Friday, April 17, 2026
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Morning Briefing
In This Edition:
- KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES
- 1. Your New Therapist: Chatty, Leaky, and Hardly Human
- 2. Listen: With Little Federal Regulation, States Are Left To Shape the Rules on AI in Health Care
- EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS
- 10. Viewpoints: Using ChatGPT As A Second Opinion Is Risky; Rate Of Vaccine Skepticism Is Overblown
From KFF Health News:
KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES
1. Your New Therapist: Chatty, Leaky, and Hardly Human
With high demand for mental health care, a wave of artificial intelligence-powered chatbots are being marketed as therapy apps — with little evidence they work and few regulations. (Darius Tahir and Oona Zenda, 4/17)
2. Listen: With Little Federal Regulation, States Are Left To Shape the Rules on AI in Health Care
As artificial intelligence embeds itself into health care, some physicians and patient advocates worry it could be used by insurance companies to refuse payment for care. Maryland passed one law banning AI from acting alone on a denial. Meanwhile, Virginia’s then-governor vetoed that state’s attempt at regulating AI in health insurance. (Lauren Sausser, 4/17)
Here’s today’s health policy haiku:
RIPPLE EFFECTS OF WORK REQUIREMENTS
Big, beautiful bill:
Wolf in sheep’s clothing. Rich win.
Rural clinics lose.
– Marge Kilkelly
If you have a health policy haiku to share, please Contact Usand let us know if we can include your name. Haikus follow the format of 5-7-5 syllables. We give extra brownie points if you link back to an original story.
Opinions expressed in haikus and cartoons are solely the author’s and do not reflect the opinions of KFF Health News or KFF.
Summaries Of The News:
3. RFK Jr. Concedes Measles Vaccine Is Safe, Effective, Better Than Being Sick
While testifying Thursday on Capitol Hill, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose previous anti-vaccine beliefs steered federal policy, allowed that shots might have saved young lives during a measles outbreak in Texas. He also said removing the hepatitis B vaccine from the childhood immunization schedule was the right call.
The New York Times: RFK Jr. Shifts Tone On Vaccines In Congressional Hearing
In a sharp break with his past rhetoric, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. offered a qualified embrace of the measles vaccine on Thursday, as President Trump named a new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention whose views on vaccination are more conventional than Mr. Kennedy’s. (Gay Stolberg and Blum, 4/16)
The New York Times: RFK Jr. To Reform Health Panel That Determines Which Screenings Insurers Cover
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Thursday that he was reforming an influential task force that determines which preventive medical screenings, procedures and medications insurance companies must cover at no cost for millions of Americans. Speaking at a congressional hearing, Mr. Kennedy accused the panel, the United States Preventive Services Task Force, of having been “lackadaisical and negligent for 20 years.” He said he would appoint new members with “a clear mission,” which he did not elaborate on. (Astor and Blum, 4/16)
The Boston Globe: RFK Jr. Returned To Congress For Hearings. Here Are Some Takeaways.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday kicked off what will be a marathon of congressional hearings over the next week, facing lawmakers’ questions for the first time since last fall. The first two of what will be seven hearings across Capitol Hill took place Thursday. Kennedy’s first stop was the House Ways & Means Committee where he was appearing for the first time. He then testified in front of the House Appropriations Committee. (Kopan, 4/16)
In related news about vaccine skepticism —
New Hampshire Public Radio: NH Lawmakers Move To Scale Back A Ban On School Vaccine Clinics
New Hampshire lawmakers may drop plans to prohibit all vaccine clinics at public schools. State senators passed legislation Thursday that would allow flu vaccine clinics to continue during the school day and permit clinics during a public health emergency. But funding those clinics may be a hurdle. (Timmins, 4/16)
The Daily Pennsylvanian: Penn Researchers Explain Rising Skepticism Over Pediatric Vaccination
A recent federal effort to scale back the routine childhood vaccine schedule has shaped how families approach immunization, according to physicians and researchers at Penn Medicine and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. In the last six years, CHOP’s Primary Care Network has seen a decrease in the percentage of children up to date on immunizations at age 2, according to Joseph St. Geme, the hospital’s physician-in-chief. St. Geme wrote that “the percentage was 80.0% in 2020 and has dropped to 73.0% in 2026.” (Saji and Calcagno, 4/15)
4. Dr. Erica Schwartz Tapped To Lead CDC
Although some public health experts lauded the choice — she’s a person with “experience, credentials and dedication to public health” — an ally to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA movement panned the pick: “She can’t even respect the right to and need for informed consent” on vaccines.
