, 4/15)

Modern Healthcare: Cone Health Buys Medicare Advantage Insurer From Novant
Novant Health has sold its stake in Medicare Advantage company HealthTeam Advantage back to Cone Health. Cone Health — which launched HealthTeam Advantage in 2015 — is now the full owner of the Medicare Advantage carrier, the Greensboro, North Carolina-based health system said in a Tuesday news release. Cone Health declined to provide financial details of the deal. (Berryman, 4/15)

Fierce Healthcare: 'Watching The Clues': Uncertainty Clouds Medicare Conference
Medicare agents and brokers are trying to get a handle on a rapidly changing health landscape, but, in some respects, there are more questions than answers. That sense of uncertainty, even worry, was palpable at Medicarians in Las Vegas on March 30 to April 2. Medicarians hosts stakeholders ranging from agents and brokers, to carriers to investors, to regulators each year. (Tong, 4/15)

Modern Healthcare: Mass General Brigham, MedStar Health Offer In-Home Cancer Care
Mass General Brigham and MedStar Health have joined a growing list of health systems working to move cancer care into the home. Mass General Brigham and MedStar Health are offering in-home services to some cancer patients to help alleviate overcrowding in hospital emergency rooms, free up beds and reduce costs, the health systems said in separate news releases. Home-based cancer treatment is gaining momentum as more Americans are being diagnosed with the disease. However, reimbursement for some home-based cancer treatment remains a challenge. (Eastabrook, 4/15)

Modern Healthcare: Hospital-At-Home, EMS Systems Compete To Hire Paramedics
Hospital-at-home and other home-based care programs have turned paramedics into hot commodities for health systems and ignited competition for their skills. Hospitals systems including Geisinger Health System, Allina Health and Sanford Health, in addition to home-based care providers WellBe Senior Medical, DispatchHealth and myLaurel are deploying paramedics into patients' homes to provide certain medical services that would otherwise be provided by registered nurses. Paramedics have skills similar to nurses and are less costly. But increased demand for their services from fire departments, emergency medical systems and healthcare providers is exacerbating a national shortage. (Eastabrook, 4/15)

AP: As Dementia Rates Increase, Experts Warn Hospital Emergency Rooms Are Underprepared
One in six visits to the emergency department in 2022 that resulted in hospital admission had a wait of four or more hours, according to an Associated Press and Side Effects Public Media data analysis. Fifty percent of the patients who were boarded for any length of time were 65 and older, the analysis showed. Some people who aren’t in the middle of a life-threatening emergency might even wait weeks, health care experts said. ER boarding is a symptom of the U.S. health care system’s struggles, including shrinking points of entry for patients seeking care outside of ERs and hospitals prioritizing beds for procedures insurance companies often pay more for. (Bose and Thorp, 4/15)

Becker's Hospital Review: What's Driving Health System Investment In Gen Z Leadership
With an aging workforce and looming executive retirements, building leadership pipelines early is more important than ever, Jason Gilbert, PhD, RN, chief nurse executive at Indianapolis-based Indiana University Health, told Becker’s. It is especially important given Generation Z’s strong interest in early career development. (Kuchno, 4/15)

The New York Times: This Therapist Helped Clients Feel Better. It Was A.I.
The quest to create an A.I. therapist has not been without setbacks or, as researchers at Dartmouth thoughtfully describe them, “dramatic failures.” Their first chatbot therapist wallowed in despair and expressed its own suicidal thoughts. A second model seemed to amplify all the worst tropes of psychotherapy, invariably blaming the user’s problems on her parents. Finally, the researchers came up with Therabot, an A.I. chatbot they believe could help address an intractable problem: There are too many people who need therapy. (Rosenbluth, 4/15)

PHARMA AND TECH

ProPublica: Glenmark Recalls 24 U.S. Drugs Made At A Troubled Indian Factory
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has recalled two dozen generic medicines sold to American patients because the Indian factory that made them failed to comply with U.S. manufacturing standards and the Food and Drug Administration determined that the faulty drugs could harm people, federal records show. In February, the FDA found problems with cleaning and testing at the plant in Madhya Pradesh, India, which was the subject of a ProPublica investigation last year. (Callahan, 4/16)

