Simplicity is a virtue.

From Washington, DC,

• Beckers Hospital Review reports,
  • “Mark Cruz was named the director of HHS’ Indian Health Service, according to an Aug. 21 news release.
  • “The Senate confirmed Mr. Cruz on Aug. 7 following President Donald Trump’s June 1 nomination. President Trump has since signed the commission granting him the role.
  • “Mr. Cruz, a citizen of the Klamath Tribes, will have a four-year term. The position had been empty since January 2025, and Mr. Cruz is the agency’s 12th Senate-confirmed director.
  • “IHS, the country’s 18th largest public health system, provides healthcare services to roughly 2.8 million American Indians and Alaska Natives across nearly 600 federally run hospitals and clinics, tribal health programs and urban Indian organizations.”

• STAT News relates,
  • “President Trump and health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are pressing ahead with efforts to change how kids in the U.S. get their shots. 
  • “The latest move, a request for information posted Friday, offers more clues to Kennedy and Trump’s vision for vaccine policy, and shows that pursuing changes is a priority. It does not make any changes itself, but it asks for feedback on a wide variety of ideas. It gives the public 30 days to comment.
  • “Among the questions it asks the public to consider is whether there should be new categories to the vaccines framework, which currently includes universal recommendations, recommendations for certain risk-based groups, and recommendations based on shared clinical decision-making.” * * *
  • “On Friday, the White House unveiled a new website celebrating 555 days of the Make America Healthy Again movement (Friday marks 555 days since Kennedy was confirmed as HHS secretary). Among the list of achievements is “delivering gold standard childhood vaccine recommendations,” touting the executive order for solving a purported problem: that the U.S. recommends more vaccines than other peer nation.”
     
• Per a Department of Health and Human Services news release,
  • “U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. today announced the development of the first-ever National Autism Missing and Endangered Person Alert initiative. Led by HHS in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the initiative will work to strengthen coordination among emergency management agencies, law enforcement, first responders, and community partners nationwide to improve preparedness and response when autistic individuals are reported missing. It will also establish a national framework of best practices to address the leading causes of preventable injury and death among autistic individuals, which include accidental drowning linked to wandering and elopement.
  • “When an autistic child or adult goes missing, every minute matters,” said Secretary Kennedy. “President Trump has made improving the lives of Americans with autism and their families a priority. We are bringing federal, state, and local partners together to improve prevention, speed the response, and help bring autistic children and adults home safely.”

• McKinsey & Company interviews Seema Verma about advancing American healthcare.
  • “A former CMS administrator and current Oracle Health and Life Sciences executive discusses leadership, public–private collaboration, and the promise of AI and value-based care.”

• MedTech Dive tells us,
  • “Siemens Healthineers and Philips North America are among a group of companies and universities that will receive funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health to develop autonomous endovascular robotics to treat stroke patients.
  • “The federal awards, totaling up to $175.3 million over five years, are intended to further research on technology to bring faster stroke treatment to more people. Siemens’ work would enable robots to perform long-distance treatment of acute ischemic stroke through mechanical thrombectomy without direct human input, the company said Thursday.
  • “Stryker, which established a strategic partnership with Siemens Healthineers last year to develop robotic neurovascular interventions, is a subrecipient in the project, Siemens Healthineers said. Others receiving ARPA-H funds for robotic stroke treatment include MIT spinout Magnendo and the University of California, San Diego.”

From the U.S. Office of Personnel Management front,

• OPM Director Scott Kupor added another post (Substack link) to his Secrets of OPM blog today. This post concerns artificial intelligence.
  • “AI adoption is measurable with three metrics — and the numbers tell you what to do next.
  • “Nobody at your agency has a Microsoft Word adoption strategy. Word is simply how documents get written, the way email is how messages move. My theory is that AI becomes part of the operating system of how work gets done. Broadly used, barely remarked on.
  • “So, how do we get there? We need metrics to understand where we stand and guide our next steps. Our signals come from three questions. Do people use the tools? Do they like them — do they feel the tools help them do the work? Is the business better? Use, sentiment, impact. That is the whole framework.”

• Federal News Network asks “Are you getting the most out of your TSP? Probably not — here’s how to change that.”
  • Being aware of a few lesser-known tricks and pitfalls can help federal employees get the most out of their TSP, and subsequently, their retirement.

