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The Trump administration has instructed federal health agencies to pause all external communications, such as health advisories, weekly scientific reports, updates to websites and social media posts, according to nearly a dozen current and former officials and other people familiar with the matter. The instructions were delivered Tuesday to staff at agencies inside the Department of Health and Human Services, including officials at the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health, one day after the new administration took office. (Sun, Diamond and Roubein, 1/22)

Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he had granted a “full and unconditional” pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the illegal online drug marketplace the Silk Road. Ulbricht has been incarcerated since 2013 and was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for running the underground market where drug dealers and others conducted more than $200m in illicit trade using bitcoin. ... “The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me. He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous,” the president said in a Truth Social post. (1/21)

The Trump administration on Tuesday ordered that officials overseeing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across federal agencies be placed on leave and to take steps to close their offices by Wednesday evening. In a memo from the Office of Personnel Management, the heads of departments and agencies were ordered to purge such officials by placing all D.E.I. staff on paid administrative leave, effective immediately, by 5 p.m. Wednesday, and to make plans for staff reductions by the end of the day on Jan. 31. (Green, 1/22)

According to the lawsuit filed by the 18 states, about 150,000 children born each year to two parents who are noncitizens and lack legal status could lose access to basic health care, foster care, and early interventions for infants, toddlers, and students with disabilities. "They will all be deportable, and many will be stateless," the lawsuit said. (Katersky and Charalambous, 1/22)

Andrea Chavez, who arrived in the United States illegally almost two decades ago, gave birth to a baby girl last year in Maryland. Within days, the child had a Social Security number. Ms. Chavez’s cousin Maria Calderas, who is undocumented and just a few months into her own pregnancy, faces the prospect that her child will not be able to secure the same citizenship rights that her niece now has. (Jordan, 1/21)

President Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship declares that babies born to many temporary residents of the United States — not just those in the country illegally — must be denied automatic citizenship, a dramatic rejection of rights that have been part of the Constitution for more than 150 years. If the courts do not block the order, babies born to women living legally, but temporarily, in the United States — such as people studying on a student visa or workers hired by high-tech companies — will not automatically be recognized by the federal government as U.S. citizens if the father is also not a permanent resident. (Shear, 1/21)

Just a day after Trump issued a slate of executive orders aimed at restricting immigration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it was rescinding protections for “sensitive zones” where undocumented immigrants were protected from deportation. Some immigrant rights advocates are particularly worried that this could deter women experiencing domestic abuse from going to women’s shelters, which will no longer be protected from U.S. Immigration and Customs  Enforcement (ICE). (Kutz, 1/21)

The health tech industry is breathing a little sigh of relief after President Donald Trump revoked former President Joe Biden’s executive order on artificial intelligence Monday. The repeal isn’t likely to have a big impact. But some in the health industry had been worried about future implications of Biden’s 2023 executive order, which, among other things, required companies with models trained using enormous computing power to regularly send detailed reports to federal regulators, regardless of the company’s size. (Reader, Paun, Payne and Schumaker, 1/21)

"The medical and humanitarian consequences of curbing access to asylum are real. We have treated refugees and asylum seekers with horrific injuries from torture and abuse. We also see the severe mental health impacts on people living under constant threat of persecution," said Avril Benoit, chief executive officer of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) USA. (1/21)

With President Donald Trump back in the White House, many of America’s doctors are welcoming the new administration’s greater focus on health and wellness. The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative — led by incoming Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — aims to improve nutrition, eliminate toxins, preserve natural habitats and fight the chronic disease epidemic, according to its website. (Rudy, 1/21)

“The new administration will bring radical change,” said Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer. “There are several people that think for our industry, the risks outweigh the opportunities. There are other people — among them, myself — who think that the opportunities outweigh the risks.” Here’s what other executives had to say. (Garde, Muller, Kresge, Smith and Langreth, 1/21)

