Featured Stories
World Vision International: What the Floods Left Behind - The Hidden Burden Facing Nepal's Children
MONROVIA, California, Sept. 12 -- World Vision International issued the following news release:
* * *
What the Floods Left Behind: The Hidden Burden Facing Nepal's Children
As emergency relief gives way to recovery, Child Friendly Spaces are helping children reclaim safety, routine and hope after Nepal's devastating floods.
Kathmandu, Nepal | 11 September 2026
Two weeks after flash floods tore through central Nepal, nine-year-old Ayesha sits with a pencil in hand, drawing once again. The flood swept away her schoolbag, books, and much of the world she knew. For days afterwards, fear lingered.
... Show Full Article
MONROVIA, California, Sept. 12 -- World Vision International issued the following news release:
* * *
What the Floods Left Behind: The Hidden Burden Facing Nepal's Children
As emergency relief gives way to recovery, Child Friendly Spaces are helping children reclaim safety, routine and hope after Nepal's devastating floods.
Kathmandu, Nepal | 11 September 2026
Two weeks after flash floods tore through central Nepal, nine-year-old Ayesha sits with a pencil in hand, drawing once again. The flood swept away her schoolbag, books, and much of the world she knew. For days afterwards, fear lingered.
Today, inside a World Vision Child Friendly Space at an evacuation centre, she is drawing, playing and laughing with other children displaced by the disaster.
"I love drawing, and having the chance to draw again makes me very happy," she says.
For thousands of children displaced by the Nepal floods, the challenge is now recovery. While emergency relief continues, many children continue to live with fear, uncertainty, and trauma.
According to Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), floods have claimed 1,367 lives and affected over 19,000 households. More than 84,000 people, including 22,000 children, still need humanitarian assistance, while nearly 9,800 children have had their education disrupted as 32 schools remain impacted across the hardest-hit districts.
"Children have survived a terrifying disaster, but survival is not the end of their story," says Roslyn Gabriel, National Director of World Vision International Nepal. "Child Friendly Spaces give children back something the floods took from them, which is a sense of normalcy, safety and hope."
The Recovery Crisis Few People See
Thousands of children have seen their education disrupted as many schools have been damaged or rendered inaccessible. In evacuation centres across Nuwakot and Rasuwa districts, children who once ran from rising waters now live in crowded temporary shelters. The loss of routine, stability and familiar surroundings has compounded the emotional impact of the disaster.
For those responding to the crisis, addressing children's emotional well-being is as critical as meeting their immediate physical needs.
Humanitarian experience globally shows that children affected by disasters face heightened risks of emotional distress, exploitation, violence and neglect, making child protection services a critical component of early recovery efforts.
"It's Coming, It's Coming"
The psychological impact of the disaster is still visible.
Sharmila, a Child Friendly Space facilitator and mother whose own child attends the sessions, remembers the fear that gripped children immediately after the flooding.
"For the first two to four days after the flood, the children were very frightened. Whenever they heard or imagined danger, they would shout, 'It's coming, it's coming!' and run uphill."
That fear has not disappeared completely, but signs of recovery are emerging. Through structured play, sports, drawing and creative activities, children are gradually rebuilding confidence and reconnecting with their peers. World Vision International Nepal has already established two Child Friendly Spaces in Bidur Municipality, reaching more than 100 flood-affected children.
"Since the Child Friendly Space started, the children have begun playing again and seem less worried," Sharmila says.
Why Play Matters After Disaster
To an outsider, a football game or a drawing session might seem insignificant amid a humanitarian emergency. Yet child protection specialists consistently identify safe spaces, routine and social connection as critical elements of recovery for children affected by crises.
For 14-year-old Samir, whose home and school were swept away by the floods, the impact has been profound.
"Being able to play like this has helped me feel refreshed and has taken my mind off many of my worries," he explains after a day spent playing football, badminton and drawing with friends.
A Locally Led Recovery
By working through local partners and municipal authorities, the response is helping strengthen community-led recovery systems that can continue supporting children long after the emergency phase concludes.
