First Edition: Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES

KFF Health News: Inside The Battle For The Future Of Addiction Medicine
Elyse Stevens had a reputation for taking on complex medical cases. People who’d been battling addiction for decades. Chronic-pain patients on high doses of opioids. Sex workers and people living on the street. “Many of my patients are messy, the ones that don’t know if they want to stop using drugs or not,” said Stevens, a primary care and addiction medicine doctor. While other doctors avoided these patients, Stevens — who was familiar with the city from her time in medical school at Tulane University — sought them out. (Pattani, 1/7)

KFF Health News: Homeless Shelters For Seniors Pop Up, Catering To Older Adults' Medical Needs
Just outside Salt Lake City sits an old, two-story, brick hotel. It’s been given new life as a homeless shelter for seniors. The Medically Vulnerable People shelter — or MVP shelter, as it’s known — is for people 62 and older or for younger adults with chronic health issues. Residents share rooms designed to be accessible to those with mobility issues. There are also private bathrooms, which are a big deal for seniors struggling with incontinence. (Bolton, 1/7)

KFF Health News: The CDC Just Sidelined These Childhood Vaccines. Here’s What They Prevent
The federal government has drastically scaled back the number of recommended childhood immunizations, sidelining six routine vaccines that have safeguarded millions from serious diseases, long-term disability, and death. Just three of the six immunizations the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it will no longer routinely recommend — against hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and rotavirus — have prevented nearly 2 million hospitalizations and more than 90,000 deaths in the past 30 years, according to the CDC’s own publications. (Allen and Fortiér, 1/6)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute'
Katheryn Houghton reads the week’s news: AI voices can help patients who have had their voice boxes sound like themselves again, and many state-run psychiatric hospitals don’t have enough beds to treat patients unless they’ve been charged with a crime. (1/6)

ABORTION

AP: Abortion Stays Legal In Wyoming As Its Top Court Strikes Down Laws, Including First US Pill Ban
Abortion will remain legal in Wyoming after the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that two laws barring the procedure, including the country’s first explicit ban on abortion pills, violate the state constitution. The justices sided with the state’s only abortion clinic and others who had sued over the abortion bans passed since 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. (Gruver, 1/6)

Military Times: Department Of Veterans Affairs Reinstates Near-Total Ban On Abortions
The Department of Veterans Affairs has reinstated a near-total ban on abortion services for veterans and their dependents after new guidance from the Justice Department concluded that the agency lacks legal authority to provide the procedure — including in cases of rape or incest. A VA spokesperson confirmed to Military Times the restrictions took effect immediately. (Noury, 12/29)

Politico: Conservatives Balk At Trump’s Calls To Be ‘Flexible’ On Abortion Coverage In Health Care Talks
President Donald Trump stunned conservative Republicans Tuesday when he directed them to be “flexible” on abortion coverage issues in ongoing health care talks — a nonstarter in the negotiations for hard-liners and scores of other GOP lawmakers. “You have to be a little flexible on Hyde, you know that. You gotta be a little flexible. You gotta work something … we’re all big fans of everything. But you have to have flexibility,” Trump told House Republicans during remarks at the GOP conference’s daylong policy meeting Tuesday. (Hill and Guggenheim, 1/6)

WKYT: Ky. Fetal Homicide Case Raises Questions About Abortion Ban Enforcement, Legal Exceptions
A 35-year-old Kentucky woman faces a fetal homicide charge after admitting to taking abortion pills ordered online and burying the fetus in her backyard. Melinda Spencer was arrested Wednesday on charges of fetal homicide, abuse of a corpse, and evidence tampering. Kentucky State Police say Spencer used abortion pills she purchased online to have an abortion. According to her arrest citation, Spencer later went to a clinic in Campton and told them she’d had a medical abortion at home. That clinic called police. (Valentino, 1/2)

New Jersey Monitor: N.J. Abortions Up 21% Since Supreme Court Overturned Roe V. Wade 
Abortions in New Jersey have risen 21% since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Providers performed nearly 58,000 abortions last year, a new report found. (DiFilippo, 1/4)

ON CAPITOL HILL

Politico: Mortality And Margins Weigh On House Republicans As They Kick Off The Election Year
Tuesday was supposed to be a rah-rah day for House Republicans — a chance to strategize with President Donald Trump about their agenda for the tough election year ahead. Instead, 2026 got off to an unexpectedly somber start as they confronted the sudden death of a well-liked colleague and pondered the dire political and policy straits their dwindling majority has to navigate. Most members learned about California Rep. Doug LaMalfa’s overnight passing as they boarded buses outside the Capitol to head to the Kennedy Center for their annual policy meeting. (Lee Hill, 1/6)

