AP: Biden Signs 'Burn Pits' Help For Vets; A Personal Win, Too
President Joe Biden, whose elder son Beau died of cancer years after deploying to Iraq, signed legislation on Wednesday expanding federal health care services for millions of veterans who served at military bases where toxic smoke billowed from huge “burn pits.” ... The law, which Biden described as long overdue, caps a years-long battle to ensure treatment for chronic illnesses that veterans have blamed on burn pits, which were used to dispose of chemicals, tires, plastics, medical equipment and human waste on military bases. Estimates of affected troops run to 3.5 million. (Megerian, 8/10)

Military Times: Biden Signs Burn Pit Exposure Health Bill Into Law
The president was surrounded at the ceremony by veterans’ rights advocates, many of whom urged legislative action in recent years and, one week ago, held an around-the-clock vigil on the Capitol steps to pressure lawmakers to complete the bill. The bill eventually reached Biden’s desk after it passed in Congress on August 2 following an array of procedural moves by senators. “By signing this historic legislation, President Biden ensured health care access to help save the lives of countless veterans affected by toxic exposure,” retired Lt. Gen Mike Linnington, CEO of Wounded Warrior Project, said after the bill’s signing. “This is without a doubt a great day for veterans across America.” (Shane III and Lehrfeld, 8/10)

The Hill: Biden Signs Historic Health Care Bill Addressing Toxic Burn Pits. But What Exactly Are They? 
While the veteran community has been sounding the alarm to the dangers of burn pits for years, many Americans still do not know what they are or their history.  (O'Connell-Domenech, 8/10)

From KHN: After ‘a Lot of Doors Shut in Our Face,’ Crusading Couple Celebrate Passage of Burn Pit Bill

Roll Call: Senate's Medicare Drug Pricing May Ripple Into Private Market
Congress is on the verge of passing historic drug pricing legislation that would allow the government to restrict prices for drugs covered by Medicare, but experts disagree on whether drugmakers will shift those costs to the private market. (Clason and Hellmann, 8/10)

Reuters: Pelosi Says U.S. House Will Pass Inflation Reduction Act On Friday
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday the House of Representatives would pass the Inflation Reduction Act on Friday. In a letter to Democratic colleagues, Pelosi called the $430 billion climate, tax and healthcare bill approved by the Senate over the weekend "life-changing legislation." (8/10)

Health Affairs: Understanding The Democrats’ Drug Pricing Package
The IRA’s drug pricing reforms include Medicare drug price negotiation, Medicare inflationary rebates, and Medicare Part D redesign; together they represent the achievement of policy goals sought by Democrats for decades. At the same time, the IRA’s drug pricing reforms are narrower than those in reform bills introduced by Democrats over the last few years. (Sachs, 8/10)

KHN and Politifact: No, The Senate-Passed Reconciliation Bill Won’t Strip $300 Billion From Medicare
As Senate Democrats raced to pass what could be their final piece of major legislation before the midterm elections, critics went to the airwaves to blast the proposal as hurting older Americans who rely on Medicare. ... The ad misleadingly paints what is more accurately characterized as nearly $300 billion in savings for consumers and taxpayers. (Jacobson, 8/11)

More on how the Inflation Reduction Act could affect you —

NPR: The Inflation Reduction Act: What The Bill Will Actually Mean For Inflation
The massive climate, health care and tax bill making its way toward President Biden's desk is called the Inflation Reduction Act. But how much does it actually do to slow consumer prices that are climbing at their fastest pace in about 40 years? (Kim, 8/11)

USA Today: 'Significant Victory': How The Inflation Reduction Act Would Save Medicare Drug Costs
David Mitchell, founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, said the Democrats' sweeping climate and health care bill, called the Inflation Reduction Act, is a hard-fought win for patients like himself. "It's a monumental change – a really significant victory," Mitchell told USA TODAY. Mitchell pays more than $16,000 each year for a prescription drug he takes to treat  multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer he's battled for over a decade. He said the annual $2,000 cap on prescription drug spending is "going to make a big difference." (Alltucker, 8/11)

CNET: 3 Ways The Inflation Reduction Act Could Save You Money On Health Care
Here's how the Inflation Reduction Act could save you money on your health care costs. 1. Allows Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices. To address the cost of prescription drugs, the bill would let Medicare annually negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies on 10 pricey medications, starting in 2026. Fifteen more high-cost and high-use drugs would be added the following year, another 15 in 2028, and 20 more drugs would make the list in 2029. (Avery, 8/9)