The Child Friendly Spaces are being implemented through local partners and municipal authorities, ensuring support is rooted in communities themselves and aligned with government-led recovery efforts. In Nuwakot, activities are delivered through Good Neighbors Nepal with coordination from local government authorities, while expansion is planned in neighbouring Rasuwa through KIRDARC Nepal and local authorities.
The next phase will also include trained psychosocial counsellors being deployed to assess children's emotional wellbeing and identify those who need specialised support.
The Funding Gap Threatening Recovery
Child Friendly Spaces form part of World Vision International Nepal's wider emergency response, which aims to assist 25,000 people, including 10,000 children, through food assistance, shelter, health, water, sanitation and child protection services. To date, nearly 1,900 people have been reached across affected communities. 46% of those assisted are children.
Yet recovery remains underfunded.
While food assistance appears to be adequately covered by multiple actors, affected families suggest a growing need to shift towards early recovery support. Community members highlighted the importance of livelihood restoration and income-generating activities to help households regain self-reliance and reduce dependency on relief assistance.
Investing in More Than Survival
Humanitarian crises are often measured through homes destroyed, roads washed away, and people displaced.
But for children, recovery is measured differently.
In the confidence to play again.
In the courage to return to learning.
And in the moment a child stops running from imagined danger and begins imagining a future instead.
World Vision International Nepal urgently calls on donors, partners and supporters to invest in the recovery of children and families affected by the devastating floods. Immediate funding is needed to expand child protection services, provide critical psychosocial support, restore access to education, to save them from malnutrition and health hazards, and help families rebuild their livelihoods and homes. Without sustained support, thousands of children risk facing long-term emotional, social and economic consequences.
For more response related updates: https://www.wvi.org/nepal/nepal-flash-floods-response-2026
* * *
World Vision International Nepal is part of the World Vision International partnership, which operates in around 100 countries. The organisation began its long-term development programme in Nepal in 2001 and currently implements programmes in 17 districts, supporting vulnerable children, families and communities.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.wvi.org/newsroom/nepal/what-floods-left-behind-hidden-burden-facing-nepals-children
[Category: Sociological]
Featured SSAR Publications on Sale Through September
WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 -- The Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, the largest international herpetological society, issued the following news:
* * *
Featured SSAR publications on sale through September
The Dutch Indies Commission and the Herpetological Legacy of Heinrich Boie (1794-1827) Vol. 35., by Jay M. Savage, Marcus Sparreboom and Gregory K. Pregill is on sale now! The history of Heinrich Boie's never published, but hugely influential Erpetologie de Java. Boie's manuscript served as the basis for many descriptions of amphibians and reptiles published between the 1820s and1850s.
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 -- The Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, the largest international herpetological society, issued the following news:
* * *
Featured SSAR publications on sale through September
The Dutch Indies Commission and the Herpetological Legacy of Heinrich Boie (1794-1827) Vol. 35., by Jay M. Savage, Marcus Sparreboom and Gregory K. Pregill is on sale now! The history of Heinrich Boie's never published, but hugely influential Erpetologie de Java. Boie's manuscript served as the basis for many descriptions of amphibians and reptiles published between the 1820s and1850s.The book explores the relationship between Boie and those who came both before and after him and resolves the many nomenclatural issues relating to species of the southeast Asian herpetofauna. A must have volume for systematists, herpetological historians, and anyone interested in tropical snakes, lizards, turtles or frogs. 376 pp., 60 color plates and 18 figures in text.
