Axios: White House Announces New Cancer Initiatives On Moonshot Anniversary
Families with kids fighting cancer in the U.S. will soon have clinical and patient navigation support to help them find optimal care, connecting with research trials and more portable, shareable health records under a partnership being launched by the National Cancer Institute. (Reed, 2/2)

Fierce Healthcare: White House Unveils New Cancer Programs On Moonshot Anniversary
On the anniversary of the revived Cancer Moonshot, the Biden administration unveiled partnerships directed at cancer care and prevention such as providing clinical and patient navigation support to families facing childhood cancer and boosting access to screenings and early detection. The 13 initiatives announced Thursday are part of the White House's overarching effort to reduce cancer death rates and improve the experience for families surviving cancer. (Landi, 2/2)

Bill Clinton visits the White House on the anniversary of FMLA —

The Hill: Bill Clinton Joins Biden, Harris To Mark 30th Anniversary Of Family And Medical Leave Act
The Biden administration on Thursday marked the 30th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) by urging expansion of the provisions guaranteed by the law and inviting former President Clinton, who signed it in 1993, to speak at the White House. President Biden was also joined by Vice President Harris to commemorate the signing of the FMLA in the White House’s East Room. The law requires certain employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave if employees are sick, have a new child in their household or are taking care of a sick family member, without the risk of the staffer losing their job. Biden on Thursday issued a memorandum calling on the heads of federal agencies to “support access to leave without pay for Federal employees” so that they can bond with new children or take care of their own health or the health of their family members. (Choi, 2/2)

AP: Bill Clinton Back At White House To Push Paid Family Leave 
Three decades after Bill Clinton signed the nation’s family and medical leave law, he was back at the White House on Thursday to hold forth on what it’s meant to the country, unspooling his trademark blend of storytelling and wonkiness. The 42nd president, now more than two decades out of office, seemed a little rusty at first, fumbling through the papers on the lectern to find his remarks. But then he found his stride and was soon dropping names, citing statistics and spinning yarns about the families whose lives have been affected by the law. ... Clinton spoke just days before Sunday’s 30th anniversary of his landmark Family and Medical Leave Act legislation and made the case for Congress to get behind President Joe Biden’s push to go further and get paid leave etched into federal law. (Madhani and Superville, 2/2)

More migrant children have been reunited with their parents —

The Hill: Biden Task Force Unites More Than 600 Migrant Children With Parents 
The Biden administration has united more than 600 children who were separated from their families under former President Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy, officials announced Thursday. Thursday marked the two-year anniversary of Biden’s Family Reunification Task Force that he established to reunite children with their families who were separated under the previous administration. The task force, which is housed under the Department of Homeland Security, said nearly 1,000 children still remain separated from their families, according to a press release. (Sforza, 2/2)

Reuters: Close To 1,000 Migrant Children Separated By Trump Yet To Be Reunited With Parents
Nearly 1,000 migrant children separated at the U.S.-Mexico border by the administration of former President Donald Trump have yet to be reunited with their parents despite a two-year effort by President Joe Biden. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Thursday of the 998 children still separated, 148 were in the process of reunification. ... DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters on Thursday that there was still work to be done to fully address wounds inflicted by the policy. "That's what informs our efforts to extend behavioral health services as a component of reunification," he said. (Hesson, 2/2)

The Wall Street Journal: Nearly 1,000 Migrant Children Separated From Parents At Border Haven’t Been Reunited, Data Shows 
Under the family-separation policy that former President Donald Trump implemented and later revoked in 2018, parents and children crossing the border illegally were put on separate immigration tracks as though they weren’t related, a shift from past policy that kept family cases together. Children are given greater legal protections under immigration law, so while the adults’ asylum cases could be dismissed quickly, allowing them to be deported, children mostly remained in the U.S. in child welfare shelters or with relatives. Children continued to be separated after the end of the policy and a court order for reunifications, according to officials at the Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general, typically because of concerns over a traveling parent’s criminal history raised by DHS. (Ansari, 2/2)

Stat: From Industry ‘Greed’ To Workforce Shortages, Sanders And Cassidy Lay Out Health Committee Agenda
The Senate finally made long-expected committee assignments official on Thursday, kickstarting a new session for the top health committee under an unlikely pair: Vermont Independent and drug-pricing firebrand Bernie Sanders, and Louisiana Republican and doctor Bill Cassidy. (Owermohle, 2/2)

Vermont Public: Sen. Bernie Sanders Is Now The Chair Of A Key Congressional Committee. Here Are His Priorities 
Sen. Bernie Sanders was named as the new chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions last week. It's a position that Sanders requested, because it deals with many of the issues he's worked on during his long political career. Vermont Public senior political correspondent Bob Kinzel had a chance to speak with Sanders about his priorities for the new session. He joined Morning Edition host Mitch Wertlieb to share what he learned. (Kinzel, Wertlieb and Anderson, 2/1)

The Washington Examiner: Drugmakers Brace To Be Grilled By Bernie Sanders-Led HELP Committee
Pharmaceutical lobbyists are bracing in the crosshairs of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee now that it is chaired by "Medicare for All" proponent Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who has long taken an antagonistic view toward the industry. The Vermont independent has already hinted he plans to take on the "greed of the pharmaceutical industry," which could involve calling in drug company executives to testify, leaving some lobbyists apprehensive that it won't be business as usual, making it harder to push their legislative priorities. (Adcox, 2/3)