On the future for Medicare costs and premiums —

Politico: Health Care Providers Are Shouldering Rising Costs. That Could Change Soon
While the economy as a whole has experienced record-breaking inflation this year, price increases in the health care sector have been relatively subdued — a trend that could end soon as Medicare and other payers adjust to new economic realities. Rising costs, such as labor, have largely not translated to higher medical prices, in part because they took economic forecasters by surprise. Rates set by Medicare and insurers, which are a key driver of health care costs, are negotiated months in advance and are based on forecasts that largely did not anticipate the current burst of inflation. (Doherty, 8/10)

CBS News: With Inflation Still Running Hot, Social Security Recipients Could See $1,900 Boost Next Year
Many seniors got slammed this year when the 5.9% cost-of-living adjustment failed to match inflation — and then got walloped again due to a 14.5% premium hike for Medicare's Part B, which covers doctor visits and outpatient care, as well as some drugs. Medicare costs surged because of the plan's coverage of the costly and controversial Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm. But Medicare has said it would restrict use of Aduhelm, while its manufacturer cut the drug's price. Because of those developments, it's possible that Part B premiums may not increase much in 2023, Johnson said.(Picchi, 8/10)

The Washington Post: Monkeypox Vaccine Maker Voices Concerns On U.S. Dose-Splitting Plan 
The manufacturer of the only vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration to protect against monkeypox privately warned senior Biden health officials about their plan to split doses and change how the shots are delivered. “We do have some reservations … due to the very limited safety data available,” Bavarian Nordic CEO Paul Chaplin wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert M. Califf in a letter sent Tuesday and obtained by The Washington Post. (Diamond, 8/10)

The Atlantic: America’s New Monkeypox Vaccine Strategy Rests On A Single Study
This dose-sparing tactic will allow far more people to sign up for doses before summer’s end; if successful, it could help contain the outbreak in the U.S., which currently accounts for nearly a third of the world’s documented monkeypox cases. But this decision is based on scant data, and the degree of protection offered by in-skin shots is no guarantee. ... (Wu, 8/10)

Politico: Bottling The Monkeypox Vaccine Could Take Until Early 2023
The Biden administration is in talks with multiple companies about bottling millions of new doses of the monkeypox shot, but it could take three to six months to get them ready for distribution, according to two senior administration officials and two other people with knowledge of the matter. The administration on Tuesday recommended providers administer the monkeypox vaccine with one-fifth of the normal amount intradermally — between the layers of the skin — to try and stretch supply without sacrificing efficacy. (Banco and Cancryn, 8/10)

More on the spread of monkeypox —

Los Angeles Times: Monkeypox Cases Rising Exponentially In California, U.S.
“When you look at the rates of increase, you can see that it’s really approaching an exponential curve. And unfortunately, it’s going to become harder and harder to control the ... higher these numbers get,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious-disease expert at UC San Francisco. Doctors fear that an increased spread could result in the virus becoming endemic in the wild animal population, meaning it would be virtually impossible to eliminate as a new disease of concern in the U.S. (Lin II, Money and Gutierrez, 8/10)

Stat: With Monkeypox Support Lacking, Queer Communities Turn To One Another
Tri Vo knew that he had monkeypox before his test came back — what started as painless pimples had turned itchy, then began to feel like glass underneath his skin. It was manageable during the day, but at night, it felt like the glass was vibrating, Vo said. (Gaffney, 8/11)

AP: EXPLAINER: Can The Spread Of Monkeypox Be Stopped?
Since May, nearly 90 countries have reported more than 31,000 cases of monkeypox. The World Health Organization classified the escalating outbreak of the once-rare disease as an international emergency in July; the U.S. declared it a national emergency last week. (Cheng, 8/10)

Side Effects Public Media: Kids Are Going Back To School. Experts Say Monkeypox Isn’t A Major Concern
Back-to-school season is starting, and as kids return to the classroom they will also spread germs. But one infectious disease expert says monkeypox isn’t a major concern and parents should not be alarmed. (Yousry, 8/10)

On regional vaccination efforts —

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Eyes Major New Shift In Monkeypox Vaccination: ‘There’s No Other Choice’
“I hope they can do it as soon as possible,” said Chin-Hong, noting the injection method has been extensively studied for polio and yellow fever. “We’re on the steep curve of people getting ill, infected and spreading it. On the hospital side where we see the most serious cases, the number of patients has doubled in the last week.” (Vaziri, 8/10)

Houston Chronicle: Houston, Harris County To Expand Monkeypox Vaccine Capacity
The Houston Health Department says it is waiting on additional guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to begin using the new method. Both health departments will need to retrain healthcare workers — a process that could take days — and obtain different syringes to administer the proper dosage. During a Wednesday Q&A session, Dr. David Persse, Houston’s chief medical officer, said a nationwide scramble for the same type of syringe could lead to supply issues. But “at this point, we’re not anticipating that,” he said. (Gill, 8/10)

