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What changed in healthcare regulation and policy this week?
Government decisions, new rules and policy shifts reported this week.
02
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that national kindergarten vaccination rates for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) declined to 92.4% in the 2025-2026 school year.
Read at theguardian.com ↗03
Routine vaccination rates for kindergarten children in the U.S. have continued to decline since the COVID-19 pandemic, while non-medical exemptions have increased.
Read at kff.org ↗04
The Trump administration, led by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has issued a notice in the Federal Register seeking public comment on potential changes to vaccine recommendation categories.
Read at theguardian.com ↗05
The 2025 reconciliation law introduces new federal restrictions on state Medicaid provider taxes, prohibiting new taxes and limiting increases or existing tax levels for states that adopted the Affordable Care Act expansion.
Read at kff.org ↗06
The U.S. Department of Justice issued new guidance suggesting states are not obligated to provide services that enable people with disabilities to live at home instead of in institutions.
Read at kffhealthnews.org ↗07
The Trump administration has deleted or modified nearly 400 federal datasets over the past 18 months, according to a tracker by dataindex.us.
Read at theguardian.com ↗08
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on August 10, 2026, to reduce childhood vaccine recommendations, citing unproven links to autism.
Read at kffhealthnews.org ↗8 of 29 regulation and policy events are listed; the rest were ranked lower by importance and multi-source corroboration and are not shown.
What funding rounds and acquisitions happened in healthcare this week?
The week’s notable investments, financing rounds, acquisitions and strategic deals.
09
New York City-based Cityblock announced on August 21, 2026, its plan to acquire rural healthcare provider Homeward Health in an all-stock transaction.
Read at medcitynews.com ↗10
Radial, a management services organization for brain medicine clinics, is acquiring TMS Health Partners, which manages 20 clinics under Mindful Health Solutions.
Read at fiercehealthcare.com ↗11
Cityblock Health announced an agreement to acquire Homeward Health to expand its services into rural healthcare markets.
Read at fiercehealthcare.com ↗12
R1 RCM has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Humata Health to integrate AI-powered prior authorization automation into its Phare Operating System.
Read at fiercehealthcare.com ↗13
Ours Privacy, a HIPAA-compliant marketing and data infrastructure platform, has raised $15 million in an oversubscribed Series A funding round.
Read at fiercehealthcare.com ↗14
Texas-based health platform Happy Health raised $75 million in a funding round led by ARCH Venture Partners and OpenLoop, as announced on Tuesday, August 18, 2026.
Read at medcitynews.com ↗15
Universal Health Services (UHS) completed the acquisition of virtual therapy provider Talkspace for $835 million on Monday, August 17, 2026.
Read at healthcaredive.com ↗16
Universal Health Services has completed the acquisition of virtual behavioral care provider Talkspace for $835 million.
Read at fiercehealthcare.com ↗8 of 11 funding and m&a events are listed; the rest were ranked lower by importance and multi-source corroboration and are not shown.
What products launched in healthcare this week?
Notable product launches, releases and platform updates from the week.
17
Paramedics are now utilizing flying hovercraft to respond to medical emergencies in rural communities.
Read at futurism.com ↗18
A new weekly insulin injection for type 2 diabetes patients has been introduced as a potential replacement for daily injections.
Read at bbc.co.uk ↗19
Epic Systems unveiled a new suite of AI tools and the Agent Factory platform at its annual Users Group Meeting in Verona, Wisconsin, held on August 18, 2026.
Read at fiercehealthcare.com ↗20
Johnson & Johnson MedTech has received a software update for its Monarch bronchoscopy robot, marking the company's fourth major software launch in the past 18 months.
Read at fiercebiotech.com ↗21
Four health systems, including Ochsner Health and Denver Health, have implemented Epic's new real-time prior authorization API to automate insurance reviews.
Read at fiercehealthcare.com ↗22
Abridge has expanded its AI-based clinical decision support (CDS) solution to all clinicians within its partner health systems, which include over 300 enterprise health organizations serving more than 250 million patients.
Read at fiercehealthcare.com ↗23
NHS England has opened its national booking system for flu vaccinations starting August 17, 2026, with actual vaccinations scheduled to begin on September 1, 2026.
Read at nhs.uk ↗24
Epic Systems is implementing a new API called Coverage Requirements Discovery (CRD) to enable real-time prior authorization checks for medical providers.
