AP: Shots For Tots: COVID Vaccinations Start For Little US Kids
The nation’s infants, toddlers and preschoolers are finally getting their chance at COVID-19 vaccination as the U.S. rolls out shots for tots this week. Shipments arrived in some locations over the weekend and some spots, including a Walgreens in South Carolina and another in New York City, opened up appointments for Monday. (Tanner and Wang, 6/20)

USA Today: Youngest Americans Can Start Getting COVID-19 Vaccines Tuesday. Here's What Every Parent Should Know
COVID-19 vaccines for the youngest Americans will be available starting Tuesday. Though some parents can't wait to vaccinate their young children, others remain hesitant or adamantly opposed. In polling data from April, 18% of parents said they would vaccinate their young child right away, and 27% said they definitely wouldn't and 38% said they'd wait and see. The coronavirus has been less dangerous for children, especially small ones, than for older adults. That doesn't mean it's harmless. More than 200 children ages 1-4 have died from COVID-19, and 20,000 have been hospitalized with the disease. (Weintraub, 6/20)

Stat: CDC Endorses Pfizer, Moderna Covid Vaccines For Children Under 5
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Saturday that children as young as 6 months old receive Covid-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. The move follows an unanimous vote earlier in the day by an advisory panel of outside experts known as Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP. “Together, with science leading the charge, we have taken another important step forward in our nation’s fight against COVID-19. We know millions of parents and caregivers are eager to get their young children vaccinated, and with today’s decision, they can,” said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky in a statement. (Mast, 6/18)

Some parents are still leery —

The New York Times: Vaccines For Young Children Are Coming, But Many Parents Have Tough Questions
Sunny Baker, 35, a mother of two in Oxford, Miss., said she vaccinated her older daughter, Hattie Ruth, 5, at the first chance, and has been eagerly waiting for her 2-year-old daughter, Alma Pearl, to qualify. “Yes, yes, yes! We would love to be first in line,” she said. But Ms. Baker may very well be in the minority: A recent Kaiser Health poll found that only one in five parents will get their young children vaccinated immediately. Many plan to hold off for now. (Mandavilli, 6/18)

The Boston Globe: Local Parents Of Small Children Are Divided Over Whether To Get Them Vaccinated Against COVID
Katherine Haenschen told her 2-year-old son they will both be crying at the next visit to the pediatrician — the boy, because he’ll get stuck with a needle, and the mom because she’ll be overjoyed to finally protect him from COVID-19. “We put our children in car seats. We put safety covers over electrical outlets,” she said. “This is another piece of doing the best we can to protect our children.” But in her eagerness to vaccinate her child, Haenschen, a Northeastern University professor who lives in Brookline, may be in the minority among parents. (Freyer and Damiano, 6/20)

The Washington Post: Should My Child Get A Coronavirus Vaccine? Is It Safe? Here’s What You Should Know
The coronavirus does not typically cause serious illness in children, but they are still at risk. Data shows that of the more than 13.5 million children in the United States who have tested positive for the coronavirus, more than 40,000 have been hospitalized and more than 1,000 have died. To put that into better perspective: 188 children died of influenza during the 2019-2020 season — mostly before the pandemic, which brought about protective measures such as masking and social distancing. (Bever and Chiu, 6/18)

In updates from Florida, Massachusetts, Texas, and the Mid-Atlantic —

AP: White House: Florida Doctors Can Order Under-5 COVID Shots
Florida doctors will be able to order COVID-19 vaccines for children under 5 from the federal government, the White House said Friday, after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state would not order and distribute the shots in the state. The state was the only jurisdiction in the nation to decline to place advance orders for the pediatric shots, which received authorization from the Food and Drug Administration on Friday. Final authorization from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected in the coming days, clearing the way for the last remaining unvaccinated age group to obtain shots. The vaccines will be available to children as young as six months. (Miller, 6/17)

The Boston Globe: Starting Tuesday, Mass. Parents Can Book COVID-19 Vaccine Appointments For Their Children Under 5
Starting Tuesday, Massachusetts parents and guardians of children under 5 years old will be able to book appointments to get the youngsters COVID-19 vaccinations, after the CDC recommended the jab for kids as young as 6 months. The Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services said parents will have the ability to view available appointment locations on the vaxfinder.mass.gov website. The children are eligible to receive either the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, the agency said in a statement. The Pfizer shot for the youngest children is one-tenth of the adult dose, and three shots are needed. The first two are given three weeks apart, and the last at least two months later. (Andersen, 6/20)

Dallas Morning News: Dallas County Could Begin Vaccinating Kids Under 5 Tuesday Against COVID-19
Children under 5 could get their first COVID-19 vaccination as soon as Tuesday afternoon at county immunization clinics now that they have federal approval, said Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Dr. Philip Huang. “This is great news. Parents and kids have been waiting for this,” he told The Dallas Morning News. The federal Food and Drug Administration panel endorsed the safety of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines Wednesday for children as young as six months old. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention echoed the recommendation on Saturday, allowing providers to begin the immunizations. (Peterson, 6/20)

The Washington Post: FAQ: How To Get The Pediatric Coronavirus Vaccine In The D.C. Area
How will the pediatric vaccines be distributed in D.C., Maryland and Virginia? The Washington Post asked state and local health officials. (Chu and Cox, 6/20)

Stat: Medicare Could Have Saved Billions On Drugs If It Paid What Mark Cuban Charges At His New Pharmacy
Amid growing anger over the cost of medicines, a new analysis finds that Medicare could have saved billions of dollars if the federal agency had purchased generic drugs directly from the online pharmacy recently launched by billionaire investor Mark Cuban. Specifically, Medicare could have saved up to $3.6 billion in 2020 — or 37% of the $9.6 billion spent on 77 of 89 different prescription medicines. This assumed the health care program had purchased the maximum quantity for each prescription, or a 90-day supply. The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company did not offer any savings on the other 12 generic medicines. (Silverman, 6/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Buying From Mark Cuban’s Pharmacy Could Save Medicare Billions, Study Says 
Mr. Cuban, the billionaire internet entrepreneur and owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, launched his pharmacy in January with an eye toward disrupting the $365 billion U.S. prescription-drug market by sidestepping health-insurers and selling commonly used generic medicines directly to consumers with a transparent, fixed-rate markup pricing model. A group of Harvard Medical School researchers say that Mr. Cuban’s “cost plus” business model could also benefit health insurers, including Medicare, which spent an estimated $115.6 billion on prescription drugs last year, or nearly a third of total U.S. drug spending. (Walker, 6/20)

