AP: Wyoming Governor Signs Measure Prohibiting Abortion Pills 
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon has signed into law the nation’s first explicit ban on abortion pills since they became the predominant choice for abortion in the U.S. in recent years. Gordon, a Republican, signed the bill Friday night while allowing a separate measure restricting abortion to become law without his signature. (Gruver, 3/18)

CNN: Wyoming Outlaws Abortion Pills
Republican Gov. Mark Gordon signed a bill making it a felony to prescribe, sell, or use “any drug for the purpose of procuring or performing an abortion.” Violators could face up to six months in prison and a $9,000 fine.The legislation takes effect July 1. A leading abortion-rights advocate said Wyoming’s explicit prohibition of the pills is unique. “There’s no stone that anti-choice extremists will leave unturned as they seek to do everything they can to ensure that abortion is banned across the nation,” NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju said in a statement Saturday. “This first-of-its-kind ban on medication abortion, as well as the total ban, are just the latest proof.” (Croft, 3/18)

Vox: Wyoming Banned The Abortion Pill And Some States Want To Go Further. 
Wyoming has attempted to enact anti-abortion legislation since before Dobbs was decided; Gov. Mark Gordon signed the contested abortion ban into law last March. That law, still held up by the courts, would ban all abortion except in the case of rape or incest, or if the pregnancy posed a serious risk to the mother’s health. In issuing a preliminary injunction, the judge in the case found the law to be too vague, and that it likely violates the state’s constitutional right to healthcare. Wyoming’s ban on mifepristone depends on the Life is a Human Right act, which goes into effect Sunday and circumvents the constitution by claiming abortion isn’t actually medical care — otherwise, it would be subject to the same constitutional critique as last year’s trigger ban. (Ioanes, 3/19)

More on last week's hearing in Texas over the legality of abortion pills —

The Texas Tribune: Comstock Act Revived In FDA Abortion Drug Case
In an Amarillo courthouse last week, lawyers seeking to move abortion medication off the market focused less on the existential question of when life begins — and more on the procedural question of when a law dies. The lawsuit focuses on the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, an abortion-inducing drug. But lawyers for the Alliance Defending Freedom took the opportunity to appeal to a higher power — U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk — to resurrect a long-dormant law that would upend abortion access in the United States. (Klibanoff, 3/20)

NPR: Read The Transcript: What Happened Inside The Federal Hearing On Abortion Pills
Only a few dozen members of the public and the media were allowed inside the small courtroom on Wednesday presided over by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who has longstanding ties to conservative groups. The judge heard four hours of testimony from lawyers for a coalition of anti-abortion-rights groups called the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, which is challenging the drug's approval, and from government lawyers representing the Food and Drug Administration. Recording also was prohibited in the courtroom, so this transcript is the first chance for most members of the public to learn directly what was said. (McCammon, 3/17)

KHN: Judge Signals He Could Rule To Halt Sales Of Common Abortion Pill 
During a four-hour hearing last week that could eliminate nationwide access to a common and widely used abortion pill, federal Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, of the Northern District of Texas, signaled his conservative Christian beliefs early and often. Speaking from the bench in a courtroom in Amarillo, Texas, Kacsmaryk repeatedly used language that mimicked the vocabulary of anti-abortion activists. It also reflected the wording of the lawyers seeking to overturn the FDA’s two-decade-old approval of mifepristone, one of the drugs in the two-pill regimen approved for early pregnancy termination. (Varney, 3/20)

In related legal news —

Vox: Anti-Abortion Lawyers Want To Weaken The Protection Of A Court Injunction 
Until very recently, nearly everyone accepted some basic ideas about the American legal system. If a state passes a law, and that law is challenged in court, we should act as if that law is still in effect while the case works its way through the court system. That changes only if a judge issues a “preliminary injunction” blocking the law while the lawsuit plays out or a “permanent injunction” to strike the law down. In that case, we all act as if the law is not in effect. But in recent years, an aggressive wing of the anti-abortion movement has been working to challenge this broadly held idea of legality — a push that has attracted little notice, but is further complicating the debate over abortion access. (Cohen, 3/20)

Fox News: Idaho Hospital Blames Abortion Politics For Closing Of Labor And Delivery Department
An Idaho hospital made the decision to axe its labor and delivery department, saying the "political climate" made it too difficult to keep it staffed. "Highly respected, talented physicians are leaving. Recruiting replacements will be extraordinarily difficult," Bonner General Health, located in Sandpoint, Idaho, said in a social media post Friday. "The Idaho Legislature continues to introduce and pass bills that criminalize physicians for medical care nationally recognized as the standard of care. Consequences for Idaho Physicians providing the standard of care may include civil litigation and criminal prosecution, leading to jail time or fines." (Lee, 3/19)

Idaho Capital Sun: Citing Staffing Issues And Political Climate, North Idaho Hospital Will No Longer Deliver Babies 
Idaho’s Bonner General Health, the only hospital in Sandpoint, announced Friday afternoon that it will no longer provide obstetrical services to the city of more than 9,000 people, meaning patients will have to drive 46 miles for labor and delivery care moving forward. “We have made every effort to avoid eliminating these services,” said Ford Elsaesser, the hospital’s board president, in a news release. “We hoped to be the exception, but our challenges are impossible to overcome now.” ... Idaho has one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country, with affirmative defenses in court only for documented instances of rape, incest or to save the pregnant person’s life. Physicians are subject to felony charges and the revocation of their medical license for violating the statute, which the Idaho Supreme Court determined is constitutional in January. (Moseley-Morris, 3/17)

