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The Trump administration announced on Tuesday it is rescinding Biden-era guidance that uses a federal law to require hospitals to stabilize patients in need of emergency care -- including by providing an abortion. In July 2022, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued guidance that, under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), doctors must perform abortions in emergency departments -- even in states where the procedure is illegal -- particularly if it serves as a "stabilizing medical treatment" for an emergency medical condition. (Kekatos, 6/3)

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to continue providing gender-affirming care to hundreds of transgender prison inmates, ruling that an abrupt decision to curtail their medical care was not based on any “reasoned” analysis, as the law requires. U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth previously ordered the Bureau of Prisons to continue to provide medical care to several individual prisoners who are transgender, but his ruling Tuesday is the first that broadly blocks federal prison officials from carrying out an executive order from President Donald Trump targeting “gender ideology.” (Gerstein and Cheney, 6/3)

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary committed to reviewing the abortion drug mifepristone in a letter sent to Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). “As with all drugs, FDA continues to closely monitor the postmarketing safety data on mifepristone for the medical termination of early pregnancy,” Makary wrote to Hawley. “As the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, I am committed to conducting a review of mifepristone and working with the professional career scientists at the Agency who review this data,” he added in the letter. (O’Connell-Domenech, 6/3)

A new Food and Drug Administration AI tool that could speed up reviews and approvals of medical devices such as pacemakers and insulin pumps is struggling with simple tasks, according to two people familiar with it. The tool — which is still in beta testing — is buggy, doesn’t yet connect to the FDA’s internal systems and has issues when it comes to uploading documents or allowing users to submit questions, the people say. It’s also not currently connected to the internet and can’t access new content, such as recently published studies or anything behind a paywall. (Lovelace Jr., 6/3)

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has directed the Food and Drug Administration to review the nutrients and other ingredients in infant formula, which fills the bottles of millions of American babies. The effort, dubbed “Operation Stork Speed,” is the first deep look at the ingredients since 1998. ... About three-quarters of U.S. infants consume formula during the first six months of life, with about 40% receiving it as their only source of nutrition, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Aleccia, 6/3)

Chronic disease isn’t going away, but a national center devoted to its prevention may be, a prospect that is alarming agency insiders and public health officials across the country. The Department of Health and Human Services’ budget for 2026, released Friday, proposed $14 billion in discretionary funding for programs that aim to reverse the chronic disease epidemic, but it would also abolish the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (Cooney, 6/4)

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official said Tuesday she was resigning from her role overseeing updates to the agency's COVID-19 vaccine recommendations, following an order by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to force an update to the agency's guidance. "My career in public health and vaccinology started with a deep-seated desire to help the most vulnerable members of our population, and that is not something I am able to continue doing in this role," Dr. Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos wrote in an email to some members of the agency's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). (Tin, 6/3)

A new class action lawsuit asserts the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) fired civil servants based on incorrect internal personnel records. Three months ago, the HHS cut its workforce by about 10,000 workers through a reduction in force (RIF), which is separate from the probationary worker firings that preceded it. Several lawsuits are challenging the legality of the RIF starting the week of March 31. (Tong, 6/3)

For Xavier Becerra, who was the HHS secretary during the Biden administration and now a candidate for California governor, the time for keeping quiet has passed. At first, "I stayed pretty quiet, neutral, because I feel you've got to give the new person a chance to settle in," Becerra said during the Association of Health Care Journalists annual conference here Friday. But now that 4 months have passed, he said, "they got their chance." (Clark, 6/3)

Although HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has threatened to prevent federal researchers from publishing studies in premier medical journals, his "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) report did not hold back on citing studies from these publications. The MAHA report cited 26 studies published by the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), JAMA, The Lancet, and their affiliates -- journals Kennedy has previously called "corrupt." These studies, which include exposés of conflicts of interest in medicine, account for 5% of the 522 citations in the 73-page report. (Dotinga, 6/3)

The Trump administration’s purge of federal personnel poses the latest threat to a rule meant to protect workers from extreme heat. As part of an agency reorganization, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired the research team tasked with studying the deadly effects of high temperatures and how to safeguard against them, writes Ariel Wittenberg. The layoffs take effect this week, just before the start of a summer that is forecast to be hotter than normal across the United States. (Skibell, 6/3)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to undertake several new health tech initiatives, senior leaders announced today at a closed meeting with stakeholders. The Department of Health and Human Services held a meeting today to discuss health tech policy and its recent request for information on health tech initiatives. CMS seems to be moving ahead with some of the initiatives it asked stakeholders to provide feedback on in its RFI — among them a national provider directory and modern identity verification for Medicare beneficiaries. (Beavins, 6/3)

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vow to "Make America Healthy Again" could fall short when it comes to chronic disease, experts have warned. When the MAHA Commission report on chronic disease came out in May, President Donald Trump made it clear his administration was committed to tackling the epidemic. "We will not stop until we defeat the chronic disease epidemic in America, we're going to get it done for the first time ever," said Trump during a MAHA event at the White House in May. (Laws, 6/3)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Listen To The Latest '�鶹Ů�� Health News Minute'

Jackie Fortier reads the week’s news: New programs teach Black kids to swim competitively and help their parents learn too, and people in prison are often denied basic health care at the end of their lives. Zach Dyer reads this week’s news: Federal funding cuts are gutting HIV prevention programs, and financial pressures are leading to the closure of clinics that provide abortion care even in states where it’s legal. (6/3)