Reuters: Idaho Abortion Ban Again Partly Halted Amid Appeal
A federal appeals court on Tuesday temporarily limited Idaho's ability to enforce its near-total abortion ban in medical emergencies while it weighs in on a legal challenge to the ban by the Biden administration. A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month allowed the state to enforce its ban, reversing a lower court order that had partially blocked it. On Tuesday, however, the full 9th Circuit said it would rehear the case with 11 of its judges, automatically voiding the panel's order for now. (Pierson, 10/10)

Abortions decline in North Carolina —

The Guardian: Abortions In North Carolina Drop By 30% In Wake Of New Restrictions, Data Shows
Abortions in North Carolina fell by more than 30% after the state enacted new abortion restrictions on 1 July, including a 12-week abortion ban, new data released on Wednesday by the Guttmacher Institute shows. North Carolina abortion clinics performed more than 4,200 abortions in June, but just 2,920 abortions in July. Nearby states did not see a comparable surge in abortions, suggesting that patients denied abortions in North Carolina had to self-manage their own – or simply went without. (Sherman, 10/11)

North Carolina Health News: A Clearer Picture Is Emerging Of The Impact Of North Carolina’s New Abortion Restrictions
North Carolina’s drop in abortions was higher than what occurred nationally, which saw a 7 percent decline in July. ... While the drop is steep, it could have been far worse if all involved in providing abortion care had not adapted so nimbly, said Matt Zerden, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic’s associate medical director and an abortion provider. (Crumpler, 10/11) “In some ways, it’s really remarkable that it only went down 31 percent,” Zerden said.

Ohio begins early voting on abortion rights —

AP: Abortion Rights And Marijuana Questions Expected To Drive Ohioans To Polls As Early Voting Begins
Heavier-than-normal turnout is expected Wednesday as early voting begins in Ohio’s closely watched off-year election to decide the future of abortion access and marijuana legalization in the state. Of greatest interest nationally is Issue 1, a proposed constitutional amendment giving every person “the right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions.” The effort comes on the heels of a string of victories for abortion rights proponents around the country who have been winning in both Democratic and deeply Republican states since the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion was overturned. (Smyth, 10/11)

Politico: Anti-Abortion Groups Keep Losing Ballot Measure Votes. They Believe Ohio Will Buck The Trend.
Anti-abortion groups are banking on Ohio to end the movement’s run of state-level losses and create a blueprint for battles in 2024 and beyond. In four weeks, voters in the Buckeye State will decide whether to enshrine abortion protections into the state constitution or be the first to reject an abortion-rights measure since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. (Ollstein, 10/11)

The 19th: Abortion Rights Are On A Winning Streak At The Ballot Box. Ohio Could Test That
On a cloudy recent Friday morning, thousands of protestors descended on the Ohio statehouse for the March for Life, many holding signs with sayings like, “Ohio is Pro-Life” and “Vote No on Issue 1.” That measure, Issue 1, would guarantee a constitutional right to an abortion and other reproductive health care. All eyes were on Ohio, said Jeanne Mancini, president of the national anti-abortion March for Life. They were at a “cultural crossroads, she said, and Ohioians would be judged on their vote on November 7. (Panetta, 10/10)

Abortion news from parts of the country —

The Texas Tribune: Abortion And Birth Control Access In Texas: What You Need To Know 
More than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, Texas continues to be the largest state in the nation to ban nearly all abortions. But some questions and changes to abortion and birth control access have arisen since then. (Mendez, 10/11)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Abortion Law Made Miranda Michel Carry Twins Who Wouldn’t Survive
Miranda Michel’s eyes popped open on the operating table, panic gripping her body. Was she too late? Doctors had said her twins might only survive two or three minutes. She didn’t know if they’d already been born, how much time had passed, if she had missed it entirely, if they were already gone. (Klibanoff and Tauber, 10/11)

Stat: ‘Abortion Queen’ Wants Patients To Pay Something For The Procedure 
Abortion clinic owner Diane Derzis said she wanted to ensure that abortion funds’ limited resources were used wisely. (Boodman, 10/11)

AP: Florida's Republican Attorney General Will Oppose Putting Abortion Rights Amendment On 2024 Ballot
Florida’s Republican attorney general will oppose putting a proposed amendment protecting the right to an abortion on next year’s ballot, she told the state Supreme Court when she advised justices Monday that a petition has reached enough signatures to trigger a language review. (10/10)

NPR: Billboards Supporting Women Seeking Abortions Are Popping Up Along I-55 Heading North
Six billboards with messages supporting abortion rights have been placed along Interstate 55, a highway traveled by many women from the South who seek abortion care in Illinois. (Blank, 10/11)

