Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
From KFF Health News - Latest Stories:
KFF Health News Original Stories
Jacksonville, Florida’s Gun Violence Is Rooted in Redlining and Homes Built on Toxic Waste
Poisons from Jacksonville, Florida’s “Brown’s Dump” seeped into the lifeblood of residents. The harm to their physical and mental health is tied today to another public health crisis: high rates of gun violence among children.
Remember This Acronym Next Time You’re Facing a Big Medical Decision: B.R.A.I.N.
If your doctor recommends a big test or procedure, this tool can help you talk through options collaboratively. It works at a routine checkup or in high-stakes medical situations like childbirth.
Here's today's health policy haiku:
POPE LEO'S HEALTH SCARE
Pope under the knife.
— Elizabeth Harwood
God pays his premiums, right?
I hope he does well.
If you have a health policy haiku to share, please Contact Us and let us know if we can include your name. Haikus follow the format of 5-7-5 syllables. We give extra brownie points if you link back to an original story.
Opinions expressed in haikus are solely the author's and do not reflect the opinions of KFF Health News or KFF.
Summaries Of The News:
Medicaid
CMS Has Offered Backup Plans For States Struggling To Meet Medicaid Deadline, Document Shows
WP Intelligence: Exclusive: Medicaid Backup Plans Emerge As States Struggle With Federal Timelines
A new federal document, first reported by WP Intelligence, offers states potential solutions to a long list of anticipated problems early next year. (Adams, 10/26)
New Hampshire Public Radio: Healthcare Providers Already See Patient Stress Over Looming Medicaid Work Requirements
Beginning in 2027, people on Granite Advantage – the state’s expanded Medicaid program must document that they spend 80 hours per month working, volunteering, or in school, with exceptions for certain populations. Roughly 46,900 people are enrolled in the state’s Granite Advantage program. Residents who qualify for this program include those with low incomes, disabilities, pregnant mothers and people who make an income of 138% of the federal poverty level. (Richardson, 10/26)
24/7 Wall St.: She Borrowed $30,000 Against Her House. Leaving It In The Bank Could Jeopardize Her Medicaid. By Next Month, The Loan Proceeds Can Count As An Asset
Consider a widow who sees a nursing home or a home health aide on the horizon. She takes out a $30,000 home-equity loan, parks the cash in checking for future care and applies for Medicaid. Her logic seems sound: she now owes the bank $30,000, so on paper she’s poorer. Medicaid’s math runs the other way. Under the resource rules many states borrow from Supplemental Security Income (SSI), loan money escapes the income test in the month it comes in. Whatever she hasn’t spent by the end of that month becomes a countable resource starting the next month, and the SSI limit for an individual is $2,000. Her new debt made her look richer. (Terzo, 10/27)
Brown University: With Federal Medicaid Changes, Brown Students Aim To Help People Stay Covered On Health Insurance
To help people stay covered, a team of students from Brown University’s School of Public Health is setting out across the city to share information and build understanding among those at risk. The initiative — Stay Covered Medicaid Fellows — is a partnership between the Rhode Island Medicaid Program and the People, Place and Health Collective at the School of Public Health. (10/26)
Also —
Healthcare Dive: Uninsured Rate Rises To 11% Ahead Of Medicaid Work Requirements
The U.S. uninsurance rate is increasing as upcoming Medicaid work requirements are expected to further cut coverage, according to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund. Around 11% of people in the U.S. are uninsured this year, an increase from 8.9% in 2024, the report revealed. (Heath, 10/26)
The Hill: Republican Candidates Face Heat Over $1 Trillion Medicaid Reduction
Democrats across battleground districts are holding Republicans’ feet to the fire over the Medicaid cuts in their signature One Big Beautiful Bill law. In advertisements and on debate stages, the Democrats are hammering their opponents over their support for a law that will reduce Medicaid funding by nearly $1 trillion to pay for tax cuts primarily for wealthy individuals and corporations. With less than two weeks before the midterm elections, Republicans are playing defense. (Weixel, 10/25)
Administration News
Deputy Director At CDC Resigns Months After Being Brought On To Restore Confidence
The Washington Post: CDC’s Deputy Director To Leave Trump Administration After Six Months