ON SALE FOR $45 + shipping (50% off regular price)
Reminder: SSAR members can receive a 10% discount with coupon code "SSARMEM"
Buy online at SSAR Bookstore:
https://store10270226.company.site/%E2%80%8BVol-35-The-Dutch-Indies-Commission-and-the-Herpetological-Legacy-of-Heinrich-Boie-1794-1827-p758144933
* * *
Original text here: https://ssarherps.org/2026/09/featured-ssar-publications-on-sale-sept/
[Category: Animals]
FFRF Action Fund: 'Secularist' Mehdi Hasan Defends State/Church Separation Against Pastor Doug Wilson
MADISON, Wisconsin, Sept. 12 -- FFRF Action Fund, an organization that says it develops and advocates for legislation, regulations and government programs to preserve the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, posted the following news:
* * *
'Secularist' Mehdi Hasan defends state/church separation against Pastor Doug Wilson
The FFRF Action Fund salutes progressive British-American broadcaster Mehdi Hasan as its "Secularist of the Week" for his recent forceful defense of state/church separation.
Hasan hosted Doug Wilson, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's pastor, in
... Show Full Article
MADISON, Wisconsin, Sept. 12 -- FFRF Action Fund, an organization that says it develops and advocates for legislation, regulations and government programs to preserve the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, posted the following news:
* * *
'Secularist' Mehdi Hasan defends state/church separation against Pastor Doug Wilson
The FFRF Action Fund salutes progressive British-American broadcaster Mehdi Hasan as its "Secularist of the Week" for his recent forceful defense of state/church separation.
Hasan hosted Doug Wilson, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's pastor, ina "Mehdi Unfiltered" interview to confront the pastor's dangerous views. The FFRF Action Fund has long castigated Wilson's harmful preaching, which ranges from calls to have the women's right to vote repealed to describing slavery as a "relationship based upon mutual affection." Wilson has been named "Theocrat of the Week" before, and two of Hegseth's "Theocrat" stints are for endorsing the extremist pastor.
Hasan confronted Wilson during the interview (which has already garnered over 2 million views on YouTube) on his unfounded claim that the United States was founded as a Christian nation, pointing out that while many Founders and early Americans were Christian, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the American governmental model are not Christian. Hasan asserted that the Declaration of Independence's political foundation is wholly secular; its central theory of legitimate government is that governments derive their powers from "the consent of the governed," not divine authority. He also pushed back against Wilson's attempt to turn generic references to a "Creator" into evidence of a Christian nationhood, noting that many other religions believe in a creator.
When Wilson attempted to manufacture biblical origins for the Constitution, attributing the constitutional principle of checks and balances to the bible's Deuteronomy, Hasan instead pointed to Enlightenment thinkers, such as John Locke and Montesquieu. He also challenged Wilson to identify biblical passages that establish other foundational principles, such as a bicameral legislature or a presidential veto.
Hasan argued that Christian nationalism would necessitate significant changes to the Constitution and repeatedly forced Wilson to acknowledge that his ideal Christian republic could not exist under the Constitution as written. Wilson conceded that constitutional "adjustments" would be needed, leading Hasan to highlight that while Wilson claims to love the Constitution, he wants to "gut" its secular protections to create a Christian republic.
During the interview, Hasan repeatedly explained the affirmative value of secularism, emphasizing that it protects believers, too. As a Muslim defending secular government against a Christian nationalist, Hasan made the compelling argument: "One of the reasons people favor secularism is because it actually protects all religions." He challenged Wilson to consider what happens once government is permitted to privilege a certain religion, but the privileged faith is not Wilson's preferred Protestantism. Hasan also confronted Wilson throughout the interview on his call to repeal the women's right to vote, misrepresentation of U.S. slavery and stance that non-Christians should not be permitted to vote or hold public office. Watch the full interview here.
The FFRF Action Fund profusely thanks Hasan for robustly defending state/church separation and the secular history of the U.S. government while debating Wilson. It is extremely important that Wilson's stances are publicly and regularly debunked.
* * *
FFRF Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that develops and advocates for legislation, regulations and government programs to preserve the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. It also advocates for the rights and views of nonbelievers, endorses candidates for political office, and publicizes the views of elected officials concerning religious liberty issues.