News21: Indigenous People Navigate Abortion Access Hurdles After Roe V. Wade
Indigenous people have been uniquely affected by the end of Roe. Abortion was never readily available to Native Americans, thanks to a federal law that has prohibited nearly all abortions at Indian Health Service clinics since 1976. That’s always meant traveling long distances for the procedure. But now states with some of the largest Indigenous populations also have some of the strictest restrictions on abortion: places like North and South Dakota and Oklahoma, home to the Cherokee Nation, the second-largest tribe in the U.S. with over 300,000 enrolled members. (Smith and Keyes, 10/11)

Reuters: Court OKs Mallinckrodt Restructuring, $1 Billion Cut To Opioid Settlement 
Drugmaker Mallinckrodt on Tuesday won court approval for a bankruptcy plan that cuts $1 billion from what it must pay opioid crisis victims, cancels existing equity shares, and trims nearly $2 billion in other debt. The Ireland-based company reached a relatively swift conclusion to its second Chapter 11, which began on Aug. 28, just 14 months after its previous bankruptcy concluded. (Knauth, 10/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Mallinckrodt Bankruptcy Plan Gets Approval, Will Wipe Out $1 Billion In Opioid Payments 
This is a setback to governments and individual addicts who filed lawsuits seeking compensation from drugmakers for their role in the opioid crisis. The legal fight stretches back nearly a decade, when more than 3,000 lawsuits from states, Native American tribes and counties alleged the drugmakers, pharmacies and distributors played down the risk of painkillers and didn’t stem their flow. A few opioid manufacturers that lacked the funds to settle those thousands of lawsuits turned to bankruptcy to try to resolve them. (Saeedy, 10/10)

In news about overdose-reversal drugs —

Axios Washington D.C.: Narcan Vending Machines In DC Help Prevent Opioid Overdoses 
D.C.'s harm-reduction vending machines have pumped out at least 2,800 distributions of Narcan, Fentanyl tests, and other protective items since a pilot program launched last spring. With opioid overdoses at an all-time high, more communities are investing in innovative and low-cost intervention efforts — like vending machines stocked with free medical supplies — to help save lives. (Spiegel, 10/10)

KFF Health News: Narcan, Now Available Without A Prescription, Can Still Be Hard To Get 
Last month, drugstores and pharmacies nationwide began stocking and selling the country’s first over-the-counter version of naloxone, a medication that can stop a potentially fatal overdose from opioids. It’s sold as a nasal spray under the brand name Narcan. Coming off a year with a record number of opioid-related overdose deaths in the United States — nearly 83,000 in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics — community health workers and addiction medicine experts were hopeful that the arrival of Narcan on retail shelves might make it easier for people to get the medication. (Fortier and Leonard, 10/11)

More on the opioid crisis —

MPR News: A Life Not Fully Lived: Federal Bill Aims To Prevent More Opioid Overdose Deaths 
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar said more needs to be done to hold social media companies responsible when fentanyl or contaminated drugs are sold through their services. Anastasia Shevtsova's family said she lost her life after buying some pills on the social media app SnapChat. Later that night, Olga noticed the light shining out from under her daughter’s door. She knocked, then opened the door. She found her cold on her bed, with her face turning blue. (Collins, 10/10)

The Colorado Sun: Fentanyl Killed Their Kids At College. Now Schools Are Changing
The alert shared in Boulder a few weeks ago warned of a powdered form of fentanyl, its texture similar to drywall plaster, and its color pink or tan, like sand. Boulder law enforcement officers found it near a dead body. They told the county health department, which released the public health alert five days later. The University of Colorado posted the alert on its website and Facebook page the same day, warning students to beware of the deadly powder. This is what they wanted, the parents who have pushed CU and the rest of the state’s universities and colleges for two years to do more to protect students from fentanyl poisoning. (Brown, 10/9)

KTVU: 1st Person Convicted Of Fentanyl-Related Murder In California Sentenced To 15 Years
The first person to be convicted of a fentanyl-related murder was sentenced on Tuesday to 15 years in prison by a Placer County judge, KCRA reported. In July, Nathaniel Cabacungan, 21, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder following the death of a 15-year-old Northern California girl, which the Placer County District Attorney said was the first fentanyl murder conviction of its kind in the state. (10/10)

Medical Economics: Physician Group Slams Insurers For Overcharging Taxpayers For Medicare Advantage
Medicare Advantage has become a health care “cash cow” for insurance companies even as patient care suffers across the country, according to a new report. Taxpayers are overpaying by at least $88 billion a year for Medicare Advantage (MA), also known as Medicare Part C, the privately administered health insurance program. Depending on the calculations, that overpayment may be as much $140 billion a year, according to “Our Payments Their Profits: Quantifying Overpayments in the Medicare Advantage Program,” published this month by Physicians for a National Health Program. (Payerchin, 10/10)

