Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
NIH Has Whacked $2.3B In Research Grants Since Trump Took Office
Stat: NIH Grant Awards Plummeted $2.3 Billion Under President Trump
The National Institutes of Health has scaled back its awards of new grants by at least $2.3 billion since the beginning of the year, with the biggest shortfalls hitting the study of infectious diseases, heart and lung ailments, and basic research into fundamental biological systems, a new STAT analysis has found. (Molteni, Parker and Wosen, 4/24)
NPR: HHS Reverses Course And Restores Funding For Women's Health Initiative
The Trump administration is restoring financial support for a landmark study of women's health, an official said Thursday, reversing a defunding decision that shocked medical researchers. "These studies represent critical contributions to our better understanding of women's health," said a statement from Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services. (Stein, 4/24)
The New York Times: Trump Cuts Threaten Agency Running Meals On Wheels
Every Monday, Maurine Gentis, a retired teacher, waits for a delivery from Meals on Wheels South Texas. ... But Ms. Gentis is anxious about what lies ahead. The small government agency responsible for overseeing programs like Meals on Wheels is being dismantled as part of the Trump administration’s overhaul of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Roughly half its staff has been let go in recent layoffs and all of its 10 regional offices are closed, according to several employees who lost their jobs. (Abelson, 4/24)
The Colorado Sun: USDA Cuts Program That Funds Mental Health Lifeline To Farmers
Colorado farmers and ranchers lost access to a critical lifeline when the U.S. Department of Agriculture last week froze funding for a program that supports the mental health of a population whose suicide rate is at least two times higher than the average population, and whose profession is marked by uncertainties in the weather, market and cost of operating. (Ross, 4/25)
MedPage Today: Remember That Simulation Training You Did? HHS Cuts Could Affect The Research For It
How do you train hospital staff to do a "warm" handoff from one team to another? What's the best way to make sure nothing gets missed in the communication? Improving that handoff -- in particular, the one that occurs between the hospital operating and recovery rooms -- was the idea behind a simulation-based training study that Matthew Weinger, MD, and his team designed; the study was funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). (Frieden, 4/24)
Stat: Trump's First 100 Days: Dreams Crushed. Futures In The Balance
In October, at a private event for the Center for Renewing America, Russell Vought, the conservative think tank’s leader who now leads President Donald Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, laid out his plan to dramatically remake the federal government. It included defunding agencies, rolling back civil service protections, and generally just making life hell for government workers. “We want to put them in trauma,” he said. At the National Institutes of Health, that pain has arrived sharply and swiftly. (4/25)
Stat: With FDA In Turmoil, The ‘Revolving Door’ With Industry Is Spinning Faster
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has railed against what he sees as a “revolving door” between workers at drug companies and the Food and Drug Administration. But his department’s actions now seem to be causing that door to spin ever faster. (DeAngelis, Mast and Chen, 4/25)
