First Edition: Sept. 15, 2023

KFF Health News and Cox Media Group: Social Security Overpays Billions To People, Many On Disability. Then It Asks For The Money Back
Justina Worrell, 47, works part time as a kitchen helper in an Ohio nursing home. She has cerebral palsy, an intellectual disability, and a cardiac condition that required she get an artificial heart valve at age 20. A year ago, she was earning $862 a month and receiving about $1,065 in monthly Social Security disability benefits when a letter arrived from the federal government. The Social Security Administration had been overpaying her, the letter said, and wanted money back. Within 30 days, it said, she should mail the government a check or money order. For $60,175.90. (Hilzenrath and Fleischer, 9/15)

KFF Health News: Rural Nursing Home Supporters Fear Proposed Staffing Standards Will Trigger More Closures 
Many rural communities like this one face a health care dilemma: Is it better to have a nursing home that struggles to hire workers or no nursing home at all? The national debate over that question will heat up now that federal regulators have proposed to improve care by setting minimum staffing levels for all U.S. nursing homes. Rural nursing homes would have five years to comply with some of the rules, versus three for their urban counterparts. Facilities also could apply for “hardship exemptions.” But industry leaders predict the rules could accelerate a wave of closures that has already claimed hundreds of rural nursing homes. (Leys, 9/15)

KFF Health News: A New Covid Booster Is Here. Will Those At Greatest Risk Get It? 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends new covid-19 booster vaccines for all — but many who need them most won’t get them. About 75% of people in the United States appear to have skipped last year’s bivalent booster, and nothing suggests uptake will be better this time around. “Urging people to get boosters has really only worked for Democrats, college graduates, and people making over $90,000 a year,” said Gregg Gonsalves, an epidemiologist at Yale University. “Those are the same people who will get this booster because it’s not like we’re doing anything differently to confront the inequities in place.” (Maxmen, 9/15)

KFF Health News: KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Underinsured Is The New Uninsured
The percentage of working-age adults with health insurance went up and the uninsured rate dropped last year, the U.S. Census Bureau reported this week. There isn’t much suspense about which way the uninsured rate is now trending, as states continue efforts to strip ineligible beneficiaries from their Medicaid rolls. But is the focus on the uninsured obscuring the struggles of the underinsured? (9/14)

The Washington Post: After Chaotic Week, House Heads Home With Government Shutdown On Horizon
House lawmakers left town Thursday after a dramatic three-day workweek that saw them launch a divisive impeachment inquiry and calls for the removal of Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his position, as they made little movement toward averting a government shutdown. Republicans also weren’t able to move forward a traditionally noncontroversial defense spending bill, stymied by deep divisions in the party despite a shared goal of approving 12 individual appropriations bills. (Sotomayor, Caldwell, Wang and Alemany, 9/14)

Military.Com: Odds Of Shutdown And Missed Paychecks For Troops Grow Amid Chaos In The House
The threat of a government shutdown -- and the missed paychecks it would mean for service members -- is growing after a chaotic week in the House that saw lawmakers unable to even take up a bill that would fund the Pentagon. The House had been scheduled to vote this week on the fiscal 2024 defense appropriations bill. But members of the far-right Freedom Caucus and other staunch conservatives threatened to oppose a procedural motion on the bill because of demands unrelated to its content, prompting House Republican leadership to scuttle the planned vote. (Kheel, 9/14)

Roll Call: Sanders, Marshall Reach Deal On Health Programs, But Challenges Remain
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., announced Thursday that he has reached a deal with Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., to reauthorize and increase funding for several key health programs, but it’s unclear how much Republican support the agreement will have. (Hellmann and Clason, 9/14)

The Hill: GOP Faces Pressure To Reauthorize Key HIV Initiative Held Up By Anti-Abortion Republican 
Pressure is mounting on the GOP-majority House to pass a reauthorization of the U.S.’s long-term global HIV initiative, but the lawmaker holding up the legislation is showing no signs of moving.  Former President George W. Bush, who launched the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in 2003, called on Congress to pass a five-year reauthorization in an op-ed published by The Washington Post this week, saying it would become a source of national shame if the program’s authorization was allowed to expire. (Choi, 9/14)