New Hampshire Public Radio: N.H. Expands Eligibility For Monkeypox Vaccine
New Hampshire health officials are expanding eligibility for the monkeypox vaccine. State officials recently announced that the federal government was sending an additional 1,140 doses of the vaccine to New Hampshire. (Fam, 8/10)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 600 In Wisconsin Receive Monkeypox Vaccination, Says Health Department
About 600 doses of a monkeypox vaccine have been administered to Wisconsinites as of Tuesday, the state Department of Health Services said in a press conference Wednesday. About 200 doses were given at the start of this week and another 300 over last week. Health officials have confirmed 32 cases of monkeypox in the state as of Tuesday, according to DHS. (Mathew, 8/10)

Also —

NBC News: WHO Warns People Not To Attack Monkeys Amid Monkeypox Outbreak
The World Health Organization is urging the public not to attack monkeys amid the monkeypox outbreak, following reports that primates have been poisoned and killed in Brazil. "What people need to know is that the transmission we are seeing is happening between humans," WHO spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris said Tuesday at a press briefing in Geneva. (Lenthang, 8/10)

AP: Abortion To Remain Legal In Wyoming While Lawsuit Proceeds
Abortion will remain legal in Wyoming while a lawsuit that contests a ban on the procedure in nearly all cases moves ahead, a judge ruled Wednesday. The lawsuit will likely succeed because the ban appears to violate the state constitution and is vague, Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens, in Jackson, wrote in granting the preliminary injunction. (Gruver, 8/10)

State abortion bans are difficult to keep track of —

The New York Times: Where Abortion Has Flipped From Illegal To Legal And Back Again 
For abortion providers and patients, this has meant navigating a situation in which abortion may be allowed one day and banned the next. Providers have canceled procedures midday or told patients to wait on standby in the event that abortion becomes temporarily legal again. The legal back and forth has also frustrated opponents of abortion who saw the Dobbs decision as having settled the question of whether states can prohibit the procedure. (McCann, 8/11)

The Hill: Warren Launches Investigation Into State Abortion Bans 
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has launched an investigation into how state abortion bans have affected Americans’ access to health care for pregnancies, reproductive and nonreproductive care. In her announcement, Warren said her investigation was spurred by reports of “shocking stories from women in states that have enacted radical abortion bans and criminalized health care.” (Choi, 8/10)

In abortion updates from Texas and Indiana —

Houston Chronicle: Texas Supreme Court Reconsiders Rule Allowing Minors To Get An Abortion Without Parental Consent
A spokeswoman for the high court explained that the justices believe the new law, and a landmark June ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court overturning federal protections on abortion, have “raised questions about whether the parental-notification rules are still consistent with Texas law.” (Goldenstein, 8/10)

Dallas Morning News: Dallas Approves Limits On City Resources Used To Investigate Abortions
The Dallas City Council on Wednesday approved changing city policies to limit government resources used to investigate abortions, following several other Texas cities declaring support for reproductive care rights despite the state’s ban on abortion under almost all circumstances. (Bailey Jr., 8/10)

South Bend Tribune: After Years Of Battling, South Bend's Only Abortion Clinic Forced Into Closing Next Month
Nearly five years after Whole Woman's Health Alliance first sought to open a South Bend clinic, the abortion provider will close next month after Indiana legislators passed a ban on almost all abortions starting Sept. 15. “Really the decision was made for us," Midwest Advocacy Director Sharon Lau said Tuesday. "It's not surprising. We will be continuing to see patients up until the ban law goes into effect, and after that time, we will have to close the clinic.” (Smith, 8/11)

NPR: Their Mentor Was Attacked. Now Young OB-GYNs May Leave Indiana
"Watching what [Dr. Bernard] went through was scary," said Dr. Beatrice Soderholm, a fourth year OB-GYN resident and one of Bernard's mentees. "I think that was part of the point for those who were putting her through that. [It] was to scare other people out of doing the work that she does." (Yousry, 8/10)

From Utah, Louisiana, and the U.S. territory of Guam —

Salt Lake Tribune: Salt Lake County Council Member Tells Kamala Harris Fetuses Are Not Part Of Women’s Bodies
Salt Lake County Council member Dave Alvord says fetuses are not part of a mother’s body because the umbilical cord and placenta do not connect directly to the woman. That isn’t true, but Alvord is standing by his comments in the wake of the social media pile-on he’s faced after airing those views on Twitter, in response to a tweet by Vice President Kamala Harris. (Apgar, 8/10)

