Some flu measures decline, but it’s not clear this severe season has peaked
NEW YORK — U.S. flu infections showed signs of a slight decline last week, but health officials say it is not clear that this severe flu season has peaked. New government data posted Friday — for flu activity through last week — showed declines in medical office visits due to...
Planned Parenthood announces temporary closures in Pittsburgh, region
Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania announced Friday that it is temporarily closing two regional health centers for the next three to six months, following a similar closure last month. In a news release on the Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania website, the network of nonprofits said staffing issues were responsible...
Why whole milk is back, and what local providers say
Alianna Anselmi was surprised to see the pyramid structure make a comeback when the Trump administration released new dietary guidelines this week. Anselmi, lead dietitian for medical weight loss at Allegheny Health Network, said the MyPlate visual has been used since 2011, when it replaced the MyPyramid model as a...
House passes bill to extend health care subsidies in defiance of GOP leadersVideo
WASHINGTON — In a remarkable rebuke of Republican leadership, the House passed legislation Thursday, 230-196, that would extend expired health care subsidies for those who get coverage through the Affordable Care Act as renegade GOP lawmakers joined essentially all Democrats in voting for the measure. Forcing the issue to a...
Highmark, spurred on by state law, offers no-cost breast imaging
Highmark has introduced no-cost breast imaging as part of an above-and-beyond push to comply with a new Pennsylvania law. The Pittsburgh-based insurer, which boasts more than 7 million members, began fully covering advanced mammograms, ultrasounds and MRIs in the new year. Doctors use these tests to investigate possible signs of...
House takes step toward extending Affordable Care Act subsidies, overpowering GOP leadership
WASHINGTON — Overpowering Speaker Mike Johnson, a bipartisan coalition in the House voted Wednesday to push forward a measure that would revive an enhanced pandemic-era subsidy that lowered health insurance costs for roughly 22 million people, but that had expired last month. The tally of 221-205 was a key test...
New dietary guidelines urge Americans to avoid processed foods, added sugar
Americans should eat more whole foods and protein, fewer highly processed foods and less added sugar, according to the latest edition of federal nutrition advice released Wednesday by the Trump administration. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins issued the 2025-2030 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans,...
Allegheny County health officials blast new federal childhood vaccine guidelines
Allegheny County health authorities on Wednesday rejected the federal government’s new childhood vaccine guidelines, promising to stick with the science on immunization practices. “Departing from long-standing, evidence-based recommendations deters public trust and weakens the very foundation of public health that communities rely on in moments of uncertainty,” Allegheny County Public...
What you should know about the new federal childhood vaccine guidelines
A dramatic overhaul Monday of childhood vaccine recommendations could confuse parents about which shots their kids should receive and when, Southwestern Pennsylvania medical experts say. The new vaccine schedule, established in a memo from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Acting Director Jim O’Neill, clouds recommendations for several immunizations doctors...
Here’s what to know about the unprecedented changes to child vaccine recommendations
WASHINGTON — U.S. health officials made broad changes to childhood vaccine recommendations Monday, alarming pediatricians and other medical experts who say they will sow confusion and undermine children’s health. The overhaul is effective immediately, meaning that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will now recommend that all children...
Experts slam CDC guidance to slash childhood vaccination schedule
Pennsylvania medical experts fear vaccination rates will wane after federal health officials issued a nonbinding, but possibly influential, recommendation Monday that kids get fewer shots. Jim O’Neill, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, slashed the number of shots all children should receive to 11 from 17....
U.S. cuts number of vaccines recommended for every child, a move slammed by physicians
WASHINGTON — The U.S. took the unprecedented step Monday of cutting the number of vaccines it recommends for every child — a move that leading medical groups said would undermine protections against a half-dozen diseases. The change is effective immediately, meaning that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...
Flu season surged in the U.S. over the holiday and already rivals last winter’s harsh epidemic
NEW YORK — U.S. flu infections surged over the holidays, and health officials are calling it a severe season that is likely to get worse. New government data posted Monday — for flu activity through the week of Christmas — showed that by some measures this season is already surpassing...
