Tara Bannow

James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.

A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.

Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."

Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫

Hospitals get dinged for reporting too many infections. In some cases, the solution is not to test A STAT Investigation: To avoid fines for reporting excessive hospital-acquired infections, some facilities are discouraging testing.

This story shouldn’t get lost in the rush of health policy news this week:

Hospitals get dinged for reporting too many infections. In some cases, the solution is not to test

Via @tarabannow.bsky.social

www.statnews.com/2025/09/22/h...

Federal judge vacates rule that would have ramped up Medicare Advantage audits A federal judge on Thursday vacated a Biden-era rule that would have allowed the government to intensify its audits of private Medicare plans.

Big news from yesterday: Federal judge vacates rule that would have ramped up Medicare Advantage audits www.statnews.com/2025/09/25/f... via @statnews.com

STAT's 10-year anniversary sale Join us as we mark a decade of health, medicine, and science reporting and access award-winning journalism, discounted event tickets and merch, and more.

If you just cancelled Disney+ and you’re wondering what do to with that extra money, one option: STAT is running a big sale right now, you can get 10 months for $10 marketing.statnews.com/stat-10th-st...

HHS abruptly cancels CDC meeting with RFK Jr., anti-vaccine activist as scrutiny mounts HHS abruptly canceled a CDC meeting between RFK Jr. and anti-vaccine activist David Geier just hours before they were set to gather.

HHS abruptly cancels CDC meeting with RFK Jr., anti-vaccine activist as scrutiny mounts www.statnews.com/2025/09/17/r... via @rosebroderick.bsky.social @statnews.com

10 times STAT coverage reverberated through health and medicine In its first decade, STAT has led the way in charting seismic events in health and medicine. To mark our 10-year anniversary, take a look back at 10 of our most impactful stories.

Happy 10th birthday, STAT! So proud to be part of this tireless and incredibly talented newsroom.

Here's a look at the 10 times STAT coverage reverberated through health and medicine www.statnews.com/2025/09/09/s... via @statnews.com

UnitedHealth CEO says some parts of business need ‘fundamental reorientation’ With health insurers under pressure, UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley said that some parts of the business need "fundamental reorientation."

UnitedHealth CEO says some parts of business need ‘fundamental reorientation’ www.statnews.com/2025/07/29/u... via @statnews.com

UnitedHealth confirms DOJ investigations into Medicare practices, says it’s cooperating UnitedHealth is facing criminal and civil investigations into its Medicare practices

UnitedHealth confirms DOJ investigations into Medicare practices, says it’s cooperating www.statnews.com/2025/07/24/u... via @statnews.com

Medicare proposes ‘efficiency’ pay cuts that would hit highly paid specialists the most Medicare is proposing cuts to how much it pays doctors for many medical procedures, scans, and tests.

The first Medicare physician payment rule under RFK Jr. proposes cuts to thousands of procedures, scans, and tests because doctors have gotten more "efficient" over time. Specialty physicians, and the AMA, are big mad. more w/ @tarabannow.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2025/07/16/m...

California stem cell agency shutting down unique human tissue biobank The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and its partners are selling thousands of stem cell samples before many of them are discarded.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine owns a stem cell biobank that was once the largest of its kind in the world. But it's now racing to sell off thousands of samples before many of them are discarded. To understand why, see my latest for @statnews.com
www.statnews.com/2025/07/11/s...

Supreme Court rejects challenge to free preventive care, bolsters RFK Jr.'s power The SCOTUS decision preserves free preventive health care and sets the stage for a bigger role for RFK Jr. in determining what's covered.

Supreme Court rejects challenge to free preventive care, bolsters RFK Jr.’s power www.statnews.com/2025/06/27/s... via @statnews.com

YouTube video by STAT Did RFK Jr. break a promise he made to GOP Senator?

New video- my new @statnews.com colleague @chelseacirruzzo.bsky.social and I chat about RFK Jr.'s dismissal of all the members of ACIP, CDC's vaccine advisory board. Also I'm going to be doing a video every week now so please wish me luck (and like & subscribe plz) youtu.be/brVDswDpaeQ

The shrewd startup founder who led DOGE’s cost-cutting at HHS The relentless drumbeat of cuts to U.S. government research and disease prevention have devastated tens of thousands of affected workers and academics. To

The man at the center of DOGE's health care cuts has quite the history: Top execs from a startup he founded feel he ripped them off & lower-level workers say their jobs were to cut services from vulnerable patients.

shorturl.at/Y7d7m via @statnews.com

Reeling from Trump contract cuts, the National Academies prepares for ‘a fairly radical downsizing’ Nation's leading advisory body on issues of science and technology is "preparing for a fairly radical downsizing."

Reeling from Trump contract cuts, the National Academies prepares for ‘a fairly radical downsizing’ www.statnews.com/2025/05/23/n... via @statnews.com

@nejm.org Editor-in-Chief Eric Rubin says at #STATBreakthrough he was writing an NIH grant on the plane coming here. Encouraged audience members to keep applying, even as federal funding is cut.

"It’s like the lottery. You can’t win unless you buy a ticket. No one knows what’s going to happen."

