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The US Department of Health and Human Services called off an upcoming meeting of expert advisers on preventive health care, raising questions about the future of the longtime nonpolitical advisory group. (Owermohle, Tirrell and Luhby, 7/9)

The Department of Justice has issued “nearly 20 subpoenas” to clinics that provide gender-affirming care in relation to “transition-related investigations,” DOJ chief of staff Chad Mizelle said at an event held by the Federal Trade Commission Wednesday. The department has also issued subpoenas to major manufacturers of “the drugs used in trans-related medical interventions” in relation to investigations around drug marketing laws and the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, Mizelle added. (Gaffney, 7/9)

Tens of thousands of workers across the federal government are hoping their unions and allies in local governments and nonprofit groups have a Plan B — a day after the Supreme Court said the Trump administration could proceed with firing them. The hope hangs on the ruling’s suggestion that lower courts could still consider direct challenges to agencies’ reorganization plans. But that will require plaintiffs to bring more detailed cases quickly and convince judges to stop the layoffs before they become a fait accompli. (Schumaker, 7/9)

From Capitol Hill —

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Wednesday voted along party lines, 12-11, to advance Susan Monarez, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to the Senate floor. (Cohen, 7/9)

During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday, senators questioned Griffin Rodgers, MD, director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), about recent NIH funding cuts. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who co-chairs the Senate Diabetes Caucus, expressed concerns that the Trump administration had terminated or frozen NIDDK grants and that the institute could be merged with others amid restructuring efforts. (Henderson, 7/9)

Tensions ran high between the two leaders of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee at a committee hearing Wednesday. The hearing was entitled "Securing the Future of Health Care: Enhancing Cybersecurity and Protecting Americans' Privacy," but Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the committee's ranking member, said that although cybersecurity in healthcare is an important issue, that's not what he would be speaking with witnesses about. (Frieden, 7/9)

Regarding RFK Jr. and MAHA —

Robert F Kennedy Jr, promoted a company whose meals contain ultra-processed ingredients – which he has repeatedly railed against – on his “Make America healthy again” tour. The US health secretary appeared at an enormous food plant in Oklahoma for a company called Mom’s Meals, which makes 1.5m “medically tailored” meals each week and ships them all over the country. (Glenza, 7/9)

Major American brands have vowed to remove synthetic food dyes from their products, but M&M’s and Skittles, made by Mars, remain colorful holdouts. Mars has continued to use synthetic dyes in its candies after backing off a 2016 plan to remove all artificial colors from its food portfolio. (Dorn, 7/9)

There’s plenty of natural food coloring for US companies leaving synthetic dyes behind, but they will have to plan ahead, according to the chief executive officer of one of the world’s largest providers of the ingredient. “You need a year’s heads-up,” Martin Sonntag, CEO of Oterra A/S, said Wednesday in an interview. Most of the crops only grow once a year, he said. (Peterson and Kubzansky, 7/9)

The idea of making the U.S. more like Europe is anathema to many in the Trump administration. But that’s what the Make America Healthy Again movement says it wants — at least when it comes to food. (Todd, 7/10)

Regarding the FDA and PEPFAR —

The FDA approved a label update with a new titration schedule for donanemab (Kisunla), an anti-amyloid drug approved to treat early symptomatic Alzheimer's disease, drugmaker Eli Lilly said. The move was designed to reduce the risk of a potentially serious or fatal adverse event -- known as amyloid-related imaging abnormalities with edema and effusion (ARIA-E) -- while maintaining sufficient amyloid reduction. (George, 7/9)

A prominent South African HIV activist is calling on Brazil, China, India and Thailand to step in to help fill the void left by U.S. funding cuts for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment abroad. How so? Those countries have the capacity to manufacture HIV drugs and, in the case of China and India, strong enough economies to help provide African countries with those medicines, said Zackie Achmat, the founder of the Treatment Action Campaign, a South African HIV activist organization. (Paun and Reader, 7/9)