NPR: Louisiana's Abortion Ban Has Doctors Worried About Patients — And Their Own Careers
Louisiana's abortion ban makes an exception if the fetus would not survive birth or to save a patient's life. But doctors say they fear that vague wording puts their patients and careers at risk. (Westwood, 8/10)

NBC News: In Guam, The Nearest Domestic Abortion Clinic Is 4,000 Miles Away. How Will Roe’s Reversal Change The U.S. Territory?
The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which had made abortion a constitutionally protected right, could have a chilling effect on reproductive rights in Guam. Advocates say women have already been living under a de facto ban in the largely Catholic U.S. Pacific Island territory and fear it could get more restrictive. No surgical abortion has been performed on the island since 2018, when the last doctor trained to provide the procedure retired, according to the ACLU and the Bureau of Women’s Affairs. (Wang, 8/10)

In related news about reproductive health —

Roll Call: Medical Schools, Students Review Training Amid Abortion Bans 
Ghazaleh Moayedi credits many of her strengths as a Texas-based obstetrician-gynecologist to training related to abortion. Outpatient abortion training builds bedside manner and teaches practical technical skills outside of a hospital, she says. (Raman, 8/10)

The Washington Post: How Being Adopted Shapes People's Thoughts On Abortion 
Conversations about abortion are often connected to adoption. In oral arguments for Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization last year, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett suggested that adoption may render abortion irrelevant. And in his majority opinion on the case, Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote: “A woman who puts her newborn up for adoption today has little reason to fear that the baby will not find a suitable home.” (McCormack, 8/10)

AP: EXPLAINER: Online Privacy In A Post-Roe World 
The case of a Nebraska woman charged with helping her teenage daughter end her pregnancy after investigators obtained Facebook messages between the two has raised fresh concerns about data privacy in the post-Roe world. Since before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, Big Tech companies that collect personal details of their users have faced new calls to limit that tracking and surveillance amid fears that law enforcement or vigilantes could use those data troves against people seeking abortions or those who try to help them. (8/11)

The Washington Post: Post-Roe Special Elections Show Potentially Encouraging Signs For Democrats 
Democrats and nonpartisan analysts said Wednesday that they saw fresh signs for the party in power to be more optimistic about the midterms after a special election in the wake of the Supreme Court striking down Roe v. Wade. But they acknowledged that with three months left in the campaign, President Biden and his party continue to face substantial political hurdles. The result in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, where Republican Brad Finstad defeated Democrat Jeff Ettinger, caught the attention of party strategists and nonpartisan analysts looking for clues about the mood of the electorate. Finstad led Ettinger by four points with 99 percent of the vote tallied Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. Donald Trump won the district by about 10 points in 2020. (Itkowitz and Bronner, 8/10)

Politico: GOP Midterm Hurricane Gets Downgraded
It’s hard to believe, given how poorly things have been going for Democrats this year. But the midterm election landscape is suddenly looking a lot less grim. Democrats recently inched ahead of Republicans on the generic ballot, a leading indicator of midterm performance. Kansas demonstrated the salience of Roe v. Wade. And on Tuesday night, a Minnesota special election became the second consecutive contest to suggest Democratic candidates may be better positioned to compete in November than once expected. (Siders, 8/10)

The Washington Post: Democrats Close The Gap In Two Post-Roe V. Wade Special Elections 
Two months ago, Republicans hailed the takeover of a Democratic seat in a South Texas special election as proof of their 2022 momentum. Ten days later, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and since then there have been more and more signs that this momentum might not be all it was cracked up to be. That culminated Tuesday in Democrats over-performing in the second straight special election since Roe was overturned, in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District. Similar to Nebraska’s 1st District just days after the court’s action, Republicans still held the conservative-leaning seat but by a smaller margin than they’d like and by a smaller margin than in 2020. (Blake, 8/10)

Axios: National Democrats Say They're "All In" On Hobbs In Arizona's Race For Governor 
The Democratic Governors Association (DGA) says it's going all in to help Katie Hobbs become governor, though it's unclear how much the group will spend on her race — or whether it's willing to match its Republican counterpart. The DGA recently transferred $1.5 million to the Arizona Democratic Party, and the party began running a TV ad against Lake this week. The ad criticizes Lake for her opposition to abortion rights, accuses her of having an extreme position on guns and emphasizes her support for baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. (Duda, 8/10)

In related news —

USA Today: Poll: Most Voters Want A Chance To Support Abortion On State Ballots
Americans overwhelmingly would like to be able to vote on an abortion measure on their state ballot, an exclusive USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll finds. And if they had the chance, they would oppose efforts to ban the procedure by almost 2-1. The survey, taken in the aftermath of the stunning defeat in Kansas last week of a proposal to remove abortion rights from the state constitution, is more evidence of a backlash to the Supreme Court's decision that allows states to sharpen restrictions on abortion or bar it entirely. (Page, 8/10)