On the Trump admin's cuts to science funding, American Public Health Association executive director Georges Benjamin said at #STATBreakthrough: "We're not using science. We've taken apart the public health infrastructure. And the truth of the matter is, as they say, we're up the creek."

"When you're already in crisis w/your family member, there’s this added stress of, ‘This care is going to end and you’re going to have to figure out what you're going to do.'" -Megan Bent, whose dad died after his Medicare Advantage plan stopped paying for inpatient rehab #STATBreakthrough

On all the 🤑health tech IPOs lately (Omada, Hims, Hinge), Lux Capital's Deena Shakir says: "I think all of this is not a coincidence. I think it’s a referendum and it's foretelling for what next year and the years to come will bring for digital health." #STATBreakthrough

On pharma's AI ambitions, Ryan Fukushima of AI precision med co Tempus says the big Q is whether docs actually change their decisions based on his company's insights. If they do, "the datasets can scale quite dramatically" in oncology, neuropsych, rare diseases. #STATBreakthrough

Speaking at #STATBreakthrough, former FDA Commissioner Robert Califf says current HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s opinions on vaccination are not at all irrelevant. "I think he's flat-out wrong and doing harm to the American people with what he's saying."

Trump targets health care costs with executive order on drug price negotiations, hospital payments Trump's order is designed to reduce health care costs for older adults and people with disabilities, but the path to implementation is far from assured.

Trump's latest executive order seeks to lower drug prices and 340B payments to providers, but most of it can't happen without further rulemaking or buy-in from Congress. www.statnews.com/2025/04/15/t... via @statnews.com

Oz moves closer to role running Medicare, Medicaid on party-line vote Dr. Oz, a former heart surgeon and TV host, is closer to becoming CMS administrator after clearing a key Senate committee vote.

Oz moves closer to role running Medicare, Medicaid on party-line vote www.statnews.com/2025/03/25/d... via @statnews.com

Medicare and Medicaid Under Dr. Oz: What to Expect A closer look at the surgeon-turned-TV-star President Trump wants in charge of Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare.

I talked w/@tradeoffs.org about Dr. Oz, the surgeon-turned-TV star who's poised to lead CMS: what I learned reporting on him and what we can glean from his Senate hearing.

Come for the policy, stay to hear me laugh while trying to sound professional.
tradeoffs.org/2025/03/20/m...

RFK Jr. moves to eliminate public comment in HHS decisions HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. moved to rescind the longtime practice of giving the public a chance to comment on the health agency’s plans.

RFK Jr. moves to eliminate public comment in HHS decisions www.statnews.com/2025/02/28/r... via @statnews.com

Under siege after a tragedy, UnitedHealth grapples with fresh security threats and a customer backlash Heightened security at UnitedHealth Group's Minnesota headquarters in the wake of a top executive’s killing is the most conspicuous sign of a company under siege.

After a top UnitedHealth Group exec was killed, his colleagues have gotten truly scary threats against themselves & their families. Police visited the campus more in 2 months than in preceding 2 yrs.

But some feel UnitedHealth's tactic of attacking critics is "a huge mistake."

shorturl.at/DCYDB

Dr. Oz plans to sell insurance, hospital, and pharma stocks, step down from supplement company if confirmed Dr. Oz's assets range from a tree trimming company to a cattle farm to UnitedHealth stock, and they're worth up to $293 million.

New disclosures show Dr. Oz is worth up to ~$300 million. He's pledged to sell insurance, hospital, and pharma stocks + step down from supplement company if confirmed as CMS administrator.

www.statnews.com/2025/02/19/d... via @statnews.com

FDA’s former top food official says Trump firings are ‘dismantling’ the division The former head of the FDA's food division told STAT he resigned because cuts made by the Trump administration imperil the agenda set forth by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

In candid interview @matthewherper.bsky.social, FDA’s former top food official says Trump firings -- incl 31% of food additives group -- will undercut RFK Jr.'s MAHA agenda

“There’s nothing strategic about it, nothing thoughtful about it."

www.statnews.com/2025/02/18/f... via @statnews.com

Drug inspectors, AI experts, maternal health workers: Trump’s health agency cuts are far-reaching In interview after interview with STAT, those who were fired from federal health and science agencies, along with officials who remain, argued the cuts would be deeply felt.

Federal workers--drug inspectors, AI & maternal health experts--fired for "poor performance," despite positive past reviews.

“It was just, ‘We want to get rid of you and we don’t have a good reason, so we’re going to make up one.’”

www.statnews.com/2025/02/17/t... @statnews.com

Trump policies spark fears of brain drain, threatening to undermine U.S. dominance in biomedicine A torrent of Trump administration policies is alarming scientists who fear the current climate is weakening researchers’ resolve to stick with careers in academic science.

“There’s a fire sale on American academics right now." -@carlbergstrom.com

Trump policies spark fears of brain drain, threatening to undermine U.S. dominance in biomedicine www.statnews.com/2025/02/12/t... via @statnews.com

Halt on Trump administration’s cuts to NIH research payments expanded nationwide A federal judge issued a nationwide temporary pause on plans by the NIH to substantially slash research overhead payments

Halt on Trump administration’s cuts to NIH research payments expanded nationwide www.statnews.com/2025/02/11/j... via @jonathanwosen.bsky.social @statnews.com