New @bmj.com study finds #hospitals owned by real estate investment trusts are 5.7 times more likely to close or go bankrupt than non-acquired peers www.statnews.com/2025/12/18/h... via @statnews.com

Don't miss this investigation from @tarabannow.bsky.social and @caseyross.bsky.social into the way Humana tweaked the presentation of its data to indicate that their corporate business model was the best way to care for older Americans. www.statnews.com/2025/12/16/i...

A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death. Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written." Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating. 🧪🧬🧫

This story shouldn’t get lost in the rush of health policy news this week: Hospitals get dinged for reporting too many infections. In some cases, the solution is not to test Via @tarabannow.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2025/09/22/h...

Big news from yesterday: Federal judge vacates rule that would have ramped up Medicare Advantage audits www.statnews.com/2025/09/25/f... via @statnews.com

If you just cancelled Disney+ and you’re wondering what do to with that extra money, one option: STAT is running a big sale right now, you can get 10 months for $10 marketing.statnews.com/stat-10th-st...

HHS abruptly cancels CDC meeting with RFK Jr., anti-vaccine activist as scrutiny mounts www.statnews.com/2025/09/17/r... via @rosebroderick.bsky.social @statnews.com

Happy 10th birthday, STAT! So proud to be part of this tireless and incredibly talented newsroom. Here's a look at the 10 times STAT coverage reverberated through health and medicine www.statnews.com/2025/09/09/s... via @statnews.com

UnitedHealth CEO says some parts of business need ‘fundamental reorientation’ www.statnews.com/2025/07/29/u... via @statnews.com

UnitedHealth confirms DOJ investigations into Medicare practices, says it’s cooperating www.statnews.com/2025/07/24/u... via @statnews.com

The first Medicare physician payment rule under RFK Jr. proposes cuts to thousands of procedures, scans, and tests because doctors have gotten more "efficient" over time. Specialty physicians, and the AMA, are big mad. more w/ @tarabannow.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2025/07/16/m...

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine owns a stem cell biobank that was once the largest of its kind in the world. But it's now racing to sell off thousands of samples before many of them are discarded. To understand why, see my latest for @statnews.com www.statnews.com/2025/07/11/s...

Supreme Court rejects challenge to free preventive care, bolsters RFK Jr.’s power www.statnews.com/2025/06/27/s... via @statnews.com

New video- my new @statnews.com colleague @chelseacirruzzo.bsky.social and I chat about RFK Jr.'s dismissal of all the members of ACIP, CDC's vaccine advisory board. Also I'm going to be doing a video every week now so please wish me luck (and like & subscribe plz) youtu.be/brVDswDpaeQ

The man at the center of DOGE's health care cuts has quite the history: Top execs from a startup he founded feel he ripped them off & lower-level workers say their jobs were to cut services from vulnerable patients. shorturl.at/Y7d7m via @statnews.com

Reeling from Trump contract cuts, the National Academies prepares for ‘a fairly radical downsizing’ www.statnews.com/2025/05/23/n... via @statnews.com

@nejm.org Editor-in-Chief Eric Rubin says at #STATBreakthrough he was writing an NIH grant on the plane coming here. Encouraged audience members to keep applying, even as federal funding is cut. "It’s like the lottery. You can’t win unless you buy a ticket. No one knows what’s going to happen."

On the Trump admin's cuts to science funding, American Public Health Association executive director Georges Benjamin said at #STATBreakthrough: "We're not using science. We've taken apart the public health infrastructure. And the truth of the matter is, as they say, we're up the creek."

"When you're already in crisis w/your family member, there’s this added stress of, ‘This care is going to end and you’re going to have to figure out what you're going to do.'" -Megan Bent, whose dad died after his Medicare Advantage plan stopped paying for inpatient rehab #STATBreakthrough

On all the 🤑health tech IPOs lately (Omada, Hims, Hinge), Lux Capital's Deena Shakir says: "I think all of this is not a coincidence. I think it’s a referendum and it's foretelling for what next year and the years to come will bring for digital health." #STATBreakthrough

On pharma's AI ambitions, Ryan Fukushima of AI precision med co Tempus says the big Q is whether docs actually change their decisions based on his company's insights. If they do, "the datasets can scale quite dramatically" in oncology, neuropsych, rare diseases. #STATBreakthrough

Speaking at #STATBreakthrough, former FDA Commissioner Robert Califf says current HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s opinions on vaccination are not at all irrelevant. "I think he's flat-out wrong and doing harm to the American people with what he's saying."

Trump's latest executive order seeks to lower drug prices and 340B payments to providers, but most of it can't happen without further rulemaking or buy-in from Congress. www.statnews.com/2025/04/15/t... via @statnews.com

Oz moves closer to role running Medicare, Medicaid on party-line vote www.statnews.com/2025/03/25/d... via @statnews.com

I talked w/@tradeoffs.org about Dr. Oz, the surgeon-turned-TV star who's poised to lead CMS: what I learned reporting on him and what we can glean from his Senate hearing. Come for the policy, stay to hear me laugh while trying to sound professional. tradeoffs.org/2025/03/20/m...