Bonner County Daily Bee: BGH Shutters Labor, Delivery Services 
The hospital will be unable to provide pediatrician coverage to manage neonatal resuscitations and perinatal care on a consistent basis as of May. That makes it unsafe and unethical to offer routine labor and delivery services. The hospital has reached out to active and retired providers for help with pediatric call coverage, but has been unable to come up with a long-term, sustainable solution. With an aging population, the number of deliveries at Bonner General has steadily declined. In 2022, the BFH delivered 265 babies and admitted fewer than 10 pediatric patients. (Lobsinger, 3/18)

On protecting abortion providers in Vermont and New Mexico —

AP: Vermont Senate Passes Bill To Protect Abortion Providers 
The Vermont Senate on Friday passed a bill that aims to protect health care workers from disciplinary action for providing abortions and gender-affirming health care, and change insurance premium charges related to such care. The legislation defines reproductive and gender-affirming health care as legally protected “health care activities.” (3/17)

AP: New Mexico Passes Bill To Safeguard Abortion Providers 
New Mexico legislators raced against the clock Friday to advance hard-fought proposals aimed at safeguarding abortion access, delivering tax relief and reducing gun violence in the final hours of a 60-day legislative session. Republicans in the legislative minority raised a series of objections during a House floor debate to a bill that aims to protect abortion providers and patients from out-of-state interference, prosecution or extradition attempts. (Lee, 3/18)

Abortion news from South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas —

NBC News: 9 Republicans Pull Support Of South Carolina Anti-Abortion Bill
Nine South Carolina Republicans who had co-sponsored one of the most severe anti-abortion proposals in the country have since withdrawn their support, reversing course on a measure that proposed applying the state’s homicide laws to people who undergo abortions. The legislation, which had 24 co-sponsors — all Republicans — since its introduction in January, lost support from nine of them in recent weeks. (Richards, 3/18)

The Guardian: How Close To Death Must A Woman Be To Get An Abortion In Tennessee?
Months after the implementation of the most stringent abortion ban in the country, conservative lawmakers in Tennessee have publicly acknowledged that the state’s ban poses grave risks to the lives of women. Now a political debate over how to change the law is centered on questions that would have been considered unthinkable before last June’s reversal of Roe v Wade: like how close to death a woman must be before a doctor may legally treat her if it means terminating her pregnancy, and whether women should be forced to carry embryos with fatal anomalies to term. (Kirchgaessner, 3/20)

ABC News: Texas Abortion Law Means Woman Has To Continue Pregnancy Despite Fatal Anomaly
Kylie Beaton was looking forward to having her second child later this year. Now, she's faced with carrying an unviable pregnancy to its end due to Texas' highly restrictive abortion ban. According to a report from her doctor, Beaton's baby has a rare, severe condition impacting the development of its brain, but she is unable to access abortion care in her home state. (El-Bawab, 3/20)

In related news about elections —

AP: Trump Silent On Abortion As '24 Campaign Pushes Forward 
No elected Republican has done more to restrict abortion rights in the U.S. than Donald Trump. But in the early days of the 2024 presidential contest, no Republican has worked harder to avoid the issue than the former president. Far more than his GOP rivals, Trump is sidestepping the issue just nine months after he and his party celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision to strip away women’s constitutional right to abortion. Look no further than Trump’s trip to Iowa last week for evidence of his delicate balancing act. (Peoples, 3/20)

Politico: Abortion On The Ballot? Not If These Republican Lawmakers Can Help It
After watching the pro-abortion rights side win all six ballot initiative fights related to abortion in 2022 — including in conservative states such as Kansas and Kentucky — conservatives fear, and are mobilizing to avoid, a repeat. “It was a wake-up call that taught us we have a ton of work to do,” said Kelsey Pritchard, the state public affairs director for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which plans to spend tens of millions of dollars on ballot initiative fights on abortion over the next two years. “We’re going to be really engaged on these ballot measures that are often very radical and go far beyond what Roe ever did.” (Ollstein and Messerly, 3/19)

Reuters: WHO, Advisors Urge China To Release All COVID-Related Data After New Research
Advisors to the World Health Organization have urged China to release all information related to the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic after new findings were briefly shared on an international database used to track pathogens. New sequences of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as well as additional genomic data based on samples taken from a live animal market in Wuhan, China in 2020 were briefly uploaded to the open access GISAID database by Chinese scientists earlier this year, allowing them to be viewed by researchers in other countries, according to a Saturday statement from the WHO's Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO). (3/18)

CIDRAP: WHO Presses China To Share Previously Undisclosed SARS-CoV-2 Market Samples
Following a fleeting appearance of SARS-CoV-2 sequences from environmental swabs from the Wuhan market that was the early outbreak epicenter, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) today repeated its call for China to share virus information with the WHO and the scientific community. (Schnirring, 3/17)

Vox: The Key To Covid’s Origin Lies In Beijing, Not Wuhan
There’s one entity that is best poised to answer one of the most important scientific questions of our time: How did the Covid-19 pandemic originate? ... It’s the Chinese government — and that, more than any other fact, is why it looks increasingly unlikely that we’ll ever find an answer that all parties can agree on to the question of what caused the worst pandemic in a century. That’s one main takeaway from several media reports published over the past day about a new analysis of genetic data taken from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, where the first human cases of Covid-19 emerged more than three years ago. The analysis, first reported by the Atlantic, shows that raccoon dogs that were being illegally sold in the market may have been carrying the novel coronavirus at the end of 2019.(Walsh, 3/18)

