In This Edition:
From KFF Health News:
KFF Health News Original Stories
1. States Are Forcing Hospitals To Offer More People Financial Aid. In Oregon, It’s Working. Oregon passed a law to require hospitals to proactively screen patients to see if they qualify for financial aid. Patients got immediate relief. Hospitals pushed to roll back the law following federal cuts to Medicaid and Affordable Care Act subsidies. (Melanie Evans, Tradeoffs, 10/21)
2. New Arrivals in the ER? Georgia Gears Up To Solve Rural Maternal Health Crisis Most of Georgia’s counties are without a labor and delivery unit. To fill the gap, the state is looking to equip emergency rooms to handle obstetric emergencies. Advocates and doctors worry, however, that the ER is being used as a stopgap. (Briah Lumpkins, 10/21)
Here's today's health policy haiku:
RUNNING OUT OF OPTIONS
Reached my golden years.
Need Medicare Advantage
if I can find it.
- Ross Burnett
If you have a health policy haiku to share, please Contact Us and let us know if we can include your name. Haikus follow the format of 5-7-5 syllables. We give extra brownie points if you link back to an original story.
Opinions expressed in haikus are solely the author's and do not reflect the opinions of KFF Health News or KFF.
Summaries Of The News:
Health Industry
3. CMS' Authority To Kick Providers Out Of Medicare And Medicaid May Cost Hospitals
Hospitals could be saddled with higher administrative and legal costs as CMS expands its fraud oversight authority without clearly detailing how providers could challenge any decisions, Modern Healthcare reported.
Modern Healthcare: How CMS' Medicare, Medicaid Exclusion Powers May Cost Hospitals Hospitals will likely spend more to protect themselves from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ expanded powers to kick them out of government health programs, which would be ruinous for many providers. Under a notice issued last week that immediately went into effect, CMS can remove healthcare organizations from these programs on its own authority. Previously, the Health and Human Services Department Office of Inspector General was the only agency with that power. (Kacik, 10/20)
Health tech developments —
Modern Healthcare: Why Hospitals, Health Plans Switch Digital Health Vendors The stakes are getting higher for technology vendors working with health plans, employers and health systems. These organizations are increasingly entering into performance-based contracts with digital health companies and zeroing in on return on investment and measurable outcomes. About 55% of health plans and 46% of health systems tie vendors’ payment to prespecified outcomes, according to a survey published in September by the Peterson Health Technology Institute. (Famakinwa, 10/20)
Public News Service: A New Tool Helps Make Sense Of Colorado Hospital Pricing The United States spends nearly $6 trillion a year on healthcare, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, more than twice as much as any other wealthy nation. One strategy to reduce health costs is to require hospitals to publicly post their prices. The Trump administration and Wyoming lawmakers believe this will give consumers the option to shop around. Wyoming hospitals are required by law to do just that starting this July. (Galatas, 10/20)
Newsweek: AI Changing Orthopedic Surgery, Shortening Wait Times A decade ago, having joint replacement often meant a three- to five-day hospital stay. Today, many patients have surgery and go home the same day. While ambulatory surgery centers have existed for over 50 years, medical advances now allow more orthopedic patients to have complex procedures as outpatients, too. (Tanner, 10/21)
In other health industry news —
Boston Globe: Quality Fell After Chains Like RegalCare Took Over Nursing Homes The red-brick nursing home tucked off a busy road in Taunton used to be a rare jewel in a beleaguered industry, polished to a high sheen. Floors gleamed from daily scrubbing. Residents’ clothes came back fresh and neatly folded. Employees stayed for decades. In early 2020, the 100-bed home earned the federal government’s highest quality rating — five stars — and held it for more than two years. Then Eli Mirlis swept in from New Jersey and everything changed. (Lazar, Hagen and Nadolny, 10/20)
The Wall Street Journal: Autism-Therapy Workers Say Big Chains Pressured Them To Boost Treatment Hours Minutes after an autistic 3-year-old lay her head on a Squishmallow stuffed toy and closed her eyes, Abigayle Hosking was ordered to take the makeshift pillow away and rouse the sleepy girl. The child was scheduled for four more hours of autism therapy at the Centria Healthcare clinic in Michigan where Hosking worked until last year. Hosking said she felt terrible. “The younger kids, you know, I think they need a break,” she said. (Wilde Mathews, Weaver and McGinty, 10/20)
