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For years, the United States has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into programs to prevent and control infectious diseases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But in the months leading up to a fast-moving Ebola outbreak, the Trump administration slashed aid to the country, leading to a cascade of consequences that probably hampered the detection of the outbreak and the response to it, six people involved in or familiar with the efforts in the region said. (Payne, 5/19)

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told ABC News on Monday that his agency is working to address the recent hantavirus and Ebola outbreaks, marking the first time he’s commented publicly on the Ebola outbreak since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed than an American had been infected with the virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). “Yeah, we’re working on it,” Kennedy told ABC News when asked if he was worried about the outbreaks. The secretary’s comments come after the CDC said a “small number of Americans" are directly affected by the current Ebola outbreak in the DRC. (Jones II, 5/19)

An American doctor exposed to the Ebola virus in Uganda will be admitted to a Prague hospital Wednesday. The doctor, who is not symptomatic for the disease, will arrive in Prague to undergo preventative hospitalization and observation. The Czech Ministry of Health said that he will be treated at the Bulovka University Hospital “under strict safety and anti-epidemic measures.” (Loesel, 5/20)

The American missionary doctor who contracted Ebola may have gotten infected while performing surgery on a patient for what he thought at the time was a gall bladder infection. (Weber and Sun, 5/19)

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Anne Ancia MD, MPH, told reporters today there were at least 500 suspected cases and 130 suspected deaths in a growing Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda. “We have significant uncertainty about the number of infections and how far the virus has spread,” Ancia said. “I don't think that we have the ‘patient zero’ for now.” (Soucheray, 5/19)

Doctors battling a rare strain of Ebola in central Africa will probably need to wait many months for a vaccine to be ready for human trials, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations said, underscoring the challenges health authorities face in combating the outbreak. CEPI and its partners will start the vaccine development process immediately for multiple candidates, Chief Executive Officer Richard Hatchett said in an interview Tuesday. However, lab testing and evidence from animal trials will be needed before human studies can begin, he said. Some potential candidates have undergone initial animal testing. (Kresge, 5/19)

An American woman who may have been exposed to hantavirus on board the MV Hondius cruise ship is now being forced to quarantine at a facility in Omaha, Nebraska. Angela Perryman, 47, anticipated having to stay at the National Quarantine Unit for a short time after arriving last week, but on Monday she was served with a federal order to remain quarantined for at least two more weeks, she shared with The New York Times. (Rudy, 5/19)

One might think the recent outbreaks of hantavirus aboard the Hondius and norovirus on the Ambition would rattle Colleen McDaniel’s enthusiasm for the mode of travel. Not so. “I’m currently on a European river cruise, and no one is talking about illness,” the Colorado-based editor in chief of review site Cruise Critic wrote in an email. “People are enjoying their excursions along the Rhine River, chatting socially and having a great time.” (Craw and Sampson, 5/15)

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. enlisted health official Stephanie Haridopolos to temporarily take on some of the responsibilities of the US surgeon general, he said in an email to staff viewed by Bloomberg News. The Trump administration has not had a confirmed surgeon general because two nominees for the role were pulled before confirmation votes in the Senate. President Donald Trump nominated radiologist and former Fox News contributor Nicole Saphier to the role last month. (Nix and Cohrs Zhang, 5/19)

Across the Department of Health and Human Services, top leadership positions are being filled with acting directors. There is no permanent director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or at the Food and Drug Administration. President Trump’s nominee for surgeon general is yet to be confirmed, and HHS’ top spokesperson resigned last week. (Oza, 5/20)

Vice President JD Vance ‘s decision to extend his fight against Medicaid fraud beyond Democratic states to his red home state of Ohio has set off a scramble among the state’s Republicans — including his close ally Vivek Ramaswamy, the party’s nominee for governor. A day before Ramaswamy won the state’s May 5 primary, Vance posted to X that he was directing the anti-fraud task force he leads for President Donald Trump to turn its sights on the Buckeye State. The decision came the same day an investigation by the conservative Daily Wire revealed apparent rampant abuses within Ohio’s Medicaid-funded home health program. (Carr Smyth and Swenson, 5/19)

The Health and Human Services Department is putting pressure on state agencies at the frontlines of the fight against fraud. The HHS Office of Inspector General is auditing every Medicaid Fraud Control Unit as part of its sweeping efforts to crack down on healthcare fraud, Inspector General March Bell wrote to state attorneys general last Wednesday. HHS has threatened to freeze all federal Medicaid funds to states it deems noncompliant. (Early, 5/19)

The Justice Department’s new $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund — created by a legal settlement between President Donald Trump and his own administration — could funnel money to activists who broke into and blocked patients from entering abortion clinics. The text of the settlement and recent statements by DOJ leaders stress that any people who believe they are “victims of lawfare and weaponization” by any presidential administration past or present could be eligible for payouts. (Ollstein, 5/19)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: �鶹Ů�� Health News’ ‘What The Health?’: Watch: The Tug-Of-War Over Taxpayer Dollars

