Republican senators on the Senate appropriations panel pushed back on President Trump’s proposal to cut NIH funding and broadly reorganize HHS, suggesting the administration’s health budget blueprint may again face steep resistance on Capitol Hill. The dispute centers on plans to shrink core health agency spending and restructure HHS under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr….

A highly mutated COVID-19 subvariant, BA.3.2 or “Cicada,” is circulating in California, prompting warnings from UCLA and UCSF experts that disease activity could rise heading into the summer. The strain remains at low levels in California wastewater and represented about 5% of U.S. wastewater samples for the week of March 28, while only 28.7% of…

A new warning in STAT argues that U.S. healthcare is not prepared for AI-enabled cyberattacks that can shut down hospitals, delay treatment, divert ambulances and turn ransomware incidents into direct patient-safety crises. The piece says cybercriminals are gaining access to more powerful AI tools while providers still rely on fragmented and underfunded defenses. It calls…

The American Cancer Society is recruiting 100,000 Black women ages 25 to 55 for its VOICES of Black Women study to understand why Black women die from cancer at disproportionately high rates. Black women die from breast cancer at a 40% higher rate than white women and are diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer at twice…

Chadron Hospital in Nebraska closed the only dialysis unit for miles at the end of March, displacing 17 patients who relied on treatments three times a week. Hospital leaders said the nonprofit facility was losing $1m annually because reimbursement failed to cover operating costs, and critical access hospital payment rules do not apply to outpatient…

Health systems reported measurable results from six pharmacy-led initiatives, including more than a 2%age-point reduction in A1C and hundreds of incident fixes and system enhancements. The projects spanned antimicrobial stewardship, chronic disease management, medication safety, and operational improvement, reinforcing the case for expanding pharmacists’ roles beyond dispensing into direct patient management and system redesign. For…