The New York Times: Trump To Nominate Dr. Erica Schwartz, A Vaccine Supporter, As CDC Director
Dr. Erica Schwartz is seen as a highly qualified traditional choice and tapping her is the strongest signal yet that the administration is veering away from vaccine skepticism this election year. (Mandavilli, 4/16)
On the World Trade Center Health Program —
New York Post: Exclusive: HHS Reverses Staffing Cuts To Crucial Health Care Program Used By 9/11 Survivors
The Department of Health and Human Services reversed a staffing reduction at a health program that provides vital medical care for 9/11 heroes after New York lawmakers bemoaned the cuts. Officials in the CDC, a subagency of HHS, informed Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) this week that the World Trade Center Health Program had gotten approval to hire 37 more employees to reach a goal of 120 full-time workers, following inquiries from her and Sen. Chuck Schumer’s office. (Christenson, 4/15)
More health news on the Trump administration —
CBS News: Trump To Sign Executive Order On Psychedelic Drug Used Abroad To Treat PTSD
A psychedelic used in some countries to treat post-traumatic stress disorder is expected to get a closer examination from the federal government on its safety and effectiveness, sources told CBS News. The White House is drafting an executive order that would signal the Trump administration’s willingness to further U.S. research into a drug called ibogaine. (Jacobs and Gounder, 4/16)
NBC News: Drugmakers Raised Prices On Hundreds Of Meds Despite Trump Deals, Senate Democrats’ Report Finds
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said his deals with drugmakers would bring down prescription drug prices in the U.S. But a report released by Senate Democrats finds prices have continued to climb — in some cases, sharply. The report — released Thursday by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, ahead of a hearing focused on drug prices — found that companies that signed drug pricing deals with Trump have raised the cost of hundreds of medications and launched new ones at an average price of $353,000 a year. (Lovelace Jr., 4/16)
Roll Call: Senators Spurn Budget Request For NIH Overhead Cost Cap
Key senators are already dismissing a renewed attempt by the White House to cap medical research overhead costs, well before they start drafting fiscal 2027 spending bills. (Cohen, 4/15)
AP: A Venezuelan Doctor In ICE Custody Misses Husband’s Asylum Interview
A Venezuelan man pleaded his case to asylum officials on Thursday in an interview that his wife, a well-known doctor in South Texas, planned to attend until she was detained at the airport with the couple’s 5-year-old daughter. Milenko Faria was interviewed at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices near Los Angeles, while his wife, Dr. Rubeliz Bolivar, entered her sixth day in immigration custody in Texas and was unable to attend the appointment they had been waiting for for more than 10 years. (Salomon, 4/17)
5. Man Entered Aetna Building With Assault Weapon, Hartford Police Say
Security guards detained the man without incident, AP reported. Police say they aren’t sure what the man’s intentions were when he entered the insurer’s headquarters in Connecticut. Other health industry news looks at private Medicare Advantage plans; a report on the out-of-network billing system; hospital-at-home programs; and more.