North Carolina Health News: Duke Endowment Makes Big Investment In NC Children’s Hospital On a heavily wooded tract near the intersection of U.S. 1 and N.C. 540 — a 220-acre spot in southern Apex so void of infrastructure it shows up only as GPS coordinates on a map, the Duke Endowment announced a transformative $100 million grant Tuesday morning. The investment will help fund North Carolina Children’s, a collaborative effort between UNC Health and Duke Health to create an independent standalone health care system that, if true to their vision, will turn the southwest Wake County property into a destination for pediatric care. (Blythe, 10/21)
Cardinal News: Carilion Breaks Ground On Free-Standing Emergency Department And Specialty-Care Facility In Daleville Carilion Clinic broke ground Tuesday on a freestanding emergency department in Daleville that will also house specialty medical services. The new facility, adjacent to Carilion Clinic Family Medicine, will dedicate its first floor to emergency care and its second floor to general surgery, orthopedics, cardiology, OB-GYN and imaging services, Paul Davenport, senior vice president for ambulatory operations at Carilion, said at the groundbreaking. (Schabacker, 10/21)
Modern Healthcare: Hackensack Meridian, Hunterdon Health To Merge Hackensack Meridian Health and Hunterdon Health, both based in New Jersey, have signed a definitive agreement to merge. As part of the agreement, Hackensack Meridian said it plans to invest $200 million into capital projects that support Hunterdon facilities and programs. Hackensack also pledged to fund the $30 million rollout of its Epic electronic health record at Hunterdon. (Hudson, 10/20)
Vaccines
4. 48% Of US Parents Say Multiple Vaccines Shouldn't Be Given In One Visit
According to a recent poll, nearly half of the parents surveyed thought spacing out vaccines is healthier, while 52% said there is no strong evidence that doing so is better. CIDRAP also reported a significant split down party lines.
CIDRAP: Poll: Nearly Half Of US Parents Believe Spacing Out Vaccines Is Healthier Nearly half of US parents believe children are healthier when vaccines are spaced out and not given in one doctor’s visit, even as confidence in several well-established childhood vaccines remains high, according to a KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust. The poll, published today, also found partisan differences in parents’ views, with Republican and Republican-leaning parents more likely to endorse spacing out childhood vaccines and Democratic and Democratic-leaning parents more likely to say there is no strong evidence to support spacing. (Bergeson, 10/20)
CIDRAP: ‘Chaos In Communication’: How Shared Clinical Decision Making For Vaccines Adds Confusion This summer, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) requested public comment on categories of vaccine recommendations, with many questions focused on the idea of shared clinical decision making. The request came after an executive order directed the Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines to come up with a plan for a new childhood vaccine schedule. (Holohan, 10/20)
Regarding hepatitis B and RSV —
MedPage Today: Not Just Moms Who Put Unvaccinated Infants At Risk Of Hepatitis B, Study Shows For young children, exposure to hepatitis B virus (HBV) mostly came from someone other than their mother in the household, according to a retrospective cohort study. Among over 158,000 children younger than 5 years, 1.3% lived in a household that had a person with active HBV infection, with 58.2% of those children exposed via contacts who were not their mothers versus 41.8% who were exposed via their mothers, reported Karen Jacobson, MD, MPH, of the Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center in Pleasanton, California, at the IDWeek annual meeting. (Rudd, 10/21)
MedPage Today: FDA Green Lights Potential Functional Cure For Chronic Hep B The FDA on Tuesday approved bepirovirsen (Hibsago) as a potential functional cure for adults with chronic hepatitis B, but with no cirrhosis, who are taking antiviral therapy. Approval was based on findings from the B-Well 1 and B-Well 2 trials, which demonstrated that nearly 1 in 5 patients taking the antisense oligonucleotide drug along with background antivirals achieved a functional cure, as compared with none in a placebo group. (Rudd, 10/20)
MedPage Today: Study Supports Starting HPV Vaccination At A Younger Age Children who started the two-dose human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine series at age 9 or 10 years were more than twice as likely to get both shots versus those who began later, a cluster randomized trial showed. (Rudd, 10/21)