From the Food and Drug Administration front

• BioSpace reports,
  • “Three fatalities occurring recently in China clinical trials have spurred two members of U.S. Congress to urge the FDA to enact new policies designed to protect American patients.
  • “After three patient deaths were reported in separate gene therapy clinical trials in China, two members of the House of Representatives are asking the FDA to implement specific measures to lower patient risk in the U.S.
  • “Reps. John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Ben Cline (R-VA) have reportedly penned a letter to Acting FDA Commissioner Kyle Diamantas, writing that “accepting Chinese clinical data poses real risks for patients,” according to Endpoints News.
  • “The two lawmakers are asking the agency to reject clinical data from China unless the trial site has recently undergone an FDA audit, and to also conduct a wide-ranging review of products that have received U.S. approval based on clinical results from China, according to the letter obtained by Endpoints.”

• Newsweek relates,
  • “The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given a recall of popular Whole Foods dips its highest risk classification, warning that consuming the items could cause “serious adverse health consequences or death.”
  • “The recall, which Whole Foods issued earlier this month, involves products containing jalapeños—such as guacamole and pico de gallo—sourced from Coast Citrus Distributors, a wholesale fresh produce supplier operating across the U.S. and Mexico. The jalapeños are believed to be potentially contaminated with salmonella bacteria.
  • “After the first few cases of salmonella were reported across the country over the summer, federal investigators identified a grower in Sinaloa, Mexico, as the potential source of contamination.” 
    
• The American Hospital Association tells us,
  • “The Food and Drug Administration has identified a Class I recall of certain Medline convenience kits containing B. Braun components that have Huons Bupivacaine Hydrochloride in Dextrose Injection, which has also been recalled. As of April 24, B. Braun reported 35 serious injuries and no deaths associated with the issue. Medline had not reported any additional serious injuries or deaths associated with the issue as of June 19, the FDA said.”

• Cardiovascular Business adds,
  • “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has confirmed a new recall for Boston Scientific’s Enroute Transcarotid Neuroprotection System and Enroute Transcarotid Neuroprotection System Plus. The recall was put in place due to a risk of arterial sheath tip separation or partial tip separation during use. One serious injury has been linked to this issue.
  • “The FDA first warned the public about these risks in July as part of its Early Alert pilot program. The issue was still under investigation at that time. Now, the agency has reached its conclusion that this is a Class I recall, which means these devices are associated with a risk of “serious adverse health consequences or death.”  
  • “This recall includes more than 115,000 units of the Enroute Transcarotid Neuroprotection System and nearly 50,000 units of the Enroute Transcarotid Neuroprotection System Plus. Customers with any of these devices on hand should stop using them right away and start the process of returning them to Boston Scientific. If customers know of any Enroute systems forwarded from one facility to the next, they should communicate with that facility about this concern.
  • “Click here for more information from the FDA, including specific lot numbers.”

• Newswise informs us,
  • “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared for marketing an innovative blood test with underlying technology invented at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. The test, known as PrecivityAD2, was developed and validated by C2N Diagnostics, a WashU startup company.
  • “PrecivityAD2 is a blood-based diagnostic test cleared by the FDA to aid in identifying the presence of amyloid plaques in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease in certain patients. Unlike some other FDA-cleared blood-based tests that use immunoassay methods to analyze biomarkers associated with Alzheimer’s, PrecivityAD2 uses high-resolution mass spectrometry to provide quantitative measurements of the biomarkers.
  • “The availability of blood-based biomarker testing may help clinicians evaluate patients for Alzheimer’s disease using a less invasive approach than cerebrospinal fluid testing. Biomarker information may also help inform appropriate clinical management when interpreted together with a patient’s clinical history and other diagnostic information.”

From the public health and medical / Rx research

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today
  • “As of August 21, 2026, the amount of acute respiratory illness causing people to seek health care is very low.
  • “National and regional COVID-19 activity is increasing.
  • “RSV activity is very low in most areas of the country.
  • “Seasonal influenza activity is low.
  • “Rhinovirus/Enterovirus (RV/EV) is increasing nationally. Parainfluenza virus (PIV) is elevated in some regions.”

• CNN adds,
  • Are you coughing, hacking or feeling feverish? It may not be just a summer cold; you might want to consider taking a Covid test.
  • Although the autumn respiratory illness season hasn’t kicked off, and flu and RSV activity remain low, there’s a growing summer wave of Covid-19.
  • Case numbers aren’t especially high, and the United States isn’t recording many hospitalizations or deaths. But data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts the test positivity rate for the week ending August 8 above 3% for the first time since March, with numbers climbing in every state.
  • “August is solidly Covid season,” said Dr. Caitlin Rivers, an expert in outbreak science and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health and Security. “Right now, the South and the West are sort of the leading edge of this Covid season. In the past, it almost always starts in Florida, Texas and Georgia, which is exactly what we’re seeing this year.”
    