More news from Capitol Hill —

The Wall Street Journal: Social Security, Medicare Cuts Sidelined In Debt-Ceiling Talks
Republicans are backing away from proposals to reduce spending on Social Security and Medicare as they enter talks with Democrats over raising the nation’s borrowing limit, sidelining for now a politically perilous fight over how to best firm up the finances of the popular benefit programs. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) has said he wants to slash federal spending in exchange for voting to raise the debt ceiling, but in recent days he stressed publicly and privately that he isn’t seeking cuts to Social Security and Medicare. Democrats for weeks have pressed Republicans to provide more specifics of what they plan to cut, while warning against entitlement-eligibility changes some GOP lawmakers had sought to tie to a debt-limit deal. (Wise, 2/2)

On gas stoves —

NBC News: Heating Up: Bipartisan Duo Manchin And Cruz Pitch Bill To Defend Gas Stoves
A new bipartisan duo is diving in to defend gas stoves. Senate Energy Committee Chairman Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the new ranking member of the Commerce Committee, are teaming up on legislation Thursday that would bar the Consumer Product Safety Commission from using federal funding to ban new or existing gas stoves, according to a copy of the bill first shared with NBC News. (Wong and Richards, 2/2)

Bloomberg: Gas Stoves In Florida Would Be Tax Exempt With DeSantis Proposal
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis waded into the debate over gas stoves and government regulation on Thursday, proposing a permanent tax exemption for the appliances. DeSantis used a news conference about rural internet access to criticize a federal regulator’s suggestion that gas stoves might need to be banned because they emit harmful indoor air pollutants. (Smith, 2/2)

Bloomberg: Gas Stoves Are Back Under Scrutiny With New U.S. Limits Proposed
The Energy Department proposal, published Wednesday, sets first-of-their-kind limits on energy consumption for the stoves, drawing fear from the industry that the regulation could effectively end the use of some products from the market. The proposal also sets energy usage standards for electric cook tops and new standards for both gas and electric ovens. (Natter, 2/2)

On the gun violence epidemic —

The Hill: Democratic Senators Form Caucus For Gun Violence Prevention 
A group of eight Democratic senators formed the Gun Violence Prevention Caucus on Thursday, with the goal of promoting “commonsense solutions” to America’s abnormally high levels of gun violence. “We wake every day to headlines of another mass shooting in this country,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a member of the newly formed caucus, said in a statement. “We can’t allow this to continue.”  (Shapero, 2/2)

AP: Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Domestic Violence Gun Law
A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the government can’t stop people who have domestic violence restraining orders against them from owning guns — the latest domino to fall after the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority set new standards for reviewing the nation’s gun laws. Police in Texas found a rifle and a pistol at the home of a man who was the subject of a civil protective order that banned him from harassing, stalking or threatening his ex-girlfriend and their child. The order also banned him from having guns. (Beam, 2/3)

The Washington Post: Mom Describes Potomac Avenue Metro Shooting Suspect’s Downward Spiral
When Isaiah Trotman visited his family in Ohio this past Christmas, his mother said, she noticed her 31-year-old son seemed unusually subdued. Fearing the change in his demeanor might indicate deeper problems, she said, she pleaded with him to move out of D.C. to be near her. “I saw a depression,” Althea Trotman said Thursday, a day after her son, an Auburn University graduate with a career in IT, was charged with targeting commuters and killing a rail worker in a shooting at the Potomac Avenue Metro station in Southeast Washington. “I knew it was real.” Police said Thursday they were working to determine the motive behind the chilling daylight attack, which renewed safety concerns regarding D.C.’s public transit systems and the neighborhood east of Capitol Hill where the shooting occurred. (Hermann, 2/2)

San Francisco Chronicle: Newsom Makes Another Attempt To Ban Concealed Guns In Public Spaces
Democrats in the California Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom are making a second attempt to pass legislation that would tighten the state’s rules for concealed weapons by banning firearms in a host of public spaces. The bill is the state’s response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that took a wrecking ball to state laws limiting concealed carry gun laws, which Newsom called a “very bad ruling.” (Gardiner, 2/1)

Mississippi Free Press: As Hospitals Fail, Reeves Urges GOP To Hold Firm Against Medicaid Expansion
Standing inside a shuttered hospital’s abandoned emergency room in Newton County, Miss., on Monday night, Democratic candidate for governor Brandon Presley blamed Gov. Tate Reeves for the fact that more than half of the state’s rural hospitals are in danger of closing. “This is the reality that Tate Reeves has chosen to put us in. Make no mistake, he made this choice,” Presley, a public service commissioner who hopes to unseat Reeves in this year’s elections, said in a video he released on YouTube Monday night. (Crown, 2/2)

AP: Doctor, GOP Governor Clash Over Private Medicaid Discussion
Mississippi’s Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said in a private conversation that expanding Medicaid to people working low-wage jobs would be in the best interest of the state, but that he refuses to support the policy for political reasons, a former chancellor of the University of Mississippi said Thursday. Dr. Dan Jones is a physician who led the University of Mississippi Medical Center before serving as chancellor of the university from 2009 to 2015. During a news conference organized by Democratic state lawmakers on Thursday, Jones said that Reeves acknowledged in a private conversation with him in 2013 or 2014 that expanding Medicaid would benefit Mississippi’s economy, and provide health care to more residents of a state bedeviled by poor health outcomes. (Goldberg, 2/2)

Mississippi Today: Every Medicaid Expansion Bill Dies Without Debate Or Vote 
More than 15 bills that would have expanded Medicaid to provide health care coverage to primarily the working poor died on Tuesday night without debate or a vote. No committee chair in either the Senate or House held a hearing on those Medicaid expansion bills. The House Medicaid Committee, where Speaker of the House Philip Gunn assigned all of the his chamber’s expansion bills, did not even meet a single time before the Jan. 31 deadline to consider general bills. (Harrison, 2/1)