The Texas Tribune: Most Texas Voters Say Abortion Should Be Allowed In Cases Of Rape Or Incest
Most registered voters in Texas oppose a complete ban on abortion but are split on the extent to which abortion should be available, according to a June poll conducted by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. (Lau, 8/10)

Boston Herald: MIT Researchers Create Test To Predict COVID Immunity, Harvard Scientists Develop Test For Both Virus And Antibodies
MIT scientists on Tuesday announced they’ve developed a blood test that may predict COVID immunity. The announcement came a day after Harvard researchers said they’ve built a saliva test that detects the presence of both antibodies and the virus. (Sobey, 8/10)

Studies on long covid may not bear fruit —

Axios: Clear Results Elusive In Long COVID Studies
There are 26 clinical trials underway to find an effective treatment for long COVID, but many of them are too small or lack the necessary control groups to give clear results, according to Nature. (Reed, 8/10)

More on the spread of covid —

ABC News: Hundreds Of Americans Still Dying Of COVID Each Day Despite Signs The Latest Surge May Be Slowing
On average, nearly 400 American deaths to COVID-19 are reported each day, a daily total that has not seen any significant declines since the spring. Over the last seven days alone, the U.S. has reported just under 2,700 COVID-19 deaths. (Mitropoulos, 8/10)

The Mercury News: Is COVID Losing Its Fangs And Becoming More Like The Flu?
Today’s hyper-transmissible strain of the COVID-19 virus has sent cases soaring across the country. But rising deaths — the grim marker of earlier dangerous surges — haven’t kept pace, and the average risk of dying from an infection is dropping to levels almost as low as seasonal influenza, leading epidemiologists say. Is the COVID virus — that has killed more than 1 million Americans — losing its fangs? (Woolfolk, 8/10)

North Carolina Health News: What Does ‘Back To Normal’ Mean For People Hit Hardest By The Pandemic? 
North Carolina’s state of emergency due to COVID will be lifted next week and even as things get “back to normal,” advocates for some of the people most impacted by the pandemic caution against forgetting some of the pandemic’s lessons about inequality. (Thompson and Crumpler, 8/11)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Nevada Reports One Of Lowest COVID Case Rates In US
A downturn in COVID-19 hospitalizations and cases continued for the fifth straight week in both Clark County and Nevada, with the state reporting one of the lowest case rates in the country. Nevada reported 109.5 cases per 100,000 people over the past week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The U.S. average is more than twice that, at 227 cases per 100,000. (Hynes, 8/10)

AP: Abrams Tests Positive For COVID-19, Has Mild Symptoms 
Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has COVID-19, her campaign said Wednesday. Abrams campaign spokesperson Alex Floyd said Abrams tested positive for the respiratory illness Wednesday morning after giving a public speech on the economy Tuesday night in Atlanta. (8/10)

In mask news —

AP: Masks To Be Required Again At Great Smoky National Park 
Masks will once again be required for visitors inside all Great Smoky Mountains National Park buildings due to the high transmission of the COVID-19 outbreak. According to the park’s website, the mask mandate will apply to all visitors regardless of vaccination status. (8/11)

The Boston Globe: New Study Based On Mass. Schools Finds Masks Protected Students, Staff From COVID-19
A study comparing the experience of Massachusetts schools that maintained masking requirements early this year with those that dropped them has provided new evidence that masks are beneficial in protecting students and staff from COVID-19. (Finucane, 8/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: Uber, Lyft Facing Fines For Failing To Provide Drivers With Proper COVID-19 Protections
State workplace safety regulators cited ride-hailing companies Lyft and Uber for failing to provide masks and gloves to their drivers and otherwise prevent the spread of COVID-19, and for excluding drivers from their general injury and illness prevention plans, Cal/OSHA documents show. “This is the first time that a state safety agency has extended workplace protections to gig workers, and challenges the companies’ (claim) that they have no responsibility to ensure safety of drivers,” Rideshare Drivers United, a group which represents thousands of gig workers, some of whom brought the complaints, said in a statement. (DiFeliciantonio, 8/9)

Los Angeles Times: Judge: Walgreens Helped Fuel San Francisco's Opioid Crisis
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that pharmacy giant Walgreens could be held liable for fueling the opioid epidemic in San Francisco by shipping and dispensing hundreds of thousands of “suspicious orders” of prescription drugs, the latest legal reckoning over America’s prescription drug crisis. (Lin, 8/10)

