Los Angeles Times: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Confirmed And Sworn In As The Nation's Health Secretary
The Senate on Thursday confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and he was then sworn in as President Trump’s health secretary, putting the prominent vaccine skeptic in control of $1.7 trillion in federal spending, vaccine recommendations and food safety as well as health insurance programs for roughly half the country. (Seitz, 2/13)

Bloomberg: Trump Announces RFK Jr.-Led 'MAHA' Panel On Children’s Health
President Donald Trump announced he is moving to establish a “Make America Healthy Again Commission” chaired by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. that will seek to address what the Cabinet member has cast as an epidemic of chronic disease among the nation’s children. “This groundbreaking commission will be charged with investigating what is causing the decades-long increase in chronic illness, reporting its findings, and delivering an action plan to the American people,” Trump said Thursday at the Oval Office. (Woodhouse and Gardner, 2/13)

NBC News: DOGE And Trump May Pose Biggest Hurdles For RFK Jr. At HHS
Now that he’s got the job, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may struggle to navigate his new position as secretary of Health and Human Services as the agency contends with potential job cuts and the administration works to pursue President Donald Trump’s agendas, experts say. The high-profile anti-vaccine activist, known for spreading misinformation, was confirmed by the Senate in a 52-48 vote on Thursday. (Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was the only Republican to break with his party and vote no.) His selection in November sparked outrage within the scientific community, with many fearing his appointment could undermine decades of public health — particularly vaccination efforts — in the United States. (Lovelace Jr., 2/13)

Time: RFK Jr. Outlines Priorities On Food, Vaccines, And Personnel
In an interview just hours after his confirmation as Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. outlined his priorities in response to specific prompts by Fox News host Laura Ingraham. “It’s MAHA time” read a chyron as Kennedy joined the program, later changing to “MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN!”—a variation on Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan. Kennedy asserted that the U.S. is “the sickest country in the world,” a talking point he has repeated many times in reference to its low ranking on various metrics among developed nations. He said that Americans face not only a health crisis but also a “spiritual crisis.” (De Guzman, 2/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: How California’s Senators Voted On Trump’s Nominees
Among the dozens of nominees President Donald Trump has tapped for jobs in the federal government, California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff appear to be most concerned about Kash Patel’s nomination to lead the FBI. The Senate has confirmed 16 of Trump’s 22 Cabinet-level nominees, with six still yet to receive a vote. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins were confirmed Thursday morning. Democratic senators have, on average, voted against 11 of Trump’s nominees. Padilla and Schiff have each voted against 12 of the Cabinet officials. (Stein, 2/13)

AP: Fourth Federal Judge Blocks Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order
A federal judge in Boston on Thursday blocked an executive order from President Donald Trump that would end birthright citizenship for the children of parents who are in the U.S. illegally, becoming the fourth judge to do so. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin came three days after U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante in New Hampshire blocked the executive order and follows similar rulings in Seattle and Maryland. (Casey and Catalini, 2/13)

The New York Times: How Trump’s Medical Research Cuts Would Hit Colleges And Hospitals In Every State
A proposal by the Trump administration to reduce the size of grants for institutions conducting medical research would have far-reaching effects, and not just for elite universities and the coastal states where many are located. Also at risk could be grants from the National Institutes of Health to numerous hospitals that conduct clinical research on major diseases, and to state universities across the country. North Carolina, Missouri and Pennsylvania could face disproportionate losses, because of the concentration of medical research in those states. (Badger, Bhatia, Cabreros, Murray, Paris, Sanger-Katz and Singer, 2/13)

Los Angeles Times: Judge Pauses Trump Order Restricting Gender-Affirming Care For Trans Youth
A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Trump’s recent executive order aimed at restricting gender-affirming healthcare for transgender people under age 19. The judge’s ruling came after a lawsuit was filed this month on behalf of families with transgender or nonbinary children who allege their healthcare has already been compromised by the president’s order. A national group for family of LGBTQ+ people and a doctors organization are also plaintiffs in the court challenge, one of many lawsuits opposing a slew of executive orders Trump has issued as he seeks to reverse the policies of former President Biden. (Skene, 2/13)

Bloomberg: LGBTQ Web Pages Deleted From Federal Government Web Sites, Report Says
If a teacher wanted to find guidance in early January on how to support LGBTQ students, they could have accessed a government website for resources. That web page no longer exists. It’s one of more than 350 government web pages related to the LGBTQ community that have been deleted from federal government websites, according to a report published Thursday by the Center for American Progress, a liberal research and advocacy group. (Butler, 2/13)

