Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026
KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES
KFF Health News: Medicare’s Paying Less For Cataract Surgery. Eye Doctors Are Turning To Lucrative Lasers
Tammy Chalala, a retired dietitian in New York, was thrilled with the results of her cataract surgeries, which left her with close to 20/20 vision. She said she paid nearly $4,000 out-of-pocket for her two surgeries last year because she opted to have her doctor use a laser to assist with the procedure. Chalala, 69, chose that method over the traditional scalpel after doing research online and consulting with her doctors, believing it would give her the best outcome. “It seemed like the better option,” she said. (Galewitz, 8/19)
KFF Health News: You Want To Join A Clinical Trial. Here’s What To Know About The Hurdles
Connecting people with clinical trials is complicated — even if people identify a promising match, there’s a slew of potentially thorny factors, including geographic incompatibility, and financial and time considerations. Simply finding an appropriate trial can present an enormous hurdle. In a recent online survey of more than 2,000 adults, 71% of patients with chronic conditions said they would be likely to participate in a clinical trial if given the chance. But two-thirds said that their healthcare provider had never discussed clinical trials with them. According to one study using data from 2020, just 9% of adults reported ever being invited to participate in a clinical trial. (Andrews, 8/19)
FDA
The New York Times: Trump To Nominate Heidi Overton, A Top Domestic Policy Aide, For F.D.A. Commissioner
President Trump plans to nominate Dr. Heidi Overton, a White House domestic policy official and a proponent of the administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda, to serve as the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, an agency that has had significant staff turnover and political interference in recent months, according to two senior administration officials. Last week, she stood alongside President Trump as he signed a third executive order calling for fewer childhood vaccinations, which has no legal power and has been broadly criticized by public health experts. ... Dr. Overton, a physician, is currently deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy. A former chief policy officer at the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank, she has also written articles that denounced abortion as “corrosive” to women and called for more controls over the prescribing of abortion pills. (Jewett, 8/18)
NOTUS: Rep. Buddy Carter Emerges As A Dark Horse Candidate To Lead The FDA
The White House is considering Republican Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia to be the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, a source familiar with the administration’s thinking confirmed Tuesday. Choosing Carter for the position would be a pivot for the White House. His name has not been on previously reported short lists for the position. (Winfield Cunningham and Giorno, 8/18)
MedPage Today: Watchdog Urges HHS To Investigate Conflicts Among FDA's Peptide Panelists
A consumer watchdog group is demanding that the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) look into potential conflicts of interest among members of an FDA advisory committee that recommended that six peptides be added to the list of substances that can be compounded, despite a lack of evidence of their efficacy. (Frieden, 8/18)
MORE ON THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
NOTUS: Court Declines To Overturn EPA Designation Of Two ‘Forever Chemicals’
A federal court on Tuesday upheld the Environmental Protection Agency’s designation of two “forever chemicals,” PFOA and PFOS, as hazardous substances. The designation expands the federal government’s power to hold parties that release chemicals into the environment liable for their cleanup under the Superfund law, also known as CERCLA. It also creates requirements for notifications when more than one pound of those chemicals are released. (Hoplamazian, 8/18)
AP: Congresswoman Says ICE Target In Maine Shooting Wasn't Up For Deportation
The person Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents targeted in Maine last month when an officer shot and killed a motorist was a roommate who was not subject to a final removal order, a Democratic congresswoman from the state said. Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national, was shot and killed by an ICE agent in a car near his Biddeford home on July 13. Rep. Chellie Pingree said during a hearing in Maine on Monday that ICE’s intended target was Durán Guerrero’s roommate, who was the owner of the car Durán Guerrero was driving. (Whittle, 8/18)
AP: Some CDC Programs Live On Without Staff
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still has an Alzheimer’s disease program. Congress appropriated $41 million to it this year. There’s just no one staffing it. Then there’s the agency’s Office on Smoking and Health. Congress allocated $246 million for that. Its staffers were cut, too. (Stobbe, 8/18)
COVID
AP: Ex-Fauci Adviser Pleads Guilty To Plotting To Conceal COVID Research
A former senior adviser to infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci pleaded guilty Tuesday to plotting to conceal federal records related to research on the origins of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. David Morens is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 12 by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Greenbelt, Maryland. Morens pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the U.S. government, a felony punishable by a maximum prison sentence of five years. (8/19)
NBC News: With No CDC Vaccine Advisory Committee, Will There Be Covid Shots This Fall?