Jennifer Shuford, the CDC’s deputy director and chief medical officer, is leaving the administration after a short tenure, she confirmed to The Washington Post late Monday night. “I am leaving to spend more time with my family,” Shuford said in a statement. “I am so thankful to President Trump and Secretary Kennedy for giving me the opportunity to help lead CDC. It has been an amazing experience, and I will be forever grateful for it.” (Diamond and Sun, 10/26)
Updates from HHS and the FDA —
Modern Healthcare: HHS Finalizes Health IT Rule Cutting Certification Criteria
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the Health and Human Services Department finalized a rule Monday that will significantly dial back federal health IT certification criteria. HTI-5, or the Health Data, Technology, and Interoperability: ONC Deregulatory Actions to Unleash Prosperity Final Rule, reduces requirements for developers participating in the ONC Health IT Certification Program. The program sets security and interoperability standards for health information technologies, such as electronic health records. (Famakinwa, 10/26)
The Hill: RFK Jr. Pledges Healthier Meals At 250 Hospitals Nationwide In MAHA Push
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Monday that more than 250 hospitals have signed a pledge to serve healthier meals to patients, advancing his “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) agenda’s focus on treating food as medicine. Speaking at a press conference hosted at the Corewell Health Lifestyle and Culinary Medicine Practice in Grand Rapids, Mich., Kennedy said he expects improvements in patient satisfaction, citing hospitals that have already launched similar changes. (Choi, 10/26)
The Washington Post: The FDA Rarely Inspects Much Of The Produce Americans Eat
Americans are eating more imported fruits and vegetables, but less than 10 percent of facilities that account for 90 percent of shipments have been inspected since 2009. (Gilbert and Roubein, 10/27)
On the immigration crisis —
AP: Lawyers Say ICE Has Mistakenly Detained A Mentally Ill US Citizen
For nearly a year, immigration authorities have detained and sought to deport a mentally ill man whose mother, lawyers and public records say was born in the United States and not Jamaica as he claims, a review by The Associated Press found. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has no authority to detain U.S. citizens, but has long done so, usually for hours or days, when officers mistake identities or can’t immediately verify citizenship. Immigration lawyers say a nearly 10-month improper detention would be rare but not unprecedented. (Foley, 10/27)
Developments from Capitol Hill —
Politico: Bernie Sanders Could Soon Get A Powerful Perch To Help Shape 2028
Bernie Sanders probably isn’t going to be president. But he might be about to get one last chance to define his legacy in Washington. The Vermont independent is poised to lead the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee if Democrats can flip the Senate next month — giving the 85-year-old leftist icon a powerful perch he could use to promote his political movement and shape a 2028 presidential contest in which he has indicated he’s unlikely to be a candidate. (Carney, 10/26)
The Washington Post: Illinois Man Allegedly Sent Threatening Letters Containing A White Substance To Congress Members
An Illinois man is facing federal charges for allegedly sending threatening letters containing a white substance to four members of Congress. An affidavit filed in Illinois’ Central District Court on Monday alleges Matthew G. Unglesbee sent the letters on Oct. 16 or 17. He is charged with sending false information and mailing threatening communications. The letters contained what the affidavit describes as a “granular white substance” that resembled chemical or biological toxins, although preliminary lab testing did not find such material. (Jira, 10/26)
Health Industry
Major New Mexico Hospital Network Hobbled By Cybersecurity Threat
AP: Cybersecurity Issue Knocks Out A Major New Mexico Hospital Network
A major hospital network in New Mexico raced to fix a cybersecurity issue on Monday that forced it to send ambulances to other hospitals and left the state without an emergency department capable of treating the most serious injuries. The University of New Mexico Health System told people not to show up at its main hospital in Albuquerque and canceled appointments at its more than 30 clinics. It said it was working to resolve the issue, the extent and nature of which was not immediately clear. (Keller and Wu, 10/27)
More news about hospitals and elderly care —
Lake County News-Sun: Vista Medical's Future Uncertain After Losing Trauma Designation
As State Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, and state Rep. Rita Mayfield, D-Gurnee, work feverishly to ensure Waukegan continues to have a hospital, Vista Medical Center East officials are struggling to deal with ongoing financial issues. (Sadin, 10/26)
Chicago Tribune: Potential Buyer Of Weiss, West Suburban Hospitals Has Mixed Track Record