E&E News By POLITICO: Takeaways From Congress’ Latest Spending Package 
Congressional appropriators’ latest bipartisan spending package, unveiled Monday, would reduce funding for a host of energy and environment programs while rejecting the Trump administration’s requests for even greater cuts. The House and Senate are set to take up the compromise three-bill “minibus” this month with hopes of providing updated funding levels for the Department of Energy, the Interior Department, EPA and a number of science agencies for the first time in nearly two years. (Picon, 1/6)

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Stat: FDA Relaxes Oversight Of AI-Enabled Devices And Wearables 
The Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it will ease regulation of digital health products, following through on the Trump administration’s promises to deregulate artificial intelligence and promote its widespread use. (Lawrence, Aguilar, Palmer and Trang, 1/6)

Politico: Artificial Intelligence Begins Prescribing Medications In Utah
In a first for the U.S., Utah is letting artificial intelligence — not a doctor — renew certain medical prescriptions. No human involved. The state has launched a pilot program with health-tech startup Doctronic that allows an AI system to handle routine prescription renewals for patients with chronic conditions. The initiative, which kicked off quietly last month, is a high-stakes test of whether AI can safely take on one of health care’s most sensitive tasks and how far that could spread beyond one AI-friendly red state. (Khorram and Reader, 1/6)

'MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN'

Bloomberg: US Dietary Guidelines Expected To Urge Pullback In Added Sugars 
The Trump administration is expected to advise Americans to pare back their sugar consumption under new Dietary Guidelines, urging people to eat no more than 10 grams of added sugars per meal, according to a person familiar with the matter. The latest edition of the federal Dietary Guidelines, slated to be officially unveiled later this week, are expected to urge people, especially children, to avoid added sugars, which are those that don’t occur naturally in foods like fruit and milk. They are also expected to tell Americans to shun highly processed foods, the mainstay of the US food industry. (Peterson, 1/6)

Stat: Researchers Propose New Way To Define Ultra-Processed Foods
As the Trump administration looks to create a federal definition of ultra-processed foods, the question of the best way to differentiate products within a category that can lump packaged whole-wheat bread together with soda and cheese puffs has been the subject of much debate. (Todd, 1/7)

Fox News: New Obesity Definition Labels 70% Of American Adults As Obese, Study Finds
New criteria for obesity are putting more Americans into that category. Researchers at Mass General Brigham have proposed a major update to how obesity is defined, which would classify nearly 70% of U.S. adults as obese, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open. (Stabile, 1/6)

CHILDREN'S HEALTH

San Francisco Chronicle: California And Its Western Allies Reject CDC’s Scaled-Back Childhood Vaccine Guidance
Health officials in California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii continue to endorse the same childhood vaccines that have long been part of U.S. public health policy — despite a move by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to significantly reduce the number of vaccinations routinely recommended for children. The CDC on Monday announced it is downgrading its recommendation that all children get vaccinated against the flu, hepatitis A, meningococcal disease, rotavirus and RSV. (Ho, 1/6)

NOTUS: Cassidy Says Childhood Vaccine Schedule Changes Will ‘Make America Sicker’ 
Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and one of Congress’ few medical professionals, on Monday criticized the Department of Health and Human Services’ newly revised vaccination schedule for children — saying it will “make America sicker.” “The vaccine schedule IS NOT A MANDATE. It’s a recommendation giving parents the power,” Cassidy posted to X. “Changing the pediatric vaccine schedule based on no scientific input on safety risks and little transparency will cause unnecessary fear for patients and doctors, and will make America sicker.” (Benavides-Colón, 1/6)

CIDRAP: Confusion Surrounds CDC’s ‘Shared Clinical Decision-Making’ Paradigm For Childhood Vaccines
Yesterday, in introducing drastic cuts to the nation’s childhood immunization schedule, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said “shared clinical decision-making” would be used for pediatric vaccines against rotavirus, COVID-19, influenza, hepatitis A and B, and meningococcal disease. But most Americans are confused by the idea of shared clinical decision-making, according to data from the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC), which asked adults about the term in two separate surveys in August and December of last year. (Soucheray, 1/6)

Stat: What The New Vaccine Schedule Means For Doctors, Parents, And Kids 
When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. assumed the role of health secretary almost one year ago, he said he had one overriding goal: to improve children’s health. But Kennedy’s sudden, unilateral, and sweeping change to the nation’s childhood vaccine schedule, announced Monday, will do the opposite, pediatrics and public health experts warn. (Cueto, 1/6)

OUTBREAKS AND HEALTH THREATS

Newsweek: Psychologist Reveals Why People Aren’t Getting Flu Shot Even As Cases Surge
As flu season hits the country with over 81,000 hospitalizations and 3,100 deaths reported so far, a large number of Americans are still hesitant to get vaccinated against it, but why? As of December 2025, only 34 percent of adults across the country had gotten a flu shot. Among those who decided against vaccination, 16 percent worried about its safety, and 13 percent rejected it because they “never get sick." (Azzurra Volpe, 1/6)