In other pharmaceutical industry developments —
Stat: Launch Price Of New Medicines Dropped Very Slightly In 2025 Amid ongoing angst over prescription drug prices, a new analysis found the median net price for 202 newly launched medicines, when adjusted for inflation and manufacturer discounts, rose by 35% to $257,000 in 2025 from $190,000 in 2022. (Silverman, 10/20)
Axios: Exclusive: OpenAI Has Acquired Orchestra Bio OpenAI has acquired Orchestra Bio, a startup building AI agents to help pharmaceutical companies manage drug development, the ChatGPT maker shared exclusively with Axios. (Mills, 10/20)
Stat: Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drugs Tackles Expensive Rare Disease Treatments Billionaire Mark Cuban has spent the last five years trying to make generic drugs like chemotherapy and antifungal ointment cheaper for Americans. But earlier this year, a very different type of medicine began arriving at his Dallas factory. (Mast, 10/21)
Becker's Hospital Review: Cancer Drug Shortages Worsen: 7 Notes From ASHP’s Q3 Report Chemotherapy shortages increased in the third quarter even as the number of active U.S. drug shortages held steady at 225, according to ASHP’s latest quarterly report. Here are seven things to know: The rise in cancer drug shortages stems in part from flooding at a Pfizer manufacturing facility in India that produced generic chemotherapy agents for leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma and colorectal, pancreatic and testicular cancers, among others, according to the report. Pfizer expects the disruption to last into 2028, the group said. (Jeffries, 10/20)
Los Angeles Times: Some GLP-1 Injections Recalled Due To 'Lack Of Assurance Of Sterility' Apothecary Pharma, a compounding pharmacy, voluntarily recalled 22 vials of Tirzepatide injections due to a “lack of assurance of sterility,” according to the official announcement. (Garcia, 10/20)
The New York Times: Why Drug Companies Are Rushing To Market Ketamine Medicines How would you like your ketamine? In tablet form, or a thin film that melts in your mouth? Delivered as a nasal spray, or combined with a cancer drug to extend the antidepressant effects? In a gold rush accelerated by the Trump administration’s unlikely zeal for experimental psychedelic treatments, over a dozen companies are developing products based on ketamine, the generic anesthetic that in recent years has become a popular treatment for mental health conditions. (And, unfortunately, a ubiquitous recreational drug.) (Jacobs, 10/20)
Outbreaks and Health Threats
5. Pennsylvania Warns Docs Over Congenital Measles Amid Reports That 66 Pregnant Women Have Been Infected
Health officials are urging women to get the MMR vaccine before they get pregnant. Meanwhile the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed a third U.S. measles death as the total number of cases for the year surpasses 4,400. Also: flu, salmonella, Ebola, and more.
CIDRAP: Pennsylvania Raises Alarm On Congenital Measles A new health alert from the Pennsylvania Department of Health is warning doctors about congenital measles, a disease that was once extremely rare in the United States. But now that dozens of pregnant Pennsylvania women have contracted measles in the state’s ongoing outbreak, the potentially fatal infection passed from mother to baby in utero is poised to pose clinical challenges for physicians facing a disease they’ve never seen in practice. (Soucheray, 10/20)
The Hill: CDC Confirms Third Measles Death As Cases Pass 4,400 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has added a third U.S. measles death to its national tracker as total cases for 2026 surpass 4,400. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) told Reuters the CDC updated its count after the National Center for Health Statistics received a report of a measles-related death and verified the disease was the underlying cause, the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement. The agency’s database does not specify when or where the death occurred. According to the statement, the CDC is working with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists to develop a standardized case definition for deaths due to measles. (Chakraborty, 10/20)
Stat: Counterintuitive Approach Floated To Boost Measles Vaccine Uptake With more than 4,400 measles cases in the United States this year, double the number in 2025, public health authorities are desperate to persuade more people to take the virus seriously. But current attempts to drive home that message are being rejected by a sizable and growing part of the population. (Florko, 10/21)
Flu and salmonella updates —
The Colorado Sun: Early Start To Flu Season Prompts Calls For Vaccination In Colorado Just in time for spooky season, the flu has begun skulking back through Colorado, worrying health officials who fear a repeat of last year’s record-breaking run of infections. (Ingold, 10/19)