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today reported 21 more measles cases from the past week, pushing the year’s total above a record set in 2019 for the most cases since the disease was eliminated in the United States in 2000. So far this year, 1,288 cases have been reported from 39 states, and 88% have been part of 27 outbreaks. Among confirmed cases, 92% occurred in people who are unvaccinated or have unknown vaccination status. (Schnirring, 7/9)

The U.S. is having its worst year for measles spread since 1991, with a total of 1,288 cases nationally and another six months to go. But in Gaines County, Texas, which was once the nation’s epicenter for measles activity, health officials said they are no longer seeing ongoing measles transmission. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention count, updated Wednesday, is 14 more cases than in all of 2019, when the U.S. almost lost its status of having eliminated measles. (Shastri, 7/9)

The total number of measles cases in Missouri has climbed to seven as the U.S. this week reached its highest annual measles tally in 33 years, according to the Center for Outbreak Response Intervention daily tracker at Johns Hopkins University. (Munz, 7/9)

Measles have surged to a record high, with more cases reported this year than any year since the disease was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000. This disappointing record comes amid falling childhood vaccination rates: Coverage against measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, polio and pertussis is declining in more than 30 states, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Hetter, 7/9)

Climate and health —

Riding on horseback through brush and over numerous dead turkeys, Margo Mellon spent Tuesday scanning the flood-ravaged ground of Texas’ Hill Country for dead bodies. ... The triumphs of finding people alive ended days ago, while the mission of recovering bodies that might include even more children is far from over. The grim undertaking has prompted questions about how first responders and rescue teams are able to mentally reckon with the work ahead. (Finley and Lathan, 7/9)

For months, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has pressed the GOP-led Congress to free up $40 billion in federal relief for swaths of Los Angeles consumed by devastating wildfires. President Donald Trump and other Republicans have so far withheld the funds, with many arguing that Newsom and other Democrats in the deep-blue state have mishandled the fires and should be forced to rescind liberal policies in exchange for aid. (Wootson Jr., Reston and Sotomayor, 7/9)

A triple-digit heat wave arrives in Southern California on Wednesday, affecting inland communities, increasing health concerns. A KCAL News Next Weather Alert is in effect through Friday for the Inland Empire, valleys and high deserts. The alert was issued to warn communities about the weather event that will likely alter daily life. The National Weather Service has also issued a heat advisory, which will go into effect at 10 a.m. and remain until 8 p.m. Thursday for parts of San Bernardino and Riverside counties. (Hylton, 7/9)

On covid and Chagas disease —

While you are soaking up the summer sun, doctors say you can still get sick, including from two new COVID strains that are going around. Dr. Paul Richardson at Conway Medical Center in Conway, South Carolina, told Nexstar’s WBTW that even though the nimbus and stratus strains are now out there, he has not seen a major increase in COVID cases or hospitalizations so far this summer. He also said the two new strains are less severe than earlier strains. (Musick, 7/9)

A handful of states have passed legislation allowing ivermectin to be sold and purchased over-the-counter (OTC) -- and other state legislatures have their sights set on doing the same. During the pandemic, rampant misinformation drew attention to the antiparasitic as a treatment for COVID, though research continues to show it is not effective against the disease. (Robertson, 7/9)

Kissing bugs that carry the parasite for Chagas disease, a potentially serious tropical condition, have established a base in Florida, researchers say. Chagas disease, which is rare in the United States, can cause a brief illness or remain latent for years before causing symptoms. If untreated, it can become a chronic condition that damages the heart, brain, and other organs. (Van Beusekom, 7/9)

In recalls news —

Mondelēz Global LLC, the parent company of Ritz crackers, is recalling four carton sizes of Ritz Peanut Butter Cracker Sandwiches due to incorrect labeling that could lead to allergic reactions. The affected cartons, which were manufactured in the United States and sold nationwide, include individually wrapped packs that may be incorrectly labeled as "cheese" even though they may be a peanut butter variety, according to federal health officials. (Moniuszko, 7/9)

