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First Edition

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES

KFF Health News: Cosmetic Surgery Investigation Prompts Warnings For Patients, And A Push For Tighter Safety Standards An investigation into cosmetic surgery chains by KFF Health News and NBC News has prompted consumer warnings from industry groups representing plastic surgeons and a call for more transparency around physician disciplinary actions in California. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons, which represents 12,000 doctors, is now warning patients to "do their homework" before getting liposuction, a Brazilian butt lift, a "Mommy Makeover," or other cosmetic procedures. (Schulte, 3/11)

KFF Health News: Primary Care Is In Trouble. So Doctors Band Together To Boost Their Market Power Western Massachusetts, a patchwork of rural communities and low-income cities, is a difficult place to find a primary care doctor if you don't already have one. Frustrated patients often turn to online forums, asking for leads or advice on how to find a practice that is accepting new patients. One name repeatedly crops up in these discussions: Valley Medical Group. (Brown, 3/11)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute' Zach Dyer reads the week's news: The Trump administration is calling for sharp restrictions on direct-to-consumer drug ads, and for some people facing skyrocketing health insurance costs, becoming eligible for Medicare because of a new diagnosis is a terrible irony. (Cook, 3/10)

VACCINES

The Washington Post: RFK Jr.'s Vaccine Advisers Drop Proposal To Revisit Covid-19 Shot A key federal vaccine advisory panel has abandoned an attack on the covid-19 mRNA vaccines — a shift that comes as some Republicans warn that any more changes to vaccine policy could damage the party in the midterms. Some of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s handpicked vaccine advisers had been seeking to potentially stop recommending mRNA shots. That plan is no longer moving forward, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations. (Sun and Roubein, 3/11)

The New York Times: In Talking To Parents About Vaccines, Pediatricians Navigate A Sea Of Misinformation Practitioners nationwide are striving to do what's best for children's health, while staying supportive in the face of mistrust and confusion. (Mandavilli, 3/11)

AUTISM

NBC News: FDA Approves New Use Of The Drug Leucovorin — But Not For Autism The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday announced a new approved use for the drug leucovorin, a synthetic form of vitamin B9 that the Trump administration has touted as a treatment for autism symptoms. But the new approval is not for autism — it's for cerebral folate deficiency, a rare neurological condition characterized by low levels of vitamin B9 in the brain. (Bendix, 3/10)

The Wall Street Journal: The Boom In Autism Therapy Is Medicaid's Fastest-Growing Jackpot When Meghann Mitchell first launched her autism-therapy business in 2019, she took aim at an unlikely source of profit: Indiana's taxpayer-funded Medicaid program, the public insurance system for the poor. The bet paid off. In 2023, the state paid Mitchell's company, Piece by Piece Autism Centers, $29 million to provide therapy to just 84 patients—about $340,000 a child—according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Medicaid billing records. (Weaver, McGinty and Wilde Mathews, 3//10)

MORE ON THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

The Washington Post: Whistleblower Claims Ex-DOGE Member Says He Took Social Security Data To New Job The Social Security Administration's internal watchdog is investigating a complaint that alleges a former U.S. DOGE Service employee claimed he had access to two highly sensitive agency databases and planned to share the information with his private employer — a claim that, if true, would constitute an unprecedented breach of security protocols at an agency that serves more than 70 million Americans. (Kornfield, Dwoskin and Rein, 3/10)

MedPage Today: RFK Jr. Reportedly Had Rotator Cuff Surgery HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was having rotator cuff surgery Tuesday, a spokesperson told MedPage Today. Kennedy plans to return to the office March 16, the spokesperson said. That person did not provide details about the reason for the procedure or which shoulder was repaired, and did not provide an update on his condition. Since his tenure at HHS began, Kennedy has frequently engaged in various physical activities publicly to promote his "Make America Healthy Again" agenda, including doing pull-ups at an airport event. (McCreary, 3/10)

The 19th: The Pediatrician Moms Standing Up For Children In Immigration Detention Dr. Lara Jones still remembers her visceral reaction to the image of Liam Ramos. It wasn't the most famous one, of the 5-year-old boy in a blue bunny winter hat and superhero backpack with ICE officers behind him. It was one from days later, of Liam slumped in his father's arms while both were in custody in Texas. (Rodriguez, 3/10)