NBC News: Medicare Could Save Billions On Generic Drugs Buying At Mark Cuban's Prices
Cost Plus Drug offers certain generic drugs, such as the depression drug fluoxetine or blood pressure medication lisinopril, at discounted prices, by selling medications at a fixed markup of 15% plus a $3 flat fee, according to the company’s website. Cost Plus doesn't offer brand-name drugs or accept insurance, so patients pay for medications out of pocket. The study "does show that Medicare is overpaying for some of the generic drugs," said Dr. Hussain Saleem Lalani, a researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and the study’s lead author. "And this is a conservative estimate, so the actual savings are likely higher.” (Lovelace Jr., 6/20)

In other news about Medicare  —

Modern Healthcare: Hospitals Call Medicare Pay Proposal 'Woefully Inadequate'
The' proposed Medicare payment update for inpatient services is nowhere close to covering hospitals' rising costs, industry groups warn the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in comment letters. Hospitals are calling on CMS to make further upward adjustments to the fiscal 2023 inpatient prospective payment system rule to compensate for underpredictions from this fiscal year's rule and to eliminate a separate negative adjustment for the coming year. (Goldman, 6/20)

And in news about California's Medicaid program  —

KHN: Medi-Cal Will Cover Doulas At More Than Twice California’s Initial Proposed Rate 
California will cover doula services for low-income residents at more than twice the state’s initial proposed rate under a spending plan lawmakers passed last week. Some advocates welcomed the new benefit in Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid health insurance program, as a step toward professionalizing this group of nonmedical birth workers. They say better pay may encourage more people to become doulas. Other advocates, however, called it a partial victory, saying that the rate is still too low for the amount of time and work it takes to ensure healthy deliveries. (Bluth, 6/21)

The New York Times: Despite Another Covid Surge, Deaths Stay Near Lows 
For two years, the coronavirus killed Americans on a brutal, predictable schedule: A few weeks after infections climbed so did deaths, cutting an unforgiving path across the country. But that pattern appears to have changed. Nearly three months since an ultra-contagious set of new Omicron variants launched a springtime resurgence of cases, people are dying from Covid at a rate close to the lowest of the pandemic. (Mueller, 6/20)

In other news about the spread of covid —

AP: Biden Adviser Jake Sullivan Tests Positive For COVID-19 
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan tested positive on Saturday for COVID-19, according to the White House. Sullivan typically has frequent contact with President Joe Biden but last was in contact with the president early in the week, according to a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Sullivan had been keeping his distance from Biden after “a couple” of people he had been in close contact with had tested positive for the virus, the official said. (6/18)

AP: North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper Tests Positive For COVID-19 
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Monday that he has tested positive for COVID-19 but is continuing to work from home while experiencing mild symptoms. Cooper’s office released a statement saying that he has begun taking the antiviral pill Paxlovid to treat the virus. The statement said that he has been vaccinated and has had two booster shots. The governor said that he believes the shots helped ensure he’s only having mild symptoms. (6/20)

Stat: Smartphone Apps Promised To Help Combat Covid. How Well Did They Work?
When the pandemic hit, tech giants like Apple and Google as well as upstart technology companies marched out new tools aimed at curbing the crisis. Now, more than two years into the pandemic, we are getting a clearer answer to a crucial question: Did they work? A new review paper, published Monday in Nature Biotechnology, explores the wide range of apps rolled out to combat the pandemic by monitoring cases, tracking the virus’ spread, keeping tabs on symptoms, and more. Some of those apps brought clear benefits, while others fell short. They also sparked a bevy of questions about the role of technology in health care, including how best to preserve patient privacy. (Chen, 6/20)

Boise State Public Radio News: Mountain West Psychiatric Hospitals Report Few COVID Deaths, But Some Are Skeptical
State-run psychiatric hospitals have dozens of people coming in and then leaving days, weeks or months later. Surprisingly, most of these facilities in the Mountain West reported having far fewer COVID outbreaks and deaths than other group facilities. “As far as patients on unit, we didn't have any cases or anybody tested positive, until later on,” says Randy Rodriquez, administrator with Idaho’s State Hospital South, which has space for 110 adult patients. COVID cases at that hospital affected a total of 45 patients since the pandemic began, but there weren’t any multi-patient outbreaks reported until August 2021. And neither of the state’s two psychiatric facilities reported any COVID deaths as of late April. (Beck, 6/17)

North Carolina Health News: When A Loved One Dies At A Nursing Home, Families Face Mazes And Mirages In Search For Answers
After a staff member at an Arden nursing home registered positive for COVID on Sept. 16, 2020, the Oaks at Sweeten Creek waited for eight days to test its 84 residents for COVID as required according to state records. During the next four weeks, 53 residents of Oaks at Sweeten Creek and 18 staff tested positive for COVID-19. By the week of Oct. 18, federal records say, five residents had died from the disease caused by the SARS CoV2 virus that was sweeping the world. (Goldsmith, 6/21)

AP: Survey Looks At How COVID-19 Affected Hawaii Residents
A new report from the University of Hawaii provides a comprehensive look at how the COVID-19 pandemic affected Hawaii residents with their jobs, ability to buy food, their mental well-being and how vaccination status played a factor.“ Health Effects and Views of COVID-19 in Hawaii,” the first quarterly report from the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, looks at impacts that the pandemic had on people beyond the direct effects, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported. (6/20)

On pandemic politics —

Stat: On Covid Messaging, Biden Is Caught Between Politics And Public Health
When it comes to Covid-19, President Biden is walking a tightrope. The midterm elections are approaching, the economy is floundering, and the president’s approval rate is tanking. Looking for positives, the White House is taking pains to highlight its progress beating back the pandemic. But as Covid continues to spread at high rates, the administration is also working to remind Americans that the crisis isn’t over — and that things might get worse before they get better. The two messages may not mix well in terms of politics or public health. But the White House, experts say, is backed into a corner. (Facher, 6/21)

The Washington Post: Floridians Give Ron DeSantis Points For His Covid Stance. Will It Hold? 
Mark Schaefer is a moderate Republican who voted, reluctantly, for President Donald Trump in 2020. His wife, Deb Schaefer describes herself as a lifelong Democrat who supported President Biden. But when it comes to Florida politics, the couple is united in their excitement over Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. “We love him,” Deb Schaefer said outside her house in Jacksonville’s waterfront Riverside-Avondale Historic District. “He has made a huge difference in the quality of life here in Florida,” Deb said. “He took a big chance and kept things open [during the pandemic] … and I don’t want to see things shut down again.” (Craig, 6/20)

AP: Louisiana Gov. Edwards Vetoes 17 Recently Passed Bills 
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards on Monday vetoed 17 recently passed bills, including legislation that would toughen criminal sentences and ban government entities from denying building entry based on a person’s COVID-19 vaccine status. (Cline, 6/20)