Axios: Sanders' Primary Care Plan Draws Fire
A Bernie Sanders-led plan to fortify primary care and the health care workforce is drawing swift opposition from hospitals — and stirring dissent on the Senate HELP Committee he chairs. (Sullivan, 9/15)

Stat: House Panel Takes First Step Toward Fixing Drug Shortages
A House subcommittee took a first step Thursday toward legislation to fix drug shortages at hospitals. Don’t expect a new law soon, though. Asked if he expects the House to pass a bill on the subject this year, Energy and Commerce health subcommittee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) said drug shortages are an emergency, “but the proposals that have been offered aren’t going to fix it by tomorrow or the next day.” (Wilkerson, 9/14)

Roll Call: Partisan Divide On Drug Shortages Unresolved After Hearing
Democrats and Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee appear no closer to resolving differences around prescription drug shortages after a legislative hearing in the Health Subcommittee on Thursday. The debate is entangled in a stalled reauthorization of a pandemic and emergency preparedness law that expires Sept. 30. (Clason, 9/14)

Reuters: US FDA To Seek Public Opinion Before Banning Popular Cough Syrup Ingredient
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday it would seek public opinion before finalizing its decision to remove a decongestant widely used in cough syrups from the agency's list of ingredients for over-the-counter (OTC) use. The FDA's clarification follows a unanimous vote by its panel of outside experts on Tuesday against the effectiveness of oral OTC medicines made with phenylephrine, an ingredient widely used in cold and cough syrups. (9/14)

Reuters: J&J, P&G, Walgreens Sued After FDA Panel Ruling On Cold Medicine Decongestant
Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble and Walgreens are among several companies accused in lawsuits of deceiving consumers about cold medicines containing an ingredient that a unanimous U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel declared ineffective. Proposed class actions were filed on Wednesday and Thursday, after the panel reviewed several studies and concluded this week that the ingredient phenylephrine marketed as a decongestant was essentially no better than a placebo. (Stempel, 9/14)

USA Today: Planned Parenthood Of Wisconsin Abortions Resume, After Judge's Ruling
Wisconsin's largest provider of abortions announced Thursday it was resuming services after a judge signaled in July she did not believe the state's abortion law actually bans consensual procedures like those performed at Planned Parenthood. The move comes after abortions have been unavailable in Wisconsin for more than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortions in the U.S. for 50 years before it was struck down in 2022. (Beck and Opoien, 9/14)

AP: Planned Parenthood Sues To Expand South Carolina Abortion Access Under Strict New Ban
Abortion providers urged South Carolina’s highest court on Thursday to lengthen the narrow window when a pregnancy can be legally terminated under the state’s strict new ban. The conservative state’s all-male Supreme Court last month upheld a so-called “fetal heartbeat” law commonly understood to restrict access after about six weeks of pregnancy, which is before most women know they’re pregnant. (Pollard, 9/14)

Military.com: Lawmakers Reintroduce Bill To Expand Fertility Services To Service Members, Veterans 
Senate and House Democrats are trying again to expand fertility treatments for active-duty personnel and veterans whose military-related disabilities render them unable to conceive without help. Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Rick Larsen, both Democrats from Washington state, along with Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., plan to introduce bills in their chambers Thursday that would cover in vitro fertilization, cryopreservation of eggs and sperm, and other health treatments for military family and veteran beneficiaries. (Kime, 9/14)

Stat: MDMA Is Safe And Effective Treatment For PTSD, Says New Study
MDMA is a safe and effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder in a racially and ethnically diverse population, according to the results of a study published Thursday in Nature Medicine. The research adds to the growing body of evidence supporting MDMA as a treatment for PTSD, and brings the psychedelic one step closer to potentially becoming the first to obtain Food and Drug Administration approval. (Merelli, 9/14)

The New York Times: MDMA Therapy For PTSD Inches Closer To U.S. Approval 
MDMA, also known as Ecstasy or Molly, has been an illegal substance since 1985, when the Drug Enforcement Administration classified it as a Schedule 1 drug, placing it in the highest category for controlled drugs that the agency deems of no medical use and that have a high potential for abuse. Before that, MDMA was administered by an estimated hundreds of therapists in North America and Europe for couples counseling, personal growth and to address trauma. (Nuwer, 9/14)