The Guardian: How Trump Turmoil Is Driving More People To The Therapist's Office: 'This Is All Upside Down' When Rebecca McFaul woke up in her small farmhouse in Logan, Utah, on a cold January day, she felt the same way she'd been feeling for months: "A certain kind of terror and horror at it all." Most of her family lives in Minnesota, and for weeks, she'd watched from afar as families were taken by agents, activists were shot and tear gas hung in the air. A music professor at Utah State University, she'd spent the day with her students, but struggled to focus. Then she came home and read more bad news, this time, a piece in the newspaper about two Maga influencers railing against the dangers of compassion in response to the detainment of 5-year-old Liam Ramos in Minneapolis. "It was such a betrayal on every level," McFaul said. "Of sisterhood, of motherhood, of decency." (Sanders, 3/8)

TRANSGENDER CARE

The 19th: SAVE America Act: Trump Wants To Include Anti-Trans Language In The Bill Though the SAVE America Act (formerly the SAVE Act) cleared the House in February, the Senate has avoided taking it up for a vote. Now, President Donald Trump has raised a series of demands that won't make its passage any easier. Trump announced in a weekend social media post that he would "not sign other bills until this is passed, and not the watered down version — go for the gold," a revision that could now put anti-trans measures in the bill. (Martinez and Rummler, 3/10)

The Texas Tribune: In El Paso, SB 14 Hindered Care For Kids Who Aren't Transgender Gabrielle Jones-Radtke has lived in El Paso for nearly her entire life. She loves El Paso — its community, its culture, its recent growth — but her favorite factor is its predictability. "If you're young, you know, maybe that's not the best thing," Jones-Radtke said. "But once you get older and have a family, predictability is everything." But a series of unpredictable circumstances is forcing her to move her family about 25 miles away to New Mexico. (Johnstone, 3/10)

MEDICARE

The Wall Street Journal: Seniors Paid Billions In Extra Premiums Due To Alleged Medicare Overpayments The average American senior's Medicare premiums last year were about 10% higher, or more than $200 annually, because of alleged overpayments to private Medicare Advantage plans, congressional investigators found. Medicare Part B premiums that most seniors pay were partly pushed up by controversial health-insurer practices such as adding diagnoses to trigger higher payments, according to the Joint Economic Committee, a bipartisan group of lawmakers that advises Congress on financial matters. (Weaver and Wilde Mathews, 3/10)

The Hill: Alleged Overpayments To Medicare Advantage Plans Cost Seniors Billions, Investigation Finds A new report released by the bipartisan Senate Joint Economic Committee (JEC) on Tuesday found that overpaying for Medicare Advantage (MA) plans caused Medicare Part B premiums to rise across the board. According to the JEC's report, overpayments to MA plans caused standard monthly Medicare Part B premiums to go from $185 in 2025 to $203 in 2026. The report defined "overpayments" as the difference between what the federal government government paid for MA plans versus Traditional Medicare (TM) plans. When payments to MA plans exceeds those for TM plans, premiums go up for both groups. (Choi, 3/10)

CBS News: CBS News Investigation: Hundreds Of LA Hospices Have Multiple Indicators Of Fraud At age 69, Lynn Ianni is a pickleball whiz, zipping from dinks to drives energetically. When she suffered an injury on the court two years ago, she sought physical therapy, and was surprised to learn her Medicare insurance wouldn't cover it. She was, according to Medicare records, dying and in hospice. "They said, 'you're in hospice.' And I said, 'what? What are you talking about?" Ianni said. "'Are you kidding me? Do I look like I'm in hospice?'" (Gold, Geller, Yamaguchi and Kates, 3/10)

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

Modern Healthcare: Elevance Health Expands Out-Of-Network Provider Billing Policy Elevance Health is expanding a policy to deduct pay from hospitals that refer some members to out-of-network providers. Beginning June 1, the Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee may reduce California hospitals' pay by 10% or terminate facilities from its network if hospitals refer commercial members to inpatient or outpatient providers without a contract, according to a notice sent to providers last month. Hospitals must not pass on the financial penalty to patients, the notice said. (Tepper, 3/10)

Chicago Tribune: Northwestern Memorial Gets Approval For ICU Bed Expansion Northwestern Memorial Hospital may move forward with a $96 million project to add more intensive care unit beds, a state board decided Tuesday — a plan that's part of a larger growth strategy for the hospital. (Schencker, 3/10)

MedPage Today: The Safest Hospitals In The U.S., According To Healthgrades The nation's safest hospitals, according to annual rankings from Healthgrades, represent the top 10% of hospitals nationwide for patient safety, with the lowest incidences of 13 preventable patient safety events. Patients treated at these 438 hospitals, located across 40 states, were significantly less likely to experience the four most common patient safety indicators, characterized as serious, preventable complications, which account for 78% of all safety events. (Firth, 3/10)

