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The Health and Human Services Department is abandoning a Nixon-era practice that offered transparency into federal policymaking in a move that limits the public and the healthcare sector's ability to influence government actions. Instead, HHS intends to comply with the bare-minimum requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act of 1946, or APA, and only engage in the traditional notice-and-comment process as expressly dictated by that law, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote in a policy statement published Friday. HHS had followed the now-defunct guidelines for 54 years. (Early, 2/28)

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s move to reduce public comments on certain federal health rules injects new uncertainty into the regulatory landscape and could help him make controversial policy decisions unchecked. The wonky policy statement he issued on Friday has a direct bearing on the dispute over the National Institutes of Health's research funding cap and could make it easier to impose Medicaid work rules. (Goldman, 3/3)

Dr. Francis Collins, the legendary former director of the National Institutes of Health, has retired, NPR has learned. Collins, who notified the NIH on Friday of his decision, did not specify the reasons for his departure. Collins joined NIH in 1993 and led the agency under presidents of both parties from 2009 through 2021. He then stepped down as NIH director, but continued his research in his lab at the agency. (Stein, 3/1)

The head of the Defense Health Agency (DHA), the health system for millions of service members and their dependents, was forced to abruptly retire Friday, Reuters reported. Army Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland, one of the most senior Black female officers in the Army who has served in her role since January 2023, “is beginning her retirement” as of Friday morning, according to a statement from Stephen Ferrara, the acting assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. (Mitchell, 2/28)

A senior career official at the U.S. Agency for International Development was placed on leave Sunday on the same day he disseminated a detailed memo to staff describing the U.S. government’s “failure” to provide lifesaving assistance around the world because of actions by President Donald Trump’s political appointees. The memo, by Nicholas Enrich, the acting assistant administrator for global health, contradicts claims by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that a functioning system is in place for exempting lifesaving assistance from the aid freeze imposed by Trump on his first week in office. (Hudson, 3/3)

When Navyn Salem received a letter Wednesday terminating the federal government's contract with her Rhode Island company, Edesia, she halted its production line, which makes a life-saving paste for severely malnourished babies. A day later she received an email, just a few short sentences, rescinding the contract's termination. The reversal failed to put her mind at ease. (Kates and Ruetenik, 3/2)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: �鶹Ů�� Health News’ ‘On Air’: Journalists Discuss A Mysterious, Deadly Illness In Congo And Early Moves By Secretary RFK

�鶹Ů�� Health News editor-at-large for public health Céline Gounder discussed a mysterious illness in Congo that has claimed dozens of lives on CBS’ “CBS Mornings” on Feb. 26. ... �鶹Ů�� Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner discussed moves by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” on Feb. 25. (3/1)

As a measles outbreak in Texas has grown to nearly 150 cases, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in an opinion piece on Fox News on Sunday that parents should consult with health-care providers “to understand their options to get the MMR vaccine” for their children. Kennedy did not explicitly recommend the vaccine, but said the outbreak was a “call to action for all of us to reaffirm our commitment to public health.” (Kounang, 3/2)

The number of measles cases associated with an outbreak in western Texas has grown to 146, according to new data released Friday. Almost all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, with 79 unvaccinated and 62 of unknown status. At least 20 people have been hospitalized so far, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). Just five cases have occurred in people vaccinated with one dose of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine. (Kekatos, 2/28)

When the local hospital warned of a brewing measles outbreak, Kaleigh Brantner urged fellow residents of this rural West Texas community to beware of vaccinating their children. Two weeks later, her unvaccinated 7-year-old son came home from school with a fever. The telltale rash across his body followed. But his mild symptoms and swift recovery only hardened Brantner’s anti-vaccination convictions, even after an unvaccinated child died of measles at a hospital 80 miles away. (Nirappil and Gordon, 3/2)

