First Edition: Sept. 26, 2022

KHN: Embedded Bias: How Medical Records Sow Discrimination 
David Confer, a bicyclist and an audio technician, told his doctor he “used to be Ph.D. level” during a 2019 appointment in Washington, D.C. Confer, then 50, was speaking figuratively: He was experiencing brain fog — a symptom of his liver problems. But did his doctor take him seriously? Now, after his death, Confer’s partner, Cate Cohen, doesn’t think so. Confer, who was Black, had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma two years before. His prognosis was positive. But during chemotherapy, his symptoms — brain fog, vomiting, back pain — suggested trouble with his liver, and he was later diagnosed with cirrhosis. He died in 2020, unable to secure a transplant. Throughout, Cohen, now 45, felt her partner’s clinicians didn’t listen closely to him and had written him off. (Tahir, 9/26)

KHN and PolitiFact: Is Covid ‘Under Control’ In The US? Experts Say Yes 
President Joe Biden caused a stir in a “60 Minutes” interview on Sept. 18 when he declared that the covid-19 pandemic is over. “We still have a problem with covid — we’re still doing a lot of work on it,” Biden said. “But the pandemic is over.” Critics countered that the U.S. is still averaging about 400 deaths daily from the virus, that nearly 30,000 Americans remain hospitalized, and that many others are suffering from “long covid” symptoms stemming from previous infections. (Jacobson and Cercone, 9/26)

KHN: Journalists Dissect Medical Coding And Parse The President’s Words 
KHN freelancer Helen Santoro discussed insurance coverage for transgender medical care on KCRW’s “Press Play with Madeleine Brand” on Sept. 21. ... KHN chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner discussed President Joe Biden’s statement that the covid-19 “pandemic is over” on Axios’ “Axios Today” podcast on Sept. 19. ... KHN senior editor Andy Miller discussed the plan to restore the reputation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on WUGA’s “The Health Report” on Sept. 18. (9/24)

Politico: Arizona Judge Rules 19th Century Abortion Ban Can Take Effect
An Arizona judge ruled Friday that a state law prohibiting nearly all abortions can take effect, forcing clinics in the state to immediately stop offering the procedure. The state’s pre-Roe law, which prohibits all abortions except to save the life of the pregnant person, was enacted in 1864, before Arizona became a state. But enforcement of the statute has been blocked since 1973, when it was found unconstitutional by the Arizona Court of Appeals and subsequently enjoined in superior court. (Messerly, 9/23)

Reuters: Arizona Abortion Ruling Will Set Women Back 'More Than A Century,' White House Says
Friday's ruling allowing Arizona to enforce a ban on nearly all abortions, if allowed to stand, will result in "catastrophic, dangerous, and unacceptable" consequences for women, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Saturday. ... "Yesterday’s ruling in Arizona is dangerous and will set Arizona women back more than a century – to a time before Arizona was even a state," Jean-Pierre said in a statement. (9/24)

AP: GOP Quiet As Arizona Democrats Condemn Abortion Ruling 
Arizona Democrats vowed Saturday to fight for women’s rights after a court reinstated a law first enacted during the Civil War that bans abortion in nearly all circumstances, looking to capitalize on an issue they hope will have a major impact on the midterm elections. Republican candidates were silent a day after the ruling, which said the state can prosecute doctors and others who assist with an abortion unless it’s necessary to save the mother’s life. Kari Lake, the GOP candidate for governor, and Blake Masters, the Senate candidate, did not comment. (Cooper, 9/24)

Reuters: Biden Suggests Support For Filibuster Change To Legalize Abortion 
President Joe Biden challenged Democratic voters on Friday that if they elect at least two more senators in November elections, it would open the possibility of Democrats removing the filibuster and restoring federal abortion rights for women. At a Democratic National Committee rally, Biden suggested the two extra Democrats would allow the Democratic-controlled Senate to remove a legislative roadblock known as the filibuster that requires a 60-vote majority to overcome. (9/23)

