Of the nearly 700 such devices captured in STAT’s Breakthrough Device Tracker, at least 10% use artificial intelligence. At least 16 have already been authorized by the FDA, and the unofficial count is still higher: STAT found examples of AI-based breakthrough devices that have been cleared by the FDA but have yet to be reported on the agency's public list of authorized breakthroughs, which was last updated in November.
As large language models like Claude 4 express uncertainty about whether they are conscious, researchers race to decode their inner workings, raising profound questions about machine awareness, ethics and the risks of uncontrolled AI evolution
Monarez, 50, was named acting director in January and then tapped as the nominee in March after Trump abruptly withdrew his first choice, David Weldon. The Atlanta-based federal agency has been hit by widespread staff cuts, key resignations and heated controversy over long-standing CDC vaccine policies upended by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
A federal judge temporarily blocked on Monday Arkansas' first-in-the-nation law that would have prohibited pharmacy benefit managers from owning pharmacies in the state. U.S. District Judge Brian Miller issued a preliminary injunction against the law restricting pharmacy benefit managers, who run prescription drug coverage for big clients that include health insurers and employers that provide coverage. Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed the restriction into law earlier this year, and it was set to take effect Aug. 5. CVS and Express Scripts had sued the state over the law.
The fate of rural hospitals has become a politically contentious issue for Republicans, as historic cuts pushed through by the GOP are expected to come into effect over the next decade. Donald Trump's enormous One Big Beautiful Bill Act cut more than $1 trillion from Medicaid. A June analysis by the Sheps Center found that 338 rural hospitals, including dozens in states such as Louisiana, Kentucky and Oklahoma, could close as a result of the OBBBA.