Blog | 2/14/2025

Trump Administration Healthcare News: February 14, 2025

Health Advances weekly healthcare tracker focused on top level government administration news.

2nd in our series of “Trump Administration Healthcare News” series – as always, please contact us with any suggestions or questions! 

NOTE: All words/analysis are those from the source noted, opinions are those of the original authors and not reflective of Health Advances in general nor any individual. All sources are non-confidential and in the public domain (but some may be behind paywalls).

This issue reflects news as of 11 AM on February 13, 2025. The details and broad themes may have changed!

KEY HEALTH NEWS (Global & US)

White House EO establishes Make America Healthy Again Commission

  • President Trump Feb. 13 signed an executive order establishing the Make America Healthy Again Commission, to be chaired by Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The commission is tasked with “investigating and addressing the root causes of America’s escalating health crisis, with an initial focus on childhood chronic diseases.”

The commission has four main policy directives to reverse chronic disease:

  • Empower Americans through transparency and open-source data and avoid conflicts of interest in all federally funded health research.
  • Prioritize gold-standard research on why Americans are getting sick in all health-related research funded by the federal government.
  • Work with farmers to ensure that US food is healthy, abundant and affordable.
  • Ensure expanded treatment options and health coverage flexibility for beneficial lifestyle changes and disease prevention.
  • https://www.aha.org/news/headline/2025-02-13-white-house-eo-establishes-make-america-healthy-again-commission

President Trump’s Executive Order on Gender Affirming Care: Responses by Providers, States, and Litigation

  • On January 28, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order titled, “Protecting Children From Chemical And Surgical Mutilation.”
  • Among other actions, the Order directs agencies and programs to work towards significantly limiting youth access to gender affirming care nationwide.
  • While the order does not immediately change policies or regulations that guide access to gender affirming care, it has already created significant confusion and some disruption of services, and there is now a legal challenge, as well as responses by several states.
  • This Policy Watch reviews the key provisions of the Executive Order that aim to restrict youth access to gender affirming care and examines state and legal responses.
  • None of the 26 states with laws prohibiting or limiting youth access to gender affirming care have yet to officially respond to the Executive Order.
  • https://www.kff.org/policy-watch/president-trumps-executive-order-on-gender-affirming-care-responses-by-providers-states-and-litigation/

KFF analysis: Addressing Egregious Actions of The Republic of South Africa

  • Stated Purpose: To stop US support for South Africa due to its “commission of rights violations in its country or its ‘undermining United States foreign policy, which poses national security threats to our Nation, our allies, our African partners, and our interests.”
  • Impact: South Africa receives a significant amount of global health assistance, particularly for HIV/AIDS, from the United States government. While the executive order allows the heads of US agencies to permit the provision of foreign aid or assistance under this order at their discretion, it is unclear if such a decision for any global health area will be made. In addition, even if it is, global health assistance would only be limited to those services allowable under limited waivers to the foreign assistance executive order that have already been granted.
  • Executive Order: Addressing Egregious Actions of The Republic of South Africa

Trump administration allows some global aid to restart, but concerns remain on impact of USAID shutdown

  • The Trump administration has permitted the resumption of a range of global health initiatives despite its ongoing foreign aid freeze, offering a boost to programs targeting scourges like malaria and tuberculosis.
  • In a memo dated Tuesday and obtained by STAT, a USAID official said the agency is “taking steps to resume or continue activities deemed to be lifesaving humanitarian assistance.”
  • It’s unclear, however, how quickly the money will start flowing again.
  • Much of the US support for these health initiatives goes through USAID and relies on its staff and contractors, and the administration has been moving to slash the agency’s staff and ordering people working abroad to return to the US
  • NOTE: (Friday afternoon federal judge Carl Nichols said he would temporarily block plans to put some 2,200 employees on paid leave and to recall nearly all agency workers posted abroad.)
  • https://www.statnews.com/2025/02/07/trump-usaid-malaria-tuberculosis-funding-restored-waiver-granted-foreign-aid-freeze/ (subscription required for full-text)

