Estradiol Hormone Patch Shortage Strains Pharmacies After Warning Lifted

 by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,

Some U.S. pharmacies are scrambling to fill estradiol transdermal patch prescriptions as demand for the menopause treatment continues to soar following the Trump administration’s decision to remove what it determined was an outdated cancer warning.

“Manufacturers have been unable to provide sufficient supply of hormone replacement therapies [HRT] over the last several weeks,” CVS pharmacy spokeswoman Roslyn Guarino told The Epoch Times March 9.

In November, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) started the process of removing the so-called “black box warning” from estrogen and estrogen-progesterone replacement therapy added in 2003, ending more than two decades of fear that the treatments increased risk of breast cancer.

As a result, estradiol transdermal patch prescriptions have increased by about 86 percent since 2021, according to the latest study by Epic Research.

CVS pharmacies—the largest U.S. chain—are working with patients to make sure they have access to their medications when the interruptions occur, Guarino said.

Sandoz and Amneal Biosciences, two major producers of estradiol transdermal patches for the U.S. market, listed 10 transdermal patch products currently affected by the shortage. Neither manufacturer gave reasons for the shortages.

Sandoz said the company takes the current supply situation “very seriously” and is making adjustments to meet the demand.

“Recent changes in prescribing behavior due to the FDA’s removal of boxed warnings on HRT patches have created an unprecedented demand that cannot be fully met at present,” Sandoz spokeswoman Jeanne LaCour told The Epoch Times in an email.

“We know this situation is frustrating and inconvenient for the women who rely on these patches. As a global leader in affordable medicines, Sandoz cares deeply about the well-being and health of the women who rely on these treatments. We are working on increasing global capacity to ensure adequate supply of HRT transdermal patches and to support continuity of treatment for patients around the world.

“In the interim, to help women in the U.S. specifically, we have allocated additional quantities to the States to better meet the increase in demand,” LaCour added.

Amneal Biosciences did not immediately return a request for comment.

Viatris, Noven, and Zydus had available product, according to the latest report.

“For more than two decades, bad science and bureaucratic inertia have resulted in women and physicians having an incomplete view of [hormone replacement therapy],” U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy said in a statement about the decision.

“We are returning to evidence-based medicine and giving women control over their health again.”

The warning was preventing millions of women from receiving the life-changing and long-term health benefits of hormone replacement therapy, according to FDA Commissioner Marty Makary.

Studies show that women who start the therapy within 10 years of the onset of menopause, usually before the age of 60, can reduce all-cause mortality and bone fractures. They may also lessen the risk of heart disease by half, and Alzheimer’s disease by a third, the FDA reported.

The president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), Dr. Steven Fleischman, applauded the decision to remove the black box warning, saying the organization has long advocated for its removal on low-dose vaginal estrogen because of the barrier it posed for people who suffered from menopause symptoms.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.in Washington on Jan. 7, 2026. Alex Wong/Getty Images

“ACOG commends the HHS leadership for improving the lives of perimenopausal women by making the estrogen products they need more accessible to them,” Fleishman said. “The modifications to certain warning labels for estrogen products are years in the making, reflecting the dedicated advocacy of physicians and patients across the country. The updated labels will better allow patients and clinicians to engage in a shared decision-making process without an unnecessary barrier, when it comes to treatment of menopausal symptoms.”

Dr. Sharon Winer, a reproductive endocrinologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said patients should be cautious about the decision.

“The FDA ruling gives clinicians and patients space to individualize care, but it’s not a license to assume [menopause hormone therapy] is universally beneficial,” Winer said. “The FDA’s action is progress, but it doesn’t mean [menopause hormone therapy] will solve every aging-related concern. There’s a lot we still don’t know.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/estradiol-hormone-patch-shortage-strains-pharmacies-demand-soars-warning-was-lifted

BCBS study: Hospital AI billing tools may be driving up healthcare costs by billions

 New research from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association is offering what the organization describes as the first publicly available data linking hospitals’ use of AI to rising healthcare costs, adding a concrete data point to a debate that has largely played out in insurers’ earnings calls and anecdotal claims.

The research, conducted by BCBSA’s data analytics arm, Blue Health Intelligence, looked at commercial inpatient claims from tens of thousands of maternity admissions nationwide, covering a three-year window ending in March 2025.