Julie Rovner, �鶹Ů�� Health News’ chief Washington correspondent and host of the What the Health? podcast, recently spoke with Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) about the ongoing fight between President Donald Trump and Congress over control of federal spending. Baldwin, who is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said lawmakers have been forced to take unprecedented action to ensure the Trump administration properly spends taxpayer dollars. (Rovner, 5/20)

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

Rachel Spears reads the week’s news: The Trump administration threatened to withhold federal funding if hospitals don’t get in line with its new dietary rules. Plus, tips to get the most out of prescription drug coupons. (Cook, 5/19)

Two physician senators -- Sen. Rand Paul, MD, (R-Ky.) and Sen. Roger Marshall, MD, (R-Kan.) -- are among the leading contenders to take over Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD, (R-La.)'s role as chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee after his primary loss. Paul is the next Republican in line for the position, though it's worth watching to see if he instead opts to stay on in his role as chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee, as reported by Axios. ... But Politico has reported that Marshall, a big fan of Kennedy, is angling to become chair of the HELP committee. (Henderson, 5/19)

Senate health committee chair Bill Cassidy's defeat in Louisiana's GOP primary on Saturday could complicate Trump administration's efforts to fill top positions at the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the surgeon general post. (Bettelheim, 5/18)

A group of Senate Democrats is proposing that Medicare cover in-home care, which would create the first new benefit in the program since the Part D retail drug benefit more than 20 years ago. (Wilkerson, 5/20)

Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) said on Tuesday that “the time is now” to push for breakthroughs in psychedelic treatments given President Trump’s recent support for this field of research. At The Hill’s “Rethinking Psychedelic Treatment for America’s Mental Health Crisis” event sponsored by Definium Therapeutics, Bergman, co-founder and co-chair of Congressional Psychedelics Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus, said he was “excited” that an executive order issued last month is encouraging more people to take the “risk” in researching psychedelic drugs. (Choi, 5/19)

Federal regulators fast-tracked approval of psychedelic drugs to treat some of the nation’s most stubborn mental health disorders, reopening a debate that has lingered since the counterculture era: Are hallucinogens dangerous drugs of abuse, breakthrough medicines, or both? (Hille, 5/20)

The affordability crisis for many people who have health insurance under the Affordable Care Act came into sharper focus Tuesday, with a new analysis projecting that higher premiums will cause millions more people to lose insurance this year. Another sign of economic distress: Average deductibles for policyholders are now the highest ever, a result of people switching to the exchange’s cheapest “bronze plans” in response to premium hikes, according to the report released Tuesday by �鶹Ů��, a health policy research organization. (Rowland, 5/19)

When health insurers contract with providers, they agree on prices for all kinds of procedures. For a lumbar laminectomy, a common spine surgery for ailments like herniated discs or arthritis, the median price is $1,400. Out-of-network providers, those that don’t contract with health insurers, are getting 24 times that amount for the same surgery at the median — nearly $34,000 — through the No Surprises Act’s arbitration process. Some are even getting north of $100,000. (Bannow, 5/19)

Below are the adjusted expenses per inpatient day in 2024 for nonprofit, for-profit and government hospitals in every U.S. state, based on the latest estimates provided by Kaiser State Health Facts. The figures are based on information from the 2024 American Hospital Association Annual Survey. They are an estimate of the expenses incurred in a day of inpatient care and have been adjusted upward to reflect an estimate of outpatient service volumes, according to the �鶹Ů��. (Gamble, 5/19)

Elevance Health is expanding a policy that penalizes hospitals making out-of-network referrals — and providers aren’t having it. Hospital associations say the insurer’s policy, which applies to Elevance’s Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield commercial plans, is another attempt to shortchange hospitals. The insurer argues the policy will help control rising care costs and limit exorbitant reimbursement requests. (Hudson, 5/19)

Millions of dollars are on the way to HCMC, Minnesota's largest trauma center, now that the state legislative session has ended and lawmakers approved a healthcare bill. The safety-net hospital serves more low-income and uninsured patients than any other facility in Minnesota and is expected to lose more than $1 billion in the next decade. (Bright and Levin, 5/19)

Global Healthcare Opportunities and CBC Group have agreed to combine to create a healthcare investment firm with more than $21 billion of assets under management, according to a statement Wednesday. The firm will have over 200 employees in 13 offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, which account for about 90% of global healthcare research and development spending, Singapore-based CBC said, adding that it will be the world’s biggest healthcare investment manager. GHO is based in London. (Cao, 5/20)

