Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is stepping down at the end of June after 2½ tumultuous years leading the nation’s primary public health agency — and much of the Biden administration’s effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more»

White House officials announced Monday that they will end the COVID-19 vaccination requirements for federal employees, contractors and international travelers when the COVID-19 public health emergency ends on May 11. Read more»

Nearly 9,000 for-profit nursing homes outsource crucial services such as nursing staff, management, medical supplies and even building ownership to affiliated corporations, known as “related parties,” that their owners own, invest in, or control - while patient care declined. Read more»

Touting record-breaking enrollment for 2023, the Biden administration announced that around 3.1 million Americans are getting insurance for the first time under the federal Affordable Care Act - and there is still time to sign up before the Jan. 15 deadline. Read more»

Bipartisan leaders of the Comprehensive Care Caucus called on the Department of Health and Human Services to “immediately investigate this situation" after an exposé of hospice fraud described how many profit-seeking hospices cut corners and target patients who are not dying. Read more»

With the winter holidays approaching, the Biden administration released a COVID-19 preparedness plan announcing access to free tests and vaccines as well as hospital staff support and equipment in anticipation of increased disease transmission. Read more»

Hundreds of unaccompanied migrant children at an emergency intake shelter at Fort Bliss either faced unnecessary delays in being reunited with their families or were released to family or sponsors who had not had adequate background checks, an internal federal report shows. Read more»

President Joe Biden on Thursday announced executive actions that would pardon thousands of people with prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession and said he plans to call on governors to follow suit with state offenses related to simple marijuana possession. Read more»

Health care providers, nursing home representatives, and advocates for residents say Medicare Advantage plans are increasingly ending members’ coverage for nursing home and rehabilitation services before patients are healthy enough to go home. Read more»

A federal judge in Louisiana has issued a permanent injunction to block the Biden administration’s mandate that all Head Start program workers, volunteers and contractors be vaccinated for COVID-19. Read more»

A federal-state health care program for pregnant women is gaining momentum in a post-Roe America as 25 states have extended postpartum Medicaid coverage from two months to a full year after childbirth and eight additional states - including Arizona - have applications pending. Read more»

A federal judge in Washington D.C. approved a settlement Wednesday as part of a lawsuit from 2018 against Trump administration officials, after ruling that the practice of transferring immigrant children to adult detention facilities just as they turned 18 violated federal law. Read more»

Retirees in Arizona struggle to divide monthly social security payments of $1,667 between rent, food and healthcare bills. Provisions in the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act seek to ease some of that budget strain by introducing caps on rapidly rising Medicare costs. Read more»

Anthony Fauci, one of the federal government’s leading public health figures, announced he’ll be leaving his post as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in December, though he made clear he’s not retiring. Read more»

Federal public health officials said Thursday they are working with state and local health departments to boost messaging and vaccinations for those most likely to contract monkeypox, including at large-scale events. Read more»