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INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE OF CHICAGO

  • 23 Jul 2025 4:11 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, MD, is charting an ambitious path to reshape federal healthcare policy in line with President Donald Trump’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda. His vision comes as President Trump on July 4 signed The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a sweeping package of reforms targeting Medicaid, Medicare, and the ACA marketplace.[Becker's Hospital Review]

    From plans to close a Medicaid funding “loophole” to probing hospitals over gender care for minors and clamping down on states using federal Medicaid funds to treat undocumented migrants, here are 15 key actions CMS has taken since Dr. Oz was confirmed as administrator:

    1. CMS plans to add prior authorization for some traditional fee-for-service Medicare services as part of its newly launched Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction model.

    The agency will partner with companies specializing in AI and machine learning to test ways to provide an improved and expedited prior authorization process for traditional Medicare services including epidural steroid injections for pain management, cervical fusion, arthroscopy for knee osteoarthritis, and skin and tissue substitutes. The news came one week after the wider insurance industry announced reforms that aim to reduce and streamline prior authorization processes across commercial, Medicare Advantage and managed Medicaid plans.

    2. CMS is enacting a final rule that will shorten the open enrollment period on the ACA exchange and create stricter eligibility verifications for enrollees. The changes will lower individual premiums by about 5% on average, and save around $12 billion in 2026 by clamping down on improper enrollments, according to the agency, which estimates as many as 5 million people may have improperly enrolled in ACA plans “enabled by weakened verification process and expanded premium subsidies.”

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  • 22 Jul 2025 11:30 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    The Department of Public Health issued nearly $2.3 million in fines to 210 Illinois nursing homes during the first quarter of 2025. [Health News Illinois]

    The agency cited four homes with “type AA” violations that led to resident deaths. They were:

    Alden Estates of Huntley for failing to supervise and implement a physician's orders for an individual's diet, leading them to choke and subsequently die.

    Bria of Palos Hills for failing to implement interventions to prevent accidental removal of tracheostomy cannula and accidental extubation for a ventilator dependent resident; ensuring a ventilator care unit had uninterrupted nursing supervision; initiating intravenous access to provide intravenous fluids and failing to call 911 immediately upon determining that intervention for hypoglycemia was not effective, leading to the death of a resident.


    City View Multicare Center in Cicero for failing to ensure a cognitively impaired resident on an altered diet had access to a regular consistency sandwich, which led them to choke and subsequently die.


    Goldwater Care Danville for failing to provide timely emergency airway management and suctioning for a resident in respiratory distress during a medical emergency.

    Seventy-two homes received “type A” violations for incidents with a “substantial probability” of death or serious mental or physical harm.

    See the full list>

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  • 21 Jul 2025 11:38 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    US rejects WHO pandemic changes to global health rules | The United States has rejected amendments adopted in 2024 by members of the World Health Organization to its legally binding health rules aimed at improving preparedness for future pandemics following the disjointed global response to COVID-19.
    The Department of State and Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement they had transmitted on Friday the official U.S. rejection of the amendments to the International Health Regulations, which were adopted by consensus last year.

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  • 18 Jul 2025 8:35 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    Researchers from Emory University and the CDC found that only 35% to 40% of pregnant and new parents plan to fully vaccinate their children. In other news: A shortened drug regimen for drug-resistant TB shows some promise; Farm pesticides might be causing rheumatoid arthritis; and more.[KFF Health News]


    Majority Of US Pregnant Women Don’t Plan To Fully Vaccinate Kids: Survey

    Only 35% to 40% of US pregnant women and parents of young children say they intend to fully vaccinate their child, per survey results from researchers at Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

    For the two surveys, published as a research letter this week in JAMA Network Open, the investigators recruited 174 pregnant women and 1,765 parents from a nationally representative panel in April 2024 to answer questions about their intent to have their child receive all recommended vaccines by 18 months.

    "Many parents in the US choose to delay or refuse vaccines that are recommended for their child from birth to age 18 months," the study authors wrote. "Research is necessary to understand the value of intervening during pregnancy to proactively support parents with vaccination decisions before the birth of the child, as implementation of such interventions will require substantial engagement of health care professionals and entities outside of the pediatric care setting."

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  • 17 Jul 2025 10:33 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) plans to develop and release recommendations on maternal immunizations, including COVID-19 vaccination, alongside the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy's Vaccine Integrity Project. [MEDPAGE TODAY]

    The move comes after the CDC ended its recommendation for routine COVID vaccination among pregnant women and healthy children back in May.

    In announcing the forthcoming recommendations, ACOG noted the "importance of unbiased, evidence-based guidance about maternal vaccination for respiratory conditions."