After months of court battles and community outcry, the now-shuttered West Suburban and Weiss Memorial hospitals could soon have a new owner. But questions remain about whether it’s possible to reopen the hospitals at all and, if so, if an organization affiliated with Insight Hospital & Medical Center in Bronzeville is the right operator to do it. (Schencker, 10/26)
The Baltimore Sun: Howard Hospital Unveils New 29-Bed Observation Unit
Flanked by Howard County officials, Dr. Shafeeq Ahmed, president of the Johns Hopkins Howard County Medical Center, hammered through a ceremonial wall in November to mark the start of construction on a new hospital project. Less than a year later, Ahmed held oversized scissors and cut the ribbon Thursday to unveil the hospital’s new 29-bed observation unit — which officials say will help provide faster, more-efficient care. (Kaiser, 10/26)
The Baltimore Sun: Wicomico Nursing Home Dispute Fuels Calls For Maryland Reforms
Two Eastern Shore lawmakers are calling for stronger nursing home safeguards amid the dispute over Wicomico Nursing Home. Their push comes as a new state task force prepares to examine care across Maryland. (Davis, 10/26)
Axios: Long-Term Care For Elderly Joins Affordability Debate
Drug prices and insurance premiums are front and center in any discussion about health affordability. But another cost driver will only become more burdensome in the coming years: long-term care. (Bettelheim, 10/27)
On healthcare at home —
Modern Healthcare: Mass General Brigham Downsizes Hospital-At-Home Program
Mass General Brigham is ratcheting back its hospital-at-home program after losing roughly $90 million in recent years. The Boston-based health system will suspend the program beginning Nov. 10 at Salem Hospital, Newton-Wellesley Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, Heather O’Sullivan, President and Chief Operating Officer of Mass General Brigham Healthcare at Home, told employees in a letter late last week. Changes to staffing will be determined at a later date, she said. Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital will continue admitting patients to hospital-at-home where capacity constraints are the greatest. (Eastabrook, 10/26)
Wyoming Public Radio: Home Visitors — One Way To Monitor The Mental Health Of New Moms?
Home visitors can help intervene when new moms struggle with their mental health. Disorders like postpartum depression and anxiety were the leading cause of maternal death in the U.S. as of 2022. (Merzbach, 10/26)
North Carolina Health News: Duke Study Links Home-Delivered Meals To Fewer Hospital Readmissions
A hospital can treat an infection, stabilize blood sugar or care for a wound. But for an older adult heading home after a hospital admission, recovery can be affected by something far more fundamental — food. New research from Duke University suggests that getting people regular meals after a hospital stay could mean a lower chance of their winding up right back in the hospital. (Fredde, 10/27)
On prior authorization and insurance —
Healthcare Dive: Five Major Companies Pledge Faster, Electronic Prior Authorizations
Amazon, Google, Meta and other employers agreed to reform their prior authorization policies for their self-funded health plans, which provide coverage for millions of Americans. (LaPointe, 10/23)
Fierce Healthcare: Walmart Builds Out Better Care Services With General Medicine
Walmart is teaming up with startup General Medicine to expand its Better Care Services, turning the digital healthcare platform into a more comprehensive healthcare marketplace. With the updated experience, which launches today, consumers can compare providers, see their potential costs with and without insurance and connect to care. Walmart and General Medicine provided Fierce Healthcare with a first look at the partnership. (Landi, 10/26)
Fierce Healthcare: UnitedHealthcare Expands AI Companion Avery To 21M Members
Earlier this year, UnitedHealthcare unveiled Avery, a generative AI companion aimed at supporting care coordination for its members. At the time, the tool was available to about 6.5 million of its members in employer plans and 160,000 people enrolled in Medicare Advantage. Now, the insurer is expanding access to 21 million of its members, growing the tool's reach at a faster clip than was initially expected. (Minemyer, 10/26)
Also —
MedPage Today: AI Scribes Improved Note-Taking Time But Not Productivity, Study Finds
The use of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven ambient scribe in outpatient practice was associated with reductions in time spent taking notes and increased note length, but other productivity measures were largely unchanged, researchers found. (Frieden, 10/26)
KFF Health News: Remember This Acronym Next Time You’re Facing A Big Medical Decision: B.R.A.I.N.