* * *
Original text here: https://ffrfaction.org/secularist-mehdi-hasan-defends-state-church-separation-against-pastor-doug-wilson/
[Category: Sociological]
Democracy Forward: Court Blocks Trump-Vance Administration's Unlawful Loyalty Question for Federal Job Applicants
WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 -- Democracy Forward, an organization that says it advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy and public education and regulatory engagement, issued the following news release:
* * *
Court Blocks Trump-Vance Administration's Unlawful Loyalty Question for Federal Job Applicants
Judge Halts Politicized Hiring Scheme That Threatened the Nonpartisan Civil Service
September 11, 2026
Boston -- A federal court today blocked the Trump-Vance administration from using its unlawful "loyalty question" on federal civil service job applications, stopping an unprecedented
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 -- Democracy Forward, an organization that says it advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy and public education and regulatory engagement, issued the following news release:
* * *
Court Blocks Trump-Vance Administration's Unlawful Loyalty Question for Federal Job Applicants
Judge Halts Politicized Hiring Scheme That Threatened the Nonpartisan Civil Service
September 11, 2026
Boston -- A federal court today blocked the Trump-Vance administration from using its unlawful "loyalty question" on federal civil service job applications, stopping an unprecedentedattempt to compel applicants for civil service positions to profess their loyalty to the president.
The lawsuit, brought by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE), challenges the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) decision to require applicants for non-political federal jobs to write essays about President Trump's executive orders or policy priorities. The court found that allowing this practice to continue would cause irreparable harm to workers applying to the merit-based civil service. Plaintiffs are represented by Democracy Forward, Protect Democracy, and Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP.
Over 70,000 federal job postings have included the loyalty question, compelling applicants to speak about political issues and chilling other applicants' speech, undermining the merit-based hiring system.
"Requiring federal job applicants to answer politically motivated questions goes against the very nature of the nonpartisan civil service, and we are pleased the judge has put an immediate stop to the administration's loyalty questions. Federal employees should be hired based solely on their ability to perform the job - not their allegiance to any particular administration," AFGE National President Everett Kelley said.
"This is a major win for public service workers and the communities we serve," said AFSCME President Patrick Moran. "These 'loyalty questions' are a blatantly illegal attempt to hire partisan cronies who would endanger our communities by putting politics before people, rather than dedicated, qualified public service workers. Protecting the integrity of a nonpartisan, professional civil service is essential to the health and safety of our communities. AFSCME members will continue to fight the administration's attacks on the public services we all depend on to thrive."
"Today's ruling makes clear that hiring in the federal workforce cannot be turned into a political loyalty question," said David J. Holway, National President of the National Association of Government Employees. "Federal jobs are not political rewards, and public service is not conditioned on allegiance to a president. When political loyalty becomes a prerequisite for public service, it erodes public trust and weakens democracy itself. Unions are a critical line of defense in protecting a professional, nonpartisan public workforce grounded in fairness, neutrality, and the rule of law."
"For more than a century, civil servants have been hired based on their merits, not based on allegiance to a partisan political agenda," said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. "Today's decision - stopping the Trump-Vance administration's required loyalty question for public servants - reaffirms the importance of a nonpartisan civilian workforce that serves the American people. This ruling protects the Constitution, the civil service, and the people who depend on a professional, nonpartisan federal workforce."
"Today's decision re-affirms that hiring for federal civil service jobs should be based on merit, and not political loyalty," said Ori Lev, Special Counsel at Protect Democracy. "Federal civil servants provide essential services to the American people and we should be hiring the best and the brightest, not those who appear most loyal to the president. We are grateful that the Court stopped the administration's unconstitutional and harmful action while the case proceeds."
"Today's decision is a critical reminder that the Trump administration is not above the law," Warren Braunig, partner at Keker, Van Nest & Peters, said. "The Loyalty Question is irreconcilable with the First Amendment, the Administrative Procedure Act, and more than a century of Congress's commitment to a professional, nonpartisan civil service. The Court's ruling protects millions of current and future public servants from compelled political speech and unlawful viewpoint discrimination."
