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Public Health

Nicole Ortiz

Healthcare Brew delivers the latest news and trends in healthcare.

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When talking about climate change-related health issues, 

And for good reason: There’s been an increased risk of illness or death from extreme heat in recent years, and heat is the leading weather-related cause of death in the US, according to the National Weather Service.

That’s why nonprofit Americares, which brings health programs and supplies to communities impacted by disaster and inequity, announced plans to expand its protection efforts for patients dealing with extreme heat.

In an Aug. 21 press release, the organization shared it will award grants to 13 free clinics and 

 (CHCs) so they can purchase supplies to help patients confront extreme heat, including air conditioners, ice packs, reusable water bottles, and more. The grants are part of an extension of the Climate Health Equity for Community Clinics program, which provides extreme heat and 

These are the facilities receiving funding:

Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless in New Mexico

The Broad Street Clinic in Morehead City, North Carolina

Coachella Valley Volunteers in Medicine in Indio, California

Community Health of South Florida in Miami

Miami Rescue Mission – Doral Clinic in Florida

Muncie Mission Ministries in Muncie, Indiana

Sonoma County Indian Health Project in Santa Rosa, California

St. Clair Community Health Clinic in Pell City, Alabama

Volunteers in Medicine in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

Further, in collaboration with CVS Health, Americares is planning to award an additional eight grants to healthcare facilities primarily in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, and Texas to secure supplies when there’s extreme heat in the forecast.

The 18-month-long pilot program will tap into weather data in an effort to cut down on patients needing hospital-level care for heat-related illness. According to CDC data, almost 120,000 emergency department visits were associated with health-related illness in 2023, double the record between 2018 and 2022.

“As heat waves become more frequent and intense, we’re taking action to protect those most at risk,” Americares SVP of Programs and Chief Medical Officer Julie Varughese said in a statement. “Healthcare providers at safety net clinics see firsthand how the environments where their patients live and work exacerbate existing health disparities.”

Graphic of a thermometer showing a very high temperature

Americares provides grants to help 13 clinics, community health centers combat extreme heat

As temperatures climb due to climate change, patients are at an increased risk for heat-related illness or death.

Maia Anderson

The opioid epidemic has been a defining public health crisis in the US for the past quarter century. 

With more than 800,000 people dead from overdoses over nearly 25 years, it’s hard to find an event—outside of the 

—that has impacted the US healthcare system more. The economic cost of opioid use disorder and opioid overdoses in the US was estimated to be more than $1 trillion in 2017 alone, according to 

Today, the number of overdose deaths has 

. But experts warn impending changes to Medicaid could slow that progress.

Further, overdose deaths are still higher than they were pre-pandemic, Thuy Dieu Nguyen, an assistant professor of health management and policy at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, told Healthcare Brew.

“We still have an ongoing opioid crisis,” she said.

The CDC breaks the opioid epidemic into three waves.

The first began in the 1990s, when doctors started prescribing more opioids for pain control, driven largely by Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin hitting the market in 1996. The second wave that began in 2010 saw an increase in heroin deaths, as the drug became cheaper and more available in the US. The third wave began in 2013 as synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl-based drugs, rose in popularity.

The CDC first called the opioid crisis an “epidemic” in 2011, and in October 2017, President Donald Trump declared it a public health emergency.

 targeted opioid manufacturers, pharmaceutical distributors, and pharmacies for allegedly “aggressively marketing” the drugs while “downplaying addiction and overdose risks.”. In 2019, Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, 

. Though the company had profited $35+ billion from opioid sales, it was later forced to 

But what didn’t receive much legal attention—until recently—is the role of 

 (PBMs), which negotiate with drug companies to create formularies for insurers.

A group of lawmakers asked the Department of Justice in December 2024 to investigate 

 in the opioid epidemic, saying in a letter that 

 and a review of confidential files suggested the Big 3 PBMs—CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and Optum Rx—“colluded and conspired to steer patients toward OxyContin in exchange for $400 million.”

 in December they offered payers the option to restrict opioid prescriptions.

After skyrocketing during the pandemic, the number of opioid-involved deaths started falling in 2023 for the first time since 2018, according to CDC data.

Between 2022 and 2023, the number of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids fell by 2%, heroin by about 33%, and prescription opioids by almost 12%.

Further, provisional CDC data shows total drug overdose deaths fell about 27% from 110,037 to 80,391 between 2023 and 2024.

Experts aren’t sure why, exactly, overdose deaths have started dropping so significantly, but Nguyen said there are a few potential explanations.

First, some experts think that because fentanyl overdoses have already killed so many people in recent years, the number of high-risk drug users is shrinking, she said.

