Management
How cyber vulnerabilities and workforce cuts threaten the crisis lifeline program
A bipartisan, bicameral measure is hoping to prevent cyber incidents from limiting access to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline after a 2022 attack on a system operator disrupted calls to the hotline.
Tech
Deep cuts hit HHS tech offices
Current employees say that dramatic cuts to leadership and career staff within FDA and HHS have left critical projects at risk.
Pay & Benefits
Public Health Service officers would receive military leave benefits under bipartisan bill
The Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service is one of the uniformed services, which are associated with the armed forces, but don’t receive the same paid leave benefits.
Workforce
Cancer researchers, opioid abuse analysts, infectious disease experts: Layoffs at HHS begin to take shape
Tears and added security greeted employees unexpectedly turned away from their offices Tuesday.
Transition
They worked to prevent death. The Trump administration fired them.
While the White House hasn't provided official figures, swathes of federal employees from across the public health sector, from organ donation to neonatal care, have been let go in the early days of the second Trump administration.
Updated
Management
Senate confirms RFK Jr. to lead HHS
Kennedy’s confirmation comes during a legal battle over whether the National Institutes of Health can cap the percentage of funding it provides for indirect research costs.
Transition
Democrats worry RFK Jr. could purge ‘thousands’ of federal health employees
Trump’s nominee for Health and Human Services secretary said that NIH, FDA and CDC would be integral in his objective to prevent chronic disease.
Management
Will civil service protections hold up against RFK Jr.’s threats to the federal public health workforce?
Kennedy, Trump’s pick to lead HHS, has talked openly about removing swaths of civil servants at FDA and NIH.
Oversight
HHS to crack down on providers blocking access to electronic medical records
The Health and Human Services Department has received more than a thousand claims of blocked or stymied access to electronic health record information in recent years.
News
States, tribes get $1.5B in federal grants to fight the opioid epidemic
The federal funds will support substance use prevention and treatment efforts, workforce capacity building and access to medications to reduce addiction.
Management
FDA greenlights a new COVID vaccine after a summer of rising numbers of cases
While the death rate from COVID-19 steadily decreased during the first half of the year, it began ticking up slightly in June, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Oversight
The FDA calls them ‘recalls,’ yet the targeted medical devices often remain in use
When it comes to medical devices, recalls can include not only “removals,” in which the device is removed from where it is used or sold, but also “corrections,” which address the problem in the field.
Management
USDA to take ‘additional step’ in testing beef from former dairy cattle for bird flu
The undersecretary for food safety at the USDA said Tuesday that the new testing program follows three studies undertaken during the spring and summer that all found beef in the nation’s food supply is safe to eat.
Management
How the FDA could shape the future of psychedelics research
To move the drugs forward, manufacturers may need to follow the agency’s advice for elevating the quality of evidence.
Management
ICE detainees suffer preventable deaths
ICE detention facilities suffer from outdated systems, a lack of translation services – and a penchant for releasing ailing detainees to reduce the death count. A Q&A with a medical researcher examines systemic failures.
Management
Federal funding for major science agencies is at a 25-year low
Research funding is down in recent years despite promises made with the CHIPS and Science Act.
Management
‘We’re flying blind’: CDC has 1 million bird flu tests ready, but experts see repeat of COVID missteps
Three months into the U.S. bird flu outbreak, only 45 people have been tested. Laboratories say their path forward has been slowed by miscommunication and uncertainty.
Management
Bird Flu tests are hard to get. So how will we know when to sound the pandemic alarm?
If the government doesn’t prepare to ramp up H5N1 bird flu testing, researchers warn, the United States could be caught off guard again by a pandemic.
Management
White House enlists doctors and hospitals to combat gun violence
Calling gun violence a “public health crisis,” the Biden administration is asking state and local health departments, health systems and hospitals to boost their data collection on emergency room visits for firearm-related injuries.
Workforce