Crozer Health Raises Funds To Stave Off Closure As Sale Woes Continue
April 11, 2025
Morning Briefing
Prospect Medical Holdings has managed to keep the lights on for another week at two of its Pennsylvania hospitals while it transitions some services to nearby providers in line with its closure contingency plan. Also in the news: GE HealthCare, Cincinnati Children’s, GWU Hospital, and more.
Maryland’s Maximum Security Psychiatric Facility Loses Accreditation
April 11, 2025
Morning Briefing
According to The Washington Post, The Joint Commission visited Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center to inspect the location after the facility struggled with safety concerns, understaffing, and excessive leadership turnover. Others states making news are Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Missouri, Ohio, North Carolina, and California.
Immigrants Aren’t Dead, But Social Security Adds Them To Death Database
April 11, 2025
Morning Briefing
By adding more than 6,000 immigrants to the death file, the Trump administration is cutting off their access to Medicaid, Medicare, and other programs, The Washington Post reports. The administration is using this tactic to force people to leave the U.S., with plans to reclassify more people in the future.
FDA Leans Into AI Models As Replacement For Animal Testing
April 11, 2025
Morning Briefing
FDA Commissioner Martin Makary said this move would offer newer treatments for patients quicker, while also reducing the cost of research and development. Other news includes: lab models of pain pathways to test drugs; a device that diagnoses TB without a lab; and more.
With Budget Plan In Hand, Congress Looks To Pare Health Care Spending
April 11, 2025
Morning Briefing
The Republican-led Congress is considering $880 billion in Medicaid cuts in order to free up money to pay for President Trump’s tax cuts. Stat explores why those cuts might not be as deep as feared.
RFK Jr. Decries Single-Antigen Vaccines; Scientists Say He’s Wrong
April 11, 2025
Morning Briefing
“A tenet of virology is that you go after one of the proteins on the surface that generates a good immune response, and that’s what you target. This principle has withstood the test of time because we’ve made multiple good vaccines in that manner,” said Peter Marks, the former chief of the FDA’s biologics center. Also in the news: measles, whooping cough, covid, and more.
NIH Allegedly Tells Workers To Ignore DOGE Emails About Their Productivity
April 11, 2025
Morning Briefing
Messages obtained by Politico said, “NIH … will notify employees directly if any information related to work duties or performance is needed.” The messages also said the ability to travel or purchase work materials “will be restored to full capacity and use” on Thursday, Politico reported. In March, DOGE put a $1 spending limit on purchasing cards.
What Is Causing Rising Autism Rates? RFK Jr. Vows To Find Out By September
April 11, 2025
Morning Briefing
At Thursday’s Cabinet meeting, HHS Chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said his agency has launched a large research effort involving “hundreds of scientists from around the world” to determine “what has caused the autism epidemic.” Experts in the field of autism say rising rates are due to increased awareness and expanded parameters, as well as increased access to services, reports ABC news.
First Edition: Friday, April 11, 2025
April 11, 2025
Morning Briefing
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Trump elimina la oficina que establece los niveles de pobreza vinculados a servicios para 80 millones de personas
By Arthur Allen
April 11, 2025
KFF Health News Original
Los despidos y el cierre de la oficina podrían causar recortes en la asistencia a las millones de familias de bajos ingresos el próximo año.
More Psych Hospital Beds Are Needed for Kids, but Neighbors Say Not Here
By Eric Berger
April 11, 2025
KFF Health News Original
Amid a youth mental health crisis and a shortage of inpatient psychiatric beds, residents of a St. Louis suburb opposed a plan to build a 77-bed pediatric mental health hospital. Resistance to such facilities has occurred in other communities as misconceptions about mental health spur fear.
Trump HHS Eliminates Office That Sets Poverty Levels Tied to Benefits for at Least 80 Million People
By Arthur Allen
Updated April 11, 2025
Originally Published April 11, 2025
KFF Health News Original
Recent cuts eliminated a small, specialized workforce that sets the poverty standards determining who is eligible for Medicaid as well as assistance with food, home heating, child care, and more.
What the Health? From KFF Health News: The Dismantling of HHS
April 10, 2025
Podcast
A week into the reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services announced by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the scope of the staff cuts and program cutbacks is starting to become clear. Among the biggest targets for reductions were the nation’s premier public health agencies: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the […]
RFK Jr.’s Purge of FOIA Staff at FDA Spares People Working on Covid Vaccine Lawsuits
By Rachana Pradhan
April 10, 2025
KFF Health News Original
A purge of FDA staff spared some people tasked with responding to a judge’s orders to disclose government records on covid vaccines, according to agency employees. The FOIA litigation was brought by Aaron Siri, an ally of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s who represents anti-vaccine interests.
Research Roundup: The Latest Science, Discoveries, And Breakthroughs
April 10, 2025
Morning Briefing
Each week, KFF Health News compiles a selection of the latest health research and news.
Morning Briefing for Thursday, April 10, 2025
April 10, 2025
Morning Briefing
Behind on your reading? Catch up on this week's KFF Health News stories with The Week in Brief, delivered every Friday to your inbox. Sign up here !
Fate Of Medicaid Cuts Unclear After House Pauses Budget Resolution Vote
April 10, 2025
Morning Briefing
Modern Healthcare reported that the measure was abandoned Wednesday because a few conservative Republicans had reservations. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he’d try to hold a vote today before the House goes on a two-week recess.
Maternal Health Under Siege As Study Shows Mortality Rate Up 27% in US
April 10, 2025
Morning Briefing
The NIH analysis saw the increase over five years and called the issue “an urgent public health priority.” Almost one-third of the pregnancy-related deaths took place between six weeks to a year after giving birth. Meanwhile, the entire team behind a key CDC dataset for OB-GYN research has been cut as part of the administration’s downsizing of federal health agencies.
