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The Trump administration has fired the two leaders of an influential health group that determines when insurance must provide free preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies, for millions of Americans. In letters dated May 11, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. notified the two doctors who chaired the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that he was terminating their appointments immediately, before the end of their multiyear terms. (Neergaard, 5/20)

The American Medical Association wasted no time in condemning the action. "The AMA is extremely concerned by today's HHS decision to remove the vice-chairs of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force," said Bobby Mukkamala, MD, AMA president, in a statement. ... “We strongly urge HHS to restore the USPSTF's long-standing, transparent process for selecting members, specifically clinicians with expertise in the fields of preventive medicine and primary care. We also implore HHS to commit to once again holding regular Task Force meetings to ensure its important work can continue without further delay. Our patients' lives depend on it." (5/20)

The surgeon general’s office on Wednesday issued a warning about the dangers of screen time for young people, linking excessive time online to worse sleep issues, anxiety, depression, alcohol use and other health harms. The advisory calls on children and adolescents to “live real life” and go outside, and for parents to discuss boundaries around technology and to delay screen time for “as long as possible.” The report was produced by the office of the surgeon general, however, that post has remained empty since January 2025. (Blum, 5/20)

Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Iowa’s new “Make America Healthy Again” bill into law Wednesday, alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., putting new statewide limits on classroom screen time for younger students while launching a broader push focused on childhood health and chronic disease prevention. One of the bill’s provisions limits digital instruction on one-to-one devices to 60 minutes a day for students in kindergarten through fifth grade, with several exceptions. (Purpura, 5/20)

Nicole Saphier joins a list of well-off residents who've taken advantage of a state law allowing steep discounts for land designated for agricultural use. (Han, 5/21)

Nicotine pouches have gained popularity across the administration, with even key health officials including Kennedy indulging. (Whyte, Dawsey and Barber, 5/18)

The tobacco company Reynolds American donated $5 million to a super PAC backed by President Trump last month, about one week before his administration rolled out a new policy that could prove lucrative to the tobacco industry. The donation, which came through a Reynolds subsidiary and brings to $8 million the total donated by the subsidiary to MAGA Inc., the Trump-backed super PAC, was revealed in a campaign finance report filed Wednesday night. The donation came on April 30. (Vogel and Jewett, 5/20)

President Donald Trump’s investment portfolio actively traded UnitedHealth Group as the stock was whipsawed by a federal policy proposal on Medicare rates earlier this year. The disclosure, released last week by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, lists more than 3,600 stock trades spanning a range of companies and industries during the first three months of the year. (Dunn, 5/19)

The 911 call came two days after immigration agents detained the 23-year-old Guatemalan woman in Minnesota as she was driving her mother and two young siblings to their jobs cleaning houses. “Excruciating pain,” the employee at the El Paso immigrant detention facility reported. (Kriel, 5/20)

���ϳԹ��� News: ICE Arrests Are Separating Families. Here’s How To Plan Ahead

Depression. Post-traumatic stress disorder. Developmental delays. The trauma of family separation can have serious health consequences for children. On WAMU’s May 13 “Health Hub” segment, ���ϳԹ��� News correspondent Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez discussed what families without legal status can do if a parent is detained by immigration agents, as well as strategies to keep children out of foster care. (Orozco Rodriguez, 5/21)

Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who brought his sharp intellect and irrepressible wit to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he led a sweeping overhaul of the financial industry after the Great Recession and advanced gay rights as one of the first openly gay congressmen in history, died May 19 at his home in Ogunquit, Maine. He was 86. His death was confirmed by his sister Doris Breay. Mr. Frank revealed last month that he had entered hospice care for congestive heart failure. (Langer, 5/20)

Senate and House Democrats introduced resolutions Wednesday to overturn a Medicare pilot that uses artificial intelligence to approve or deny care. The technology experiment has led to allegations of delayed care for seniors in at least one of the six states it is currently being implemented. (Trang, 5/20)