AP: Abortion Is A Matter Of 'Freedom' For Biden And Democrats 
The way President Joe Biden sees it, the overturning of Roe vs. Wade was not just about whether a woman has a right to obtain an abortion. “It’s about freedom,” Biden said at a private fundraiser in New York this past week. Vice President Kamala Harris takes an even bolder approach when she talks about abortion. “Extremist, so-called leaders trumpet the rhetoric of freedom while they take away freedoms,” she told voters in Illinois this month. (Kim, 9/24)

NPR: How State Abortion Bans Complicate Telehealth Abortions
Medication abortions work for most people who are under 11 weeks pregnant, and research suggests medication abortion via telemedicine is safe and effective. Yet many states have enacted legislation to ban or limit access to telehealth abortions. But it's not always clear what that means for doctors like Case who are physically located in a state with abortion restrictions but have a license that enables them to provide care via telehealth to patients in states where it is legal. (Yousry, 9/26)

The Hill: Biden Announces $1.5B In Funding To Battle Opioid Overdoses, Support Recovery 
President Biden on Friday announced that his administration would distribute $1.5 billion to states and territories, including tribal lands, to fund responses to opioid overdoses and support recovery. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will disseminate the funding through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) State Opioid Response and Tribal Opioid Response grant programs as part of National Recovery Month. (Folmar, 9/23)

AP: Advocates Seek More Say In How Opioid Settlements Are Spent
Across the U.S., people in recovery and families of those who died from overdoses fear they won’t be heard on the state-level panels recommending or deciding on the use of big pieces of proposed and finalized settlements, which are worth more than $40 billion, according to an Associated Press tally. ... For the people on a mission to stem drug deaths, the details matter. Advocates want to see the money used to make it easier to get treatment, to provide related housing, transportation and other services, and to provide materials to test drug supplies for fentanyl, the synthetic opioid involved in most recent fatal overdoses. (Mulvihill and Hendrickson, 9/23)

Axios: Drug Treatment Center Admissions Fell 23% During COVID
Admissions to drug treatment facilities fell by more than 23% during the pandemic as substance use disorders and overdose deaths rose, a new analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows. (Bettelheim, 9/23)

NPR: Here's What Will Happen At The First White House Hunger Summit Since 1969
President Joe Biden will headline the White House conference on hunger, nutrition and health on Sept. 28, unveiling his plan to make good on a pledge to end hunger and diet-related diseases by 2030. (Bustillo, 9/23)

Reuters: 'Blood On Your Hands' If World Steps Back On Tackling COVID Now, WHO Official Says
If rich nations think the pandemic is over, they should help lower-income countries reach that point too, a senior World Health Organization official told Reuters. In an interview, WHO senior adviser Bruce Aylward warned that richer nations must not step back from tackling COVID-19 as a global problem now, ahead of future potential waves of infection. (Rigby, 9/23)

Stat: 'Disaster To Disaster': Walensky Decries Underinvestment In Public Health
For the record, Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, would take the job again. (Cueto, 9/23)

Axios: Moderna Seeks Emergency Authorization For COVID Booster For Children
Moderna announced Friday that it has requested emergency use authorization for its omicron COVID-19 booster shots for children aged 6-17 years old. (Habeshian, 9/23)

The Washington Post: Is The Pandemic Over? Pre-Covid Activities Americans Are (And Are Not) Resuming
Americans are coming out of the pandemic in the same kind of dynamic disarray that marked its beginning, with a crazyquilt of contradictory decisions about how to spend their discretionary time and money: Americans are flying again, but they’re not too keen on getting back aboard buses, subways and other public transit. Concert tickets are being snapped up, but theater tickets, not so much. In-person visits to medical doctors have returned to pre-pandemic levels, but mental health counseling remains overwhelmingly virtual. (Fisher and Telford, 9/24)

The Washington Post: 10 Tips For Co-Existing With Covid And Living A Normal-Ish Life 
Whether you agree with President Biden that the pandemic is over or you agree with most scientists who say it’s definitely not over, it doesn’t really matter. The reality is that all around us, pandemic precautions have disappeared. But getting on with life doesn’t have to mean throwing caution to the wind. ... Living with covid can be easy if you take simple, regular precautions. (Parker-Pope, 9/22)

