Judge orders HHS, CDC and FDA to restore deleted webpages with health information
By Melissa Quinn
cbsnews.com – A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration to restore webpages and data that had been scrubbed in compliance with President Trump’s executive order on gender ideology while litigation moves forward.
U.S. District Judge John Bates agreed to grant a temporary restraining order sought by the group Doctors for America, which argued that its members used the websites when treating patients and conducting research. The nonprofit organization said that the removal of the webpages by the Department of Health and Human Services and its components violated federal law.
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Healthcare lobbying 2025: Here are the top policy issues for hospitals, payers, docs and tech
By Dave Muoio, Emma Beavins, Noah Tong
fiercehealthcare.com – 2025 promises to be a year of particular policy upheaval, and few know that better than healthcare associations caught in the crossroads of funding battles, regulatory upheaval and intense public scrutiny.
Large swaths of the industry are looking to Congress and the newly active Trump administration for relief from macroeconomic pain points like inflation or more novel developments like tariffs.
As Republican lawmakers begin poring over spending lines to tackle the deficit and offset promised tax cuts ahead of March’s budget reconciliation, healthcare lobbyists are hoping they’ll be able to extend favorable spending policies and fend off potential program cuts.
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Study finds rare vision issues in taking GLP-1 weight loss drugs
By Steph Whiteside
thehill.com – A small number of patients taking GLP-1 weight loss medications have experienced loss of vision, but researchers say they have not established a direct link to the drugs.
A new study published in JAMA Opthalmology focused on patients using semaglutide, which is marketed under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic, and tirzepatide, which is marketed as Mounjaro and Zepbound.
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Almost Half of Rural Americans Face Long Drives for Surgery
By Ernie Mundell HealthDay Reporter
usnews.com – As closures of rural hospitals across the United States continue, more Americans are facing hour-plus drives to reach surgical centers, two new reports find.
By 2020, data show, 99 million Americans already had trouble finding “timely, high-quality and affordable surgical care,” according to a news release from the University of Michigan.
The situation is most dire for people living in rural areas.
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US Actions Have Serious Impact on Global Health, WHO Chief Says
By Jennifer Rigby and Mariam Sunny
usnews.com – The United States’ pause on foreign aid contributions is having a serious impact on global health, hitting programmes fighting polio, HIV and other threats, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.
Tedros urged the U.S. to consider resuming aid funding until solutions can be found.
“There are actions that the U.S. government is taking… which we’re concerned are having a serious impact on global health,” said Tedros in a virtual press conference from Geneva.
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Class action suit over UnitedHealth’s AI care denials nears key moment
By Bob Herman
statnews.com – A federal judge will soon decide whether a class action lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group and its algorithm-based care denials can move forward, which would potentially open the door for attorneys to sift through the company’s internal communications.
The lawsuit, in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, alleges that UnitedHealth and its subsidiary NaviHealth relied on flawed algorithms to cut off essential rehabilitative care to sick and injured Medicare Advantage beneficiaries. It was first filed in 2023 after a series of STAT stories revealed the company’s practices.
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