A new Executive Order (EO) released by the White House on Monday is the latest in a series of administration actions seeking to change U.S. childhood vaccine recommendations. It follows:

• a presidential memo from last December calling for the U.S. to align its vaccine recommendations with “best practices from peer, developed countries.”
• a January 5 memo from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) adopting a revised federal childhood vaccine schedule that categorized vaccines into three groups – “population-based,” or recommended for all children recommended for certain high-risk groups; and recommended through “shared-clinical decision-making” – and reduced the number of vaccines routinely recommended for all children, and
• an EO from May calling on federal agencies to align their actions, regulations, and funding with the revised vaccine schedule. However, a federal judge has temporarily blocked the revised HHS recommendations.

Read more

HOT SPRINGS, S.D. — Two of the nation’s most powerful health officials predict artificial intelligence will play a key role in solving rural America’s health challenges.

Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told a panel of U.S. senators that AI nurses can provide “concierge care” to rural patients. Mehmet Oz, who leads the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, has said “the best way to help some of these communities is going to be AI-based avatars” that connect rural patients to mental health services.

Read more

More than a million times a year, a U.S. surgeon slices open a knee, strips out worn cartilage, caps the leg bones with metal, and drops in a plastic spacer to allow the new joint to glide.

While knee replacement procedures have become standard, however, the prices charged have not.

Read more

Doula Taja Iglesias and her business partner have built a space in Alexandria, Virginia, that’s all things pregnancy, birth, and childcare.

Comfortable couches in one area invite expectant parents to settle in for birth education classes. In another, a colorful pile of toys await the babies and toddlers. And there’s a free supply of diapers and food. Years ago, as Iglesias was giving birth and expressing her wish not to have an epidural for pain, she felt isolated and that her preferences were dismissed by the medical staff. Today, she works hard to make sure other parents can have the support of a doula.

Read more

Céline Gounder, KFF Health News’ editor-at-large for public health, discussed the cyclosporiasis outbreak on CBS News’ CBS Mornings on Aug. 5. Gounder discussed New Mexico’s measles outbreak on CBS News 24/7’s The Daily Report on Aug. 4. She also discussed peptides on Ideastream Public Media/WKSU’s Sound of Ideas on Aug. 3.

Read more

In this “How Would You Fix It?” interview, Julie Rovner, KFF Health News’ chief Washington correspondent and host of the What the Health? podcast, sat down with Sen. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, to discuss his proposal to grant all kids access to health coverage.

Kim, who serves on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said it is “a real dereliction of our duty that we have not found a way to be able to ensure that every child is able to go see a doctor when they need to without breaking the bank.”

Read more

MISSOULA, Mont. — Tywon Pugh has seizures that make it hard to find and keep a job.

“They called me a ‘liability to the job site,’” Pugh said, recalling the words of his manager when a seizure cost him his last job at a fast-food restaurant in this western Montana city.

Read more

Democratic primary voters in Michigan chose former Detroit public health director Abdul El-Sayed as their Senate nominee this week. El-Sayed is one of several high-profile candidates around the country who have been pushing “Medicare for All,” again elevating the issue, at a time when millions of Americans are losing their health coverage because of high costs.

Meanwhile, the Senate this week confirmed Erica Schwartz to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has been without a permanent leader for almost a year. But it remains unclear whether her support for childhood vaccinations will run afoul of her boss, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Amanda Seitz of KFF Health News.

Read more

Vanessa Barahona received a call this past spring from Angelica at Kern Family Health Care in Bakersfield, California, telling her it was time to renew her coverage under Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid.

Angelica helped Barahona, 41, schedule an appointment to complete her paperwork in person at Kern Family’s offices before she submitted it to Kern County officials for approval. When Barahona had a conflict with her office-cleaning job, Angelica rescheduled the appointment. Barahona finished the process a little later than she’d planned but early enough to avoid an interruption in her coverage.

Read more

A century-old hospital near Michigan’s southern border was one of the nation’s first to convert into a new emergency-focused model Congress created to save rural care.

Afterward, though, use of Sturgis Hospital’s emergency department fell, according to data collected at the state level. In June, three years after taking the federal lifeline, the hospital closed, leaving residents of Sturgis, a town of about 11,000 people, without critical healthcare. Its leaders had tried “every reasonable option” to remain open, including seeking a buyer, according to a hospital news release.

Read more