People across the U.S. will lose Medicaid benefits —

Missouri Independent: 200,000 Missourians Estimated To Lose Medicaid As Eligibility Renewals Resume
The director of Missouri’s Medicaid program said he expects “about 200,000” Medicaid enrollees to lose coverage over the course of a year as a result of the state resuming annual eligibility renewals after a three-year pause. (Bates, 2/2)

KMVT: Changes Coming To Medicaid Coverage For 150,000 Idahoans
Changes are on the way for Medicaid enrollees as pandemic-era standards are set to come to an end in the spring. Beginning Wednesday, the Department of Health and Welfare will begin sending notices to the roughly 150,000 people enrolled in Medicaid who no longer qualify. During the pandemic, the federal government halted state departments from ending anyone’s Medicaid coverage and allowed continuous enrollment. (Bruhl, 2/1)

AP: Decisions Loom For Pandemic-Era Medicaid Enrollees 
Some Kentuckians who signed up for Medicaid during the COVID-19 pandemic will soon have to shop around to maintain health insurance coverage, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday. The Democratic governor said his administration intends to help people through the transition. “This is a big job,” Beshear said at his weekly news conference. “And it’s one we’ve been planning on for many months and it’s one that we will continue to refine our planning.” (Schreiner, 2/2)

In other Medicaid updates —

NBC 26 Northeast Wisconsin: Emerald Bay Explains Eviction Decision
Executives at BAKA Enterprises, the senior living management company for Emerald Bay Retirement Community & Memory Care in Hobart, held a virtual press conference Thursday morning to explain why they decided to evict some residents from the facility. ... Emerald Bay executives say that the decision to cancel Medicaid contracts is due to a combination of the unprecedented rise in costs associated with providing care during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the low reimbursement rates received from Medicaid, which made it difficult to maintain a high standard of care. (2/2)

McKnight's Long-Term Care News: Unexpected Medicaid Increase Saves 146-Year-Old Nursing Home From Sale
Any Medicaid raise makes a difference to all nursing homes in today’s tight financial environment. But for one historic nonprofit Pennsylvania facility, a final rate determination this month made the difference between preserving a 146-year legacy of service and selling to a for-profit buyer. The board of the Inglis Foundation, the operator of the 252-bed Inglis House outside of Philadelphia, said Tuesday that it had canceled a planned $22 million sale. The decision was spurred by the January posting of new Pennsylvania Medicaid rates for individual nursing homes. (Marselas, 2/2)

AP: North Carolina Medicaid Director Dave Richard To Retire 
The official who oversaw the conversion of North Carolina’s Medicaid agency to managed care will retire from state government at the end of the month, the state health department said on Thursday. Dave Richard, the deputy secretary for Medicaid for the last eight years, guided the $21 billion program through the overhaul that went live in July 2021. State Medicaid moved from a traditional fee-for-service model to one in which provider organizations receive fixed monthly payments for every patient seen and treated. (2/2)

The Hill: Senate Democrats Press Maker Of Abortion Pill To Add Miscarriage Management To Label
A group of Senate Democrats is calling on Danco Laboratories, one of the manufacturers of the abortion pill mifepristone, to update the drug’s labeling to make it easier for patients to access the drug to help reduce complications from a miscarriage. The Democrats, led by Sens. Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Maggie Hassan (N.H.), urged the company to submit an application to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to add miscarriage management to the medication’s label, which currently only includes medication abortion. (Weixel, 2/2)

AP: Nebraska Lawmakers Put Off Vote On 'Heartbeat' Abortion Ban
The Nebraska Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee took nearly eight hours of testimony Wednesday before adjourning without a vote on whether to advance a bill that would outlaw abortion at a point before many women know they’re pregnant. Hundreds of people crowded the halls of the state Capitol for a committee hearing on a so-called heartbeat bill. (Beck, 2/2)

WRIC ABC 8 News: Virginia House Republicans Won’t Consider Youngkin’s Abortion Ban Proposal 
For the second straight year, the Republican-led House of Delegates won’t vote on proposals from GOP state delegates to ban abortion in Virginia. Del. Rob Bell (R-Charlottesville), chair of the House Courts of Justice Committee, won’t docket any bills to impose restrictions on the procedure, including one backed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks. (Mirshahi, 2/2)

Fox News: The Satanic Temple Opens Clinic To Provide 'Religious Abortion' Care Named For Justice Samuel Alito's Mother 
The Satanic Temple is opening a health clinic in New Mexico to provide "free religious medication abortion" and will name the facility "The Samuel Alito’s Mom’s Satanic Abortion Clinic" in mockery of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who authored the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade.  (Pandolfo, 2/1)

Bloomberg: Drugstore Chains Are Anti-Abortion Groups’ Latest Target
Annual meetings are usually mundane affairs, full of auditors’ reports and PowerPoints about a company’s financial condition. But the Jan. 26 gathering of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. shareholders at a resort in Newport Coast, California, was anything but ordinary, after a group of about 80 anti-abortion activists with the organization Live Action showed up to protest the company’s decision to distribute pills used to terminate a pregnancy. (Case and Rutherford, 2/3)

NPR: Muslim-American Opinions On Abortion Are Complex. What Does Islam Actually Say? 
After the U.S. Supreme Court's decision that ended the constitutional right to abortion, Zahra Ayubi started to notice a theme among some critics of the historic shift. "They'll draw analogies between abortion bans in the United States and Muslim conservatism," Ayubi, a professor of Islamic Ethics at Dartmouth College, said of some of the commentary she saw on TV and on social media. Critiques ranged from attempts at humor to outright Islamophobia. (Mohammad and Brown, 2/1)