The New York Times: Lab Leak Or Not? How Politics Shaped The Battle Over Covid’s Origin
The story of the hunt for Covid’s origin is partly about the stonewalling by China that has left scientists with incomplete evidence, all of it about a virus that is constantly changing. For all the data suggesting that the virus may have jumped into people from wild animals at a Chinese market, conclusive proof remains out of reach, as it does for the competing hypothesis that the virus leaked from a lab. But the story is also about politics and how both Democrats and Republicans have filtered the available evidence through their partisan lenses. (Stolberg and Mueller, 3/19)

WebMD: WHO Leader Expects End Of COVID Pandemic In 2023
The leader of the World Health Organization said Friday that he expects the organization to declare an end to the COVID-19 pandemic later this year because statistics on the virus keep declining. “I am confident that this year we will be able to say that COVID-19 is over as a public health emergency of international concern,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at a Geneva briefing. For the first time, the weekly number of reported COVID deaths over a four-week period was lower than when WHO declared COVID a global pandemic three years ago. (Ellis, 3/18)

Fox News: COVID-19 Pandemic Expected To End This Year 'As A Public Health Emergency,' Says World Health Organization 
Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the comments to reporters at a media briefing in Geneva. "We are certainly in a much better position now than we have been at any time during the pandemic," Dr. Ghebreyesus said. (Rudy, 3/19)

More on the spread of covid —

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID-19 Deaths Hit 3-Year Low As U.S. Cases And Hospitalizations Fall
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s weekly coronavirus report released on Friday — the fourth-to-last before the report is discontinued — the number of reported cases in the U.S. decreased by 19.7% to 21,422 a day, compared with 26,685 in the previous week. The seven-day average for new hospital admissions was down 9.5% — 2,757 a day versus 3,046 last week. That compares with a peak of 22,000 per day during the omicron surge in early 2022. (Vaziri, 3/17)

Reuters: U.S. Senate Democrat Durbin Tests Positive For COVID, Will Quarantine
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, the chamber's No. 2 Democrat, said on Sunday that he will quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19, adding to a number of lawmakers from both parties who have been absent from the Senate. (3/19)

San Francisco Chronicle: If You Still Haven’t Had COVID, Are You Immune — Or Just Lucky?
The estimated percentage of people who have contracted the coronavirus ranges from 70% to 90% of the U.S. population, but it’s unclear how many have truly not been infected, as asymptomatic infections and at-home testing have muddied the waters. (Hwang, 3/19)

AP: Judge Won't Toss Lawsuit Over Ivermectin In Arkansas Jail 
A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit that says detainees at an Arkansas jail were given the drug ivermectin to fight COVID-19 without their knowledge. The lawsuit contends detainees at the Washington County Jail in Fayetteville were given ivermectin as early as November 2020 but were unaware until July 2021. Ivermectin is approved by the Food and Drug Administration to address parasitic infestations such as intestinal worms and head lice and some skin conditions, such as rosacea. It is not, and was not at the time, approved to treat COVID-19. (3/18)

CBS News: "COVID-Somnia" And The Impact Of Long COVID On Sleep
When Priya Mathew recovered from a mild case of COVID-19 in November, she thought she was out of the woods. Then came long COVID. "At one point I counted 23 symptoms," Mathew told CBS News. "The most alarming ones were shortness of breath, labored breathing, heart palpitations." One of the most crippling symptoms? Insomnia. (George and Moniuszko, 3/17)

In other pandemic news —

The New York Times: Covid Politics Leave A Florida Public Hospital Shaken
The turmoil at Sarasota Memorial, one of Florida’s largest public hospitals, began last year after three candidates running on a platform of “health freedom” won seats on the nine-member board that oversees the hospital. Board meetings, once sleepy, started drawing hundreds of angry people who, like the new members, denounced the hospital’s treatment protocols for Covid-19.An internal review last month found that Sarasota Memorial did far better than some of its competitors in saving Covid patients’ lives. But that did little to quell detractors, whose campaign against the hospital has not relented. By then, the hospital had become the latest public institution under siege by an increasingly large and vocal right-wing contingent in one of Florida’s most affluent counties, where a backlash to pandemic policies has started reshaping local government. (Mazzei, 3/19)

Reuters: Veterans, Carpenters And Vaccines: What's At Stake If US COVID Aid Is Canceled
A Republican proposal to cancel unspent COVID-19 relief money could undercut healthcare for military veterans and pensions for blue-collar workers while doing little to improve the U.S. fiscal picture, a Reuters review of federal spending figures found. The flood of COVID-relief aid -- $5.2 trillion in all -- that Congress approved in 2020 and 2021 under Republican President Donald Trump and his Democratic successor Joe Biden has emerged as an early target for House of Representatives Republicans as they search for ways to rein in federal spending. (Sullivan, 3/17)

Stat: Moderna CEO Made $398 Million In 2022
Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel is starting to reap gargantuan gains from the stock he first got when he started with the company a decade ago, although nearly all of this chunk of his fortune remains earmarked for unknown charities. Bancel made $398 million in 2022 based on the actual realized gains of stock that was exercised and sold, according to STAT’s calculations from Moderna’s annual compensation disclosure filed this week. (Herman and Garde, 3/17)

Reuters: Vaccine Makers Prep Bird Flu Shot For Humans 'just In Case'; Rich Nations Lock In Supplies 
Some of the world's leading makers of flu vaccines say they could make hundreds of millions of bird flu shots for humans within months if a new strain of avian influenza ever jumps across the species divide. One current outbreak of avian flu known as H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b has killed record numbers of birds and infected mammals. Human cases, however, remain very rare, and global health officials have said the risk of transmission between humans is still low. (Rigby, 3/20)