Read at forbes.com ↗What financial results were reported in healthcare this week?
Earnings, guidance and other financial results reported this week.
25
Bank of America analyst Travis Steed maintained a Buy rating and a $95 price target for Medtronic ahead of the company's fiscal first-quarter earnings report.
Read at thestreet.com ↗26
On August 17, 2026, Jefferies analyst Tycho Peterson initiated coverage of Freenome Inc. with a 'Buy' rating and a $17 price target.
Read at thestreet.com ↗27
Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller increased his stake in the cancer-testing company Natera through his Duquesne Family Office.
Read at thestreet.com ↗28
Bora Pharmaceuticals reported record-high quarterly revenue of NT$5,889 million for 2Q26, representing a 47.2% increase quarter-over-quarter.
Read at treasurytoday.com ↗29
PitchBook reports that private equity deal count in healthcare services for Q2 2026 declined nearly 19% year-over-year, with 2026 exit counts projected to drop 26.5% from 2025.
Read at fiercehealthcare.com ↗5 of 7 financial results events are listed; the rest were ranked lower by importance and multi-source corroboration and are not shown.
What court rulings and legal actions hit healthcare this week?
Court rulings, filings and legal actions reported this week.
30
Luigi Mangione, who pleaded guilty to federal stalking charges on August 14, 2026, is facing a potential dismissal of his New York state murder trial for the December 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Read at theguardian.com ↗31
U.S. District Judge Thomas Whelan denied a motion by NaphCare to dismiss breach of contract claims regarding the 2024 death of inmate Brandon Yates at San Diego Central Jail.
Read at courthousenews.com ↗32
On August 21, 2026, the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan quashed an appeal in the case Gordon Estate v Regina Qu’Appelle Regional Health Authority.
Read at canadianlawyermag.com ↗33
Lindsay Clancy is currently on trial for the murder of her children in the United States.
Read at bbc.co.uk ↗34
A federal judge, Daniel Domenico, issued a preliminary injunction on August 20, 2026, blocking a Colorado state law (HB26-1276) that would have expanded the state's authority to conduct unannounced health inspections at the GEO Group-operated ICE detention center in Aurora.
Read at courthousenews.com ↗35
PatientRightsAdvocate.org filed a lawsuit against the American Medical Association in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois during the week of August 19, 2026.
Read at medcitynews.com ↗36
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) filed a lawsuit on August 19, 2026, in the US District Court for the District of Columbia against the USDA and HHS.
Read at foodnavigator.com ↗37
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched an antitrust investigation into Epic Systems, a healthcare database company based in Verona, Wisconsin.
Read at insurancejournal.com ↗8 of 14 courts and legal events are listed; the rest were ranked lower by importance and multi-source corroboration and are not shown.
What research was published in healthcare this week?
New research findings and studies published this week.
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A peer-reviewed study conducted by researchers including Jenna Hua of Million Marker analyzed 113 personal care products purchased from retailers like Target and Amazon.
Read at theguardian.com ↗39
On August 20, 2026, Intel released a survey conducted with Man Bites Dog and Coleman Parkes Research involving over 800 global executives and officials.
Read at thelec.net ↗40
Merck and Moderna announced that their Phase 3 INTerpath 001 trial for the personalized cancer vaccine intismeran autogene (V940/mRNA 4157) in combination with Keytruda met its primary endpoints for treating resected melanoma.
Read at thestreet.com ↗41
An international team of scientists identified ethical and legal concerns in 853 research articles published by the Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée Infection (IHU).
Read at theguardian.com ↗42
Moderna and Merck announced positive Phase 3 trial results for their mRNA-based melanoma vaccine, intismeran autogene (mRNA-4157), on August 19, 2026.
Read at gizmodo.com ↗43
A study conducted by researchers from Queen Mary University of London and the University of Oxford found that the introduction of the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (Ulez) in London led to improved lung size and function in children.
Read at theguardian.com ↗44
Researchers led by Jeffrey Bailey and Karamoko Niaré from Brown University identified new genetic mutations in Plasmodium falciparum parasites in Uganda that cause decreased susceptibility to common antimalarial drugs.
Read at genengnews.com ↗45
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that US kindergarten vaccination rates for the 2025–2026 school year have declined, with MMR coverage falling to 92.4 percent.
Read at arstechnica.com ↗8 of 37 research events are listed; the rest were ranked lower by importance and multi-source corroboration and are not shown.