In other reproductive health news —

ProPublica: Lawmakers Pledge to Fight for Comprehensive Action on Stillbirths
A growing number of lawmakers across the country are calling for action following a ProPublica investigation that revealed the failures of federal agencies and health care providers to reduce the country’s stillbirth rate. More than 20,000 pregnancies in the U.S. annually end in stillbirth — the death of an expected child at 20 weeks or more — an alarming figure that exceeds infant mortality and is 15 times the number of babies who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, in 2020. As many as 1 in 4 stillbirths may be preventable, experts say; the figure is even higher as a baby’s due date draws closer. (Eldeib, 2/2)

The Boston Globe: What Partners Should Understand About Postpartum Mood Disorders
Maternal mental health has been the subject of intense and understandable scrutiny in the wake of the death of three Duxbury children, allegedly at the hands of their mother, Lindsay Clancy. But there is much less information about partners, what they endure, how they can help, and even how to recognize when they, too, are in distress. (Mohammed, 2/2)

NPR: Manufacturer Recalls Eye Drops After Possible Link To Bacterial Infections
The producer of a brand of over-the-counter eye drops is recalling the product after a possible link to an outbreak of drug-resistant infections, U.S. health officials said Thursday. Both the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are advising against the use of EzriCare Artificial Tears, as they may be contaminated and linked to an outbreak of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, causing one death. (Archie, 2/3)

CBS News: FDA Faults Company Behind Recalled Eye Drops For Multiple Violations, Bans Imports
The FDA cited multiple violations of manufacturing regulations by the company, including a "lack of appropriate microbial testing" and a "lack of proper controls concerning tamper-evident packaging." (Tin, 2/2)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Bacterial Infections Possibly Tied To Eye Drops
Los Angeles County has reported four cases of an extensively drug-resistant bacterial infection that has caused blindness, hospitalization and one death nationwide. Nationally, 55 cases of this rare strain of bacteria have been identified in 12 states, prompting federal health officials to advise people to stop using over-the-counter eye drops that could be linked to the outbreak. (Lin II and Money, 2/2)

And a blood pressure medication is recalled —

USA Today: Blood Pressure Medicine Recalled Due To Potential Cancer Risk: FDA
A pharmaceutical company is recalling a blood pressure medication due to a potential cancer risk, the FDA announced this week. Aurobindo Pharma USA is recalling two lots of quinapril and hydrochlorothiazide tablets due to levels of nitrosamine. The tablets are commonly prescribed for the treatment of hypertension to lower blood pressure. (Neysa Alund, 2/2)

In other pharmaceutical news —

Stat: As FTC Takes On Health Data Leaks, Breaches Go Beyond GoodRx
The Federal Trade Commission took aim at prescription drug coupon site GoodRx this week in an early attempt to crack down on the unfettered sharing of consumers’ health data for advertising. It was the first time the agency had gone after such a health data violation. But with the vast amounts of patient information now being mined and shared online, it’ll be far from the last. (Ravindranath, 2/3)

NBC News: Ozempic And Wegovy Weight Loss Drugs Are Life Changers, For Those Who Can Afford Them
However, Black adults, as well as uninsured or lower-income women, and other groups with high rates of obesity — the people whose health might benefit the most from significant weight loss — are the least likely to get the costly medications, obesity doctors say. (Edwards, 2/2)

Stat: These Cystic Fibrosis Patients May Finally Get Life-Changing Treatment
Vertex Pharmaceuticals revolutionized the treatment of cystic fibrosis. It also has unfinished business. The Boston drugmaker’s medicines for the genetic disease — which damages the lungs and other organs — have transformed the lives of patients, helping them abandon other time-consuming treatments, shrug off what would have been dangerous respiratory infections, and just live breathing easier. The drugs, a number of so-called modulators approved starting in 2012, have been one of the great biotech success stories. (Joseph, 2/3)

The CT Mirror: Lamont Unveils Plan To Cancel Billions In CT Medical Debt
Gov. Ned Lamont unveiled plans Thursday to use $20 million in federal pandemic aid to potentially cancel billions of dollars in medical debt for thousands of Connecticut residents. Lamont’s plan involves working with one of the nonprofit organizations that have been negotiating with hospitals to purchase medical debt at extreme discounts. Those charities then cancel the debt. (Phaneuf and Carlesso, 2/2)

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

Public Health Watch: Rio Grande Valley At The Epicenter Of An Alzheimer’s Spike Among Latinos
A stretch of South Texas is struggling with a crisis many parts of the nation could someday face: Cases of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias are climbing, and the state’s response has been uneven at best. (Yuhas, 2/2)

Miami Herald: Florida High School Athletes May Have To Submit Menstrual Histories
A proposed draft of a physical education form in Florida could require all high school student athletes to disclose information regarding their menstrual history — a move that’s already drawing pushback from opponents who say the measure would harm students. (Brugal and Fernandez, 2/2)

Fox News: Las Vegas School Outbreak Leaves 130 Students 'Projectile Vomiting' Outside, Parents Without Answers
Parents are still without answers nearly a week after a gastrointestinal illness outbreak affected more than 100 children at an elementary school in Las Vegas, resulting in teachers lining the affected students up outside the facility as they repeatedly vomited. (Richard, 2/3)

The Boston Globe: Frigid Temperatures Pose Threat To Homeless Residents, Boston Officials Warn
Dangerously cold conditions expected in Massachusetts have prompted school districts across the state to cancel classes for Friday and officials to increase outreach to vulnerable populations, particularly residents who live on the streets. The National Weather Service in Norton has issued a windchill warning for Massachusetts for Friday, when a frigid air mass is expected to move into Southern New England, and last into Saturday. (Stoico and Cutler, 2/2)