Fierce Healthcare: NYU Report Outlines PE Impact On Care Quality, Calls For Reform Private equity's influence over healthcare companies' quality of care warrants new reforms for the firm's investing practices, a new report says. The report, published by NYU Stern's Center for Business & Human Rights, aimed to document the problems observed in recent years stemming from PE ownership in healthcare, including hospital closures, reduced staffing and compromised healthcare services. (Gliadkovskaya, 3/10)

Becker's Hospital Review: Private Equity Invested $1T In Healthcare In 10 Years: Report Private equity firms have become a major force in healthcare, investing more than $1 trillion over the last ten years, according to a recent report from New York University's Stern Center for Business and Human Rights. The report, published March 10 and authored by Michael Goldhaber, examines how private equity's investments have impacted patient care, hospital finances and medical access. (Scheetz, 3/10)

Fierce Healthcare: How CVS Is Using 'Agentic Twins' In Developing Consumer Tools CVS Health is making investments in digital health and patient engagement tech across the enterprise, including a partnership with Simile to lean on "agentic twins" to test and pilot new programs. The company has built these digital twins on 2.9 million consented responses from a group of more than 400,000 individuals, representing answers across more than 200 behavioral scenarios. This allows the AI versions to act as accurate stand-ins for the people they're based upon. (Minemyer, 3/10)

PHARMACEUTICALS

The Hill: FDA Sends Letter To Novo Nordisk On Failure To Report GLP-1 Effects The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning to Novo Nordisk over its alleged failure to report adverse side effects, including death, in patients who took its GLP-1 medications, popularly known as Ozempic and Wegovy. The FDA wrote in a March 5 letter that it observed "serious violations" of reporting requirements during an inspection at a Novo facility in early 2025. (Brams, 3/10)

MedPage Today: Tale Of Two Drugs: Wegovy Linked To Higher Risk Of Blinding Eye Stroke Vs Ozempic The obesity drug semaglutide (Wegovy) conferred a significantly higher risk of ischemic optic neuropathy (ION) than any other GLP-1 agonist, including semaglutide for diabetes (Ozempic), an analysis of FDA data showed. (Bankhead, 3/10)

Bloomberg: Hims Hires Ex-Lilly PR Chief As Its Weight-Loss Strategy Shifts Hims & Hers Health Inc. has hired Kathryn Beiser, who led communications at Eli Lilly & Co. for five years, as the telehealth company charts a new era selling brand-name obesity drugs. Beiser, a public relations veteran who's held senior positions at a number of companies including Kaiser Permanente, resigned from Lilly last year. She officially joined Hims last month as chief communications officer and reports to Chief Executive Officer Andrew Dudum. (Muller, 3/10)

Chicago Tribune: Trial Begins Against Abbott Over Formula For Premature Babies Four Illinois mothers would never have allowed their prematurely born babies to be fed a specialized formula made by Abbott Laboratories had they known about the risks, an attorney for the parents argued in court Monday, while a lawyer for the company countered that the formula is not dangerous and that additional warnings about it would not have prevented the infants from getting sick. (Schencker, 3/10)

Modern Healthcare: Medtronic To Buy Scientia Vascular For $550M Medtronic has signed a definitive agreement to acquire neurovascular medtech company Scientia Vascular for $550 million. The deal is expected to close in the first half of Medtronic's fiscal 2027, which starts in April. It is subject to regulatory approvals and closing conditions. (Dubinsky, 3/10)

STATE WATCH

WUSF: Florida Senate Passes A Fix For Cuts To AIDS Drug Program A plan to prevent cuts to a program that provides drugs to AIDS patients passed through the Florida Senate on Tuesday, but it's unclear whether the House will agree to it. (3/11)

News Service of Florida: Senate Confirms DCF, AHCA Chiefs Despite Hope Florida Scandal The leaders of Florida's health care and child welfare agencies will stay in their jobs after the Senate voted Tuesday to confirm them. Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Shevaun Harris and Department of Children and Families Secretary Taylor Hatch were appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. But they weren't confirmed last year as a scandal involving the transfer of Medicaid settlement money to a political committee swirled, were approved over the objections of a smattering of Democrats. (Rohrer, 3/11)

St. Louis Public Radio: Missouri Lawmakers Pass Bill Allowing Pregnant Women To Divorce Pregnant women in Missouri will have an easier time getting a divorce under a bill passed by the state legislature. The Missouri Senate voted 29-0 Tuesday to pass the bill. Because it has already passed the House and because the Senate did not change it, it now goes to Gov. Mike Kehoe, who is expected to sign it into law. (Kellogg, 3/10)

