Health Equity & Access Weekly Roundup: July 31, 2026

Addressing Mental Health Challenges Among Black and Latino Boys

July is Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Mental Health Awareness Month, a period highlighting persistent racial and ethnic disparities in mental health diagnosis and treatment access. Alvin Thomas, PhD, a clinical psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies stigma and protective factors among Black men and boys, told The American Journal of Managed Care^® (AJMC^®) that social media and online discrimination compound existing mental health risks for Black and Latino adolescents. He cited research linking online racial discrimination to psychosocial distress and federal data showing widening disparities in suicide mortality by race and ethnicity. Thomas said closing these gaps requires engaging the men already present in boys' lives, including fathers, grandfathers, and other father figures, and urged parents to give boys latitude to express emotion and behave like children well past early adolescence, arguing that rigid expectations imposed around age 10 contribute to the stigma that keeps boys from seeking help.

AHRQ Grant Freeze Halts Patient Safety Research Nationwide

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has effectively halted most of its grantmaking under the Trump administration, according to a KFF News investigation. Although Congress appropriated $345 million for the agency in fiscal year 2026, the AHRQ has spent less than $15 million on grants and has not issued a new award in more than a year; a July 15 letter notified researchers that at least 104 grants, many focused on patient safety, were being halted, coinciding with a roughly 75% reduction in agency staff, from about 300 employees in early 2025 to 74 today. Terminated projects included a University of Connecticut program training rural clinicians in high-risk pregnancy care and a 5-year effort to reduce unnecessary CT scans in children evaluated for appendicitis; Susan Edgman-Levitan, PA, said her $1 million annual grant for childbirth and behavioral health surveys was cut by email. HHS has characterized the cuts as nonrenewals rather than terminations, a distinction at issue in a pending lawsuit alleging the agency is unlawfully withholding appropriated funds.

Delgocitinib Cream Succeeds in First Phase 3 Trial for Teens With Hand Eczema

Delgocitinib cream (Anzupgo; LEO Pharma) met its primary end point in DELTA TEEN (NCT05355818), the first phase 3 trial to test a chronic hand eczema (CHE) treatment exclusively in adolescents, according to results published in Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. Of 98 patients aged 12 to 17 years with moderate to severe CHE randomized 3:1 to twice-daily delgocitinib cream or vehicle for 16 weeks, 64% (47 of 74) achieved clear or almost clear skin at week 16 compared with 29% (7 of 24) on vehicle, with the cream also outperforming vehicle on every key secondary end point, including itch, pain, and quality-of-life measures. No treatment is currently approved specifically for adolescents with CHE, leaving clinicians to rely on topical corticosteroids that carry heightened risks in patients whose skin is thinner and more sensitive than adults'; treatment-emergent adverse events were more common with delgocitinib (50% vs 33%) but were mostly mild to moderate, with no serious adverse events in either group, and researchers noted limitations including a study population that was 91% White and a 16-week window that does not yet capture long-term safety in this age group.

Judge Denies Preliminary Injunction in Medicaid Work Requirements Case

A federal judge denied a preliminary injunction sought by 25 states and the District of Columbia in Commonwealth of Massachusetts et al. v Oz et al., a lawsuit challenging how CMS's interim final rule defines which Medicaid beneficiaries qualify as "medically frail" and exempt from new community engagement requirements. Richard G. Stearns of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that the rule, which requires 80 hours per month of reported community engagement under the Working Families Tax Cut Act of 2025, will remain in effect while the underlying case proceeds. Plaintiffs argue CMS's added requirement that a qualifying condition "significantly impair" a beneficiary's ability to comply improperly narrows the exemption Congress established for people who are blind or disabled, have a substance use disorder or disabling mental disorder, or have serious or complex medical conditions. Stearns based his denial on the states' failure to show irreparable harm, citing CMS' commitment to reimburse 90% of states' costs to build compliance infrastructure ahead of the January 1, 2027, deadline. The ruling does not address the rule's underlying legality, which remains before the court.

Addressing Eating Disorder Disparities Among BIPOC Patients

A study published by the Renfrew Center in collaboration with Florida Atlantic University found that its Unified Treatment model produced a 34% reduction in eating disorder symptoms, a 27% reduction in depression symptoms, and a 17% reduction in anxiety symptoms among 470 patients who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). Gayle Brooks, PhD, vice president and chief clinical officer at the Renfrew Center, told AJMC that BIPOC individuals experience eating disorders at rates similar to or higher than White individuals but are far less likely to be diagnosed or treated, a gap she attributed to persistent misconceptions about who develops eating disorders. Kelly Emelianchik-Key, PhD, an associate professor of clinical mental health counseling at Florida Atlantic University, added that she trains incoming clinicians to rely on standardized clinical assessment tools rather than a patient's appearance when evaluating for an eating disorder, since presentations vary widely and clinicians who screen for a single expected picture risk overlooking patients who don't fit it.