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The Trump administration has terminated a federal advisory committee that issued guidance about preventing the spread of infections in health care facilities. The Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) crafted national standards for hand-washing, mask-wearing and isolating sick patients that most U.S. hospitals follow. Four committee members said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention delivered the news about HICPAC’s termination to members Friday. (Bendix, 5/7)

The Department of Health and Human Services formally revoked some layoff notices on Tuesday, multiple federal health officials told CBS News, restoring some staff at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. Tuesday's letters to laid-off workers notifying them that their employment was being restored went a step further from some previous reinstatements touted by department officials, which often amounted only to a request for civil servants to continue working for a few more weeks to wind down or prepare to hand off their assignments. (Tin, 5/6)

Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH, a frequent critic of the FDA and COVID-19 lockdowns and vaccination policies, will be the next director of FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), the center that oversees vaccine approvals. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, MD, MPH, announced the selection Tuesday on X, saying Prasad "brings the kind of scientific rigor, independence, and transparency we need at CBER." (Clark, 5/6)

Jeremy Walsh is now heading up artificial intelligence and information technology in a newly created position at the FDA. He announced the move on LinkedIn. Walsh comes from the government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, where he worked for 14 years and was chief technologist, building out cloud networks and data analytics systems for the agencies the firm works with, Ruth reports. ... This is the first time the FDA has appointed a chief AI officer. Former chief information officer Vid Desai managed IT for the agency. (Lim, 5/6)

The US Food and Drug Administration’s top inspection official asked colleagues to persevere in a resignation letter Monday, amid efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration to squeeze more work out of the agency as it cuts staff. “Persevere through challenges and adversity, and use your strengths and versatility to support each other as the frontline of the FDA,” Associate Commissioner for Inspections and Investigations Michael Rogers wrote to colleagues, according to a copy of the email seen by Bloomberg News. (Edney, 5/6)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Watch: How The FDA Opens The Door To Risky Chemicals In America's Food Supply

To a great extent, the FDA leaves it to food companies to determine whether their ingredients and additives are safe. Some chemicals and additives are tied to health risks while others are absent from product labels. Watch this video explainer to learn more. (Hilzenrath, Norman and Zenda, 5/7)

The U.S. Supreme Court will allow the country’s armed forces to implement President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender servicemembers while the matter continues to be litigated in the federal courts. The 6-3 ruling Tuesday from the country’s highest court stays a national injunction against enforcing the ban until the constitutional issues can be fully litigated in the lower courts. By issuing the stay, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority is allowing the Trump administration to enforce its ban until the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the high court can act on the constitutional issues involved. (Keen, 5/6)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Trump Policies At Odds With ‘Make America Healthy Again’ Push

In his March address to Congress, President Donald Trump honored a Texas boy diagnosed with brain cancer. Amid bipartisan applause, he vowed to drive down childhood cancer rates through his “Make America Healthy Again” initiative. A few days later, the administration quietly dropped a lawsuit to cut emissions from a Louisiana chemical plant linked to cancer. (Armour, 5/7)

The U.N. agency that fights HIV plans to slash its workforce by more than half and move many posts to cheaper locations as a result of drastic funding cuts from longtime donors in the United States, Asia and Europe, the agency and staffers told The Associated Press on Tuesday. UNAIDS said “the overall global AIDS response is facing a severe shock and many of the gains made in the past few decades are at risk of being reversed.” (Keaten, 5/6)

The United Nations World Food Programme is by far the largest international organization fighting hunger. It reports that it served more than 100 million people in 2024. FIve years ago, it won the Nobel Peace Prize. But WFP is about to radically downsize in the wake of dwindling donations and the Trump administration's cuts to foreign aid. (Spitzer, 5/6)

Republicans will have to come up with alternative savings to make up for hundreds of billions of dollars in potential Medicaid cuts that GOP leaders appeared to rule out after meeting with moderates in Speaker Mike Johnson’s office Tuesday evening. Johnson, R-La., said leadership had ruled out two Medicaid policies that could go a long way toward meeting the Energy and Commerce Committee’s $880 billion, 10-year savings target but faced strong pushback from blue-state GOP centrists. (Hellmann, Raman and Bridges, 5/6)