A House Democrat and Republican on Wednesday highlighted their push to expand access to clinical trials, saying artificial intelligence could be one tool used to reach more underrepresented communities seeking additional treatment options. The Clinical Trial Modernization Act, co-sponsored by Reps. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) and Erin Houchin (R-Ind.), is a bipartisan effort aiming to address some of the economic hurdles preventing patients from participating in clinical trials, which rely on community-based research to test the safety and effectiveness of medications, procedures and other health-related interventions. (Swai, 5/20)

Providence Health Plan will quit the Medicaid and job-based insurance market next year, along with exiting the health insurance exchanges. The insurance division of the Renton, Washington-based nonprofit health system hopes to maintain its Medicare Advantage operations by partnering with a national carrier, Providence President and CEO Erik Wexler said in a Wednesday news release. The company did not name the national insurer, but Wexler said it is hoping to finalize the agreement shortly. (5/20)

CMS on May 20 proposed a rule that would cap certain state Medicaid payments and align them more closely with Medicare rates. The proposed rule would create new limits for Medicaid state-directed payments and certain fee-for-service payments to reduce Medicaid spending by more than $775 billion over 10 years, including $510 billion in federal savings, according to the agency. (Condon, 5/20)

The federal government is sending nearly $8 billion in supplemental Medicaid funds to hospitals in Florida for care they delivered last year, delivering a windfall to facilities in the politically influential state ahead of the imposition of new limits stemming from President Trump’s 2025 tax cut bill. (Herman, 5/20)

Health systems, kidney care companies and primary care providers are investing millions of dollars in technology to keep chronic illnesses such as diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease and hypertension from spiraling out of control. The diseases affect three out of four adults and account for about 90% of healthcare spending, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Eastabrook, 5/20)

Memorial Hermann Health System is increasingly relying on technology to coordinate follow-up care as it works to anticipate the needs of one of the nation’s fastest-growing regions. The 18-hospital nonprofit health system has reduced costs and increased capacity by using artificial intelligence-backed digital tools to direct patients to the most appropriate care settings, President and CEO Dr. David Callender said. Reimbursement pressure and surging demand for care will drive additional investment in the system’s expansion and technology infrastructure, he said. (Kacik, 5/20)

William Floyd DeVoe, a prominent pediatrician in Towson, died May 15 of chronic health failure at Arden Courts in Ruxton. The Phoenix resident was 87.A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, Dr. DeVoe cared for children in Baltimore County for 45 years — more than half of that at St. Joseph Hospital in Towson, where he served as chief of Pediatric Medicine for 25 years. (Klingaman, 5/20)

The White House resisted allowing an American doctor exposed to Ebola while working in the Democratic Republic of Congo to return to the United States, according to five people familiar with the Ebola response who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal discussions, delaying the evacuation and care of Peter Stafford, who was ultimately transported to Germany. (Sun and Weber, 5/20)

There are now 600 suspected cases and more than 160 deaths in a growing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today, with numbers expected to rise. "Our absolute priority now is to identify all the existing chains of transmission," Chikwe Ihekweazu, MBBS, MPH, WHO emergencies chief, said today at a press conference. (Soucheray, 5/20)

The State Department said it would fund up to 50 clinics in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. “I don’t know the ones they are talking about,” a top Ugandan official said. (Bigg and Chutel, 5/21)

As the world’s leading public health officials gathered for emergency meetings in Geneva to discuss a deadly form of Ebola that’s likely circulated undetected for months in Africa, one group was missing from the table: a formal US delegation. In past outbreaks, the US often led surveillance, laboratory support and emergency response efforts through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the now-dismantled US Agency for International Development. The large field teams and hundreds of millions of dollars the US once deployed during health emergencies are also absent. (Nix and Inampudi, 5/20)

US officials are working with a small biotech company to provide an experimental treatment that may be used in patients exposed to Ebola, according to a person familiar with the matter. The closely held firm, Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc., is working with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, to deliver its drug for potential use in patients, said the person, who asked not to be identified. (Smith, 5/20)

