By Sara Hynes on February 25, 2026
Category: Health Policy & Advocacy

ARN Health Policy Digest - March 2026

We are pleased to present the March issue of the ARN Health Policy Digest. This member benefit provides updates on health policy and legislative and regulatory developments that may be of interest to rehabilitation nurses.  

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya Named Acting CDC Director 

Following the dismissal of Jim O'Neill who was the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Jay Bhattacharya, the current director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be given the role of acting director of the CDC. The initial dismissal of O'Neill occurs as President Trump plans to name O'Neill to run the National Science Foundation. Bhattacharya will continue to run the NIH while he is acting director of the CDC which many public health officials are scrutinizing the decision to have one person run two agencies as running these agencies are time consuming, especially with the major reduction in force the CDC has experienced. Bhattacharya will be the third leader of the CDC since the beginning of the administration after Susan Monarez was fired earlier this year.

The FDA Agrees to Review Moderna mRNA Flu Shot 

​On February 18 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decided to review Moderna's flus shot made with mRNA technology going against a previous decision to not review the immunization because the application did not compare the experimental immunization to the best-available standard of care. This concern came from the fact that Moderna's application included a trial of more than 40,000 people compared the company's vaccine to a standard dose flu shot even though many people in the trial were over the age of 65 and are usually recommended a high-dose flu shot. This outright refusal to review the application is rare for the FDA and are usually only when there is an obvious issue with the application. Moderna argued that the FDA's refusal was inconsistent with previous communications and studies that the FDA has signed off on, and facing additional backlash, the FDA reversed its decision and will begin review of the shot. The FDA will provide a traditional review for the vaccine for adults aged 50-64 and an accelerated approval for those aged 65 and older.

The Senate HELP Committee Scheduled Hearing for Surgeon General Nomination 

​The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee announced a hearing for Casey Means, President Trump's nominee for surgeon general at 10a.m. on February 25. The hearing was originally scheduled for October but Means went into labor on the day of the hearing and it was therefore postponed. Means left her surgical residency at Oregon Health and Science University after getting a degree from Stanford University and began her work as a wellness influencer and founded Levels, a glucose-monitoring health-tech company. In this role Means rose to prominence in Secretary Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again movement promoting wellness products and health practices such as consuming raw milk. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) has criticized Means because of her previous skepticism of giving infants the hepatitis B shot, which is especially notable as Secretary Kennedy continues to reshape the childhood vaccine schedule and recommended the end of hepatitis B birth dose.

Notice of Funding Opportunities 

​Below is a list of other funding opportunities for interested ARN members.