House Republicans may miss their self-imposed deadline to advance legislation that extends tax cuts from President Donald Trump's first term and takes up to $880 billion out of Medicaid, Rep. Buddy Carter (R-La.) said at the American Hospital Association annual membership meeting in Washington on Tuesday. Carter, who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee, said lawmakers are not on track to finish the sweeping bill before Memorial Day as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) intended. The House is scheduled to recess from May 26-June 2. (McAuliff, 5/6)

States have long used taxes on hospitals and nursing homes to increase federal matching funds. If Republicans end the tactic, red states could feel the most pain. (Sanger-Katz and Kliff, 5/6)

With massive Medicaid cuts on the table in Congress, now is the time for health system executives to press their case that lawmakers shouldn't squeeze the program, American Hospital Association President and CEO Rick Pollack urged at the trade group's annual membership meeting. “If there's one single message that your legislators need to get right now, it comes down to: no harmful cuts to the Medicaid program,” Pollack said Monday. (Early, 5/6)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: As Republicans Eye Sweeping Medicaid Cuts, Missouri Offers A Preview

The prospect of sweeping federal cuts to Medicaid is alarming to some Missourians who remember the last time the public medical insurance program for those with low incomes or disabilities was pressed for cash in the state. In 2005, Missouri adopted some of the strictest eligibility standards in the nation, reduced benefits, and increased patients’ copayments for the joint federal-state program due to state budget shortfalls totaling about $2.4 billion over several prior years. (Sable-Smith, 5/7)

Ten states and Washington, D.C., could face a $468 billion shortfall over the next decade if Congress reduces the amount it guarantees states to run their Medicaid programs, according to a May 6 report from the Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The federal government has paid for at least half of every state’s Medicaid costs through the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage, which starts at a floor of 50%, according to the report. If that floor were reduced, 10 states and the district would be affected. (Cass, 5/6)

Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said Tuesday that U.S. health care has dropped in quality but increased in expense compared to other developed countries, notably in Europe. Oz, the celebrity heart surgeon and former talk show host, was confirmed in April by the U.S. Senate to oversee health care access for nearly half the U.S. population—helming a $1.4 trillion budget that exceeds the Department of Defense and administers Medicare for seniors, people with disabilities, and survivors, as well as Medicaid, which serves low-income Americans. (Mordowanec, 5/6)

Secretary Doug Collins defended his efforts to restructure the Department of Veterans Affairs, describing a broken bureaucracy badly in need of reform, in his first appearance before Congress since his confirmation hearing in January. Members of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee largely agreed that the VA needs improvement, but Democrats expressed fury over how Collins is handling the reforms, saying he has not given them the necessary details on issues such as staffing cuts, contract cancellations, workplace accommodations and more. (Kime, 5/6)

A bipartisan group of senators warned Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday that cuts to the federal health care workforce are threatening Native Americans and other beneficiaries of Indian Health Services care. (Goldman, 5/7)

Congress has voted to kill a Biden-era rule requiring rubber tire makers to clean up planet-warming emissions from their manufacturing processes in the U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency finalized rules for the rubber tire industry, specifically previously unregulated rubber processing, last November through amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants. Tires are made of chemicals, compounds and materials that release greenhouse gases, heavy metals and volatile organic compounds, experts say. (St. John, 5/6)

The term "prior authorization" has become reviled on Capitol Hill. Yet legislation to limit health insurance pre-certifications has been held up time and again, not unlike the treatments and medicines that providers and patients complain health plans delay or deny. Some lawmakers from both political parties believe this Congress will be different. One Republican thinks sharing his own personal story about health insurance red tape will spur his colleagues toward the finish line. (McAuliff, 5/6)

WeightWatchers said Tuesday it is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to eliminate $1.15 billion in debt and focus on its transition into a telehealth services provider. Parent WW International Inc. said it has the support of nearly three-quarters of its debt holders. It expects to emerge from bankruptcy within 45 days, if not sooner. (5/7)

