Health Equity & Access Weekly Roundup: September 11, 2026

Equity in Clinical Trials, AML Transplant Remains Challenging

Barriers continue to limit equitable access to clinical trials and transplantation for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to Karilyn Larkin, MD, director of clinical and translational research for myeloid malignancies at Wilmot Cancer Institute. Larkin cited eligibility criteria that can disadvantage some patients, plus the practical burden of transplant, including relocation, time away from work, and a caregiver requirement she called a "showstopper" for some.

While institutional resources such as financial counseling can help, she said such support is not available equally everywhere, and policy changes covering caregiver support and housing could have the greatest impact on transplant equity.

Texas Hospitals Lose $27 Million a Day in Medicaid Funding Dispute

Texas hospitals are losing $27 million a day after the Trump administration withheld approval of roughly $9.8 billion in Medicaid payments tied to the Comprehensive Hospital Increase Reimbursement Program, according to the Texas Hospital Association. CMS is questioning how Texas jurisdictions calculate the local hospital taxes that fund the program, and safety-net systems are warning of the fallout: Harris Health in Houston estimates a loss of at least $258 million, and its CEO said the impact would be catastrophic for the state's safety-net system. Governor Greg Abbott has called the holdup an economic “gun to the head,” and a similar dispute in Florida took 11 months to resolve.

GLP-1 Prescribing in Young Children With Obesity Rises 310-Fold

Prescribing of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists among children aged 8 to 11 years with obesity rose 310-fold between 2019 and June 2026, according to a study in Pediatrics using Epic Cosmos electronic health record data. Use remained concentrated among higher-risk patients, with 93.7% of those prescribed having severe obesity, but children in upper-income communities were 55% more likely to receive a prescription than those in lower-income communities. Study authors said the pattern signals an early access gap that policy makers should address as GLP-1 use in young children continues to expand.

Closing the Gap Between Trials and Real-World Care

Exacerbations in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) should be treated as a strong warning signal rather than routine symptoms, according to Francesca Puggioni, MD, of Humanitas University in Milan, Italy, who discussed new biologic data at the European Respiratory Society 2026 International Congress. In an interview with The American Journal of Managed Care^®, Puggioni said biomarker thresholds for biologic access should rely on a combined score rather than a single marker, and she identified patient education and limited specialist referrals, more than regulation, as the biggest barriers to earlier biologic use.

Hospital Program Restores Vision, Cuts Costs for the Underinsured

A no-cost specialty eye care program at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital restored functional vision for most treated patients while easing their economic burden, according to a cohort analysis of the ACCESS program published in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas. Among 72 patients who completed treatment, 66.7% were visually disabled in at least 1 eye beforehand versus 5.6% afterward, and mean visual acuity improved by 5 Snellen lines. The authors positioned ACCESS as a potentially scalable model for the roughly 25% of US hospitals that qualify as safety-net institutions, though the single-site design limits generalizability.