Health Policy News

May 9, 2025

Top Headlines

Health Care Workers, Firefighters Have Increased PFAS Levels, Study Finds

May 8, 2025 — Researchers looked at PFAS serum concentrations in health care workers for the first time and were surprised by what they ...

Why People Reject New Rules -- But Only Until They Take Effect

May 8, 2025 — From seatbelt laws to new speed limits -- many people soon stop resisting policy changes that restrict their personal freedom once the new rules come into force. Researchers also identified the underlying psychological mechanism to gain important ...

What's a Healthy Amount of Sleep? It Differs from One Country to Another

May 6, 2025 — Your optimal amount of sleep may depend on where you live, new research has found. An analysis of sleep data and health outcomes for nearly 5,000 people in 20 countries revealed that the hours of sleep required for good health varies significantly ...

Teens Driving Older Vehicles Have Increased Risk for Fatal Crashes

May 7, 2025 — Researchers reviewed US national fatal crash data (2016-2021) and examined the vehicle age and driver assistance technologies of vehicles driven by teen and middle-aged drivers, and their associations with driver deaths during fatal ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:44pm EDT

Nursing 2025: No Relief in Sight as Burnout, Stress and Short Staffing Persist

Apr. 30, 2025 — A national survey of 2,600 nurses and nursing students reveals a profession under severe strain, with widespread stress, burnout, and staffing ...

Broader Antibiotic Use Could Change the Course of Cholera Outbreaks, Research Suggests

Apr. 30, 2025 — Recent disease modeling research challenges public health guidelines recommending conservative antibiotic use for cholera, suggesting that for some ...

Hospital-Based Outbreak Detection System Saves Lives

Apr. 28, 2025 — An infectious diseases detection platform demonstrated over a two-year trial that it stops outbreaks, saves lives and cuts costs, making the case for development of a national early outbreak ...

Data Collection Changes Key to Understanding Maternal Mortality Trends in the US, New Study Shows

Apr. 28, 2025 — A new study offers fresh insight into trends in maternal mortality in the United States. For the first time, the study disentangles genuine changes ...

London's Low Emission Zones Save Lives and Money

Apr. 23, 2025 — Study finds a 18.5% reduction in sick leave following LEZ implementation in Greater London compared to areas in England without low emission ...

AI Model for Thyroid Cancer Diagnosis, With Over 90% Accuracy and Reduced Consultation Preparation Time

Apr. 25, 2025 — An interdisciplinary research team has unveiled the world's first artificial intelligence (AI) model designed to classify both the cancer stage and ...

Breakthrough Approach for Diagnosing TB Could Significantly Improve Detection

Apr. 23, 2025 — A new strategy for tuberculosis (TB) screening provides a solution to problems with current TB screening, which does not always accurately detect ...

Telemedicine Had an Impact on Carbon Emissions Equivalent to Reducing Up to 130,000 Car Trips Each Month in 2023

Apr. 22, 2025 — Telemedicine use in 2023 reduced monthly carbon dioxide emissions by the equivalent of up to 130,000 gas operated vehicles or recycling up to 4 ...

More Americans Are Using Psilocybin -- Especially Those With Mental Health Conditions, Study Shows

Apr. 21, 2025 — Use of psilocybin, the hallucinogenic chemical found in what is known as 'magic mushrooms,' has increased significantly nationwide since 2019, ...

New Analytics-Driven Framework Aims to Improve Care of Chronic Disease

Apr. 21, 2025 — A data-informed approach to scheduling patient encounters with clinicians can reduce risks associated with diabetes management by up to 19.4%, especially for underserved populations, says new ...

AI-Human Task-Sharing Could Cut Mammography Screening Costs by Up to 30%

May 7, 2025 — The most effective way to harness the power of artificial intelligence when screening for breast cancer may be through collaboration with human radiologists -- not by wholesale replacing them, says ...

Americans Don't Think Bird Flu Is a Threat, Study Suggests

Apr. 18, 2025 — A team led by researchers say public ignorance and apathy towards bird flu (highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI) could pose a serious obstacle to containing the virus and preventing a ...

Nature-Based Activity Is Effective Therapy for Anxiety and Depression, Study Shows

Apr. 16, 2025 — Researchers evaluating a nature-based program of activities for patients with mild to moderate mental health conditions have shown that improvements in mood and anxiety levels can be seen in as ...