AP: NYC Making Push To Get Fired Workers Vaccinated, Rehired
New York City is making a push to give city workers fired earlier this year for not getting the COVID-19 vaccine a chance to get their old jobs back — if they get fully vaccinated. ... Just short of 600 unvaccinated non-Department of Education workers are receiving a letter with details, and DOE employees are expected to receive a letter later in the summer, a city spokesperson said, adding that 97% of workers are vaccinated and that the goal has always been “vaccination rather than termination.” (6/19)

CIDRAP: WHO Focuses Less On Endemicity As Global Monkeypox Cases Top 2,500
As global monkeypox cases top 2,500, the World Health Organization (WHO) posted a monkeypox update and removed the distinction between endemic and non-endemic nations to reflect a "unified response." (Wappes, 6/20)

Science: Why The Monkeypox Outbreak Is Mostly Affecting Men Who Have Sex With Men 
Ever since monkeypox started sickening thousands of people worldwide this spring, two big questions have loomed: Why is a virus that has never managed to spread beyond a few cases outside Africa suddenly causing such a big, global outbreak? And why are the overwhelming majority of those affected men who have sex with men (MSM)? A long history of work on sexually transmitted infections and early studies of the current outbreak suggest the answers may be linked: The virus may have made its way into highly interconnected sexual networks within the MSM community, where it can spread in ways that it cannot in the general population. (Kupferschmidt, 6/20)

AP: New Jersey Reports First Probable Case Of Monkeypox
New Jersey has its first probable case of the monkeypox virus, according to the state Department of Health. The department announced Monday that a test confirmed the presence of orthopoxvirus in a person in northern New Jersey on Saturday. A further test to confirm the virus will be performed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (6/20)

CNN: First Probable Monkeypox Cases Reported In Missouri, Indiana
Two more states announced their first probable cases of monkeypox Saturday. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said the suspected case developed in a Kansas City resident who had recently traveled out-of-state. The Indiana Department of Health also said it was investigating a probable monkeypox case, but would not release the location of the patient, who they said was in isolation. (Rose and Ellis, 6/19)

Houston Chronicle: First Monkeypox Cases Reported In Houston Area
Two people in the region have tested positive for monkeypox, a viral disease with typically mild symptoms, public health officials with the City of Houston and Harris County announced Saturday. The Houston Health Department said a Houston resident who had recently traveled internationally had a confirmed case of monkeypox.Hours later, Harris County Public Health said an out-of-state resident who had visited Harris County recently also had a confirmed case. The out-of-state resident is already out of the region and back in their home state. (Webb, 6/18)

Stateline: Iowa Supreme Court Topples State's Constitutional Abortion Protections
The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s constitution does not guarantee the right to abortion, giving state lawmakers broad leeway to ban the procedure. The ruling came in a case that challenged an Iowa law requiring a 24-hour waiting period before a person could receive an abortion. That law now will be allowed to take effect. "All we hold today is that the Iowa Constitution is not the source of a fundamental right to an abortion necessitating a strict scrutiny standard of review for regulations affecting that right," the court ruled. (Vestal, 6/17)

How the Supreme Court's ruling could change the health care landscape —

Politico: What A Roberts Compromise On Abortion Could Look Like 
When the two sides in the abortion debate squared off at the Supreme Court last fall, they agreed on one thing: There was no middle ground. Now, any hope abortion rights supporters have of avoiding a historic loss before the court lies with Chief Justice John Roberts crafting an unlikely compromise. In the wake of POLITICO’s report last month on a draft majority opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, Roberts would have to convince at least one of his five Republican-appointed colleagues to sign on to a compromise ruling that would preserve a federal constitutional right to abortion in some form while giving states even more power to restrict that right. (Gerstein, 6/19)

The Washington Post: Dobbs Case Spurs Race To Teach Abortion Procedures In Medical Schools 
As he aborted 11 pregnancies at a clinic here one busy Friday this month, Aaron Campbell also was training a medical student in a procedure that soon could be outlawed in this state and many others. Case by case, he narrated the nuances of pelvic examination, pain-blocking injection, cervical dilation and, ultimately, the removal of embryonic or fetal tissue. (Anderson, 6/20)

The Boston Globe: Could An Abortion Ban Mean More Maternal Deaths?
In a post-Roe world, reproductive health specialists warn, more mothers are likely to die — not only from a return of unsafe illegal abortions but also from pregnancy itself, which leads to a surprising number of deaths in the United States. In 2020, 861 people died in childbirth or within 42 days of the end of their pregnancy, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last January. Women in the United States are more likely to die from childbirth or pregnancy-related causes than those in other developed countries. In 2020, the United States had the highest maternal mortality rate of 10 high-income countries, including Canada, France, and the United Kingdom. (Ebbert, 6/17)

Houston Chronicle: Overturning Roe V. Wade Poses Risk To Women With Complicated Pregnancies, Houston OB-GYN Warns
As the country waits for the Supreme Court to decide whether to overturn Roe v. Wade, many Texas health care workers are bracing for the toll that stricter abortion laws will take on women who face life-threatening complications in a wanted pregnancy. Already, the state’s restrictions extend beyond abortion clinics and into large medical institutions, where doctors face considerable legal hurdles when recommending termination to preserve the health of an expectant mother. “I feel like I’m practicing medicine with my hands tied behind my back,” said Dr. Judy Levison, a longtime Houston obstetrician-gynecologist. (Gill, 6/20)

Stat: Researchers Who Study Abortion Access Brace For Challenges To Their Work
Last September, Texas lawmakers passed the most restrictive abortion policy in the country. The state’s leading researchers on reproductive health care weren’t consulted when it was being crafted. But they started studying it the moment it passed. “We are getting a glimpse in Texas of folks who, because of the way that the laws are written, are not able to get evidence-based care and their health and well-being is being put at risk,” said Kari White, the director of the Texas Policy Evaluation Project at the University of Texas Austin, which published two studies on the consequences of the law just six months after it passed. (Gaffney, 6/21)

In more state news —

The Washington Post: Texas Teen Who Wanted An Abortion Now Has Twins 
Brooke Alexander found out she was pregnant late on the night of Aug. 29, two days before the Texas Heartbeat Act banned abortions once an ultrasound can detect cardiac activity, around six weeks of pregnancy. ... For many Texans who have needed abortions since September, the law has been a major inconvenience, forcing them to drive hundreds of miles, and pay hundreds of dollars, for a legal procedure they once could have had at home. But not everyone has been able to leave the state. Some people couldn’t take time away from work or afford gas, while others, faced with a long journey, decided to stay pregnant. Nearly 10 months into the Texas law, they have started having the babies they never planned to carry to term. (Kitchener, 6/20)