    "All of ACOG's recommendations for maternal immunization are based on the available evidence, and that science hasn't changed," Steven Fleischman, MD, MBA, president of ACOG, said in a statement. "We have made the commitment to join the [Vaccine Integrity Project] because we want to ensure that absent the historically robust government-led annual review of data and subsequent evidence-based recommendations, our patients and our colleagues across the healthcare system are able to make maternal immunization decisions that are founded on science."

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  • 16 Jul 2025 9:27 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    In just 3 years, the Influenza Vaccines Research and Development (R&D) Roadmap Initiative has demonstrated important advancements in vaccine R&D, accomplishing 14% of its high-priority research goals and making progress on another 83%, the group reports in Vaccine.  [CIDRAP]

    While noting barriers in areas such as immunology and vaccinology, the project team outlines achievements in the pursuit of better vaccines against both seasonal flu and strains with pandemic potential— both critical for protecting the nation and the world from flu-related death and disability.

    Coordinated approach to vaccine development

    Created through a partnership of more than 100 experts from 29 countries and the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), the roadmap, or IVR, was published in 2021 to inform a clear and structured approach to influenza vaccine R&D. The Global Funders Consortium for Universal Influenza Vaccine Development recommended development of the roadmap, and Wellcome Trust funded it.

    Researchers, developers, industry, and funders use the roadmap as a strategic planning tool to advance influenza vaccine R&D, inform decision-making on research priorities and funding, identify knowledge gaps in basic and applied research, reduce duplication, and increase efficiency.

    Photo credit: Smederevac / iStock

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  • 15 Jul 2025 9:10 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    The 24-year study of more than 1.2 million children in Denmark found that aluminum exposure didn't raise the risk of autism, asthma, or other chronic diseases. Other science and research news is on smoking cessation, dementia, inflammatory bowel disease, and more. [KFF Health News] 

    Aluminum in Vaccines Not Culprit in Kids' Chronic Diseases, Study Shows

    Nationwide analysis evaluates autism, asthma, and other disorders in 1.2 million Danish children

    Key Takeaways

    • A large study in Denmark found no link between aluminum in childhood vaccines and autism, asthma, or chronic disorders.
    • The study spanned 1.2 million children and 24 years of data.
    • The findings come as conversations about aluminum in vaccines rise to the forefront in the U.S.

    Cumulative aluminum exposure from vaccination during the first 2 years of life did not raise the risk of autism, asthma, or other chronic disorders, a 24-year study of over 1.2 million children in Denmark showed.

    Adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) per 1-mg increase in aluminum exposure were 0.93 (95% CI 0.90-0.97) for any neurodevelopmental disorder, 0.98 (95% CI 0.94-1.02) for any autoimmune disorder, and 0.99 (95% CI 0.98-1.01) for any atopic or allergic disorder, reported Niklas Worm Andersson, MD, PhD, of the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, and co-authors in Annals of Internal Medicine.

    Full article here>

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  • 14 Jul 2025 4:35 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Chicago office will now oversee 65 public housing authorities in Wisconsin because of staffing shortages in the agency’s Milwaukee office.  [Chicago Tribune] 

    This represents a roughly 62% increase in the number of public housing authorities the Chicago office is responsible for holding accountable to their missions, potentially stretching staff thin amid national cuts. The office had previously been limited to the oversight of Illinois’ 105 housing authorities. Those public housing authorities’ budgets combined, according to HUD, are more than $1.9 billion in federal dollars.

    The increase comes as the Chicago office’s public housing division is now the largest in the country after massive downsizing at other agency offices, including New York and Puerto Rico, Chicago’s division director said at a recent public meeting.

    “As we move forward, unless we are able to hire, there are offices that will pick up more (of our) mission as we start to move on and continue to become more regionally focused,” said William Dawson III, HUD’s Chicago public housing office director, at a recent Housing Authority of Cook County board meeting.

    President Donald Trump’s administration has upended federal agencies such as HUD since his return to the Oval Office in January, slashing funding and staff. As Trump, Department of Government Efficiency workers and HUD Secretary Scott Turner tout the importance of cracking down on “fraud, waste and abuse,” public agency employees are having to do more work with fewer staff members. Former HUD staffers told the Tribune that agency workers were already overburdened prior to Trump’s cuts. Housing advocates and local and state officials fear the reduction in force at HUD will do the opposite of what Trump and DOGE set out to do.

    HUD did not respond to a list of questions by the Tribune’s deadline.

    Locally and nationally, HUD has seen numerous employees retire early, with others being laid off or taking the federal government’s deferred resignation program. As of May, HUD had about 6,000 workers after a reduction of approximately 2,300 employees, said Antonio Gaines, president of AFGE’s National Council 222, the group that represents 40 local HUD unions nationwide, at a spring meeting with local union leaders.

    Turner announced in a video on social media in February that a DOGE task force had launched at HUD. That same week, a document circulated among HUD workers that was reported on by national news outlets and obtained by the Tribune showing HUD’s workforce could be halved. It indicated that the total agency head count as of Jan. 21 was about 8,300, with some departments slated for more drastic staff reductions than others.