BenefitsPRO: Denied By AI: Medicare Advantage's 'Predictive' Software Cuts Off Care, Say Feds 
Judith Sullivan was recovering from major surgery at a Connecticut nursing home in March when she got surprising news from her Medicare Advantage plan: It would no longer pay for her care because she was well enough to go home. At the time, she could not walk more than a few feet, even with assistance — let alone manage the stairs to her front door, she said. She still needed help using a colostomy bag following major surgery. (Jaffe, 10/9)

Modern Healthcare: SCAN, Alignment Tailor Medicare Advantage Plans For Diverse Groups
Medicare Advantage carriers are designing plans for underserved populations that address specific healthcare needs while also finding a way to differentiate their business from competitors. Tailoring Medicare Advantage plans for specific populations is an emerging trend that could become part of these companies' long-term strategies and prompt other industry players to follow suit. (Berryman, 10/10)

KFF Health News: Feds Hope To Cut Sepsis Deaths By Hitching Medicare Payments To Treatment Stats 
Don Smith remembers the moment he awoke in an intensive care unit after 13 days in a medically induced coma. His wife and daughter were at his bedside, and he thought it had been only a day since he arrived at the emergency room with foot pain. Smith said his wife “slowly started filling me in” on the surgery, the coma, the ventilator. The throbbing in his foot had been a signal of a raging problem. (Appleby, 10/11)

Also —

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Medicare Fall Enrollment For 2024 Starts Oct. 15
Medicare’s fall open enrollment, which runs Oct. 15 through Dec. 7, is an opportunity to review your benefits and make changes for 2024. ... To help make the process easier, The Inquirer has curated a Medicare primer based on questions sent in by readers. Now updated for 2024, it can help you select the best Medicare plan for you. (Gantz, 10/10)

Tallahassee Democrat: Florida Department Of Health Agrees To Settlement, To Provide More Detailed COVID-19 Data
The Florida Department of Health has agreed to a lawsuit settlement requiring it to provide more detailed COVID-19 data, after initially refusing and saying it didn't exist. ... That COVID-19 data will detail vaccination counts, case counts and deaths. It'll be aggregated weekly for the next three years, grouped by county, age group, gender and race. The department provides more general data every two weeks. (Soule, 10/10)

WFLA: Florida Health Officials Must Release 3 Years Of COVID Data, Settlement Says
In July 2021, former Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith submitted a public records request for COVID data in Orange County while serving on the Pandemics and Public Emergencies Committee. This happened about a month after the Department of Health ended its practice of releasing COVID information online in daily reports, which included detailed information for each county. With a new surgeon general at the helm, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Florida stripped back its COVID reports as the deadly Delta variant surge ravaged the state. Florida led the country in cases per capita and pediatric hospitalizations at the time, according to a report from the Tallahassee Democrat. Ladapo and Gov. Ron DeSantis insisted schools and businesses remain open and often downplayed the effectiveness of precautions like masking and vaccinations. (Tucker, 10/9)

On the spread of covid —

NBC News: People Who Got Covid At Least 5 Times Describe How Illness Changed
Reanna Sunford Clark is one of five people interviewed by NBC News who described what it has been like to get Covid at least five times. All five either tested positive at home, received a positive antibody test later or were diagnosed by a health care provider each time. They provided images of test results, medical records or correspondence with friends or family as verification. Overall, they said, the experiences have left them confused and curious about the reasons for their frequent illnesses. Three people said their later infections were all less severe than the first — though there wasn’t necessarily a clear pattern of milder symptoms with each new illness. Even so, having Covid was still mentally and emotionally exhausting each time, they said, since it disrupted their work and time with loved ones. (Bendix, 10/8)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. COVID-19 Cases Falling As Officials Brace For Winter
“We’re definitely seeing a decline,” L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in an interview. “The summer bump is over.” ... Ferrer said she anticipates L.A. County will remain at a lower level of coronavirus transmission “hopefully for a few more weeks, until the weather gets colder, more things are moved indoors and there’s a lot more celebrations and travel” that could help spread the virus. (Lin II, 10/10)

The Washington Post: Inmates Settle After Arkansas Jail Gave Them Ivermectin For Covid-19
When five detainees at the Washington County Detention Center in Fayetteville, Ark., got sick with covid-19 in August 2021, they were given a “cocktail” of drugs to treat the virus, a lawsuit alleged. The detainees were not told the contents of their medication, an assortment of pills administered twice daily, according to the lawsuit. They allegedly suffered side effects, including vision issues, stomach cramps and diarrhea. (Wu, 10/10)

On the vaccine rollout —

The Texas Tribune: Texas Lawmakers Again Target Private Businesses’ COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates
Conservative Texas lawmakers are taking another shot at prohibiting private businesses from requiring employees to get COVID-19 vaccines. The new legislation comes after years of Republican attempts to reign in COVID-related restrictions like mask mandates and vaccine requirements. (Harper, 10/10)