The court's order prevents OPM from enforcing its directive that agencies include the loyalty question on civil service job applications while the case proceeds. The lawsuit argues that the unlawful requirement violates the First Amendment, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Privacy Act by compelling political speech, chilling speech, enabling viewpoint discrimination, and unlawfully collecting information about applicants' political beliefs.
The case is American Federation of Government Employees et al. v. Office of Personnel Management et al.
Read the decision here (https://democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/86-2026-09-11-Judge-George-A.-OToole-Jr-ORDER-entered.-OPINION-AND.pdf).
* * *
Original text here: https://democracyforward.org/news/press-releases/court-blocks-trump-vance-administrations-unlawful-loyalty-question-for-federal-job-applicants/
[Category: Political]
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory: Child Cancer Groups Call for Concerted Action
COLD SPRING HARBOR, New York, Sept. 12 -- The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory issued the following news:
* * *
Child cancer groups call for concerted action
It's one of the cruelest ironies in health and medicine. Pediatric sarcomas are some of the rarest yet most aggressive forms of childhood cancer, and some of the hardest to cure. Whereas many adult cancers are now treatable with new therapeutic strategies, such as immunotherapies, pediatric sarcomas have not seen nearly as many advances. Survival rates have remained largely unchanged for decades.
In 2014, a coalition of advocacy groups founded
... Show Full Article
COLD SPRING HARBOR, New York, Sept. 12 -- The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory issued the following news:
* * *
Child cancer groups call for concerted action
It's one of the cruelest ironies in health and medicine. Pediatric sarcomas are some of the rarest yet most aggressive forms of childhood cancer, and some of the hardest to cure. Whereas many adult cancers are now treatable with new therapeutic strategies, such as immunotherapies, pediatric sarcomas have not seen nearly as many advances. Survival rates have remained largely unchanged for decades.
In 2014, a coalition of advocacy groups foundedby parents from across Long Island, New York, who'd lost children to rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) banded together to support a new research initiative aimed at better understanding this deadly disease so that one day a cure could be found. The group met at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's Banbury Center. This world-renowned think tank was built for bringing together scientists, clinicians, and patient advocates to launch initiatives like this one, focused on a particular area of research or public health.
Since that fateful first meeting, scientists have made incredible progress, not only in RMS but also in other sarcomas and childhood diseases. Likewise, what began as a small but dedicated coalition of RMS groups has grown into a full-fledged pediatric sarcoma movement. After more than a decade of progress, the movement returned to Banbury Center.
In 2025, the think tank hosted Pediatric Sarcomas: Targets for Therapeutic Development. The meeting was organized by CSHL Adjunct Professor Christopher Vakoc, now with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and Kimberly Stegmaier, chair of the Department of Pediatric Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
"It was an intense and inspiring three days," recalls Phil Renna, founder of the Christina Renna Foundation, one of the advocacy groups that supported both Banbury meetings. "So many ideas were proposed and discussed. Most importantly, we came away with a roadmap to help bring today's cutting-edge research from bench to bedside."
That roadmap recently appeared in an article in Genes & Development, published by CSHL Press. In the article, meeting attendees called for more collaboration in the spirit of the Banbury sessions. The authors wrote that for today's pediatric cancer discoveries to eventually benefit patients, it would be crucial to "foster interdisciplinary partnerships among medical chemists, scientists, clinicians, advocates, and industry partners."
After outlining obstacles to progress, the group laid out three top priorities for the future: 1) creating an open-access platform for data and model sharing, 2) bridging pediatric and adult oncology through unified clinical infrastructure, and 3) fostering multidisciplinary collaboration.
"Together, these priorities underscore the need for a more interconnected research ecosystem that matches the complexity of the disease itself," the authors wrote. "As emerging tools continue to reveal new vulnerabilities in pediatric sarcomas, the challenge ahead lies in translating this knowledge into durable therapies, guided by collaboration, shared infrastructure, and a sustained commitment to bridging discovery and treatment."