An Air France flight bound for Detroit was redirected to Canada after a passenger from Congo boarded “in error” amid the Ebola outbreak in central Africa, officials said Wednesday. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said the agency took “decisive action” by prohibiting the flight from landing at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. (Kottke and Lo, 5/21)

A Public Health Alerts report today provides detailed information on 10 of the 11 cases of Andes hantavirus infection on passengers of the MV Hondius cruise ship, including the first passenger who contracted the disease after the index patient. (Wappes, 5/20)

Public health experts say neither virus poses an immediate threat to most Americans. But the trust deficit the viruses are exposing could be catastrophic when crisis arrives. (Messerly, Gardner and Haslett, 5/21)

Scientists have issued fresh warnings about Lyme disease as tick bites continue to climb across the United States. Emergency room visits for tick bites have climbed to the highest levels for this time of year since 2017 in every U.S. region except the South Central states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in warning earlier this morning. (King, 5/20)

Here’s a creepy-crawling fact as summer fun approaches – ticks can survive indoors for up to three weeks on hard-surface or carpeted floors, according to a study. This means folks can have a tick latch onto them despite taking proper precautions outdoors, if one of the pests hitchhikes into their home on a person or a pet, researchers reported recently in the Journal of Vector Ecology. (Thompson, 5/19)

A measles outbreak in Bangladesh that has killed almost 400 people is spreading fast, and health experts say it could carry risks even for the U.S. Most of those killed by the measles outbreak in Bangladesh in recent weeks have been children. The country's Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) says the number of suspected cases has surged to over 56,000, with regional media outlets saying many hospitals across the country are overwhelmed. (Ellery, 5/20)

After 11 infants were exposed to measles at a pediatric clinic in Utah, the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) helped administer intramuscular immunoglobulin (IMIG) as postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) and ultimately developed a protocol for statewide use amid the ongoing outbreak. None of the infants' parents declined IMIG for their child, and there were no serious or localized systemic adverse events during administration or reported in follow-up calls, reported Anna Jones, MD, of DHHS and the CDC, and colleagues. Notably, none of the infants contracted measles during the 21-day monitoring period. (Henderson, 5/20)

The United States eliminated malaria in the 1950s, but that doesn't mean this parasitic disease is gone for good, warns a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC.) The report points to a 2023 outbreak in which 10 people across four states—Arkansas, Florida, Maryland, and Texas—were infected with locally acquired mosquito-transmitted malaria. These cases were not associated with travel, which poses serious public health implications, as malaria can be a life-threatening or life-altering disease, especially for young children. (Boden, 5/20)

Officers from the state police and the Torrance County Sheriff’s Office responded to the home in Mountainair, N.M., for what was initially reported as a possible drug overdose. They found four unresponsive people inside around 11 a.m., the state police said in a statement. Three of the four have died, authorities added. ... While responding to the incident, 18 emergency officials were exposed to the substance and began experiencing symptoms including nausea and dizziness, the state police said. Those officials, and the fourth person found inside the home, were taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital for quarantine and monitoring, the state police said, adding that two officials are in serious condition. (Zhuang, 5/21)

Artificial food dyes have long been suspected to be harmful to your health. But new research shows that some of the natural color additives being turned to as alternatives are associated with an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes and cancer. (Petersen, 5/20)

The common sugar-free sweetener sorbitol may damage your liver in the same way as the older sweetener fructose, researchers found, triggering processes linked to fatty liver disease in people without a history of drinking alcohol. (Hille, 5/19)

Leafy greens such as spinach and kale and perennial kid favorites such as strawberries and grapes held the highest levels of potentially harmful pesticide residues based on government tests, according to the 2026 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce. (LaMotte, 5/19)

