Call Centers Replaced Many Doctors’ Receptionists. Now, AI Is Coming for Call Centers.
By Darius Tahir
Artificial intelligence products with lifelike voices are being marketed to schedule or cancel medical visits, refill prescriptions, and help triage patients. Soon, many patients might initiate contact with the health system by speaking not with a human but with AI.
Daily Edition for Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Hospital Warns Its ER Might Have To Close: Willows-based Glenn Medical Center said its emergency department could close after its critical access designation was removed by CMS in April, according to a May 19 post on the hospital’s Facebook page. Read more from Becker’s Hospital Review.
3 Things To Watch on Mental Health in Trump’s Early Budget Proposals
By Aneri Pattani
President Donald Trump’s budget office says he’ll continue to fund the new 988 suicide prevention hotline, but documents sent to Congress offer clues — amid some mixed messages — about the administration’s approach to two pressing public health issues: mental health and addiction.
Trump Won’t Force Medicaid To Cover GLP-1s for Obesity. A Few States Are Doing It Anyway.
By Lauren Sausser
Late last year, South Carolina Medicaid approved a class of medications known as GLP-1s to treat obesity, placing it among the few state programs covering these effective but expensive drugs. But access remains limited, even for patients covered by Medicaid, because of stringent prerequisites that must be satisfied before starting the drug.
Daily Edition for Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Psychiatric Hospital Abused Patients For Years, State Finds: The state’s watchdog agency for people with disabilities has found that College Hospital in Cerritos (Los Angeles County), a for-profit psychiatric hospital, abused patients for years by excessively and improperly strapping them down and drugging them in violation of federal and state regulations. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
How Trump Aims To Slash Federal Support for Research, Public Health, and Medicaid
By Elisabeth Rosenthal
One thing experts agree on: The damage from the funding cuts will be varied and immense.
Trump Exaggerates Speed and Certainty of Prescription Drug Price Reductions
By Louis Jacobson, PolitiFact
According to the timeline in the May 12 executive order, prescription drug price reductions would not happen “almost immediately,” but rather could take months or years. And extending the savings to Americans outside federal health insurance programs such as Medicare would likely require congressional action.
This News Might Ruin Your Appetite — And Summer
By David Hilzenrath
Fresh studies expose a gap in the FDA’s assessments of foods: Widely used additives could damage the mix of bacteria in your gut, causing health problems.
Daily Edition for Monday, May 19, 2025
Suspected Fertility Clinic Bomber May Be Linked To Manifesto With Fringe Views: The car bombing outside a Palm Springs fertility clinic appears to have been driven by anti-natalist ideology, or the belief that no one should have children, according to two senior law enforcement officials briefed on the incident. Investigators are focusing on social media posts made by the suspect, Guy Edward Bartkus, including a 30-minute audio recording. The posts and recording are still being verified. Read more from NBC News.
Trump’s DOJ Accuses Medicare Advantage Insurers of Paying ‘Kickbacks’ for Primo Customers
By Julie Appleby
The Department of Justice alleges that several major health insurers paid brokerages “hundreds of millions of dollars in kickbacks” to get agents to steer consumers into their Medicare Advantage plans, allegations the insurers strongly dispute.