An eighth person has died months after the crash of a medical transport plane in Philadelphia, city officials said Tuesday. Dominique Goods-Burke, who was in a vehicle hit by debris when the plane crashed in northeast Philadelphia, died on April 27, the city Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed. ... Goods-Burke died at Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital, a spokesperson for the Medical Examiner’s Office said. She was 34. (Dale, 5/6)

The Joint Commission said Tuesday it laid off 55 administrative employees last week as the organization navigates structural changes to improve its operational efficiency. All affected employees worked at the organization’s central office in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois. The Joint Commission declined to say whether those employees could apply for other roles or if additional cuts are planned. (DeSilva, 5/6)

Sadness and disappointment marked the end of Delaware County's largest health care system, which collapsed amid bankruptcy. A business in Collingdale is now stepping up to help the 2,600 employees who lost their jobs when Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Taylor Hospital shut down. Justin West, co-owner of Bulk Foods Delco, a subsidiary of What a Crock, is spearheading the initiative. His employees are assembling care packages containing 10 pounds of chicken, three pounds of frozen hash browns, three pounds of curly fries, two pounds of Jimmy Dean sausage, frozen onion rings and pasta. (Wright, 5/6)

Northwell Health said Wednesday it has acquired Nuvance Health. The deal, which closed May 1, forms a nearly $23 billion system with more than 104,000 employees across 28 hospitals, as well as more than 1,050 ambulatory care sites and 73 urgent care locations, according to a Wednesday news release. (Hudson, 5/6)

Columbia University and New York-Presbyterian Hospital have agreed to a $750 million settlement of hundreds of sexual abuse claims by patients of disgraced and imprisoned former gynecologist Robert Hadden, bringing total legal payouts in civil cases involving the ex-doctor to over $1 billion, according to the plaintiffs’ lawyer. Hadden, now 66, was accused of molesting patients during a decades-long career at prestigious New York City hospitals including Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian. (Collins, 5/6)

Each of the six major national insurers turned a profit in the first quarter of 2025, though financial pressures related to government programs—particularly Medicare Advantage (MA)—once again reared their ugly heads. As it so often does, UnitedHealth Group set the tone for the industry with a rare miss, falling short of Wall Street analysts' predictions on both earnings and revenue. The company's top brass called the performance "unacceptable," attributing the struggles to challenges in MA. (Minemyer, 5/6)

Research presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) included studies on the quality and empathy of artificial intelligence (AI) responses versus physician responses to patient questions about gastrointestinal cancers, the stigmatizing terms used in media coverage of cirrhosis, and a meal that may be okay to eat the evening before colonoscopy bowel prep. ChatGPT outperformed physicians in the quality and empathy of responses to patient questions about gastrointestinal cancers, researchers said. (Haelle, 5/6)

The fundraiser for Luigi Mangione, the man who is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson late last year, has topped $1 million. The GiveGoSend fundraiser has brought in more than $1,042,000 as of Tuesday afternoon, with the goal of raising $1,500,000. The fund has received funding from more than 28,000 individual donors. The average donation is around $20, according to the organizers, who said the money will be used for expenses related to all three of Mangione’s criminal cases. (Timotija, 5/6)

Rite Aid customers can expect their local store to close or change ownership in the next few months, as the struggling drugstore chain goes through another bankruptcy filing. The company plans to sell customer prescription files, inventory and other assets as it closes distribution centers and unloads store locations. Stores will remain open for now, but the company isn’t buying new inventory so bare shelves are likely become more common. (Murphy, 5/6)

President Trump's threat of pharmaceutical tariffs is driving a surge of exports of drugs and medical products from Europe to the U.S. as manufacturers look to build up stockpiles before duties hit. (Reed, 5/7)

