First Edition: Wednesday, March 19, 2025

KFF Health News: Indiana Lawmakers Seek To Forbid Hospital Monopolies, But One Merger Fight Remains
Union Health is making a new bid to Indiana regulators to buy its rival hospital in Terre Haute as the door looks poised to close on such deals. The nonprofit health system is trying to leverage an existing state law to acquire Terre Haute Regional Hospital, the only other acute care hospital in Vigo County. After withdrawing its initial application in November amid pushback, Union has shifted its pitch to emphasize what it describes as Regional’s “declining position” while offering more concrete promises, such as limits on price increases. (Liss, 3/19)

KFF Health News: Tribal Health Leaders Say Medicaid Cuts Would Decimate Health Programs
As Congress mulls potentially massive cuts to federal Medicaid funding, health centers that serve Native American communities, such as the Oneida Community Health Center near Green Bay, Wisconsin, are bracing for catastrophe. That’s because more than 40% of the about 15,000 patients the center serves are enrolled in Medicaid. Cuts to the program would be detrimental to those patients and the facility, said Debra Danforth, the director of the Oneida Comprehensive Health Division and a citizen of the Oneida Nation. (Orozco Rodriguez, 3/19)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute'
Sam Whitehead reads this week’s news: Trump voters may favor government regulation to cut health care costs, and health workers are being trained on the law to deal with possible raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in health care settings. ... Zach Dyer reads this week’s news: The current bird flu outbreak is gaining momentum despite mass culling of infected poultry, and the Trump administration is embracing the conservative policy playbook known as Project 2025. (3/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Administration Weighing Major Cuts To Funding For Domestic HIV Prevention
The Health and Human Services Department is weighing plans to drastically cut the federal government’s funding for domestic HIV prevention, according to people familiar with the matter. The plans could be announced as soon as within a day, the people said, but they haven’t been finalized and could be pulled back or adjusted. (Essley Whyte, Mosbergen and Rockoff, 3/18)

The Guardian: ‘It’s Back To Drug Rationing’: The End Of HIV Was In Sight. Then Came The Cuts
Prof Linda-Gail Bekker, of South Africa’s Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, has seen US funding for three trials of potential HIV vaccines involving eight countries cancelled and only reinstated after an appeal to the US supreme court. “We’re running around like chickens without heads to at least get one going, because the vaccines are sitting in the fridge and will expire,” she says. (Lay, 2/18)

CBS News: FDA To Increase Testing For Heavy Metals In Infant Formula, RFK Jr. Says 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will step up its testing for heavy metals in infant formula and review nutrients required in the products used to feed millions of babies, the agency and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced on Tuesday. The development came as Consumer Reports shared results on Tuesday of tests by the group that found found potentially harmful chemicals in roughly half of 41 infant formula products, including acrylamide, arsenic, BPA, lead and PFAS. The remaining products were found to have low levels of, or no, concerning chemicals. (Gibson, 3/18)

Politico: RFK Jr.'s Mercury Stance In Retrograde
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has remained silent as the Trump administration prepares to roll back protections against mercury poisoning, despite Kennedy’s own history of suffering ailments after ingesting the toxic metal, writes Ariel Wittenberg. (Skibell, 3/18)

The New York Times: RFK Jr.’s Prescription For Bird Flu On Farms: Let It Spread
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s top health official, has an unorthodox idea for tackling the bird flu bedeviling U.S. poultry farms. Let the virus rip. Instead of culling birds when the infection is discovered, farmers “should consider maybe the possibility of letting it run through the flock so that we can identify the birds, and preserve the birds, that are immune to it,” Mr. Kennedy said recently on Fox News. (Mandavilli, 3/18)