AP: FDA OKs Trial Of Pig Livers As Dialysis-Like Treatment For Liver Failure 
U.S. researchers will soon test whether livers from a gene-edited pig could treat people with sudden liver failure — by temporarily filtering their blood so their own organ can rest and maybe heal. The first-of-its-kind clinical trial has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration, according to pig producer eGenesis, which announced the step Tuesday with its partner OrganOx. (Neergaard, 4/15)

STATE WATCH

AP: Wyoming Supreme Court To Hear Arguments Over Abortion Bans Struck Down By A Judge
Wyoming abortion bans put on hold and struck down by a lower court judge, including the first explicit U.S. ban on abortion pills, will be argued Wednesday before the state’s Supreme Court. ... One law would ban abortion except to protect to a pregnant woman’s life or in cases involving rape and incest. The other would make Wyoming the only state to explicitly ban abortion pills, though other states have instituted de facto bans on abortion medication by broadly prohibiting abortion. (Gruver, 4/16)

Axios: Abortions In Florida Plunged More Than Any Other State In 2024, New Data Shows 
The number of clinician-provided abortions in Florida declined last year more than in any other state, according to a new analysis. Why it matters: The data shows just how much the six-week ban that went into effect last year limited abortion access for Floridians and residents of Southern states who once relied on the Sunshine State as a haven for access. (Varn, 4/15)

The Hill: Three GOP States Pushing To Ban Candy And Soda From SNAP
Three GOP-led states are moving to strip unhealthy items from their food stamp programs that help low-income Americans afford groceries. Arkansas became the first state Tuesday to submit a waiver to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) asking for permission to change its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to ban soda and candy. Separately, Indiana and Idaho announced their intensions to seek similar waivers. (Weixel, 4/15)

Stat: Salvation Army Faces Class-Action Suit Over Denying Addiction Medications
A federal judge has given the go-ahead for a class-action lawsuit that could radically expand Americans’ access to lifesaving addiction medications. The perhaps surprising defendant: The Salvation Army, the Christian charity known more for its thrift stores than for its nationwide network of addiction treatment facilities. (Facher, 4/16)

NPR: How Psychiatric Patients Get Caught In A Cycle Of Homelessness And Spotty Care
When L tells the story of her mom — and how she's stuck in a repetitive cycle of mental health crises and bouts of homelessness — she refers to a thick stack of papers and notes she's accumulated along the way. L has spent more than a year trying to navigate Montana's mental health system, searching for anyone who could help her mom manage her symptoms and achieve enough stability to get off the streets and into a permanent home. (Bolton, 4/16)

AP: Sleep Training For Teens? These Schools Teach How To Get Enough Rest
The topic of a new course at Mansfield Senior High School is one that teenagers across the country are having trouble with: How to Get to Sleep. One ninth grader in the class says his method is to scroll through TikTok until he nods off. Another teen says she often falls asleep while on a late-night group chat with friends. Not everyone takes part in class discussions on a recent Friday; some students are slumped over their desks napping. Sleep training is no longer just for newborns. Some schools are taking it upon themselves to teach teenagers how to get a good night’s sleep. (Gecker, 4/16)

PUBLIC HEALTH

The Hill: High Levels Of Toxic Chemicals Found In Paper Receipts
New research has found that paper receipts from major retailers in the United States have a high level of bisphenol S, which has been linked to cancer and reproductive problems. Some receipts reportedly have such a high level of bisphenol S that holding one for 10 seconds can cause the skin to absorb the toxic chemical and violate California’s safety threshold. (Perkins, 4/15)

MedPage Today: Best Time Of Day For Asthma Inhaler?
For mild to moderate asthma, mid-afternoon dosing of inhaled beclomethasone suppressed nocturnal lung function worsening compared with other dosing strategies, a small open-label trial showed. ... An afternoon dose also yielded significantly better overnight (10 p.m. to 4 a.m.) suppression in blood eosinophil counts as a marker of airway inflammation compared with the other two groups, although overall asthma control remained comparable across chronotherapy groups. (Phend, 4/15)