The study focused on acute posthemorrhagic anemia, a condition that typically warrants clinical intervention, including in some cases blood transfusions. The researchers found that diagnoses of the condition surged at a subset of hospitals, but the increase in coding was not matched by a corresponding rise in treatment. Among the top 10% of hospitals by growth in case complexity, the proportion of maternity patients with that diagnosis climbed from roughly 4% in mid-2022 to more than 12% by early 2025. The increase was concentrated at large health systems.

The cost impact, according to BCBSA, has been severe for insurers and employers. Increased coding of acute posthemorrhagic anemia added $22 million to maternity-related hospital costs in one year across the facilities studied. Projected nationally, the researchers put potential excess inpatient spending tied to AI-enabled coding at roughly $663 million, with outpatient exposure of at least $1.67 billion.

“Within the participating BCBS plan’s commercial inpatient population in this analysis alone, per member costs increased by 9% between 2023 and 2024,” the study said. “Coding intensity is estimated to contribute about 20% of this increase.”

Luke Chalker, chief product officer at BHI, told Becker’s that the Blues are uniquely positioned to surface these patterns. 

“We have this extraordinarily rich data set that is effectively complete for 60+ million Americans across every geography,” he told Becker’s. “Leveraging that has given us the ability to be able to tap into these fingerprints faster than most.” 

The new research arrives against a backdrop of widening tension between payers and providers over AI-assisted billing and documentation. 

Since mid-2025, major insurers including UnitedHealth Group, Elevance Health, Cigna and Centene have been flagging what they describe as “aggressive provider coding” in their quarterly earnings calls. 

Some revenue cycle executives and physicians have even described the dynamic as an “arms race,” with both sides deploying AI tools to manage and improve their margins.

Hospital leaders have pushed back, arguing that higher-acuity coding reflects more specific documentation and a sicker patient population, not coding manipulation. 

“The idea that hospitals are coding aggressively to drive up costs is misleading,” Robert Boos, former vice president and chief revenue officer at Lynchburg, Va.-based Centra Health, told Becker’s in October. “Coding is governed by strict federal and industry standards, and health systems invest heavily in compliance, training and auditing to ensure accuracy.”

The BCBS study also examined hospitals that have publicly announced adoption of AI coding tools. At one such hospital, overall case complexity climbed 6.7% following that disclosure, while other hospitals in the same state saw complexity grow less than 1% over the same timeframe.

“When coding changes and it drives a reimbursement change, both a payer is paying more and a member is paying more, from an affordability perspective, through out of pocket maximums and through their deductibles,” Mr. Chalker said. “Our perspective is we want to create transparency beyond the rates and beyond the fact that our population is getting older. Let’s break down the trend contribution to this affordability issue.”

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/bcbs-study-hospital-ai-billing-tools-may-be-driving-up-healthcare-costs-by-billions/

'CMS to offer $100M for lifestyle medicine pilots'

 CMS will award up to $100 million to fund as many as 30 pilot programs through its voluntary initiative focused on lifestyle medicine.

Six things to know:

1. The agency plans to award up to 30 three-year cooperative agreements totaling as much as $100 million to organizations focused on “evidence-based, whole-person functional or lifestyle medicine interventions” to launch programs that enhance conventional healthcare, according to a March 13 CMS news release shared with Becker’s.

2. The funding opportunity is part of the Make American Healthy Again: Enhancing Lifestyle and Evaluating Value-based Approaches Through Evidence, or ELEVATE, model, which CMS unveiled in December. The initiative will fund up to 30 chronic disease prevention and health promotion pilot projects aimed at integrating lifestyle and evidence-based functional medicine into original Medicare. 

3. Applicants must submit a letter of intent by April 10. Applications for the first cohort are due May 15, and the model is slated to launch in October, according to the release.

4. The MAHA-Elevate model will test interventions such as nutrition, physical activity, sleep, stress management and other lifestyle strategies that are not currently covered by Medicare, with the goal of slowing or preventing chronic disease.

5. Participating organizations are expected to receive about $3 million over three years to collect cost, quality and health outcome data, Becker’s previously reported.

6. CMS said the model will generate evidence to determine how lifestyle and functional medicine interventions can be incorporated into care for older populations and could help inform future Medicare coverage determinations.

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/cms-to-offer-100m-for-lifestyle-medicine-pilots/

Deep State Protection Of The Seth Rich Files May Be Ending

 In the predawn darkness of July 10, 2016, 27-year-old Seth Rich was shot twice in the back as he walked home in Washington, D.C.’s Bloomingdale neighborhood. The official story from D.C. Metro Police is that this was a botched robbery. Yet the killers took nothing—no wallet, no watch, no phone. No suspects have ever been arrested, and the case remains unsolved nearly a decade later.