Fortune: CVS CEO: Unexpected Demand For COVID Shots Burned Out Pharmacists 
Pandemic burnout and “unprecedented demand” for updated COVID-19 boosters led to the recent walkout of CVS pharmacists in the Kansas City area, CEO Karen Lynch said Monday. “I think you have to look at the entire environment,” she noted at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, referencing recent strikes by the United Auto Workers and Kaiser employees. “There’s just a lot of unrest in health care.” (Prater, 10/10)

In covid research —

Medical Xpress: COVID Might Raise Odds For Immune Disorders Like Crohn's, Alopecia
In rare cases, some patients may develop an autoimmune disease following a bout of COVID, Korean researchers report. Conditions such as alopecia (hair loss), psoriasis, vitiligo (white skin patches), vasculitis (inflammation of blood vessels), Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, adult-onset Still's disease (painful skin rash), Sjogren's syndrome (autoimmune disease), ankylosing spondylitis (spinal arthritis) and sarcoidosis (enlarged lymph nodes) can all be triggered by COVID-19 infection, according to the new report. (Reinberg, 10/10)

Medscape: People With Long COVID Face Alarming Rates of Depression, Anxiety
As many as 2 out of 3 people with long COVID also have mental health challenges, including high rates of depression and anxiety, new research shows. It's a surprising finding that shows that those with long COVID may experience more mental distress than people with other chronic illnesses, such as Alzheimer's disease, cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. (Novak, 10/10)

CIDRAP: Not 'Little Adults': Experts Say Long COVID Undercounted, Misdiagnosed In Kids
Research on long COVID in children is limited, and reported prevalences range widely, from less than 1% to 70%. And while it's a relatively new condition in an evolving field, experts say it could be better defined and measured through well-designed longitudinal studies that take children's unique presentations into account. (Van Beusekom, 10/10)

Axios: Sanders, Hospital Lobby Clash Over Nonprofits' Service
Sen. Bernie Sanders and one of the biggest hospital lobbies on Tuesday offered clashing views on how much nonprofit health systems benefit the communities they serve. Sanders (I-Vt.), who chairs the Senate HELP Committee, issued a report that found six of the biggest nonprofit hospital systems dedicated less than 1% of their total revenue to charity care in 2021 — a key criteria for maintaining their tax-exempt status that Sanders wants tightened. (Goldman, 10/11)

On wages and health benefits —

The Wall Street Journal: Healthcare Strikes Threaten To Prolong Wage Pressure On Hospitals 
Because of a confluence of factors such as political support from the White House and a tight labor market, Americans across a variety of industries are walking off the job at a rate not seen in years. In the healthcare sector, those broader factors have converged with industry-specific grievances, such as nursing shortages, that were exacerbated by the pandemic. (Wainer, 10/10)

Reuters: Walmart Expands Online Healthcare Benefits For US Employees 
Walmart said on Tuesday it will expand online primary care benefits as part of its employee health insurance plan to its workers in 28 U.S. states. The retailer employs more than 2 million people, according to a regulatory filing, and is the largest private employer in the United States. (10/10)

Fox News: Veterans Plagued By Errors In Health Benefit System Due To Computer Mishap
An automated Veterans Affairs system meant to help accelerate claims decisions actually helped contribute to inaccurate ratings on 27% of high blood pressure claims. A VA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report published last week found that more than a quarter of the 60 reviewed high blood pressure claims that were handled by the Automated Benefits Delivery System resulted in wrongful claims decisions for veterans, according to a report from Military.com. (Lee, 10/11)

In other health care industry news —

Modern Healthcare: Cigna To Buy Bright.Md, Integrate It With Evernorth Health’s MDLive
Cigna Group will pay an undisclosed sum for digital health company Bright.md, the companies announced in a news release Tuesday. Cigna’s Evernorth Health Services unit will integrate Bright.md’s asynchronous digital services into MDLive, a telehealth platform that covers 60 million commercial, Medicaid and Medicare enrollees. MDLive supports about 2 million virtual urgent care, behavioral health, tele-dermatology and primary care visits annually, MDLive Chief Medical Officer Dr. Eric Weil said during an interview at the HLTH conference. (Tepper, 10/10)

The Boston Globe: Dana-Farber, Beth Israel Unveil $1.68 Billion Cancer Hospital Project
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute said its planned collaboration with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center will include construction of a $1.68 billion, 300-bed cancer hospital, a project that would fulfill a longstanding vision the cancer hospital has had about how to deliver care. Dr. Laurie Glimcher, chief executive of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Dr. Kevin Tabb, chief executive of Beth Israel Lahey Health, outlined their plans in an editorial board meeting with the Globe on Tuesday, with Dana-Farber executives saying they tried diligently to continue working with Brigham and Women’s Hospital before seeking a new partner. (Bartlett, 10/10)

