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Pregnant veterans would no longer be allowed to receive abortions at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals in cases of rape, incest or when the pregnancy threatens their health under a proposed rule from the Trump administration that would revoke a Biden-era policy expanding abortion access. Months after the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to an abortion in 2022, the Biden administration implemented a rule change allowing VA for the first time to provide abortion services for veterans and eligible family members in limited circumstances, including in states with abortion bans. (Somasundaram, 8/4)

Federal judges in Colorado issued a pair of rulings on state abortion laws last week that could have national consequences, reinforcing the state’s burgeoning status as a battleground over abortion access. (Paul, 8/5)

A new peer-reviewed study shows Idaho lost a net 35% of its obstetrician-gynecologist physicians between the implementation of Idaho’s numerous strict abortion bans in 2022 and December of 2024. While Idaho recruited 20 obstetric physicians in that time frame, another 114 of 268 physicians stopped practicing obstetrics, left the state, closed their practices within the state, or retired. The study was conducted by Idaho-based researchers and led by Dr. Edward McEachern. (Sun, 8/3)

Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio is reducing its workforce after losing more than $10 million in federal funding, the organization announced. The healthcare provider said it’s cutting staff positions after losing Title X funding and facing projected Medicaid losses. Without the workforce reduction, the organization could cease to exist, officials said. (McGowan, 8/4)

The White House does not plan to require health insurers to provide coverage for in vitro fertilization services, two people with knowledge of internal discussions said, even though the idea was one of President Donald Trump’s key campaign pledges. Last year, Trump said that if he returned to office, the government would either pay for IVF services or issue rules requiring insurance companies to cover treatment for it. The pledge came as Trump faced political blowback over abortion rights after his appointees to the Supreme Court helped overturn Roe v. Wade. (Beggin and Stein, 8/3)

A new legislative push that started in Arkansas is taking root at the national level — and could change the face of infertility care in the United States. The Arkansas law, passed in June, requires state insurance companies to cover so-called restorative reproductive medicine (RRM) treatments. It’s the first piece of legislation in the country to endorse a new approach to treating infertility that aims to “restore” women’s ability to conceive through natural methods. (Paulus, 8/5)

More than half of new mothers in the U.S. are missing critical postpartum checkups, new data shows. Postpartum visits save lives. The risk to maternal health doesn't end after an initial postpartum appointment: A recent JAMA Network Open study found that nearly one-third of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. occurred six weeks to one year postpartum. (Mallenbaum, 8/4)

The Gates Foundation said Monday that it would commit $2.5 billion through 2030 to support dozens of different approaches for improving women’s health, from new medicines to prevent maternal mortality to vaccines to curb infections that disproportionately affect women. (Herper, 8/4)

Texas Democrats fled the state over the weekend to stop a Republican proposal redrawing the state’s congressional maps. But their exit has also temporarily halted other conservative priorities for the special session — including new abortion restrictions and a “bathroom bill” that would ban transgender people from using public restrooms that match their gender. (Luthra, 8/4)

U.S. delegates have objected to use of the word “gender” in U.N. documents during forums on topics as varied as women’s rights, science and technology, global health, toxic pollution and chemical waste. (Song, 8/5)

States will be able to apply in early September for a portion of a $50 billion fund designed to help rural hospitals weather federal funding cuts, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, said Sunday. The rural health fund was created after concerns were raised about the impact of Medicaid and Medicare cuts in President Trump’s tax law. (DeSilva, 8/4)

Hundreds of urban hospitals have taken advantage of a 2016 policy change that allows them to be simultaneously classified by Medicare as rural and urban facilities for payment purposes, according to a new study. Compared to three geographically urban hospitals that picked up dual classifications in 2017, 425 existing urban hospitals had obtained both administrative designations in 2023, Johns Hopkins University and Brown University researchers wrote in Health Affairs. About three-quarters of these were nonprofits, and several were large academic medical centers located in metropolitan areas. (Muoio, 8/4)