Reuters: Two New Vaccines Against Bird Flu Effective In Dutch Lab -Govt 
Two vaccines tested by a Dutch veterinary research centre have proved effective against highly infectious bird flu in a first experiment conducted under a controlled environment, the Dutch government said on Friday. "Not only did the vaccines give poultry used in the lab protection against disease symptoms but they also countered the spreading of the bird flu," the government said in a statement. (3/17)

CIDRAP: H5N1 Avian Flu Found In UK Dolphins, Swedish Porpoise 
Two European countries reported more H5N1 avian flu detections in sea mammals, including two dolphins found dead in the United Kingdom and a stranded porpoise showing symptoms in Sweden. The detections follow outbreaks in seals in North America and sea lions in Peru. (Schnirring, 3/17)

In other health threats —

CIDRAP: Report Describes Locally Acquired Dengue Cases In Arizona 
Local scientists and their colleagues from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) detail two cases of locally acquired dengue virus (DENV) infection in November 2022 in Maricopa County, Arizona, according to a report today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). (Wappes, 3/17)

KUNM: Mountain West’s Dry Climates Allow Some Airborne Viruses To Live Twice As Long, Study Finds
Humidity can play a big role in how long airborne viruses can survive, according to a new study out of the University of Colorado Boulder. Researchers released airborne particles of a coronavirus similar to the one that causes COVID-19 into chambers with different levels of humidity. They found the particles remained infectious for twice as long in dry environments – like those in much of the Mountain West. (Gibson, 3/17)

The Boston Globe: Tick-Borne Disease Babesiosis Now Considered Endemic In Northern New England
Cases of a tick-borne disease called babesiosis have significantly increased in three New England states, where the illness is now considered endemic, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC concluded that babesiosis is now endemic in New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont based on case numbers documented between 2011 and 2019. (Crimaldi, 3/19)

Axios: What To Know About The Antibiotic-Resistant Shigella Bacteria
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month warned about an increase in cases of the drug-resistant bacterial infection Shigella. There are an estimated 450,000 infections in the U.S. each year. The percentage of shigellosis that were resistant to antibiotic treatments increased from 0% in 2015 to 5% in 2022, per the CDC. (Doherty, 3/19)

The Washington Post: Working In The ER Used To Be A Cool Job. Now Medical Students Shun It.
Daryl Traylor dreamed of becoming an emergency room doctor ever since working as an ER technician in the mid-90s helping physicians care for children who broke their arms or nearly drowned. But now he’s a first-year medical student, and those same doctors are urging Traylor not to follow in their footsteps. They warn of burnout after covid and patients’ increasing suspicion of doctors. The pay is not as good, they say, especially as hospitals rely more on nurse practitioners and physician assistants to staff emergency departments. And job prospects may be grim, they caution, as emergency medicine residency programs aggressively expanded in recent years. (Nirappil, 3/17)

Axios: Future Doctors Match Into Residencies
More medical school graduates are steering away from emergency medicine and opting for specialties like orthopedics and plastic surgery, raising concern about a field that bore the brunt of COVID-19 and remains beset by the overdose epidemic and other health crises. (Dreher and Reed, 3/20)

American Medical Association: Over 40,000 Land Spots On Match Day. What Are This Year’s Trends? 
Following a trend observed for half a decade, the 2023 Main Residency Match again broke a record for offering the largest number of total positions in the program’s 70-year history: 40,375 certified spots. (Henry, 3/17)

CBS News: Match Day: Future Brain Surgeon Makes History At UPenn
The moment medical students wait for, Match Day for residency programs. For Canada Montgomery, she'll be staying at the University of Pennsylvania, her first choice. "It was very emotional," Montgomery said. "I was shocked." Her residency will be in neurosurgery. ... Montgomery will be one of only 31 Black female neurosurgeons in the United States. (Stahl, 3/17)

In other news about health care workers —

The Boston Globe: Medical Residents At Mass General Brigham Could Soon Unionize. Here’s Why
Medical residents and fellows at the state’s largest health system are preparing to unionize, frustrated that their salaries have not kept pace with the rising costs of housing and child care. If successful, the effort would create one of the largest unions of medical residents and fellows in the country, part of a wave of such unionizations. (Bartlett, 3/18)

St. Louis Public Radio: St. Louis Clinics Report Shortage Of Medical Interpreters
Medical providers in St. Louis are having trouble finding people with the knowledge and language skills to be interpreters, a critical need for clinics and hospitals. Even finding interpreters for Spanish and other widely spoken languages can be taxing, said workers at local clinics. (Fentem, 3/17)

Oklahoman: Mental Health Advocates Protest Proposed Rule To Share Patients' Data
Mental health providers are demonstrating their opposition to a proposed state rule that would require them to share patient names and diagnoses information to regulators and other health professionals through a health information exchange. About 500 providers and patients gathered Saturday at noon outside of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, which will consider adopting a revised rule that would require those disclosures when it meets at 2 p.m. on March 22. (Money, 3/18)

Indianapolis Star: Indiana State Senator Sued In Wrongful Death Lawsuit
Sen. Tyler Johnson, R-Leo, which is just outside Fort Wayne, is being sued for malpractice in a wrongful death lawsuit after a woman reportedly died less than an hour after his treatment. Johnson works as an ER physician. A lawsuit filed in May 2022 alleges his treatment caused 20-year old Esperanza Umana of Fort Wayne to have a heart attack resulting in her death, according to court documents. (Charron, 3/16)