Modern Healthcare: Walgreens To Launch Virtual Care Services In 2023
Walgreens will launch an on-demand virtual care service later this month, Tracey Brown, chief customer officer and president of retail, announced at a HLTH conference keynote Monday. The company will offer dermatology, primary care, urgent care, women’s health and men’s health services, Brown said. Patients can set up video visits with providers, attend virtual consultations with a doctor or nurse practitioner and have prescriptions shipped to their home, she said. (Hudson and Tepper, 10/10)

CNBC: Walgreens Names Veteran Health-Care Executive Tim Wentworth As Next CEO
Walgreens Boots Alliance has chosen veteran health care executive Tim Wentworth as the company’s new chief executive. Wentworth is the former CEO of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefits management company, Express Scripts, which was acquired by Cigna in 2018. He stayed on and served as chief of Cigna’s health services, before retiring in 2021. (Coombs, 10/10)

Bloomberg: US Rural Nursing Homes Are Closing, Hollowing Out Small Towns
Urben Gratz first heard it at the post office. The Good Samaritan nursing home where his wife lived was closing. In Mott, a community of almost 700 in southwestern North Dakota, there were no other options. Gratz eventually found a place for Irene at a home in Dickinson, 60 miles away. She moved in on June 1, 2022, their 69th wedding anniversary, and died there three months later at age 90. Some families had to take their loved ones as far as Fargo, 300 miles east. “It was a big blow to the town,” Gratz says. “Everybody was not prepared for that.” (Coleman-Lochner and Braun, 10/11)

AP: Arkansas Purges 427K From Medicaid After Post-Pandemic Roll Review; Advocates Worry About Oversights 
More than 427,000 Arkansas residents were dropped from Medicaid in the past six months, as the state became among the first nationally to complete a post-pandemic eligibility review of the government-funded health care program for lower-income residents. The state ended coverage for more than half of those whose cases were reviewed during the period — a removal rate that raised concerns Tuesday among some health care advocates even as the Republican-led administration defended its efficiency in shrinking the Medicaid rolls. (Lieb and DeMillo, 10/10)

Health News Florida: DeSantis Administration Fights Allegations Over Medicaid Redeterminations
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is trying to fend off a potential class-action lawsuit that alleges the state has not provided adequate information to Medicaid beneficiaries before dropping them from the health-care program. Attorneys for the state Agency for Health Care Administration and the Department of Children and Families on Friday filed court documents arguing that a federal judge should reject requests to issue a preliminary injunction and to make the lawsuit a class action. (Saunders, 10/10)

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

CBS News: New Law Means No Co-Pays For Advanced Breast Cancer Diagnostic Tests In Minnesota
Starting at age 40, mammograms for women at high risk for breast cancer are covered under the Affordable Care Act. And at age 50, patients can get the preventative check every two years. But additional tests can mean big bills. But a new state law eliminates cost sharing for the advanced screenings, like a MRI or ultrasound, when a physician determines the tests are necessary. And they can be cost prohibitive for patients: A study commissioned by the Susan G. Komen Foundation found patients can pay more than $1,000 for a breast MRI even with insurance. (Cummings, 10/10)

Bloomberg: California Single-Payer Health Care Plan To Be Considered In 2024
California state assemblyperson Ash Kalra is preparing to reintroduce a bill early next year that would create a program known as CalCare to provide the same package of health-care benefits to all residents and make the state solely responsible for reimbursing providers. This time around, the effort has more momentum, but still faces a number of obstacles. (Coleman-Lochner and Kamisher, 10/10)

Axios Atlanta: Access To HIV Prevention Treatment Falls Short For Black And Hispanic Georgians 
Public health researchers are urging politicians and policymakers to make a revolutionary HIV treatment more accessible to Black and Hispanic people in Georgia, one of the states with the highest rates of new diagnoses. Though no vaccine or cure for HIV is currently available, HIV is preventable and treatable thanks partly to advances in medicine including pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. (Wheatley, 10/10)

On measles and malaria —

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Resident Who Works In Waukesha County Positive For Measles
A Milwaukee resident who works in Waukesha County has tested positive for measles, prompting the city's health department Tuesday to release the dates and locations the individual visited to prevent the highly contagious virus from spreading. "Measles is a vaccine-preventable disease," said Milwaukee Health Commissioner Mike Totoraitis in a statement. "The virus is a highly contagious disease that is spread through respiratory droplets and direct contact with contaminated surfaces.” (Van Egeren,10/10)