CBS News: Looking For The New COVID Vaccine Booster? Here's Where To Get The Shot
Reformulated vaccine is already available at some pharmacies and will be more widely accessible starting next week. (Cerullo, 9/14)

Reuters: US CDC Expects 'Tripledemic' Hospitalizations To Remain High This Year Vs Pre-Pandemic Levels 
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Thursday it expects the total number of hospitalizations from COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus infections and flu this year to be similar to last year, higher than pre-pandemic levels. The government health agency also said it expects flu and RSV infections to increase over the fall and winter seasons. (9/14)

CIDRAP: California Healthcare Industry Had Highest COVID-19 Death Rate Of All Occupations Early In Pandemic 
In the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, Californians who worked in healthcare, "other services," manufacturing, transportation, and retail trade industries had higher death rates than the professional, scientific, and technical industries, which had some of the lowest rates, finds a study published today in the Annals of Epidemiology. California Department of Public Health researchers used death certificates to identify COVID-19 deaths that occurred from January 2020 to May 2022 among 17.7 million residents ages 18 to 64 years. They also used the Current Population Survey to estimate the number of working-age adults at risk of COVID-19 death. (Van Beusekom, 9/14)

CIDRAP: Study Shows Value Of Wastewater Surveillance For Early Detection Of Flu, RSV 
Today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, researchers in Wisconsin show how during the 2022-23 respiratory diseases season, high concentrations of influenza A virus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in wastewater samples in three Wisconsin cities preceded virus-associated emergency department (ED) visits. The authors say the study provides more evidence that wastewater surveillance can detect viral signals earlier than other surveillance methods. (Soucheray, 9/14)

CIDRAP: Trial: Alternative COVID Vaccine 75% Cross-Protective Against Symptomatic Cases In Previously Infected
A phase 3 randomized, controlled trial in adults in eight countries concludes that a protein-based vaccine targeting both the wild-type and Beta SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins is an estimated 75.1% effective against symptomatic COVID-19 among previously infected people and 30.9% among those never-infected amid Omicron variant predominance. The researchers said the findings, published yesterday in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, suggest that vaccines developed with an antigen from a non-dominant SARS-CoV-2 strain can provide cross-protection against newer variants. (Van Beusekom, 9/14)

USA Today: Kaiser Permanente Strike Authorized: Workers May Walk Out In 7 States
Nearly 64,000 Kaiser Permanente health care workers in California, Oregon and Washington who demand better pay and more robust staffing have authorized a strike if no new contract is reached when the current deal ends Sept. 30. ... In a separate vote also announced Thursday, 4,000 Kaiser workers in Oregon and Washington authorized a strike. Last week, Kaiser Permanente workers in Colorado authorized a strike. Union members representing Kaiser workers in other states could authorize a strike. In all, 85,000 Kaiser health care workers in seven states are demanding new contracts. (Alltucker, 9/14)

Los Angeles Times: Will California Health Workers Get A $25 Minimum Wage? Legislature Sends Bill To Newsom After Long Fight
Even union-friendly Democrats were initially reluctant to approve the worker-focused bill, worried that rural community hospitals already facing bankruptcy would collapse under mass wage increases or pass costs on to patients. Under the bill, workers at large healthcare facilities would earn $23 per hour starting next year, $24 per hour in 2025 and $25 in 2026. That applies to all staff, including nursing assistants, medical coders, launderers and hospital gift shop workers. (Mays, 9/14)

Modern Healthcare: Why Unions See Nursing, Clinician Membership Increasing
As health systems continue to wrestle with employee burnout, momentum within the healthcare industry to unionize its workforce may be on the upswing. In 2021, only 13.2% of healthcare workers were unionized, a percentage that hasn’t changed much in the past decade according to the most recent research published in JAMA Network Open. However, major healthcare labor groups say they are seeing increased interest in union representation from clinicians. This year, the National Labor Relations Board has received petitions for labor representation from groups of clinicians and other workers at more than 200 healthcare facilities. (Devereaux, 9/14)

