Health

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration on Friday gave its approval for COVID-19 vaccines for children age 5 and younger.  The shots could start as early as next week if, as expected, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention... Read More

WASHINGTON — Health experts told a Senate panel Thursday the drop in COVID-19 infections in the past few months should not lull them into complacency as the potentially deadly virus continues to mutate. Without additional preparation, the nation’s health care... Read More

WASHINGTON — A report released by the Heritage Foundation on June 13 examines whether easing teenagers’ access to cross-sex medical interventions, such as puberty blockers and hormones, protects against adolescent suicide. “Unfortunately, many parents are being told they have a... Read More

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on June 15 the release of four new drinking water health advisories for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS. PFAS are a class of toxic chemicals found in food packaging and other common commercial products... Read More

A recent report from Leading Age, a nonprofit advocacy organization, finds that home health nurse case managers with smaller caseloads typically have better quality of care and patient satisfaction ratings.  The report, titled the “National Healthcare at Home Best Practices and Future... Read More

On Wednesday, a panel of advisors from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Moderna’s two-shot vaccine series for kids under 5 years and Pfizer’s three-shot vaccine series for kids under 4.  Moderna’s two shots are found to prevent severe... Read More

A study published on June 7 from researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital shows that there is a growing life expectancy gap between Democratic and Republican counties.  The findings, published in the British Medical Journal, found a “mortality gap,” meaning there is... Read More

A report from the two largest cancer centers in the United States released on June 14 finds that the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted clinical trials for cancer treatment and care.  Published in the Annals of Oncology, the multi-center study evaluated clinical trial activities... Read More

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System announced on June 7 that they will launch a study to examine if exposure to toxic burn pits can be linked to numerous health problems.  The study will... Read More

A study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine on June 9 from researchers in Hawaii finds that independent labs are earning huge profits from Polymerase Chain Reaction testing, which could impact health care premiums.  Prior research has examined the variation... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted on Tuesday to advance legislation that will reauthorize a number of important U.S. Food and Drug Administration user fee programs. “This is the most important, comprehensive FDA legislation... Read More

WASHINGTON — When Sholanda Thomas, 38, an inmate at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, sent her own and other inmates’ personal identifying information to a friend on parole, she had the intention of committing pandemic fraud. Thomas falsely... Read More

The U.S. government failed to take basic steps at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic to prevent fraud in a federal aid program intended to help small businesses, depleting the funds and making Americans more vulnerable to identity theft, the head of... Read More

WASHINGTON — The White House released an operational plan for COVID-19 vaccinations for children under 5 on Thursday. Next week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will consider whether to authorize and recommend the... Read More

The DC Public Health Lab confirmed on June 5 the first positive orthopoxvirus and potential monkeypox case in Washington, D.C.  The patient is currently in isolation, with close contacts being monitored. So far no other known cases have been identified. As of... Read More

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open on June 1 shows the COVID-19 pandemic worsened racial and ethnic disparities in the use of medications to treat patients with opioid use disorder. During the pandemic, overdose rates... Read More

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended an emergency use authorization for a COVID-19 vaccine from Novavax, Inc. on Tuesday, the second non-mRNA–based vaccine to be used in the U.S. The FDA held an all-day Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee... Read More

A study published on June 5 in The New England Journal of Medicine shows that a drug called Enhertu can lower the risk of disease progression and death from low metastatic breast cancer by 50%.  The drug is an antibody-chemotherapy combination distributed... Read More

The National Institutes of Health released a statement on June 1 that people with food allergies are less likely to be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 infection than people without food allergies.  The statement relates to the Human Epidemiology and... Read More

Members of the House introduced a new bill on June 3, which would allow military medical facilities to perform and pay for abortions for service members and dependents. The move comes as Roe v. Wade, a legal case that protects abortion rights in... Read More

WASHINGTON — Families are already enjoying one of the benefits of the No Surprises Act, a law that passed in 2020 and became effective as of Jan. 1, 2022, to ban surprise medical billing practices by medical providers.  “This report shows... Read More

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is currently working to implement a new framework aimed at transforming food systems, especially for underserved communities. “It’s a new way of thinking about how to transform the food system to meet the... Read More

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Cy​​bersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has issued a series of warnings to health care systems and other organizations that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could increase the risk of malicious cyberattacks. The agency now seeks to increase... Read More

WASHINGTON — Telehealth service providers offering abortion pills by mail have been preparing for service changes that could occur by the end of the month if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, a legal case which has protected... Read More

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee will hold an advisory meeting on June 7 to consider an emergency use authorization for the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine for use in adults 18 and older.  One of the... Read More

A report released on May 31 from Kaufman Hall, a health care management consulting company, shows that U.S. hospitals and health systems experienced low volumes of patients in April and saw revenues plummet. According to the analysis, which is based on data... Read More

Kaiser Permanente, an integrated managed care consortium based in California, announced on May 29 that it will establish a Center for Gun Violence Research and Education to better understand how to prevent gun violence and the health implications it has on society. ... Read More

Reps. Tom O’Halleran, D-Ariz., Adrian Smith, R-Neb., and Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., introduced legislation on May 24 to enable rural health providers to continue operating and treating patients by extending telehealth flexibilities implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The Connecting Rural Telehealth... Read More

The National Library of Medicine awarded $1.2 million to researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina and Clemson University to establish a training program for data scientists on health inequities. The program, SC BIDS4HEALTH, will recruit individuals from the... Read More

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Public Health Agency of Canada and other partners, issued an advisory on May 28 that there has been a multistate outbreak of hepatitis A infections in... Read More