On behalf of the Hooper, Lundy & Bookman, PC Health Equity Task Force, here is our most recent HLB Health Equity Essentials.
Georgia Court Temporarily Halts Ban on Prisoner Gender-Affirming Care
On September 4, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia issued a preliminary injunction that partially blocks enforcement of a state law that went into effect in May 2025. This law was intended to prohibit “controversial procedures,” including surgical, hormone or cosmetic procedures to treat gender dysphoria, being performed on inmates. The preliminary injunction pertains to the provision of hormone therapy, and orders the continued provision of hormone therapy and evaluations for hormone therapy. In issuing the preliminary injunction, the court concluded that the state law likely violates the prisoners’ Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment.
Medicaid Work Mandates Threaten Hospital Operating Margins
A recent study published by The Commonwealth Fund found that work mandates for Medicaid beneficiaries in states that expanded Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will have significant adverse financial impacts on hospitals, particularly safety net institutions. Specifically, individuals who fail to comply with work obligations risk losing Medicaid coverage, which could drastically increase the percentage of patients who are uninsured and erode already thin hospital operating margins.
WHAM Grants Support Burgeoning Women’s Health Research
Women’s Health Access Matters (WHAM), a nonprofit that supports public and private investment in women’s health research, is awarding grants to early-career scientists studying the relationship between gender and health outcomes. WHAM notes that a dramatic void exists in clinical research on diseases that affect women differently or disproportionately and that, absent an investment in early-stage researchers focusing on women’s health, many promising ideas are left behind..
Removal of Federal Data Jeopardizes Efforts to Reduce Health Disparities
In response to the current Administration’s efforts to rollback publicly available federal data, the Kaiser Family Foundation warns that removing such data, particularly the removal of sociodemographic variables from such datasets, will have dire consequences for health care equity-related initiatives in addressing health care disparities across sociodemographic factors such as race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation/gender identity.
Education for Children with Disabilities Another Casualty of Government Shutdown
In connection with the ongoing federal government shutdown, the majority of Department of Education (ED) personnel responsible for overseeing the special education needs of children with disabilities have been laid off. Several ED offices provide collective oversight and monitoring of states’ compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which guarantees all children with disabilities the right to a free and appropriate public education.
CDC Revises Immunization Schedules for COVID-19 and Chickenpox
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revised its immunization schedules to emphasize individual decision-making for COVID-19 vaccination, and to recommend that toddlers receive protection from chickenpox as a standalone immunization instead of in combination with measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination. The CDC’s revised schedules reflect changing policy that supports clinical decision-making based upon individual patient characteristics that are difficult to incorporate in broad-based recommendations, including risk factors for the underlying disease, the characteristics of the vaccine, and the best available evidence of which patients may benefit from vaccination.
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