Happy Monday, and Happy New Year! Washington opens 2026 with policy that moves markets, reshapes care delivery, and lands immediately on congressional calendars. Here’s what we’re tracking.

In this week’s Nimitz Health:

• Federal News: Childhood vaccine schedule, Telemedicine prescribing flexibilities, and Medicaid data sharing with ICE

• State News: $50B rural health funding rollout and Iowa’s OB-GYN shortages

• Industry News: Sickle cell gene therapy, GLP-1s at work, and the next wave of health-adjacent tech governance

WHO’S HAVING EVENTS THIS WEEK?

Thursday, January 8th

• *House Energy & Commerce: “Legislative Proposals to Support Patient Access to Medicare Services” at 10:15 am. Watch here.

*Will be covered by Nimitz Health. Please email [email protected] if you would like a readout of any other hearings.

NEWS DRIVING THE WEEK

Federal News

Federal health agencies opened 2026 with consequential shifts in vaccine policy and preventive care guidance. HHS trimmed the childhood immunization schedule, including pulling routine RSV vaccination for infants/children and moving some recommendations to “shared clinical decision-making,” a change that public-health and provider groups are watching closely for downstream effects on uptake, payer coverage, and state implementation.

Telehealth remains in flux but the immediate cliff edge moved: federal regulators extended the COVID-era telemedicine prescribing flexibilities for controlled substances, buying additional time for providers, behavioral health, and telehealth platforms while longer-term guardrails are debated.

On coverage and civil rights, the administration continues to face mounting legal pressure over transgender care. A group of Democratic state attorneys general filed suit challenging federal restrictions on gender-affirming care, and separate reporting flagged federal workers pursuing relief over the loss of coverage for gender-affirming care in their plans.

In a closely watched privacy/immigration intersection, a federal judge cleared the Trump administration to share immigrants’ Medicaid data with ICE, a ruling likely to reverberate across Medicaid agencies, state-federal data practices, and immigrant advocacy groups.

State News

States are beginning to see the first wave of dollars from the administration’s $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program, with initial awards reportedly ranging roughly from $145 million to $281 million per state and additional funding contingent on meeting performance metrics—an approach that could reward strong administrative capacity but frustrate states with weaker infrastructure.

New Jersey is already positioning itself as a key test case: it ranked last among states in initial rural-health funding ($147 million) and the governor is signaling plans to use the money to shore up trauma and emergency response capacity through a “hub-and-spoke” model centered on University Hospital in Newark—an example other states may watch as they decide whether to fund hospitals directly or build broader regional networks.

Workforce pressures remain acute in reproductive health, where Iowa’s OB-GYN shortage is colliding with policy constraints. Reporting suggests the state’s abortion ban may be worsening recruitment and retention challenges, raising broader questions for maternal health access and hospital service lines.

Industry News

Gene therapy is no longer “future tense” for sickle cell—yet access is still the story. Two years after breakthrough therapies arrived, providers and advocates describe Medicaid authorization bottlenecks (documentation hurdles, denials, and slow appeals) that can delay treatment for months even as clinicians emphasize urgency and early intervention.

Employers, payers, and workplace leaders are also recalibrating around GLP-1s. With a growing share of large employers covering GLP-1 drugs and early adopters reporting productivity and absenteeism narratives, companies are simultaneously grappling with equity concerns, stigma, and the emerging reality that weight-loss drugs may reshape everything from benefit design to “professional etiquette.”

Finally, digital health and consumer tech are moving into more intimate territory—raising governance questions that are likely to bleed into health policy. Commentary on “AI companions” argues these products are designed to reduce feelings like alienation and doubt, but risk substituting frictionless, engineered feedback for real connection—an ethical framing that could matter as regulators and payers weigh how (and whether) to treat certain AI tools as health-adjacent.

FOR FUN

Yoga AND puppies??? Join Old Town Books on Sunday, January 11th for puppy yoga, a one-hour class with expert teachers. You'll relax and recenter while playing with adorable adoptable puppies from Homeward Trails Animal Rescue.

100% of your ticket fee for this event goes to Homeward Trails as a donation to their shelter. Please come prepared with your own mat and water for this class. Register here! 

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