Modern Healthcare: Medical Interpreters See Higher Demand During COVID-19 Pandemic
For patients who speak more common languages such as Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin or Vietnamese, finding medical interpreters to facilitate communication with providers is typically achievable. Looking for professionals to translate in lesser-known languages like Tigrinya, Pashto, Krahn or Ojibwe becomes tricky. (Devereaux, 2/2)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Sees Shortage Of Spanish-Speaking Nurses, Doctors Post-COVID
Alba Jiménez wishes she could avoid what she calls “the robot.” During a recent uterine cancer screening at the University of Houston Family Care Center, the 40-year-old Honduran native, who speaks only Spanish, directed questions to a translator on an iPad instead of the doctor: Did everything on her ultrasound look normal? Would she be OK? (Gill and Romero, 2/2)

More on staffing and financial shortages —

Modern Healthcare: Alabama Hospitals Warn Closures Imminent Without Funding Boost
Alabama hospital operators and the state hospital association called for more federal funding to mitigate ongoing operating losses during a news conference Thursday. Alabama needs a “significant infusion” of American Rescue Plan Act dollars to prevent service cuts and closures, Dr. Donald Williamson, president of the Alabama Hospital Association, said during a telephone briefing with reporters. (Kacik, 2/2)

Axios: States Eye Compacts, Scope Of Practice Laws To Fill Holes In Health Workforce
More states are working out differences over what medical services non-doctors can provide in order to ease stubborn workforce shortages plaguing health systems. (Dreher, 2/3)

KHN: As Long-Term Care Staffing Crisis Worsens, Immigrants Can Bridge The Gaps
When Margarette Nerette arrived in the United States from Haiti, she sought safety and a new start. The former human rights activist feared for her life in the political turmoil following the military coup that overthrew President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1991. Leaving her two small children with her sister in Port-au-Prince, Nerette, then 29, came to Miami a few years later on a three-month visa and never went back. In time, she was granted political asylum. She eventually studied to become a nursing assistant, passed her certification exam, and got a job in a nursing home. The work was hard and didn’t pay a lot, she said, but “as an immigrant, those are the jobs that are open to you.” (Andrews, 2/3)

In other health care industry news —

Stat: Top ALS Advocacy Group Roiled By Infighting Over Money, Priorities
A blistering battle has broken out between the ALS Association and more than a dozen of its state and local chapters, which are resisting a move by the national headquarters to dismantle their offices and run operations around the U.S. (Silverman and Joseph, 2/3)

ProPublica: Inside UnitedHealth’s Effort To Deny Coverage For A Patient’s Care 
In May 2021, a nurse at UnitedHealthcare called a colleague to share some welcome news about a problem the two had been grappling with for weeks. United provided the health insurance plan for students at Penn State University. It was a large and potentially lucrative account: lots of young, healthy students paying premiums in, not too many huge medical reimbursements going out. (Armstrong, Rucker and Miller, 2/2)

Modern Healthcare: Cleveland Clinic Names Dennis Laraway As Next CFO
Cleveland Clinic has named Banner Health executive Dennis Laraway as its next chief financial officer, effective March 13, the system said Thursday. Laraway has been CFO at Phoenix-based Banner since 2017. Prior to that, he was CFO at Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston; Scott & White Healthcare in Temple, Texas; St. Joseph’s Hospital & Medical Center in Phoenix; and Seton Health System in Troy, New York. (Hudson, 2/2)

Modern Healthcare: Intermountain Health Promotes Nannette Berensen To COO
Intermountain Health has named Nannette Berensen chief operating officer, the nonprofit integrated health system announced Thursday. Berensen is filling the C-suite seat held for six years by Intermountain President and CEO Rob Allen, who moved from COO to the top job Dec. 1. (Berryman, 2/2)

CIDRAP: WHO Continues Global Polio Emergency As Breach Noted At Dutch Vaccine Facility 
In the Eurosurveillance report, Dutch researchers described a wild poliovirus type 3 detection in November 2022 as part of surveillance surrounding a polio lab in Bilthoven. One sewage sample was positive for infectious virus, which was genetically similar to vaccine stocks used at the facility. In addition, the study authors found slight mutation differences that hinted at human shedding. The investigators, using national and international protocols, conducted serologic testing and found that one employee likely had recently been infected. The fully vaccinated, asymptomatic employee's stool samples were positive for WPV3. (Schnirring, 2/2)

Stat: Polio Case Highlights Challenge Of Containing Virus After Eradication
An incident that took place at a Dutch polio vaccine production facility late last year is a critical reminder of a major challenge the world faces if and when polio eradication is completed: How do we keep polio from re-establishing itself, given that laboratories and vaccine manufacturers in numerous countries will need to continue to work with the viruses? (Branswell, 2/2)

On listeria and CWD —

CBS News: Employees Had Nowhere To Wash Hands At Ice Cream Factory Behind Listeria Outbreak, FDA Says
Employees at Big Olaf Creamery, the Florida-based creamery behind a multistate listeria outbreak last year, had nowhere to wash their hands before they entered the production room, according to an investigation conducted by the Food and Drug Administration. The outbreak killed at least one person and hospitalized 27 others across 11 states. (Howard, 2/2)

CIDRAP: US Experiencing Nationwide Shortage Of Tests For Chronic Wasting Disease 
The United States is experiencing a nationwide shortage of test kits for identifying chronic wasting disease (CWD) in cervids such as deer, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) said in a news release, noting that the backlog is causing "significant delays." The TWRA said it has a backlog of about 2,180 samples that cannot be processed until new tests arrive. The test manufacturer, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc, expects more test kits to become available by the end of the month. Before the shortage, the TWRA's testing turnaround time for deer samples submitted by hunters was 8 to 12 days. (Wappes, 2/2)