CIDRAP: 27 Sickened In Salmonella Outbreak Linked To Raw Oysters The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced a new Salmonella outbreak linked to raw oysters harvested by the Little Wicomico Oyster Company from the Little Wicomico River harvest area in Virginia. So far at least 27 people in 12 states have been sickened in the outbreak. Five people have been hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported. Pennsylvania has had the most illnesses, with eight, followed by New York with four and Virginia with three. (Soucheray, 10/20)
The latest on the Ebola outbreak in Africa —
Bloomberg: Nigeria Ebola Case Widens Record Outbreak Across Africa Nigeria’s first Ebola infection in more than a decade is widening an outbreak that already spread to several African countries, prompting the continent’s top public-health agency to call for urgent international assistance. The Nigerian case was caused by the Bundibugyo strain, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General Jean Kaseya said in a statement on Tuesday. The agency is mobilizing support for Nigeria, while intensifying its response in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya, he said. (Orjinmo and Kew, 10/20)
AP: Families Who Lost Loved Ones To Ebola Struggle With Grief And Stigma When a schoolteacher in eastern Congo learned that five of her family members had been diagnosed with Ebola, she was “deeply shaken,” fearing the worst from a disease that carries stigma and is seen by some in her community as evil. Two of her relatives — her brother and his wife — died of Ebola in July at a treatment center in Ituri province, the epicenter of the deadliest outbreak in Congo’s history. (Same Bagalwa, 10/21)
The curious case using AI-created viruses —
The New York Times: Start-Up Claims To Use A.I.-Created Viruses To Treat A Patient For the first time, scientists say they have used viruses designed by artificial intelligence to treat a human patient. Researchers announced on Tuesday that they had administered the virus, known as a phage, to a patient suffering from a deadly bacterial infection. Phages attack bacteria, and the hope is that this one will kill the microbes causing the infection. Radical Numerics, the start-up that created the viruses, posted a technical report about them on its website. But the company declined to provide information about the patient or the doctors running the trial, citing confidentiality requirements. (Zimmer, 10/20)
Public Health
6. In Wake Of Christina Applegate's Misdiagnosis, Docs Explain Why MS Can Be Tricky To Diagnose
Doctors tell ABC News that multiple sclerosis symptoms can sometimes resemble other conditions and there is no single test that can diagnose it. Other public health news is on organ transplants, painkillers, ADHD, and tea for heart health.
ABC News: Why MS Can Be Hard To Diagnose, After Christina Applegate Reveals Misdiagnosis Five years after revealing she was diagnosed with the autoimmune disorder multiple sclerosis (MS), actress Christina Applegate has announced that she was misdiagnosed. Speaking on Tuesday's episode of her MeSsy podcast, which she co-hosts with actress Jamie Lynn Sigler, Applegate said she wasn't happy to learn of the misdiagnosis, revealing that she has "gotten worse in some ways" and is "back at square one that I don't know what's going on with me." (Kekatos, 10/20)
CBS News: Up To 20% Of MS Diagnoses Are Wrong, Like Christina Applegate's. Here's What Doctors Say Patients Should Know. Christina Applegate announced Tuesday that she was misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis, more than five years after announcing she had been told she had the chronic condition. Applegate, 54, shared the news in a double episode of her podcast MeSsy, where she and co-host Jamie-Lynn Sigler discuss life with multiple sclerosis. Applegate had taken a break from the podcast in recent weeks. She said Tuesday she had taken that time to process the new information. (Breen, 10/20)
On organ transplants —
AP: A Phoenix Woman Waited 3 Years For An Intestine Transplant. Here's Why A car crash destroyed Katherine Screws’ small intestine, leaving her unable to eat, dependent on IV nutrition and often too sick to get out of bed. But the Phoenix woman clung to her hospital’s prediction that she could get an intestine transplant in about six months. That was way off. She wouldn’t get one until three years after the crash. It could have been longer if not for an unusual meeting with an organ procurement organization, or OPO, that taught the frustrated Screws how hospitals vary in which organs they accept or refuse — and she flew across the country for a better chance. (Neergaard, 10/21)