Half of the $50 billion fund will be evenly distributed to states without accounting for factors like population size. In fact, this means that some of them—such as Wyoming and North Dakota—may receive more from the rural health fund than they lose in federal Medicaid funding. On the flip side, the $50 billion fund would leave other states—such as Kentucky, Washington, and Oregon—in the red. By McBride’s calculations, Wyoming is in an enviable position, potentially receiving stands to cover 1,453 percent of what the state loses in Medicaid cuts. Meanwhile, Kentucky is expected to lose $5.4 billion through the cuts and gain only $1.9 billion from the fund, covering just 36 percent of the state’s losses. Coincidentally, the states that stand to gain the most from this half of the rural health fund’s distribution are governed by Republicans, and the states that stand to lose the most are not. (Vesoulis, 8/4)

The Association of American Medical Colleges endorsed the 340B Pharmaceutical Access to Invest in Essential, Needed Treatments and Support Act, legislation that would amend the 340B statute to confirm that covered entities can use contract pharmacies to dispense outpatient drugs. The AAMC on July 31 sent a letter to Sen. Peter Welch and Rep. Doris Matsui supporting the bill, outlining the importance of contract pharmacy arrangements. The legislation also has drawn support from the American Hospital Association and 340B Health, according to an Aug. 1 news release from the AAMC. (Murphy, 8/4)

On the same day last week that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rolled out plans to ease the flow of health information, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT made two fairly significant announcements at an event in the Eisenhower building. “The first was that we were going to continue our work on certification, and that this was going to include certification of APIs to improve interoperability,” Tom Keane told Ruth. “The other thing I talked about is how we were going to enforce the information blocking.” (Reader, 8/4)

Many seniors enjoy the perks that come with Medicare Advantage. But those extras—like dental coverage and free gym memberships—are being scaled back. Insurers are cutting benefits and exiting from unprofitable markets, and Wall Street is cheering them on. Once rewarded by investors for rapid expansion in the lucrative privatized Medicare program, companies are now being applauded for showing restraint amid rising medical costs and lower government payments. (Wainer, 8/5)

A tumultuous insurance market could provide expansion opportunities for integrated health systems. Some national insurers are scaling back as they manage rising costs and face Medicaid funding cuts, tougher federal oversight and a potential spike in the uninsured population. Their retrenching could allow integrated health systems to grow insurance businesses and brace for the looming cuts, health system executives and merger and acquisition advisers said — if they’re willing to take on risk. (Kacik, 8/4)

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Monday he is “reviewing” whether to remove all members of an influential advisory committee that offers guidance about preventive health services. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is composed of medical experts who serve four-year terms on a volunteer basis. They are appointed by the HHS secretary and are supposed to be shielded from political influence. (Weixel, 8/4)

For roughly seven years, Kaylee Abbott has often quietly confronted the impact of her decision to forgo routine vaccinations for her two children. It has prompted her to switch pediatricians on numerous occasions and at times made her feel like a pariah upon disclosing her children’s vaccination status. But since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was placed at the helm of U.S. health institutions, Abbott, 46, feels as though she can finally be more open about her skepticism toward vaccines. (Siddiqui and Essley Whyte, 8/5)

Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates expressed concern Monday about growing vaccine skepticism in the United States, suggesting that the exporting of claims by the anti-vaccine movement will likely extract a bigger death toll internationally than domestically and could also put the possibility of ridding the world of measles permanently out of reach. (Branswell, 8/4)

JN.1-targeted mRNA boosters developed for the 2024-2025 COVID-19 season were effective and safe in Danish seniors, according to two register-based cohort studies that suggested Europe may have selected the better vaccine strain. ... The U.S. took a different approach, authorizing or approving KP.2-targeted mRNA vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna and a JN.1-targeted vaccine from Novavax for the 2024-2025 campaign. (Rudd, 8/4)

Nearly 6 of 10 vaccine-eligible US children hospitalized for COVID-19 from 2022 to 2024 had at least one underlying medical condition, and less than 4% were current with their vaccinations, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-led researchers reported late last week in Pediatrics. The team analyzed data from the COVID-19–Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET) from October 2022 to April 2024 on demographic factors, underlying illnesses, COVID-19 vaccination status, and clinical outcomes of children ages 6 months to 17 years admitted to more than 275 hospitals in 12 states. (Van Beusekom, 8/4)

The number of people with COVID-19 in the U.S. is low but increasing, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data released Friday. COVID-19 is trending up in many mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Southern, and West Coast states. The agency said infections are “growing or likely growing” in 40 states, based on emergency department visit data as of July 29. Infections were unchanged in nine states. The weekly percentage of emergency department visits among people diagnosed with COVID-19 is low, but growing, the CDC said. (Weixel, 8/4)