Every day, as Dr. Wendell Parkey enters his clinic in Seminole, a small city on the rural western edge of Texas, he announces his arrival to the staff with an anthem pumping loudly through speakers. As the song reaches a climax, he throws up an arm and strikes a pose in cowboy boots. “Y’all ready to stomp out disease?” he asks. Recently, the question has taken on a dark urgency. Seminole Memorial Hospital, where Dr. Parkey has practiced for nearly three decades, has found itself at the center of the largest measles outbreak in the United States since 2019. (Rosenbluth, 2/28)

More than one month into a major measles outbreak in western Texas that has sickened 146 people and killed one school-age child, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its first public statement and it highlighted a therapy that has raised some eyebrows among infectious disease experts. “Measles does not have a specific antiviral treatment,” read the statement, which was posted only on X on Thursday night. “Supportive care, including vitamin A administration under the direction of a physician, may be appropriate.” (Dunn, 2/28)

The Food and Drug Administration was allowed to participate in the World Health Organization's meeting this week on updating influenza shots, officials for the U.N. agency said, despite an order by President Trump last month banning government employees from working with the WHO. The administration has granted some exemptions to the order. (Tin, 2/28)

The World Health Organization (WHO) today announced its advisory committee’s recommendations on strains to include for the Northern Hemisphere’s 2025-26 flu season, which swap out the H3N2 components but keep the current 2009 H1N1 and influenza B strains the same. The three strains recommended for the trivalent vaccine are also the same as those recommended for the Southern Hemisphere’s 2025 season vaccine, which the group weighed in on at its meetings in September 2024. (Schnirring, 2/28)

The worst flu season the United States has had in more than a decade may have reached its peak, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data published by the agency on Friday shows that flu activity is still elevated but has decreased for two consecutive weeks. (McPhillips, 2/28)

For nearly two weeks, Rondi Bishop, 40, was quarantined with her husband in a room at Seattle Children’s Hospital as they watched the flu ravage their son’s body. It was a situation they never could have predicted. Their otherwise happy and healthy son, Elliot, who rarely missed a day of school, suddenly had to be airlifted to the hospital for treatment. As his condition worsened, doctors stepped in with treatments for sepsis, renal complications and severe breathing difficulties. (Malhi, 3/1)

Large employers want hospitals to know they will not pay up if President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans follow through with their plan to deeply slash Medicaid funding. The threat of a shrunken Medicaid program, leading to more uninsured people and more unpaid hospital bills, reignites a long-running debate about whether, or to what extent, providers raise prices on commercial insurers and employers to compensate for lower Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. (Tepper, 2/28)

Democrats are taking to the airwaves to attack Republicans on potential Medicaid cuts, with ads in at least four states featuring a chainsaw-wielding Elon Musk. In the TV and digital ads, part of a seven-figure buy from House Majority PAC, the flagship Democratic super PAC, Democrats harp on President Donald Trump and Republicans’ campaign pitch in 2024, when “they claimed they’d lower costs.” (Schneider, 2/28)

Every time a baby is born in Louisiana, where Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson handily won reelection last year, there’s more than a 60% chance taxpayers will finance the birth through Medicaid. In Republican Rep. David Valadao ’s central California district, 6 out of 10 people use Medicaid to pay for doctor visits and emergency room trips. And one-third of the population is covered by Medicaid in GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s Alaska, one of the nation’s costliest corners for health care. (Seitz, 3/2)

The cap on enrollment and work requirements are the two most concerning parts of a Medicaid bill that the Indiana legislature is considering, said two public health researchers. At the federal level, Medicaid doesn’t have work requirements or a cap on those who can enroll in the program, Leo Cuello, a research professor with the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. (Kukulka, 3/2)

The federal agency that oversees Medicare, Medicaid, and other major health care programs is facing employee firings, flagging morale, confusing messaging, and the specter of additional disruption — compromising its oversight and administration of key programs that finance care for half of Americans. (Herman, 3/1)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Home Improvements Can Help People Age Independently. But Medicare Seldom Picks Up The Bill

Chikao Tsubaki had been having a terrible time. In his mid-80s, he had a stroke. Then lymphoma. Then prostate cancer. He was fatigued, isolated, not all that steady on his feet. Then Tsubaki took part in an innovative care initiative that, over four months, sent an occupational therapist, a nurse, and a handy worker to his home to help figure out what he needed to stay safe. In addition to grab bars and rails, the handy worker built a bookshelf so neither Tsubaki nor the books he cherished would topple over when he reached for them. (Kenen, 3/3)

