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The US Department of Health and Human Services officially laid off employees on Monday, following an order from the Supreme Court on July 8 that allowed its restructuring plans to proceed, according to emails viewed by Bloomberg. Many employees who were supposed to be released during the agency’s first round of 10,000 layoffs in April have been in limbo as the effort made its way through the court system and was paused by federal judges. The reorganization, in addition to cutting staff, was supposed to consolidate the department’s 28 divisions into 15 and cut regional offices from 10 to five. (Cohrs Zhang and Phengsitthy, 7/14)

A group of armed federal agents greeted a family in Spokane, Washington, when they opened their front door to run an errand. ... That April visit was part of a nationwide push by the Trump administration to conduct “wellness checks” on children who migrated to the US without their parents or guardians and were subsequently placed with US-based sponsors. ... But advocates representing many of these children say the unprecedented checks intimidate rather than protect vulnerable kids. (Akinnibi and Adams-Heard, 7/14)

The Supreme Court on Monday lifted an injunction against the Trump administration's efforts to gut the Department of Education. ... The Supreme Court's majority didn't explain its decision. The three liberal justices opposed the order, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor writing in dissent. ... "Lifting the District Court's injunction will unleash untold harm, delaying or denying educational opportunities and leaving students to suffer from discrimination, sexual assault, and other civil rights violations without the federal resources Congress intended," Sotomayor wrote. (Hutzler and Jones II, 7/14)

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is headed for a showdown this week with a group of Republican senators over a House-passed package that claws back $9.4 billion in funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and global public health programs. Members of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, including Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine), are not keen on cutting programs they have already funded through bipartisan appropriations bills. (Suter, 7/14)

As Texas schools face at least $600 million in federal funding cuts, multiple mental health programs, particularly those implemented in response to the pandemic and mass shootings, are at risk of losing funding. (Simpson, 7/14)

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other top public health officials said Monday that saturated fats, long blamed for increased risk of heart disease, have been unfairly demonized by the medical community, indicating a pivot on government health guidelines is taking shape. “There’s a tremendous amount of emerging science that talks about the need for more protein in our diets, more fats in our diets,” Kennedy said Monday at a US Department of Agriculture event. (Peterson, 7/14)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a new blue color additive derived from the fruit of the gardenia, a flowering evergreen. ... Petitioned by the Gardenia Blue Interest Group, the additive is made by refining the compound genipin ... by reacting it with soy protein hydrolysate. Though soy, a potential allergen, is used to make gardenia blue, the group has asked the FDA to exempt it from having to declare it as such. (Moniuszko and Tin, 7/14)

US ice cream makers are planning to eliminate a number of artificial colors from their products by 2028, representing another milestone for Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his push to remove the additives from the nation’s food. A group of 40 producers, which collectively make more than 90% of the ice cream sold in the US by volume, have pledged to voluntarily remove Red No. 3, Red 40, Green 3, Blue 1, Blue 2, Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 by the end of 2027, according to the International Dairy Foods Association. (Peterson, 7/14)

Welch’s Fruit Snacks will cut synthetic dyes from its full lineup of products by early 2026, parent company PIM Brands Inc. said, making it the latest American brand to pledge to eliminate the colorants. Welch’s Fruit Snacks will exclusively use colors from natural sources, PIM Brands said Monday. (Kubzansky, 7/14)

More than 14 million children did not receive a single vaccine last year — about the same number as the year before — according to U.N. health officials. Nine countries accounted for more than half of those unprotected children. In their annual estimate of global vaccine coverage, released Tuesday, the World Health Organization and UNICEF said about 89% of children under 1 year old got a first dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough vaccine in 2024, the same as in 2023. About 85% completed the three-dose series, up from 84% in 2023. (7/15)

The base Medicare rate for doctors would rise 2.5% in 2026 under a proposed rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published Monday. President Donald Trump and Congress mandated this one-year boost to physician reimbursement in the tax bill that became law this month. That same statute offers a higher increase for doctors participating in alternative payment models. (Early, 7/14)

Sellers of certain types of medical equipment for Medicare patients may find themselves squeezed by a Trump administration proposal to change how contracts are awarded. A rule proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services seeks to start a competitive bidding program for products covered by Medicare such as glucose monitors and insulin pumps as well as those for urological, tracheostomy and ostomy supplies. Currently, that equipment is paid for using set fee schedule rates established by CMS. (Dubinsky, 7/14)