A coalition of pharmacy organizations, including the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, has called for major U.S. health insurers to preserve existing vaccine coverage without increasing patient cost-sharing. In letters sent to major insurers including UnitedHealthcare, Humana, Cigna, Kaiser Permanente and trade groups such as AHIP and Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the organizations expressed concerns about the potential coverage changes following updates by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, according to a July 8 news release from the ASHP. (Murphy, 7/9)

A small but growing number of employers are offering immigrants support in obtaining visas and green cards — especially those looking for physicians and surgeons, according to new data from jobs site Indeed. (Peck, 7/10)

Quipt Home Medical Corp. has acquired a durable medical equipment provider owned by Ballad Health for $1.6 million. The two organizations also entered a preferred provider agreement, according to a news release. Quipt Home Medical and Ballad Health did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (DeSilva, 7/9)

A court battle between two of the nation’s largest biotechs — Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Amgen — is testing the legal limits of how far drugmakers can go in using patents to thwart competition. And the case is being closely watched by companies that sell biosimilar medicines amid concerns that the U.S. patent system is being gamed in ways that critics say can maintain high prices for medicines. (Silverman, 7/10)

Health insurance —

A federal judge has dismissed a case brought by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, criticizing the health insurance company for potential “gamesmanship” of the federal Medicare Advantage star ratings system. The decision marks another loss for the Medicare Advantage industry, which has aggressively sued the federal government in an attempt to overturn reduced quality ratings and retain billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded bonuses. (Herman, 7/9)

UnitedHealth Group Inc. promoted a new leader for the company’s Medicaid insurance segment, filling a role that was vacant after recent executive changes. Longtime insurance executive Mike Cotton will lead the Medicaid unit, the company confirmed to Bloomberg News. Bobby Hunter, head of the Medicare insurance division, is taking on an expanded role as chief executive officer of government programs, overseeing both Medicaid and Medicare, the company said. (Tozzi, 7/9)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Watch: She’s At High Risk Of Breast Cancer. She Moved, And Her Screening Costs Soared
Kelli Reardon undergoes an MRI twice a year to screen for breast cancer, a measure she said she must take to protect her health. Her mother died of the disease at age 48, putting Reardon at higher risk, and Reardon has dense breast tissue, which makes it harder to detect a growth through a mammogram. When Reardon moved from Alabama to North Carolina, she had little choice but to switch from having the screening done at an imaging center to having it done at a hospital. (Jackman and Grey, 7/10)

Children’s hospitals say the trickle-down effects of reduced Medicaid funding due to the recently passed healthcare cuts will hit one of the most vulnerable populations the program was built to protect. Medicaid changes in the law President Donald Trump signed Friday weren’t aimed directly at children enrolled in the program. However, leaders at children’s hospitals say new limitations on state-directed payments and provider taxes will put a dent in revenue and could force them to cut services. (Hudson, 7/9)

The big bill is now the big law, and the healthcare industry is scrambling to work out how to cope with more than $1 trillion in cuts and a tangle of new red tape. In the immediate aftermath of President Donald Trump enacting his “One Big Beautiful Bill” on Friday, providers and healthcare system experts said there are three main areas of focus for the health sector: learning the new law, planning to deal with its worst impacts and doing everything possible to get Congress to mitigate the damage. (McAuliff, 7/9)

Over the past four years, the health insurance exchange market seemed immune from the higher expenses and systemic changes that bedeviled other government-sponsored health programs. Until now. Signs of trouble in the marketplace business have been bubbling up for months. ... The growing gap between premium revenue and medical expenses amid a foreboding political and regulatory climate is making managed-care investors wary of insurers with large exposure to the exchanges, Langston said. (Tepper, 7/9)

