Blog | 3/21/2025

Trump Administration Healthcare News: March 21, 2025

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

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 March 20, 2025. The details and broad themes may have changed.

 

KEY HEALTH NEWS (Global & US & EOs)

RFK Jr. convened roundtable around ways to reduce stem cell regulation

  • HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his staff last Wednesday hosted a regenerative medicine roundtable primarily to discuss how to lower regulatory barriers for stem cell treatments, three people familiar with the meeting confirmed to Endpoints News.
  • The hourlong afternoon meeting included about a dozen outside participants, who were a mix of advocacy group and stem cell company representatives, as well as academic researchers. It also included FDA Acting Commissioner Sara Brenner; Darcie Johnston, HHS’ director of intergovernmental affairs; and Hannah Anderson, HHS’ deputy chief of staff, policy, according to the sources, who spoke to Endpoints on condition of anonymity.
  • HHS did not respond to requests for comment.
  • https://endpts.com/rfk-jr-convened-roundtable-around-ways-to-reduce-stem-cell-regulation/

Senate passes bill with key healthcare extensions, no Medicare physician pay fix

  • Key healthcare provisions in the bill include: Elimination of Medicaid DSH cuts through Sept. 30; Extension of telehealth waivers and the hospital-at-home program through Sept. 30; Expansion of the enhanced low-volume adjustment program through Sept. 30 and the Medicare-dependent hospital program through Oct. 1; Continuation of add-on payments for rural ambulance services through Oct. 1
  • However, the bill does not address the 2.83% Medicare physician pay cut, a major setback for physicians and medical groups. A temporary 2.5% Medicare physician pay bump that took effect Jan. 1 is absent from the funding package. The legislation does, however, renew a boost to the Medicare work geographic practice cost index, which benefits rural physicians.
  • https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/senate-passes-bill-with-key-healthcare-extensions-no-medicare-physician-pay-fix/

Eric Green is out as head of National Human Genome Research Institute

  • Amid the Trump administration’s reshaping of America’s public health authorities, Eric Green, longtime director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, has abruptly left his role, according to two NHGRI employees with knowledge of the situation and internal communications reviewed by STAT.
  • Green, who held that role for 16 years, is the first director of one of the National Institutes of Health’s 27 institutes to leave his position in President Trump’s second term.
  • The move comes as the NIH is bracing for more layoffs, as well as a restructuring aimed at centralizing some of the agency’s core functions.
  • https://www.statnews.com/2025/03/17/trump-nih-eric-green-out-as-director-national-human-genome-research-institute/  (subscription required for full-text)

 As bird flu continues to spread, Trump administration sidelines key pandemic preparedness office

  • The Trump administration has not staffed an office established by Congress to prepare the nation for future pandemics, according to three sources familiar with the situation.
  • The White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy was established by Congress in 2022 in response to mistakes that led to a flat-footed response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
  • The office, called OPPR, once had a staff of about 20 people and was orchestrating the country’s response to bird flu and other threats until January 20, including hosting regular interagency meetings to share plans.
  • “We did it very much behind the scenes,” said Dr. Paul Friedrichs, a physician and retired Air Force major general who was director of OPPR during the Biden administration.
  • As of this week, only one staffer will remain, and it’s unclear who that person reports to, according to a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share the information. OPPR’s pages have also been removed from the White House website.
  • https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/17/health/pandemic-preparedness-office-trump-bird-flu/index.html

Health orgs tweak messaging as federal policy priorities shift

  • Pharmaceutical companies and other health interests are increasingly using terminology associated with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s public health movement as they seek to work with the new administration.
  • Why it matters: It's common for businesses and organizations to shift their communications strategy when a new administration takes office. But Kennedy's high-profile push to upend the public health care system and take on corporate influences in medicine makes the communications pivot more urgent for health organizations.
  • "There's a lot more at stake than there was before," said Hannah Mooney Mack, a strategic communications consultant. "There's always a handful of things that are being considered in the health space. Now, there's a complete overhaul [being considered], which is requiring people to speak up."
  • The big picture: Kennedy's philosophy, built around skepticism of corporations and mainstream science and promoting chronic disease prevention, has its own vernacular.
  • https://www.axios.com/2025/03/20/health-terminology-trump-administration-rfk

KEY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT NEWS

Trump Administration Takes Action to Limit the ACA

HHS agency responsible for health care quality research threatened with mass layoffs