This spring, the federal machinery to get updated Covid shots ready for the fall appeared to be on track: A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee had taken the first step to prepare for the new shots, selecting the latest strains to target. The agency accepted the panel’s recommendations and passed the message along to vaccine makers. (Lovelace Jr., 8/18)
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Modern Healthcare: R1 Acquires Humata Health For AI Prior Authorization
Revenue cycle management company R1 has agreed to acquire Humata Health. The deal is on track to close in the third quarter, according to a Tuesday news release. Financial details were not disclosed. (Hudson, 8/18)
Axios: Doctors Argue Their Role In The Age Of AI
The American Medical Association is out with a new framework for physicians' role in the age of AI, provided first to Axios, that insists doctors remain central to patient care. Why it matters: The debate over whether AI will supplant doctors in clinical care is heating up, but the AMA has remained adamant that humans not only must remain in the loop but can't be replaced. (Owens, 8/19)
Modern Healthcare: Hippocratic AI’s Munjal Shah On The Limits Of Clinical AI
Hippocratic AI CEO and co-founder Munjal Shah believes the company has found the sweet spot for healthcare artificial intelligence: non-diagnostic clinical work, such as chronic disease management. That focus serves as safeguard for Hippocratic AI, which develops AI voice agents for healthcare organizations, Shah said. (Famakinwa, 8/18)
NPR: ChatGPT Acted As Her Therapist For Months. It Ended In Disaster
Laura Reiley knew that her only daughter, 29-year-old Sophie Rottenberg, was struggling. It was the fall of 2024, and Rottenberg was at the end of a short career break. "She was complaining of sleep disruption and anxiety," says Reiley, who lives in Ithaca, New York, with her husband. (Chatterjee, 8/18)
HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
Modern Healthcare: Alignment Healthcare Files Motion To Dismiss Whistleblower Lawsuit
Alignment Health has filed a motion to dismiss a former executive’s whistleblower lawsuit accusing the insurance company of allegedly engaging in accounting fraud. The complaint, filed in July, claimed the Medicare Advantage carrier allegedly forced plaintiff Hakan Kardes to resign after he reported the alleged financial irregularities. (Tepper, 8/18)
Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealth, Humana, Aetna See Medicare Advantage Costs Ease
After a bruising few years, Medicare Advantage has emerged as the healthiest business line for some big insurance companies. Major Medicare Advantage insurers that reported second-quarter earnings in recent weeks indicated their march back to profitability is miles ahead of expectations. Nearly all of them — UnitedHealth Group, CVS Health, Elevance Health, Molina Healthcare and Centene — raised their annual earnings guidance to account for lower-than-anticipated Medicare Advantage spending. (Tepper, 8/18)
Becker's Hospital Review: Most Hospitals Screen For Sepsis, But Only 36% Staff A Dedicated Screening Program: CDC
Nearly every U.S. hospital screens patients for sepsis, but far fewer have dedicated personnel to ensure screening is successful, the CDC found. Moreover, separate research links a lack of specific accountability to higher mortality. In its latest annual survey of hospital sepsis programs, covering 2025, the CDC found that 93% of 5,430 hospitals have a standard process to screen for sepsis and 87% use order sets tailored to their patients. But only 36% employ a sepsis coordinator to oversee day-to-day operations, and 32% have support from staff with expertise in data, analytics and information technology. (Twenter, 8/18)
STATE WATCH
The New York Times: In 911 Breakdown, Hundreds Of Calls Failed To Reach Bronx Operators
Part of New York City’s 911 system broke down on Tuesday, preventing hundreds of callers from reaching an emergency operator, a spokesman for Mayor Zohran Mamdani said. The temporary breakdown of the system led to the failure of nearly 1,700 calls — about a third of the total made to a center in the Bronx — to reach emergency operators, the spokesman, Jeremy Edwards, said. Callers and call takers were unable to hear each other, he said. (Goldenberg, Cramer and Marcius, 8/18)
