The #5thCircuit ruling reversed #Doughty’s order specifically enjoining the actions of leaders at #DHS, #HHS & other agencies, saying many of those individuals “were permissibly exercising government speech.”

“That distinction is important because the state-action doctrine is vitally important to our Nation’s operation — by distinguishing between the state & the People, it promotes ‘a robust sphere of individual liberty,’” the 5th Circuit judges wrote.

Oh Look-- Supposedly Things Could Get Better For Us Disabled People

We will see ...

Excerpt:

"The proposed update to the #HHS Section 504 regulations clarifies obligations in several crucial areas that are not explicitly addressed in the current rule and improves consistency with legislative developments since the current regulations were issued. OCR has put together a detailed factsheet, and OCR and ACL will jointly host a webinar for stakeholders on the proposed rule on September 11 at 1:00 PM ET (register here).

Several highlights of the new areas in the proposed rule include:

#Discrimination in medical treatment:

Ensures that medical treatment decisions are not based on biases or stereotypes about people with disabilities, judgments that an individual will be a burden on others, or beliefs that the life of an individual with a disability has less value than the life of a person without a disability. These include, for example, decisions about life-sustaining treatment, organ transplantation, rationing care in emergencies, and other vital #medical decisions.

#Accessibility of medical equipment:

Adopts the U.S. Access Board’s accessibility standards for medical equipment to address barriers like exam tables that are inaccessible because they are not height-adjustable, weight scales that cannot accommodate people who use wheelchairs, and mammogram machines that require an individual to stand to use them. The rule would require most doctor’s offices to have an accessible exam table and weight-scale within two years.

Web, mobile app, and kiosk accessibility:

Adopts the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA accessibility standards for websites and mobile applications. It also requires self-service kiosks to be accessible. These provisions are particularly important given the increased use of websites, apps, telehealth, video platforms, and self-service kiosks to access health care.
Child welfare programs and activities: Clarifies requirements in HHS-funded child welfare programs and activities to help eliminate discriminatory barriers faced by children, parents, caregivers, foster parents, and prospective parents with disabilities, such using the presence of a disability or an individual’s IQ score alone as a reason for removal of a #child, prohibiting disabled parents from serving as foster parents, or failing to place disabled children who need services in the most integrated settings appropriate to their needs.

#Community integration:

Clarifies obligations to provide services in the most integrated setting appropriate to a person’s needs, consistent with the Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead v. L.C. This provision has been central to vindicating the right to community living.

Value assessment methods:

To establish whether a particular intervention, such as a medicine or treatment, will be provided and under what circumstances, health care organizations often use a variety of methods to evaluate whether the benefits of the intervention outweigh the costs. These “value assessment methods” are an increasingly significant tool for cost containment and quality improvement efforts, but they may discriminate against people with disabilities when they place a lower value on extending the life of a person with disability. The proposed rule prohibits the discriminatory use of such methods to deny or limit access to aids, benefits, or services."

http://acl.gov/news-and-events/acl-blog/exciting-announcement-hhs-proposes-strengthen-protections-against

Federal health dept. says #marijuana should be downgraded to #Schedule3 #drug. It's currently a #Schedule1 #controlledsubstance—keeping marijuana in a group defined as having "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse," which includes heroin and LSD.
If #DEA accepts #HHS's rescheduling recommendation, it could ease marijuana access. https://arstechnica.com/health/2023/08/federal-health-dept-says-marijuana-should-be-downgraded-to-schedule-3-drug/

Ars Technica: Federal health dept. says marijuana should be downgraded to Schedule 3 drug https://arstechnica.com/?p=1964924 #Tech #arstechnica #IT #Technology #controlledsubstances #marijuana #ScheduleI #Science #Health #DEA #fda #HHS

Federal health dept. says marijuana should be downgraded to Schedule 3 drug - Enlarge / Marijuana plants in a greenhouse in Santa Cruz, California. (... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=1964924 #controlledsubstances #marijuana #schedulei #science #health #dea #fda #hhs

#ACOG accepted $11 million from #HHS to promote #COVID19 #vaccines to #pregnantwomen

https://www.naturalnews.com/2023-08-30-acog-accepted-millions-hhs-promote-covid-vaccines.html

#Poll: Is marijuana as dangerous as drugs like heroin and LSD? https://politicaliq.com/2023/08/31/white-house-recommends-reclassifying-marijuana/ #Marijuana #cannabis #cannabisindustry #HHS #DEA #Becerra #Biden #ScheduleIII #politicaliq #news #politics #opinion #opinionpoll

White House recommends reclassifying marijuana https://politicaliq.com/2023/08/31/white-house-recommends-reclassifying-marijuana/ #Marijuana #cannabis #cannabisindustry #HHS #DEA #Becerra #Biden #ScheduleIII #politicaliq #news #politics

The 10 drugs up for Medicare price negotiation have seen steep price hikes - Enlarge (credit: Getty | YinYang)

The first 10 prescription dr... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=1964177 #pharmaceuticalindustry #inflationreductionact #prescriptiondrugs #drugpricing #medicare #science #health #aarp #cms #hhs

Ars Technica: The 10 drugs up for Medicare price negotiation have seen steep price hikes https://arstechnica.com/?p=1964177 #Tech #arstechnica #IT #Technology #Pharmaceuticalindustry #inflationreductionact #prescriptiondrugs #drugpricing #Medicare #Science #Health #AARP #CMS #HHS

Always nice when youre right and pharmacies are several months to 3 years out of date on Federal Telehealth changes.