U.S. teens trying to build up their muscles are turning from steroids to creatine supplements, a new study says. Creatine use rose by 90% among boys and a whopping 168% among girls between 2019-2020 and 2023-2024, researchers report in the August issue of the journal Annals of Epidemiology. This happened even as steroid use fell by more than half, researchers found. (Thompson, 5/20)

The study, published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, looked into exercise as a form of exposure therapy for people who experience frequent and unexpected panic attacks. The researchers found that deliberately triggering some of the physical sensations of panic — a racing heart, shortness of breath, sweating — via sprinting was more effective than relaxation therapy in reducing the severity and frequency of panic attacks. (Krietsch, 5/20)

A small study found a surprisingly high incidence of precancerous polyps in young, extreme runners, sparking controversy and concern. (Reynolds, 5/21)

An experimental shot helped participants in a large trial lose far more weight than obesity drugs already on the market, Eli Lilly, the maker, announced on Thursday. Among the heaviest patients in the trial, the results were on par with those seen with gastric bypass surgery, the only effective treatment for most with severe obesity. (Kolata and Robbins, 5/21)

The story of type 1 diabetes begins in the pancreas, long seen as a battleground between insulin-producing beta cells and misdirected immune defenders. Scientists have been searching for ways to spot this internal warfare early enough to prevent a lifelong disease that depletes the body’s source of insulin. (Cooney, 5/20)

The gunmen who killed three people at the San Diego Islamic Center left behind a 75-page document that preached hate, anti-Islam ideology and antisemitism and promoted violence and chaos, law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation told The Times. The manifesto was titled “The New Crusade: Sons of Tarrant” and made reference to Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 people and injured 89 more in an attack on a mosque and an Islamic center in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019, according to the sources. The FBI confirmed Tuesday that it is examining a manifesto, but did not verify the one circulating online that purports to be the attackers’ writings. (Winton and St. John, 5/20)

The number of Texans receiving food assistance dropped 14% in a year, reflecting a national decline, the result not only of stricter new work requirements imposed last year by the Trump administration but also rising fears of deportation, according to advocates. (Langford and Keemahill, 5/20)

New charges have been announced by the U.S. Army against Maj. Blaine McGraw, a former obstetrician gynecologist accused of sexual crimes and previously assigned to the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center in Fort Hood, Texas. McGraw now faces a total of eight charges and 273 specifications that allegedly occurred on multiple occasions between 2019 and 2026. The total number of alleged victims in this case is now 96. It's an increase from Dec. 9, 2025, when the office announced four charges and 61 specifications against McGraw filed under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). (Mordowanec, 5/20)

With 11 days remaining in their spring legislative session, Illinois lawmakers are considering legislation that would create a state panel empowered to review the costs of prescription drug prices and whether medicine is inaccessible to those who need it the most. (Gorner, 5/20)

A new pilot program could bring a steady stream of generic drugs to some small hospitals in the Mountain West. Dozens of independent, rural hospitals in Montana, Nevada and Wyoming are eligible. (Merzbach, 5/20)

State lawmakers are proposing a bill they say would reduce administrative burden and redundancy for inspections in adult care homes, the places that manage the care for some of the state’s most vulnerable residents. (Fredde, 5/21)

An aging population, rising retirement rates and a stagnating labor market could have serious consequences for the state and its residents if left unaddressed, state demographers said Friday. Data presented to state lawmakers painted a stark picture of Michigan’s labor market, which officials say has seen little upward momentum since bouncing back from the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s not just troubling news for state officials looking at a loss of tax revenues for future budgets, but also for schools that could continue to lose students and employers that may struggle to find workers. (Hermani, 5/20)

Attorneys for a Tennessee death row inmate say they are concerned the state may be planning to use expired lethal injection drugs at his execution on Thursday, a growing concern across the country as states work to keep most information about their drugs secret. Tony Carruthers’ attorneys twice asked the Tennessee Department of Correction last month whether it had secured the appropriate drugs for his execution date and for assurance the drugs had not expired. Assistant Attorney General John W. Ayers’ response did not directly answer but said the department will comply with its lethal injection protocol — which includes regular inventory of the drugs to monitor expiration dates. (Loller, 5/20)

