The opening of a “religious freedom” division within the HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR) could just be the beginning of moves by new officials within the department to align health policy with the goals of evangelical religious groups.

More than 40,000 people who work at HHS and its various subagencies have been told not to come to work until Congress passes some sort of legislation to fund the federal government, affecting everything from tracking the flu season to clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health.

Congress needs to reach some sort of spending deal by 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 20, or else the federal government will partially shut down. The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which hasn’t been reauthorized in months, was wrapped in talks over a short-term spending deal, and if funding isn’t renewed, states may have to end benefits for some of the nine million children it covers.

Ethicists from the University of Basel have developed a biosecurity framework specific to neurotechnology while calling for a ban on dual-use technology with the aim of regulating mental privacy and integrity of humans. Findings were published in Neuron.

In a significant shift for HHS’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR), a new “Conscience and Religious Freedom Division” is being created dedicated to complaints from healthcare professionals who feel they were discriminated against due to refusing to perform certain services based on religious or moral objections.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, led a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee where he explored whether Medicaid expansion is at least partially to blame for the rise in opioid addiction and overdose deaths. Federal data, however, shows those problem began more than a decade earlier.

Days after CMS first issued policy guidance on how states could require “able-bodied” Medicaid beneficiaries to work or face losing their coverage, Kentucky has become the first with an approved waiver to test out those requirements.

The Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) will have 561 accountable care organizations (ACOs) participating in 2018, including 124 new entrants into the program, covering a total of 10.5 million assigned beneficiaries, according to CMS.