Moves by the incoming Trump Administration may be a boon to drugmakers, Novartis AG Chief Executive Officer Vas Narasimhan said, while concerns over vaccine policies and public health funding are “overblown.” Novartis wants to work to reverse some of the previous administration’s policies which had a “chilling effect on innovation,” Narasimhan said in an interview. He cited former US President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which permitted the government to negotiate drug prices. (Kresge, 1/21)

Promises of a TikTok ban have loomed over the popular video app for months, and a brief pause in operations this weekend gave millions a taste of what a full ban would entail. Several popular physician content creators who post videos on multiple social media sites, including TikTok, told MedPage Today why they're staunchly opposed to a TikTok ban, noting that it would result in the loss of an outlet for sharing information and dispelling rampant misinformation. (Robertson, 1/21)

Liberal lawmakers and advocates are moving to shield the Medicaid program from potential cuts under the Trump administration, pledging to resist major changes to the safety-net health program that more than 70 million Americans depend on for coverage. Protect Our Care, an advocacy group aligned with Democrats, on Tuesday will launch a $10 million “Hands Off Medicaid” campaign that highlights how the program helps protect Americans who are older, disabled or low-income, among other vulnerable populations. (Diamond and Stein, 1/21)

Republicans from swing states and districts are ducking questions about their openness to cutting Medicaid in order to help pay for an extension of President Trump's tax cuts. Why it matters: Republican leadership can lose only a handful of votes, making cuts to the safety net program a high-stakes loyalty test that could deliver an early legislative win but result in millions of people losing their health coverage. (Sullivan, 1/22)

Disability advocates who have been pushing for years to see greater investment in Medicaid home and community-based services, the nation’s primary system of supports for people with developmental disabilities. “It would be hard to overstate how serious these threats are,” said Zoe Gross, director of advocacy at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. “Medicaid is a lifeline program for our community — we need to make it clear that it should be expanded, not looted to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.” (Diament, 1/21)

Gov. Henry McMaster asked federal officials Tuesday to quickly approve his request that would expand Medicaid eligibility for poor parents who are working or going to school. If the Trump administration agrees, more South Carolina adults would qualify for the government-paid health insurance if they can prove they’re either working, training for a job, going to school or volunteering for at least 80 hours each month. (Laird, 1/21)

Republican lawmakers are clawing at the door for another chance to take away the expanded income eligibility for Medicaid benefits that South Dakota voters put in the state constitution three years ago. The state House of Representatives voted 59-7 on Tuesday for a resolution calling for another statewide vote in 2026. All but one Republican supported putting the question on the ballot, while every Democrat opposed it. (Mercer, 1/22)

South Dakota officials expect Medicaid enrollment will decrease this year as the state uses a new method to identify applicants who are no longer eligible for the state-federal health care insurance. The state Department of Social Services began cross-referencing Medicaid enrollees with other welfare programs in December, Secretary Matt Althoff told the Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. (Huber, 1/21)

Abortion politics took center stage at the Tuesday morning confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Secretary nominee Doug Collins, a former Republican congressman from Georgia, was asked more than once by Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Democrats whether he would roll back a Biden administration rule allowing the agency to provide abortion counseling and, in some cases, the procedure itself. (Leonard, 1/21)

The Virginia Senate passed three resolutions Tuesday to enshrine abortion rights, same-sex marriage and the automatic restoration of felon voting rights in the Virginia Constitution, the latest action in a years-long amendment slog. The Senate votes came a week after the House of Delegates, also narrowly controlled by Democrats, passed its own versions of the resolutions. The legislation has to pass both chambers twice, with an intervening election, and then win approval by voters in separate referendums before it can make it into the constitution. (Vozzella, 1/21)

A pregnant woman seeking a medication abortion in Nebraska would be required under a new bill to attend an in-person appointment with her physician before receiving the drugs and a follow-up appointment after to document any “adverse events.” Legislative Bill 512, by State Sen. Rick Holdcroft of Bellevue, has proposed the Chemical Abortion Safety Protocol Act. It would apply to any “abortion-inducing drug” that has the specific intent of terminating a pregnancy. State law already prohibits telemedicine for receiving abortion medications, but Holdcroft said his goal is to prevent physicians from flying into Nebraska just to prescribe the drug, then leave. (Wendling, 1/21)