In January, State Senator Catelin Drey stood at a podium on the Senate floor in front of her colleagues representing all corners of Iowa. She told them that she was about to speak candidly on a topic both “personal and political.” Behind her, legislators and staffers appeared to be half-listening, looking at their laptops and flipping through papers. When she said that she had been diagnosed with uterine cancer, their heads shot up in astonishment. Drey, 38, was just weeks into her first term as a state senator. (Elkadi, 5/18)

���ϳԹ��� News: Colorado Charts Its Own Course On Vaccines Amid Federal Pullback

In response to abrupt and politicized changes to federal vaccine policy, concerned Coloradans have taken several steps to shore up support for vaccine science. A bill passed by the state legislature in March then signed into law by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis allows Colorado to further uncouple itself from federal guidance.The law allows health officials to follow the recommendations of national medical groups when making decisions such as purchasing bulk vaccines for the Medicaid program. (Daley, 5/21)

Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have identified a previously unknown trigger that helps these dormant cells “wake up” after periods of nutrient deprivation. (Schabacker, 5/21)

A new treatment for endometrial cancer demonstrated strong potential in a Phase 3 clinical trial. Drugmaker Merck announced Monday that the investigational drug sacituzumab tirumotecan (sac-TMT) met its "primary endpoints" of overall survival and progression-free survival in patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer. (Stabile, 5/20)

A shorter, more intense course of radiation therapy can safely treat prostate cancer, a new study says. Men given two larger doses of radiation had about the same side effects as others treated with the standard five-dose course, researchers reported Sunday at a meeting of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) in Stockholm. (Thompson, 5/19)

In utero gene therapy is nearing a first FDA-backed trial for GM1, a fatal neurodegenerative disease, says UCSF researcher Tippi MacKenzie. (Molteni, 5/20)

A statistical approach used to support amyloid-targeting treatment for Alzheimer's disease may lead to overstated claims about amyloid-cognition relationships, an analysis suggested. The study focused on quantile aggregation, a statistical technique that divides trial data into quantiles, averages the results of each quantile, and looks for patterns across groupings. (George, 5/20)

Researchers in Portugal studied 58 adults, ages 62 to 92, living in care homes. Thirty-eight had previously been diagnosed with a cognitive impairment. All were asked to use a digital pen and tablet to draw lines, copy sentences and write dictated phrases —under strict time limits. Seniors with cognitive impairment often took longer to begin writing, wrote more slowly and had more fragmented stroke patterns — especially during longer, more demanding sentences. (5/20)

The RSV vaccine is different from the vaccines for flu or covid. It does not have a reputation problem or a trust problem. It has an awareness problem. Most people do not know what RSV is, do not know they are at risk, and do not know there is something they can do about it. (Jess Steier, 5/19)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA movement has reshaped the public health debate. But if the coalition behind it begins to fracture, what comes next? (Tressie McMillan Cottom, Alexandra Sifferlin and David Wallace-Wells, 5/21

I was at the annual American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT) meeting in Boston when news broke last week that Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary was being ousted. The general reaction from my colleagues seemed to be a resigned sense that chaos is the new norm. (Paul Knoepfler, 5/21)

Amid another Ebola outbreak, hundreds of Africans are sick, displaced, fearful, or dead. Health care workers across Central Africa are once again caring for patients in overstretched hospitals with limited supplies, uncertain staffing, and enormous personal risk. Yet, as has happened before, the story has suddenly become about an American — in this case, a missionary and physician who became infected. (Krutika Kuppalli, 5/20)

Oronde McClain was only 10 when he was shot in the head while caught in the gunfire of a drive-by shooting. He had to learn how to walk and talk again after an eight-week coma and the removal of one-third of his brain. (Adeiyewunmi [Ade] Osinubi, 5/21)