Second, harm reduction measures, like increased access to naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug, may be working. In March 2023, the FDA 

 over-the-counter Narcan (a brand-name naloxone), which can also be bought online.

“The interventions are now working,” Nguyen said. “People have easier access to naloxone, fentanyl testing strips, or certain things that have helped individuals to cope with deadly fentanyl products.”

Access to other opioid use disorder treatments, such as buprenorphine, has also been expanded significantly, Nguyen said. For instance, during the pandemic, the Drug Enforcement Agency and Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration allowed providers to prescribe buprenorphine after an audio-only telehealth call instead of requiring patients to go in person. That rule became permanent in January 2025.

And policies passed during the pandemic, including 

 that allowed beneficiaries to stay enrolled through the public health crisis, likely helped, she added. 

 shows that 47% of nonelderly adults with opioid use disorder are Medicaid beneficiaries.

Additionally, many states no longer require prior authorization for at least one type of buprenorphine, Heather Saunders, a senior research manager for KFF’s program on Medicaid and the uninsured, told us. That’s led to an increasing number of prescriptions for the treatment, she added.

Potentially the biggest threats to this progress are the looming 

, as Medicaid “finances the largest share of medication-assisted treatment,” Saunders told us.

, which was signed into law on July 4, cuts Medicaid funding by about $1 trillion over the next 10 years and puts work requirements in place, which means beneficiaries must prove they spend 80 hours per month working, going to school, or doing other approved activities like community service.

The added paperwork burden that comes with work requirements may cause coverage gaps, which could raise the risk of overdose deaths, Saunders said.

Stopping opioid use disorder treatment is linked to a 6x higher mortality risk for the first four weeks after interrupting treatment, according to the KFF analysis, which Saunders co-authored.

 overall will become uninsured,” she said. “So, to the extent that includes people with opioid use disorder, that might have implications for them being able to access treatment continuously.”

Where the opioid epidemic stands amid Medicaid cuts, work requirements 

Cuts to Medicaid funding could have a chilling effect on recent progress curbing opioid overdose deaths. 

Where the opioid epidemic stands amid Medicaid cuts 

The US recently hit a new record—and not a good one. The country has now seen more measles cases in 2025 than in any single year since the virus was 

As of July 29, there have been 1,333 confirmed measles cases in the US, according to the CDC. The previous record was 1,274 cases in 2019, which largely occurred in the Orthodox Jewish community in New York that had a 

Most of the cases this year (762) have been in Texas, connected to an 

 that started in January. New Mexico and Kansas are also seeing upticks in cases this year, with New Mexico reporting 96 as of July 24 and Kansas reporting 90 as of July 23.

 and deadly virus continuing to rise, Healthcare Brew asked executives across the healthcare industry how the spread of 

 is affecting their respective sectors as well as what health leaders can do to slow the spread.

Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control at the University of Kansas Medical Center, told Healthcare Brew that while measles so far hasn’t significantly impaired the US healthcare system as a whole, the uptick in cases is putting a strain on local systems in outbreak areas, particularly in 

 “where we know that access to healthcare tends to be significantly less than in some urban areas.”

“It is important to remember and consider it is not only the population health of the growing measles epidemic but also the individual toll it takes,” Hawkinson said. “Getting sick or needing to be hospitalized significantly impacts each patient and typically their family.”

To help combat the spread of measles, he said hospital leaders and public health authorities need to “be vigilant in providing accurate, transparent messaging about potential risks of the measles, which could include death.

“While there is no treatment for measles itself, we have a very safe and effective preventative intervention with vaccination,” Hawkinson said. “It is a combination of these things—measles awareness, accurate messaging, access to healthcare and vaccination—that will help to combat the rise of measles cases.”

Brad Perkins, chief medical officer of Karius, a health tech company that focuses on infectious disease diagnostics, told us measles outbreaks are “exposing systemic vulnerabilities in vaccination coverage and public trust, undermining decades of progress in US measles control and elimination.”

“The resurgence of measles in the US is placing renewed strain on a healthcare system already stretched by chronic 

, persistent post-pandemic disruptions, and chronic budget uncertainties,” Perkins said.

Like Hawkinson, he stressed the need for health tech leaders to combat misinformation and support vaccine education.

“Leadership in this moment means advocating for evidence-based foundations of public health and the critical importance of routine childhood vaccinations,” he said.

Anita Patel, VP of pharmacy services development at Walgreens, told Healthcare Brew the growing number of measles cases in the US is a “reminder of how essential routine vaccinations are,” adding that the virus puts an “unnecessary strain on our healthcare systems and leads to avoidable hospitalizations and suffering.”

