Meet me at White Oak

Most FDA employees were required to return to work in person by Monday. Hotel stays, office confusion, and questions about the potability of office water ensued, as Lizzy Lawrence reports from the agency's main campus in White Oak, an area of Silver Spring, Md.

One FDA employee's assigned duty station turned out to be a storage closet in a district courthouse. Some were assigned two or three to a conference room, and had to figure out how to take sensitive calls in a shared, crowded place. One said their coworker in Massachusetts will be sharing a conference room with around 70 people.

Read more from Lizzy about how the FDA's return-to-work order unfurled.

trump administration

A little-known HHS agency facing big layoffs

Yet another HHS agency might be the target of mass layoffs, according to Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Reps. Donald Beyers (D-Va.) and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.). This time it's the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, John Wilkerson reports.

AHRQ, pronounced "arc," is smaller and less well-known than such agencies as the NIH. It's the only agency that researches what patients get from health care and how to improve that care. The agency also has been key in getting insurers to cover for free preventive services, such as mammograms.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Make America Healthy Again movement want to reduce chronic disease by improving the diets of Americans, a topic that AHRQ often researches. Take for example its research on how ultra-processed foods contributes to childhood obesity or the data it has collected that helped identify a link between living in areas saturated with unhealthy food options and higher hospitalization rates for causes related to diabetes.

Despite what would seem to be a good fit with Kennedy's goals, the lawmakers fear it could be hollowed out by layoffs as part of an HHS reorganization.

"This reorganization may include the elimination of the Agency and the termination of hundreds of government employees and the lawfully mandated patient-centered research they oversee," they wrote in a letter to Kennedy.

HHS "is following the Administration's guidance and taking action to support the President's broader efforts to restructure and streamline the federal government," HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement.

scientific research

Trump admin axes diabetes funding

The administration has canceled funding for an ongoing 30-year, nationwide study tracking patients with prediabetes and diabetes, researchers told STAT's Elaine Chen on Monday. The move comes despite top officials' calls to tackle chronic conditions under RFK Jr.'s MAHA agenda.

Investigators working on the landmark Diabetes Prevention Program found out last week that the NIH had halted funding. The decision appears related to the Trump administration's cancellation of federal grants to Columbia University. Since 2022, Columbia has been managing funding for the most recent phase of the program, which is focused on tracking Alzheimer's disease and related dementias among participants. More from Elaine.

global health

WHO leader has harsh words for Trump

The World Health Organization is bracing for the fallout from President Trump's order to withdraw the U.S., and its funding, from the international health group. Its director-general on Monday warned that the consequences could be dire.

The nation "has a responsibility to ensure that if it withdraws direct funding for countries, it's done in an orderly and humane way that allows them to find alternative sources of funding," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press conference. Several WHO officials have said the U.S. funding cuts are already impacting disease control efforts in multiple countries, from malaria vaccine distribution to programs combatting measles outbreaks.

Tedros was in Washington last week, and met with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) among others. More from STAT's Helen Branswell.

health care costs

What Dr. Oz's hearing tells us about CMS's future

Mehmet Oz is changing his tune on private Medicare plans. On Friday, the former surgeon and popular daytime television host pledged to crack down on Medicare Advantage, after years of touting the private plans on his show.

Oz also seemed open to reducing Medicaid spending during his hourslong testimony before the Senate Finance committee. While he declined to answer multiple senators' questions about whether he opposes Republicans' proposed cuts to the program, Oz lamented how much it has grown in recent years.

Overall, the nominee's television charm was on full display, STAT's Tara Bannow writes. He interjected personal details, attempted to set up a basketball game with the committee's top Democrat, and a possible elk hunt with another senator. But Oz did get down to specifics sometimes, whether about Medicare Advantage or what he thinks AI can do in the agency. More from Tara.

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