• The University of Minnesota CIDRAP reports,
  • “The rapidly rising US measles outbreak grew to 2,777 cases today as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed 211 new infections in its weekly update.
  • “The increase is more than double that seen last week, when the agency added 101 cases to the total, after adding 94 the week before. Most of this week’s cases are in Pennsylvania and Ohio. 
  • “The CDC noted 36 outbreaks, which might be an anomaly, as a week ago the agency had logged 38 for the year. Last year saw 48 measles outbreaks, defined as three or more related cases. Total cases for all of 2025 reached 2,289, which was the most since 1991 until the country surpassed that level a month ago. 
  • “All but 16 of this year’s cases have been locally acquired, with the rest tied to international travel. Cases have been confirmed in 45 states plus New York City and Washington, DC.
  • “Of the 2026 cases, 19% involve children age 5 and under, and 66% involve kids and teens. Seven percent of patients have been hospitalized, compared with 11% in 2025. Among all measles patients, 94% are unvaccinated or have an unknown vaccine status. 
  • “No measles deaths have been reported this year. Last year, three people, including two children, died of measles, one of the most transmissible diseases known.”

• The American Hospital Association News lets us know,
  • “There have been 15,716 confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis across 47 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico since May 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data reported Aug. 18. There have been 828 hospitalizations. The agency said there are at least 11,841 additional cases that require further investigation. Two people have died from the multistate cyclosporiasis outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce.” 
    
• USA Today adds,
  • “While these numbers show that confirmed cases themselves are still rising, the overall trend is on a downward swing; previous weeks regularly saw increase that numbered into the 2,000 and 3,000 range.”

• The Washington Post provides more context,
  • “Federal officials said Thursday that recalled Taylor Farms lettuce linked to a large cyclospora outbreak may have been distributed to nine additional jurisdictions, expanding the potential reach of contaminated products.
  • “The best-by dates for these recalled products have passed, officials said, and they should no longer be available for sale in stores or restaurants. Consumers who previously bought or received food items with the recalled iceberg lettuce should carefully clean and sanitize any surfaces or containers that it may have touched.
  • “The expanded distribution information provides a fuller picture of where the recalled lettuce may have traveled than was known when Taylor Farms de Mexico announced a voluntary recall July 17. The company removed iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from the U.S. market after it was linked to the outbreak and said it had been distributed to 27 states.”

• The Wall Street Journal points out,
  • “An outbreak of E. coli and salmonella linked to alfalfa sprouts has sickened dozens of people across 15 states, public-health officials said. 
  • “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday urged consumers not to eat alfalfa sprouts grown by Everything Sprouts and sold under the Calco and Everything Sprouts brands. Fifty-five people have been infected with E. coli or salmonella in connection with the outbreak, the health agency said, including two people who contracted both pathogens. 
  • “No one has died in the outbreak, the CDC said. Four people have been hospitalized.” 

• Beckers Clinical Leadership tells us,
  • “The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has released updated guidelines supporting fallopian tube removal to reduce ovarian cancer risk. 
  • “The updated guidance was published Aug. 20 in Obstetrics & Gynecology.  The move comes after a study found fallopian tube removal can reduce patients’ ovarian cancer risk by almost 80%.
  • “Common procedures inside the abdomen or pelvis, including hysterectomy, tubal procedures for permanent contraception and non-gynecologic surgeries, offer opportunities for patients to reduce their risk of ovarian cancer through salpingectomy,” ACOG said in an Aug. 20 news release.
  • “Read the full updated guidance here.”

• Health Day adds,
  • “Could a diet rich in antioxidants help women lower their risk of cervical cancer?
  • “A new study suggests these compounds may play a role in preventing the disease, the fifth-most commonly diagnosed cancer in women globally.
  • “A team led by Maozhu Lang of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College in Beijing analyzed data from more than 1,000 U.S. women who took part in national health and nutrition surveys between 2003 and 2018. Some had a history of cervical cancer. Others did not.
  • “Researchers looked at their intake of vitamins A, C and E, zinc, selenium and carotenoids — antioxidants found in foods such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
  • “The result: Those with the highest antioxidant intake had nearly 56% lower prevalence of cervical cancer compared to those with the lowest intake.”

