On August 1, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced additional repeals of federal policy that financially rewarded hospitals for reporting staff vaccination rates. In a press release, the practice was called coercive, and the initiative was said to have denied informed consent.

“Medical decisions should be made based on one thing: the well-being of the person - never on a financial bonus or a government mandate,” Kennedy said in a statement. “Doctors deserve the freedom to use their training, follow the science, and speak the truth without fear of punishment.”

“The policy, established under the Biden administration’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) inpatient payment rule, tied hospital reimbursement to staff vaccination reporting. The data was published on the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network.” According to HHS, this data was used as a tool for public shaming, not public health.

“The policy repeals are part of a broader HHS effort to restore medical autonomy in federally funded programs and root out financial and regulatory pressures that incentivize physicians towards pre-scripted medical decisions rather than individualized, evidence-based care,” the news release stated.