Gina Conley, an Army veteran in Aberdeen, North Carolina, knew she wanted a low-intervention birth for her first child. But her plan started to go off the rails as soon as she got to the hospital. “Everything that I did not want to happen had happened,” she said. “And I just remember that feeling of being just so utterly defeated.” Her cervix wasn’t dilating quickly, and Conley said her midwife insisted that she take Pitocin to speed up the labor. Later, when she was nearly fully dilated, the midwife asked to break Conley’s amniotic fluid sac, another intervention used to move labor along. (Farmer, Anthony, and Siner, 10/27)
State Watch
Connecticut Sued For Using IQ Scores To Determine Aid For People With Intellectual Disabilities
Connecticut Public: Residents Sue CT For Using IQ Score To Deny Disability Services
Trumbull resident Edna Borchetta wants for her 20-year-old daughter Carriella what most parents dream of for their children: the chance to go to college, work and explore new opportunities. But since Carriella lives with intellectual disabilities, she needs extra support to reach her full potential. (Marceles, 10/26)
KANW New Mexico Public Radio: Kratom Derivatives Raise Alarm In The Mountain West As Overdose Risks Grow
Products sold as energy drinks, gummies or herbal supplements at gas stations and convenience stores may contain potent opioid-like compounds, putting people at risk of addiction, overdose and death, according to health experts. (Kinsey, 10/26)
ProPublica & The Frontier: This Oil Company Is Linked To 1,000 Pollution Incidents And Other Violations. Oklahoma Never Punished It.
Staff at an Oklahoma regulatory agency spent over a year building a case against Citation Oil & Gas, a company notorious for oil field pollution. Instead of disciplining the company, agency leaders chose to let it resume operations. (Bowlin, 10/27)
The Washington Post: States Move To Take Ultra-Processed Foods Off The School Lunch Menu
The issue of food safety has prompted a major political realignment since the start of the second Trump administration, with the right-wing Make America Healthy Again movement forming an uneasy alliance with progressives to rid the nation’s food system of ultra-processed snacks, sweets, lunch meats and other products. Public schools are their first target. (Wolfson, 10/26)
The Marshall Project and Catchlight: In Prison, Wheelchair Basketball Offers A Chance At Reinvention
At California Medical Facility, playing a sport helps men practice new ways of thinking and form bonds that remain outside of prison walls. (Frank and Abdullahi, 10/26)
KFF Health News: Jacksonville, Florida’s Gun Violence Is Rooted In Redlining And Homes Built On Toxic Waste
In a Florida county with a startling rate of child firearm injuries, a boarded-up elementary school named for famed educator and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune sits in a 250-acre site once called “Brown’s Dump.” The dump emerged in an era of redlining, systematic racism that divided American cities large and small. From the late 1940s until the mid-1950s, the city operated a landfill here, heaping toxic ash from nearby municipal incinerators. (Clasen-Kelly, Chang, Pierce and Gavino, 10/27)
Outbreaks and Health Threats
Another US Border Crossing Reopens For Cattle Trade With Mexico Amid Parasite Threat
The Independent: US Reopens Vital Cattle Trade Route With Mexico Despite Ongoing Parasite Outbreak
A border crossing in New Mexico that had been shut for nearly two years began moving Mexican cattle again on Monday, after U.S. agriculture inspectors gave the all-clear. The reopening is part of efforts by both nations to stop the spread of the flesh-eating New World screwworm. The parasite, actually a fly larva that burrows into the flesh of livestock, pets, and even humans, has threatened the $113 billion U.S. cattle industry. (Bryan, 10/27)
On the spread of Ebola —
AP: Ebola Disease Outbreak In Congo Tops 10,000 Confirmed Cases
The fast-moving Ebola outbreak in Congo has reached 10,000 confirmed cases, government data showed Tuesday, as health authorities race to slow the spread of the disease in multiple African countries. It is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history and nearly half of the 10,060 confirmed to have the virus have died, according to data from Congo’s Ministry of Health. That also makes it the deadliest outbreak of the disease in the country’s history. (10/27)
Bloomberg: Nigeria Monitors Ebola Contacts After Patient Evacuated To Switzerland
Nigeria is continuing to monitor 52 people who had contact with an Ebola patient who was evacuated to Switzerland after Nigerian doctors stabilized her, keeping the country on alert even though it currently has no active cases. It’s following the contacts for 21 days from their last possible exposure, the period during which symptoms of the deadly virus may develop. They include health workers and others who came into contact with the woman after she fell ill, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. (Kew, 10/26)
Global hot spot for CWD reverses decision to stop testing —
CIDRAP: Saskatchewan Walks Back Plan To End CWD Testing Of Hunter-Harvested Cervids After Stiff Pushback