Funding
The Mary Ruchalski Foundation, Christina Renna Foundation, Friends of T.J. Foundation, The Michelle Paternoster Foundation, Williams Echo, Maddie's Promise, Maggie's Mission, Wings for Ewing Sarcoma, and the Scarola Stark Family, Dana- Farber Cancer Institute, Novartis, Kronos Bio, Boehringer Ingelheim, Treeline Biosciences
Citation
Gao, Y., et al., "Pediatric sarcomas: challenges and opportunities," Genes & Development, August 4, 2026. DOI: 10.1101/gad.353549.125
* * *
Original text here: https://www.cshl.edu/child-cancer-groups-call-for-concerted-action/
[Category: Science]
COA Warns Proposed 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Could Further Destabilize Independent Cancer Care
WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 -- The Community Oncology Alliance issued the following news release:
* * *
COA Warns Proposed 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Could Further Destabilize Independent Cancer Care
Extensive COA Comments Call on Congress to Permanently Fix Physician Payment and Urge CMS to Rethink Proposed Cuts
-
The Community Oncology Alliance (COA) has submitted extensive comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on the proposed Calendar Year (CY) 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS), raising serious concerns that several proposed payment policies could destabilize
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 -- The Community Oncology Alliance issued the following news release:
* * *
COA Warns Proposed 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Could Further Destabilize Independent Cancer Care
Extensive COA Comments Call on Congress to Permanently Fix Physician Payment and Urge CMS to Rethink Proposed Cuts
-
The Community Oncology Alliance (COA) has submitted extensive comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on the proposed Calendar Year (CY) 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS), raising serious concerns that several proposed payment policies could destabilizeindependent physician practices and jeopardize patient access to community-based cancer care.
COA recognizes CMS's efforts to modernize physician payment, improve practice expense valuation, and reduce administrative burden. However, the proposed rule also illustrates the fundamental instability of Medicare physician payment. Practices face rising staffing, technology, equipment, and other operating costs even as CMS proposes reductions to the practice expense payments intended to support those costs. After Congress provided temporary physician payment relief for 2026, CMS is again proposing lower conversion factors for 2027.
"Physicians cannot operate practices when Medicare payment lurches from one temporary fix to the next while the cost of providing care continues to rise," said Debra Patt, MD, PhD, MBA, FASCO, president of COA. "Congress needs to permanently stabilize the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule with an annual inflationary update. At the same time, CMS must make sure the individual services physicians provide are valued using current data and the realities of patient care. Both are essential to preserving access to independent, community-based medicine."
COA is urging Congress to establish a permanent annual inflationary update tied to the Medicare Economic Index, rather than continuing the cycle of temporary payment patches followed by renewed cuts.
But the conversion factor is only part of the problem. CMS is proposing significant changes to relative value units (RVUs), practice expense methodology, same-day evaluation and management (E/M) services, complexity payments, remote monitoring, and other components of physician payment.
COA's analysis of actual community oncology utilization estimates that the proposed RVU changes would produce an overall 2.12 percent payment reduction for community oncology, despite CMS's aggregate estimate suggesting an approximately neutral impact for oncology/hematology in the non-facility setting. COA estimates even larger reductions for critical oncology services, including approximately -5.06 percent for infusion, -4.28 percent for surgery, and -10.06 percent for proton beam services.
"An average can look harmless while the individual services keeping a community cancer practice operating are being cut underneath it," said Ted Okon, MBA, executive director of COA. "Medicare also doesn't operate in a vacuum. Commercial insurers frequently follow its payment methodologies, multiplying the impact. If independent practices become financially unsustainable, care moves to hospitals, where patients and Medicare often pay more. That is exactly the wrong direction for American health care."
Radiation Oncology Shows the Risks of Getting Payment Wrong
COA points to radiation oncology as a warning for CMS as it considers additional payment methodology changes.
In 2026, CMS implemented major changes to radiation oncology treatment-delivery codes using assumptions about how frequently certain services would be utilized. Actual claims experience subsequently differed substantially from those assumptions. COA estimates that radiation oncology payment fell by an average of approximately 23 percent from 2025 to 2026.