A group of public health leaders called on the CDC and its new director Susan Monarez, PhD, to protect critical overdose prevention programs across the U.S. In a media briefing Monday afternoon, the group, convened by the nonprofit Safe States Alliance, spoke out against a reported proposition to cut or freeze $140 million, about half of the $279 million in grants to states, territories, and localities administered by the Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) program. (Henderson, 8/4)

New Hampshire is the first Northeastern state to ban gender-affirming health care for minors after its Republican governor gave final approval to bills that will ban the use of certain prescription medications and surgeries to treat gender dysphoria beginning next year. Gov. Kelly Ayotte, a former U.S. senator who won New Hampshire’s gubernatorial election in November, signed two bills Friday restricting access to transition-related care in the state, which already prohibits rare genital surgeries for minors to transition. (Migdon, 8/4)

Colorado is the first blue state to have a waiver approved for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that limits the ability to buy soda and other sugary beverages, set to go into effect in March 2026. “Colorado is one of the healthiest states in the nation and has the lowest obesity rate of any state. Sadly, even Colorado’s lowest obesity rate of 24.9% is too high, and obesity endangers and shortens the lives of too many Coloradans,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) said in a Monday release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). (Suter, 8/4)

DuPont and two other companies will pay New Jersey up to $2 billion to settle environmental claims stemming from PFAS, commonly referred to as “forever chemicals,” the companies announced Monday. State Environmental Commissioner Shawn LaTourette said the deal with DuPont, Chemours and Corteva is the largest such settlement in the state’s history. It calls for the companies to pay $875 million over 25 years and create a remediation fund of up $1.2 billion. The companies will split the costs under the deal, which must still be approved by the courts. (Shipkowski, 8/4)

Two Tampa Bay lawmakers have secured nearly $4 million to improve treatment for people with sickle cell disease. State Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, and state Rep. Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, are touting state allocations for two major initiatives through the Foundation for Sickle Cell Disease Research. (Menzel, 8/4)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: New Medicaid Federal Work Requirements Mean Less Leeway For States

When President Donald Trump signed a law adding work requirements for some Medicaid recipients, he may have undercut lawmakers in at least 14 states who were designing their own plans, according to health industry observers. Georgia is the only state with a work requirement in place for Medicaid, but several states have been pursuing such a policy for years, only to be blocked by courts or, most recently, the Biden administration. Some seek state-specific touches to the new rules. Others aim to implement work requirements before the federal law takes effect at the end of 2026. (Houghton and Sable-Smith, 8/5)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: This Physician-Scientist Is Taking On Trump On Behalf Of Disadvantaged Communities

As smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted across North America, and western U.S. states girded for their annual fire siege, Neeta Thakur was well into her search for ways to offset the damage of such fumes on people’s health, especially among minority and low-income communities. For more than a decade, the University of California-San Francisco researcher relied on federal grants without incident. But Thakur, a doctor and a scientist, suddenly found herself leading the charge for public health science against President Donald Trump’s political ideology. (Thompson, 8/5)

A new federal report finds that the percentage of adults with suicidal thoughts and attempts remained about the same between 2021 and 2024. But the analysis of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health did offer some good news: Over that same time period, depression and suicidal thoughts and behaviors in teens declined. (Chatterjee, 8/4)

OpenAI wants ChatGPT to stop enabling its users’ unhealthy behaviors. Starting Monday, the popular chatbot app will prompt users to take breaks from lengthy conversations. The tool will also soon shy away from giving direct advice about personal challenges, instead aiming to help users decide for themselves by asking questions or weighing pros and cons. (Yang, 8/4)

A promising new drug could help people living with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) finally let go of trauma. This is the discovery of scientists at the Institute of Basic Science (IBS) and Ewha Womans University in South Korea who have identified a new brain mechanism driving the mental health condition—and a drug with the potential to counteract its effects. (Millington, 8/4)

More than half of Americans are stressed about buying groceries — significantly more than the financial pressure they feel about credit card debt, child care or student debt, an AP-NORC poll out Monday found. President Trump campaigned on a promise to bring down grocery prices, but the data shows Americans are still stressed out about affording these basic necessities. (Lotz, 8/4)