Health insurance has never been a flashy, high-growth business. But for many years it offered something nearly as good: steady, dependable returns, fueled by the expansion of government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and the Obamacare exchanges. Lately, though, Wall Street has a problem with America’s health insurers: They keep missing their numbers. What began as trouble in Medicare Advantage has now spread across nearly all government-backed plans, signaling deeper issues in the model itself. (Wainer, 7/10)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Doulas, Once A Luxury, Are Increasingly Covered By Medicaid — Even In GOP States
As a postpartum doula, Dawn Oliver does her best work in the middle of the night. During a typical shift, she shows up at her clients’ home at 10 p.m. She answers questions they may have about basic infant care and keeps an eye out for signs of postpartum depression. ... Doulas are trained to offer critical support for families — before delivery, during childbirth, and in those daunting early days when parents are desperate for sleep and infants still wake up around the clock. (Sausser and Houghton, 7/10)

Texas health officials are overhauling a program designed to steer people away from abortion following a ProPublica and CBS News investigation that found that the state had funneled tens of millions of taxpayer dollars into the effort while providing little oversight of the spending. The money has been flowing to a network of nonprofit organizations that are part of Thriving Texas Families, a state program that supports parenting and adoption as alternatives to abortion and provides counseling, material assistance and other services. (Jaramillo and Kohler, 7/10)

A Hamilton County judge granted a third preliminary injunction on Tuesday blocking Ohio from enforcing state restrictions that could prevent advanced practice clinicians from providing medication abortions. The restrictions, the court held, likely violate reproductive rights guaranteed in the Ohio Constitution. (McGowan, 7/9)

In the past two decades, Mountain West states have seen the sharpest declines in the rates that women are having babies. Fertility rates are declining nationwide as families decide to have children later or not at all. But Utah, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho and Wyoming all ranked in the top ten for drops between 2005 and 2023, according to a recent Lending Tree analysis of federal data. (Merzbach, 7/9)

News from Minnesota, Maryland, California, and New Jersey —

For Minnesotans suffering from chemical addiction, there are barriers to treatment. ... An estimated 290,000 adults in Minnesota are in need of substance use disorder treatment. Barriers include cost, lack of insurance, waitlists and co-occurring disorders. Only 18% of substance use programs and 9% of mental health programs are equipped to properly treat both. (James, 7/9)

Baltimore City won millions in settlements and awards after taking on pharmaceutical companies for their role in the opioid crisis. Now, the Mayor's Office of Overdose Response is looking for input from neighbors who have been affected by this crisis on how to put those funds to use and reduce overdose deaths. Dozens of residents joined city leaders on Wednesday at Cherry Hill Elementary/Middle School to discuss the Overdose Strategic Plan that was released last week. (Foreback, 7/9)

If the nation’s largest state is any gauge, American life expectancy in the post-Covid era has not bounced back. A new analysis published on Wednesday in the medical journal JAMA found that life expectancy in California not only decreased sharply in the peak pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, it remained lower in 2024 than it was in 2019, primarily as a result of causes other than Covid. (Baumgaertner Nunn, 7/9)

Katie Mohan started taking daily turmeric pills in March after seeing a doctor on Instagram tout its benefits for inflammation and joint pain relief. A few weeks later, the 57-year-old started having stomach pain, nausea and fatigue. “I just did not feel well generally,” she said. “I also noticed that despite drinking a lot of water every day, that my urine was darker.” Mohan didn’t connect her symptoms to the herbal pills. Not until she saw an NBC News report in May on the growing rates of liver damage from herbal supplements. (Kopf and Ikeda, 7/9)

Fungal infections are getting harder to treat as they grow more resistant to available drugs, according to research published Wednesday in The Lancet Microbe. The study focused on infections caused by Aspergillus fumigatus, a fungus that is ubiquitous in soil and decaying matter around the world. Aspergillus spores are inhaled all the time, usually without causing any problems. But in people who are immunocompromised or who have underlying lung conditions, Aspergillus can be dangerous. (Sullivan, 7/9)