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID Is In A Lull, Again. Experts Say It’s Still A Time Of ‘Trade-Offs’
What many people are struggling with now is a sort of pandemic doldrums — a moment in time when COVID is no longer a threat that overshadows all other life priorities but still can’t be ignored. “We’re in this middle ground, which is difficult,” said Dr. Susan Philip, the San Francisco health officer. “We’re not at the full end, but we’re not in the throes of having to be worried and be mindful every day about what the virus is doing.” (Allday, 9/24)

CIDRAP: Study Shows Previous Omicron Infection Most Protective Against BA.2
A study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases demonstrates that previous Omicron BA.1 infection was the most protective factor against BA.2 infection (associated with a risk reduction of 72%) and gave greater protection than primary infection with pre-Omicron SARS-CoV-2 (38%) or three doses of an mRNA vaccine in people with no previous infection (46%). (9/22)

CBS News: CDC Says Some Nursing Homes And Hospitals No Longer Need To Require Universal Masking
The change, one of many published Friday evening to the agency's guidance for COVID-19 infection control for healthcare workers, marks one of the final sets of revisions in a sweeping effort launched in August to overhaul the CDC's recommendations for the virus. (Tin, 9/23)

AP: NYC Appeals Ruling Over Vaccine Mandate For Police Officers 
New York City officials are appealing a judge’s ruling that they lacked the legal authority to fire members of the city’s largest police union for violating a COVID-19 vaccination mandate. (9/24)

Bay Area News Group: Do COVID Vaccine Mandates Still Make Sense As Other Pandemic Orders Wind Down?
Dr. Bob Wachter, who chairs the medical department at UC San Francisco, called continuing mandates an “unbelievably complicated question whose dynamics have changed a lot in the past year. ”When more infected people were dying, there were no great treatments for the disease and vaccines were highly protective against infection, he said, “one could make a strong argument for organizations of all kinds to require vaccination.” (Woolfolk and Welle, 9/25)

CIDRAP: European Countries See Early Signs Of Autumn COVID-19 Rise 
Health officials in the United Kingdom and the European region as a whole are seeing early signs of rising COVID activity, patterns that US experts closely watch as a harbinger of how the next months might unfold. Disease modeling experts have warned of a rise in infections in Northern Hemisphere countries as cooler weather brings more people indoors, as schools resume, and as vaccine protection wanes. (Schnirring, 9/23)

Reuters: Pfizer CEO Tests Positive For COVID For A Second Time
Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said on Saturday he had tested positive for COVID-19."I’m feeling well and symptom free," Bourla said in a statement. Bourla, 60, back in August had contacted COVID and had started a course of the company's oral COVID-19 antiviral treatment, Paxlovid. (9/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Has Changed Funeral Business Forever 
Brian Myers spent many nights during the pandemic embalming one person after another—some of them close friends—until morning dawned. His business, Myers Mortuary & Cremation Services in Columbia, S.C., was booming. Yet Mr. Myers, 45, said the additional work was marked by stretches of exhaustion and sorrow. (Mosbergen, 9/25)

CIDRAP: COVID-Like Virus In Bats Resistant To SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies
A sarbecovirus found in Russian bats evades SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a study yesterday in PLOS Pathogens. The virus, Khosta-2, belongs to the same category of coronaviruses as the virus that causes COVID-19. It was identified in bats sampled near Sochi National Park in October 2020. Researchers at the University of Washington, who conducted the study, said Khosta-2 would likely be able to infect humans, based on experiments using human cells from people vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. (9/23)

NBC News: Life After Monkeypox: Men Describe An Uncertain Road To Recovery
Unfortunately, people looking to doctors or health agencies for answers about what to expect post-pox are typically met with an information vacuum. This is the result of the notorious dearth of research conducted prior to the outbreak about a virus that until this spring largely only circulated in western and central Africa. (Ryan, 9/25)