AP: What To Know When You Need An Organ Transplant It’s not always patience and luck that get patients off the organ transplant waiting list and into the operating room. Unlike in many areas of medicine, experts say there’s a lot of variation in the U.S. transplant system. Knowing there are differences and what to ask might help. “I had to ask a lot of questions to figure out what it was that I could do to move the needle,” said Katherine Screws of Phoenix, who got a rare intestine transplant after she decided to get on the waiting list at more than one hospital to increase her chances. (Neergaard, 10/21)
Studies on painkillers, ADHD, and a daily cup of tea —
MedPage Today: Acute Back Pain: Skip The Prescription Painkillers In First Line, Study Suggests Patients with acute low back pain (LBP) who got opioids or gabapentinoids as initial therapy faced twice the risk of opioid use disorder (OUD) or overdose compared with other first-line treatments, nationwide Medicaid data showed. (Gever, 10/20)
Fox News: ADHD Linked To 70% Higher Death Rate, But Medication May Reduce Risk People diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) face a roughly 71% higher overall risk of early death compared to those without the condition, according to a new review published in JAMA Network Open. However, taking prescription ADHD medication may offer a protective benefit, lowering overall risk of death, the review found. (Quill, 10/20)
CNN: How Much Tea To Drink For Heart Health — And At What Temperature My morning routine isn’t complete without two calming yet energizing cups of green tea. Not only is a cup of tea highly enjoyable, but it has long been associated with health benefits, including a lower risk of heart disease, stroke and dementia. Now, a new study published Wednesday in the Journal of Internal Medicine suggests that how people prepare and drink their tea could also influence their cardiovascular health. (Chlu, 10/21)
State Watch
7. Healthcare, Wages Prompt California Clinicians, Others To Launch One-Day Strike
The largest union for California government workers, representing more than 100,000 employees, will picket today in cities across the state for the first time in the union's history. The strike is over a return-to-work mandate, and the union is also calling for increased wages and state contribution toward employees’ healthcare costs.
AP: California State Workers Strike Over Wages And Healthcare California state workers will launch a one-day strike Wednesday, urging Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration to agree to a new contract that increases workers’ pay, ensures affordable healthcare access and allows more flexibility for remote work. SEIU Local 1000, the largest union for California government workers which represents more than 100,000 employees, including auditors, nurses and counselors, will picket in cities across the state for the first time since the union’s founding in 2004. Members overwhelmingly voted to authorize the strike earlier this month, accusing the state of failing to bargain in good faith after their contract expired in June. (Austin, 10/21)
Healthcare costs and coverage —
Concord Monitor: Report: Up To 29,000 In NH Could Lose Medicaid Coverage By 2028 As many as 29,000 people across the Granite State could lose Medicaid coverage by the time 2028 rolls around, according to a new report from the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute. (Wachman, 10/20)
Modern Healthcare: Centene To Exit ACA Markets In Delaware, New Hampshire In 2027 Centene unveiled its Affordable Care Act health insurance exchanges strategy for 2027, which calls for both retrenchment and expansion. The marketplace market share leader will no longer sell policies in Delaware and New Hampshire next year, a company spokesperson said in an email. Centene, which sells exchange plans under its Ambetter Health brand, will be in 1,740 counties across 27 states for 2027, according to a news release on Tuesday. That is 40 more than this year. The company counts 3.5 million exchange members. (Tepper, 10/20)
KFF Health News: States Are Forcing Hospitals To Offer More People Financial Aid. In Oregon, It’s Working Four years ago, Oregon hospitals were under fire from state authorities and patient advocates. Hospitals, critics said, had made it too hard for patients to apply for and receive help paying their bills. Within months, the state enacted a sweeping law that required hospitals to proactively screen patients and give financial aid to those who qualify for it. Oregon’s new rules, which took effect in July 2024, required hospitals to skip applications for nearly all patients — a rarity among hospitals nationwide. (Evans, 10/21)
Regarding mental health —