Modern Healthcare: House Budget Talks Heat Up Over Medicaid Cuts
Medicaid cuts emerged as an especially sensitive flash point Thursday during the first public debate over a House Republican plan to extend tax cuts and slash federal spending. Republicans at a House Budget Committee markup insisted they only want to target waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid, and defended themselves against Democratic assertions that GOP policies would hurt people and medical providers. Democrats said harm is inevitable if Republicans want the Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicare and Medicaid, to find $880 billion in budget cuts over the next decade. (McAuliff, 2/13)

Politico: Republicans May Find It Harder To Cut Medicaid Than They Think
Amid the chaos of President Donald Trump’s now-rescinded domestic funding freeze, Medicaid portals across the country went offline, which meant states couldn’t get their Medicaid dollars. It was something the administration said was never supposed to happen and which provoked public outrage and a bipartisan outcry. Now Republicans are considering whether and how to target Medicaid as part of their effort to defray the cost of massive tax cuts, the centerpiece of Trump’s legislative agenda. (Kenen, 2/13)

Los Angeles Times: CDC: Bird Flu In Dairy Cows Is More Widespread Than We Thought
A new study published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the H5N1 bird flu virus is probably circulating undetected in livestock in many parts of the country and may be infecting unaware veterinarians. In the health agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a group of researchers from the CDC, the Ohio Department of Health and the American Assn. of Bovine Practitioners, reported the results of an analysis they conducted on 150 bovine, or cow, veterinarians from 46 states and Canada. (Rust, 2/13)

CBS News: How Dangerous Is Bird Flu? Doctors Say Humans And Pets Should Avoid Any Dead Birds
A new CDC report shows an outbreak of bird flu among U.S. dairy and poultry workers, renewing concerns among dogwalkers and hikers in Massachusetts about how safe it is to be outdoors. The H5N1 virus isn't new but the resurgence of the bird flu has many people rethinking their daily routines. (Chan, 2/13)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego County Records Fourth Teen Flu Death 
San Diego County teenagers continue to pay a high price during the current flu season, with a fourth influenza-related death appearing in county records this week. That’s one more death among those ages 12 to 19 than died during the entire COVID-19 pandemic, underlining the risks that flu season can bring, even to young people. (Sisson, 2/13)

MedPage Today: Neurologic Complications Of Flu In Kids May Be Up This Year
Public health officials are looking into reports of a small potential uptick in neurologic complications of influenza in children -- particularly a rapidly progressing and dangerous condition called acute necrotizing encephalopathy (ANE). Adrienne Randolph, MD, MSc, of Boston Children's Hospital, said she reported about 12 potential cases of flu-associated ANE to CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) in the past few weeks. (Fiore, 2/13)

CIDRAP: Five Years Later, Americans Say Pandemic Drove Them Apart
A new Pew Research Center poll shows 72% of Americans said the pandemic did more to divide the country than bring it together, with 75% saying COVID-19 took a toll on their own lives. The poll was conducted in late October 2024 with 9,593 respondents. The poll suggests that, 5 years after the pandemic was officially declared in March 2020, the nation has not yet healed from the societal effects of the novel coronavirus, with Americans citing the once-in-decades event as an accelerator of the political divide between the left and the right, the distrust of government institutions, and the rise of disinformation. (Soucheray, 2/13)

The New York Times: After Abortion Bans, Infant Mortality And Births Increased, Research Finds 
Infant mortality increased along with births in most states with abortion bans in the first 18 months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, according to new research. The findings, in two studies published Thursday in the journal JAMA, also suggest that abortion bans can have the most significant effects on people who are struggling economically or who are in other types of challenging circumstances, health policy experts said. (Belluck, 2/13)

The 19th: Sen. Warren, Rep. Bonamici Introduce SAD Act To Regulate Anti-Abortion Centers
Democratic lawmakers are pushing for the federal government to better regulate anti-abortion centers, facilities that seek to dissuade people from terminating their pregnancies, The 19th is first to report. (Luthra, 2/13)

Politico: Knives Are Out For Planned Parenthood. In All 3 Branches Of Government
Anti-abortion activists and their allies in government are hoping this is the year they finally take down Planned Parenthood by going after the federal funding that makes up more than a third of the organization’s budget — with efforts moving simultaneously through Congress, the courts and the executive branch. ... The Supreme Court announced this week that it will hear arguments in April on South Carolina’s ability to strip Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood — a landmark case that could prompt dozens of GOP-controlled states to take a significant bite out of the organization’s finances. (Ollstein, 2/13)

Becker's Hospital Review: Scripps Dusts Off COVID Protocol To Manage High ED Load
San Diego-based Scripps Health dusted off an initiative it used during COVID to help manage increased patient loads during flu season — internal patient transfers. When patient levels returned to normal post-COVID, the system discontinued internal transfers. But in recent months, with the increased flu patients, the system's Chula Vista hospital reached a breaking point. The 25-bed ED had about 40 patients waiting for admission. (Taylor, 2/14)