Also —

The Wall Street Journal: Hospital ‘Black Boxes’ Put Surgical Practices Under The Microscope
Black boxes on airplanes record detailed information about flights. Now, a technology that goes by the same name and captures just about everything that goes on in an operating room during a surgery is making its way into hospitals. The OR Black Box, a system of sensors and software, is being used in operating rooms in 24 hospitals in the U.S., Canada and Western Europe. Video, audio, patient vital signs and data from surgical devices are among the information being captured. (Sadick, 3/19)

Stat: Hospitals Are Not Crumbling, Medicare Experts Say
Hospitals’ financial situations are not nearly as dire as industry groups are making them out to be, Medicare policy experts are telling Congress. Profit margins hit all-time highs in 2021, and almost $200 billion of taxpayer subsidies provided hospitals with ample cushion to get through the worst of the pandemic, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission said in its newest report. (Herman, 3/20)

Modern Healthcare: HHS Owes Millions In Adjusted Medicare DHS Payments To Hospitals: Lawsuit
The federal government owes tens of millions of dollars to dozens of safety-net hospitals for alleged delays in correcting  Medicare disproportionate share hospital payments, hospitals alleged in a new lawsuit. (Kacik, 3/17)

Modern Healthcare: Health Insurance Recoupment Rising To Claw Back Money From Providers
In a practice known as clawbacks, insurers can recoup money after determining they’ve paid too much on past claims due to incorrect coding or fee-for-service reclassifications. Some enlist third-party companies to find overpayments, even if they occurred years ago. Insurance companies typically offset the amount owed by deducting it from the current plan account, meaning they pay less for other services. (Hudson, 3/20)

KHN: Journalists Discuss Medicaid Unwinding And Clawbacks 
KHN correspondent Rachana Pradhan untangled Medicaid unwinding on PBS’ “PBS News Weekend” on March 11. ... KHN senior editor Andy Miller discussed virtual visits on WUGA’s “The Georgia Health Report” on March 10. ... KHN rural editor and correspondent Tony Leys discussed how Medicaid clawbacks drain patients’ estates after they die on NPR’s “Weekend Edition Sunday” on March 5. (3/18)

On medical debt —

The Washington Post: Americans Are Knee-Deep In Medical Debt. Most Owe Hospitals. 
For millions of Americans, a trip to the doctor’s office or hospital can be a prescription for debt. But who do the estimated 100 million people with medical debt owe? A new analysis suggests bills for hospital care make up most medical debt in the United States — and that low-income people and people of color are disproportionately affected by overdue medical debt. The report from the Urban Institute drew on data from a June survey of a nationally representative sample of 9,494 adults ages 18 to 64. (Blakemore, 3/18)

In other health care industry news —

Oklahoman: OU Health Says Data For About 3,000 Patients Exposed By Laptop Theft
OU Health is notifying approximately 3,000 patients their protected health information may have been compromised after an employee's laptop was stolen on Dec. 26. (Money, 3/18)

The Baltimore Sun: ‘We Can Do Better’: What’s Behind Maryland’s Long ER Wait Times? 
About a week before Thanksgiving, Kelly Jones sat curled up in a ball in the emergency department at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, crying — and at times fainting — from a severe pain radiating from her hip down to her knee. Jones, a 34-year-old East Baltimore resident, recently had been diagnosed with degenerative disc disease, a condition that runs in her family. She’d be getting her first epidural to treat the disease in two weeks, but her pain had become unbearable. She needed help now. (Roberts, 3/17)

KHN: Mobile Clinics Really Got Rolling In The Pandemic. A New Law Will Help Them Cast A Wider Safety Net
Nearly 12 years ago, a nonprofit centered on substance abuse prevention in Lyon County, Nevada, broadened its services to dental care. Leaders with the Healthy Communities Coalition were shocked into action after two of their food pantry volunteers used pliers to pull each other’s abscessed teeth. The volunteers saw no other option to relieve their overwhelming pain in the small town where they lived, 40 miles southeast of Reno, because of a dearth of dental care providers. (Rodriguez, 3/20)

AP: Elizabeth Holmes Returns To Court In Bid To Avoid Prison 
Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes on Friday made what might be her final court appearance before beginning a 11-year prison sentence, unless a judge grants her request to remain free while her lawyers appeal her conviction for masterminding a blood-testing hoax. ... The proceedings ended without a determination whether Holmes, 39, will be able to stay out of prison while her appeal unfolds or have surrender to authorities on April 27, as currently scheduled. Davila said he hopes to issue his ruling in early April. (Liedtke, 3/17)

The Hill: California Moves To Cap Insulin Cost At $30
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Saturday announced the state is manufacturing its own insulin and capping the cost at $30. California’s CalRx initiative has partnered with nonprofit generic drug manufacturer CIVICA to make the drug and bring the price down by around 90 percent, according to the governor’s office. (Mueller, 3/19)

California Healthline: California Picks Generic Drug Company Civica To Produce Low-Cost Insulin
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday announced the selection of Utah-based generic drug manufacturer Civica to produce low-cost insulin for California, an unprecedented move that makes good on his promise to put state government in direct competition with the brand-name drug companies that dominate the market. “People should not be forced to go into debt to get lifesaving prescriptions,” Newsom said. “Californians will have access to some of the most inexpensive insulin available, helping them save thousands of dollars each year.” (Hart, 3/18)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Will Make Its Own Insulin. Next Up: Naloxone
Newsom said his administration is already in discussions about also manufacturing both injectable and nasal spray versions of naloxone to bolster the state’s efforts to combat fentanyl overdoses. (Bollag, 3/18)

