Katie O'Connor

States to end nutrition education programs after Trump cuts On a warm September day in the courtyard of a San Francisco senior living community, a dozen residents shake their hips and throw their hands in the air to the beat of, fittingly, Earth, Wind & Fire's "September."

"It's definitely like a catastrophic situation for public health nutrition,” said Leah's Pantry founder and executive director Adrienne Markworth.

www.reuters.com/world/us/sta...

Hospitals, doctors face virtual care cliff with telehealth, hospital at home services on the line Medicare beneficiaries stand to lose access to two key virtual care programs that the federal government has offered since the start of the pandemic if the government shuts down Tuesday a | Medicare v...

"For the first time, the CMS has provided a notice that directs hospitals to transport Medicare patients in the hospital at home program back to a brick-and-mortar facility or discharge them if the program authority runs out."
www.fiercehealthcare.com/regulatory/t...

Trump's Pronatalist Agenda Weaponizes Motherhood to Push Women Out of Public Life the Trump administration's pronatalist agenda weaponizes motherhood to push women out of public life and into domestic roles.

The @nwlc.org warns that pronatalist policies like baby bonuses and motherhood medals are designed to control women’s bodies rather than genuinely support families.

As black lung cases continue to climb, silica rule delay leaves miners vulnerable It is one of the most significant occupational diseases, and black lung has made a resurgence in recent years, even with the decline of the coal industry. In a

"Bounds, who lives in Oak Hill now, is one of thousands in the state who need oxygen and nebulizer treatments just to get through the day. The CDC estimates that about one in five miners in Appalachia is impacted by the disease."

wchstv.com/news/local/a...

Federal Report on Drinking Is Withdrawn

Federal Report on Drinking Is Withdrawn
The upcoming U.S. Dietary Guidelines will instead be influenced by a competing study, favored by industry, which found that moderate alcohol consumption was healthy.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/h...

Kennedy might not get his way on pesticides, draft MAHA strategy shows The White House has worked to temper Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s agenda after weeks of backlash from industry groups.

NO PAYWALL:

We have copies of the MAHA report.

Farm groups are pleased, but key parts of the MAHA coalition are not happy with the report’s soft touch on pesticides.

“There are way too many industry influences on things,” one MAHA supporter told me.

@politico.com

Staff cuts are undermining federal research on how to make health care better AHRQ has been gutted by staff cuts that leave it unable to fund research designed to improve care.

AHRQ, the federal agency once prized by health care researchers, has been "decimated" @chelseacirruzzo.bsky.social
reports. With ~ 90% of its workers gone following Trump admin cuts and early retirements, AHRQ can't distribute grants or perform other key functions

www.statnews.com/2025/08/13/f...

The Moral Injury of Denying Gender-Affirming Care This essay describes the author’s response to legislation on gender-affirming care.

"The fear that I see in patients’ eyes is not theoretical; it is lived. It is the resurgence of long-buried wounds, the echoes of past bullying and rejection now amplified by a government that seeks to erase their very existence."

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

In a First, Trump and GOP-Led Congress Prepare To Swell Ranks of U.S. Uninsured - KFF Health News Fewer Americans will likely have health insurance, compromising their physical and financial health, as the Trump administration and GOP-controlled Congress weigh major changes to the Affordable Care ...

NEWS: Trump and his GOP allies are pursuing policies that would intentionally cause millions of Americans to become uninsured. There's no precedent.

kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

"Former foster youth who describe the humiliation of using garbage bags during such moves have spent months calling attention to the problem, through advocacy campaigns and public demonstrations."

New York is only the 4th state to end the use of trash bags.

10.9 million people would lose health insurance under Trump’s tax cut bill, CBO projects 'Big, beautiful bill' would result in 10.9 million people losing health insurance, primarily Medicaid.

#Breaking: 10.9 million people would lose health insurance under Trump’s tax cut bill, CBO projects buff.ly/DnBihzo

Silence on E. Coli Outbreak Highlights How Trump Team’s Changes Undermine Food Safety - KFF Health News Food safety inspections are being scaled back and the public was not notified after an investigation into E. coli contamination.

