New federal autism committee head has financial ties to leucovorin STAT News | September 29, 2026

https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2026/09/29/new-federal-autism-committee-head-has-financial-ties-to-leucovorin/ Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has handed the reins of federal autism research to a doctor with a commercial stake in one of the administration’s favorite autism treatments. As STAT’s Amanda Erickson reports, the HHS secretary has installed pediatric neurologist John Gaitanis as chair of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, the panel that helps the federal government decide how to allocate roughly $2 billion in autism research.

RFK, Jr. likely violated federal ethics guidelines in accepting more than $4,275,000 in gifts and book advances from MAHA allies New York Times | September 29, 2026

https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2026/09/29/rfk-jr-likely-violated-federal-ethics-guidelines-in-accepting-more-than-4275000-in-gifts-and-book-advances-from-maha-allies/ Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accepted $4 million in book advances and more than $270,000 in gifts over the past year from close allies working to advance his Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda, according to his latest financial disclosure. Ethics experts say the arrangements may violate federal rules barring officials from profiting from their positions, as The New York Times’ Christina Jewett and Sheryl Gay Stolberg report. https://www.nytimes.com/by/christina-jewett

The exploding controversy over AI’s built-in survival drive Peter Marshall | September 29, 2026

https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2026/09/29/the-exploding-controversy-over-ais-built-in-survival-drive/ In controlled safety tests described earlier this year, researchers asked AI models to solve a series of simple math problems. Partway through the exercise, the instructors warned the bots that if they tried to solve the next problem, the computer environment they were operating in would be shut down. In some runs, the shutdown occurred as specified. In others, models interfered with the shutdown script and continued with the remaining problems.

The last ‘breakthrough’ devices to get special treatment from Medicare After this month, devices with this FDA label must demonstrate substantial clinical improvement for extra Medicare payments

https://www.statnews.com/2026/09/29/fda-breakthrough-medical-devices-special-treatment-medicare/ By Katie PalmerSept. 29, 2026 Health Tech Correspondent

Drug pricing, Medicaid, and research funding: The key policy issues at stake in the midterms November’s elections could reshape key health care debates in Washington

https://www.statnews.com/2026/09/29/healthcare-industry-midterm-elections-analysis/ By Daniel PayneSept. 29, 2026 Washington Correspondent

Federal Bill Takes Aim at Private Equity’s Role in Healthcare Randy Dotinga

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/federal-bill-takes-aim-private-equitys-role-healthcare-2026a100100o?src= As Oregon goes, so goes the nation. That’s the hope of a Democratic US senator who wants to limit private equity’s role in healthcare via legislation modeled on the Beaver State’s strict policies. The Stop Corporate Takeovers of Physicians Act, introduced this month by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and congressional colleagues, aims to tightly control who can own a medical practice or contract for medical services. “It is a federal override,” said Chicago attorney John Saran, JD, a partner with the law firm of Holland & Knight. “These legislators think the Oregon model is what is needed right now.”

Is Being a Millennial Doctor Actually Harder Financially Than Being a Boomer Doctor Was? Jennifer Nelson

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/being-millennial-doctor-actually-harder-financially-than-2026a100109m For as long as millennial physicians have been telling their older colleagues that medicine feels harder now, older physicians have had a ready response: We had it harder. We just didn’t complain about it. It’s become one of medicine’s most durable generational arguments — and, like most durable arguments, it’s rarely been tested against actual numbers.