    “People aren’t going to be able to get their questions answered,” said U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, a Chicago Democrat, in a recent interview with the Tribune. “Programs aren’t going to be publicized, and people won’t know they exist.”

    Chicago’s public housing division shrunk from 24 employees to 17, mainly stemming from the resignation programs, Dawson said at the board meeting.

    New York’s public housing division, previously the country’s largest, Dawson said, now employs 14 staffers from a peak of 40. Milwaukee’s public housing division stands at four employees. HUD did not respond when asked how many Milwaukee workers have left since the inauguration.

    Kristin Faust, executive director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority — the state agency in charge of financing affordable housing, including by administering the federal tax credit program that is the primary mechanism for developing affordable housing in the U.S. — told the Tribune that the authority is expecting response rates from HUD to slow.

    Kristin Faust, executive director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority, participates in a series of conversations about economic mobility, hosted by the Illinois Answers Project, at the National Public Housing Museum, July 10, 2025, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)Kristin Faust, executive director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority, participates in a series of conversations about economic mobility, hosted by the Illinois Answers Project, at the National Public Housing Museum, July 10, 2025, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

    “Thus far, we haven’t seen that a lot, but I have had individual conversations with HUD staff and my sense is that a lot of them feel like they are doing two to three people’s jobs,” Faust said. “They are very motivated and that is not sustainable.”

    Trump has proposed a roughly 43% budget slash to HUD programs, as well as a shake-up in the funding structures of the programs. In his first term, Trump also proposed sweeping cuts to HUD, but did not achieve them. The House appropriations subcommittee on HUD will meet Monday to hash out specific agency appropriations packages after the passage of Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”

    Quigley, a member of the House appropriations subcommittee that manages HUD funding, pressed Secretary Turner in a June meeting to provide details on how cutting HUD’s budget so drastically will lead to more efficiency. In an exchange between Quigley and Turner, Turner brought up his Christian faith, did not provide the requested details and said, “We look forward to working with you. It is not just words.”

    “There is a thoughtful middle ground to being frugal and efficient in government,” and it’s not this proposal, Quigley told the Tribune.

    Housing authorities across the country are facing serious budget shortfalls.

    The Housing Authority of Cook County is facing a potential multimillion-dollar funding shortfall that could have repercussions throughout the real estate market as the struggling agency looks to cut costs, possibly leading to greater expenses for its housing voucher holders and a decline in the number of the people it serves. The agency attributes the shortfall to an increase in its voucher usage rate and rising rents, which eat into its limited dollars allocated by HUD.

    Chicago-area housing organizations are also facing funding cuts from HUD, with some receiving termination notices for grants in March, while others are in limbo as they wait for overdue contracts or to see what happens with expected awards. Some renovation projects aimed at preserving and greening existing affordable housing properties are on hold in Chicago as well, as the Trump administration takes aim at the program.

    At a recent Housing Authority of Cook County board meeting, Dawson told the board he was heartened to be with them to lead a refresher training on their responsibilities as commissioners.

    But he wasn’t physically there. His face showed up in a small box in the corner of a screen in a housing authority conference room while he sat in his office, four blocks away. The Trump administration enforces new procedures that limit federal government employees’ travel.

    HUD had not approved Dawson’s in-person attendance, which required a roughly eight-minute walk.

    ekane@chicagotribune.com  

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  • 11 Jul 2025 8:25 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    The FDA granted full approval to Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine (Spikevax) for kids ages 6 months through 11 years who are at increased risk of severe disease, the company announced. [Medpage Today]

    It's the first COVID shot to be fully approved for the youngest kids.

    Pfizer's COVID vaccine (Comirnaty) is fully approved for patients ages 12 and up, and authorized for kids ages 6 months through 11 years. Novavax's COVID shot (Nuvaxovid) is fully approved for people ages 65 and up, as well as those ages 12 to 64 with at least one health condition that puts them at risk for severe disease.

    More> 

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  • 10 Jul 2025 9:38 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    Question  How has US children’s health—ie, mortality, chronic conditions, obesity, functional status, and symptoms—changed from 2007 to 2023? [JAMA Network] 

    Findings  Temporal trends from 2007 to 2023 have significantly worsened for child mortality; chronic physical, developmental, and mental health conditions; obesity; sleep health; early puberty; limitations in activity; and physical and emotional symptoms.

    Meaning  US children’s health has deteriorated across a broad spectrum of indicators, highlighting the need to identify the root causes of this fundamental decline in the nation’s health.

    Abstract

    Importance  Recent scientific and policy statements suggest that child health may be worsening in the US.

    Objective  To determine how US children’s health has been changing from 2007 to 2023 using multiple data collection methods and a comprehensive set of health indicators.

    Download article here>

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