More on the opioid crisis —

KHN: They Call It ‘Tranq’ — And It’s Making Street Drugs Even More Dangerous 
Approaching a van that distributes supplies for safer drug use in Greenfield, Massachusetts, a man named Kyle noticed an alert about xylazine. “Xylazine?” he asked, sounding out the unfamiliar word. “Tell me more.” A street-outreach team from Tapestry Health Systems delivered what’s becoming a routine warning. Xylazine is an animal tranquilizer. It’s not approved for humans but is showing up in about half the drug samples that Tapestry Health tests in the rolling hills of western Massachusetts. It’s appearing mostly in the illegal fentanyl supply but also in cocaine. (Bebinger, 8/11)

In other pharmaceutical and technology news —

CNBC: Health Experts: America Could Have A Vitamin D Supplement Problem
As a supplement, vitamin D has been a common staple on drugstore shelves for years — and its popularity is only growing. (Albert-Deitch, 8/10)

CBS News: Experimental Immunotherapy Treatment Changes Lives For Cancer Patients In Small Trial
In the trial, all 18 patients had complete resolution of their early rectal cancer, were cancer-free for up to two years and did not need to have standard treatments of radiation chemotherapy or surgery. "We truly weren't expecting this type of response where every single patient, the tumor's gone and how quickly they responded," Dr. Andrea Cercek, who led the trial treatment, told LaPook. (Powell, 8/10)

Fox News: Study Finds Exposure To 'Forever' Chemicals In Household Products Leads To Liver Cancer
A new study suggests that individuals with regular exposure to synthetic chemicals found in everyday household products have a greater likelihood of developing liver cancer. Researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California determined that individuals have 350% greater odds of developing the disease if they are exposed to man-made "forever" chemicals. The study, which was published in JHEP Reports earlier this week, is the first to confirm the correlation using human samples. (Nieto, 8/10)

Stat: The FDA's 'Breakthrough' Medical Devices Are Finally Hitting The Market In Numbers
The Food and Drug Administration, looking to accelerate access to innovative devices, has now labeled nearly 700 products as breakthroughs while they’re under development. But until recently, relatively few have reached the market. (Palmer, 8/11)

Modern Healthcare: July-Reported Healthcare Breaches Exposed Data On Nearly 4M Patients
About 3.9 million patients had data compromised in healthcare data breaches reported to the federal government last month, nearly half of which were attributed to a cyberattack at one payment vendor. An estimated 1.9 million patients had data exposed in a ransomware attack at Professional Finance Company, according to a report the accounts receivable management company submitted to the Health and Human Services Department’s Office for Civil Rights in July. (Kim Cohen, 8/10)

Bloomberg: UnitedHealth Deal Questioned By DOJ On Risk Of Data Misuse
The Justice Department held out a 2021 internal audit of UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s data practices as evidence that the health-care giant’s proposed acquisition of Change Healthcare Inc. should be blocked. (Nylen and Tozzi, 8/10)

In other health industry news —

Bloomberg: CVS Was Mystery Bidder For One Medical Before Amazon Struck Deal
CVS Health Corp. was the mystery bidder that tried to buy primary-care company One Medical before Amazon.com Inc. swooped in to acquire it for $3.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. One Medical was put into play by a company identified in a regulatory filing Wednesday as “Party A.” (Davis, 8/10)

Modern Healthcare: Health Insurance Broker GoHealth Lays Off 20% Of Employees
Approximately 800 agents and support workers lost their jobs, the company said. GoHealth employed roughly 4,000 people as of June 6, according to a news release. The layoffs come as digital health funding shrinks from the highs of 2021, leading to job cuts at once-celebrated tech startups, and as GoHealth faces increased competition. (Tepper, 8/10)

Modern Healthcare: Bright Health Group Seeking Outside Investment
Bright Health Group must raise outside capital to sustain its business, executives said Wednesday. The health insurer's board of directors formed a special committee to solicit proposals from prospective investors and has received significant interest from new and existing backers, according to company leaders. Bright Health Group plans to raise an undisclosed sum in the near-to-intermediate-term, CEO Mike Mikan said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call. (Tepper, 8/10)

AP: 14 HBCU Medical Students Chosen For NFL Diversity Initiative 
There will be 14 students from Historically Black College and University medical schools working for the first time on the staffs of NFL clubs this season. The students are coming from the four HBCU medical schools in the country and will be working with eight different teams. The teams include Atlanta, Cincinnati, the Los Angeles Rams, LA Chargers, New York Giants, San Francisco, Tennessee and Washington. (8/10)

Stat: Blood Tests Can Predict Severe Brain-Injury Outcomes, Study Shows
Simple blood tests taken on the day of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) can predict with fairly high reliability which patients are likely to die and which are likely to survive with severe disability, according to a study published Wednesday in Lancet Neurology. (Muthukumar, 8/10)