Stat: Medicare Demurs On Monitoring How Rebates Affect Part D Spending
The U.S. government should monitor the effect that rebates have on Medicare Part D plans and whether these discounts ultimately discourage some people from enrolling in the prescription drug program, according to a new report by a federal watchdog. (Silverman, 9/14)

Modern Healthcare: Hospital Readmissions Penalties Increasing In 2024: CMS
More hospitals will face readmissions penalties in 2024, a departure from the lower rates of reimbursement cuts providers saw last year, according to preliminary data released Thursday. While the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has resumed use of its pneumonia readmissions measure, which was excluded last year from its Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, payment adjustments have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. (Devereaux, 9/15)

Bloomberg: NYC’s Mount Sinai Hospital Plans To Close Its Beth Israel Campus
New York City’s Mount Sinai Medical Center plans to gradually close its Beth Israel campus in downtown Manhattan after years of financial losses. Beth Israel lost $1 billion over the past decade “despite massive investments and upgrades,” spokesperson Lucia Lee said in a statement Thursday, adding that it is expected to lose $150 million this year as it operates at only 20% of capacity. She declined to give more detail on the timing of the closing but said the hospital, located on East 16th Street in Manhattan, and its emergency room will remain open as the process proceeds. (Coleman-Lochner, 9/14)

Modern Healthcare: Ambulance Services Mostly Out Of Network: FAIR Health
Nearly six in 10 ground ambulance claims were out-of-network last year, putting patients at significant risk of surprise bills, FAIR Health reported Thursday. The federal No Surprises Act provides consumer protections against unexpected charges from air ambulance providers but does not cover ground ambulance services. Last year, 59.4% of ground ambulance trips were out of network, according to a FAIR Health analysis of private health insurance claims data. (Devereaux, 9/14)

USA Today: Progress Against Cancer Has Been Remarkable, But More Needs To Be Done
More than 70% of children with cancer now survive long term and among adults, death rates have fallen by one-third since 1991, avoiding an estimated 3.8 million deaths, thanks to prevention, early detection and new treatments. ... In the past year alone, 14 new cancer drugs have won federal approval and the uses of an additional 12 have been expanded to new tumor types or cancer stages. One of the biggest advances has been in immunotherapy: turning a person's own immune system against their cancer. (Weintraub, 9/14)

The Boston Globe: Dana-Farber, In Break With Brigham And Women’s, Will Build New Cancer Center With Beth Israel
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have announced plans to build a new free-standing inpatient hospital for adult cancer care in Boston, breaking the cancer hospital’s almost 30-year relationship with Brigham and Women’s in a move executives said will reshape oncology care in the region. (Bartlett, 9/14)

AP: Pig Kidney Works A Record 2 Months In Donated Body, Raising Hope For Animal-Human Transplants
Dozens of doctors and nurses silently lined the hospital hallway in tribute: For a history-making two months, a pig’s kidney worked normally inside the brain-dead man on the gurney rolling past them. The dramatic experiment came to an end Wednesday as surgeons at NYU Langone Health removed the pig kidney and returned the donated body of Maurice “Mo” Miller to his family for cremation. It marked the longest a genetically modified pig kidney has ever functioned inside a human, albeit a deceased one. And by pushing the boundaries of research with the dead, the scientists learned critical lessons they’re preparing to share with the Food and Drug Administration -– in hopes of eventually testing pig kidneys in the living. (Neergaard and Lum, 9/14)

AP: California Lawmakers Approve Bills Including Eviction Protections And Mental Health Care Reform 
Senators signed off on putting two proposals before voters next March that would help transform the state’s mental health system and address the state’s worsening homelessness crisis. A measure by Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin would allow the state to borrow $6.38 billion to build new treatment beds and housing. A proposal by Democratic Sen. Susan Eggman would overhaul how counties pay for mental and behavioral health programs. (Nguyen, 9/15)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Philadelphia Lawmakers Vote To Prohibit Supervised Injection Sites In Most Of The City
Philadelphia City Council voted Thursday to prohibit supervised drug consumption sites across most of the city, greatly imperiling the future of such a facility if the legislation becomes law. The bill, which passed 13-1 during Council’s first meeting of the fall session, now heads to the desk of Mayor Jim Kenney, who has endorsed supervised drug consumption sites as a strategy to prevent overdose deaths. A spokesperson for his administration said this week that he remains supportive. (Orso, 9/14)