RFK Jr. moves to eliminate public comment in HHS decisions www.statnews.com/2025/02/28/r... via @statnews.com

After a top UnitedHealth Group exec was killed, his colleagues have gotten truly scary threats against themselves & their families. Police visited the campus more in 2 months than in preceding 2 yrs. But some feel UnitedHealth's tactic of attacking critics is "a huge mistake." shorturl.at/DCYDB

New disclosures show Dr. Oz is worth up to ~$300 million. He's pledged to sell insurance, hospital, and pharma stocks + step down from supplement company if confirmed as CMS administrator. www.statnews.com/2025/02/19/d... via @statnews.com

In candid interview @matthewherper.bsky.social, FDA’s former top food official says Trump firings -- incl 31% of food additives group -- will undercut RFK Jr.'s MAHA agenda “There’s nothing strategic about it, nothing thoughtful about it." www.statnews.com/2025/02/18/f... via @statnews.com

Federal workers--drug inspectors, AI & maternal health experts--fired for "poor performance," despite positive past reviews. “It was just, ‘We want to get rid of you and we don’t have a good reason, so we’re going to make up one.’” www.statnews.com/2025/02/17/t... @statnews.com

“There’s a fire sale on American academics right now." [email protected] Trump policies spark fears of brain drain, threatening to undermine U.S. dominance in biomedicine www.statnews.com/2025/02/12/t... via @statnews.com

Halt on Trump administration’s cuts to NIH research payments expanded nationwide www.statnews.com/2025/02/11/j... via @jonathanwosen.bsky.social @statnews.com

Trump administration allows some global aid to restart, but concerns remain on impact of USAID shutdown www.statnews.com/2025/02/07/t... via @statnews.com

New York health insurer agrees to up to $100 million settlement over Medicare fraud tied to improper diagnoses www.statnews.com/2024/12/20/i... via @statnews.com

Copy-pasted notes and untrained providers: First federal audit of autism therapy finds problems in every record www.statnews.com/2024/12/19/a... via @statnews.com

Anger towards health insurers reflects people’s ‘pent-up pain’, story from @bobjherman.bsky.social & @tarabannow.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2024/12/06/u...

UnitedHealthcare CEO's family is "shocked and heartbroken," his sister-in-law told STAT. They learned about his shooting online, "which is shameful." Thompson headed the country's largest health insurer, on pace for $300B in '24 revenue. www.statnews.com/2024/12/04/u... via @statnews.bsky.social

On its way out, Biden administration takes one last crack at regulating Medicare Advantage. CMS plan would rein in misleading marketing, inaccurate provider directories, and inappropriate denials, although Trump admin will have final say. www.statnews.com/2024/11/26/b...

Powerful new @statnews.bsky.social investigation reveals how UnitedHealth pays its own physician groups considerably more than others, driving up consumer costs and profits www.statnews.com/2024/11/25/u...

NEW: UnitedHealth Group is paying many of its own physician practices significantly more than it pays other doctor groups in the same markets for similar services, undermining competition and driving up costs for consumers and businesses. www.statnews.com/2024/11/25/u...

BREAKING: Florida’s surgeon general wants to stop water fluoridation. Will more states follow? www.statnews.com/2024/11/22/f... via @statnews @aniloza.bsky.social

“The belief that vaccines cause autism isn’t just factually wrong. If you’re saying vaccines cause autism and therefore, people shouldn’t get vaccines, you are also saying it’s worse to be autistic than to die of measles." Super important piece from @timmybroderick.bsky.social shorturl.at/nIK9v

Thanks to so many science & health experts for describing why they're here on Bluesky, and what the moves could mean for science communication and public health messaging: www.statnews.com/2024/11/21/b...

Some health care leaders say they're not concerned about Trump’s tariffs because they expect to be carved out “Pharmaceuticals are usually not affected by tariffs,” AstraZeneca's CEO told reporters last week. statnews.com/pharmalot/20... from me & @edsilverman @statnews

STAT's Anna Yeo breaks down all that goes into drug pricing in the US (patents, PBMs, etc) in this new video series. It's complicated and wonky but Anna explained it all in really fun ways and animated it beautifully. Check it out @statnews.bsky.social www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

@pharmalot.bsky.social view: "Kennedy...appears intent on remaking the agency based on assumptions and conspiracy theories. Such an approach can only turn the clock back toward a time when infectious disease spread quickly and cures remained out of reach." www.statnews.com/2024/11/20/r...

Scoop from @rachelcohrs.bsky.social: RFK Jr. is exploring a plan to upend Medicare’s physician payments system www.statnews.com/2024/11/20/r...

STAT's @helenbranswell.bsky.social explains the concern: www.statnews.com/2024/11/18/b...