On mental health treatment —

The Mercury News: Newsom Proposal Would Add Billions For Mental Health Treatment Beds
In a major legislative proposal to combat the state’s growing homelessness crisis, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Sunday an effort to push billions of dollars toward building a vast network of treatment beds to help California’s mentally ill and drug-addicted residents find care. Through a bond measure that could reach up to $5 billion, the governor hopes to build at minimum 6,000 new mental health beds across the state. Funding would also come through the diversion of over $1 billion annually from a pool of money created by a proposition passed by voters almost two decades ago. (Greschler and Rodgers, 3/19)

AP: California To Seek Beds For Mental Health, Drug Treatment
California voters would decide whether to fund a major expansion of housing and treatment for residents suffering from mental illness and addiction, under the latest proposal by Gov. Gavin Newsom to address the state’s homelessness crisis. Newsom announced Sunday that he will ask allies in the Democratic-controlled Legislature for a measure on the 2024 ballot to authorize funding to build residential facilities where up to 12,000 people a year could live and be treated. The plan is the latest by the governor who took office in 2019 vowing to own the issue of homelessness in a state where an estimated 171,000 were unhoused last year. (3/20)

In pandemic news —

San Francisco Chronicle: California’s COVID Misinformation Law Tangled In Lawsuits And Courts
Gov. Gavin Newsom may have been prescient when he acknowledged free speech concerns as he signed California’s COVID misinformation bill last fall. In a message to lawmakers, the governor warned of “the chilling effect other potential laws may have” on the ability of doctors to speak frankly with patients but expressed confidence that the one he was signing did not cross that line. (Wolfson, 3/19)

Stat: ‘I’m Terrified’: Closure Of Ketamine Clinics Leaves Patients Scrambling
Around 4:30 p.m. last Friday, Ketamine Wellness Centers CEO Kevin Nicholson sent an email: In 30 minutes, the company would no longer be in business, he said. The message went out to some patients and to all of the employees of his company’s clinics across nine states — what had, up until moments before, been one of the largest ketamine clinic chains in the country. (Cueto, 3/17)

NBC News: Candidates Who Support Psychedelics As Medicine Get A Political Action Committee
Bolstered by a growing body of research on the use of psychedelics to treat depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health conditions, a new political action committee seeks to elect leaders who support the therapeutic use of substances like psilocybin (in magic mushrooms), ketamine and MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy. (Victoria Lozano, 3/20)

On sex education and transgender health care —

USA Today: Florida GOP Bill Bans Young Girls From Discussing Periods In School
As local bills on gender, sexuality and diversity make their way through Florida’s state legislature, new legislation would ban any discussion of menstrual cycles in school before sixth grade. That breaks from the advice of medical providers who recommend talking to children about puberty and changes in their bodies before they occur. (Tran, 3/19)

AP: Lawmaker Pauses Filibuster On Agreement To Debate Trans Bill
A lawmaker who has been holding up the work of the Nebraska Legislature for weeks to protest a bill that would ban gender-affirming therapies for minors has paused her persistent filibuster in a deal that will see lawmakers debate the bill next week. Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, of Omaha, had been staging a filibuster of every single bill before the legislative body — even ones she supported — since late February to protest the bill. (Beck, 3/17)

In other health news from across the U.S. —

NPR: A Nuclear Plant Leaked Contaminated Water In Minnesota. Here's What We Know
Minnesota officials are monitoring the cleanup of a 400,000 gallon leak of contaminated water from a nuclear power plant in the city of Monticello run by the energy giant Xcel Energy. Officials said there is no danger from the leak. The leak was detected nearly four months ago and reported to state and federal regulators. The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission posted a notice publicly at the time, but the company and state agencies did not notify the general public until last week. (Radde, 3/19)

The CT Mirror: CT's Aging Population Is Surging. Who's Going To Take Care Of Them?
Connecticut’s elder care system is at a precipice. Nursing homes, for decades the final destination for many older adults and people with disabilities, are being squeezed at both ends as state officials increase oversight of the industry while funneling millions into programs that aim to keep residents in their homes and communities. (Carlesso and Altimari, 3/19)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Pennsylvania Autism Services Face Continued Headwinds From Staff Shortages
With thousands of Pennsylvania families still struggling to recover services for their loved ones with autism and intellectual disabilities, state regulators are launching a $40 million bonus program intended to encourage agencies to return to pre-pandemic enrollment levels by June. Providers of these services, who are skeptical of the plan, are allowed to use the supplemental payments however they like. (Brubaker, 3/20)

North Carolina Health News: For People With Dementia, Medicare Hospice Benefit Can Be Tricky
Sixteen years ago, Tom McCann promised his wife, Kathleen, that she’d always live at home, even though dementia was gradually sapping her memory and limiting her active lifestyle. A retired customer service manager living in Raleigh, Tom, 86, has in recent years used his anti-red-tape skills and his determined grip on her Medicare-backed hospice care to keep his promise to Kathleen, 83. (Goldsmith, 3/20)

NBC News: Black Veterans Were More Often Denied VA Benefits For PTSD Than White Counterparts, Newly Surfaced Study Shows
A newly surfaced 2017 internal Veterans Affairs report shows Black veterans were more often denied benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder than their white counterparts. (Strickler, 3/17)

In other military health news —

AP: Higher Cancer Rates Found In Military Pilots, Ground Crews 
A Pentagon study has found high rates of cancer among military pilots and for the first time has shown that ground crews who fuel, maintain and launch those aircraft are also getting sick. The data had long been sought by retired military aviators who have raised alarms for years about the number of air and ground crew members they knew who had cancer. They were told that earlier military studies had found they were not at greater risk than the general U.S. population. (Copp, 3/19)

