Rx Kids began in Flint in January 2024, offering $1,500 during pregnancy and $500 monthly throughout a baby's first year. A November 2 JAMA Pediatrics study examined statewide birth and death records to look at what followed.

In 2025, Flint recorded five deaths before 28 days of age among 980 births: 5.1 per 1,000, compared with 10.2 per 1,000 across 2021–2024. The rest of Michigan's rate stayed roughly level. Flint's difference from the rest of the state was no longer statistically significant in 2025.

That is encouraging, preliminary evidence. This was an observational comparison, not a randomized test proving the payments caused the decline. The 2025 records remain provisional, and rare outcomes can move with just a few cases. Continued follow-up and replication in other communities will show whether the improvement lasts.

Source published November 2, 2026.

The HPTN 094 trial enrolled 409 adults who injected drugs, had opioid use disorder, were HIV-negative and were not receiving medication for opioid use disorder at the start. It compared mobile integrated care plus peer navigation with peer navigation and community-based services.

The main result needs to stay in view: at 26 weeks, the groups did not differ significantly in the primary measure of HIV-prevention or opioid-use-disorder medication use. But over 52 weeks, four participants died in the mobile-care group, compared with thirteen in the comparison group.

That mortality finding was a secondary outcome with small numbers, so it needs confirmation. It still offers a reason to study care that removes travel and administrative barriers. Meeting people where they are is a practical idea worth testing carefully.

Source published November 4, 2026.