Once again, Kentucky legislators have filed bills that would add exceptions to the commonwealth's near-total ban on abortions. And once again, they face an uncertain future in two chambers with Republican supermajorities that are divided on the issue. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle filed two bills to open up abortion access under certain circumstances during the first week of the legislative session, which began in early January and will reconvene in the first week of February. (Aulbach, 1/22)

Last week, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC, led Republican colleagues in introducing the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (SB 6). This bill would ensure that newborns surviving abortions would receive care from healthcare providers. (Zehnder, 1/21)

After Roe v. Wade was overturned, LaDonna Prince decided to move her abortion clinic from Indiana, where abortion became banned, to a town just over the border in Illinois, where abortion is legal. But Prince said she encountered a surprising new reality for abortion clinics: The local community can significantly affect how providers deliver care, even in states where abortion is legal and protected — and providers are beholden to their neighbors in ways that go beyond the direct letter of the law. Abortion providers say that hostility from the local government and community members have made it nearly impossible to get the new clinic up and running. (McPhillips, 1/22)

President-elect Trump campaigned on leaving abortion decisions to the states, but that could prove a tough promise to keep as he returns to the Oval Office. Anti-abortion groups want Trump to quickly take executive action to re-impose federal restrictions from his first term; Republicans in Congress are poised to send him new abortion legislation; and his Justice Department will need to decide whether to continue defending Biden-era abortion policies across several ongoing federal cases or drop them completely.  (Weixel, 1/20)

At least nine people are believed to have died as a result of the dangerous cold gripping much of the country, as a once-in-a-generation winter storm wreaks havoc on the Gulf Coast — a region wholly unaccustomed to winter weather. While the cold has proved deadly, footage from across the Gulf Coast shows snow blanketing implausible places, causing surreal wintry scenes: in New Orleans’ French Quarter, where street performers sang for passersby; on the grass at the Florida border; and on the white sand beaches of Orange Beach, Alabama. (Tsui, Shackelford, Gilbert, Mascarenhas, Lynch and Andone, 1/22)

With a powerful winter storm moving into parts of the southeastern United States on Tuesday, officials have begun warning residents unused to frigid temperatures how to stay safe. Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana urged residents to stay inside during the storm but cautioned that power outages were likely. He included a warning not to use gas or electric stoves or ovens to heat homes — which can create a serious danger of fire or carbon monoxide poisoning. (Gross and Robertson, 1/21)

The air quality index (AQI) in many LA regions looks good, but that doesn't mean the air is safe. The AQI in your weather app doesn't account for all pollutants caused by wildfires. AQI wasn't set up to monitor ash falling from the sky. (Mallenbaum, 1/21)

A bill co-sponsored by Orlando lawmakers would create protections for the estimated 1.8 million employees working outdoors in Florida's increasingly hot summers. Last year, ahead of the warmest summer on record, the state Legislature stripped local governments of the power to protect workers from heat. That move came as Miami-Dade County was preparing to add heat safety rules for employers. (Byrnes, 1/21)

In a recent perspective piece published in the journal Nature Reviews Neurology, a team of scientists explored the relationship between climate change and neurological health, focusing on how rising temperatures and environmental changes impact brain function, especially during sleep and in cases of stroke and epilepsy. (Sidharthan, 1/21)

Colorado is on the verge of a massive fight at the state Capitol over a multibillion-dollar federal health care program you may have never heard of. The program goes by the super-unsexy name of 340B, and it pulls together a battle royale of health care industry heavyweights: hospitals versus pharmaceutical companies versus pharmacies versus insurers. (Ingold, 1/22)

Republicans and Democrats in Kansas agree that concerns about the economy drove voters to support President Donald Trump by a 16% margin. They also know that ads from Trump and others targeting transgender rights resonated with voters. So while Kansas Republicans say property tax cuts are their top priority, they also are pushing to ban gender-affirming care for young people, including puberty blockers, hormones and, even though they are rare for minors, surgeries. They say that, too, resonates strongly with voters. (DeMillo, Hanna and Lathan, 1/22)