AP: Police Arrest Armed Man Who Walked Into Aetna’s Connecticut Headquarters
A man carrying a backpack with an AR-style pistol inside was arrested Thursday after walking into health insurer Aetna’s headquarters in Connecticut, police said. Security guards detained the man without incident shortly after 10 a.m., within 3 minutes after he entered the Hartford building. They held him until city police officers arrived, a spokesperson for Hartford police said. It wasn’t immediately clear what the man’s plans were, Lt. Aaron Boisvert said. (Roubein and Weber, 4/16)
More updates from the health care industry —
The New York Times: Help For Medicare Advantage Patients Who Lose Doctors Is Shelved, For Now
Nationwide, hospitals and other providers are leaving private Medicare Advantage plans, putting thousands of seniors at risk of higher costs and of losing trusted doctors. (Jaffe, 4/16)
Chicago Tribune: Judge Allows Suit To Proceed Against Alden Nursing Homes
A judge has cleared the way for a trial over a class action lawsuit claiming the operator of Alden nursing homes in the Chicago area systematically understaffed its facilities to make more money, increasing the safety risks of its patients. (McCoppin, 4/16)
Fierce Healthcare: Providers’ Advantage On OON Billing Disputes Likely To Continue
Insurers hoping for a reprieve from an out-of-network billing system largely favoring healthcare providers will likely be left wanting as federal policymakers sit on their hands and one large payer’s bid to limit the claims faces an uphill battle, strategy firm Capstone concluded in a new report. A quarter-by-quarter rise in total payment dispute volumes is likely to continue due to the structural incentives for providers to engage in the process, the firm’s analysts wrote in its report. Such a trend would be slightly positive for hospitals, solidly beneficial for specialty providers and a roadblock for payers—“however, employers could face an additional burden,” they said. (Muoio, 4/16)
The Boston Globe: MGB, CVS Primary Care Partnership Could Inflate Health Care Spending
A proposed collaboration between Mass General Brigham and CVS to increase primary care access could raise commercial health care spending by more than $40 million annually within three years, according to a preliminary state report released Thursday. That cost estimate, published by the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission, would add to already ballooning health care spending in the Commonwealth. (Wolf, 4/16)
Stat: What HaloMD’s Legal Win Means For No Surprises Act Arbitration
Arbitration decisions, it turns out, are like cockroaches. They’re very hard to kill. It’s a long held truism in the legal world, and it was underscored this week when a federal judge shot down a health insurer’s lawsuit challenging No Surprises Act arbitration decisions. (Bannow, 4/16)
Modern Healthcare: Hospital-At-Home Takes Off, Providers Push For Permanent Payment
Hospital-at-home programs are gaining steam again as health systems make investments and press for a permanent payment solution for the care model. Penn Medicine, Cleveland Clinic and Tampa General Hospital are among the health systems that launched or expanded in-home acute care programs in the past few weeks — encouraged by the extension of the Acute Hospital Care at Home wavier through September 2030. (Eastabrook, 4/16)
KFF Health News: Listen: With Little Federal Regulation, States Are Left To Shape The Rules On AI In Health Care
Speed, efficiency, and lower costs. Those are the traits artificial intelligence supporters celebrate. But the same qualities worry physicians who fear the technology could lead to insurance denials with humans left out of the loop. With scant federal regulation, states are left to shape the rules on AI in health care. For residents in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, a divide is playing out on opposite sides of the Potomac River. Maryland and Virginia have taken very different approaches to regulating AI in health insurance. (Sausser, 4/17)
KFF Health News: Your New Therapist: Chatty, Leaky, And Hardly Human
Vince Lahey of Carefree, Arizona, embraces chatbots. From Big Tech products to “shady” ones, they offer “someone that I could share more secrets with than my therapist.” He especially likes the apps for feedback and support, even though sometimes they berate him or lead him to fight with his ex-wife. “I feel more inclined to share more,” Lahey said. “I don’t care about their perception of me.” There are a lot of people like Lahey. (Tahir, 4/17)
On organ transplants —
Stat: Novel Approach To Transplant Rejection Shows Promise In New Study
Immune tolerance has long been the holy grail in transplant medicine, a hoped-for end to the downsides of anti-rejection regimens for patients after they receive lifesaving organ transplants. A small, early-stage study now shows promise in taking cells from living donors — people giving a portion of their livers — to teach recipients’ immune systems to accept the foreign organs as their own and achieve the ultimate healthy outcome. (Cooney, 4/17)
The CT Mirror: Are Black Americans Disproportionately Represented On The Organ Transplant Waitlist?
Black Americans are disproportionately represented on the national organ donation transplant waitlist compared to people of other races or ethnicities, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Available data show that in 2025, Black or African American patients accounted for about 27% of people on the national transplant waiting list, or 28,000 people, while they represented roughly 14% of the U.S. population. (David, 4/16)
6. Experts Slam Review Of Alzheimer’s Treatments, Suggest Data Was Misused
The systematic review looked at data from 17 trials that took place over a 10-year period and concluded that amyloid-targeting treatments probably had little to no difference on cognitive function results, MedPage Today reports. One expert said, “The combined results do not accurately reflect the two treatments that are now approved and clinically used.”