  • The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, has about 300 employees and a budget of $369 million, which is about 0.02% of what the government spends on health care.
  • But AHRQ hasn’t escaped the notice of the DOGE Service, which has been slashing agency payrolls and budgets across the government. Insiders say that DOGE aims to reduce AHRQ staff by 80% to 90%.
  • That’s based on what agency leaders were told by DOGE representatives at an in-person meeting on March 11, one current employee and one former employee said.
  • During his confirmation hearing [Robert F.] Kennedy said he would be “working with AHRQ to hear their proposals on how they will make American healthy again.”
  • https://www.statnews.com/2025/03/20/hhs-ahrq-agency-responsible-for-health-care-quality-research-threatened-with-mass-layoffs (subscription required for full-text)

MedPAC recommends Congress tie physician pay to inflation for 2026

  • The Medicare Advisory Payment Commission, which advises Congress on Medicare policy, is recommending tying the rate of physician and other health professionals’ payment increases in 2026 to the Medicare Economic Index (MEI) minus 1 percentage point, according to its annual report released Thursday.
  • Provider groups have been pushing MedPAC to tie payment increases to the MEI, saying rate increases need to better keep up with the costs of providing care. However, groups are split as to whether the recommendation goes far enough in addressing rising costs.
  • MedPAC also recommended Congress boost hospital payment rates by the amount specified in 2025 plus 1% in 2026.
  • https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/medpac-recommendations-physician-pay-tied-medicare-economic-index/742597/

Trump administration weighing future of CDC's HIV prevention division

  • The U.S. health department said on Tuesday it is reviewing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's HIV prevention division for overlap with other agencies but no final decision had been made about its future.
  • The Department of Health and Human Services made the statement after the WSJ and NBC, citing unnamed sources, reported the division could be dismantled.
  • Carl Schmid, the executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute in Washington, told Reuters he had been told by a government agency source that the division might be shut down and that a decision would be made this week on the funding of HIV prevention at the CDC.
  • Schmid, who co-chaired the Presidential Advisory Council of HIV/AIDS during President Donald Trump's first term, said he understood all of the division's funding is "up in the air".
  • HHS, which oversees the CDC, said in a statement it was looking at all divisions for potential overlap as part of Trump's broader efforts to restructure the federal government and that no final decision had been made on the CDC's HIV Prevention Division.
  • https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/trump-administration-weighing-future-cdcs-hiv-prevention-division-2025-03-18/

Trump rescinds Biden executive order on COVID-19 data collection, memo on LGBTQ rights

  • The White House rescinded Executive Order 13394, Ensuring a Data-Driven Response to COVID-19 and Future High-Consequence Public Health Threats.
  • This executive order was established on Biden’s second day in office and directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary and other federal agencies to spearhead “work on COVID-19 and pandemic-related data issues” to “deter the spread of misinformation and disinformation,” the filing reads.
  • Also rescinded is a memo on Advancing the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Persons Around the World.
  • Trump’s HHS is shifting away from Biden-era health equity initiatives and is choosing to recognize only two sexes: male and female.
  • https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/regulatory/trump-rescinds-biden-executive-order-covid-19-memo-lgbtq-rights

Fired CDC federal workers still not contacted by HHS for reinstatement despite court order

  • The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has given a federal court the clearest look yet at the number of probationary workers fired under the Trump administration, and how many have been reinstated so far, but fired Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) employees say they have still not been contacted or provided a status update on their employment.
  • In a March 17 filing, Acting Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Capital at HHS Jonathan Gardner said the department distributed 3,248 termination notices out of a total 8,466 probationary and trial period employees.
  • While Gardner said HHS notified all impacted probationary workers, and that the agency still needed to complete “additional administrative processes,” some workers are still telling Fierce Healthcare they did not receive correspondence until far after the court-imposed deadline, if at all. It varies whether employees received written notice over email or heard the news over the phone.