San Francisco Chronicle: This Is California’s Abortion ‘Desert.’ Here, Calls To Subvert State Law Are Growing Loud
Michelle Rivera didn’t think it would be easy to open a new Planned Parenthood clinic in one of the roughly 40% of California counties without an abortion provider. But the 31-year-old Central Valley sex-ed instructor didn’t expect quite so many kids holding “Little lives matter” posters at the Visalia City Council meeting. Or the antiabortion demonstrator sporting an entire sweatsuit scrawled in scripture. At least there’s security, Rivera thought, when clergy from nearby towns urged the council to “reject the arbitrary dictates of the state” and ban abortion in the city of 143,000 people. (Hepler, 6/19)

Nashville Tennessean: The Potential End Of Roe V. Wade And Trigger Bans Has Doctors Worried
On any given day, dozens of protestors converge outside the Knoxville Center for Reproductive Health, this East Tennessee city’s only abortion provider after an arsonist torched a nearby Planned Parenthood clinic on New Year’s Eve. The group has grown considerably in recent months, clinic staff say. As has the vehemence of their taunts and their pleas to patients to reconsider their choices. The clinic, which also provides breast cancer screenings, contraceptives and general gynecological care received a credible bomb threat last month. So, on one recent morning, even a cryptic warning from one of the protestors to a staffer to stay out of the building, especially today, was treated as a normal work day occurrence. No one is staying home. The clock is ticking. (Gluck, Clark and Yawn, 6/20)

Oklahoman: Planned Parenthood Network Connecting Patients, Abortion Providers Grows
They could be two friends getting together for a long weekend or perhaps neighbors grabbing a cup of coffee. However, the pair have never met. They've been brought together through Planned Parenthood Great Plains' patient navigation network created to help women in states like Oklahoma connect to abortion providers. It's an infrastructure that has recently been expanded in anticipation of the possible overturning of Roe v. Wade. Oklahomans have already been connected to abortion providers through the regional network, Anamarie Rebori-Simmons, a Planned Parenthood Great Plains spokeswoman said Friday. (Hinton, 6/18)

The New York Times: Dr. Paul M. Ellwood Jr., Architect Of The H.M.O., Is Dead At 95 
Dr. Paul M. Ellwood Jr., who changed the way millions of Americans receive private medical services by developing — and naming — the model for managed care known as the health maintenance organization, died on Monday in Bellingham, Wash. He was 95. His wife, Barbara Ellwood, said his death, at a care center, was caused by organ failure. Dr. Ellwood, who gave up practicing pediatric neurology in the late 1960s to devote himself to national health reform, was often called the father of the H.M.O., although many others made important contributions to the concept and some localized prepaid health plans had existed for decades. (McFadden, 6/20)

In other news about health care workers —

Southern California News Group: Walmart Hikes Pay For More Than 1,600 California Pharmacy Techs
Walmart has boosted hourly wages for its more than 36,000 Walmart and Sam’s Club pharmacy technicians, including more than 1,600 in California. The mega-retailer said it also plans to hire 5,000 additional pharmacy technicians this year. The pay hike took effect this week, raising their average wage to more than $20 an hour. The company has also committed to more frequent pay raises that will increase wages by up to $4 an hour for new hires over the next four years. Pharmacy techs will get raises every six months in their first two years with the company. (Smith, 6/20)

Crain's Detroit Business: With Worker Shortages Remaining, Hospitals Turn To Technology To Fill The Gaps
The great resignation in healthcare has been years in the making — COVID-19 just sped up the problem. Many healthcare workers left the industry during the pandemic to escape harsh conditions and growing responsibilities. Each worker that left meant another worker that had to pick up the slack. Burnout became synonymous with the job title "hospital worker," whether that worker was a nurse, paramedic or custodian. A job vacancy rate of roughly 17 percent persists at Michigan hospitals, leading to about 1,300 fewer patient beds available for the sick across the state compared to last year. "The reality is we knew even before the pandemic that we would have many people leaving the field," said Brian Peters, CEO of the Michigan Health & Hospital Association. "Demographics aren't on our side, and we're simply not training enough nurses, doctors, pharmacists, whatever to replace all those retiring in the coming years." (Walsh, 6/20)

St. Louis Public Radio: Father-Daughter Duo Work On Hearts As BJC Doctors 
Dr. Sophia Roberts didn’t have to look far for a role model. She’s a resident with Washington University at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, and she’s on the path to follow in her dad’s footsteps and become a cardiothoracic surgeon, working on hearts. Her dad, Dr. Harold Roberts, has been in medicine for more than 30 years. This past year, he joined his daughter at Barnes-Jewish. Only around 8% of cardiothoracic surgeons in the U.S. are women, but Sophia has known she’s wanted to be a surgeon ever since her dad took her to the operating room, at age 11. (Drake, 6/17)

AP: At Westminster Dog Show, New Focus On Veterinarians' Welfare 
The dogs get the spotlight, but the upcoming Westminster Kennel Club show is also illuminating a human issue: veterinarians’ mental health. In conjunction with a first-time Veterinarian of the Year award that will be presented on the show’s final day Wednesday, the club is giving $10,000 to a charity focused on veterinary professionals’ psychological welfare. It’s new emotional territory for the 145-year-old event at a point when the coronavirus pandemic, and a changing culture, have bared the internal struggles of people from schoolchildren to health care workers to college athletes and professional sports stars. (Peltz, 6/18)

And STAT investigates the dismissal of Black doctors from residency programs —

Stat: Black Residents Are Forced Out At Far Higher Rates Than White Doctors 
Rosandra Daywalker had always excelled. The daughter of Haitian and Jamaican parents in Miami — one an auto parts clerk, the other a nurse — she’d received a nearly perfect score on the SAT, earned a full academic scholarship to the University of Miami, graduated summa cum laude from Morehouse Medical School, and was inducted into the prestigious Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. Then came the icing on the cake: She matched into the elite and highly competitive specialty of otolaryngology, a field she’d fallen for after watching an elegant head-and-neck cadaver dissection in medical school. Standing on the stage during Morehouse’s Match Day festivities in 2015, Daywalker beamed. Her family could not have been more proud. The fact that fewer than 1% of otolaryngologists are Black seemed a distant concern. (McFarling, 6/20)

Stat: What Will It Take To Level The Playing Field For Black Residents? 
Black doctors are terminated from or leave their training programs in far higher numbers than white physicians, a problem that STAT reported this week has long been hidden and ignored by the medical establishment and contributes to the chronic lack of Black physicians, especially in the most elite fields of medicine. While the causes are complex and sometimes hard to nail down — and structural racism is embedded in medicine as in the rest of U.S. society — scholars and physicians working to address the issue say there are straightforward steps that residency programs and oversight bodies can take to make a difference. (McFarling, 6/21)