Community News Collaborative: Sarasota County's Malaria Scare Brought New Tactics In Mosquito Control
With seven documented cases of malaria reported in Sarasota County this year, the county’s Mosquito Management Services team spent the summer on high alert. The cases were reported in May, June and July, prompted by mosquitos carrying the Plasmodium vivax infection. (Owens, 10/10)

Modern Healthcare: Providers Stress Need For Remote Prescribing Rules After DEA Extension
Telehealth groups expressed some relief at the Drug Enforcement Administration's extension of pandemic-era flexibilities allowing companies to continue prescribing certain controlled substances without in-person visits until the end of next year. They also pointed to the necessity of a permanent rule. The extension, published in the Federal Register Tuesday, authorizes providers to prescribe Schedule II-V controlled medications via telemedicine to new and existing patients, as they have since the COVID-19 pandemic began, through Dec. 31, 2024. (Turner, 10/10)

In updates from the FDA —

CNBC: Supreme Court Won't Hear Challenge To FDA Rejection Of Flavored Vapes
The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear arguments in a case challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s authority to reject approvals of flavored electronic cigarettes. The case is one of several challenges to the FDA’s regulation of the vaping industry, which has hooked members of a new generation on nicotine, and ballooned into an $8.2 billion market in less than a decade. (Constantino and Sykes, 10/10)

The New York Times: Illicit Vapes And E-Cigarettes Flood Stores As F.D.A. Struggles To Combat Imports 
Some vapes are appearing with increasing nicotine levels that approach those in a carton of cigarettes. U.S. regulators did not authorize them, but have failed to keep them off shelves. (Jewett, 10/10)

Reuters: US FDA Warns Online Vendors To Stop Selling Unapproved Weight-Loss Drugs
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday published letters warning two online vendors to stop selling unapproved versions of semaglutide and tirzepatide, the active ingredients in popular GLP-1 class medications including Novo Nordisk’s powerful weight-loss drug Wegovy. In the letters sent to Semaspace and Gorilla Healing on Oct. 2, the FDA said the only approved semaglutide products were Wegovy and Novo’s diabetes drugs Ozempic and Rybelsus. It noted that tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro, had only been approved for diabetes. (Wingrove, 10/10)

In other pharmaceutical developments —

Reuters: Alnylam Gives Up On Expanded Use Of Heart-Disease Drug In US After FDA Declines Approval
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals said on Monday it would not pursue expanded use of its drug to treat a potentially fatal heart disease in the U.S. after the Food and Drug Administration declined to approve the medication despite a favorable recommendation from its advisers. (Sunny, 10/10)

Stat: Liquid Biopsy For Lung Cancer Is Launched By Delfi
Delfi Diagnostics, a well-funded startup in the burgeoning field of creating blood tests to detect cancer, said on Monday that it is launching a new test, FirstLook Lung, to try to identify people who could most benefit from lung cancer screening. (Herper, 10/9)

Stat: Akero's Treatment For NASH Falls Short In Cirrhosis Study
Akero Therapeutics said Tuesday that an experimental medicine failed to show a significant benefit for patients with cirrhosis caused by NASH, the most advanced and life-threatening stage of the fatty liver disease. (Feuerstein, 10/10)

CNBC: As Covid-Testing Business Drops, Abbott Searches For New Line Of Business With Consumer Wearables
Abbott Laboratories CEO Robert Ford took the stage at the HLTH conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday to discuss the company’s expansion into a new market: consumer wearables. The health-care company offers a range of products but derives the bulk of its revenue from medical devices and diagnostic tools. Its 15-minute rapid Covid test was a boon for the company, bringing in a staggering $7.7 billion in sales in 2021 and $8.4 billion the following year, a sizable portion of its total 2022 sales of $43.7 billion. (Capoot, 10/10)

KFF Health News: John Green Vs. Johnson & Johnson (Part 1)
Why is treating drug-resistant tuberculosis so expensive? Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson’s patents on a drug called bedaquiline have a lot to do with it. In this episode of “An Arm and a Leg,” host Dan Weissmann speaks with writer and YouTube star John Green about how he mobilized his massive online community of “nerdfighters” to change the company’s policy and help make the drug more accessible. (10/11)

San Francisco Chronicle: Newsom Signs Bill Making It Easier To Place People On Psychiatric Hold
California will expand its standards for involuntary medical treatment to include people whose mental illness or drug addiction inhibits their ability to keep themselves safe, under a bill signed Tuesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. ... Advocates of SB43 said it was needed because the law currently applies only to people who are unable to provide their own basic food, clothing and shelter or who are found to be mentally incompetent. (Bollag and Egelko, 10/10)

On social media's effect on mental health —

USA Today: Utah Lawsuit Claims TikTok Baits Children Into Destructive Habits
“We're tired of TikTok lying to Utah parents," Cox said. "We're tired of our kids losing their innocence and even their lives addicted to the dark side of social media." Utah officials cited public health concerns and research showing the impact social media has on children's mental health, including risks of depression, anxiety, higher levels of developmental sensitivity and disruptions to neurological development. (Nguyen, 10/10)