Genome Web: CDC Announces $90M To Improve Innovation And Pathogen Genomics
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Friday that it has established a Pathogen Genomics Centers of Excellence (PGCoE) network with $90 million in funding support to five laboratories and their academic partners. (9/23)

Stat: Insurer Report On Medicare Advantage Savings Is Misleading, Experts Say
The health insurance industry is continuing its campaign to convince the public that Medicare Advantage saves taxpayers money, but experts say federal data still concludes the exact opposite — and that the program as currently designed is a drain on Medicare’s trust fund. (Herman, 9/26)

Modern Healthcare: CommonSpirit Health Loses Near $2B In 2022
The Chicago-based company's performance during the fiscal year that ended June 30 compares to a $5.19 billion net gain during the prior 12-month period. Operating expenses were up 9% to $35.2 billion and revenue rose 2% to $33.9 billion. CommonSpirit cited elevated labor costs, higher prices due to inflation, lower patient volumes and reimbursements that didn't keep pace with expenses as challenges. (Hudson, 9/23)

Bay Area News Group: Therapists On Strike Refuse Kaiser's Offer As Contract Dispute Enters Second Month
Any sign of a quick resolution to a month and a half long strike by Kaiser Permanente therapists evaporated late Saturday after union members overwhelmingly rejected a contract offer by the healthcare giant in a dispute over staffing and long wait times for those seeking mental health services. (Greschler, 9/25)

The Washington Post: Seniors Are Stuck Home Alone As Health Aides Flee For Higher-Paying Jobs
The country’s shortage of home-care workers has worsened, jeopardizing the independence of a generation of elderly Americans who had banked on aging in place rather than spending their twilight years in nursing homes. (Rowland, 9/25)

The New York Times: How A Hospital Chain Used A Poor Neighborhood To Turn Huge Profits 
In late July, Norman Otey was rushed by ambulance to Richmond Community Hospital. The 63-year-old was doubled over in pain and babbling incoherently. Blood tests suggested septic shock, a grave emergency that required the resources and expertise of an intensive care unit. But Richmond Community, a struggling hospital in a predominantly Black neighborhood, had closed its I.C.U. in 2017. It took several hours for Mr. Otey to be transported to another hospital, according to his sister, Linda Jones-Smith. He deteriorated on the way there, and later died of sepsis. (Thomas and Silver-Greenberg, 9/24)

The New York Times: They Were Entitled To Free Care. Hospitals Hounded Them To Pay
In 2018, senior executives at one of the country’s largest nonprofit hospital chains, Providence, were frustrated. They were spending hundreds of millions of dollars providing free health care to patients. It was eating into their bottom line. The executives, led by Providence’s chief financial officer at the time, devised a solution: a program called Rev-Up. Rev-Up provided Providence’s employees with a detailed playbook for wringing money out of patients — even those who were supposed to receive free care because of their low incomes, a New York Times investigation found. (Silver-Greenberg and Thomas, 9/24)

Bloomberg: GSK Will Be Helmed By Two Women As Drugmaker Hires Brown As CFO
GSK Plc hired Julie Brown as chief financial officer to work alongside Chief Executive Officer Emma Walmsley, putting two women in charge of the UK drugmaker -- a milestone in an industry dominated by men. (Fourcade, 9/26)

The Washington Post: Elijah McClain Died Of Ketamine Shot From Medics, Amended Autopsy Says
Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man whose death in 2019 after an encounter with police helped fuel calls for law enforcement accountability, died because paramedics injected him with a dose of ketamine that was too high for someone his size, according to an amended autopsy report publicly released Friday. The conclusion is a drastic departure from the original autopsy report, released several months after the fatal confrontation in Aurora, Colo., which said there was not enough evidence to determine how McClain died. (Hawkins, 9/24)