CNN: As Bird Flu Continues To Spread, Trump Administration Sidelines Key Pandemic Preparedness Office 
The Trump administration has not staffed an office established by Congress to prepare the nation for future pandemics, according to three sources familiar with the situation. The White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy was established by Congress in 2022 in response to mistakes that led to a flat-footed response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The office, called OPPR, once had a staff of about 20 people and was orchestrating the country’s response to bird flu and other threats until January 20, including hosting regular interagency meetings to share plans. (Goodman, 3/17)

MedPage Today: Snubbed Vaccine Committee Members Lament FDA's Flu Shot Actions
Some current and past members of an FDA advisory committee felt snubbed when the agency went ahead and made decisions about influenza strain selection for next season without them. The FDA's decision to abruptly cancel the March 13 meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) -- and instead hold a meeting on that date with representatives from the CDC, FDA, and the Department of Defense -- "is very unfortunate," said Tina Tan, MD, of Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. (Clark, 3/18)

CIDRAP: CDC Issues Alert About Ongoing Dengue Threat
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today issued a Health Alert Network notice to healthcare providers and the public about the ongoing risk of dengue virus infections, with levels remaining high in some US territories and surges still under way in other countries, especially in the Americas region. (Schnirring, 3/18)

The New York Times: Elon Musk’s Role In Dismantling USAID Likely Violated Constitution, Judge Finds
Efforts by Elon Musk and his team to permanently shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development likely violated the Constitution “in multiple ways” and robbed Congress of its authority to oversee the dissolution of an agency it created, a federal judge found on Tuesday. The ruling, by Judge Theodore D. Chuang of U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, appeared to be the first time a judge has moved to rein in Mr. Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency directly. (Montague, 3/18)

Politico: The Person The White House Says Is Leading DOGE Has Also Been Working At HHS
The person the White House identified last month as the leader of DOGE — despite public evidence that Elon Musk is calling the shots — has been working simultaneously at the Department of Health and Human Services since February. ... The filing shows that Amy Gleason, despite claiming responsibility as DOGE’s leader, was detailed to HHS last month and formally hired by the department as a “consultant/expert” on March 4, while retaining her status as a DOGE employee as well. (Cheney and Messerly, 3/18)

AP: Amid Elon Musk's DOGE Cuts, EPA Plans To Cut Scientific Research Program
The Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate its scientific research office and could fire more than 1,000 scientists and other employees who help provide the scientific foundation for rules safeguarding human health and ecosystems from environmental pollutants. As many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists — 75% of the research program’s staff — could be laid off, according to documents reviewed by Democratic staff on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. (Daly, 3/18)

The Colorado Sun: Funding Cuts To CU-Anschutz Could Erase Years Of Medical Research
As the ALS disease that will one day claim her life progressed, Barbara Johnson enrolled in a clinical trial at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus funded by the federal National Institutes of Health. The trial did not prove successful, and now she can no longer participate in others because the disease has taken away her ability to swallow pills, her ability to eat, her ability to speak. (Ingold, 3/19)

Becker's Hospital Review: 'We Have To Tell Our Story': How Hospitals Are Fighting To Protect Medicaid
Nicole Stallings, President and CEO of the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, joined the Becker’s Healthcare Podcast to shed light on the challenges ahead — chief among them, the battle to protect Medicaid. With 3.2 million Pennsylvanians relying on the program, potential funding cuts could send shockwaves through hospitals, communities and the state’s economy. In this conversation, Ms. Stallings unpacks the policy noise, outlines the stakes for hospital leaders, and shares how advocacy can shape the future of healthcare access. (Condon, 3/18)

Modern Healthcare: Site Neutral Policies Emerging As Way To Fund Trump Tax Cuts
While congressional Republicans hunt for hundreds of billions of dollars in healthcare cuts, an old, bipartisan idea seems poised for a comeback: "site-neutral" Medicare reimbursements for outpatient care. This policy, which the hospital sector opposes and health insurers endorse, would require health systems to charge the same prices for services whether they are performed in a hospital or another location. (McAuliff, 3/18)