The Colorado Sun: Partner Of Colorado Man Who Died By Suicide Documents Failures Of Mental Health System Jeff Trowbridge was taking down Christmas decorations on the morning he got the call that wrecked him. The love of his life, Ian Horner, was missing. One of Horner’s relatives had called to ask Trowbridge if he knew the license plate number on Horner’s car. Soon after, Trowbridge would learn that Horner, 33, died by suicide in the middle of the night. (Brown, 10/20)
The Baltimore Sun: How Does Sports Betting Affect States' Mental Health Services? Legalizing sports betting is associated with an increase in the number of workers in a state receiving treatment for anxiety or depression, according to a recent Johns Hopkins study. (Hille, 10/20)
More news from across the nation —
New Hampshire Bulletin: Rural EMS Providers In NH Will Get New Equipment, Tech And Training Under New Project Announced During RFK Jr. Visit While U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was visiting New Hampshire last week, GO-NORTH announced a new $11 million project aimed at strengthening the state’s emergency medical services. (Skipworth, 10/20)
WUSF: Florida AG Uthmeier Digs Into Suspected Carcinogen Used As Bread-Strengthening Agent Attorney General James Uthmeier says a civil investigative subpoena has been issued to a Georgia company as part of an expanded investigation into the use of potassium bromate. (10/20)
AP: Takeover Of Healthcare Operations In Arizona Prisons Put On Hold A federal appeals court has put on hold a court-ordered takeover of healthcare operations in Arizona’s prisons that was scheduled to start Monday. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order late Friday blocking the start date as Arizona corrections officials are appealing the takeover, also known as a receivership. The court said letting the takeover start risks irreparable harm to the state if it wins the appeal and that the case raises questions about a federal judge’s authority over state prisons. (10/20)
Chicago Tribune: Advocate Illinois Masonic Cafeteria License Suspended The Chicago Department of Public Health has suspended the kitchen license at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Lakeview after more than 200 live cockroaches, black slime, grease buildup and other health violations were discovered during an inspection on Friday. (Miller, 10/20)
Plus, election updates from the states —
CalMatters: CA Election To Decide If One Research Institute Gets $4 Billion One research institute will receive $4.2 billion in bond money if voters approve Proposition 38 in November. Currently only one institute in the state meets the criteria to qualify for the money. (Zinshteyn, 10/20)
The Colorado Sun: What Surgeries Would Proposition 135 Ban? Colorado Hospitals Won’t Say. If you are an adolescent boy going through puberty, you may develop a condition called gynecomastia. Basically, the haywire hormones of the early teen years cause boys to develop breast tissue. The condition is generally not medically harmful, and it often goes away with time. But, in some cases, it doesn’t go away or is too embarrassing, and teens opt for breast-reduction surgery. (Ingold, 10/20)
Verite News New Orleans: Ballot Measure To Replace New Orleans Homeowners’ Lead Pipes Louisiana voters will decide whether water utilities should be explicitly allowed to use public funds to replace lead service lines on private property through a proposed constitutional amendment this election season. Early voting started Tuesday (Oct. 20) ahead of the Nov. 3 election with 10 proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot. One of the amendments is tailored to ensure the Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans can legally spend federal money earmarked for lead pipe replacement in the city. (Parker, 10/20)
MedPage Today: Doctors Push Back On Claim That El-Sayed Is Not A Physician A group of Michigan doctors is pushing back against attempts by Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate for Senate in Michigan, to characterize his opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, MD, DPhil, as not being a real doctor because he doesn't practice medicine in the state. "Dr. El-Sayed earned his medical degree and, like many of us at some point in our careers, faced a choice about where to direct a life in medicine," said a letter released Tuesday that was signed by more than 1,000 medical professionals, including 700 physicians. (Frieden, 10/20)
Reproductive Health
8. US Fertility Rate Continues Its Downward Trend, CDC Data Confirm
In its final analysis of national birth trends for 2025, researchers noted a 7% drop in teen pregnancies from 2024 and a 3% rise in women delaying having kids until their 30s. Plus, a look at what is happening in Idaho after the state banned abortions.