Disability advocates will launch program to help transition hospital patients to home care
Across Pennsylvania’s health systems, hundreds of children with disabilities or complex medical conditions live in hospitals or extended-care pediatric facilities instead of with their families. Pittsburgh nonprofit
Achieva plans to launch a comprehensive home transition program in 2026 to help those children and families. “Every child deserves to grow up...
WVU Health System’s takeover of Independence Health reflects aggressive expansion spree
Every hospital bought by West Virginia University Health System is photographed, framed and hung on a Mountaineer Blue wall at the nonprofit’s headquarters. The effect is a visual timeline of the system’s rapid growth since its founding in 1996 as a partnership between two of the state’s premier hospitals. WVU...
Health subsidies expire, launching millions of Americans into 2026 with steep insurance hikes
NEW YORK — Enhanced tax credits that have helped reduce the cost of health insurance for the vast majority of Affordable Care Act enrollees expired overnight, cementing higher health costs for millions of Americans at the start of the new year. Democrats forced a 43-day government shutdown over the issue....
Amid conflicting vaccine recommendations, Americans are less likely to trust Trump’s CDC, a Penn study finds
After a year of major shifts in the federal government’s policy toward vaccines, Americans are now more likely to trust the American Medical Association than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when the two conflict on vaccine guidance, a new survey shows. The survey, conducted by the University of...
Idaho company recalls nearly 3,000 pounds of ground beef for E. coli risk
An Idaho-based company is recalling nearly 3,000 pounds of raw ground beef that may have been contaminated with E. coli bacteria. The recall involves 16-ounce vacuum-sealed packages labeled “Forward Farms Grass-Fed Ground Beef.” Affected packages were produced Dec. 16 and have a label telling customers to use or freeze the...
Flu, respiratory illnesses rising in Pennsylvania
Flu infections are surging across Pennsylvania. The state’s Department of Health has logged more than 35,000 cases since the start of October, with nearly 14,000 coming between Dec. 21 and Saturday. Department spokesman Neil Ruhland described the rise as a “normal annual occurrence” caused by people spending more time indoors,...
SNAP bans on soda, candy and other foods take effect in 5 states Jan. 1
Starting Thursday, Americans in five states who get government help paying for groceries will see new restrictions on soda, candy and other foods they can buy with those benefits. Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Utah and West Virginia are the first of at least 18 states to enact waivers prohibiting the purchase...
Narcan in schools? Educators react to proposed legislation
Public school officials statewide administered medication to reverse an opioid overdose 32 times during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Who received the naloxone dose and in which schools it was administered were not made public by the health department. But the growing impact of...
Judge blocks access to UPMC transgender care records
A federal judge in Pittsburgh cited the government’s own “inflammatory” rhetoric on gender-affirming care in blocking the Department of Justice’s effort to get patients’ personal information from UPMC. In her six-page order, Chief Judge Cathy Bissoon of the Western District of Pennsylvania cited decisions by five fellow judges in similar...
Virtual reality opens doors for older people to build closer connections in real life
LOS GATOS, Calif. — Like many retirement communities, The Terraces serves as a tranquil refuge for a nucleus of older people who no longer can travel to faraway places or engaging in bold adventures. But they can still be thrust back to their days of wanderlust and thrill-seeking whenever caretakers...
New oral weight loss medication expected to be cheaper and more accessible
A pill version of the GLP-1 weight-loss drug Wegovy is expected to debut in the U.S. in early January. But how will the pills stack up against the already widely used injectables? Doctors in Western Pennsylvania said the pills will be a welcome addition to GLP-1 drug options for their...
U.S. regulators approve Wegovy pill for weight loss
U.S. regulators on Monday gave the green light to a pill version of the blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy, the first daily oral medication to treat obesity. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval handed drugmaker Novo Nordisk an edge over rival Eli Lilly in the race to market an obesity...
