"Senate leaders gave up on trying to pass a government funding package before adjourning for the holidays, punting the issue to the new year — when lawmakers will have just a few weeks left to avoid a partial shutdown on Jan. 30." https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/12/18/congress/senators-leave-for-the-holidays-without-passing-funding-package-00699651 #healthcare #ACA #obamacare #insurance #TaxCredits #UScongress #USpol
"Veterans visiting some Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers may notice something different at their next appointment: Their doctor is looking at them instead of typing furiously into a computer. The change comes from a new artificial intelligence tool the VA launched in October that listens to appointments and automatically generates clinical notes."
Military.com
VA Doctors Can Finally Look You in the Eye, Thanks to a New AI Tool
A new ambient AI scribe takes notes during appointments so Department of Veterans Affairs providers can focus on patients instead of computers.
 #healthcare #veterans #AI #scribe #documentation #EMR
"Dr. Kirk Moore had been on trial for five days, accused of falsifying COVID-19 vaccination cards and throwing away the government-supplied doses. The Utah plastic surgeon faced up to 35 years in prison if the jury found him guilty on charges that included conspiracy to defraud the United States...U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi had ordered Utah prosecutors to drop all charges, abruptly ending his two-and-a-half year court battle."
ProPublica
Pam Bondi Dismissed Charges Against a Surgeon Who Falsified Vaccine Cards. It Emboldened Others With Similar Cases.
A Utah surgeon’s victory in a vaccine fraud case has encouraged other “medical freedom” advocates to consider seeking leniency for similar ch...
 #healthcare #fraud #covid #vaccines
"The American Academy of Pediatrics has joined the ranks of organizations that are losing funding for grants that, federal officials say, don’t align with the Trump administration’s missions or priorities." https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/17/health/hhs-american-academy-of-pediatrics-grants #healthcare #PublicHealth #HHS #grants #research #funding #pediatrics #InfantMortality #RuralHealth #MentalHealth #adolescents #disabilities #USpol
"The project broke ground in October 2024. Within six months, the Trump administration had canceled the grant program, known as Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, or BRIC, calling it 'yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program … more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters.'"
KFF Health News
Oregon Hospital Races To Build a Tsunami Shelter as FEMA Fights To Cut Its Funding - KFF Health News
Columbia Memorial Hospital near Oregon’s coastline planned to add a tsunami shelter, counting on a FEMA grant. After the Trump administration cut...
 #healthcare #environment #disasters #preparedness #FEMA #DHS #grants #funding #DOGE #USpol #courts
"The friend’s Guatemalan tenant, who didn’t know she was pregnant, had just delivered a premature baby in the New Orleans house. The parents lacked legal residency, and the mother refused to go to a hospital for fear of being detained by federal immigration officers." https://veritenews.org/2025/12/16/immigrants-health-care-catahoula-crunch/ #healthcare #hospitals #clinics #medicaid #ReproHealth #PublicHealth #immigrant #immigration #ICE
"Two healthcare organizations, Lyra Health and Texas Health Action, have maintained DEI practices in their organizations. While company leaders see more apprehension and scrutiny about the direction of DEI strategies, even internally, they have continued prioritizing diverse perspectives in hiring, distributing DEI-related content and supporting employees with DEI programs."
Fierce Healthcare
Executives examine the benefit of DEI practices for building trust in healthcare
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs have come under fire since President Donald Trump took office in January.  | Whi...
 #healthcare #workforce #DEI #diversity #HealthEquity #lgbtq #HIV #MentalHealth
"'Vaccination continues to be the best way to prevent the disruption that measles is causing to people’s education, to employment and other factors of people’s lives in our communities,' Bell said. Missing out on learning time can have long-term implications for a child’s success. Schools have been dealing with learning loss from the COVID-19 pandemic, which contributed also to elevated rates of chronic absenteeism."
AP News
When measles hit West Texas, school absences soared and it wasn't just sick kids who were out
When a measles outbreak hit West Texas this year, school absences surged far beyond the number of children who likely became sick.
 #PublicHealth #measles #vaccines #immunizations
"A former leading scientist at the National Institutes of Health sued the Trump administration Tuesday, saying she was illegally fired for warning that abrupt research cuts were endangering patients and public health."
AP News
Former NIH scientist sues Trump administration, claims illegal firing over research cuts
A former leading scientist at the National Institutes of Health has sued the Trump administration, saying she was illegally fired for warning that ...
 #healthcare #NIH #research #funding #DOGE #USpol #courts
"The sudden and severe foreign aid cuts imposed this year by U.S. President Donald Trump, along with funding reductions from other countries, shuttered thousands of the camps’ schools and youth training centers and crippled child protection programs. Beyond unwanted marriages, scores of children as young as 10 were forced into backbreaking manual labor, and girls as young as 12 forced into prostitution."
AP News
Trafficked, exploited, married off: Rohingya children’s lives crushed by foreign aid cuts
Severe foreign aid cuts imposed this year by U.S. President Donald Trump, along with funding reductions from other countries, shuttered thousands o...
 #PublicHealth #GlobalHealth #USAID #ForeignAid #Myanmar #Rohingya