Bay Area News Group: San Mateo Care Home Faces Wrongful Death Suit After Second Resident Dies From Drinking Cleaning Fluid
A San Mateo assisted-living facility is facing a wrongful death lawsuit after a second resident died from drinking cleaning fluid that was mistakenly served as juice. Peter Schroder Jr. was 93 years old when he died Sept. 7, 13 days after he drank the fluid during breakfast at Atria Park of San Mateo, according to the suit. Trudy F. Maxwell, 93, also died after the incident. (Turner and Green, 9/24)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Encinitas May Extend No-Smoking Ban To Sidewalks And Streets
It may become illegal to smoke anywhere but on private property in Encinitas under a proposal that’s now undergoing city review. Acting on the recommendation of the city’s Environmental Commission, the City Council directed city staff to develop an ordinance that would expand the city’s current ban on smoking in public places to include sidewalks and roadways. The vote was 4-0, with Councilmember Kellie Hinze absent. (Henry, 9/25)

AP: After Rocky Start, Hopes Up In Oregon Drug Decriminalization 
Two years after Oregon residents voted to decriminalize hard drugs and dedicate hundreds of millions of dollars to treatment, few people have requested the services and the state has been slow to channel the funds. When voters passed the state’s pioneering Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act in 2020, the emphasis was on treatment as much as on decriminalizing possession of personal-use amounts of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs. (Selsky, 9/25)

AP: Murder Charge Dismissed Because Of Treatment Delays 
An Edmonds man’s first-degree murder charge in the death of his father was dismissed this week because of delays in his mental health treatment. Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Janice Ellis on Wednesday found John Fry’s continued wait for transport to Western State Hospital could violate his due process rights, The Herald reported. “His dangerousness is obvious, yet it is not appropriate to maintain him in the Snohomish County Jail without a reliable path towards restoration services,” Ellis said in court Wednesday. (9/23)

CIDRAP: H1N2v Flu Infects Georgia Swine Handler And Fairgoer
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today reported another variant H1N2 (H1N2v) flu infection, this time in a Georgia child. Like most of the other similar cases, the child had contact with pigs and had attended agricultural fairs before symptoms began. (9/23)

NBC News: Doctors Urge More Research Into Little-Known STI Linked To Infertility In Men And Women
Scientists have known for decades about mycoplasma genitalium, or M. genitalium or M. gen., a sexually-transmitted infection that may cause genital pain, bleeding and swelling, and has been linked to infertility and miscarriage. However, it wasn't until 2019 that the first Food and Drug Administration-approved test for M. gen. became commercially available. Many cases may be going undiagnosed and untreated, doctors warn. (Hopkins, 9/25)

NBC News: Frozen Embryos Linked To Increased Risk Of Hypertensive Disorders During Pregnancy, Study Finds
Undergoing in vitro fertilization using frozen embryos is linked to a greater risk of hypertensive disorders, including preeclampsia, during pregnancy, according to research published Monday in the journal Hypertension. (Sullivan, 9/26)

The Boston Globe: Aging Artificial Turf Fields May Carry Risk Of Head Injuries
Artificial athletic fields, nearly ubiquitous across big cities and small towns, have weathered a lot over the years and not just the legions of stampeding children. Critics have pointed to the extreme heat they generate on sunny days, when the surface can be more than 60 degrees hotter than the surrounding air or nearby natural grass. Studies have linked the unforgiving turf to a higher incidence of knee, ankle, and foot injuries. And there are a growing number of reports tying chemicals in artificial fields to environmental concerns. (Lazar, 9/24)

The Wall Street Journal: She Tried To Block Eating-Disorder Content On TikTok. It Still Pops Up Daily
Naomi Sanders tried to set up her TikTok account so she wouldn’t see videos about eating disorders, but she says they’re impossible to avoid. “I still see posts related to eating disorders on my feed at least three times a day,” says the 15-year-old high-school sophomore from Bellingham, Wash., who’s been struggling with unhealthy eating habits since middle school. Nine months after a Wall Street Journal investigation showed that TikTok’s algorithms were flooding teens’ For You pages with videos encouraging weight loss and disordered eating, there are still plenty of them on the platform. (Jargon, 9/24)