CMS now proposes using observed utilization to revise those payment values for 2027, a change COA supports. However, COA estimates the proposed correction would produce only about a 1.57 percent increase in radiation payment, far short of reversing the previous reduction.
COA is urging CMS to determine whether the underlying payment values adequately reflect the resources required to provide radiation therapy and address the disruption created in 2026. More broadly, the experience demonstrates why major coding and payment changes should be validated against real-world data before implementation, not after practices and patients experience the consequences.
COA Calls for Changes Across the Proposed Rule
COA raises additional concerns with several major proposals, including:
* Practice expense and RVU methodology: COA supports updating outdated Medicare data but urges CMS to validate new methodologies against actual practice costs and provide meaningful code-level impact analyses.
* Same-day E/M and procedure payments: COA strongly opposes a proposed 50 percent reduction for certain additional services performed on the same day, warning it could encourage physicians to split coordinated care across multiple visits and increase burdens on patients.
* Physician "efficiency" adjustment: COA opposes automatically reducing physician work values based on assumed efficiencies rather than evidence that the time or intensity required to provide a service has actually declined.
* Complexity payments and value-based care: COA supports recognizing complex, longitudinal care but opposes tying higher payments to participation in Medicare models that community oncology practices have little realistic opportunity to qualify for.
* Proton therapy, oncology diagnostics, and remote monitoring: COA urges CMS to use current, real-world evidence and preserve access to specialized cancer services and technologies in independent practices.
COA also supports constructive elements of the proposed rule, including new Medicare payment for planning for future medical decisions and expanded advance care planning services furnished by qualified clinical staff, which better recognize the team-based nature of modern cancer care.
Medicare Payment Reform Must Protect Independent Cancer Care
COA warns that physician payment policy has consequences beyond individual Medicare rates. When payment no longer supports providing care in independent practices, those practices can close or consolidate and care can migrate into higher-cost hospital settings. Medicare and patients may then pay more for the same or similar services.
COA urges CMS to revise the proposed rule before it is finalized and calls on Congress to address the underlying instability of the MPFS through permanent, inflation-based physician payment reform.
Read COA's full comments on the proposed CY 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule at https://mycoa.communityoncology.org/publications/comment-letters/coa-comments-on-proposed-cy2027-medicare-physician-fee-schedule.
* * *
About the Community Oncology Alliance
The Community Oncology Alliance (COA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that patients have access to the highest-quality, most affordable, cutting-edge cancer care close to home. COA is the only national organization focused exclusively on community oncology, where the majority of Americans with cancer receive treatment. Through policy, advocacy, and community, COA works to support independent community oncology practices and advance access to high-quality cancer care for patients nationwide. Learn more at www.communityoncology.org.
* * *
Original text here: https://mycoa.communityoncology.org/news-updates/press-releases/coa-warns-proposed-2027-medicare-physician-fee-schedule-could-further-destabilize-independent-cancer-care
[Category: Medical]
ACLS Presents Hashtag Humanities: Scholars, Social Media, and Knowledge for the Public Good
NEW YORK, Sept. 12 -- The American Council of Learned Societies issued the following news release:
* * *
ACLS Presents Hashtag Humanities: Scholars, Social Media, and Knowledge for the Public Good
A live Zoom event, Thursday, October 1, 2026
-
The American Council of Learned Societies presents "Hashtag Humanities: Scholars, Social Media, and Knowledge for the Public Good," a virtual discussion panel, on Thursday, October 1, 2026, 2-3 PM ET.
As social media continues to play a critical role in how many people receive news and information--in some cases being their primary source--it has become
... Show Full Article
NEW YORK, Sept. 12 -- The American Council of Learned Societies issued the following news release:
* * *
ACLS Presents Hashtag Humanities: Scholars, Social Media, and Knowledge for the Public Good
A live Zoom event, Thursday, October 1, 2026
-
The American Council of Learned Societies presents "Hashtag Humanities: Scholars, Social Media, and Knowledge for the Public Good," a virtual discussion panel, on Thursday, October 1, 2026, 2-3 PM ET.