The timing seems too perfect to have been a random crime. Just days after Rich’s murder, WikiLeaks began releasing thousands of DNC emails that exposed the Democrat party rigging its 2016 Democrat primaries against Bernie Sanders and for Hillary Clinton.

The media blamed Russian hackers. The Mueller Report, intelligence community assessments, and CrowdStrike’s quick (but unverified) attribution pushed the foreign-interference line hard. But Julian Assange repeatedly implied that WikiLeaks’ source was not Russian—and forensic analysis suggested a local transfer, such as a thumb drive handoff, not a remote hack. Rich, the DNC’s Voter Expansion Data Director and a vocal Sanders supporter, had motive and access. Was he silenced to protect the emerging Russia collusion hoax?

This case sits at the center of what looks like a RICO-level criminal enterprise: elements of the Deep State—FBI, DOJ, CIA, and allied networks—engaged in fraud, obstruction, election subversion, and worse. I’ve argued that point in articles from 2020 onward, all built on public records, FOIA battles, declassifications, and whistleblower leaks. Fully disclosing Rich’s seized laptops, drives, and related files could blow open the entire 2016 Russia narrative, exposing ties to Benghazi arms trafficking, Clinton Foundation pay-to-play, FISA warrant abuses, Ukraine meddling, and more. Instead, the FBI has stonewalled for years. However, the Trump DOJ and FBI may finally be ending the silence.

On February 3, 2020, at NoisyRoom.net, I framed the Deep State as a de facto criminal enterprise under the RICO Act, committing treason, fraud, obstruction, and other racketeering acts in a continuing pattern (18 U.S.C. §§ 1961–1968).

The DNC “hack” fit the pattern: Assange denied Russian involvement and forensic analysis pointed to an insider leak, yet the FBI never inspected the DNC servers themselves, relying on CrowdStrike’s report. This misdirection fueled the Russia-Trump collusion hoax, justifying surveillance, media smears, and the Mueller probe. Under those circumstances, Rich’s potential role as a whistleblower threatened the whole house of cards.

Over the next few years, I authored a string of investigative reports, drilling down with hard evidence:

• June 3, 2022: “Who Really Killed Seth Rich?”— Reexamined the murder as the Russia hoax collapsed, highlighting Rich’s access and Sanders loyalty.
• July 12, 2022: “Use RICO to Get to the Bottom of Seth Rich’s Murder”— Proposed RICO as the tool to connect the hit to a broader conspiracy.
• September 18, 2023: “Who is Seth Rich? Who Murdered Him? And What’s The Deep State Hiding?”— Linked to Durham Report findings of FBI misconduct.
• February 2, 2024: “The FBI Again Tries to Block Seth Rich’s Laptop from Public View”— Exposed defiance in FOIA cases like Huddleston v. FBI, with exemptions claimed for “classified” or “personal” data.
• March 18, 2025: “The FBI Must Investigate Itself And, Once Cleaned, Several Other Political Crimes”— Drew parallels to Epstein, calling for systemic reform.
• August 2, 2025: “Was the Death of Seth Rich a Hit by the Deep State?”— Incorporated ODNI declassifications (under Tulsi Gabbard), Metro PD leaks from Officer Douglas Berlin, and the bombshell “Prohibited Access” files—a secret FBI repository shielding sensitive records.
• August 8, 2025: “Seth Rich: Dead Men Tell No Tales”— Framed it as a murder mystery riddled with media disinformation (e.g., Michael Isikoff-style amplification of false narratives), unproven CrowdStrike claims, and urgent calls for probes under Kash Patel and Pam Bondi.

These articles relied on verifiable sources: FOIA denials-turned-admissions, court orders ignored, intelligence lapses (no crime-scene forensics pushed, devices held since 2016, but contents suppressed). Whispers persist, and in an unsolved case, such rumors are almost inevitable. The same holds for the broader possibility of a professional or contracted operative several levels removed from any decision-maker: plausible deniability is the hallmark of these operations.

Now, however, at long last, the Trump FBI is ever so slowly giving up its secrets. Senator Chuck Grassley deserves major credit. Attorney Ty Clevenger used Grassley’s discovery of hidden FBI files to advance his FOIA suits. Matt Taibbi at Racket News just posted an exclusive update on these hidden FBI files. John Solomon of Just the News just dropped an article detailing how prohibited-access files shielded politically sensitive cases, including an intriguing quote from Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon. The Federalist published these bombshell articles, too (here, here, here, and here). Whistleblower tips to Grassley’s office blew the lid off. Grassley demanded that AG Bondi and Director Patel produce records; some have been turned over amid internal resistance, and Patel’s task force is now excavating decades of hidden material.