Minnesota Public Radio: Uninsured Rate In Minnesota Climbs To Highest Level In 6 Years The Minnesota Department of Health released initial findings from a report Tuesday indicating that the state's uninsured rate has climbed from an all-time low to the highest level in six years, raising concerns about potential future declines in health insurance coverage. (Zurek, 3/10)

North Carolina Health News: Early Progress Reported In Medicaid Plan For Foster Children North Carolina's new Medicaid plan for children in the foster care system has enrolled more than 32,000 young people, and state and health plan officials told lawmakers Tuesday they've cut the average time to arrange a child's placement from 45 days to 16. (Baxley, 3/11)

Bloomberg: Surgery Center Of Oklahoma Posts Up-Front Prices To Cut Health-Care Costs By 6:30 a.m. on a chilly Wednesday last year, the Surgery Center of Oklahoma is bustling. Six miles north of the state Capitol, beside a stretch of Route 77 lined with medical facilities, spouses waiting in the lobby scroll through their phones and slurp coffee from foam cups. A toddler in a Tigger-print medical gown and pajamas is on the way toward the operating room for his tonsillectomy, a doctor leading him by the hand. Those waiting include a young man in for a sinus operation and a middle-aged woman getting a hysterectomy. It's a diverse caseload by the standards of your average surgery center—most SCs focus on just one branch of surgery, such as thoracic or orthopedic. But what really separates SCO is its price transparency. (Moore Gerety, 3/10)

Verite News: Abortion-Rights Discussed At Annual Conference In New Orleans Hundreds of reproductive rights advocates, including dozens from Louisiana, gathered in New Orleans this past weekend (March 6-8) for the second annual Storyteller Convening hosted by the nonprofit advocacy organization Abortion in America. Abortion in America was co-founded in 2024 by the late former Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards, political strategist Lauren Peterson and Kaitlyn Joshua, a southeast Louisiana native who rose to national prominence for sharing her story of being denied miscarriage care due to tightened anti-abortion laws following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. (Yehiya, 3/10)

CNN: California's Produce Helps Feed The Nation. Nearly 40% May Contain Toxic 'Forever' Pesticides Nearly 40% of nonorganic fruits and vegetables grown in California contain traces of pesticides that are also PFAS, or "forever chemicals," according to a new investigation. California supplies nearly half of the vegetables and more than three-quarters of the fruits and nuts eaten in the United States. (LaMotte, 3/11)

The Hill: Ohio Residents Seek To Change Train Derailment Lawsuit After a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, in 2023, the federal government sued the company and agreed on a deal to cover cleanup costs and provide health monitoring. But now, a federal judge has said not so fast. The judge just allowed East Palestine residents to intervene in the lawsuit after independent tests revealed dangerous contamination persists in the area. (McHugh, 3/10)

PUBLIC HEALTH

Fox News: Blood Test May Predict Women's Dementia Risk Up To 25 Years Early, Study Finds A new blood test could determine a woman's dementia risk as early as 25 years before symptoms emerge. That's according to new research from the University of California San Diego, which found that a specific biomarker protein associated with early pathological processes of Alzheimer's disease was "strongly linked" to future dementia risk. (Rudy, 3/10)

NPR: Psilocybin May Help People Quit Smoking, New Research Finds The long-running campaign against smoking could find reinforcements from the new wave of research into psychedelics. Though much of the attention around psychedelics has focused on depression and other mental health conditions, researchers believe these substances also hold the potential to transform addiction treatment. (Stone, 3/10)

CIDRAP: Public Health Alerts: Tobacco Use Among US Adults, 2023-2024 A Public Health Alerts report today notes that cigarette smoking in US adults dropped from 10.8% in 2023 to 9.9% in 2024, while the use of other tobacco products, such as cigars and e-cigarettes, stayed flat, and 18.8% of US adults—or about 48 million—used at least one tobacco product in 2024. Public Health Alerts, a new collaboration between NEJM Evidence and CIDRAP, fills a gap in reliable data, offering expert-reviewed reports that translate frontline observations into actionable public health evidence. An NEJM Evidence editorial explains the initiative further. (Wappes, 3/10)

NBC News: Oysters And Clams In 9 States Could Be Contaminated With Norovirus, FDA Warns The Food and Drug Administration warned consumers Monday about oysters and clams that could be contaminated with norovirus and were sent to nine states, including California, Florida and New York. The shellfish caution covers "certain raw oysters" harvested by Drayton Harbor Oyster Co. and Manila clams harvested by Lummi Indian Business Council from Feb. 13 to March 3, the FDA said in a statement. (Li, 3/10)

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