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday refuted the existence of Medicaid cuts due to President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” “First of all, there’s no cuts on Medicaid. There is a — there’s a diminishment of the growth rate of Medicaid, which is bankrupting our country. And by the way, the national debt is also a determinant, a social determinant, of health,” Kennedy told Fox Business Network’s Larry Kudlow on his show. (Suter, 7/14)

Rural hospitals are hopeful they can add rather than reduce services to help soften the blow from looming Medicaid and Medicare cuts. ... If rural providers cannot recruit physicians, lean more heavily on philanthropic donors or find other ways to reduce their reliance on Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement to get ahead of cuts in the law, hospitals will be forced to pare back services or close their doors, industry observers said. (Kacik, 7/14)

Government-run health care programs fueled the rise of Centene Corp., but cuts to federal assistance could cause it to slide. Centene, which moved to Clayton in 1997, has grown to be the largest Medicaid managed care provider in the country. And it’s the largest carrier in the Affordable Care Act marketplace, created by President Barack Obama’s signature health care law. (Suntrup, 7/14)

On the last day of June, employees at Gallup Indian Medical Center, an Indian Health Service hospital serving residents of the Navajo Nation and nearby areas, received a notice that a key emergency service would be suspended until further notice. The reason given was a new review process implemented in response to an executive order issued by President Trump to “promote efficiency.” (Chen, 7/15)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Even Grave Errors At Rehab Hospitals Go Unpenalized And Undisclosed

Rehab hospitals that help people recover from major surgeries and injuries have become a highly lucrative slice of the health care business. But federal data and inspection reports show that some run by the dominant company, Encompass Health Corp., and other for-profit corporations have had rare but serious incidents of patient harm and perform below average on two key safety measures tracked by Medicare. (Rau and Hwang, 7/15)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: How To Find The Right Medical Rehab Services

Rehabilitation therapy can be a godsend after hospitalization for a stroke, a fall, an accident, a joint replacement, a severe burn, or a spinal cord injury, among other conditions. Physical, occupational, and speech therapy are offered in a variety of settings, including at hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, and at home. It’s crucial to identify a high-quality, safe option with professionals experienced in treating your condition. (Rau, 7/15)

Becton Dickinson’s biosciences and diagnostic solutions business announced a merger agreement valued at about $17.5 billion with analytical lab instrument and software company Waters Corp. The deal is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2026, pending regulatory and other approvals, Becton Dickinson said in a Monday news release. (Dubinsky, 7/14)

Medical technology provider Zimmer Biomet Holdings has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Monogram Technologies, an orthopedic robotics company. Zimmer Biomet would acquire all outstanding shares of Monogram stock for $4.04 per share in cash — an estimated $177 million in equity value and $168 million in enterprise value — according to a Monday news release. (DeSilva, 7/14)

Kenvue says that Thibaut Mongon is leaving as CEO as the maker of Listerine and Band-Aid brands continues with a strategic review of the company. Kenvue used to be a part of Johnson & Johnson. J&J announced in late 2021 that it was splitting its consumer health division from the pharmaceutical and medical device divisions in a bid to make each more nimble. Kenvue said Monday that board member Kirk Perry will serve as interim CEO, effective immediately. (Chapman, 7/14)

City data shows that more 911 calls for overdoses were placed in Baltimore on Thursday, the day of a mass overdose event that sent more than two dozen people to hospitals, than on any other day this year — except for the next day. Overdose-related 911 calls were more than triple this year’s daily average on both Thursday, the day a batch of drugs caused a chaotic scene of illness in the Penn North neighborhood, and Friday, where data shows 29 more calls for overdoses throughout the city. (Belson, 7/14)

State officials' plan to end a program for Iowans who have severe mental illness in the next six months has left providers and family members concerned about the future of care. The Integrated Health Home program (IHH) is a Medicaid-covered network of professionals who coordinate care for Iowans with severe mental illnesses. (Krebs, 7/14)

A county clerk in New York on Monday again refused to file a more than $100,000 civil judgment from Texas against a doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to a Dallas-area woman. New York is among eight states with shield laws that protect providers from other states’ reach. Abortion opponents claim the laws violate a constitutional requirement that states respect the laws and legal judgments of other states. (Hill, 7/14)