Bloomberg: Meta Sued Over Claims Patient Data Secretly Sent to Facebook
Meta Platforms Inc. was sued over claims that private medical data is being shared secretly with Facebook when patients access web portals for some health-care providers. Facebook’s Pixel tracking tool redirects patient communications and other supposedly “secure” information without authorization and in violation of federal and state laws, according to the lawsuit filed Friday in San Francisco federal court as a proposed class action on behalf of millions of patients. (Peng, 6/17)

The Markup: Facebook Is Receiving Sensitive Medical Information From Hospital Websites
A tracking tool installed on many hospitals’ websites has been collecting patients’ sensitive health information — including details about their medical conditions, prescriptions, and doctor’s appointments — and sending it to Facebook. The Markup tested the websites of Newsweek’s top 100 hospitals in America. On 33 of them we found the tracker, called the Meta Pixel, sending Facebook a packet of data whenever a person clicked a button to schedule a doctor’s appointment. The data is connected to an IP address — an identifier that’s like a computer’s mailing address and can generally be linked to a specific individual or household — creating an intimate receipt of the appointment request for Facebook. (Feathers, Fondrie-Teitler, Waller and Mattu, 6/16)

Modern Healthcare: Digital Health Companies Hit With Securities Fraud Suits
Shareholders have hit digital health companies with a spate of securities fraud lawsuits this year as once high-flying companies see share prices drop, and more could be on the horizon. It's common to see a rise in such complaints, across industries, when the stock market is down. But healthcare and life sciences companies may be more susceptible to litigation. "In the life sciences and healthcare areas, you have a lot of companies whose stock prices are volatile," said Jason Vigna, a litigator at law firm Mintz, who's defended companies in shareholder disputes. "Because of that, unfortunately, they get hit by these cases a little bit more." (Kim Cohen, 6/20)

On medical debt —

KHN: Medical Bills Can Shatter Lives. North Carolina May Act To ‘De-Weaponize’ That Debt
When Erin Williams-Reavis faced a $3,500 surgery bill, the hospital offered to let her pay in $300 monthly installments. It was too much, said Williams-Reavis, 44, who lives in Greensboro, about an hour west of the state capital. Her hours as a personal assistant had been cut, and she and her husband were behind on bills, even requesting a forbearance on their mortgage. In Charlotte, Patrick Oliver was stunned to receive a nearly $30,000 bill after a trip to the emergency room for numbness and burning in his hands and feet. When Oliver, 66, and his wife, Mary, couldn’t pay, the hospital sued them. The couple feared they’d lose their home. (Pattani, 6/21)

KHN: Journalists Dig Deep On Medical Debt And The Boundaries Of AI In Health Care 
KHN senior correspondent Noam N. Levey discussed America’s medical debt crisis on NPR’s “Morning Edition” on June 16. ... KHN Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth Rosenthal discussed whether the government is equipped to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in health care on WBUR’s “On Point” on June 10. (6/18)

KHN: Watch: Still Paying Off Bills From Twins’ Birth. The Kids Are 10 Now
Marcus and Allyson Ward carefully planned their finances before having children — but they owed $80,000 after their twins were born prematurely. Years later, after exhausting savings and retirement accounts, they are still paying off that debt. The family is among 100 million people in America systematically pushed into medical debt, according to an investigation by KHN and NPR. CBS consumer investigative correspondent Anna Werner interviewed the Wards for “CBS Mornings.” (6/17)

The Tennessean: Officials Warn Certain Populations Not To Eat Fish From Three Middle Tennessee Reservoirs
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation announced several precautionary fish consumption advisories Monday because of various health concerns, including elevated mercury levels. After conducting several tests in local reservoirs, officials issued advisories for three different lakes across the state, including in Davidson County. The advisories warn of elevated levels of mercury and/or polychlorinated biphenyls in fish tissues. (Mangrum, 6/20)

AP: California Trout To Be Euthanized After Bacteria Outbreak 
Nearly 350,000 rainbow trout must be euthanized as California wildlife officials battle bacteria outbreaks at two fish hatcheries in the eastern Sierra. The naturally occurring bacteria, Lactococcus petuari, was first detected in April at Black Rock and Fish Springs hatcheries in Inyo County, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a statement Monday. (6/21)

More about pollution —

Billings Gazette: Riverstone Health Offering Vaccinations To Carbon County Cleanup Workers
RiverStone Health will be offering tetanus and hepatitis A vaccines to people affected by recent floods in Carbon County this Thursday. In Fromberg, vaccines will be available from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the City Park. In Red Lodge, vaccines will be available from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Carbon County Fairgrounds. RiverStone Health will bill insurance providers for the vaccines. Those without health insurance will receive the vaccines at no charge. Hepatitis A vaccines are recommended for everyone working on flood cleanup, debris removal or handling flood waters. People doing flood cleanup who haven’t had a tetanus vaccine within the past 10 years are advised to get a booster shot. (6/20)

Colorado Sun: Colorado Spreads Biosolids Tainted With Forever Chemicals On Farms
Metro Denver’s wastewater treatment system is spreading sewage biosolids laced with toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” at its farm in eastern Arapahoe County and on private farms that buy the material as fertilizer, according to test records obtained by the Colorado Sun. The likely presence of the ubiquitous and dangerous chemicals on Colorado farmland, placed there through biosolids spread by Metro Water Recovery and more than 100 other municipal waste agencies, adds to a growing list of potential health threats and underscores the need for widespread testing, researchers and watchdog groups said. (Booth, 6/20)

AP: Court Rejects Trump-Era EPA Finding That Weed Killer Safe 
A federal appeals court on Friday rejected a Trump administration finding that the active ingredient in the weed killer Roundup does not pose a serious health risk and is “not likely” to cause cancer in humans. The California-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to reexamine its 2020 finding that glyphosate did not pose a health risk for people exposed to it by any means — on farms, yards or roadsides or as residue left on food crops. (Daly, 6/17)

A dangerous heat wave continues —

The Washington Post: Relentless Heat Wave To Intensify In South This Week
A stubborn and unrelenting dome of excessive heat and humidity is languishing over the Lower 48 for the third calendar week in a row, bringing record temperatures and heat index values pushing 110 degrees in spots. Heat advisories and excessive-heat warnings blanket the northern Plains, a prelude to even more intense heat pushing into the South and Southeast. (Cappucci, 6/20)