More on mental health —

The Washington Post: Schools Sue Social Media Companies Over Youth Mental Health Crisis 
School districts across the country are increasingly taking on social media, filing lawsuits that argue that Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube have helped create the nation’s surging youth mental health crisis and should be held accountable. The legal action started in January, with a suit by Seattle Public Schools, and picked up momentum in recent weeks as school districts in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Florida have followed. Lawyers involved say many more are planned. (St. George, 3/19)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Philly High School Students Now Have Access To Kooth, An Online Mental-Health Platform
Jayme Banks worried last summer — at the end of a school year that was tough for nearly everyone, with students coming off a year of pandemic-forced virtual classes, in a city traumatized by gun violence — that kids’ mental health was fragile. “I was just thinking: ‘How do I know the kids are OK? How do I know that they have resources?’” said Banks, the Philadelphia School District’s deputy chief of prevention, intervention, and trauma. (Graham, 3/20)

Fox News: 'Dad Jokes' Help Kids Develop Into Healthy Adults: Study
A recent study says that despite the embarrassment that "dad jokes" can cause, it might do some kids good in the future. Humor researcher Marc Hye-Knudsen published a study in British Psychological Society‘s journal this week arguing that "dad jokes" actually have a positive effect on development. (Vacchiano, 3/18)

Axios: International Day Of Happiness: World's Happiest Countries Ranked In UN Report
COVID-19 has killed millions and caused widespread disruptions to people's lives and global economies — but a major new study finds people are slightly happier than before the pandemic began. The 10th annual World Happiness Report, published Monday to coincide with the International Day of Happiness, surveyed over 100,000 people and found that Finland was the happiest country for the sixth consecutive year, while Afghanistan was the least happy, leaving the Taliban-controlled nation ranking last at No. 137. Meanwhile, the report found global misery has declined slightly during the pandemic. (Falconer, 3/20)

In other health and wellness updates —

Axios: Company Recalls Frozen Fruit Sold Nationwide Due To Hepatitis A Risk
A company in Oregon is recalling frozen fruit distributed to major food retailers such as Costco and Trader Joe's following an outbreak of Hepatitis A illnesses. The recalled products are frozen organic strawberries sold at grocery stores in certain states and a frozen organic tropical fruit blend sold at Trader Joe’s nationwide. (Habeshian, 3/17)

CNBC: Harvard Diet May Be The Standard For Living A Long And Healthy Life
You’ve definitely heard of the Mediterranean diet and the MyPlate method, but what about Harvard University’s Healthy Eating Plate? Back in 2011, nutrition experts at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health worked alongside researchers at Harvard Health Publications to compile an eating plan for optimal health. “In terms of major chronic diseases like prevention of cardiovascular disease, different types of cancers [and] Type 2 diabetes, this way of eating is going to be helpful to prevent those diseases that are common in America, and the world,” says Lilian Cheung, lecturer of nutrition at Harvard’s school of public health. (Onque, 3/19)

Stat: 'That Scares Me': Childhood Obesity Guidance Raises New Concerns
The rise of childhood obesity in the United States did not happen quickly. But, to medicine, “it sort of cropped up overnight,” says Bob Siegel, a pediatric obesity specialist at Cincinnati Children’s. Despite the fact that obesity rates among children and adolescents have been steadily climbing since the 1960s, researchers and clinicians have had no consensus approach to slowing down the “obesity epidemic.” (Cueto and Gaffney, 3/20)

AP: Lack Of Hugs Caused US Fentanyl Crisis, Mexico's Leader Says 
Mexico’s president said Friday that U.S. families were to blame for the fentanyl overdose crisis because they don’t hug their kids enough. The comment by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador caps a week of provocative statements from him about the crisis caused by the fentanyl, a synthetic opioid trafficked by Mexican cartels that has been blamed for about 70,000 overdose deaths per year in the United States. ... “There is a lot of disintegration of families, there is a lot of individualism, there is a lack of love, of brotherhood, of hugs and embraces,” López Obrador said of the U.S. crisis. “That is why they (U.S. officials) should be dedicating funds to address the causes.” (3/17)

AP: US Warns About Fake, Dangerous Pills Being Sold In Mexico 
The U.S. State Department has issued a travel warning about dangerous counterfeit pills being sold at pharmacies in Mexico that often contain fentanyl. The travel alert posted Friday says Americans should “exercise caution when purchasing medication in Mexico.” ... A study led by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles found that 68% of the 40 Mexican pharmacies visited in four northern Mexico cities sold Oxycodone, Xanax or Adderall, and that 27% of those pharmacies were selling fake pills. (3/18)

Politico: U.S. And Mexico In A Fentanyl-Crisis Blame Game 
Without referring to them by name, the Mexican president Thursday called the lawmakers “bullies” and accused them of lacking principles. López Obrador nonetheless said he will continue cooperating with the U.S. on the issue because he wants to help. He also praised President Joe Biden for treating Mexico with respect and signing an executive order this week aimed at expanding background checks on prospective gun buyers. López Obrador said that 80 percent of the guns used by gangs in Mexico come from the United States. (Mahr, 3/17)

More on the opioid crisis —

NBC News: Fentanyl Accounts For A Majority Of Fatal Overdoses. But ERs Aren’t Testing For It.
When Tyler Shamash survived a drug overdose at 19, his mother, Juli, asked his doctor several times if he’d been tested for fentanyl. Tyler had been in and out of sober living homes in Los Angeles after battling addiction for years, and his family suspected he may have been taking illicit drugs. The doctor said they had run a standard drug test and fentanyl hadn’t come up in the toxicology screen. (Barrett and Seward, 3/17)