NBC News: U.S. Fertility Rate Hits A New Record Low The steady decline of the U.S. fertility rate continued last year with another record low, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Bendix, 10/21)
Related industry news —
The New York Times: When Idaho Banned Abortion, OB-GYNs Fled. The Doctors Who Stayed Are Cracking In the four years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, triggering a near-total ban on abortion in Idaho, with the potential for criminal prosecution of any doctor who performed the procedure, OB-GYNs have been fleeing the state in extraordinary numbers. More than a third of Idaho’s OB-GYNs have stopped practicing obstetrics, left the state, closed their practices or retired since the ban took effect in August 2022, according to a study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association last year. By December 2025, there were just 170 obstetricians for the state’s roughly one million women — fewer than two doctors per 10,000. About five full-time maternal-fetal-medicine specialists, who serve the riskiest pregnancies, remained, according to a separate report released in 2024. One half of Idaho’s 44 counties no longer have a practicing obstetrician. (Lerer, 10/20)
Wyoming Public Radio: Report: Birth Center Deliveries Have Tripled In The Last Two Decades More women are opting out of having babies in hospitals and choosing birth centers instead. These midwife-run centers for low-risk patients are especially popular in rural Western states, according to a report published on Tuesday by the Commonwealth Fund, a health research foundation. (Merzbach, 10/20)
Mississippi Today: Report Finds Birth Centers Improve Outcomes. Mississippi Has None Despite growing evidence that midwife-led birth centers improve outcomes for mothers and infants, Mississippi remains one of 10 states with no centers. Mississippi is also among the states with the fewest midwives per births in the nation, according to a new report by the Commonwealth Fund, a non-profit research organization focused on healthcare issues. (Paffenroth, 10/19)
KFF Health News: New Arrivals In The ER? Georgia Gears Up To Solve Rural Maternal Health Crisis It had been a decade since Kara Holden last had a baby. But as the former obstetric nurse prepared for her fourth child, her head was swimming with contingency plans. The labor and delivery unit where she used to work in this rural northeastern Georgia community is no longer open. So, she asked former co-workers to be on standby around her anticipated due date. She and her midwife mapped out emergency rooms along the more-than-50-mile trek to the hospital in Greenville, South Carolina, where she planned to give birth. And, to prepare for a worst-case scenario, she curated items to keep in the car in case she went into labor en route. (Lumpkins, 10/21)
In other reproductive health news —
MedPage Today: Generic Of Combination Hormone Therapy Patch Approved For Women The FDA on Monday approved the first generic of the once-weekly estradiol and levonorgestrel transdermal system (Climara Pro) to treat moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms and prevent osteoporosis in women. The patch is indicated for postmenopausal women with an intact uterus and follows recent endorsements from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American College of Physicians for menopausal symptoms. (Monaco, 10/20)
Editorials And Opinions
9. Viewpoints: It's Time To Remember How We Beat Measles Before; Why Men In Groups Bring Out The Worst In One Another
Editorial writers examine these public health issues.
Stat: How To Beat Measles By Knocking On Doors On Oct. 12, Pennsylvania confirmed its sixth measles-associated death this year. The state’s outbreak has spread to dozens of counties, sickened over 1,200 people, and put 176 in the hospital. More than 4,400 confirmed cases of measles have emerged across America this year, the most in more than three decades. (Raj Panjabi, 10/21)
The New York Times: What Makes Men In Groups Behave So Badly? Why do men in groups behave this way? (Kate Manne, 10/20)
Stat: NIH Should Not Give Up On Replication Priorities When National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya started laying out his plans in 2025, he emphasized replication as part of the gold standard for science. In March, he launched the $850,000 Replication Prize for replicating high-impact areas of biomedical research. During his confirmation hearing, health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested a replication effort worth 20% of the NIH’s $47 billion budget. (Mark Louie F. Ramos, 10/21)
The New York Times: Sexual Assault Awareness Is Not Enough We can prepare young women for the real world without repressing their liberty. (Jessica Grose, 10/21)
Bloomberg: Flu Has Landed Early, And Your Vaccination Is Overdue This fall, like every other, I tried to game the flu season. My goal, always, is to get my vaccine at just the right moment: before the first cases pop up, yet late enough so that its protective effects last beyond the holidays and well into January or February, when infections tend to peak. (Lisa Jarvis, 10/21)
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