The New York Times: Harvard Agrees To $53 Million Settlement In Body Part Theft Scandal
Harvard said Tuesday that it had agreed to pay $53 million to settle claims that body parts that had been donated for research were stolen and sold by a former manager of the morgue at the university’s medical school. The former manager, Cedric Lodge, 58, was sentenced to eight years in prison in December after pleading guilty to one count of interstate transportation of stolen goods. The university fired him in 2023. (Cerro, 8/18)
AP: Opening Statements Begin In Meta's Federal Trial Over Child Safety
Meta is once again on trial over dangers its platforms may pose to children. It is once again arguing that it works tirelessly to keep them safe. A pivotal trial for the parent company of Instagram and Facebook kicked off in a California federal court Tuesday, with four states seeking billions of dollars in damages as well as fundamental changes to how Meta runs its platforms. (Ortutay and Huamani, 8/19)
MPR News: MPR News Group Home Investigation Roils Politics In Minnesota — And Liberia
The revelation that a Liberian government official has been running Twin Cities group homes from thousands of miles away has led to bipartisan calls for reform in Minnesota and divided reactions in West Africa. Despite the outcry echoing on both sides of the Atlantic, the Walz administration has remained silent. The investigation, which was jointly reported by MPR News and its national investigative unit, APM Reports, found that the state of Minnesota paid $36 million dollars to group home companies linked to Sekou Dukuly over the past decade. But since the beginning of 2024, Dukuly has also served as the managing director of Liberia’s state-owned port system. (Peak, Roth and Lu, 8/18)
The Maine Monitor: Maine Struggling To Get Homeowners To Test Wells For Arsenic
Wendy Brennan agreed to participate in a study examining how arsenic exposure can affect children’s cognitive development primarily because her young daughter wanted the free T-shirt. It was 2009, and the family had lived on their property in the small Kennebec County town of Mount Vernon for eight years. Brennan said she had no reason to fear the results. But when researchers came to test their drinking water, Brennan learned that her family’s well tested nearly six times above the Federal Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum exposure guidelines for arsenic. (Forbes, 8/18)
PUBLIC HEALTH
MedPage Today: Citing Deaths, Docs Urge NCAA To Limit Energy Drink Marketing To Kids
A group of physicians and scientists are calling on the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to make changes to its massive collaboration between Big 12 athletics and Monster Energy, citing potential health risks and teen deaths associated with energy-drink consumption. (Robertson, 8/18)
The Washington Post: Fewer American Adults Say They’re Gambling
Significantly fewer adults in the United States said they’ve gambled in the past year, according to a new survey from Gallup. Gallup estimated that 45 percent of adults participated in at least one form of gambling in the previous 12 months, down from 64 percent in 2016. The estimates are based on telephone interviews with more than 2,000 participants. (Reynolds, 8/18)
AP: Pilots And Flight Attendants Have High Cancer-Death Risk, Study Finds
Flight attendants and pilots are at the highest risk of dying from radiation-related cancers — even more than people who work with radioactive materials, according to a new study. Cosmic radiation comes from space. Only a small amount reaches the Earth’s surface, but exposure is greater for people flying at high altitudes. There’s been limited evidence from small studies suggesting that the exposure translates to higher cancer death rates among people who fly often — particularly pilots and flight attendants. (Stobbe, 8/18)
GLOBAL WATCH
CIDRAP: Jeremy Farrar To Step Down From World Health Organization
Jeremy Farrar, MD, PhD, announced yesterday he would step down from his role as assistant director-general to the World Health Organization (WHO). He has made no public comment on his decision to resign, but colleagues told The Telegraph he was increasingly frustrated with the bureaucracy of the organization. (Soucheray, 8/18)