The death of a patient in a bathroom at Mission Hospital earlier this month reflects a return to poor staffing conditions, especially in the hospital’s emergency department, similar to those that precipitated federal sanctions last year, healthcare advocates said at a news conference Friday. (Evans, 3/1)

Prime Healthcare completed its acquisition of eight Ascension Illinois hospitals. The transaction closed March 1 and involves more than half of Ascension's Illinois hospital network, along with several skilled nursing, home health and senior living facilities. Federal and state regulators signed off on the $375 million deal last year. (Kacik, 3/1)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: States Facing Doctor Shortages Ease Licensing Rules For Foreign-Trained Physicians

A growing number of states have made it easier for doctors who trained in other countries to get medical licenses, a shift supporters say could ease physician shortages in rural areas. The changes involve residency programs — the supervised, hands-on training experience that doctors must complete after graduating medical school. Until recently, every state required physicians who completed a residency or similar training abroad to repeat the process in the U.S. before obtaining a full medical license. (Zionts, 3/3)

Salesforce plans to add an artificial intelligence tool to help providers deal with administrative burdens such as prior authorization, the customer relationship management company said Friday. More tech companies are developing healthcare-specific AI agents, which are applications that use the technology to handle time intensive functions. Salesforce's set of AI agents, called Agentforce For Health, will focus on tasks related to patient access, public health and clinical research. (Turner, 2/28)

More than a decade ago, Ken Mandl was on a call with a pharmaceutical company and the leader of a social network for people with diabetes. The drug maker was hoping to use the platform to encourage its members to get a certain lab test. The test could determine a patient’s need for a helpful drug. But in that moment, said Mandl, director of the computational health informatics program at Boston Children’s Hospital, “I could see this focus on a biomarker as a way to increase sales of the product.” (Palmer, 3/3)

President Donald Trump’s plan to pull federal funding from institutions that provide gender-affirming care for transgender youth will remain blocked on a long-term basis under a federal judge’s ruling in Seattle late Friday. U.S. District Court Judge Lauren King previously granted a two-week restraining order after the Democratic attorneys general of Washington, Oregon and Minnesota sued the Trump administration — Colorado has since joined the case. (Johnson, 3/1)

President Trump wants Iowa to finalize already fast-tracked legislation that would eliminate protections for transgender people “AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.” “Iowa, a beautiful State that I have won BIG every time, has a Bill to remove Radical Gender Ideology from their Laws,” Trump posted to Truth Social late Thursday, just hours after hundreds of LGBTQ advocates demonstrated at the state Capitol in Des Moines. “Iowa should follow the lead of my Executive Order, saying there are only two genders, and pass this Bill – AS FAST AS POSSIBLE,” he added. “Thank you Iowa!” (Crisp, 2/28)

The number of abortions in Connecticut increased slightly from 2023 to 2024, with the average number of monthly abortions rising by 25, an increase of 2%. But the number of abortions provided to out-of-state patients in Connecticut, while still a small fraction, also increased slightly, from 4% to 6%. Compared to all 37 states without abortion bans, the average proportion of out-of-state patients increased from 9% in 2020 to 16% in 2023. (Daou, 2/28)

A Tennessee gynecologist was arrested Friday and accused of performing unnecessary procedures on patients with re-used medical devices held under unsanitary conditions. Dr. Sanjeev Kumar, 44, is charged with enticing four people to travel interstate to engage in illegal sexual activity, adulteration of medical devices, misbranding of medical devices and health care fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Memphis said. (Sainz, 2/28)

Many of the nearly two dozen people President Donald Trump pardoned in January, who had broken into and blocked access to abortion clinics, are vowing to launch a new wave of civil disobedience. At a recent online event by the anti-abortion group LiveAction, several of the activists released from federal prison said they will resume efforts in the coming months to shut down remaining clinics in America, and they urged fellow abortion opponents to join them. (Ollstein, 3/2)