The pharmaceutical industry estimates President Donald Trump’s new drug pricing proposal could cost drug companies as much as $1 trillion over a decade, its largest trade group is telling members of Congress. The idea, first floated last week by the White House as a way to help pay for the president’s tax cut plan, blindsided the pharmaceutical industry and has prompted a furious lobbying campaign. (Cohrs Zhang, 5/6)

Providing kidney care is no longer about which company can open the most dialysis centers. Kidney care behemoth DaVita is investing in technology solutions to help its patients receive dialysis and kidney care at home if they choose, said CEO Javier Rodriguez. It’s part of the evolution of a nearly $13 billion company that formed 25 years ago and operates more than 2,500 dialysis centers in the U.S. (Perna, 5/6)

Many large drugmakers are still using a decades-old test — derived from horseshoe crabs — as a go-to tool for detecting contamination in medicines and vaccines, rather than switching to a cheaper and equally effective alternative, according to a survey by environmental groups. (Silverman, 5/6)

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday said he plans to sign into law a bill that bans the use of fluoride in public water systems across the state. When it becomes law July 1, local governments are prohibited from using fluoride or other health additives to municipal water supplies, a practice that's been in place for decades to fortify dental hygiene. (Mayer, 5/6)

With Utah’s first-in-the-nation ban on fluoride in public drinking water set to take effect Wednesday, dentists who treat children and low-income patients say they’re bracing for an increase in tooth decay among the state’s most vulnerable people. Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed the law against the recommendation of many dentists and national health experts who warn removing fluoride will harm tooth development, especially in young patients without regular access to dental care. (Schoenbaum, 5/6)

Kind Life Dispensary has been offering cannabinoid gummies, tinctures, ointments, now even canned beverages for seven years as one of the first businesses in Nebraska to offer such products. Founder and co-owner Andrea Watkins said her venture has been wildly successful, and she now has three locations in Nebraska’s capital city that employ eight people and sell to hundreds of regulars who use the products to treat everything from aches and pains to anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. But now, she’s worried her livelihood will crumble as a bill winding its way through the Nebraska Legislature would outlaw most of the products she sells. (Beck, 5/6)

Though Connecticut’s largest health care workers’ union has a May 19 strike deadline at 51 nursing homes, facilities already have incurred costs to prepare for a possible work stoppage, the head of a major industry association said Tuesday. (Phaneuf, 5/6)

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company is belching smog-forming pollution into an area of South Memphis that already leads the state in emergency department visits for asthma. None of the 35 methane gas turbines that help power xAI’s massive supercomputer is equipped with pollution controls typically required by federal rules. (Wittenberg, 5/6)

More than 80,000 people in Madison County recently learned their city’s water exceeded new state and federal limits on contamination from PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” the last time it was tested. Collinsville had some of the highest levels in the state: four and a half times the limit for one type of chemical. (Cortes, 5/6)

Fifteen-year-olds can’t get a driver’s license or vote in elections, but they can get married in Hawaiʻi – one of a shrinking number of states that allows underage marriage. A bill that would’ve outlawed the practice, raising the legal age of marriage to 18 without exceptions, passed the Hawaiʻi House of Representatives this year but failed to gain traction in the Senate. It’s the seventh year in a row Hawaiʻi lawmakers have considered a child marriage ban without passing legislation despite a push by national advocacy groups to end the practice. (Jedra, 5/6)

Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic announced today that the US government has placed a $144 million order for a freeze-dried version of its mpox vaccine, which can also be used to prevent smallpox. The freeze-dried formulation of the Jynneos vaccine was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in March. It will be easier to store and transport, and has a longer shelf life, than the liquid-frozen formulation that Bavarian Nordic has been supplying to the US government since 2010. (Dall, 5/6)

The Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) today reported 19 more cases since its last update on May 2, lifting the state’s total to 702 cases. As the country’s biggest measles hot spot, the state has reported outbreak-linked cases from 29 counties, mainly in west Texas. So far 91 people have been hospitalized, reflecting an increase of 2 since the last report. Of the 702 cases, 672 involved unvaccinated people or whose immunization status was unknown. (Schnirring, 5/6)