As pharmacies are one of the most common places where people are immunized, pharmacy leaders “play a critical role in vaccine education and access,” Patel said. 

Amy Compton-Phillips, EVP and chief medical officer at CVS Health, said the rise in measles cases are placing an “unnecessary strain” on the healthcare system, increasing costs by requiring additional staffing and resources.

Providers should “take steps to remind patients about the illness, its dangers, and the safe and effective ways to help prevent it,” she added. “Pharmacies can also play an important role in the fight against measles by reinforcing the importance of preventive vaccination for patients, particularly for those with known vaccination gaps.”

Alison Hunt, a spokesperson for GSK, a UK-based drugmaker that makes the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine Priorix, told us the company has been working with “local governments, healthcare providers, and public health partners” to boost vaccination rates in outbreak areas.

GSK has enough MMR vaccines for the current outbreaks, and the company is monitoring the situation to make sure it maintains an adequate supply, Hunt said.

Illustration of faces with one yellow one in the middle that has red spots around it

Healthcare execs on how the measles outbreak is affecting the industry 

Leaders from across tech, pharma, and hospitals say public health messaging is crucial as the virus spreads. 

Cassie McGrath

Remember the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic? (How could you forget, right?)

The illness has so far caused 1.2 million deaths in the US, according to the World Health Organization, and cost the national economy an estimated $16 trillion to date.

 and the ongoing mental health effects, especially on 

 due to Covid as well and have faced ongoing challenges in the years since the WHO declared Covid-19 a pandemic, including 

 may be one of the best ways to prevent infectious disease outbreaks and pandemics, according to a 

 from the University of Georgia and Oklahoma State University.

“Understanding some of the factors that lead to disease outbreaks is really important because we want to understand how to control them, how to manage them, how to prevent them,” Payton Phillips, lead author on the study and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Georgia, told Healthcare Brew.

 To conduct the research, Phillips and her team looked at the 100 biggest outbreaks of zoonotic pathogens, or diseases spread through animals, like tuberculosis, plague, and salmonella between 1977 and 2017.

The team pulled information from the Gideon Pathogen Database, which tracks disease online across the world. They also used previous research by Patrick Stephens, assistant professor at Oklahoma State, another author on the study, to reach their conclusions.

Stephens’s research pulled the 100 biggest diseases, and in this more recent study, the researchers broke each down by 48 different disease drivers—like food and water contamination, livestock production, sewage management, and deforestation—and sorted them into either 

 like climate change, weather patterns, and 

 were more likely to cause viral diseases. Meanwhile, socioeconomic factors like antibiotic use, contaminated water and food, sewage management, and public health infrastructure were more likely to cause bacterial outbreaks.

The data showed a large outbreak was more likely to be bacterial if a socioeconomic condition was reported compared with an ecological condition.

“But then we ended up finding an interesting pattern where the viral outbreaks would end up being bigger if there were more socioeconomic drivers,” Phillips said. “So they weren’t triggered by those socioeconomic things, but they would grow because of them.”

One of her key takeaways from the research, Phillips said, was that addressing socioeconomic factors is key to preventing disease.

“Preventing that from the get-go would save a lot of lives, probably save a lot of money, and at least prevent people from getting sick,” she said.

Close-up of a faucet with a large water drop hanging from spout, the water drop has a virus inside.

Preventing outbreaks comes down to addressing socioeconomic and environmental factors, study finds 

Addressing things like water contamination can prevent disease outbreaks. 

Vaccine disinformation has been coming from federal health agencies since President Donald Trump took office in January and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was 

 as secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Many in the healthcare industry say false claims about vaccines are harming everyone from pharma companies and health systems to the autism community and public health at large.

 that decreasing public trust has led to lower vaccination rates. Some GOP leaders fostered distrust and even spread misinformation about 

, which led to preventable disease spread among more Republican voters in the US, according to research from 

“It’s really troubling, and it’s unfortunate that we are rehashing discredited claims [about autism] because it’s not only a waste of valuable resources but also a threat to public trust in life-saving immunization,” Kristyn Roth, chief marketing officer at the Autism Society, which supports the community through education and advocacy, told Healthcare Brew.

This renewed skepticism toward vaccines may have a negative impact on pharmaceutical companies, Rajiv Leventhal, senior analyst in digital health at research firm eMarketer, told us.

Biotechs, of course, want more uptake of their medications, he said. And while vaccines are not typically a huge revenue driver for pharmaceutical companies, a growing distrust toward those companies among some consumers could have a trickle down effect that may impact companies’ bottom line for bigger revenue generators, according to Leventhal.