In mental health news —

Axios: Multiracial LGBTQ Youth Are At Higher Risk Of Attempting Suicide
Nearly half of multiracial LGBTQ youths "seriously considered" suicide in 2021, according to a new report from The Trevor Project provided to Axios. (Gonzalez, 8/11)

KHN: Social Media Posts Criticize The 988 Suicide Hotline For Calling Police. Here’s What You Need To Know.
When the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline launched last month, many mental health providers, researchers, and advocates celebrated. Although a national suicide hotline had existed for years, finally there was an easy-to-remember three-digit number for people to call, they said. The shorter number would serve as an alternative to 911 for mental health emergencies. But not everyone felt the same way. Some advocates and people who had experiences with the mental health system took to social media to voice concerns about 988 and warn people not to call it. (Pattani, 8/11)

In other health and wellness news —

CNN: 'Silent' Spread Of Polio In New York Drives CDC To Consider Additional Vaccinations For Some People
A polio case identified in New York last month is “just the very, very tip of the iceberg” and an indication there “must be several hundred cases in the community circulating,” a senior official with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told CNN on Wednesday. The case was found In Rockland County, which has a stunningly low polio vaccination rate. Dr. José Romero, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, noted that the majority of people with polio don’t have symptoms and so can spread the virus without knowing it. (Cohen, 8/11)

Axios: Polio Unlikely To Spread Widely In U.S.
The detection of poliovirus in wastewater samples in London and New York state is providing another stark reminder of the importance of vaccination and new forms of surveillance, public health experts say. (Dreher and Reed, 8/11)

USA Today: New Langya Virus Infects Dozens In China. Why Experts Say You Shouldn't Panic
“In order to really be something we should be worried about … it’s got to be able to transmit between people,” Emily Gurley, epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “There’s no evidence from this report that person-to-person transmission is happening.” (Rodriguez, 8/10)

Press Association: Women On Vegetarian Diets More Likely To Break Their Hips, Study Finds
Women who follow a vegetarian diet have a higher risk of breaking their hips in later life, a new study suggests. Researchers said vegetarian diets "often have lower intakes of nutrients that are linked with bone and muscle health" after their study found female vegetarians had a 33% increased risk of hip fracture compared to regular meat eaters. (Pickover, 8/11)

AP: Judge Upholds Auditor Effort To Subpoena Medicaid Records 
A Superior Court judge on Wednesday denied a motion by Delaware’s Department of Health and Social Services to quash a subpoena from the state auditor’s office seeking information regarding eligibility for Medicaid programs. Judge Craig Karsnitz rejected the notion that Auditor Kathleen McGuiness does not have the authority under Delaware law to conduct performance audits of state agencies such as the Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance. DHSS attorneys had argued that the auditor’s duties were limited to conducting after-the-fact “postaudits” of financial transactions by state agencies. (Chase, 8/10)

AP: State-Licensed Medical Marijuana Store Opens Next Week
Patients enrolled in South Dakota’s medical marijuana program will have their first opportunity to buy cannabis from a state-licensed facility next week. It has been a year and a-half since state voters overwhelmingly approved medical marijuana. (8/10)

WLRN 91.3 FM: Florida's Severe Child Psychiatrist Shortage Keeps One Provider Up At Night
Florida needs pediatric psychiatrists. A map on the website of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry shows most of the state has a severe shortage. Some counties have no providers at all. (Zaragovia, 8/10)

The 19th: Yuh-Line Niou Wants To Become The First Openly Autistic Member Of Congress
When New York state Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou announced she was running to represent New York’s 10th District in Congress, the field was already crowded. Niou is one of only three openly autistic elected legislators in the United States – Pennsylvania state Rep. Jessica Benham and Texas state Rep. Briscoe Cain are also on the autism spectrum. If she wins, Niou will make history as the first openly autistic member of Congress. (Luterman, 8/10)

CIDRAP: Vaccine hesitancy may not be root of US COVID vaccine uptake disparities
Vaccine hesitancy was not the strongest tie to vaccine coverage. For example, political party affiliation had the strongest link to vaccination rate, but was not even in the top 10 in its correlation with vaccine hesitancy. And median household income had the greatest tie to vaccine hesitancy, but ranked seventh in its link to vaccination rate. (8/10)

CIDRAP: Mix-N-Match COVID Boosters May Produce More Durable Immunity 
A single-center study today in JAMA Network Open finds longer-lasting humoral and cellular immune responses in US adults given a Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine booster rather than a Pfizer/BioNTech booster after receiving two doses of the Pfizer vaccine at least 6 months earlier. (Van Beusekom, 8/10)