As social media continues to play a critical role in how many people receive news and information--in some cases being their primary source--it has becomeincreasingly important for scholars to have a significant voice on popular platforms.
Rigorous training in research and analysis gives today's PhDs in humanistic fields an advantage in the ongoing battle for revealing truth and fact in a crowded multimedia landscape.
Join us as we hear from three popular scholarly influencers on why and how they've built their social media followings and how they hope to change how people access knowledge beyond the academy.
* * *
Join the Conversation
Hashtag Humanities: Scholars, Social Media, and Knowledge for the Public Good
Thursday, October 1, 2026, 2-3 PM ET | Live on Zoom
Register Now (https://us9.list-manage.com/survey?u=308a35b2c3e34e9b41bea422d&id=5b610cd04e&attribution=false)
* * *
Meet Our Panel
Dr. Xavier Buck is a public historian, nonprofit executive, and the founding director of the Black Panther Party Museum in Oakland, California. As Executive Director of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, he leads one of the nation's foremost efforts to preserve, interpret, and expand the legacy of the Black Panther Party. His portfolio includes museum development, national exhibitions, curriculum design, public programming, technology-driven archives, and large-scale anniversary initiatives. In 2021, Dr. Buck was named an ACLS Leading Edge Fellow and appointed to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund for the project "Center for Social Justice at Thurgood Marshall College Fund." A graduate of St. John's University and the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Buck bridges scholarly rigor with cultural strategy. He is also the creator of @historyin3, a fast-growing digital platform with hundreds of thousands of followers, where he distills Black history, politics, and global liberation movements into sharp, three-minute narratives that reach millions each month. Across museums, media, and grassroots campaigns, Dr. Buck's work centers authentic storytelling, community empowerment, and historical clarity. Whether curating exhibitions, producing national tours, advising cultural institutions, or crafting viral educational content, he is committed to ensuring that Black history is preserved, accessible, and understood as a blueprint for building a more just future.
Heather Colley published her debut novel The Gilded Butterfly Effect (Three Rooms Press) in October 2025. It was described by Forbes as a "sharply written trip into dark academia." Heather is a PhD student in English Literature at Oxford University. She holds a master's degree in literature from St. Andrews University and a bachelor's degree in the same subject from the University of Michigan--Ann Arbor. She creates literary content for an audience of over 150,000 across Instagram and TikTok (@heathercolleyauthor) and Substack, where her newsletter is a Bestseller (@demystifyingliterature).
Dr. Dan McClellan is a public scholar of the Bible and religion. He received his PhD in theology and religion from the University of Exeter, where he wrote his dissertation on the conceptualization of deity and divine images in the Hebrew Bible through the methodological lenses of cognitive linguistics and the cognitive science of religion. He goes by @maklelan on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, where he works to increase public access to scholarship about the Bible and religion and combat the spread of misinformation about the same. In addition to his open-access monograph, YHWH's Divine Images: A Cognitive Approach, Dan is the author of the New York Times bestselling trade book, The Bible Says So: What We Get Right (and Wrong) About the Bible's Most Controversial Issues (Macmillan Publishers).
* * *
Meet Our Moderator
Dr. Keyanah Nurse is a Senior Program Officer for Intentional Design for an Equitable Academy (IDEA) Programs at ACLS, where she leads both the Digital Justice Grants Program and the Intention Foundry. Before joining the ACLS staff in September 2021, she served as an ACLS Emerging Voices Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. There, she contributed to a variety of doctoral career diversity initiatives, as well as received training in digital humanities for her research on the history of the global Black press. As a historian of the African Diaspora with a specialization in modern Latin America, her research interests include liberalism, state formation, race, gender and sexuality, and black intellectual traditions. She received her PhD in History from NYU in May 2020 and her BA in Hispanic Studies from Columbia University in 2014.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.acls.org/news/acls-presents-hashtag-humanities-scholars-social-media-and-knowledge-for-the-public-good/
[Category: Sociological]
