Trump administration pauses some Medicaid funding to Minnesota over fraud concerns, Minnesota sues

Vice President JD Vance last week announced that the Trump administration would "temporarily halt" sending some Medicaid funding to the state of Minnesota over concerns of fraud as part of what he said is an aggressive crackdown on the misuse of public funds, a move that led Minnesota to sue in response.

Vance said the administration was acting "in order to ensure that the state of Minnesota takes its obligations seriously to be good stewards of the American people's tax money."

CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, who spoke alongside Vance at the announcement, said that people committing fraud are "self-serving scoundrels" and that the federal government would hold off on $259.5 million in Medicaid funding to Minnesota.

"This is not a problem with the people of Minnesota, it's a problem with the leadership of Minnesota and other states who do not take Medicaid preservation seriously," Oz said.

Last week's decision is part of a larger effort by the Trump administration to crack down on fraud across the United States and follows allegations of fraud involving day care centers run by Somali residents in Minnesota. The day care fraud allegations prompted the administration to send thousands of federal immigration officers into Minneapolis, which lead to widespread protests and the deaths of two U.S. citizens.

Federal prosecutors estimated as much as $9 billion has been stolen across schemes linked to Minnesota's Somali population, and in 2022, the Biden administration charged dozens of people with fraud.

In response to the announcement, Minnesota filed a lawsuit asking a U.S. court in Minneapolis to issue a temporary restraining order to block the Trump administration from withholding Medicaid funds.

"Trump's attempt to look like he's fighting fraud only punish the people and families who most need the high-quality, affordable healthcare that all Minnesotans deserve," said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D). "As long as I am attorney general, I will do everything in my power to defend our tax dollars, both from fraudsters and from the Trump administration's cruelty."

(Price/Swenson, Associated Press, 2/25; Gambino, The Guardian, 2/25; McAvoy, Associated Press, 3/2)

RFK Jr. announces new ACIP members following delay of meeting

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday announced two new members of CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a group that advises the federal government on which vaccines to recommend to the public, ahead of a meeting that was originally scheduled for February and was pushed to later this month.

In a statement, Kennedy said that Sean Downing, a primary care doctor in Florida, and Angelina Farella, a pediatrician in Texas, would join the panel.

According to a press release from HHS, Downing is a primary care doctor working in concierge medicine, meaning his clinic in Sarasota, Florida, is membership-based. Downing completed his residency at Brown University and previously worked as a physician for uninsured patients.

Meanwhile, Farella is the owner of a Texas pediatric clinic, according to HHS, and completed her residency at the University of Texas Medical Branch.

(Cirruzzo, STAT, 2/27)

Senior officials on the call said that payments would be based on "weighted time savings" achieved by employees and their teams, as well as ratings-based "work quality and work complexity."

"This program values speed, but never at the expense of quality," one of the slides said.

It's unclear how the payments will be distributed among large teams of staffers who usually contribute to drug reviews. Employees not directly involved in the reviews, like factory inspectors, are not eligible for the payments. The pilot program also presents potential ethical issues if FDA reviewers are seen as being rewarded for rushing steps needed to confirm the safety and efficacy of drugs.

(Perrone, Associated Press, 2/26)

ACOG withdraws from ACIP

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) announced last week that it will be withdrawing as a liaison organization from ACIP, citing concerns about scientific integrity and recent changes to the panel.

Specifically, ACOG said that several actions prompted its decision, including ACIP ignoring peer-reviewed reports on vaccine safety, sharing presentations with cherry-picked data without adequate scientific context, and making changes to the childhood vaccine schedule without regard to expert input.

These changes undermine ACIP's "scientific integrity and evidence-based approach to vaccine policy" and "public confidence in immunizations that have saved countless lives and prevented immeasurable suffering," ACOG said.

Medical liaison organizations, including ACOG, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Medical Association, were also no longer allowed to participate in ACIP workgroups, something they had done for decades. According to ACOG president Stephen Fleischman, this change was a major departure from "the scientific rigor and impartiality that have been the hallmark of this committee for 60 years."

"ACOG's withdrawal from ACIP... reflects an unwavering dedication to ensuring that clinical recommendations for immunizations are based solely on the best available scientific evidence," Fleischman said.

Going forward, ACOG said it plans to continue summitting public comments to ACIP while working on developing its own evidence-based vaccine guidance for ob/gyns.

(Robertson, MedPage Today, 2/25)