A positive case of legionnaires' disease has been found at the Dorsey Run Correctional Facility in Jessup, the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services said Sunday. According to the DPSCS, an inmate at the facility was experiencing shortness of breath, and a persistent cough earlier this week. He was taken to a local hospital, where he tested positive for legionnaires' disease. The inmate is still hospitalized, and his condition is improving, DPSCS said. (Olaniran, 1/21)

Recreational ketamine use has increased in the United States in recent years, outpacing its rise as a treatment for depression, a new analysis suggests. The hallucinogenic drug — a controlled substance designed for use as an anesthetic — has been touted for its potential as a therapy for depression. The recent study, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, used data from the 2015-2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health to gauge ketamine use among U.S. adults. (Blakemore, 1/19)

Most ads for liquor or beer include a reminder to “drink responsibly.” Still, the alcohol industry depends on people who drink more than public-health officials say is safe. A fifth of adults account for an estimated 90% of alcohol sales volumes in the U.S., according to an analysis published in 2023 by equity research firm Bernstein. (Cooper, 1/21)

About half of U.S. adults have high blood pressure, a major risk for heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure, even dementia. Many people don’t even realize they have hypertension until it’s done serious damage. ... And only a fraction of patients have their hypertension well-controlled, meaning there’s a need for novel strategies. The Food and Drug Administration approved that “renal denervation” option about a year ago, based on studies showing a modest benefit in patients whose blood pressure remains high despite multiple medicines. (Neergaard, 1/18)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Long-Covid Patients Are Frustrated That Federal Research Hasn't Found New Treatments

Erica Hayes, 40, has not felt healthy since November 2020 when she first fell ill with covid. Hayes is too sick to work, so she has spent much of the last four years sitting on her beige couch, often curled up under an electric blanket. “My blood flow now sucks, so my hands and my feet are freezing. Even if I’m sweating, my toes are cold,” said Hayes, who lives in Western Pennsylvania. She misses feeling well enough to play with her 9-year-old son or attend her 17-year-old son’s baseball games. (Boden, 1/22)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: The Growing Inequality In Life Expectancy Among Americans

The life expectancy among Native Americans in the western United States has dropped below 64 years, close to life expectancies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti. For many Asian Americans, it’s around 84 — on par with life expectancies in Japan and Switzerland. Americans’ health has long been unequal, but a new study shows that the disparity between the life expectancies of different populations has nearly doubled since 2000. “This is like comparing very different countries,” said Tom Bollyky, director of the global health program at the Council on Foreign Relations and an author of the study. (Maxmen, 1/22)

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is offering employee buyouts as the insurance company looks to reduce administrative costs. According to the Blue Cross, the company has opened a Voluntary Separation Offer period that offers a financial incentive to non-union employees, including more than 700 employees who are eligible for retirement in 2025. Employees have until the end of January to accept the offer. (Buczek, 1/21)

The president of the University of North Texas Health Science Center is stepping down, four months after an NBC News investigation uncovered that the center had failed to contact families before using their loved ones’ corpses for medical research. In an announcement Monday, the University of North Texas System Board of Regents said it had accepted Sylvia Trent-Adams’ resignation. (Hixenbaugh, 1/21)

A study released by the Maryland Hospital Association in March 2024 said Maryland had the worst hospital wait times in the country as of 2021. ... In response to the ongoing issues, the Maryland General Assembly passed House Bill 1143, which established the Maryland Emergency Department Wait Time Reduction Commission (HSCRC). The commission's goal is to develop strategies to help state and local hospitals reduce ED wait times. The commission will terminate on June 30, 2027. (Olaniran and Baylor, 1/21)

Almost 900 people received life-changing transplants at Tampa General Hospital last year, the most of any transplant center in the country. Tampa General’s Transplant Institute completed 889 transplant procedures, including 500 kidneys and 279 livers, the hospital announced this month. Data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network shows the hospital had more transplants than Arizona’s Mayo Clinic (883), Vanderbilt University Medical Center (875) and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (845). (Belcher, 1/21)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Listen To The Latest '�鶹Ů�� Health News Minute'

This week on the �鶹Ů�� Health News Minute: AI tools in medicine might not save money, and credit agencies can no longer include medical debt on credit reports.