In its Q4 2024 earnings for example, Merck reported $594 million in sales for MMR II, its measles vaccine, compared to $7.8 billion for its blockbuster cancer drug, Keytruda. In that earnings call, the company also noted a decline in vaccination rates among Americans, which was partly offset by a rise in vaccinations in other countries.

 reported that 92.7% of US kindergarteners had the measles vaccine in 2024, down from 93.1% in 2023 and 95% in 2019, before the pandemic.

“A lot of Big Pharma companies are trying to rebuild and maintain trust with consumers,” Leventhal said. “But the undermining going on right now at the top of federal health agencies is certainly thwarting some of those efforts.”

There could also be a domino effect on providers who have to care for more unvaccinated patients when they get sick. But that can be costly: A 

 estimated that caring for unvaccinated Covid-19 patients cost hospitals $13.8 billion from June to November 2021.

“That’s going to lead to a range of public health issues,” Leventhal said. “Providers…now have to deal with sicker patients. This is a workforce that’s already 

Beyond the business impact, conflating “ autism with vaccine injury in itself not only spreads falsehoods but it harms the autism community [and] promotes stereotypes and fear-based rhetoric,” Roth said.

Amid the spread of vaccine skepticism from federal officials, the CDC is reportedly planning 

 into whether vaccines cause autism to be led by David Geier, 

. Weeks later, Kennedy also vowed to find the cause of autism this year, 

 autism has already been extensively studied and its cause is widely believed to be genetic.

“The data is clear: Vaccines do not cause autism. This is based on years of study, scrutiny, repetition of very sound science,” American Public Health Association Associate Executive Director Susan Polan told Healthcare Brew in a statement. “Bringing a discredited researcher to lead a study with the expectation that there will be evidence-based and unbiased conclusions by September is ludicrous.”

More funding toward investigating a link between vaccines and autism, Roth said, may reduce resources that actually support people with autism, such as research and education.

At the same time, the federal government is 

, like for maternal health disparities and disease tracking.

“It’s fair and at times responsible for people to ask questions, and I think it’s equally as important for those questions to be answered with facts, not fear,” she said. “We’re seeing misinformation has real-world consequences” and a “resurgence of preventable diseases.”

As doubt about vaccines rises among some Americans, a rise in illnesses like measles—

 compared to 285 in 2024 and 59 in 2023 for the whole years—and whooping cough—

 in 2024, up 500% from the previous year—have taken off, with at least two 

 in Texas dying of measles in early April. Kennedy eventually 

 in support of the MMR vaccine after initially 

However, Kennedy has a history of controversial beliefs. He has 

 the false idea that autism is caused by vaccines and chaired an 

 called the Children’s Health Defense (though he 

 from the organization seeking Senate confirmation).

Jay Bhattacharya announced this week that the NIH will 

 to study autism and chronic disease after Kennedy said he would 

“We have seen an increase in vaccine skepticism in the last several years coming out of Covid but what is going on now is ramping that up potentially beyond repair in the short term,” Polan said. “[Kennedy] now has an opportunity to use the bully pulpit of his position at the same time he is changing policies, cutting funds and staff to align with his anti-science approach.”

Without support from HHS, the CDC, and the Department of Education, “[people with autism’s] civil rights are threatened and really at risk of being taken away,” Roth said.

The CDC did not respond to a request for comment, and HHS declined to comment.

Close up of a doctor's hands in gloves filling a syringe with medicine from vial.

How federal vaccine skepticism could affect public health, pharma industry 

“Decades of rigorous global studies involving millions of people have confirmed this science,” one expert said. 

It’s December 2019, and the world has not yet been rocked by the Covid-19 pandemic. N95 masks cost an estimated 44 to 70 cents per unit. And talks of tariffs are everywhere, as President Donald Trump prepares to issue a 

The first cases of Covid-19 were detected soon after, and the need for personal protective equipment (PPE) like N95s, with costs shooting up to 

In 2025, there’s a sense of déjà vu. Trump is back in office and 

). And according to many experts, like Jenn Kerfoot, chief strategy and growth officer at health tech company Duos, it’s not a matter of 

 there’s another global pandemic, but when. Between possible tariffs and the Trump administration's measures to defund and cut staff at 

, experts are concerned preparations for the next public health emergency may be compromised.

“Tariffs under normal circumstances are moderate and uncomfortable,” Kerfoot said, and that gets even worse “when you increase the demand [for tariffed supplies] exponentially, like a global health crisis.”