AP: Communities Across Appalachia Band Together For First-Ever 13-State Narcan Distribution Event
An effort to destigmatize the use of overdose reversal drugs that started as a pilot in two West Virginia counties has expanded to all thirteen states in Appalachia this year. The first-ever “Appalachian Save a Life Day” comes Thursday, on the heels of the approval of Narcan as drug that can be purchased over the counter for nonprescription use — a long-awaited victory towards normalizing and improving access to the decades-old, live-saving medication. (Willingham, 9/14)

AP: Families Challenge North Dakota's Ban On Gender-Affirming Care For Children 
Families and a pediatrician are challenging North Dakota’s law criminalizing gender-affirming care for minors, the latest lawsuit in many states with similar bans. Gender Justice on Thursday announced the state district court lawsuit in a news conference at the state Capitol in Bismarck. The lawsuit against the state attorney general and state’s attorneys of three counties seeks to immediately block the ban, which took effect in April, and to have a judge find it unconstitutional and stop the state from enforcing it. (Dura, 9/14)

CIDRAP: Legionellosis Linked To Organ Donation In Pennsylvania, Uptick In Cases In Poland 
Today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), a new study notes that Legionella bacteria likely spread from donated organs to two lung transplant recipients, marking the first time transplanted organs have been the likely source of infection. ... In MMWR, authors report that in July 2022, the Pennsylvania Department of Health received two reports of laboratory-confirmed Legionnaires disease in patients who had recently received lung transplants from the same donor at a single Pennsylvania hospital. The donor drowned after being submerged in a river for at least 5 minutes. Legionella bacteria naturally live in fresh water. (Soucheray, 9/14)

AP: Arkansas Officials Say Person Dies After Brain-Eating Amoeba Infection, Likely Exposed At Splash Pad
An Arkansas resident has died after being infected with an extremely rare brain-eating amoeba and health officials have concluded they were likely exposed to it at a country’s club’s splash pad, authorities announced Thursday. The Arkansas Department of Health announced the death from the Naegleria fowleri infection, a rare infection which destroys brain tissue, causing brain swelling and in certain cases, death. The department did not release details on the age of the person who died. The department said there is no ongoing risk to the public from the exposure. (9/14)

AP: Repurposing Dead Spiders, Counting Cadaver Nose Hairs Win Ig Nobels For Comical Scientific Feats 
Counting nose hairs in cadavers, repurposing dead spiders and explaining why scientists lick rocks, are among the winning achievements in this year’s Ig Nobels, the prize for humorous scientific feats, organizers announced Thursday. The 33rd annual prize ceremony was a prerecorded online event, as it has been since the coronavirus pandemic, instead of the past live ceremonies at Harvard University. Ten spoof prizes were awarded to the teams and individuals around the globe. (Rathke, 9/14)

The Washington Post: Sleep Temperature Between 70 And 74 Degrees Optimal For Older Adults
Older adults sleep best when their bedroom temperatures are between 70 and 74 degrees and poorly when temperatures are in the 80s, although there can be significant variations among individuals, new research shows. (Cimons, 9/14)

Bloomberg: Apple Taps New Leader For Team Developing Glucose Tracker
Apple Inc. has named a new leader for its secret group working on a noninvasive blood sugar monitor, putting a veteran iPhone and Mac chip executive in charge of one of the company’s most ambitious forays into health technology. Tim Millet, Apple’s vice president of platform architecture, has taken charge of the project after it was left without a dedicated head for several months, according to people with knowledge of the change, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. The team leading the work, called the Exploratory Design Group, or XDG, was previously led by scientist Bill Athas, who died at the end of last year. (Gurman, 9/14)

Reuters: Apple To Update IPhone 12 Software In France To Settle Radiation Row
Apple (AAPL.O) said on Friday it would issue a software update for iPhone 12 users in France to potentially end a row with French regulators that ordered the suspension of the phone's sale due to breaches of radiation exposure limits. (Pineau, 9/15)