MedPage Today: Alzheimer’s Drug Review Ignites Backlash From Experts
A systematic review suggested that drugs targeting amyloid beta appeared to have no clinically meaningful positive effects, sparking swift backlash from Alzheimer’s disease experts. (George, 4/16)
More pharmaceutical industry developments —
CIDRAP: Hidden Supply-Chain Risks Threaten 100 Essential US Medicines
A new analysis from US Pharmacopeia (USP) suggests that vulnerabilities in the pharmaceutical supply chain could put dozens of widely used medicines at risk of shortage, even when current supplies appear stable. (Bergeson, 4/16)
Bloomberg: OpenAI Takes On Google With New AI Model Aimed At Drug Discovery
OpenAI is rolling out an early version of an artificial intelligence model meant to speed up drug discoveries, joining a field of growing interest for tech companies eager to prove AI can pave the way for more scientific breakthroughs. The ChatGPT maker said Thursday that the model, GPT-Rosalind, is intended for life sciences research, such as helping glean insights from large volumes of data and turning scientific studies into health-care applications for patients. The model will be available initially as a research preview to some of the company’s business customers, OpenAI said. The initial users include drugmaker Amgen Inc., vaccine maker Moderna Inc. and the Allen Institute, a bioscience research nonprofit. (Metz, 4/16)
Bloomberg: Novo Nordisk Has Hired 2,000 This Year To Reshape Workforce
Novo Nordisk A/S has hired about 2,000 people this year, reshaping its workforce after laying off about 10% of staff in 2025. The figure reflects successful job offers, and about 1,400 of those workers have already started, a company spokeswoman said. Of those new hires, Novo said 398 have been in its home country of Denmark. (Kresge, 4/16)
On weight loss drugs —
Stat: Weight Loss Drugs Without Side Effects? Top Researchers Propose New Approach
The scientists whose work spurred the development of powerful obesity drugs like Eli Lilly’s Zepbound are now raising a provocative hypothesis: Perhaps targeting the GLP-1 hormone is actually not necessary to achieve effective weight loss. (Chen, 4/16)
The Hill: Weight Loss Medications Like Ozempic Linked To Hidden Side Effects, Study Finds
A recent analysis of more than 400,000 Reddit posts has found some lesser-known side effects of GLP-1 drugs taken for weight loss and diabetes. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania used AI to analyze more than five years of posts from nearly 70,000 Reddit users, according to a report published in Medical Xpress. Gastrointestinal issues, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and headaches, are commonly reported side effects of GLP-1s, according to the Mayo Clinic. (Kaplan, 4/16)
Bloomberg: Lilly Obesity Pill Shows No Added Heart Risk In Trial
Eli Lilly & Co. said its new weight-loss pill Foundayo was at least as good as an older insulin at warding off heart attacks, strokes or other major cardiovascular events in a study, a finding that comes after US regulators asked for more safety data. The late-stage trial compared Foundayo to Lilly’s insulin, following patients over the course of about two years. Its main objective was to assess the new pill’s ability to prevent cardiovascular emergencies in people who were at increased risk and had both diabetes and obesity. (Muller and Kresge, 4/16)
7. First Case Of Dangerous Clade 1 Mpox Confirmed In San Francisco
The adult patient, who recently had close contact with someone who had traveled internationally, was hospitalized and is improving, public health officials said. Plus: Avian flu virus RNA has been found in the semen of a bull that was not displaying flu symptoms.
San Francisco Chronicle: San Francisco Reports First Case Of Severe Mpox Strain
San Francisco public health officials on Wednesday confirmed the city’s first case of clade I mpox, a strain of the virus that officials say may cause more severe illness than the type behind the outbreak in 2022. The case was identified in an unvaccinated San Francisco adult who was hospitalized and is now improving, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health. The person reported close contact with someone who had traveled internationally, the agency said. (Vaziri, 4/16)
On syphilis, Hib, long covid, and bird flu —