Axios: The Health Impacts Of Rising Temperatures
Extreme heat is increasingly taking a toll on children, pregnant people and other vulnerable populations, forcing authorities to roll out new strategies against an environmental threat that dwarfs floods, earthquakes and other natural disasters. Summers are becoming deadlier as climate change blankets millions in heat waves whose public health consequences were until recently not fully understood. “The problem with heat and drought is that until they get extreme, we don't really see the impact on the landscape that would typically trigger our risk response,” said Ashley Ward, senior policy associate at Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University. (Dreher, 6/21)

AP: Sweltering Streets: Hundreds Of Homeless Die In Extreme Heat
Hundreds of blue, green and grey tents are pitched under the sun’s searing rays in downtown Phoenix, a jumble of flimsy canvas and plastic along dusty sidewalks. Here, in the hottest big city in America, thousands of homeless people swelter as the summer’s triple digit temperatures arrive. The stifling tent city has ballooned amid pandemic-era evictions and surging rents that have dumped hundreds more people onto the sizzling streets that grow eerily quiet when temperatures peak in the midafternoon. A heat wave earlier this month brought temperatures of up to 114 degrees (45.5 Celsius) - and it’s only June. Highs reached 118 degrees (47.7 Celsius) last year. (6/20)

In related news about homelessness —

KHN: Sobering Lessons In Untying The Knot Of A Homeless Crisis 
Michelle Farris never expected to become homeless, but here she was, sifting through garbage and towering piles of debris accumulated along a roadway on the outskirts of Northeast Portland. Farris, 51, has spent much of her adult life in Oregon, and has vivid memories of this area alongside the lumbering Columbia River when it was pristine, a place for quiet walks. Now for miles in both directions, the roadside was lined with worn RVs and rusted boats doubling as shelter. And spilling out from those RVs, the trash and castoffs from this makeshift neighborhood also stretched for miles, making for a chaos that unnerved her. (Hart, 6/21)

CNN: Infant Safe Sleep Guidelines Updated, But Message Is Same: Put Baby Flat On Back, Alone
Co-sleeping under any circumstances is not safe for infant sleep, the American Academy of Pediatrics stressed Tuesday in the first update to its safe sleep guidelines for babies since 2016. "We know that many parents choose to share a bed with a child, for instance, perhaps to help with breastfeeding or because of a cultural preference or a belief that it is safe," said Dr. Rebecca Carlin, who coauthored the guidelines and technical report from the AAP Task Force on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and the AAP Committee on Fetus and Newborn, in a statement. "The evidence is clear that (co-sleeping) significantly raises the risk of a baby's injury or death," said Carlin, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. "For that reason AAP cannot support bed-sharing under any circumstances." (LaMotte, 6/21)

In other pediatric news —

The Boston Globe: Shipments Of Baby Formula Arrive At Logan Airport From London
Delta Airlines on Monday flew a large shipment of baby formula from London to Logan International Airport as the US continues to grapple with a formula shortage, according to the airline. “The first flight was today, June 20,” said Delta spokesperson Catherine Morrow via email Monday. A spokesperson for Massport, which runs Logan, referred questions to Delta. In a statement released June 10, the White House said the Biden administration had arranged the sixth Operation Fly Formula flight to US, with Delta transporting Kendamil formula free of charge from London to Logan in Boston and Detroit Metro Airport between June 20 and June 24. (Andersen, 6/20)

The Washington Post: More Kids Are Ingesting Melatonin. Here’s What Parents Should Know.
When Varun Vohra, director of the Michigan Poison & Drug Information Center at Wayne State University School of Medicine, noticed more cases involving children who had ingested the sleep aid melatonin, it prompted him to join forces with other experts who had observed a similar increase, and study the issue. But even the research team, which was made up of pediatricians and toxicologists, was surprised by the results: From January 2012 through December 2021, the annual number of pediatric ingestions of melatonin reported to poison control centers across the United States rose a whopping 530 percent, with a total of 260,435 ingestions reported over that time. (Chang, 6/20)

The 19th: What Is CMV? Parents Call For More Awareness On Cytomegalovirus
For Megan H. Pesch, doing everything possible to ensure the health of her third baby became a bit of an obsession. While pregnant, Pesch exercised, avoided changing her cat’s litter and put off getting highlights in hair, just in case the chemicals could have any effects. She even washed her hair with baking soda instead of commercial shampoo during the first trimester  — though she is quick to admit this is not an evidence-based recommendation. As a developmental and behavioral pediatrician with the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Pesch was better positioned than most people to understand the precautions she needed to take. (Norwood, 6/17)

Side Effects Public Media: When Children With Sickle Cell Grow Up, They Face A System Not Designed For Them
One night when Paul Gakpo was 9 months old, he fell sick and wouldn’t eat. His parents grew worried and rushed him to a nearby hospital the next morning. It was 1984. The doctors figured out baby Gakpo’s red blood cells were changing from the typical doughnut shape into the shape of a half moon, and what he was experiencing was a sickle cell disease pain crisis. “I had some damage done to my feet and my legs, and could have lost my legs,” Paul said. “But luckily they were able to save… my walking ability.” (Yousry, 6/20)

More health and wellness news —

Press Association: Can You Lose Weight Sleeping? New Diabetes Treatment Tests The Theory
People with type 2 diabetes could be helped to lose weight while they sleep with a new treatment method being tested by scientists. Researchers at the University of Portsmouth are seeking volunteers to try out the new system which will see if breathing lower amounts of oxygen (hypoxia) during sleep could lead to weight loss. The aim of the study is to investigate whether sleeping in special tents creating an environment of lower oxygen in the air is effective at improving blood glucose control and has an impact of weight loss. (Mitchell, 6/20)

The New York Times: Stress Might Age The Immune System, New Study Finds 
By now, most people know that stress can take a serious toll on mental and physical health. And when that stress is prolonged, studies suggest, it can increase the risk of certain health conditions like asthma, ulcers, heart attack and stroke. Now, new research suggests that certain types of stress can even age your immune system. (Seo, 6/17)

The Washington Post: After School Shootings, Teachers Struggle For Years With Trauma
One teacher from Connecticut stretches out her arms when she recalls what it was like to hold and corral her second-graders as they fled from a shooter at Sandy Hook Elementary School. A social studies teacher from Florida still remembers seeing three students’ bodies in the hallway as a SWAT team led her class out of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. A principal from Ohio can still hear the high school junior who told the teen who had shot him, “You don’t have to do this; you haven’t killed anybody.” Across the country, roughly 311,000 students who have experienced gun violence at school since the Columbine High shooting in Colorado in 1999, according to a database compiled by The Washington Post, including those in Uvalde, Tex., last month. But hundreds of educators, too, have come through this catastrophe. (Asbury, 6/20)