"From failing to publicize a major outbreak to scaling back safety alert specialists and rules, the Trump administration’s anti-regulatory and cost-cutting push risks unraveling a critical system that helps ensure the safety of the U.S. food supply."

kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

I think APA issued a great response to the letter. "Gender-affirming care, in its many forms, is a treatment option that has been shown to help patients with gender dysphoria."

Read the letter and APA's response here: psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/...

The study found that most breast reduction surgeries among minors were performed on cisgender males.

This makes me wonder what the issue is really about - are we really worried about youth getting surgeries? Seems the concerns are misplaced, if so.

A Harvard news release issued with that study noted that, "The study also found that cisgender minors and adults had substantially higher utilization of analogous gender-affirming surgeries than their TGD counterparts."

hsph.harvard.edu/news/gender-...

Let's add context instead of using raw numbers. A 2024 study found that, in 2019, the rate of youth who had gender-affirming surgery was 2.1 per 100,000 minors aged 15 to 17; 0.1 per 100,000 minors aged 13 to 14; and 0 among minors aged 12 or younger. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

The author takes issue with my claim in the story that “surgeries are very rare among youth," claiming the reader should be the judge. The letter cites a 2023 study that 3,678 minors (aged 12 to 18) had gender-affirming care surgeries between 2016 and 2020.

In a letter to the editor, a group claimed that my story about executive orders that target transgender people took "a one-sided approach to the debate on the care of transgender youth."

These are my thoughts:

(Read the story here:
psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/...)

Fate of Black Maternal Health Programs Is Unclear Amid Federal Cuts - KFF Health News In California, Black women are at least three times as likely as white women to die from pregnancy-related causes. Santa Clara County initiatives aimed at reducing racial disparities work but depend o...

In California, Black women are at least three times as likely as white women to die of pregnancy-related causes. Black infants have the highest rates of preterm birth and mortality. But programs to address racial disparities appear at risk. kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

"About two-thirds of Republican-leaning parents are unaware of an uptick in measles cases this year while about two-thirds of Democratic ones knew about it, according to a KFF survey released Wednesday."

Read the full story here: psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/...

If the administration really wants to curtail Medicaid’s and Medicare’s budgets, it would be better served by making the small investments in system improvement that SAMHSA leads—as opposed to continuing the inefficient ways that mental health services are delivered, said said Michael Flaum, M.D.

“I am very concerned that these severe and relapsing chronic diseases of serious mental illness and substance use disorder... will get lost in the jockeying for priority that will occur as this new entity takes shape,” Elinore McCance-Katz, M.D., Ph.D., who led SAMHSA during the first Trump term.

Much of the recent progress related to mental health and substance use achieved over the last several years has been thanks in large part to SAMHSA, said Margie Balfour, M.D., Ph.D. “It felt like they had hit their stride. To go backwards puts everything they’ve accomplished at risk.”

Under a massive restructuring, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will become part of the new Administration for a Healthy America.

Mental health and substance use experts are worried.

HHS terminated about $11 billion in grants, including $1 billion from SAMHSA that was meant to help states respond to the mental health ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week, a judge blocked that termination.

psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/...

Harvard Medical physicians sue over removal of articles mentioning 'LGBTQ' from government website The ACLU, which represents the plaintiffs, says that the Trump administration has "no business dictating what facts are permissible, or dictating what views researchers....can express."

Two physicians are suing the Trump administration over the removal of two research papers from a government website, because they included the terms “LGBTQ” and “trans(gender).”

‘Deliberate trauma’: SAMHSA employees detail a federal agency in shambles Staff cuts at SAMSHA will imperil federal efforts to curb suicides and drug overdose deaths, employees say.

Excellent reporting on the chaos, staff reduction, and demoralization taking place across SAMHSA via @rosebroderick.bsky.social

www.statnews.com/2025/03/12/s...

“The FDA’s decision comes on the backs of so many people who have needlessly died by suicide,” said Gopal Vyas, D.O., “including many who needed clozapine but never received the drug.”

Read here: psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/...

A doctor shared a story about a patient who was stabilized on clozapine three years prior, was working, no longer suicidal, and doing great on the medication.

Then an outpatient psychiatrist discontinued the clozapine after just one low neutrophil count. The patient died by suicide 48 hours later.