When someone is losing blood from a gunshot wound or serious car crash, minutes count. Now, Cleveland trauma victims have a better chance of survival, thanks to new initiatives aimed at administering whole blood transfusions before patients arrive at the emergency department’s doors. (Washington, 7/15)

When the Charlotte campus of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine holds its first classes this week, it marks more than the arrival of the city’s first four-year medical school. It also brings to North Carolina a novel approach to training doctors — one that ditches the traditional cadaver lab and old-school lectures in favor of virtual dissection, lifelike robots and a new curriculum built around medical problem-solving. (Crouch, 7/15)

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) has been identified in Armstrong County, posing a risk of spread to suburban and urban areas with high deer densities, given the location northeast of Pittsburgh. The disease was found following tests on a severely emaciated doe that was euthanized and tested in early June, Andrea Korman, MS, who supervises the CWD division at the Pennsylvania Game Commission, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The deer was found near the city of Freeport, near the Allegheny County line. (Schnirring, 7/14)

Cumulative aluminum exposure from vaccination during the first 2 years of life did not raise the risk of autism, asthma, or other chronic disorders, a 24-year study of over 1.2 million children in Denmark showed. (George, 7/14)

Vaping improved smoking cessation rates better than nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) among socioeconomically disadvantaged adults, a randomized trial from Australia showed. Breath test-verified continuous smoking abstinence after 6 months nearly tripled with use of vaporized nicotine products (VNPs) compared with NRT during a quit attempt, with rates of 28.4% compared with 9.6%, a significant difference that Bayesian analysis suggested was 99% certain for superiority. (Phend, 7/14)

A hidden genetic mutation could predict a man’s likelihood of developing dementia. That’s according to an Australian study led by Monash and Curtin Universities, which analyzed the medical data of thousands of Australians and Americans. Men who had a certain variant in the haemochromatosis (HFE) gene — which regulates iron levels in the body — were found to be at a higher risk of dementia, the researchers found. (Rudy, 7/14)

There's one main way to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD): Control inflammation by whipping the immune system into shape, a process that can go haywire or fail to work. But what if the body could promote healing by regenerating new tissue? That's the promise -- and the challenge -- of stem cell therapy, an experimental treatment for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis that's been studied in this context for at least two decades. The treatment isn't ready for routine clinical use, and some studies have failed to uncover any benefit. But other research suggests that it has potential, especially in Crohn's disease. (Dotinga, 7/14)

Three-fourths of patients avoided long-term immunosuppression after matched kidney transplant procedures involving donor stem cells, a small randomized trial showed. More than 2 years after transplantation, 15 of 20 patients remained off all immunosuppression after receiving the allogeneic cellular product MDR-101. (Bankhead, 7/14)

The vast majority of patients with stage III resectable melanoma treated with neoadjuvant and adjuvant dual immunotherapy -- nivolumab (Opdivo) and relatlimab (Opdualag) -- remained alive and disease-free after almost 4 years, according to a phase II study. At a median follow-up of 47 months, 87% of 30 patients treated with the combination were alive, and 80% remained disease-free, reported Elizabeth Burton, PhD, MBA, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and colleagues. (Bassett, 7/14)

AstraZeneca’s drug candidate baxdrostat lowered systolic blood pressure in a phase 3 clinical trial involving patients with uncontrolled or treatment-resistant hypertension. In the trial, patients who received either 1 mg or 2 mg of baxdrostat once daily had a greater reduction in mean seated systolic blood pressure after 12 weeks compared with those who received a placebo, according to a July 14 news release from the drugmaker. (Murphy, 7/14)

Popular weight loss medications like Ozempic can help reverse low testosterone levels in men with obesity or Type 2 diabetes, according to new research. Building on previous studies that show weight loss surgery or lifestyle changes can increase testosterone levels in the body, researchers at SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital analyzed the electronic health records of 110 men with obesity or Type 2 diabetes to monitor changes in the hormone while taking GLP-1 receptor agonists, such as semgalutide and tirzepatide. (Sudhakar, 7/14)

A review of clinical Aspergillus fumigatus isolates collected over nearly 30 years from Dutch hospitals shows rising resistance to triazole antifungals, researchers reported last week in The Lancet Microbe. (Dall, 7/14)

Warming trends across North America have helped establish West Nile virus (WNV) as an endemic disease in New York state, and in the future continued climate change will help increase transmissibility of the virus, according to new research published late last week in Scientific Reports. (Soucheray, 7/14)