Modern Healthcare: BCBS Insurers See Rising Medicare Advantage Market Share
Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance companies have finally emerged as significant players in the Medicare Advantage market after years of struggling to make their mark. But financial pressures could drive them to depart the sector as quickly as they arrived. Rising medical expenses, unfavorable changes to federal policies and declining federal reimbursement dogged the Medicare Advantage industry in 2024, leading companies such as CVS Health’s Aetna and Humana to cut back where they sold policies. (Tepper, 3/18)

Modern Healthcare: Patina Health Expands In-Home Care To Medicare Advantage Members
Patina Health rolled out a new program Tuesday that will provide expanded home-based care to Medicare Advantage members. The Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania-based company said Patina Total Health will provide health assessments, medication management, primary care, urgent care and behavioral health services to older adults in their homes through in-person and telehealth visits. (Eastabrook, 3/18)

AP: Texas Medical Assistant Arrested In Connection To Clinics Accused Of Providing Illegal Abortions
A second person has been arrested in connection to a Texas midwife who is accused of providing illegal abortions at a network of clinics operated outside of the Houston area. Jose Manuel Cendan Ley, a 29-year-old medical assistant, is accused of performing an illegal abortion and practicing without a license at a clinic in connection to Maria Margarita Rojas whose arrest was announced Monday by Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. (Lathan, 3/18)

NPR: Despite Indictment, Doctors Say They'll Keep Mailing Abortion Pills
When the news broke on Jan. 31 that a New York physician had been indicted for shipping abortion medications to a woman in Louisiana, Dr. Kohar Der Simonian was hit by a wave of emotions, among them fear and concern. Der Simonian works as medical director for Maine Family Planning, which is 1,500 miles from Louisiana. Like the indicted doctor, Margaret Carpenter, Der Simonian mails abortion medication to patients in states where the procedure is banned — and her own name is written on the prescriptions. (Westwood, 3/19)

The Colorado Sun: Colorado Expected To Save Money By Letting Medicaid Pay For Abortion
Democrats’ efforts to close the gap between the right to end a pregnancy in Colorado and the cost of the procedure by letting health insurance safety net programs pay for abortions is expected to save the state money, according to an analysis by nonpartisan legislative staff. That’s because some Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus recipients aren’t getting abortions because of the cost. And it’s cheaper to end a pregnancy than to deliver a baby. (Paul, 3/18)

AP: US Births Rose Last Year, But Experts Don't See It As A Trend
U.S. births rose slightly last year, but experts don’t see it as evidence of reversing a long-term decline. A little over 3.6 million births were reported for 2024, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention preliminary data. That’s 22,250 more than the final tally of 2023 U.S. births, which was released Tuesday. The 2024 total is likely to grow at least a little when the numbers are finalized, but another set of preliminary data shows overall birth rates rose only for one group of people: Hispanic women. (Stobbe, 3/18)

NBC News: More Older Women Becoming First-Time Moms Amid U.S. Fertility Rate Declines
Amid growing evidence of slowing fertility rates in the United States, a new report contained a pair of surprising details from two divergent age groups: A growing number of women older than 40 are having children and a record low number of teenagers are giving birth. The report, released earlier this month by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), showed that the U.S. fertility rate ... continued its decadeslong slide through 2023, with American women having an average of 1.62 children, compared to 1.66 in 2021 and 2022. (Varney, 3/18)

CNN: Multistate Measles Outbreak Climbs To 321 Cases 
Three hundred and twenty-one cases have been reported in the ongoing measles outbreak in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma, the states said Tuesday. This is an increase of 25 cases since an update on Friday. (Mukherjee, 3/18)

Stat: Texas Measles Outbreak Could Continue For A Full Year, Official Says 
The expanding measles outbreak that has spread from West Texas into New Mexico and Oklahoma could take a year to contain, a public health leader in the area where the outbreak started warned on Tuesday. (Branswell, 3/18)