On RSV treatments —

NPR: New Treatment To Prevent Serious RSV Symptoms In Infants May Be Approved Soon
Cheryl Meany, a high school teacher from Camillus, N.Y., was excited when she learned she was carrying twins in 2014. But her joy quickly turned to worry as doctors flagged several health concerns, including possible brain lesions. So she needed a moment to process when her husband, a respiratory therapist, proposed enrolling the soon-to-be-born babies in an experimental study for an unrelated illness. (Mento, 2/2)

In updates about covid —

San Francisco Chronicle: “Put Your Mask On,” Bay Area Health Official Urges As Cases Hit Another Plateau
The decline in California’s COVID-19 infections has slowed substantially, with the state’s health department reporting 2,434 average cases per day — or about 6 per 100,000 residents — as of Thursday. That marks a small improvement over the 2,715 cases per day, or 7 per 100,000 residents, reported a week ago. Other metrics also show signs of plateauing. (Vaziri, 2/2)

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID In California: Most Virus Deaths In Older People, Study Confirms
Worldwide, over 80% of the people who died from COVID-19 in the first two years of the pandemic were over the age of 60, according to a new study. More than 5.4 million COVID-19 deaths were reported globally in 2020 and 2021, the report published Thursday by the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that there were 14.9 million excess deaths during that time — indicating the actual toll of the COVID-19 pandemic is nearly three times the official tally. (Vaziri, 2/2)

CIDRAP: VA Drug Formulary May Have Limited Dispensing Of The Futile COVID Treatment Ivermectin 
Dispensing of the unproven COVID-19 treatment "potentially harmed patients while resulting in wasteful insurer spending," the authors wrote. They noted that the VA has a national formulary that may reduce prescribing of ineffective drugs; in September 2021, the VA developed national criteria that restricted ivermectin prescribing to parasitic infections but allowed decisions to be made on a case-by-case basis per local facility policy. (Van Beusekom, 2/2)

KHN: Au Revoir, Public Health Emergency 
The public health emergency in effect since the start of the covid-19 pandemic will end on May 11, the Biden administration announced this week. The end of the so-called PHE will bring about a raft of policy changes affecting patients, health care providers, and states. But Republicans in Congress, along with some Democrats, have been agitating for an end to the “emergency” designation for months. (2/2)

NPR: Who's Most Likely To Save The World From The Next Pandemic?
"So we're just gonna go in a freezer," says Tulio de Oliveira. We're at the institute that he directs, the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation at Stellenbosch University near Cape Town, South Africa. And he's taking me to a cold storage room chilled to 20 degrees below freezing. He calls over his deputy, Yeshnee Naidoo, to lead the way. (Aizenman, 2/2)

Los Angeles Times: Some Pharmacies In Mexico Passing Off Fentanyl, Meth As Legitimate Pharmaceuticals
If you walk down the right side street, the offers are plentiful, even in broad daylight. Young men in plain T-shirts draw near and call out their wares: Pills. Cocaine. Guns. But if you wave them away and go just a few feet farther, you can walk into a pharmacy where you might get something just as dangerous. You just won’t know it. (Blakinger and Sheets, 2/2)

CNN: Blinken Under Pressure To Push China On Role In Lethal Fentanyl Trade When He Visits Beijing 
Members of Congress are urging Secretary of State Antony Blinken to pressure China to do more to curb the flow of fentanyl and synthetic opioids into the United States on his visit to the country which is expected to take place in the next few days. On Wednesday, a group of 14 Republican senators led by Marco Rubio of Florida wrote to Blinken ahead of his trip highlighting China’s role in the “fentanyl crisis” as one of many issues they wanted him to address. (Atwood and Hansler, 2/2)

More on fentanyl and opioids —

AP: Ky. Attorney General Launches Initiative To Fight Fentanyl 
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has launched an initiative to fight fentanyl. ... “Operation Fight Fentanyl is our newest effort to attack the opioid epidemic by engaging with communities across the Commonwealth to hear how they’ve been impacted by this deadly drug and what steps we can take to beat it,” Cameron said. (2/3)

Fox News: Fentanyl Vaccine Poised To Be 'Game Changer' In Fight Against Addiction
The end to the fentanyl crisis may be in sight, thanks to a team of researchers in Texas who claim they have successfully developed a vaccine that could be a "game changer" in addiction treatment. A team led by the University of Houston has developed what they say is a fentanyl vaccine that can block the synthetic opioid from entering the brain — essentially curing addiction by eliminating the euphoric high. (Stegall and Chiaramonte, 2/2)

ABC News: If Fentanyl Is So Deadly, Why Do Drug Dealers Use It To Lace Illicit Drugs?
According to law enforcement officers and former drug dealers interviewed by ABC News, drug dealers often think they can mitigate the risk for their clients by measuring the fentanyl carefully. (Ordonez and Salzman, 2/1)

CNN: Tracking The Opioid Crisis: Inside The DEA's Secret Lab 
Sitting among the warehouses of Dulles, Virginia, is one of the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s forensic labs. It’s one of eight across the country where scientists analyze illegal drugs and try to stay ahead of what’s driving deadly overdoses. Starting in the late 1990s with overprescribing of prescription narcotics, the opioid epidemic has continued to plague the United States for decades. What has changed is the type of drugs that have killed more than half a million people during the past 20 years. (Sealy and Kounang, 2/2)