Grassley said:

If it weren’t for whistleblower disclosures to my office, the very existence of the FBI using “Prohibited Access” files for some investigations would have remained in the dark. I’ve asked Attorney General Bondi and Director Patel to turn over certain Prohibited Access records to Congress. I’ve received some but am still waiting on others. I urge the DOJ and FBI to keep digging—which previous administrations apparently didn’t make any effort to do—so that the facts can come to light. The FBI’s secret stash of records is scandalous.

I know how law enforcement record-keeping works. Over my 35 years in law enforcement, I started as a police cadet filing hard-copy reports in long rows of 4-drawer cabinets lining the wall. We used drum files of index cards sorted by name to locate report numbers, then pulled the physical file. Records clerks handled merging the cards during filing. The digital Records Management System (RMS) eliminated the drum file, but we still worked with hard copies. Old cases were microfilmed or purged; DIRS digital scanning arrived in the late 90s/early 2000s.

Investigative units, especially homicide, kept their own hard copies of police reports indefinitely, and they were never locked away (murders and officer-involved shootings, and the like). The FBI’s top-brass-only restriction is deliberate concealment, not oversight. Scandalous doesn’t cover it. Reporting from Just the News shows these “prohibited access” files have been a go-to method for burying records in politically charged investigations for years—exactly the kind of tool that could explain the ongoing stonewalling in cases like Rich’s.

In Rich’s case, Attorney Clevenger has repeatedly exposed the FBI’s contradictions: first denying any records existed, then admitting they held Rich’s laptops, a DVD, a thumb drive, and thousands of pages—yet continuing to withhold them under the excuse of an “ongoing investigation.” Following Judge Amos Mazzant’s August 24, 2024, ruling ordering full production, the FBI was required to comply by March 10, 2025—but the bureau only delivered a Vaughn index—that is, a list of withheld documents—not the documents themselves (see my March 2025 American Thinker piece on the FBI’s defiance).

This strongly suggests the withheld information may contain exculpatory evidence of a domestic leak, which would dismantle the Russia-hack narrative. Shades of the Hunter Biden laptop—branded “Russian disinformation” by 51 former intel officials and suppressed across media and social platforms before the 2020 election. Clevenger tells me more developments could emerge soon. Nearly ten years later, there are still no arrests, no real progress—only obstruction.

With Trump’s election, Patel and Bondi are now in charge of the DOJ and FBI, and the moment is here. The old CYA days are over—the winds have shifted—but the files are still sealed, plausibly to keep the lower ranks and conspirators unsuspecting while the real work happens. Dragging this out much longer risks losing ground politically before the midterms. Will the truth come out, or will caution become the enemy? The American people have waited long enough—no more delays.

Ron Wright is a retired detective who served 35 years with Riverside PD, Calif. Ron earned a B.A. in political science from Cal State University, Fullerton, and a Master of Administration from the University of California, Riverside. X @RonTcop

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/03/deep_state_protection_of_the_seth_rich_files_may_be_ending.html

Does Eric Swalwell need a visit from California's social services?

 by Monica Showalter

Rep. Eric Swalwell, now the frontrunner for California's governor in the upcoming election according to one poll, is facing down accusations by Democrat rival Tom Steyer and others that he doesn't actually live in this state.

Swalwell denies it, of course, and says his single rented room in a 1,350-foot home otherwise housing a family of three in Livermore, California, is his primary residence.

Eric Swalwell is trying to pull a SCAM.

He, his wife and kids don't live with him in a room in a tiny house in California.

He is NOT QUALIFIED to be Governor of California.

He MUST drop out of the race. https://t.co/bY1kTcJ0OR

— Mila Joy (@Milajoy) March 13, 2026

So for old time's sake, let's take him at his word and assume he's telling us the truth about really, truly, living in this state he thinks he's entitled to run.

John Nolte of Breitbart noted that Swalwell has a wife and three kids, and because of all the attention Steyer's charges are drawing, he's taken to whining that he can't let them go outside:

Oddly enough, Swalwell doesn’t dispute this. He only claims that by revealing this information, Steyer put his and his family’s lives at risk…

“I receive hundreds of death threats every year. My children are not allowed in the yard. That’s why my address is private. And now Tom Steyer has not only put my life at risk but also my family’s by releasing my address,” Swalwell wrote on X. “And the California Post and Daily Mail took his bait and are harassing my neighbors. Tom, you can try to buy this election all you want, but this is low, even for you.”