School-Based Asthma Therapy Improves Student Health, Lowers Medical Costs

Apr. 11, 2025 — Millions of U.S. children have asthma and benefit from taking anti-inflammatory medications at least once a day as prescribed by their health care provider. This school-based asthma therapy program ...

Multi-Virus Wastewater Surveillance Shows Promise at Smaller, Site-Specific Scales

Apr. 9, 2025 — In a new study, wastewater surveillance for multiple pathogens at five different sites identified local trends that were not captured in larger surveillance programs, and some sites used the data to ...

A New Smartphone-Sized Device Can Test for Tuberculosis: Here's Why That Matters for Children

Apr. 9, 2025 — This handheld device is the first that can detect tuberculosis in saliva, in addition to blood and sputum samples, an important breakthrough for testing children and HIV patients, who struggle to ...

Wildfire Recovery: What Victims Say They Need Most

Apr. 9, 2025 — Wildfire victims have a range of needs, including mental health support and information about wildfire smoke, according to a new ...

Tech-Assisted Peer Therapy Effective for Perinatal Depression in Lower Income Countries

Apr. 8, 2025 — A study has demonstrated the effectiveness of a technology-assisted intervention for perinatal ...

Climate and Health Litigation Mounting in Australia as Exposure to Heatwaves Grows

Apr. 7, 2025 — Australia has experienced a 37 per cent rise in dangerous heat exposure over the past two decades, while becoming the world's second-highest hotspot for climate litigation, a new report ...

Artificial Intelligence Has Potential to Aid Physician Decisions During Virtual Urgent Care

Apr. 4, 2025 — Do physicians or artificial intelligence (AI) offer better treatment recommendations for patients examined through a virtual urgent care setting? A new study shows physicians and AI models have ...

Exposure to Wildfire Smoke Linked With Worsening Mental Health Conditions

Apr. 4, 2025 — Exposure to fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) from wildfire smoke was associated with increased visits to emergency departments (ED) for mental health conditions, according to a new ...

Antibiotic Resistance Among Key Bacterial Species Plateaus Over Time

Apr. 3, 2025 — Antibiotic resistance tends to stabilize over time, according to a new ...

Guideline on Newborn Screening for Cystic Fibrosis Calls for Changes in Practice

Apr. 2, 2025 — The United States Cystic Fibrosis Foundation released the first guideline on newborn screening for cystic fibrosis (CF), in order to improve timely detection of CF in infants from all racial and ...

Awareness Grows of Cancer Risk from Alcohol Consumption

Apr. 1, 2025 — Public awareness of the link between drinking alcohol and an elevated risk of cancer has grown since last fall, with 55% of U.S. adults saying that regularly consuming alcohol increases your chances ...

Clinical Trial Unearths Hidden Hypertension With Automated Searches of Health Records

Mar. 31, 2025 — A trial of 648 patients found that the new automated method and intervention strategy resulted in nearly four times as many diagnoses and treatment plans for high blood pressure compared with ...

My Robot Therapist: The Ethics of AI Mental Health Chatbots for Kids

Mar. 31, 2025 — AI mental health apps may offer a cheap and accessible way to fill the gaps in the overstretched U.S. mental health care system, but ethics experts warn that we need to be thoughtful about how we use ...

Research Highlights Urgent Need for National Strategy to Combat Rising Eating Disorders

Mar. 27, 2025 — The increasing number of people with eating disorders and a lack of national guidance for support teams has led to researchers calling for a new national strategy that includes specific guidance to ...

Adulting Is Hard on the Heart: Teen to Young Adulthood Is a Critical Time to Address Risk

Mar. 26, 2025 — Many youth have heart disease risk factors by their late teens, and preventing or addressing these risks early may reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease in the future, according to a ...

Avoidable Deaths Are on the Rise in the United States, Yet Falling in Many Peer Nations

Mar. 24, 2025 — In most high-income countries around the world, the number of avoidable mortalities is going down. But in the United States, avoidable deaths have been on the rise for more than a decade, according ...

Tax Sugar and Salt in Food to Improve Health?

Mar. 17, 2025 — Introducing a new salt levy is another proposal put forward in a comprehensive set of recommended regulations for the food ...