Congressman proposes banning prior authorization across all health plans

  • A US congressman wants to ban prior authorization across all health plans, labeling the healthcare utilization-management practice as “useless red tape.”
  • Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-NJ, proposed the Doctor Knows Best Act of 2025 last month in the US House. The bill would prohibit any group health plans, insurance issuers and federal healthcare programs from applying prior authorization requirements, medical necessity reviews and any other tactics to control care delivery.
  •  “People shouldn’t have to wait around for an insurance company to decide if they can get the care their doctor already said they need,” Van Drew said in a statement shared with Radiology Business. “Prior authorization is just unnecessary red tape that delays treatment and puts insurance companies in charge instead of doctors. My bill gets rid of it, plain and simple—because medical decisions should be made in the doctor’s office, not a corporate office."
  •  If approved, the bill would take effect Jan. 1, 2026.
  • https://radiologybusiness.com/topics/healthcare-management/healthcare-policy/congressman-proposes-banning-prior-authorization-across-all-health-plans

KEY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT NEWS

EO on Implementing the DOGE Workforce Optimization Initiative

  • Reductions in the federal workforce: Agency heads are directed to develop plans that institute large-scale reductions in the federal workforce. The executive order directs agency heads to prioritize the reduction of positions that functions are “not mandated by statute or other law.” The executive order specifically calls out agency diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives as an example.
  • Hiring Ratios: The executive order directs that these reduction plans should require agencies to hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart. These hiring ratios do not apply to positions related to public safety, immigration, or law enforcement. The executive order reaffirms the indefinite hiring freeze for the Internal Revenue Service.
  • Hiring Approval: Agency heads will need to consult a DOGE team lead before hiring for a position. The executive order states that an agency cannot hire for a position that DOGE team views as unnecessary, unless the Agency head overrules DOGE.
  • The executive order does not apply to military personnel and agency heads may exempt positions that they deem “necessary to meet national security, homeland security, or public safety responsibilities.”
  • Impact: This executive order impacts the more than 2 million civilian federal workers that provide essential government services, such as administering Social Security payments, conducting health and safety inspections, and producing quality economic data. A large-scale reduction in the workforce could create a disruption in such services, due to a loss in capacity and subject matter experts.
  • https://www.epi.org/policywatch/eo-on-implementing-the-doge-workforce-optimization-initiative/

Judge orders health agencies to restore data scrubbed by Trump administration

  • A judge ordered federal health agencies Tuesday to restore online datasets taken down after President Trump issued an executive order prohibiting the government from promoting “gender ideology.”
  •  US District Judge John Bates agreed to issue the temporary order in favor of Doctors for America (DFA), a left-leaning physicians advocacy group that sued by claiming the scrubbing violated federal law.
  • After holding a hearing Monday, the judge agreed it likely violated a provision requiring agencies to provide adequate notice before terminating significant information products.
  • https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5138505-judge-trump-administration-federal-health-agencies-data-restoration/

White House preparing order to cut thousands of federal health workers, WSJ reports

  • The White House is working on an executive order to fire thousands of US Department of Health and Human Services workers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
  •  White House on Thursday denied it is drafting an executive order to cut workers across federal health agencies.
  •  According to the Wall Street Journal, under the order, which could come as soon as next week, the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health agencies would have to cut a certain percentage of employees.
  • https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white-house-preparing-order-cut-thousands-federal-health-workers-wsj-reports-2025-02-06/

Halt on Trump administration’s cuts to NIH research payments expanded nationwide

  • A federal judge in Boston ordered a nationwide temporary pause on plans by the National Institutes of Health to substantially slash research overhead payments to universities, medical centers, and other grant recipients.
  • Judge Angel Kelley of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued the temporary restraining order late Monday night in response to a lawsuit filed that afternoon by associations representing the nation’s medical, pharmacy, and public health schools, as well as Boston and New York-area hospitals. The suit names the NIH, Department of Health and Human Services, and the acting heads of both agencies as defendants.
  • https://www.statnews.com/2025/02/11/judge-orders-nationwide-halt-trump-nih-research-indirect-costs/ (subscription required for full-text)

AG Campbell Sues Trump Administration For Defunding Medical And Public Health Innovation Research

  • Massachusetts Attorney Andrea Joy Campbell co-led 21 other attorneys general in today suing the Trump Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for unlawfully cutting funds that support cutting-edge medical and public health research at universities and research institutions across the country.
  • The coalition is challenging the Trump Administration’s attempt to unilaterally cut “indirect cost” reimbursements at every research institution throughout the country. These reimbursements cover expenses to facilitate biomedical research, like lab, faculty, infrastructure, and utility costs. Without them, the lifesaving and life-changing medical research in which the United States - and Massachusetts, in particular - has long been a leader, could be compromised.
  • Indirect cost reimbursements are based on each institution’s unique needs, negotiated with the federal government through a carefully regulated process, and then memorialized in an executed agreement. The Trump Administration’s purports to toss those agreements aside, putting public health and medical advancements at risk. The coalition’s lawsuit seeks to prevent that reckless and illegal conduct.
  • News: https://www.mass.gov/news/ag-campbell-sues-trump-administration-for-defunding-medical-and-public-health-innovation-research
  • Filed document: https://www.mass.gov/doc/ecf-complaint-mass-v-nih/download