In what experts are calling a “dream come true,” scientists used a recent biochemical discovery to help an 8-year-old boy with a rare genetic condition regain mobility. (Russo, 7/9)

The risk of infection, especially urinary tract infection (UTI), after robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) almost disappeared in patients who received extended oral antibiotic prophylaxis, according to a small randomized trial. No patient developed a UTI within 90 days of RARC with prophylactic antibiotics -- with 14% having any kind of infection, a third as many compared with patients who received standard of care (SOC), which did not include oral antibiotics. (Bankhead, 7/9)

Automated surgery could be trialled on humans within a decade, say researchers, after an AI-trained robot armed with tools to cut, clip and grab soft tissue successfully removed pig gall bladders without human help. The robot surgeons were schooled on video footage of human medics conducting operations using organs taken from dead pigs. In an apparent research breakthrough, eight operations were conducted on pig organs with a 100% success rate by a team led by experts at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in the US. (Booth, 7/9)

High and rising levels of tetracycline resistance globally will likely limit the ability of doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP) to prevent gonorrhea infections, according to a study published today in JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance. (Dall, 7/9)

The symptoms can include nerve pain, emotional numbness and sexual dysfunction and can last for years after stopping the drugs. Patients are pushing for recognition and more research. (Corwin, 7/9)

A study of more than 70,000 US pregnancies suggests a commonly used antibiotic for urinary tract infections (UTIs) may be tied to increased risk of congenital malformations when taken during the first trimester of pregnancy. (Dall, 7/9)

Mendaera announced Tuesday its Focalist handheld robotic needle placement device has received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration. The device used ultrasound to help clinicians guide needles during procedures that require reaching organs, performing biopsies and delivering treatment. (Dubinsky, 7/8)

Cogent Biosciences said Monday that its experimental drug reduced the symptoms of a chronic immune disorder called indolent systemic mastocytosis. The results mean the drug achieved the goals of a Phase 3 study, but a comparison to a rival treatment from Blueprint Medicines remains muddled. (Feuerstein, 7/7)

In a grim milestone for public health, measles cases in the US have reached their highest annual level since the virus was declared eliminated in 2000. It’s only July. (Lisa Jarvis, 7/9)

Medicaid covers over 40 percent of births in the United States, and an even higher percentage in rural areas. According to an analysis from the National Partnership for Women & Families, a nonprofit advocacy organization, “144 rural hospitals across the country with labor and delivery units are at risk of closure or severe service cutbacks” based on the Medicaid cuts outlined in the bill. (Jessica Grose, 7/9)

Today, more than 40% of adults over 60 are considered obese, fueling chronic disease and straining Medicare’s budget. With the price tag for obesity-related care rising, some experts suggest covering GLP-1 medications for weight loss through Medicare could save billions, citing data that estimates Medicare spending could drop by $1,262 to $5,442 annually per beneficiary for a weight loss of 5% percent or 25%, respectively. (Soumi Saha and Somaieh McMullan, 7/10)

In 1936, a Massachusetts optometrist named Raymond McMurdo sued a rival optometry firm in Worcester. The rival firm’s owner, Jon Getter, wasn’t an optometrist. But he hired one to examine patients and write eyeglass prescriptions. Other staff members then made the glasses. By state law, only registered professionals could practice optometry. (Neil Mehta, 7/10)

At least 18 were shot, four fatally, in River North after a drive-by shooting last week. Four families will prepare expenses for funeral services and seek mental health support in the wake of their loss. Or they may be so paralyzed by this event that they lose all functionality. The 14 who survived the shooting will fall anywhere along a spectrum of permanent disability to a “normal” life with bullet wounds as a reminder of their trauma. The shooters will be held accountable. Illinois, its citizens, will pay for it. The firearm industry will profit from it. (Anthony Douglas, Selwyn Rogers, Mallory Williams and Arne Duncan, 7/9)