• District of Columbia: The White House on Monday announced that it is partnering with Microsoft and Google to provide reduced-cost or free cybersecurity services to at least 1,800 rural hospitals in the United States. Microsoft said it will make free training and support available to rural hospitals and will offer critical access hospitals with a discount of up to 75% on security products designed for smaller organizations. Meanwhile, Google said it will offer free endpoint security advice to rural hospitals and nonprofits and will create a funding pool to support software migration. Google will also launch a pilot program without four or five rural hospitals to develop security packages tailored to their specific needs. (McAuliff, Modern Healthcare, 6/10)
• Georgia: CDC last week finalized its guidelines for post-exposure prophylaxis against bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs), recommending the antibiotic doxycycline for groups at higher risk of contracting syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea within 72 hours of having sex. According to CDC, healthcare providers should discuss and offer doxycycline to patients who are at-risk and identify as gay, bisexual, or as men who have sex with men and/or transgender women. In the past, doxycycline has been used to prevent malaria infection both before and after exposure, however this marks the first time the antibiotic has been used prophylactically against STIs. "Doxy PEP represents the first new STI prevention tool in decades, at a time when innovation in the nation's fight against STIs is desperately needed," CDC wrote in its guideline announcement. (Merelli, STAT, 6/4; Kahn, MedPage Today, 6/4)
• Maryland: FDA on Friday expanded the approval of GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) to include adults ages 50 to 59 who are at risk of RSV-related lower respiratory tract disease due to underlying conditions. Previously, the vaccine was only approved for adults ages 60 and older. According to GSK, an estimated 13 million Americans ages 50 to 59 have medical conditions that put them at an increased risk of RSV-related lower respiratory tract disease and its potential serious consequences, including pneumonia and death. (Ingram, MedPage Today, 6/10)

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