Federal judge in R.I. doubles down on order to block federal funding freeze

  • The AGs filed an emergency motion Friday, asking McConnell to reinforce his existing, temporary restraining order, unleashing a mountain of evidence showing critical state programs and funding beneficiaries were still not receiving necessary federal funds. McConnell on Monday doubled down, again ordering the federal administration to end its funding pause and restore money that was previously frozen.
  • “The broad categorical and sweeping freeze of federal funds is, as the Court found, likely unconstitutional and has caused and continues to cause irreparable harm to a vast portion of this country,” McConnell wrote. “These pauses in funding violate the plain text of the TRO.”
  • Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, one of six co-leads in the lawsuit, called McConnell’s ruling “swift and unsurprising.”
  • “Judge McConnell’s Order confirmed what we have been saying from the beginning,” Neronha said in a statement Monday. “It is now time for the Administration to come into full compliance. This is a country of laws. We expect the Administration to follow the law. Our Office and attorneys general across the country stand ready to keep careful watch on the actions of this Administration that follow, and we will not hesitate to go back to Court if they don’t comply.”
  • https://rhodeislandcurrent.com/2025/02/10/federal-judge-in-r-i-doubles-down-on-order-to-block-federal-funding-freeze/

NIH announces new funding policy that rattles medical researchers

  • The NIH says the agency is limiting funding for "indirect costs" to 15% of grants.
  • That's far below what many institutions have been getting to maintain buildings and equipment and pay support staff and other overhead expenses. For example, Harvard receives 68% and Yale gets 67%, according to the NIH.
  • The NIH says the new policy, which marks a major change in how the agency funds research, is more in line what private foundations pay.
  • "Most private foundations that fund research provide substantially lower indirect costs than the federal government, and universities readily accept grants from these foundations," the NIH says in a notification released Friday announcing the change.
  • https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/02/08/g-s1-47383/nih-announces-new-funding-policy-that-rattles-medical-researchers

Larry Tabak, NIH’s longtime second-in-command, to retire

  • Larry Tabak, the longtime No. 2 official at the National Institutes of Health, is retiring, according to two sources familiar with his decision.
  • Tabak, a dentist and researcher, was appointed as the NIH’s principal deputy director in 2010. His tenure spans four presidential administrations, and includes a nearly two-year stint as the agency’s acting director following the 2021 departure of its longtime leader, Francis Collins.
  • https://www.statnews.com/2025/02/12/nih-deputy-larry-tabak-retiring-trump-administration/ (subscription required for full-text)

KEY BIOPHARMA NEWS

Trump’s tariffs will trickle down the clinical trial chain

  • As President Trump’s tariff restrictions are imposed on China, the pharmaceutical industry has been deciphering how it will be impacted and ways to reduce the effect.
  •  If tariffs come in all these geographical areas, experts question whether it will begin to make the US a less attractive place to conduct studies. While it is well acknowledged that drug costs will increase with tariffs due to China’s current grip on drug manufacturing, other clinical trial-related costs are also likely to impact the overall cost of running studies.
  • If sponsors want to keep manufacturing costs down, they must seek alternative manufacturing options for their IP and any generics they source in studies.
  • Around half of generics and four-fifths of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) used by the US pharmaceutical industry are manufactured abroad, with China having a giant hold on the global manufacturing market. During questioning at a Senate HELP Committee hearing, Trump’s nominee to lead the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Robert F. Kennedy Jr, known as RFK Jr., said it was vital for the US to take back control of drug manufacturing.
  • https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-tariffs-trickle-down-clinical-195125401.html

KEY DIAGNOSTICS – LIFE SCIENCE RESEARCH NEWS

DNA sequencing shares slide amid 'headwinds' from Trump's NIH funding cuts

  • After the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced late Friday that it would be following a Trump administration directive to cut the cost of medical research grants, major makers of DNA sequencing and cell analysis hardware saw their stock prices take a hit.
  • Specifically, the NIH said it would be limiting funding for the so-called “indirect” expenses of R&D—which includes overhead facility costs as well as maintenance and the purchasing of new equipment such as research hardware. Instead of individually negotiating indirect cost rates with each recipient’s institution, the institutes plan to impose a 15% cap across all NIH grants.
  • In Monday’s trading, instrument manufacturers Pacific Biosciences and 10x Genomics each saw their stock prices dive by 13% to 14%, while industry giant Illumina—still recovering from being caught up in the tariff battle between the US and China—saw its shares drop as much as 7% on the day, or a 17% total decline compared to last week.
  • https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/dna-sequencing-shares-slide-amid-headwinds-trumps-nih-funding-cuts