The University of Kansas Hospital Authority has settled six lawsuits alleging that a contaminated device used during open-heart surgeries led to serious and sometimes fatal infections in patients. (Thomas, 5/19)

Health systems are revamping their operating rooms to protect a key revenue driver as demand for surgeries increases and reimbursement declines. Providers are deploying new technology, redesigning surgical suites, reorganizing scheduling models and strengthening oversight as part of broader operating room overhauls. Even modest efficiency gains can significantly increase health system margins as they treat more patients, direct the most complex procedures to hospitals and reduce costs. (Kacik, 5/19)

It took some time for Jasmine Jones to absorb the news that doctors wanted to replace four of her organs at once. She had been through so much already because of cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that can damage the lungs and other organs. The 28-year-old South Side woman had become almost numb to the situation. (Schencker, 5/20)

OpenEvidence rode the wave of early enthusiasm for large language models by building a free chatbot for doctors. Physicians, especially trainees, have flocked to the platform to help make patient care decisions; the company claims that about 650,000 U.S. physicians use it actively. (Palmer, 5/20)

Artificial intelligence has shown promise in flagging sepsis cases in hospitals, and new AI models are focusing on earlier detection of the condition responsible for one in three deaths of hospitalized patients. Detecting sepsis is a compelling use case for AI because it can present differently depending on the patient, creating diagnostic uncertainty. Sepsis occurs when the body has an adverse response to an infection. In the U.S., 1.7 million adults develop sepsis annually, according to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Famakinwa, 5/19)

In the first, tenuous weeks of her life, Jorie Kraus and her parents faced her possible death repeatedly. Muscles throughout her tiny body simply didn’t work properly. Her heart. Her legs. Her larynx. Even the involuntary action of breathing was labored, and constantly faltering. (Ross, 5/19)

23andMe plans to give its customers the capacity to import their medical records, allowing what it calls “a 360-degree view of their personal health.” The offering will include an AI-written 23andMe Health Summary, which the company said is in development and will be available to some beta testers. (Herper, 5/19)

A coalition of 25 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia sued the Education Department on Tuesday over new graduate student loan limits, arguing the restrictions will worsen the health care workforce shortage. (Douglas-Gabriel, 5/19)

Providers at UCSF's Parnassus ER say understaffing has reached a crisis point. One described seeing patients dead on a gurney. (Agnew, 5/12)

Clinicians who provide home care for Mass General Brigham on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to give their union’s bargaining unit clearance to call a strike amid negotiations for their first contract, union officials said. The clinicians of MGB Home Care, an estimated 450 nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech language pathologists, social workers, dieticians, and others, are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association. They have engaged in 26 bargaining sessions over the last year in their fight for a contract to improve caseloads, working conditions, patient safety, and pay. (Alanez, 5/19)

Noah Wyle is taking on the real-life role of advocate — “The Pitt” star is making a return trip to Capitol Hill to lead a rally pushing for bipartisan legislation focused on healthcare workers. The 54-year-old actor, who plays Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch on the hit HBO Max medical drama, is poised to join lawmakers and more than 400 doctors, nurses, medical students and healthcare professionals at a gathering at Upper Senate Park on Thursday. (Kurtz, 5/19)

Santa Clara University and Sutter Health plan to open the Mark and Mary Stevens School of Medicine around 2030 in Santa Clara. (Geha, 5/19)

Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Tuesday afternoon vetoed several key Democratic legislative priorities, including a retail cannabis market. That means Virginia will continue to exist in legal limbo, where people can possess small amounts of cannabis but not purchase or sell it. Had the legislation passed, people would have been able to purchase recreational cannabis at licensed dispensaries beginning in January. ... Spanberger also is vetoing legislation establishing a prescription drug affordability advisory panel that would have developed policy recommendations to lower drug costs. The legislation also would have implemented limits on how much Virginians would pay for certain high-cost drugs. Currently, those price caps apply to Medicare users at the federal level, and the legislation would have expanded their application. (Seltzer, 5/19)

Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed a bill to effectively ban the manufacture, sale and transfer of assault weapons in the commonwealth late Thursday with little fanfare, and lawsuits brought by the National Rifle Association and others immediately followed.  (Beyer, 5/15)

Two teenagers who shot and killed three people in an attack on a California mosque were radicalized online where they first met and shared white supremacist views, according to authorities and writings they authored. The pair “didn’t discriminate on who they hated,” Mark Remily, the lead FBI agent in San Diego, said Tuesday. The writings, obtained by The Associated Press, include hateful rhetoric toward Jewish people, Muslims and Islam, as well as the LGBTQ+ community, Black people, women, and both the political left and right. Both express beliefs that white people are being eliminated, and one writes about mental health struggles and being rejected by women. (Watson, Biesecker and Seewer, 5/20)