WECT News: Science Or Superstition: Does Exposure To Fentanyl Pose Risks Of Overdose?
There’s no question that the powerful opioid known as Fentanyl comes with serious health risks that can kill someone who ingests it, but over the past several years, law enforcement agencies have promoted the idea that simply touching the drug can lead to overdoses—an idea that experts say isn’t true. (Praats, 2/2)

Fox 6 Milwaukee: After UWM Freshman's Fentanyl Death, Parents Warn Others
Logan Rachwal, 19, was a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. On Feb. 14, 2021, his parents got heartbreaking news they will never forget. Their son had died after taking a pill he thought was Percocet. "I knew right away something was not right," said Erin Rachwal. In their grief, they are sharing their story to stop more deaths. On Thursday, they joined law enforcement to help educate the community. (Sears, 2/2)

On addiction and substance abuse treatment —

Stat: New Report Highlights Lack Of Investment In Addiction Cures
There are about as many Americans living with addiction as there are Americans living with cancer — but you wouldn’t know it based on the world of venture capital. In the past decade, investment firms have poured roughly 270 times more money into developing cancer drugs than addiction cures, according to a new report from BIO, the biotechnology industry trade group. (Facher, 2/2)

KHN: Montana Lawmakers Seek More Information About Governor’s HEART Fund 
A fund championed by Gov. Greg Gianforte to fill gaps in Montana’s substance use and behavioral health treatment programs has spent $5.2 million since last year as the state waits for an additional $19 million in federal funding. Now, the Republican governor wants to put more state money into the Healing and Ending Addiction Through Recovery and Treatment initiative, but lawmakers and mental health advocates are asking for more accountability and clarity on how the money is spent. (Larson, 2/3)

Stat: Majority Of Americans Support Banning All Tobacco Products: Survey
A majority of Americans support banning all tobacco products, according to a new poll published by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The survey, which was published Thursday in the peer-reviewed journal Preventing Chronic Disease, asked 6,455 people nationwide: “To what extent would you support a policy to prohibit the sale of all tobacco products?” A little over 57% of respondents said they would support such a policy. (Florko, 2/2)

In other health and wellness news —

The Washington Post: Lower Your Risk For Dementia By Spending Time In Nature
Spending time in nature — even as little as two hours a week — has been linked to several health benefits. It seems to support healthy aging and has been associated with, among other things, improved cognitive function, blood pressure, mental health and sleep. Now, a study of nearly 62 million Medicare beneficiaries suggests that nature may also help protect against the risk of developing certain neurodegenerative disorders. The results revealed that older adults who lived in a Zip code with more green space had a lower rate of hospitalization for Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias such as vascular dementia and Lewy body dementia. (Kim, 2/2)

The Washington Post: Smartphone App May Help Detect Stroke Symptoms, Research Shows 
Smartphone technology can detect heart irregularities and listen to a cough to help flag potential health problems. Soon, it may be able to help identify symptoms of a stroke. Stroke experts said they hope this technology could help educate people about the signs of a stroke and encourage them to seek emergency medical care more quickly. (Bever, 2/2)

The New York Times: ‘My Watch Thinks I’m Dead’: 911 Dispatchers Are Buried Under An Avalanche Of False, Automated Distress Calls From Skiers
Winter has brought a decent amount of snowfall to the region’s ski resorts, and with it an avalanche of false emergency calls. Virtually all of them have been placed by Apple Watches or iPhone 14s under the mistaken impression that their owners have been debilitated in collisions .As of September, these devices have come equipped with technology meant to detect car crashes and alert 911 dispatchers. It is a more sensitive upgrade to software on Apple devices, now several years old, that can detect when a user falls and then dial for help. But the latest innovation appears to send the device into overdrive: It keeps mistaking skiers, and some other fitness enthusiasts, for car-wreck victims. (Richtel, 2/3)

The Washington Post: Did Your New Year’s Resolutions Slide? Blame The ‘What The Hell’ Effect
Have you already given up on the healthy-eating goals you set for yourself in January? You may be suffering from the “what-the-hell” effect. The term was coined by two researchers at Northwestern University in the 1970s, who conducted experiments studying the psychological changes that occur in people who restrict their eating. They noticed an all-or-nothing style of eating among many students. One student told them about her friends who starved themselves all day but by nighttime gave up and “ate everything in sight.” (Parker-Pope, 2/2)

The Washington Post: Harvard Is Shutting Down Project That Studied Social Media Misinformation
Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government said Thursday that it will shut down a prominent research center that studied online misinformation next year, marking the latest turning point for the study of social media’s impact on American society and politics. Since 2019, the Technology and Social Change Project has published research into the spread of coronavirus hoaxes and the online incitement techniques that preceded the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. It will wind down due to a school policy that requires a faculty member lead such an undertaking, Nancy Gibbs, the director of the Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy, said in an internal email shared with The Washington Post. (Harwell and Menn, 2/2)

The Washington Post: 11 Tips To Plan Your Health Care After Job Loss 
Many people in the United States have health benefits through their employers, and that’s why it is important to have a plan for insurance coverage if you lose your job, insurance experts say. The Post asked researchers, health insurance brokers and patient advocates for advice. Here are their recommendations. (Bever, 1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: At Theme Parks, You Must Be This Tall—and This Thin—to Ride
The newest ride at Universal Studios Hollywood, Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, takes visitors into the classic Nintendo game using augmented reality and animatronics. It also warns that they might not be allowed to ride if their waistline measures 40 inches or more. The ride, one of several at the California park with that admonition, illustrates how navigating theme parks has grown tougher for plus-size visitors as parks balance accessibility with heightened safety requirements. (Passy, 1/28)