New Hampshire Public Radio: New Survey Finds About A Third Of Latinos Have Experienced Racial Discrimination During The Pandemic
The Pew Research Center recently published the results of a survey that shows Latinos in the United States experience racial discrimination from other Latinos in various ways: from comments about the color of their skin to criticism for speaking Spanish in public. Ana González-Barrera, an expert on immigration and border deportations who was part of the team that did the study, talked with the Que Hay team about it. (Lozada, 6/20)

On transgender issues —

The Wall Street Journal: International Swimming Bars Transgender Women From Competing In Women’s Events 
Swimming’s global governing body, FINA, barred almost all transgender women from competing in the women’s category in international events, departing from an approach that had previously allowed their participation if they could meet certain testosterone levels. FINA won’t allow swimmers who have gone through male puberty to participate in women’s events, regardless of their later actions to suppress testosterone. Some swimmers who have not undergone male puberty may also be required to manage testosterone levels under the policy, which takes effect Monday.  (Higgins and Radnofsky, 6/20)

Reuters: Explainer: How Will Swimming's New Transgender Rules Work? 
The new eligibility policy for FINA competitions states that male-to-female transgender swimmers (transgender women) are eligible to compete in women's competitions only if "they can establish to FINA's comfortable satisfaction that they have not experienced any part of male puberty beyond Tanner Stage 2 (of puberty) or before age 12, whichever is later". Typically boys will begin puberty at ages 11-12 and complete the process by 16-17. Tanner Stage Two is the second of five stages of puberty. While puberty timetables vary according to a number of factors, boys can have completed stage 2 and entered stage 3 by the age of 12 or 13. In some cases it may be earlier or later. (6/20)

Los Angeles Times: Californians Brace For Increased Healthcare Premiums If Federal Subsidies Expire
For the last two years, Syd Winlock has had a major burden lifted from his surgically repaired shoulder. Federal subsidies passed as part of a temporary pandemic relief package have drastically cut how much he pays in healthcare premiums, allowing the Sacramento-area small-business owner to purchase an insurance plan during the last two years that provided better coverage for his shoulder and knee replacements. Those federal subsidies, however, will expire at the end of this year if Congress does not extend the program. His “very manageable” price — about $700 a month for him and his wife — will increase to $2,300, Winlock said. (Gutierrez and Sosa, 6/20)

Detroit Free Press: Thousands Miss Out On HIV-Prevention Treatment In Michigan, Nationally
As many as 1.2 million Americans are candidates for prescription drug treatments that prevent HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, yet only about one-quarter of them got the medication in 2020, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At Detroit-based Henry Ford Health, the gap is even bigger. Of the roughly 4,000 patients who are eligible for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) within the health system, only 400, or 10%, are getting treatment. (Jordan Shamus, 6/20)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin LGBTQ People Struggle To Find Culturally Competent Therapist
When he first started seeing a new therapist years ago, Theo Lallaman knew from the décor alone he wouldn’t be able to come out to her as a trans man. Crosses, religious texts and similar iconography adorning the office felt too close to home for Lallaman, who felt silenced by the church growing up in Green Bay. A religious therapist conjured fears from his youth: being an outsider, a sinner and, worse, someone in need of conversion therapy, the practice of attempting to remove homosexuality, transgender or gender-nonconforming identity from a person's psyche. (Eilbert, 6/20)

Kansas City Star: Overland Park Therapy Dog Working In And Out Of Office
The Overland Park Crisis Action Team expanded last fall and gained more than just officers. Haven, the team’s therapy dog, joined the growing team and soon started helping out on calls. “She just melts people,” said Sgt. Stewart Brought, who leads the team, which is called OPCAT for short. Officer Justin Shepard, a member of the team, remembers when OPCAT was just him and one co-responder. Now, it has grown to four Crisis Intervention Team trained officers, six co-responders and Haven, with room for more. (Bond, 6/20)

On drug use —

AP: Newly Created Medical Marijuana Panel Holds First Meeting 
A newly appointed medical marijuana advisory team formed by Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear met for the first time on Monday. The agenda for the Kentucky Medical Cannabis Advisory Committee meeting included an overview of the panel’s responsibilities and a discussion about town hall meetings. The committee will travel around the state to gather views on the issue and provide feedback to the governor’s office. (6/20)

Louisville Courier Journal: Medical Marijuana In Kentucky: Your Guide To Andy Beshear's Committee
Gov. Andy Beshear has committed efforts to bring Kentuckians with chronic illnesses relief via medical cannabis, and he's seeking feedback from a new board to help guide his next steps. As proposed legislation in recent years has stalled in the General Assembly, Beshear established the Team Kentucky Medical Cannabis Advisory Committee earlier this month to gather feedback from Kentuckians and report back to the governor. Beshear in April noted he's considering an executive order to make medical marijuana available in the Bluegrass State. (Johnson, 6/21)

AP: House Approves Bill To Decriminalize Fentanyl Test Strips 
Test strips to help drug users identify fentanyl and other potentially deadly chemicals would no longer be classified as illegal paraphernalia under a bill passed unanimously by the Pennsylvania House on Monday. The legislation to amend the state’s Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act can help reduct overdoses, said the sponsor, Rep. Jim Struzzi, R-Indiana. (6/20)

Politico: ‘Untreated’: Patients With Opioid Addiction Could Soon Lose Access To Virtual Care 
Thousands of patients turning to online help for opioid addiction could soon lose access to life-saving services that rapidly expanded during the pandemic — even as opioid deaths reach record levels. A new crop of startups boomed when regulations eased in 2020, allowing patients to see medical practitioners from their homes and skip the in-person visits normally required to get a prescription for buprenorphine, a drug used to treat opioid dependence. (Mahr and Leonard, 6/20)

NBC News: Jewish Abortion Rights Advocates Use Religious Freedom Suit To Try To Save Access
The anti-abortion rights movement is largely faith based. Catholics and evangelical Christians argue that life begins at conception, and that fetuses have souls. On those grounds, they want to prevent anyone from obtaining abortion services. They’ve had a good deal of success with that recently. A leaked Supreme Court draft opinion suggests the high court is set to overturn Roe v. Wade, effectively gutting the constitutional right to abortion. In anticipation, many conservative states have passed sweeping anti-abortion legislation. (Noah Berlatsky, 6/18)

The New York Times: Putting Babies Up For Adoption Isn’t An Alternative To Abortion 
There’s a lot I don’t remember about giving birth to my first child. But I do remember 24 hours of back labor followed by two hours of pushing to no avail. I remember, through a high fever and the agony of exertion, my body shaking with hard chills when I heard the doctor say the words “emergency C-section.” I remember feeling a scalpel run along my midsection and screaming “Yes!” when asked if I was in pain and then “No” when asked if I would like to see my baby. No way did I want to meet my child for the first time under these circumstances. (Pamela Paul, 6/19)