New York City was one of the hardest hit cities in the US early in the pandemic, due to its large and dense population (New York saw

 on average in 2020, more than every other state).

 the virus first hit the city, Michelle Morse, acting health commissioner and chief medical officer of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which works to protect and make New Yorkers healthier, told Healthcare Brew she is proud of the agency’s rehabilitation.

However, the city’s recovery efforts are now facing challenges, as the CDC under the Trump administration pulled more than $100 million in grants for its Covid recovery work like vaccination levels and disease prevention, which Morse called “catastrophic.”

“We’re not in the emergency phase of the pandemic, but we still have tremendous work to do to address the public health concerns, vaccination concerns, safety concerns, etc.,” Morse said.

New Yorkers are also more likely than most major city dwellers to experience public health emergencies, Morse said, adding that cuts to funding leave the population more vulnerable to diseases like measles, tuberculosis, HIV, and more.

She said New Yorkers are less safe now due to the federal government’s cuts to staff.

“We are, I would say, at a new level of public health emergency risk because of the actions of the federal government,” Morse added.

Nearby, Mount Sinai, a health system based in New York City, took lessons from the pandemic to prepare for future public health emergencies, Michael Redlener, an emergency physician and deputy director of its Center for Healthcare Readiness, told us.

This includes issuing more protocols for managing supplies, like stockpiling PPE, contracting with product distributors, and creating a production plan using mathematical models that predict supplies against patient numbers. About 50% of 51 hospitals in a 

 reported that when Covid hit, their stockpiles did not last more than two weeks.

Still, “there’s a lot of aspects of equipment and supplies that are outside of the hospital’s control,” he said, including natural disasters like the hurricanes that caused 

Redlender is also concerned about cuts at HHS and potential cuts to the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), which is in charge of a national stockpile of emergency response supplies.

“We should be very conscientious about how we make cuts,” he said, and ensuring that healthcare providers have easy access to medical equipment that “support healthcare readiness” is “really important.”

Scale with money and surgical mask, tipping over with weight of money.

How federal budget cuts, tariffs now could affect future public health 

NYC-based experts say it’s not a matter of if there’s another pandemic, but when. 

illustrated headshot of caroline catherman, healthcare brew reporter

Caroline Catherman

Things in the federal government sure are confusing right now. It feels like laws and policies are 

. But hey, we’ll probably get some answers soon because—wait, what?

Never mind: CMS has canceled webinar after webinar where stakeholders could have asked questions.

Though the agency hasn’t canceled all public conferences—it still held its annual open payments webinar on March 13, for instance—it has axed at least ten forums since 2025 began, leaving just a few Q&A opportunities on the docket.

The most recent switch-up? On March 13, CMS announced it’s postponing its 2025 Conference for Building a Healthier America, a free hybrid conference previously set for April 23–24 in Bethesda, Maryland, hosted by the CMS Office of Minority Health. The conference was originally called the 2025 CMS Health Equity Conference: Building a Healthier America, but its name was shortened and the office’s name was removed in the postponement email.

Another casualty: open door forums. CMS has held these public forums regularly over the last two decades.

CMS began canceling these webinars en masse starting Jan. 31, when the agency sent out a two-sentence email to anyone on the Open Door Forum mailing list that read: “The February Open Door Forums 2025 has been canceled. We’ll be in touch with updates as available.”

, these webinars are meant to foster “live dialogue between CMS and the stakeholder community,” giving the public the opportunity to ask questions about new policies and initiatives. Topics include things like Medicare payment and billing, provider fee schedules, and announcements about new rules and quality programs.

After February’s cancellations, additional forums set for March were called off days before they were set to occur. This includes one about ambulances; one about physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals; one about skilled nursing facilities/long-term care; and one about hospitals.

By early April last year, all those groups had at least one Open Door Forum, and two had at least one by this time last year, according to transcripts on 

 is on end-stage renal disease. On March 13, subscribers got an email that it, too, had been canceled, though the website notes as of Friday that it has been rescheduled for next month.

It’s unclear why exactly these cancellations are happening. CMS did not respond to Healthcare Brew’s request for comment.

Rachel Reeves, spokesperson for the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living, told Healthcare Brew that forums like these “help bring clarity on certain issues,” but the groups will still “ensur[e] providers’ voices are heard” by CMS through “various channels.”

Other spokespeople for professional organizations with members potentially impacted by these cancellations—such as the American Hospital Association and American Ambulance Association—have declined to speak with Healthcare Brew on the issue at this time.

The cancellations come during a time of change for CMS and its parent agency, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). 

 Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pushed big changes, such as 

 the agency’s 54-year-old public comment rule.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) logo is seen displayed on a smartphone and on the background of its website.