As more people aged 45-49 are getting screened for colon cancer, more early stage diagnoses are being made, according to new research from the American Cancer Society. The research, published in two studies Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, showed increases in screenings among those younger than 50 is linked to rises in earlier diagnosis. One study showed an annual increase of 1.1% from 2004 to 2019 jumped to 12% from 2019 to 2022 for colorectal cancer incidence among people aged 45 to 49, while another study showed screenings among U.S. adults aged 45 to 49 increase 62% from 2019 to 2023. (Moniuszko, 8/4)

Ongoing investigation into whether bee venom could help treat a certain type of cancer has been making "important progress," the leading researcher has told Newsweek. Experts at the Epigenetics Lab at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research have been exploring since 2020 how the venom from honeybees could be used to kill aggressive breast cancer cells, without harming healthy cells. (Laws, 8/5)

Over the past 50 years, heart failure has become one of the fastest-growing cardiac killers. It was long considered a disease of aging, caused by gradual yet unavoidable changes to the heart. But doctors are now discovering that about 15 percent of cases are caused by a rogue protein called amyloid, perhaps best known for its role in Alzheimer’s. While one type tangles neurons in the brain, others infiltrate the heart, making the muscle stiff and less able to pump blood. (Bajaj, 8/4)

New research suggests that people can lose more weight by avoiding ultraprocessed foods, even those that are typically considered healthy. The study, published today in the journal Nature Medicine, is the largest and longest clinical trial yet to examine the effects of ultraprocessed foods on weight. Participants lost twice as much weight when they followed diets made up of minimally processed foods, like pasta, chicken, fruits and vegetables, as they did when they followed diets with ultraprocessed foods that met nutrition standards, such as ready-to-heat frozen meals, breakfast cereals, protein bars and shakes. (Callahan, 8/4)

The bird flu virus that has beset dairy farms since early last year may be spreading through the air in so-called milking parlors and through contaminated wastewater, as well as from milking equipment, scientists have found. The Department of Agriculture has said that the virus spreads primarily from milking equipment or is carried by dairy workers and vehicles traveling between farms. But in the new study, scientists found live virus in the air of milking facilities, suggesting that cows and farmworkers might have become infected by inhaling the pathogen. (Mandavilli and Anthes, 8/4)

Raw milk has been linked to an ongoing E. coli and campylobacter outbreak in Florida that has already sickened 21 people, including six children under the age of 10, the state department of health said. Seven people have been hospitalized and at least two developed severe infections, which can lead to kidney failure, the Florida Department of Health announced on Monday. The agency urged residents to make informed decisions about consuming raw milk, which can be tainted with the bacteria that causes both potentially deadly infections. (Nix, 8/4)

Wisconsin health officials have confirmed the state's first measles cases this year. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services and Oconto County Public Health said in a news release last week that nine people in Oconto County, in the northeastern part of the state, were exposed to a common source of infection during out-of-state travel. One case was confirmed through testing at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene, and the other eight cases were confirmed based on exposure and symptoms. No public points of exposure have been identified but investigation continues. (Dall, 8/4)

A new report in Open Forum Infectious Diseases details the significant increase of the Babesia season in New England since the 1980s, and the authors said warming trends in the region may lead to accelerating tick life cycles and increasing tick activity outside of the traditional summer months. Babesiosis is parasitic disease primarily spread by blacklegged (deer) ticks, which infects red blood cells. While some have no symptoms, many people will experience flu-like symptoms and in severe cases, the disease can lead to hemolytic anemia if not treated. (Soucheray, 8/4)

For the past decade, Sughra Ayaz has traveled door to door in southeastern Pakistan, pleading with parents to allow children to be vaccinated against polio as part of a global campaign to wipe out the paralytic disease. She hears their demands and fears. Some are practical – families need basics like food and water more than vaccines. Others are simply unfounded – the oral doses are meant to sterilize their kids. (Cheng and Butt, 8/5)

For the first time, a man with type 1 diabetes (T1D) is making his own insulin after undergoing islet cell transplantation and without any use of immunosuppression, researchers reported. This was made possible with the genetic modification of allogeneic donor islet cells to avoid rejection, via CRISPR-associated protein 12b (Cas12b) editing and lentiviral transduction, according to the case report and proof-of-concept study from Per-Ola Carlsson, MD, PhD, of Uppsala University in Sweden, and colleagues. (Lou, 8/4)

