The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week published updated maps and data on physical inactivity among adults, defined as not participating in any physical activities outside of work over the last month. More than one in five adults is inactive in all but four U.S. states. State and territorial-level maps of…
Read More »The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, under the Biden-Harris Administration, recently unveiled a 10-year strategy to address wildfire dangers in places where fires pose the most immediate threats to communities. The strategy, called “Confronting the Wildfire Crisis: A Strategy for Protecting Communities and Improving Resilience in America’s Forests,” combines historic Congressional investments with…
Read More »After hearing oral arguments on the cases last week, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday issued two decisions on COVID-19 vaccine mandates for specified occupational groups set forth by the Biden-Harris Administration. Below, we highlight these decisions: Vaccine Mandate for Large Employers The Supreme Court struck down the vaccine-or-test mandate for employers with 100 or…
Read More »The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has updated comprehensive preventive care and screening guidelines for women and for infant, children, and adolescents. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), certain group health plans and insurers must provide coverage with no out-of-pocket costs for preventive…
Read More »This week, amid record spikes in COVID-19 cases nationwide, the Biden-Harris Administration announced a series of actions to support full-time in-person instruction in K-12 schools. These actions include: Sending Five Million No-Cost Point-of-Care Tests Per Month to Schools – The Biden-Harris Administration will distribute five million free, rapid tests to schools each month to help…
Read More »The Biden-Harris Administration announced this week that it is requiring health insurance companies and group health plans to cover the cost of over-the-counter (OTC), at-home COVID-19 tests, enabling individuals with private health insurance coverage to obtain tests for free beginning January 15, 2022. The new coverage requirement will allow beneficiaries to purchase tests online or…
Read More »The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently published a study in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases (CID) showing that influenza vaccination protected children against serious flu illness even when they were infected with a flu virus that was antigenically different from the vaccine virus. According to the CDC, this reinforces the benefit…
Read More »Early this week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took steps to expand the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine among key populations throughout the country. The FDA amended the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the vaccine to: Expand the use of a single booster dose to include use in individuals ages 12-15 Shorten…
Read More »The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), under the U.S. Health and Human Services Agency, recently granted approval of California’s sweeping health and human services initiatives. On December 29, CMS signed off on the state’s sweeping “California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal” (CalAIM) initiative, consisting of two federal waivers – the Section 1115 Medicaid…
Read More »The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Federal Office of Rural Health Policy is announcing the availability of nearly $48 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for local organizations to expand public health capacity in rural and tribal communities through health care job development, training,…
Read More »