Detections of H5N1 avian influenza have slowed in both animals and humans, but continued surveillance is warranted, CDC researchers said. In dairy cattle, cases surged over the fall and early winter but eased in January, while cases in poultry flocks fell after February, and came down last month in backyard flocks, according to data on CDC's website that was shared during a clinician outreach and communication activity (COCA) call on Tuesday. (Fiore, 5/6)

Some researchers are sounding the alarm about a potentially deadly fungus that could spread throughout parts of the U.S., Europe and Asia. The study article, which was published in pre-print (not yet peer-reviewed) in Research Square, claims that "rising global temperatures" could lead to severe infections of Aspergillus, a fungal mold that thrives in warm, damp climates. (Rudy, 5/6)

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

Katheryn Houghton delivers the week’s news: A new survey finds that more Americans are hearing false claims about measles and the vaccine that prevents it, and changes to federal health funding have advocates worried the White House is deprioritizing fighting addiction. (Dall, 5/6)

The foods you pack in your kids’ lunch boxes may have an impact on whether they experience their first menstrual cycle too early, according to new research. Eating a more inflammatory diet was associated with a 15% greater chance of kids having their first period in the next month, whereas a healthier diet reduced the risk by 8%, according to a new study published Tuesday in the journal Human Reproduction. (Holcombe, 5/6)

In recent months, federal prosecutors indicted a Georgia man for “possessing enough fentanyl to kill up to 500,000 individuals.” A sheriff in South Carolina announced the seizure of fentanyl that “had the potential to kill more than 800,000 people.” Perhaps most impressively, California Highway Patrol officers estimated they seized enough of the opioid to kill “a quarter of the population” of the entire state — some 10 million people. (Facher, 5/7)

Today in Emerging Microbes & Infections, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine–Qatar present a systematic review of 35 studies on new-onset diabetes after COVID-19 infection, estimating an incidence of 1.37%. The researchers mined databases to identify and analyze studies from around the world on COVID-related type 1 or type 2 diabetes published up to October 2023. The studies included a total of 4.4 million COVID-19 patients of all ages, and 47.7% were male. (Van Beusekom, 5/6)

By all indications, the pharmaceutical industry won’t be spared from tariffs. In April, the Commerce Department took its first step toward imposing levies on drug imports. The goal, according to the White House, is to encourage companies to manufacture in the US. (5/7)

I recently sat with a young scientist in my office, tears in her eyes, who was asking for advice: Her grant had been canceled by the government. Years of hard work and training seemed to vanish in an instant. (Daphna Shohamy, 5/7)

We may now be at the brink of reclaiming our health. New and highly effective anti-obesity medications known as GLP-1s have revolutionized our understanding of weight loss, and of obesity itself. These drugs alone are not a panacea for the obesity crisis that has engulfed the nation, and we should not mistake them for one. But their effectiveness underscores the fact that being overweight or obese was never the result of a lack of willpower. (David A. Kessler, 5/7)

On April 15, President Trump issued an awaited executive order on drug pricing, kicking off a new frenzy among lobbyists and consultants.  That frenzy has gone into overdrive with the latest proposal from the White House to examine cuts to Medicaid drug reimbursement, slashing prices to extortionate levels foreign governments demand. (Joe Grogan, 5/7)

Dear Sen. Cassidy, I appreciated your willingness to speak with me about my concerns about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. prior to his confirmation hearing before your Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Since his confirmation as secretary of Health and Human Services, Kennedy has begun to dismantle the public health infrastructure, particularly regarding vaccines. (Paul A. Offit, 5/7)

The Trump administration is on the opposite side from the pro-Trump attorneys general of Kansas, Missouri and Idaho, over a lawsuit seeking to stop a lot of abortions. Well, there’s the kind of MAGA vs. MAGA action you don’t see every day. (Dion Lefler, 5/7)

Approximately 90% of emergency departments worldwide are overcrowded, leading to dangerous delays, reduced quality of care, and strain on medical staff. But if you’ve ever been to the emergency room, you know this already. (Sydney Hess, 5/6)