In the latest twist over the fate of an ultra-rare disease drug, Stealth BioTherapeutics said it received “conflicting” signals from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about information needed to approve its therapy and, consequently, is making contingency plans to close the company. (Silverman, 8/5)

A year ago, Eli Lilly & Co. was poised to become the first pharmaceutical company to register a trillion-dollar market valuation. It still hasn’t cracked that ceiling. Instead, a series of weak earnings reports, a setback for its obesity drug and threats of sky-high tariffs have taken Lilly investors on a wild ride only to deposit them almost exactly where they started. Down 21% from an August record, Lilly trades at $762 a share and is worth $722 billion — not bad, but not the lofty figures investors were expecting. (Adegbesan, 8/4)

Becton Dickinson will invest more than $35 million to expand prefilled flush syringe manufacturing at its facility in Columbus, Nebraska. The company said Monday it will add BD PosiFlush prefilled flush syringe production lines and make investments in product innovation and operational efficiencies. The syringes keep catheters clear and are designed to help reduce intravenous catheter-related infections, the chance of medication errors and risk of damage to catheters. (Dubinsky, 8/4)

Nathan Young, a community neurologist at the Mayo Clinic, recently saw a patient whose diagnosis he couldn’t quite nail down. Parkinson’s seemed a likely possibility, but Young was concerned she might instead have a rare neurological disorder called progressive supranuclear palsy, or PSP, which can progress much more rapidly. (Palmer, 8/5)

Treatment with the antiviral oseltamivir (Tamiflu) was tied to a reduced risk of serious neuropsychiatric events in children and adolescents, an analysis of Medicaid beneficiaries in Tennessee suggested. Compared with untreated flu, the risk of serious neuropsychiatric events was lower in kids treated with oseltamivir during flu exposure periods ... and post-treatment periods ... reported James Antoon, MD, PhD, MPH, of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee and colleagues. (George, 8/4)

Though an estimated 17 million U.S. adolescents and young adults were eligible for GLP-1 receptor agonists for conditions like obesity and type 2 diabetes, many lacked insurance or a routine place for healthcare, a cross-sectional study suggested. In a sample of adolescents eligible for GLP-1 receptor agonists, 40.3% were insured by Medicaid, 40.5% were privately insured, and 7.2% were uninsured. (Henderson, 8/4)

Vertex Pharmaceuticals said Monday afternoon that its next-generation non-opioid pain reliever failed to significantly outperform placebo in a Phase 2 trial. (Mast and Wosen, 8/4)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent takeover of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee was alarming enough. Now the health and human services secretary is reportedly considering something with potentially even greater impact: Upending the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the panel of independent experts that guides everything from chronic disease screenings to mental health wellness. (Leana S. Wen, 8/5)

Organ donation can be a profound last gift of life. I think about the future my grandson will inherit, especially when it comes to something as urgent and deeply personal as organ donation or transplant. If he or someone he loves needs an organ transplant, I want him to know the system is safe, fair and worthy of his trust. (Thomas Engels, 8/3)

Domperidone is an important medication used primarily to treat nausea and to stimulate a sluggish gastrointestinal tract. Clinicians consider it the “gold standard” for treating gastrointestinal symptoms in Parkinson’s patients because it has fewer side effects in them than other drugs. It even helps with breastfeeding. Sadly, in America, you can’t get your hands (or hooves) on it unless you are a quadruped. The Food and Drug Administration will only let you receive it if you are a horse suffering from fescue toxicosis, a grass fungus infection. (Jeffrey Singer and Bautista Vivanco, 8/5)

On a hot day in the summer of 1993, my academic supervisor handed me the seminal paper by David Rumelhart and Geoffrey Hinton and simply said, “Implement this!” At the time, we used programming languages like Modulo-2, Pascal, and occasionally ANSI C. But hardly anyone had heard of “backpropagation” — a learning mechanism for AI that, to this day, remains foundational for training artificial neural networks on complex tasks. (Hamid Tizhoosh, 8/5)

Preserving student mental health is critical to the welfare of our state as a whole, as well as being indispensable at a personal level to individuals and communities. Worsened student mental health directly contributes to devastating acts of school violence, including school shootings, or student suicide. (Ari Shukla, 8/1)