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When President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House next Monday, his administration faces key decisions on healthcare policies President Joe Biden left uncompleted. Regulations governing Medicare, remote prescribing of controlled substances, and billing disputes between health insurers and providers top the list of proposed rules the Trump administration will have to retain, modify or eliminate. To be sure, the Biden administration could opt to rush out final rules in his last days, but they are more likely to fall to the new team. (Early, 1/13)

Former Trump administration health policy aide Abe Sutton is incoming President Trump’s likely pick to lead the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, two sources familiar with the plans told STAT. (Zhang, 1/13) 

A new coalition of more than 700 public health professionals, scientists and activists signed an open letter to oppose Senate confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary, saying his “fringe” views and inexperience would put the country at serious risk from severe infectious diseases. The letter from the coalition called “Defend Public Health” said Kennedy’s “unfounded, fringe beliefs could significantly undermine public health practices across the country and around the world.” (Weixel, 1/13)

As confirmation hearings begin for President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet, his nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services is facing pushback from members of both parties. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. began his foray into politics as a Democrat — launching his own bid for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination before leaving the party and, later, throwing his support behind Trump. (McCammon, 1/14)

“We will make Americans healthy again,” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has declared. A political action committee that has promoted Mr. Kennedy, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick for health and human services secretary, says his movement is “igniting a health revolution in America.” But the word “again” presumes a time in the country’s past when Americans were in better health. Was there ever really a time when America was healthier? (Kolata, 1/13)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his allies in the “Make America Healthy Again” movement have no shortage of targets — products, policies, foods and drinks that they see as worsening the nation’s health. Alcohol seems to have so far avoided their outrage. (Cueto, 1/14)

There were more than 32,000 cases of whooping cough in 2024, the highest tally in a decade. In California alone, the disease struck 2,000 people between January and October last year. More than 60 infants younger than 4 months were hospitalized in the state. One died. ... If immunizations continue to fall over the next few years — because of rising distrust, or more restrictive federal policies — preventable infectious diseases will resurface in all age groups, experts say. (Mandavilli, 1/13)

Most American parents hardly give thought to polio beyond the instant their child is immunized against the disease. But there was a time in this country when polio paralyzed 20,000 people in a year, killing many of them. Vaccines turned the tide against the virus. Over the past decade, there has been only one case in the United States, related to international travel. That could change very quickly if polio vaccination rates dropped or the vaccine were to become less accessible. (Mandavilli, 1/13)

Vaccine doses given to U.S. toddlers outside the recommended age or timing intervals have decreased over time, but still don't complete the vaccine series for many children, researchers found. In an analysis of CDC immunization data from 2011 through 2020, 15.4% of children ages 35 months and younger had an invalid vaccine dose, defined as younger than the minimum age, sooner than the recommended interval between vaccinations, or older than the maximum age, reported Alexandria Albers, MPH, MS, of the University of Montana in Missoula, and colleagues in Pediatrics. (Henderson, 1/13)