The two gunmen who opened fire at a San Diego mosque and killed three people inside Monday were “fully armored” and rushed toward the entrance with handguns and rifles before a security guard shot at and struck one of them, a witness and member of the mosque said. But in the chaotic exchange of gunfire Monday morning, the gunman who was shot by the security guard appeared unfazed, and continued to charge toward the mosque. (Winton, Fry, Hernandez and Harter, 5/18)

Launched as a new kind of gun retailer in 2012, the Range USA chain was built to look and feel different from the smaller, unwelcoming shops and gun ranges often associated with the industry. Its founder and president, Tom Willingham, wanted to make the experience of buying and shooting firearms more mainstream. So he modeled his company on big box chains, striving for bright, comfortable outlets that would be inviting to women, novices and others put off by some older gun stores. (Coleman, 5/20)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved Wyoming’s Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) for the first year. The state will get $205 million for the first year of the five-year program. (Kudelska, 5/19)

Texas health officials on Tuesday confirmed the state's first human West Nile virus case this year, an indication that mosquito season is beginning in the United States. Public health officials have been warning that rising temperatures have allowed mosquitoes to thrive, increasing the risk of the diseases that they spread, including West Nile. Last year, the U.S. reported 2,076 cases of West Nile across 47 states, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Colorado had the highest number of cases (285), followed by Illinois, Texas, Minnesota and California. (Benadjaoud, 5/19)

In October, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued pharmaceutical companies tied to Tylenol in state court, repeating claims made a month earlier by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that the pain relief drug was linked to autism and ADHD in children. Paxton, a close ally of the Trump administration who had already announced a U.S. Senate bid, accused drugmakers of marketing Tylenol to pregnant mothers without disclosing its dangers. “The reckoning has arrived,” the state’s attorneys wrote in the lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies Johnson & Johnson, Kenvue Brands and Kenvue Inc. (Despart and Harris, 5/20)

A lawsuit challenges the police practice of shackling mentally ill arrestees in New York, sometimes for long periods, while they await arraignment in locked psychiatric wards. (Newman, 5/20)

The Connecticut Department of Correction on Tuesday announced a slate of reforms focused on improving the quality of healthcare for people who are incarcerated, including a new director of inmate medical services, a team to oversee the implementation of reforms and investments in technology advancements. (Golvala, 5/19)

Two men walked through livestock pens with .22-caliber rifles, killing Art Schaap’s cows. One man would raise his rifle, its barrel inches from a cow’s forehead. A shot would ring out, the cow would fall and the men would move on to the next cow. ... Mr. Schaap felt he had no choice but to have his herd killed. Testing showed that the water he had pulled from wells on his property contained exceptionally high levels of PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, which have been linked to birth defects, liver and heart disease and some cancers. State and federal regulators pulled his permit to sell milk and quarantined his herd. Selling his cows for beef was out of the question. (Nazaryan, 5/19)

There’s a new vending machine in the New Orleans Healing Center (2372 Saint Claude Ave). Instead of sodas and snacks, it provides free access to birth control, emergency contraceptives, condoms, fentanyl test strips and Narcan. Seven reproductive health advocacy organizations unveiled the “Your Body, Your Choice” vending machine in April. The initiative, which was announced in 2025, aims to expand access to reproductive healthcare, and provide other life-saving supplies for people using substances. (Parker, 5/19)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Religious Anti-Abortion Center Finds Opportunity In Town Without OB-GYNs

An anti-abortion pregnancy center on the outskirts of this Idaho Panhandle town greets visitors with an abridged Bible verse painted on the wall of its waiting area: “Come to me & I will give you rest.” 7B Care Clinic has been operating in Sandpoint since 2001 and was previously called Life Choices Pregnancy Center and Sandpoint Crisis Pregnancy Center. It is an affiliate of a nationwide network of Christian evangelical centers called Care Net. 7B, one of about 1,200 pregnancy centers affiliated with Care Net, offers pregnancy tests, limited ultrasounds, parenting and life skills classes, community support groups, and other free resources, such as children’s clothing. (Orozco Rodriguez, 5/20)

A rapidly unfolding Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a reminder of the value of maintaining robust global disease surveillance and response systems — and the dire consequences of weakening them. (Lisa Jarvis, 5/19)

Proponents of price controls are wagering that savings on medicines will outweigh the lost benefits. The opposite is true. (Tomas J. Philipson, 5/20)

In recent years, people are increasingly blaming perimenopause for a constellation of symptoms: weight gain, hair loss, brain fog. But does the evidence support this point of view? (Torie Bosch, 5/20)

Banning tobacco sales to people born after a certain date is the most compassionate, strategic approach. (Henry L. Dorkin and Katharine Silbaugh, 5/19)

The Trump administration’s obsession with America’s fertility rate is racist, delusional, and misogynistic. (Renee Graham, 5/17)