The Washington Post: Adoption Is Not A Fairy-Tale Answer To Abortion
My biological mother became pregnant in the 1980s in South Korea, where abortion was illegal except in the rarest circumstances (and remained so until 2021). When she gave birth to me, there was no social safety net to help her. Although I’ll never know the details of how I ended up on a street at 7 weeks old, I do know my mother’s lack of choice played a large role. If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, pregnant people in the United States will face a similarly unconscionable lack of choice. And the consequences could be grievous for them and their children. (Cynthia Landesberg, 6/20)

Also —

The New York Times: What We Do — And, Frustratingly, Don’t — Know About Long Covid 
Depending on the data you look at, between 10 and 40 percent of people who get Covid will still have symptoms months later. For some, those symptoms will be modest. A cough, some fatigue. For others, they’ll be life-altering: Debilitating brain fog. Exhaustion. Cardiovascular problems. Blood clotting. This is what we call long Covid. It’s one term for a vast range of experiences, symptoms, outcomes. It’s one term that may be hiding a vast range of maladies and causes. So what do we actually know about long Covid? What don’t we know? And why don’t we know more than we do? (Ezra Klein, 6/21)

The Washington Post: Covid-19 Vaccines For Kids Under 5 Mean A New Phase Of The Pandemic 
With coronavirus vaccines finally available to the youngest Americans, the United States has reached an important turning point. Finally, children between 6 months and 4 years of age and their families can join the rest of the country in the new normal. And this campaign marks the beginning of treating covid-19 as an endemic infection handled through the routine health-care system. (Alyssa Rosenberg, 6/20)

Stat: How The LGBTQ+ Community Can Improve Health Care For Everyone 
The brewing monkeypox outbreak that’s raising health alarms in the LGBTQ+ community comes on the heels of the still-mysterious long Covid being compared to HIV, with strikingly similar implications. It all brings back disquieting memories of the early 1980s, neatly captured in an infamous New York Times headline: “Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals.” Long Covid and monkeypox are very different diseases from HIV, but the lessons of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, many of them learned through suffering and death, can offer a pathway to better health care for everyone, including people with Covid, cancer, and even monkeypox. (Frederick Isasi, 6/20)

Los Angeles Times: Why Is It So Hard To Get Healthcare As A Trans Cancer Patient? 
Nobody can know what it is like to be a cancer patient without actually having cancer. Before I was diagnosed, I had proximity to cancer patients and experiences in healthcare that I thought gave me insight. In some ways they did. Yet although I had previously experienced discrimination for being transgender, nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to endure as a trans cancer patient. The abusive treatment I have experienced makes clear how having cancer and being trans are stigmatized in our healthcare system. (Lex Rivers, 6/20)

The Washington Post: Baby Formula Supply Shortages Continue As Key Problems Remain 
The baby formula crisis is still here, and the latest data shows an alarming sign that it is getting worse. The in-stock rate for powdered baby formula was 76.5 percent for the week ending June 12, according to research firm IRI. That’s down from 79 percent in early May, when the shortage became a major story. In yet another blow, Abbott Nutrition once again had to halt production at its infamous Michigan plant that produces specialty formula after severe thunderstorms caused flooding in the plant. (6/19)

Chicago Tribune: We Should Heed The Warning Behind Monkeypox
Monkeypox is a viral disease, distantly related to its far more deadly cousin, smallpox. So far this year, it has been discovered in dozens of countries that are generally not familiar with monkeypox, with about 113 cases in the U.S., 15 of them in Illinois. First documented in people in Africa in 1970, monkeypox has probably been circulating in central and west Africa for decades. It gained its name because it was originally discovered in monkeys. (Cory Franklin and Robert A. Weinstein, 6/20)

Also —

The Boston Globe: Fund Behavioral Health Clinics To Avoid The ER Boarding Crisis 
Much has been said recently about the state’s behavioral health boarding crisis: Patients who arrive at a hospital emergency department in crisis can be kept there for days or even weeks waiting for a psychiatric bed to become available. Rather than addressing only the lack of pediatric and adult psychiatric inpatient beds, policy makers would be wise to strengthen the system’s front end — the behavioral health clinics where patients often first seek treatment before their illness becomes acute. These outpatient sites are beset with a number of challenges, including the most constrained workforce in decades and reimbursement rates, from both public and private health plans, that are inadequate to both retain and recruit clinical staff. (Lydia Conley, 6/20)

Columbus Dispatch: Pandemic Has Detrimental Effect On Children's Mental Health
As parents across Ohio know well, the COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching negative impacts on the health and well-being of children and their families. Increased isolation, economic instability, and gaps in in-person education have had detrimental effects on early childhood and school-age mental and behavioral health. The full extent of the pandemic’s impact will take time to discern. However, it is clear that our youngest Ohioans and their families have been and are in crisis. Nearly seven in 10 Ohio parents with children under age 5 said they are worried about the mental or emotional health of their children. Only two out of five Ohio children were ready for kindergarten during the 2020-21 school year. (Shannon Jones, Nick Lashutka and Lisa A. Gray, 6/18)

Newsweek: Guns And Mental Illnesses Don't 'Cause' Mass Shootings. Poor Access To Care Does 
Once again, Americans are reeling from the shock and horror of a mass shooting at an elementary school. The tragedy in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 children dead, is horrifying. But despite the statements of many politicians, it is not unimaginable. In fact, as of early June, there have been 33 additional mass shootings across the country since the Uvalde tragedy. Still, the scale of the violence and the youth of the victims in Uvalde has left many incredibly shaken, searching for both explanations and solutions. (Tamir Aldad, 6/20)

Scientific American: Why Social Media Makes People Unhappy--And Simple Ways To Fix It 
Disrupted sleep, lower life satisfaction and poor self-esteem are just a few of the negative mental health consequences that research has linked to social media. Somehow the same platforms that can help people feel more connected and knowledgeable also contribute to loneliness and disinformation. What succeeds and fails, computer scientists argue, is a function of how these platforms are designed. Amanda Baughan, a graduate student specializing in human-computer interaction, a subfield of computer science, at the University of Washington, believes that interdisciplinary research could inform better social platforms and apps. At the 2022 Association for Computing Machinery Computer-Human Interaction (CHI) Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in May, she presented findings from a recent project that explored how social media triggers what psychologists call “dissociation,” or a state of reduced self-reflection and narrowed attention. Baughan spoke with Mind Matters editor Daisy Yuhas to explain how and why apps need to change to give the people who use them greater power. (Daisy Yuhas, 6/20)