AP: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Say Social Media Is Harming Kids
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on Tuesday called for social media platforms to adopt better content-moderation policies and other fixes, saying modifications need to be made to addictive apps that can harm young people’s mental health. The couple spoke at a panel discussion coordinated by their Archewell Foundation in New York City as part of a second annual mental health awareness festival hosted by a nonprofit called Project Healthy Minds. (Hadero, 10/10)

Also —

Axios: America's Mental Health Crisis Is Getting Worse
A trio of new studies paints a grim picture of how overdose deaths, depression and barriers to care are weighing heaviest on disadvantaged and minority groups — and are aligning to widen health disparities as the U.S. emerges from the pandemic. (Owens, 10/11)

Axios: Surgeon General: Mental Health Key To Healing Political Divisiveness
The issue of mental health is "fundamentally impacting the fabric of society," U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said during a recent event hosted ahead of Tuesday's World Mental Health Day. Political divisiveness, climate change, COVID, gun violence and social media are among stressors taking a simultaneous toll on mental health, which in turn fuels more harmful behaviors. (King, 10/10)

The Texas Tribune: As West Texas’ Population Grows, The Need For More Mental Health Care Does Too
About five years ago, Midland County faced a hard truth: Its jail was full. The swelling was caused in part by an increase in incarcerated people who needed mental health evaluations. The nearest behavioral center, where those evaluations could take place, was also at capacity. (Ramos, 10/10)

Houston Chronicle: Lina Hidalgo Returns From Leave, Talks National Mental Health Month
Harris County Commissioners Court voted Tuesday to designate October as National Depression and Mental Health Screening Month, approving the measure as County Judge Lina Hidalgo presided over her first meeting since returning from medical leave to receive treatment for clinical depression. ... On Tuesday, she urged others to recognize the signs that they need help. “Let’s educate ourselves and our children about that,” Hidalgo said, adding that “treatment does work, and it’s fantastic.” (Rice, 10/10)

USA Today: Life-Changing Surgery: Doctor Disconnects Brain Of 6-Year-Old With Rare Disease
A 6-year-old girl with a rare neurological disease recently underwent a 10-hour surgery in California where half of her brain was disconnected in an effort to help cure her. ... The surgery was performed by Dr. Aaron Robison at Loma Linda University Medical Center in Loma Linda, California. Robison told ABC 7 that "just disconnecting it [the brain] is enough to stop the disease completely and essentially, potentially cure it." (Hauari, 10/10)

More health and wellness news —

Stat: Stroke Deaths Set To Near 10 Million Globally By 2050 
The number of stroke deaths worldwide is set to climb 50% to nearly 10 million by 2050, with most cases occurring in low- and middle-income countries, according to a new wide-ranging report from the World Stroke Organization-Lancet Neurology Commission. (Chen, 10/9)

Fox News: Drinking An Extra Cup Of Coffee Per Day Could Help With Weight Management, Study Finds
Adding an extra cup of unsweetened coffee each day was associated with a reduced risk of gaining weight over a four-year period, according to a study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition on Oct. 1. The benefit, however, was canceled if a person added a teaspoon of sugar to the hot beverage. Adding "cream or non-dairy coffee whitener" did not have an effect on weight, the published report said. (McGorry, 10/10)

Stat: How Clinical AI Models' Predictive Power Can Degrade Over Time
A growing number of AI tools are being used to predict everything from sepsis to strokes, with the hope of accelerating the delivery of life-saving care. But over time, new research suggests, these predictive models can become a victim of their own success — sending their performance into a nosedive and generating inaccurate, potentially harmful results. (Palmer, 10/10)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute' 
This week on the KFF Health News Minute: What happens in a small town when the only practicing physicians are ready to retire. Plus, the Biden administration wants to stop medical debt from dragging down your credit score. (10/10)

Also —

Los Angeles Times: Mary Lou Retton Is Hospitalized With Pneumonia, Unable To Breathe On Her Own, Daughter Says
United States gymnastics legend Mary Lou Retton has been hospitalized for more than a week after contracting “a very rare form of pneumonia,” her daughter said Tuesday. Retton’s daughter, McKenna Kelley, has launched a fundraising campaign to help pay for her mother’s medical expenses. In the description for the campaign, Kelley explains that her “amazing mom” is in the intensive care unit “fighting for her life” with no medical insurance. “We ask that if you could help in any way, that 1) you PRAY! and 2) if you could help us with finances for the hospital bill. ANYTHING, absolutely anything, would be so helpful for my family and my mom. Thank y’all so very much!” (Carras, 10/10)