Becker's Hospital Review: Health Systems Sharpen Focus On Outpatient Safety
Efforts to improve quality and patient safety have historically focused on the inpatient setting. But as more care moves outside of hospital walls, health systems are beginning to craft structures and processes to better measure and improve safety in ambulatory settings. "We have to focus on outpatient safety because it's just going to come up more, as more care that would have traditionally been dealt with inpatient moves outpatient," said Esme Singer, MD, senior vice president of Philadelphia-based Temple Health's physician enterprise and chief medical officer of Temple Faculty Physicians. (Carbajal, 2/13)

Newsweek: Every Health System Faces Crisis—Here's What Industry Leaders Recommend
Nearly five years after the global COVID-19 shutdowns began, health care leaders continue to grapple with all manner of emergent situations and challenges—both large scale and small, the anticipated and the unforeseen. Newsweek brought five health care industry experts together for a virtual panel event on Thursday, to discuss best practices for managing future crises. The hourlong event, programmed and led by Newsweek's health care editor, Alexis Kayser, featured insights from a former CEO of The Permanente Medical Group, the current chief physician executive at Press Ganey and the field chief information security officer with Lumifi Cybersecurity, among others. (Taheri, 2/13)

Modern Healthcare: Cigna's Customer Service Improvements May Inspire Other Insurers
Cigna’s new plan to bet big on customer service could be a blueprint for other health insurers to follow as the sector grapples with public discontent. The sweeping changes — at least on paper — to how Cigna interacts with its insurance members and Express Scripts pharmacy benefit manager customers could augur a new era for health insurance. (Berryman, 2/13)

MedPage Today: Meet The World's Healthcare Billionaires
Six of the world's 500 richest people are Americans who have reaped fortunes from healthcare -- and two of them are physicians. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, only 32 people globally have become mega-rich from healthcare enterprises. The richest person to make their fortune in healthcare is Thomas Frist, Jr., MD, who alongside his father in the 1960s co-founded Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) Healthcare. (Robertson, 2/13)

Times of San Diego: Free Dental Care Offered For Ages 4-17 Monday In Mountain View
Here’s something to smile about: Concorde Career Colleges, a nationwide educator of dental hygienists and assistants, has partnered with PDS Health to provide no-cost dental care for ages 4 – 17 at its San Diego campus in Mountain View. Concorde dental hygiene students will provide free X-rays, cleanings and preventive treatments under the supervision of licensed professionals. Families will also receive dental kits and oral health resources, organizers said. (Ireland, 2/13)

Times of San Diego: New Rules On Federal Research Grants Could Cripple Health Science In San Diego
Last week the National Institutes of Health announced in a memo a 15% cap on indirect costs for all NIH grants, which cover overhead costs such as facilities, utilities, and administrative costs. Adding insult to injury, this was announced a week after a list of words was released that researchers are now restricted from using in our grant applications, including “women,” “underserved,” and “trauma,” making grant writing feel like walking through a minefield. (Sarah LaMere, 2/13)

Los Angeles Times: Trump’s Assault On Science Will Make Americans Dumber And Sicker
Why does Donald Trump disrespect science? The question arises because so much of his attempted dismantling of the federal government has been aimed at scientific agencies. His nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is a leading anti-vaccine activist and an exponent of loopy, fact-free scientific theories and health remedies that are unproven or those that have been proven useless (such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin as COVID-19 treatments). (Michael Hiltzik, 2/13)

East Bay Times: California Should Not Be Exporting Dirty Pollution
The state of California should be leading the world in environmental protection and the transition to clean energy. We should not be exporting dirty pollution. Period. (Dave Cortese, 2/13)

San Francisco Chronicle: Fremont Touts Itself As A 'Compassionate City'. Why Is It Considering A Harsh Ban On Homeless Encampments?
Making it illegal to camp on any street or sidewalk, in any park or on any other public property without giving folks a place to go is a strategy that’s been repeatedly tried — and has repeatedly failed. A 2024 Rand Corp. report, for example, found that camping bans and encampment sweeps only temporarily reduce visible homelessness, but within months, the unsheltered population rises. (Vivian Wan, 2/11)

The Desert Sun: How Medicaid Supports Working Families And The Economy
People across California are feeling the economic pinch, from the grocery aisle to the pharmacy counter. In times like these, programs like Medicaid are more important than ever to help keep individuals and families above water. Unfortunately, policymakers are considering drastic cuts to Medicaid that would put the health and economic security of our community at risk. (Jarrod McNaughton, 2/11)