Very reassuring.

https://telehealth.hhs.gov/providers/telehealth-policy/policy-changes-after-the-covid-19-public-health-emergency

Permanent Medicare changes:
▫️There are no geographic restrictions for originating site for behavioral/mental telehealth services.

Some pharmacies are under some Thanos Delusion that Telehealth requirements were Snapped Back to pre-Covid.

Like Covid never happened.

Covid did happen.

They did not Snap Back.

#medicine #CMS #HHS

Meanwhile ...
#HHS: Project NextGen Awards Over $1.4 Billion to Develop the Future of #COVID19 Vaccines and Therapeutics https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/08/22/funding-1-billion-vaccine-clinical-trials-326-million-new-monoclonal-antibody-100-million-explore-novel-vaccine-therapeuti-technologies.html #BA286 #COVIDNotDoneWithUs #COVIDIsNotOver #SARSCoV2 #COVID💉😷💉😷 💉

CDC, pharmacies try to speed up Covid vaccine program for the uninsured

Biden health officials are attempting to finalize contracts that would allow pharmacies to offer a Covid jab to uninsured Americans as early as mid-September, when the government plans to make an updated version of the life-saving vaccine available to the broader public.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/21/pharmacy-covid-vaccine-uninsured-00112147 #CVS #Walgreens #FDA #health #healthcare #Pfizer #BioNTech #Moderna #Novavax #Covid19 #coronavirus #MRNA #HHS #Insurance

Biden says he'll visit wildfire-ravaged Hawaii https://politicaliq.com/2023/08/15/biden-says-hell-visit-wildfire-ravaged-hawaii/ #Biden #Hawaii #hawaiifires #MauiFires #Maui #Lahaina #FEMA #RedCross #ArmyCorpsOfEngineers #HHS #politicaliq #news #politics

Federal efforts are expanding to provide necessary research and treatment protocol resources to address Long COVID https://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-long-legacy-of-covid-19-disabillity.html #workerscompensation #longcovid #HHS #clinicaltrials #disabilitybenefits

Missed this from March 2022:

Conflicts of interest for members of the U.S. 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980022000672

"95% of the committee members had #COI with the food &/or pharma industries [&] particular actors, including Kellogg, Abbott, Kraft, Mead Johnson, General Mills [&] Dannon…had connections with multiple members."

The agencies behind the dietary guidelines (#USDA & #HHS) didn't disclose these COI, despite a 2017 #NASEM recommendation to do so.

#Diet

💉 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (#HHS) is finally cutting off funding for the #Wuhan Institute of Virology (#WIV) in #China with the department admitting it is “not compliant with federal regulations” related to biosafety - three and a half years >after< the initial outbreak.

https://thenationalpulse.com/2023/07/19/u-s-finally-cuts-off-wuhan-lab-cash-currently-violating-biosafety-protocols/

#Republican attorneys general demand access to out-of-state #abortion #medicalrecords

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRzz6lYStgo
Rachel Maddow reports on a letter signed by 19 Republican state attorneys general objecting to a proposed #HHS rule that would protect the #privacy of residents of their states seeking #reproductive #healthcare in other states with greater reproductive #freedom, and possibly threaten the ability of Republicans to target #Americans seeking #outofstate #trans healthcare.

Appeals Court Pauses Limit on Contact Between Biden Administration and Social Media Outlets https://politicaliq.com/2023/07/17/appeals-court-pauses-limit-on-contact-between-biden-administration-and-social-media-outlets/ #5thCircuit #Biden #Louisiana #Missouri #HHS #FBI #COVID19 #elections #misinformation #SocialMedia #Facebook #Twitter #YouTube #politicaliq #news #politics

#HHS, #TreasuryDepartment & #DepartmentOfLabor issued proposed rules on Friday that clamp down on short-term limited duration #health plans, which offer cheap but sparse coverage that #Democrats deride as “ #JunkInsurance.” The rule, meant to protect #consumers & bolster the #Obamacare exchange, would overturn a 2018 #Trump-era regulation & satisfies #liberal lawmakers & patient groups who have demanded the administration act since its first days in the #WhiteHouse.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/07/biden-short-term-health-plans-00105055