ABC News: This Season's Flu Shot May Not Be A Perfect Match But Vaccination Still Offers Protection: Expert
As flu activity continues to increase in the U.S., public health experts have been urging Americans to get vaccinated to protect themselves. Health systems have reported a somewhat challenging flu season as a new variant spreads across the country, driving a rise in cases. Additionally, research has shown that the annual flu shot is not perfectly matched with the new variant. (Kekatos, 1/6)

MedPage Today: COVID Continues To Take A Toll, Especially Among Older Adults, Study Suggests
Despite the end to the public health emergency declaration in May 2023, COVID-19 continued to have a large impact on the U.S. population and healthcare system, a cross-sectional study suggested. (Rudd, 1/6)

CIDRAP: Mpox Antibodies Wane 2 Years After Infection Or Vaccination, Study Finds
Neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) against mpox decline substantially, often becoming undetectable, within two years of either mpox infection or vaccination with the modified vaccinia Ankara–Bavarian Nordic (Jynneos) vaccine, according to a small new study led by researchers at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan, Italy. (Bergeson, 1/6)

CIDRAP: Analysis Suggests HPV Vaccine Protects Unvaccinated People Through Herd Immunity
A new nationwide cohort study from Sweden suggests that widespread human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination could substantially reduce the risk of precancerous lesions even among people who never received the vaccine. (Bergeson, 1/6)

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

Healthcare Dive: New Jersey Healthcare Giant Poised To Acquire Another Hospital 
RWJBarnabas Health has signed a definitive agreement that would absorb Englewood Health — which operates one of the last independent hospitals in the state — into its larger system. (Pifer, 1/6)

Chicago Tribune: Northwestern Memorial Hospital Workers Demand Better Staffing
A hospital workers’ union is calling on Northwestern Memorial Hospital to beef up its emergency department staffing, ahead of a scheduled state board vote next week on whether the hospital should be allowed to embark on a $96 million expansion project. (Schencker, 1/6)

PHARMA AND TECH

MedPage Today: First In-Ear EEG Device Gets FDA Clearance
The FDA cleared an electroencephalography (EEG) system based on a small sensor worn in the ear, allowing patients to be monitored outside of hospital settings, Naox Technologies in Paris, announced on Tuesday. The Naox Link in-ear EEG platform is the first of its kind to be cleared for prescription use at home or in healthcare settings, the company said. It uses wired earbuds with electrodes on the tips to acquire, record, and transmit one channel of EEG data. (George, 1/6)

MedPage Today: GLP-1 Use Linked To Lower Colon Cancer Risk Vs Aspirin 
Patients with a history of GLP-1 receptor agonist treatment had a significantly lower risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC) as compared with those who took aspirin, according to a retrospective study reported here. A history of GLP-1 receptor agonist treatment was associated with a 36% reduction in the odds of developing CRC versus aspirin, and this increased to 42% among high-risk individuals. (Bankhead, 1/6)

STATE WATCH

Modern Healthcare: Medicaid Work Requirements Loom As CMS Guidance Lags
A year from the debut of national Medicaid work requirements, states and health insurance companies anxiously await critical instructions from federal authorities. States have until January 2027 to stand up and activate a new verification system that conditions Medicaid benefits on at least 80 hours per month of work or other qualifying activities, such as full-time schooling or volunteering. (Early, 1/6)

The Connecticut Mirror: Connecticut's Chief Fiscal Officer Urges Legislature To Be More Realistic With Medicaid Budgeting
Surging Medicaid costs and dramatically shrinking federal aid are a recipe for fiscal crisis, state Comptroller Sean Scanlon warned. And while Connecticut’s chief fiscal watchdog didn’t call for changing state budget caps that hamper the General Assembly’s ability to solve the Medicaid dilemma, Scanlon said all solutions need to be reviewed. (Phaneuf, 1/6)

New Hampshire Bulletin: Legislation Aims To Address Reports Of Abuse And Neglect In NH’s Disability Care System 
State Sen. David Rochefort, a Littleton Republican, said he and the state’s legislative staff are in the process of drafting a late bill aimed at addressing systemic abuse and neglect issues in New Hampshire intellectual and developmental disability care system. (Skipworth, 1/6)

Modern Healthcare: Independence Blue Cross Partners With Tango In Pennsylvania
Independence Blue Cross and Tango have teamed up to help 118,000 Medicare Advantage members in Pennsylvania get quicker access to home health services. The partnership between insurer and the post-acute management services company aims to reduce hospital readmissions by ensuring Independence members receive in-home post-acute care within 48 hours of a hospital discharge, the companies said in a Tuesday news release. (Eastabrook, 1/6)

The Baltimore Sun: Horse Sedative Appearing In Fentanyl Brings Severe Withdrawal
Emergency doctors in Baltimore are wary of a new additive to street fentanyl that can complicate overdose treatment and prompt severe withdrawal symptoms. (Hille, 1/6)