• The University of Minnesota informs us,
  • “People vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV) were much less likely to develop cancers of the head and neck, according to a study published this week in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases. 
  • “The study confirms earlier research finding a vaccine-related decrease in head and neck cancers.
  • “The new study analyzed 1.4 million medical records from 66 US healthcare organizations. Half of the research subjects were vaccinated against HPV from ages 9 to 45. The other half were vaccinated against other diseases but not HPV. Study participants were vaccinated from January 2011 to June 2024. 
  • “People vaccinated from age 9 to 26 years—the age range recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics—were 68% less likely to be diagnosed as having head or neck cancer, according to the study.
  • “There was no statistically significant reduction in head and neck cancers in people vaccinated from age 27 to 45, most likely because these people had been exposed to HPV before being immunized, said Ching-Nung Wu, MD, PhD, first author of the paper and an otolaryngologist at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan.”

• The New York Times notes,
  • “There’s about a two- to threefold increased risk of developing dementia if you have epilepsy,” said Dr. Alice Lam, an associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School. And “if you have dementia, you have, on average, a two- to threefold increased risk of developing seizures.”
  • “Links between epilepsy and dementia — conditions that affect millions and are more prevalent in older age — are increasingly crucial to recognize as people live longer, experts say.
  • “It’s a super important, super common thing around the world, and yet it really, really does not get attention,” said Dr. Arjune Sen, a professor of global epilepsy at the University of Oxford.”

From the U.S. healthcare business and artificial intelligence front

• Beckers Hospital Review reports,
  • “Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic recorded operating income of $501 million (8.6% operating margin) in the second quarter of 2026, up from $394 million (7.4% margin) during the same period last year, according to its Aug. 21 financial report. 
• and
  • ‘BradenHealth has acquired the former Jellico (Tenn.) Hospital, with plans to reopen it as a full-service hospital.
  • “The purchase from the City of Jellico is a minimum $14 million investment and is expected to create about 120 jobs, according to an Aug. 21 BradenHealth news release shared with Becker’s.
  • “Jellico Hospital’s closure left a painful gap in access for families who already face significant barriers to care,” Founder and CEO Beau Braden, DO, said in the release. “We did not acquire this facility to simply reopen doors; we acquired it to rebuild a reliable, high-quality healthcare presence that the people of this region can count on.”
    
• Business Insider points out,
  • Disney is joining other big-name companies in curbing employee benefits, a move that comes as healthcare costs rise.
  • Starting next year, the entertainment giant will no longer offer medical insurance plans to US employees’ spouses if their spouses have jobs that provide such coverage, a Disney spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider. Employees’ other dependents won’t be impacted.
  • “Like a growing number of large employers, we’re making measured adjustments to our employee benefits in response to rising healthcare costs nationwide,” the company said in a statement.

• Fierce Pharma relates,
  • “After a one-week hiccup, Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill regained its momentum last week with its largest prescription rate since it was launched in January. There were more than 176,000 prescriptions for the pill in the period, according to data gathered by IQVIA and cited in a note by Citi. 
  • “The oral treatment now accounts for 35% of total Wegovy prescriptions, which is up from 33% the previous week, analysts from Citi said in their weekly update to investors.
  • “Meanwhile, Eli Lilly’s oral GLP-1 Foundayo, which had been on a steady five-week climb, backtracked, with a drop-off from 38,928 prescriptions in the prior period to 36,620 in the latest week.
  • “The movements for the two oral treatments contributed to overall market share adjustments for the companies’ diabetes and obesity medicines. While Lilly made a 0.1% gain to 56.7%, Novo increased its market share by 0.3% to 37.1%.” 

• Beckers Hospital Review notes,
  • “Health systems have spent two years debating which AI tools to buy. The executives running them are starting to question how often they need to revisit that decision.
  • “Richard Mulry, president and CEO of Northwell Holdings in New Hyde Park, N.Y., sees the cycle speeding up as the cost structure around AI changes.
  • “The most dangerous trend in healthcare right now is borrowed conviction: letting someone else’s roadmap, or someone else’s press release, stand in for your own operating strategy,” Mr. Mulry said. “AI has created a kind of gravitational pull where the fear of being late is doing more to pressure capital allocation than the actual problems in front of us.”
  • “The pressure produces two failure modes that look like opposites. One is premature commitment — investing early in solutions that will eventually be absorbed into core platforms, leaving organizations managing technical debt with no lasting strategic value. The other is waiting for platform vendors to deliver while nothing changes in the workforce, the workflows, or the cost structure.
  • “Participation driven by optics and paralysis look like opposites, but we’ve come to see them as the same failure: outsourcing judgment to the market’s clock instead of your own operating priorities,” Mr. Mulry said.”