The New York Times: The Sneaky Allure Of A Detox 
Every year, the wellness world hawks “cleanses,” often liquid diets that mainly consist of vegetable and fruit juices. A day or three (or eight) of drinking all your meals, and you’ll purge any toxins from your body, cleanse manufacturers say. Your skin will clear; your stomach will shrink. You will feel, more or less, pure. But there is scant evidence to back any of these claims. “There’s no major research done on most of the cleanses that are out there,” Dr. Melinda Ring, an integrative medicine specialist at Northwestern Medicine, said. However, some people do say that they feel better while on a cleanse — that they sleep better, have more energy or think more clearly. Nutrition experts say that people who try cleanses may report positive benefits in the short term — but not because of the specific slush they’re drinking. And cleanses come with plenty of risks. Here’s what to know. (Blum, 1/30)

The Washington Post: The Link Between Our Food, Gut Microbiome And Depression
The largest analysis of depression and the gut microbiome to date, published in December, found several types of bacteria notably increased or decreased in people with symptoms of depression. “This study provides some real-life evidence that you are what you eat,” says study author Andre Uitterlinden, who researches genetics at Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, Netherlands. (Wapner, 1/31)

The Washington Post: A Pregnant Runner's Open Letter To The Boston Marathon Helped Spur Change
It took thousands of miles for Fiona English to reach her goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon, but when she obtained one of the coveted berths for this year’s race, there was a looming hurdle she could not clear. Instead of picking up her race bib April 15, two days before the event, English is due to give birth that day to her first child. So, in December, the 34-year-old running coach who lives in London submitted a claim to defer her approved entry until 2024 and requested a refund of an international runner’s $235 entry fee for which she had purchased insurance. (Boren, 2/2)

The Atlantic: Scientists Tried to Break Cuddling. Instead, They Broke 30 Years of Research.
Oxytocin, often lauded as the “hug hormone,” might not be necessary to induce affection. (Wu, 1/27)

Scientific American: What Causes Déjà Vu? 
Scientists think that déjà vu actually provides a peek into how the memory system works when it goes a little off-kilter. The feeling may arise when parts of your brain that recognize familiar situations get activated inappropriately, says Akira Robert O’Connor, a cognitive psychologist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, who researches déjà vu. When this happens, another region of the brain then checks this feeling of familiarity against your recall of past experiences. When no actual matches are found, the result is a discomfiting sense of having seen it all before, accompanied by the knowledge that you haven’t. (Pappas, 2/1)

NPR: The Nipah Virus Has A Kill Rate Of 70%. Bats Carry It. But How Does It Jump To Humans?
It's dusk in central Bangladesh, in a community within the district of Faridpur. A 50-year-old man sits outside his home beside a rice paddy. His name is Khokon. A fiery beard, dyed a bright orange, rings his chin. He says the procession of disease and death all started in the spring of 2004. "So the first one was the mother-in-law of my elder brother. She was really sick," Khokon says. "She had been sick for some time. Then she died. We took her to the grave. Then my father got sick." (Daniel and Davis, 1/31)

Chicago Tribune: We Need To Boost COVID-19 Surveillance To Detect New Viral Variants 
As COVID-19 retreats in the midwinter, the one word of advice for our scientific community going forward is “surveillance.” The pandemic has forced us to relearn that public health surveillance — maintaining a watchful eye on new COVID-19 variants as well as other bacteria and viruses that threaten us — is the basis for preventing disease outbreaks and controlling them once they occur. (Cory Franklin and Robert Weinstein, 2/2)

The Washington Post: Three Important Studies Shed Light On Long Covid 
One of the most puzzling and concerning aspects of the coronavirus has been the large number of cases in which symptoms persist for months or even years. Three years into the pandemic, we still have lots of questions about the condition known as long covid: What is it? What causes it? And how common is it really? (Leana S. Wen, 2/2)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: To Address Obesity In Children, Advocacy And Drastic Policy Changes Are Necessary 
Around the country, pediatricians are seeing younger and younger overweight children. Over 14 million children and adolescents in the United States today are obese. (Amelia B. Warshaw, 2/3)

Stat: If The FDA Is To Regulate CBD Products, It Will Need Help
The dietary supplement industry has been begging for federal oversight of products containing cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive compound found in the cannabis plant that is being incorporated into a bewildering range of oils, tinctures, edibles, and other products. Certification by the Food and Drug Administration that these products are safe and useful against many common ailments could unleash a $60 billion annual market by 2030. (Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, 2/3)

Stat: Public Health Layoffs And Tech Layoffs: A World Of Difference
Layoffs in the tech sector — think Google, Amazon, Meta, and the like — from jobs once thought to be secure and prestigious are making headlines. I’ve been seeing an outpouring of media coverage, including support extended toward newly unemployed tech workers, judgements passed on tech leaders, practical suggestions of opportunities, and analyses of underlying causes and next steps. As a senior epidemiologist recently laid off from working at governmental health departments, this attention makes me wistful (if not downright jealous). (Katie D. Schenk, 2/3)

The CT Mirror: Athena Nursing Homes Address Workforce Shortage
Athena Health Care Systems is a leader and pioneer in delivering high quality care to our residents and families. In the rare occurrence where our staffing levels were less than desirable and comprised the timely delivery of patient care, it does not overshadow the thousands of positive daily interactions our staff have and continue to have with patients, families, and professionals alike. (Lawrence Santilli, 2/3)

The Tennessean: Prevention Should Be Top Health Care Priority For Seniors
Don’t wait until you are sick or in pain to see your health care provider. An annual wellness check, covered by Medicare Part B, is the first step. In-home health and well-being assessments may be a convenient option for those with Medicare Advantage plans. (Rebecca Colon, 2/2)