There’s a new wave of interest in improving menopause care in the United States – it’s in books, on podcasts and dominating social media hashtags – and it’s even generating new legislation across more than a dozen states. (Howard, 7/11)

When most of us think about sugar, I bet we’re not thinking about our sex lives. We’re thinking about dessert. I’m writing this with the help of a bowl of vanilla ice cream by my side. Sugar makes us feel good in the moment, but over time, too much of it may cause us to lose out on some of life’s most intimate moments. (Brahmbhatt, 7/14)

Nearly a fifth of U.S. adults previously deemed “overweight” would be categorized as “obese” under a 2024 obesity classification framework, according to a new study published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Using the recent obesity framework, 18.8 percent of the adults who had previously been categorized as “overweight” now fit under the “obese” category, researchers said. (Docter-Loeb, 7/14)

Use of GLP-1 drugs for weight loss rose sharply in kids and adolescents after the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2023 recommended offering medications along with lifestyle adjustments such as healthier eating and exercise. (Bettelheim, 7/15)

Nostrum Laboratories Inc. has recalled its Sucralfate Tablets USP 1 gram because the company filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, shut down operations and terminated its operational employees at all domestic U.S. sites, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The recall affects all lots manufactured after June 2023 of the medicine used to treat ulcers. (Bona, 7/14)

Each year, choking claims the lives of more than 4,100 Americans who are 65 or older. It’s the most vulnerable age group, accounting for about three-quarters of U.S. choking deaths, according to federal health statistics. The death rate has been relatively steady, but the number has risen, as the size of the nation’s retirement-age population grows. In response, a number of companies are marketing antichoking devices to the elderly. Medical professionals have been debating whether to endorse the products, sold under the names LifeVac, SaveLix, VitalVac and the Dechoker. (Stobbe, 7/14)

People are forming strong emotional bonds with chatbots, sometimes exacerbating feelings of loneliness. And others are having psychotic episodes after talking to chatbots for hours each day. The mental health impact of generative AI is difficult to quantify in part because it is used so privately, but anecdotal evidence is growing to suggest a broader cost that deserves more attention from both lawmakers and tech companies who design the underlying models. (Parmy Olson, 7/14)

Deciding whether to participate in a clinical research study can be difficult, especially for people who are newly diagnosed with a serious medical condition and are asked to take risks for the sake of scientific progress, when the outcome is perilous and unknown. The last thing you want is to be coerced into participating as a subject in a research study. (Ivor Prichard, 7/15)

State and local governments are about to get a lot of money to combat the opioid epidemic. They could fritter it away on nice-sounding programs — or save the most lives. (7/15)

It’s easy to say in hindsight, but also true, that even when the anti-vax movement was in its infancy in the late 90s before I had kids, let alone knew what you were supposed to vaccinate them against, I could smell absolute garbage. After all, Andrew Wakefield, a doctor until he was struck off in 2010, was not the first crank to dispute the safety and effectiveness of childhood vaccines. There was a movement against the diphtheria-tetanus-whooping cough vaccine in the 1970s in the UK, and a similar one in the US in the early 1980s. The discovery of vaccination in the first place was not without its critics, and enough people to form a league opposed the smallpox rollout in the early 1800s on the basis that it was unchristian to share tissue with an animal. (Zoe Williams, 7/14)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recently published Roadmap to Reducing Animal Testing in Preclinical Safety Studies may have caused a stir across the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, but I wasn’t surprised. I’ve been working in drug development for 30 years and can tell you that the truth is the 3Rs (reduce, replace, and refine) principle for animal testing has been a goal in development for decades. (Amin Rostami-Hodjegan, 7/15)

In medicine, conditions that primarily affect female bodies are still underdiagnosed and under researched. That hurts women who suffer from painful reproductive health conditions like endometriosis (10 percent of women), as well as autoimmune diseases and chronic pain, both of which women develop at higher rates. Even today, girls grow up absorbing the message — sometimes explicit, often implied — that their bodies are fragile and weak. The reality couldn’t be more different. (Starre Vartan, 7/13)

For most of the 20th century, heat-related deaths of Americans went underreported. In the era before 1995, at least in Chicago, when temperatures would rise above 100 degrees, officials traditionally undercounted the number of deaths because they didn’t make a firm connection between the weather and mortality. Deaths due to the effects of heat were rarely reported until a prolonged heat wave affected a highly populated area. (Cory Franklin, 7/13)