Have you been mulling over the idea of taking weight-loss medication but unable to take the plunge, so to speak, with injectables? Help may soon be on the way. Eli Lilly & Co., the Fortune 500 pharma firm that manufactures weight-loss injection Zepbound (tirzepatide), has a comparable oral medication in the works that could be approved by the Food and Drug Administration as early as next year, according to CEO Dave Ricks. (Leake, 1/22)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has expanded its approval of Spravato, an antidepressant nasal spray. The drug is now cleared for use as a standalone treatment for depression. Spravato is made from esketamine, one of two mirror-image molecules found in the anesthetic ketamine. It was approved in 2019 for use in adults with major depressive disorder who did not respond to at least two other antidepressants. (Hamilton, 1/21)

The Food and Drug Administration has warned Sanofi about a series of “significant” manufacturing problems, including contamination, at a key facility in Massachusetts where the company makes ingredients used to produce various medicines. (Silverman, 1/21)

Immune checkpoint inhibitors, drugs that can help make the immune system recognize and destroy cancer more aggressively, are one of the most important medicines in cancer treatment today. Merck’s Keytruda has been used against dozens of different cancers in millions of patients, making it the top-selling drug in the world, with over $25 billion in revenue in 2023. Opdivo, from Bristol Myers Squibb, earned $10 billion in 2023. (Chen, 1/22)

Muscular strength and good physical fitness could almost halve the risk of cancer patients dying from their disease, according to a study that suggests tailored exercise plans may increase survival. The likelihood of people dying from their cancer has decreased significantly in recent decades owing to greater awareness of symptoms, and better access to treatment and care. However, despite notable advances, the side-effects of treatment, including on the heart and muscles, can affect survival. (Gregory, 1/21)

Between 2010 and 2020, the number of Americans over the age of 65 grew faster than it has in more than 100 years. The American population is older than it’s ever been, with more than 55 million people over 65. But those fortunate enough to live well into “late adulthood” also face an unfortunate reality: There are not enough doctors to give them the care they need. (Pamela Paul, 1/21)

Soon, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will begin the price negotiation process on a new set of 15 drugs. The new Trump administration should seize the opportunity to change the program to protect the most valuable drug innovation, while also cutting spending on low-value treatments. (Darius Lakdawalla, 1/22)

Plant-based foods are center stage in the new scientific report from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC). The committee recommended that the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines “include more nutrient-dense plant-based meal and dietary recommendation options,” prioritize plant-based protein over animal protein, and center plain water, instead of dairy milk and soda, as a beverage of choice. The recommendations are not binding, but I hope that the Department of Health and Human Services along with the Department of Agriculture will enshrine them in the official guidelines formerly known as the food pyramid. (Jonathan Nez, 1/22)

In 2023, a 14-year-old boy in Florida, Sewell Setzer III, developed a relationship with a lifelike artificial intelligence chatbot. The relationship grew and Sewell began to confide his vulnerabilities in this chatbot. A few months later, Sewell fatally shot himself in his bathroom in Orlando, weeks before he would have turned 15. According to a wrongful death lawsuit, the AI chatbot exacerbated his despair and played an instrumental role in his death. Beyond the tragedy of teen suicide, this and other stories are a stark warning in this new era of AI. (Shivan Bhavnani, 1/22)

Connecticut’s Community Health Centers are the medical, dental, and behavioral health home to over 440,000 people and play a critical role in the state’s health care strategy.   As a safety net provider, nearly 60% of our patients are covered by the state’s HUSKY (Medicaid) program. While acting as the patient’s medical home, these centers keep patients from developing more serious conditions with higher costs. (Shawn Frick, 1/22)