CIDRAP: Study: In-Class College COVID Spread Rare Amid Public Health Mandates 
At Boston University (BU), which mandated COVID-19 vaccination and face coverings for students, faculty, and staff in fall 2021, only nine cases of SARS-CoV-2 transmission were identified among more than 140,000 full-occupancy, in-person class meetings. None were confirmed to be the result of in-class transmission. The findings were published late last week in JAMA Network Open. (Van Beusekom, 8/8)

Also —

ScienceDaily: New Target For Therapies To Treat Preterm Labor 
Researchers have identified a cause of preterm labor, an enigma that has long challenged researchers. New research suggests a protein, called Piezo1, is responsible for regulating the behavior of the uterus. Piezo1 keeps the uterus relaxed ensuring that it continues to stretch and expand during the 40 weeks it takes a fetus to grow. (The Physiological Society, 8/8)

CIDRAP: Study Shows Early Acquisition Of Antibiotic Resistance Genes
A new study of mothers and babies from developing countries in Africa and South Asia suggests carriage of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in gut microbiota is prevalent, with some ARGs appearing in newborns within hours of birth, likely transmitted from the mother or the hospital environment. (Dall, 8/9)

Stat: As Billionaires Fund Anti-Aging Projects, A Long-Delayed Study Is Overlooked
Beating back the diseases of aging has become something of a pet project for many of Silicon Valley’s tech titans. But many researchers in the field of longevity science say there’s one project they wish these billionaires could find a little pocket change to fund: Nir Barzilai’s TAME Trial. (Molteni, 8/9)

Houston Chronicle: How Houston's Nonprofit Funds Early Research That Leads To Breakthroughs Like The COVID Vaccine
Jason McLellan was confident he was on his way to creating the first vaccine for human metapneumovirus, a respiratory disease that is common among children and the elderly, and could be dangerous to those with weakened immune systems. One small problem: He had some data, but likely not enough to grab the attention of federal funders like the National Institutes of Health. (Carballo, 8/8)

The New York Times: Kids’ Mental Health Is A ‘National Emergency.’ Therapists Are In Short Supply
At the beginning of the year, I started hearing from readers across the country that there were long waiting lists for child and adolescent mental health providers. Many of their kids were really struggling, often with anxiety and depression. (Jessica Grose, 8/10)

Bloomberg: The Omicron BA.5 Wave Is Starting To Ebb. We Need To Know Why
The Covid wave fueled by the omicron BA.5 surge is finally starting to ebb in the UK and in some of the harder-hit parts of the US. But why? It’s no longer tenable to argue that disease waves peak and fall primarily because people start taking precautions. (Faye Flam, 8/10)

Stat: PCR Testing Can Guide Covid-19 Return To School Or Work Policies
President Biden’s recent case of Covid-19, its rebound, and his extended isolation offers an opportunity to consider how more precise interpretation of viral load via PCR testing might be used to safely return people to work or school earlier. (Robert B. Darnell, 8/10)

Chicago Tribune: Politicians Have Failed To Deal With Gun Violence. Give Medical Officials A Chance. 
Politicians have had their chance. Let someone else take the wheel — namely, the medical community. (Sheldon Jacobson, 8/10)

The Washington Post: Pregnancy Humbles Everyone. Even Serena Williams
The Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade prompted a renewed conversation about what pregnancy — so often lauded as natural, as what women are built for — does to the person who experiences it. (Alyssa Rosenberg, 8/10)

The Tennessean: Patient Advocates Demand Accountability For Medical Error In RaDonda Vaught Case
In 2017, Vaught gave 75-year-old Charlene Murphey the incorrect medication. Murphey died as a result. While the medication error was added to the internal patient safety incident reporting system at Vanderbilt, a decision was made to omit it from the patient’s medical record and coroner’s report. (Susan E. Sheridan and Beth Daley Ullem, 8/10)

Stat: Decriminalizing HIV: Scientifically Proven And Morally Correct 
One hundred thirty-four. That’s the number of countries that currently criminalize or prosecute people based on general criminal laws of HIV transmission, non-disclosure, or exposure. (Mandeep Dhaliwal, 8/11)

Bloomberg: Medicare Spending On Dialysis Is Out Of Control 
More than 800,000 Americans suffer from life-threatening kidney failure. Paying for treatment of this condition costs the government more than $50 billion a year, and a recent Supreme Court decision risks driving the price tag even higher. (8/10)

Stat: Implementation Science Helps Usher Innovation Into Health Care
The test of a new team-based way to treat bipolar disorder was, by all estimations, a highly successful research effort. Yet within a year of the end of the studies, not a single one of the 15 sites that had taken part in the two trials had incorporated team-based care into their standard work flows. (Mark S. Bauer, 8/11)