Florida insurance regulators have asked companies to hand over extensive amounts of data on people’s pharmacy claims, including personal information and prescription drug usage, an unusual move for a state regulator that’s raising privacy concerns. An eight-page request went out in recent weeks to pharmacy benefit managers seeking detailed information on pharmacy contracts, claims and payments, according to copies of the request viewed by Bloomberg News. Pharmacy benefit managers operate the prescription drug benefits part of insurance plans. (Tozzi, 2/28)

Data from the CDC shows 31 utilities in Florida had annual average fluoride levels that were approximately half the CDC’s recommended level or less for at least a year. (Pennello, 3/2)

Aaron Bass likes some things about Shapiro Developmental Center, a home he shares with some 500 others on a site along the Kankakee River that first housed Illinois residents with disabilities nearly 150 years ago. He enjoys spending time outdoors, playing bingo and supervised outings to Burger King, the dollar store or local library to check out scary movies. But Bass, a 39-year-old who has a moderate intellectual disability, said he is seeking something greater. (Olander and Gorner, 3/3)

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo already has the apparent support of 1199SEIU President George Gresham for his New York City mayoral bid, but the health care union’s other officers are pushing him to delay. Gresham told some of the union’s top officers last week that he wanted the large labor organization to endorse Cuomo, according to three people briefed on the discussion, who were granted anonymity to speak candidly about internal deliberations. At the time, Cuomo had yet to enter the race to oust Mayor Eric Adams. (Kaufman, 3/1)

In a study published in the scientific journal Cell, a group of researchers reported the discovery of a coronavirus in bats that has the potential to spread to humans. (W. Ian Lipkin and Ralph Baric, 3/3)

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been 33 million to 56 million cases of the flu between Oct. 1, 2024, and Feb. 15, 2025, rates that we have not seen since 2009. This coincides with historically low vaccination rates, with only 45% of people in the U.S. receiving the flu vaccine so far this year, down 6% from pre-pandemic levels, along with a growing distrust of public health institutions. (Julia Lippert, Maureen R. Benjamins, Joanna Buscemi and Abigail Silva, 3/3)

Recently, the notorious conspiracy theory peddler Alex Jones shared an “Infowars” video on X lambasting the “horrific side effects” of Covid vaccines: “Yale scientists link COVID vaccines to alarming new syndrome causing distinct biological changes to the body,” his post read. News of the new study spread like wildfire throughout right-wing anti-vaccine circles, amplified by the likes of Alex Berenson, Elon Musk, and Joe Rogan, who touted the study as yet more proof the public had been lied to about all things Covid. (Adam W. Gaffney, 3/3)

Democrats say that House Republicans voted last week to enact huge cuts to Medicaid. Republicans say they did no such thing. As a matter of procedure, Republicans are telling the truth. As a question of substance, Democrats are right. (Matthew Yglesias, 3/2)

In early January, I received a letter in the mail from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. The letter informed me that I had been approved for Medicaid-funded Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS), a form of long-term care. It had been five months since I’d applied to the program, after being discharged from the hospital in August 2024 as a new full-time wheelchair user. (Rachel Litchman, 3/3)

In May 2023, about a year before the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief was up for congressional renewal, a Heritage Foundation report alleged that PEPFAR funding was being secretly used for abortions by recipients as a part of a systematic, covert agenda endorsed by U.S. counterparts. Separately, concerns about insufficient commitment to the efficient use of U.S. taxpayer dollars in foreign aid were growing, despite efforts within organizations administering foreign aid to evaluate, strengthen, and streamline services. (Anne Neilan and Linda-Gail Bekker, 3/1)

In the Boston area, many physicians are unionizing for the first time. Joining a growing wave across the United States, doctors at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Cambridge Health Alliance, and Salem Hospital, part of Mass General Brigham, all took steps to unionize in the past year. I and nearly 300 other beleaguered primary care physicians at Mass General Brigham also filed to unionize last November. That’s most of the primary care doctors employed by Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. (Peter Grinspoon, 3/3)