DOGE cuts “will hit US military veterans’ health”

  • President Donald Trump’s cuts to the civil service will hit US military veterans especially hard, experts have warned. The Trump administration called for cutting about 83,000 jobs from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which provides healthcare and many other benefits to veterans. Some nine million veterans used its services last year.
  • VA officials were told to reduce employment by about 17% from the department’s current 482,000 to the 2019 level of just under 400,000.
  • https://www.bmj.com/content/388/bmj.r540.full  (subscription required for full-text)

KEY BIOPHARMA NEWS

HHS files brief in 340B rebate model case: 4 takeaways

  • HHS has filed a legal brief urging a federal judge to dismiss lawsuits brought by pharmaceutical companies challenging the agency’s stance on 340B rebate models.
  • In the brief, HHS argued that the rebate-based pricing models proposed by drugmakers violate the 340B statute which requires upfront reimbursements. The agency stated that the models undermine the program’s purpose and create administrative burdens for hospitals that rely on 340B discounts.
  • Eli Lilly, Novartis and Bristol Myers Squibb have each proposed rebate-based models that require hospitals to pay full price upfront and later seek reimbursement, according to March 17 court documents obtained by Becker’s. The drugmakers argue that the models increase transparency and ensure that savings benefit patients.
  • This also comes after Sanofi notified 340B entities in November that it would roll out a new credit model in early 2025. In December, the HRSA sent Sanofi a warning letter urging the drugmaker to halt its 340B rebate model.
  • Drugmakers have since filed lawsuits against HHS and HRSA seeking court rulings that their rebate models comply with federal law and blocking potential enforcement actions.
  • https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/legal-regulatory-issues/hhs-files-brief-in-340b-rebate-model-case-4-takeaways/

Scientists Say NIH Officials Told Them To Scrub mRNA References on Grants

  • National Institutes of Health officials have urged scientists to remove all references to mRNA vaccine technology from their grant applications, two researchers said, in a move that signaled the agency might abandon a promising field of medical research.
  • The mRNA technology is under study at the NIH for prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, including flu and AIDS, and also cancer. It was deployed in the development of covid-19 vaccines credited with saving 3 million lives in the U.S. alone — an accomplishment President Donald Trump bragged about in his first term.
  • A scientist at a biomedical research center in Philadelphia wrote to a colleague, in an email reviewed by KFF Health News, that a project officer at NIH had “flagged our pending grant as having an mRNA vaccine component.”
  • “It’s still unclear whether mRNA vaccine grants will be canceled,” the scientist added.
  • https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/nih-grants-mrna-vaccines-trump-administration-hhs-rfk/

KEY HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (HIT) NEWS

HITAC Meetings Remain Suspended Through May Amid Health IT Uncertainty

  • An indefinite suspension of meetings of the Health Information Technology Advisory Committee (HITAC), which advises HHS’ chief health IT office (ASTP/ONC), will continue at least through May, a member of the committee told Inside Health Policy.
  • HITAC operations were first paused in late January after the Trump administration took office. Prior to the pause, HITAC welcomed its new members and discussed interoperability policy, including the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI).

KEY MEDTECH NEWS

Dr. Oz on medtech coverage

  • Mehmet Oz, MD, signaled support for streamlining the path to Medicare coverage of new devices, more in line with the first Trump administration’s Medicare Coverage of Innovative Technology (MCIT), during his March 14 confirmation hearing.
  • “We should make it easier for industry to create lifesaving tools by aligning when the FDA approves a product with when CMS begins to fund it for beneficiaries,” Dr. Oz said in response to a question from Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) about whether the CMS administrator-nominee would return to a policy closer to the envisioned MCIT path, which would have featured an automatic four years of national coverage for most FDA Breakthrough Devices if it wasn’t repealed by the Biden administration.
  • https://www.mystrategist.com/market-pathways/article/dr_oz_hearing_fda_office_challenges_china_picks_and_more.html (subscription required for full-text)

CURRENT APPOINTEE STATUS

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

Updated March 20, at 11 AM EST.

KEY ACRONYMS

  • ACA = Affordable Care Act
  • ASTP/ONC = Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/Office of the National Coordinator
  • CDRH = Center for Devices and Radiological Health
  • CMMI = Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation
  • CMS = Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services
  • DOGE = Department of Government Efficiency
  • DSH = Disproportionate Share Hospital
  • EO = Executive Order
  • FDA = Food and Drug Administration
  • HDHP = high-deductible health plans
  • HHS = Department of Health and Human Services
  • HITAC = Health Information Technology Advisory Committee
  • MCIT = Medicare Coverage of Innovative Technology
  • MedPAC = Medicare Advisory Payment Commission
  • NIH = National Institutes of Health
  • OCED = Organisation of Economic Development
  • OCG = Office of the General Counsel
  • OCR = Office for Civil Rights
  • OIRA = Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
  • OMB = Office of Management and Budget
  • OPPR = Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy
  • PRAMS = Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System
  • UNRWA = United Nations Relief and Works Agency
  • USAID = U.S. Agency for International Development
  • VA = Department of Veterans Affairs
  • WHO = World Health Organization

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