Rates of chronic wasting disease (CWD) among cervids such as deer and elk in southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada, are the highest in the world, with up to 87% of mule deer bucks infected in certain parts of the province. So the announcement late last week (midway through the deer-hunting season) that the government of Saskatchewan was ending its CWD surveillance program as of November 1 was met with shock and disappointment by wildlife experts and hunters, who worried about the repercussions for cervids, other wildlife, and people. (Van Beusekom, 10/26)
Pharma and Tech
GLP-1 Use Linked To Lower MS Relapse Rates, Study Suggests
MedPage Today: GLP-1s Tied To Lower Rates Of MS Relapse Activity, Real-World Study Shows
Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients exposed to a GLP-1 receptor agonist had lower rates of relapse activity and steroid use, reduced incidence of optic neuritis, and fewer demyelinating events compared with those who didn't use these agents, a large real-world study in the U.S. showed. (George, 10/26)
Medscape: Maternal BMI Linked To Multiple Sclerosis Risk In Offspring
A nationwide, observational cohort study of more than 1.5 million births in Sweden showed that compared with a normal weight, maternal obesity was associated with a 35% higher rate of MS in offspring and maternal overweight was associated with a 20% higher rate. (Anderson, 10/26)
BioXconomy: Bristol Myers Squibb Confirms Patient Death In Multiple Sclerosis CAR T Trial
BMS halted the study earlier this year following three patient deaths in a competitor’s trial. (Hoe, 10/27)
More pharma and tech news —
Stat: GSK Sees Its Return To Cancer Start To Pay Off
In the past week, a GSK cancer drug picked up an approval for another tumor type, the company unveiled the first data from a global study of a promising next-generation chemotherapy, and a medicine that the firm has licensed got the limelight in a presidential session at a major oncology conference here. (Joseph, 10/26)
Stat: Pennsylvania Dutch Country, Tired Of Waiting For Biopharma, Builds Drug Company Of Its Own
The odds are stacked against Kevin Strauss, a rural doctor who has spent most of his career working in a wooden, mortise-and-tenon frame medical center on a donated corner of Amish farmland. Most of his patients don’t have insurance, because their faith teaches that caring for the sick is a communal responsibility. They receive conscientious objector waivers from Medicare and Society Security taxes. Churches cover medical costs, with money raised from congregants. That means they can’t pay the multimillion dollar price tags that accompany virtually every approved gene therapy. For Strauss, this is both challenge and opportunity. If he can build gene therapies the Mennonite and Amish can afford, maybe he can build a gene therapy anyone can. (Mast, 10/27)
Bloomberg: Google Fitbit Edge Review: Smartwatch-Like Tracker Showcases Google Health
Google’s new $180 Fitbit Edge is somewhere between a full-fledged smartwatch and a smaller, purpose-built fitness tracker. It’s for people who are interested in both kinds of products, but wouldn’t go so far as to wear two wrist gadgets at once. (Like some techie gym enthusiasts among us.) As with anything else, there are compromises, including some user experience quirks that could potentially be addressed through firmware updates. But after a week of testing it, I’ve found Google mostly succeeded in trying to carve out a middle lane for itself. (Wollman, 10/26)
Editorials And Opinions
Viewpoints: Healthcare Policy Change Required To End Pediatric Care Crisis; Rising Disability Claims Threaten Access For Those Most In Need
Stat: Hospital Closures Are Creating A Crisis For Sick Kids
In the winter of 2022, two parents carried their sick, coughing baby boy into an emergency room deep in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. The small rural hospital had no pediatric specialists, no pediatric nurses, and no children’s intensive care unit. But it was hours closer than any hospital that did. (Jonathan E. Kohler and Mary A. King, 10/27)
The Boston Globe: Disability Claims Have Shot Up. It's Time For Verification.
Enough with the TikTokers demanding accommodation for their ‘neurodivergence.’ They’ve built a culture that’s hurting those most in need. (Freddie deBoer, 10/27)
Bloomberg: Sun Tzu Has An Escape Route For US-China Biotech
Washington is proposing to subject Chinese pharmaceutical companies to the same national security restrictions already imposed on industries such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence. (Juliana Liu, 10/26)
Stat: How To Get Cancer Vaccines To Patients
At the annual European Society for Medical Oncology Congress, a new report brought forward yet another monumental moment in cancer science: A Phase 3 study showed that the “cancer vaccine” intismeran autogene reduced the risk of recurrence or death by 42% compared with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) alone. This is the first neoantigen and mRNA therapy to have met its Phase 3 endpoint in oncology and is part of a collection of well-conducted studies showing promise for cancer therapeutic vaccines. (Karen E. Knudsen and Othman Laraki, 10/27)
The Washington Post: Frailty In Old Age Is Not Inevitable. Here's How To Reverse It.
A new study shows the benefits of vigorous walking for older adults. (Leana S. Wen, 10/27)