AP: OxyContin Maker Purdue Pharma And Sackler Owners Submit New Settlement Plan
Purdue Pharma asked a bankruptcy judge late Tuesday to consider the latest version of its plan to settle thousands of lawsuits over the toll of the powerful prescription painkiller OxyContin, a deal that would have members of the Sackler family who own the company pay up to $7 billion. The filing is a milestone in a tumultuous legal saga that has gone on for more than five years. (Mulvihill, 3/19)

FiercePharma: Merck Plots 163 Layoffs As It Prepares To Shutter Pennsylvania Manufacturing Site
Merck is planning layoffs in Pennsylvania as part of a multi-year plan to wind down operations at a manufacturing plant in the state. The pharma giant will cut 163 jobs at its Cherokee manufacturing plant in Riverside, Pennsylvania, through three rounds of cuts, according to a state notice that cites a site closure as the reason for the workforce reduction. (Becker, 3/17)

Axios: Optum To Drop Prior Authorization Requirement For Dozens Of Prescription Drugs
Optum Rx — which includes the pharmacy benefit manager of health care conglomerate UnitedHealth Group — is dropping annual reauthorization requirements for 80 drugs, which will eliminate more than 10% of overall pharmacy prior authorizations, the company announced. (Owens, 3/19)

FiercePharma: Dr. Reddy’s, Sun Pharma And Zydus Issue US Recalls, Citing Failed Specs And Labeling Issues 
In the case of Dr. Reddy’s, the company unveiled a voluntary recall on March 13 for one lot of 1,000 mg/100 ml single-dose levetiracetam infusion bags that had been shipped out across the U.S. in early November. Sun Pharma, for its part, is recalling nearly 10,000 100 mg bottles of morphine sulfate extended-release tablets after the products failed to meet FDA dissolution specifications. Lastly, Zydus Pharmaceuticals initiated two separate Class II recalls on Feb. 13 covering a whopping 38,871 vials of the chemotherapy injection nelarabine, which were manufactured at the company’s Ahmedabad, India, production facility. (Keenan, 3/17)

Stat: Prime And Beam Go Head To Head Over Gene-Editing Treatment 
The gene-editing field may have yet another legal squabble on its hands — this time between two companies created by the same star biotech researcher, in a dispute that gets at the core of some of the challenges facing the field. (Mast, 3/19)

Modern Healthcare: GE HealthCare, Nvidia To Partner On Autonomous X-Ray, Ultrasound
GE HealthCare announced on Tuesday that it is partnering with Nvidia to work on autonomous X-ray and ultrasound scanners that will leverage artificial intelligence-enabled software to capture and analyze medical images. The company is developing the technology to help ease the burden of rising patient volumes and staff shortages on healthcare professionals, Roland Rott, president and CEO of imaging at GE HealthCare, said in a news release. (Dubinsky, 3/18)

The Baltimore Sun: Johns Hopkins Plans More Than 200 Layoffs In May
Over 200 Johns Hopkins employees will be laid off in May, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification the university submitted Thursday. The Bloomberg School of Public Health and JHPIEGO, a nonprofit global health affiliate of the Baltimore institution, are primarily affected by the first batch of mass layoffs. JHPIEGO will experience 130 employee layoffs, while the school of public health will have 107. (Foster, 3/18)

Bloomberg: UnitedHealthcare’s New CEO Reflects On Tragedy, Challenges In First Interview
Tim Noel knows his new job as UnitedHealthcare CEO isn’t going to be much like his predecessor’s role. Noel was promoted to the position previously held by Brian Thompson, who was killed in an early morning shooting in December on his way to a UnitedHealth investor conference in Manhattan. Thompson’s death prompted a social media outcry about health insurers denying care, causing Noel to look inward about his job and industry. (Tozzi and Koons, 3/18)