Fox8Live: ‘Catastrophe;’ 95% Of Overdose Deaths In New Orleans Were From Fentanyl In 2022
Fentanyl drug overdoses kill more than a hundred thousand people every year across America. In New Orleans, Coroner Dr. Dwight McKenna says the loss is great. “It’s a catastrophe of the highest order,” says Dr. McKenna. Dr. McKenna says of the nearly 500 drug overdose death in New Orleans last year, 95% of them were from fentanyl. This year, he says it could be worse. (Robin, 3/16)

KGW87.com: Oregon Bill Takes Aim At The State's Fentanyl Crisis: 'We Want To Save Lives, Period'
Oregon lawmakers are considering a bill that would increase the penalties for people in possession of more than a gram of fentanyl or for those dealing the drug. There has been plenty of debate about Oregon’s voter-approved Measure 110, which decriminalized low-level drug possession, even for hard drugs. (Gordon, 3/18)

NPR: A $100 Million Plan To Heal Opioid-Devastated Cherokee Families
Late one afternoon, Mazzy Walker gives a tour of her family's farm near Tahlequah, Okla., capital of the Cherokee Nation. "Cows are walking, turkeys, a dog," she said, giggling at her role as tour-guide. "I don't know what!" (Mann, 3/19)

In obituaries —

The Baltimore Sun: Dr. Robert K. Brooner, An Internationally Recognized Expert In Addiction Treatment And Research, Dies 
Dr. Robert K. Brooner, an internationally recognized expert in addiction treatment and research who had been head of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center’s Addiction Treatment Services and Center for Addiction and Pregnancy, died of metastatic cancer Feb. 26 at his Millsboro, Delaware, home. The former longtime Clarksville resident was 71. (Rasmussen, 3/17)

The New York Times: What If Kids Are Sad And Stressed Because Their Parents Are?
Just as there is a depressing familiarity to parents’ conversations about their children, there is a similar familiarity to kids’ conversations about their parents. I spend much of my time traveling to college campuses, both secular and religious, and I hear a similar refrain all the time: “Something happened to my parents.” (David French, 3/19)

The Washington Post: Women Who Have Abortions May Be Headed To Prison - Or Worse
The South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act (H.3549) would “afford equal protection of the laws to all preborn children from the moment of fertilization,” and reclassify any act that ends a pregnancy as “wilful prenatal homicide.” This means that an abortion could be punished like any murder, with sentences at a minimum of years in prison to, conceivably, the death penalty, though the latter isn’t spelled out in the bill. (Kathleen Parker, 3/17)

The New York Times: Women’s Health Care Is Underfunded. The Consequences Are Dire
When it comes to women’s reproductive health, she said, “there’s been a more complicated dynamic” because there’s been a history of looking at women’s biological functioning “as sort of inherently pathological.” Menstruation, childbirth and menopause were seen as a kind of permanent sickness or weakness, which (conveniently, for some) prevented women from fully participating in public life. (Jessica Grose, 3/18)

The New York Times: How To Prepare For The Next Pandemic
We need to prepare to fight disease outbreaks just as we prepare to fight fires. If a fire is left to burn out of control, it poses a threat not only to one home but to an entire community. The same is true for infectious diseases, except on a much bigger scale. As we know all too well from Covid, an outbreak in one town can quickly spread across an entire country and then around the world. (Bill Gates, 3/19)

Stat: Med Students Are Avoiding Emergency Medicine Residency
In the emergency room today, everyone is suffering. Many emergency medicine physicians are struggling to provide quality care amid staffing shortages, increased pressure to meet productivity metrics, and frustrated patients battling prolonged wait times. Medical students have picked up on the chaos within the emergency medicine physician community — and it’s making them less interested in entering our specialty. (Christian Rose, Adaira I. Landry and Kaitlin M. Bowers, 3/20)

NPR: Remembering Dr. Jiang Yanyong, Who Exposed Chinese Government Lies About SARS 
The news Jiang made that year was exposing the Chinese government's cover-up of Beijing's outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. Just as COVID-19 would be in 2020, SARS was a deadly respiratory illness caused by a then-novel coronavirus. (Susan Jakes, 3/18)

San Francisco Chronicle: To Make More Doctors, The U.S. Needs More Residency Spots
On Friday, nearly 40,000 soon-to-be medical school graduates will learn which hospital-based residency program they will be joining as part of the required rite of passage toward becoming a fully licensed independent doctor. With an aging physician community and rising reports of physician burnout, the country needs these newly minted doctors now more than ever. (Jason Gomez, 3/17)

Chicago Tribune: The Health Of Americans Is A Big Reason For Our High COVID-19 Death Rate 
For the past three years, the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated, and will continue to demonstrate in the future, that America is one of the unhealthiest countries in the industrialized world. Critics on the right and left harp on how the pandemic was handled, but in fact the dismal outcomes in the U.S. do not reflect management of the crisis so much as our underlying health as a country. (Cory Franklin and Robert Weinstein, 3/20)

Houston Chronicle: 'It's OK If You Die' — Why Ben Taub Is The People's Hospital 
Early in my career, during my internship, I was slated to take care of patients on Ben Taub’s general wards, meaning those hospitalized for some degree of organ dysfunction — kidney disease, liver cirrhosis, pneumonia, infections of the skin. Every morning, I pulled into work listening to a Wilco song. (Ricardo Nuila, 3/19)

Modern Healthcare: Health Disparities In Cancer Cases, Deaths Reveal Social Inequities 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced that U.S. life expectancy dropped for the second consecutive year in 2021, to 76.4 years from 77 the prior year. The change was largely driven by COVID-19 and drug overdoses, but cancer remains the second-leading cause of death. (Dr. Wayne Frederick and Nancy Brinker, 3/20)