So with the kids packed inside Swalwell's "primary" residence, how big of a room might be found in a 1,350-foot house that houses three other people in Livermore, California?

According to a Grok search, it would typically be about 10 feet by 12 feet of space. For a master bedroom, 14 feet by 14 feet tops.

Is he trying to tell us he's got three kids crammed into a 10' x 11' foot room? Packed together, like human smuggling rackets do it, waiting for the lawmen to pass them over?

Maybe this guy needs a visit from social services over exposing children to unhealthy living conditions. We have a lot of such stories out in California.

But Swalwell doesn't care. The wokester state secretary of state, Shirley Weber, has said the residency law in California is "unconstitutional and unenforceable" which certainly serves her purposes. And now he's now got a coveted endorsement from the SEIU public employees union and has moved into first place in the polls for the upcoming primary. The SEIU reputedly runs California and does its rigging. They, too, don't bother about residency requirements. Their last California senator, Alphonse Butler, who was appointed to the interim term left by Kamala Harris from 2023 to 2024, didn't live in California, either.

Didn't bother any of them a bit. Who needs rules when you are a Democrat?

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/03/does_eric_swalwell_need_a_visit_from_california_s_social_services.html

Trump administration orders restart of California offshore oil operations

 The Trump administration on Friday directed Sable Offshore to restart its operations of the Santa Ynez Unit and Santa Ynez Pipeline System off the coast of California, which comes as oil and gas prices surge as a result of Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s order for oil production, which followed an executive order signed by President Trump on Friday, intends to “address supply disruption risks caused by California policies that have left the region and U.S. military forces dependent on foreign oil,” according to a statement.

“The Trump Administration remains committed to putting all Americans and their energy security first,” Wright said in the statement. “Unfortunately, some state leaders have not adhered to those same principles, with potentially disastrous consequences not just for their residents, but also our national security.”

“Today’s order will strengthen America’s oil supply and restore a pipeline system vital to our national security and defense, ensuring that West Coast military installations have the reliable energy critical to military readiness,” he added.

The Department of Energy stated that Sable Offshore’s facility can produce around 50,000 barrels of oil per day, “a 15 percent increase to California’s in-state oil production, that can replace nearly 1.5 million barrels of foreign crude each month.”

The department claimed that “decades of radical state policies targeting reliable energy sources” have resulted in a decline in domestic output.

“Today, more than 60 percent of the oil refined in California comes from overseas, with a significant share traveling through the Strait of Hormuz—presenting serious national security threats,” officials said.

Trump’s executive order will also prioritize pipeline transportation capacity, ensuring that crude oil produced off California’s coast travels through interstate pipelines. This action intends to allow California’s “reliance on foreign oil vulnerable to geopolitical disruption” to be reduced.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) called Trump’s order the “latest brazen abuse of power.”

“We will not stand by as this administration continues their unlawful all-out assault on California and our coastlines, and we are reviewing all of our legal options,” Bonta wrote on the social platform X.

California previously sued the Trump administration for approving the oil pipelines back in January. Bonta argued then that the Golden State “has seen first-hand the devastating environmental and public health impacts of coastal oil spills — yet the Trump Administration will stop at nothing to evade state regulation which protects against these very disasters.”

The administration has dismissed worries over rising gas prices following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has halted the passage of around 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas. Trump recently defended the price hikes, arguing on Thursday that “when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.”

The Trump administration has also temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian oil stranded at sea in response to the rising prices as a result of the military offensive in Iran. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday that the “narrowly tailored” measure “will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government” and will be in effect until April 11.

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5784176-trump-orders-restart-california-oil/

Sunday talkies: Waltz, Duffy, Burgum, Hassett, Wright

 NewsNation “The Hill Sunday”: Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.), former Vice President Mike Pence

Fox News “Fox News Sunday”: U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), former Navy Captain and Heritage Foundation Senior Research Fellow Brent Sadler

 Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures”:  Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Penn.), Ret. four-star Army General Jack Keane, author Wynton Hall

CNN “State of the Union”: Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz

CBS “Face the Nation”: Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett

ABC “This Week”: Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), ret. Vice Adm. Kevin Donegan

https://thehill.com/homenews/5784591-sunday-shows-preview-trump-faces-questions-iran-conflict-third-week/