MedPage Today: Transplant Doc's Future In U.S. Uncertain Following Her Deportation To Lebanon
The fate of a Brown University kidney transplant specialist hangs in limbo after she was deported on Friday to Lebanon. Rasha Alawieh, MD, 34, was detained at Boston Logan International Airport on Thursday after returning from a visit to that country, according to a petition filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts by Alawieh's cousin, Yara Chehab. (Frieden, 3/18)

Modern Healthcare: DispatchHealth To Acquire Medically Home
DispatchHealth Tuesday announced a definitive agreement to acquire Medically Home, which would create one of the nation’s largest providers of home-based healthcare services. The combined company would offer an array of home-based medical services, including urgent care, acute-level care and skilled nursing to patients in 50 metropolitan markets across 23 states and the District of Columbia, with approximately 2,200 employees. (Eastabrook, 3/18)

Modern Healthcare: Google Cloud, Quest Diagnostics Partner
Quest Diagnostics is adding generative artificial intelligence capabilities by partnering with Google’s cloud division. The national laboratory provider said in a news release Tuesday it will use Google Cloud’s technology to personalize experiences for its consumers. The two companies said Quest will explore using generative AI to offer physicians and patients insights into lab data. (Perna, 3/18)

Modern Healthcare: What's An AI Agent? Epic, Salesforce Are Ready To Show Providers
Digital health companies are moving quickly to launch a new type of artificial intelligence tool that can complete tasks faster than humans. A growing number of established vendors and startups are seeking to sell hospitals, health systems and payers on AI agents, which are specialized tools developed to help organizations complete time intensive functions more efficiently. Companies are developing AI agents to verify insurance benefits, share information to patients before a procedure and assist with prescription refills. (Turner, 3/18)

AP: Appeals Court Blocks Ohio's Ban On Gender-Affirming Care For Minors
Ohio’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors is unconstitutional and must be permanently blocked from being enforced, a three-judge panel of appellate judges ruled Tuesday. The law also banned trans women and girls from participating in female sports. The state attorney general vowed an immediate appeal. On Tuesday, the state’s 10th District Court of Appeals reversed the decision made last summer to allow the law to go into effect after a judge found it “reasonably limits parents’ rights.” (Carr Smyth, 3/18)

News Service of Florida: Sides Collide On Medical Malpractice Issue In Florida Legislature
On one side are people telling heart-wrenching stories about the deaths of their adult children or parents. On the other are people warning about shortages of doctors and soaring medical-malpractice insurance costs. The two sides are colliding in the Florida Legislature, where a Senate committee Tuesday approved a bill that would change a decades-old law and clear the way for more malpractice lawsuits over patient deaths. (Saunders, 3/19)

Newsweek: Florida Push For Citizens' Prescription Data Sparks Privacy Concern
Florida's insurance regulator is facing concerns over patient privacy and government overreach after requesting personal and prescription information from potentially millions of people. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) called for the data from pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which act as third-party intermediaries between pharmacies, insurance companies or employers and drug manufacturers. PBMs also determine which medications will be covered by health insurance plans, as well as the cost of prescriptions. (Palmer, 3/18)

NBC News: California Lawmaker Moves To Phase Out Ultra-Processed Foods From Public Schools
A California legislator plans to unveil a first-of-its-kind bill Wednesday that would phase out certain ultra-processed foods from meals served in public schools statewide. If enacted, Assembly Bill 1264 would direct state scientists to identify what the legislation refers to as “particularly harmful” ultra-processed products. The bipartisan bill proposes removing such ingredients from public schools starting in 2028, with the goal of eliminating them entirely by 2032. (Chuck, 3/19)

Fox News: Marijuana Use Increases Heart Attack Risk In Young, Healthy Adults
While marijuana has been legalized in many states, research has shown that it could have detrimental health impacts for some — including a higher risk of heart attacks. Two recent studies have linked cannabis use to cardiac events, particularly among young, healthier people, according to a release from the American College of Cardiology (ACC). (Rudy, 3/18)