KEY HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (HIT) NEWS

Nothing new at this time potentially due to HITAC meetings have been indefinitely cancelled: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/future-pulse/2025/02/06/cms-ai-on-hold-00202662

KEY MEDTECH NEWS

Advamed pushes for medical device exemption from Trump tariffs

  • Advamed, one of the largest medical device trade groups, told the Trump administration it is concerned about the potential impact of tariffs on the medical technology supply chain and wants an exemption for the industry.
  • Advamed CEO Scott Whitaker said tariffs affect US companies like an excise tax. The impact could lead to less R&D and innovation, layoffs and higher prices for payers and patients.
  • President Donald Trump has said companies can avoid the impact of tariffs by manufacturing in the US Whitaker said relocating manufacturing requires Food and Drug Administration approval, making it difficult to move production to the US in the short term.
  • https://www.medtechdive.com/news/Advamed-medtech-exemption-Trump-tariffs/739040/

IPWatchdog Unleashed: Patents and the Future of the USPTO in Trump’s Second Term

  • This week on IPWatchdog Unleashed we enter the world of innovation politics with a discussion about what to expect for the patent world during President Trump’s second term, what to specifically expect from the Patent Office, what to expect in Congress relating to the patent reform bills that we can expect to be reintroduced, which are namely PREVAIL, which relates to reforming the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA), which relates to reforming the law on patent eligibility to make it easier to patent software—including artificial intelligence—and to make medical diagnostics patentable again, and RESTORE, which relates to overruling the Supreme Court’s 2006 decision in eBay v. MercExchange, which has made it virtually impossible to obtain injunctive relief even when patent owners win and prove ongoing infringement.
  • “For the first time in my recollection, we’ve got people coming in at cabinet and call it uber-cabinet levels who at least think they know something about patents and the patent system,” Kappos went on to explain. “And that is going to create a very different dialogue and dynamic than we’ve really ever seen before in my life.”
  • https://ipwatchdog.com/2025/02/11/patents-future-uspto-trumps-second-term/id=185854/

The impact of Trump tariffs on iodine contrast media costs

  •  While GE said there will not be an issue with price increases from Chinese tariffs, some in radiology have concerns about the possibility, including the Radiology Business Management Association (RBMA). The group said it has seen iodine contrast prices rise prior to and since the pandemic.
  • To quantify the potential for increased costs from tariffs, consider Medicare patients alone accounted for 10.16 million contrast CT exams in 2023 in the United States. This includes 40 different CPT codes for contrast CT. Larger healthcare systems that buy vast quantities of contrast have an average cost in the neighborhood of about $30 per patient dose. In ballpark figures, if a large amount of US contrast supply was still coming from China, as was the case in 2022, it would translate into a price increase of about $3 per dose. The cost increase for Medicare patient contrast scans could increase nationwide by $30.5 million using those numbers.
  • However, the cost of contrast to start is higher for smaller health systems and radiology practices, so costs could be higher. While this math is hypothetical, the concern in the industry is real.
  • "I don't know how providers will absorb these costs. We can't just raise prices because we have contracts with insurance providers and we have fixed reimbursement rates from Medicare," said Kit Crancer, an RBMA board member and senior vice president of public policy for Rayus Radiology.
  • He said Rayus and RBMA will likely pursue advocacy efforts with Congress and the Trump administration to seek tariff exemptions for medical supplies.
  • https://radiologybusiness.com/topics/healthcare-management/healthcare-economics/impact-trump-tariffs-iodine-contrast-media-costs

CURRENT APPOINTEE STATUS

 https://ourpublicservice.org/performance-measures/political-appointee-tracker/

KEY ACRONYMS

  • CDRH = Center for Devices and Radiological Health
  • CMS = Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services
  • EO = Executive Order
  • FDA = Food and Drug Administration
  • HHS = Department of Health and Human Services
  • OMB = Office of Management and Budget
  • UNRWA = United Nations Relief and Works Agency
  • USAID = US Agency for International Development
  • WHO = World Health Organization

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