The New York Times: Florence Fisher, Advocate For Opening Adoption Records, Dies At 95
Florence Fisher, an adoptee who spent decades searching for her birth parents and then spent another half century fighting to open adoption records for millions of others, died on Oct. 1 in Brooklyn. She was 95. (Risen, 10/10)

The New York Times: Dorothy Hoffner, Chicago Woman Who Skydived At 104, Dies 
Dorothy Hoffner, the centenarian who gained international adoration for skydiving at age 104 earlier this month, all while exhibiting an air of blasé disregard for the attention the feat brought her, died in her sleep overnight Sunday into Monday at her home in Chicago. (Medina, 10/10)

On bird flu —

USA Today: Bird Flu Detected In Poultry Flocks In South Dakota And Utah
The U.S. Department of Agriculture detected traces of highly pathogenic bird flu in commercial poultry flocks in South Dakota and Utah on Friday, raising concerns about possible future outbreaks across the country. So far, virus detections in 328 commercial flocks and 516 backyard flocks in the U.S. have affected 58.97 million birds nationwide. Backyard flocks are residences that keep 1,000 or fewer birds, whereas commercial flocks exceed that amount, according to the USDA. (Dausch and Arredondo, 10/11)

USA Today: CRISPR Gene Editing Used To Make Chickens Resistant To Bird Flu: Study
The chicken may be getting an upgrade. In a scientific first, U.K. researchers have used gene editing technology to create poultry that's partially resistant to bird flu infection, according to a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications. It’s no bionic chicken. But study authors say growing disease-resistant chickens in the lab is an important first step to giving farmers a tool to combat bird flu, which wiped out tens of millions of chickens amid an H5N1 outbreak over the past two years. (Rodriguez, 10/10)

ScienceDaily: Can Immunity From Routine Vaccines Be Used To Fight Cancer? 
A team has demonstrated in theory that a protein antigen from a childhood vaccine can be delivered into the cells of a malignant tumor to refocus the body's immune system against the cancer, effectively halting it and preventing its recurrence. (University of Massachusetts Amherst, 10/10)

American Academy of Pediatrics: The Effectiveness Of Maternal Pertussis Vaccination Administered During Pregnancy And Risk Of Pertussis In Infants 
Pertussis vaccination during pregnancy is routine because it can reduce pertussis in newborn infants through the first 2 months after birth. However, some concerns have been raised that this impedes the ability of infants to develop their own robust antibody response, which is referred to as a “blunting effect.” (please see references 4, 5, or 6 of the corresponding commentary by Dr. Kathryn Edwards linked below) How serious is this blunting effect? (First, MD, MS, 10/9)

On covid vaccines and treatments —

CIDRAP: US Data Show Many COVID Patients Received Antibiotics On Admission 
A new study by researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that despite a decrease in overall antibiotic use, most US adults hospitalized with COVID-19 continued to receive antibiotics beyond the first year of the pandemic. (Dall, 10/9)

CIDRAP: Study: Paxlovid Cuts Hospitalization, Death Only In At-Risk COVID Patients With Weak Immune Systems 
Today in JAMA Network Open, an observational Canadian study ties the antiviral drug combo nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid) to a lower risk of hospitalization or death only in very high-risk COVID-19 patients with weakened immune systems. University of British Columbia researchers in Vancouver analyzed rates of severe COVID-19 outcomes among 6,866 adult COVID-19 patients by their vulnerability to severe disease and immune system status from February 1, 2022, to February 3, 2023, a period dominated by the Omicron variant. The team classified the patients into one of four groups given early priority for COVID-19 vaccination. (Van Beusekom, 10/2)

CIDRAP: COVID Booster Uptake Hindered By Prior Infections, Fear Of Side Effects
Only 20% of Americans eligible for COVID-19 boosters get them, and today in Vaccine, researchers published the results of a new survey of 2,000 US adults to understand why uptake is so low. Participants were part of the Arizona CoVHORT, a prospective trial that began in May 2020. All 2,196 participants had at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and were asked about if they had received a bivalent (two-strain) COVID-19 booster. If respondents said they had not, they were asked why. (Soucheray, 10/3)

CIDRAP: Moderna Reports Promising Results For COVID-Flu MRNA Vaccine 
Moderna today reported positive interim results from a phase 1/2 trial of its mRNA combination vaccine against COVID and flu and said it would advance the vaccine, called mRNA 1083, to a phase 3 trial. In a statement, the company said researchers evaluated the vaccine's safety and immunogenicity compared to a standard dose of Fluarix flu vaccine in adults ages 50 to 64 and to a the high-dose Fluzone vaccine in adults ages 65 to 79. For both age-groups, they compared mRNA 1083 to its Spikevax COVID booster. (Schnirring, 10/4)

CIDRAP: Kids In State With Flu Vaccine Mandate More Likely To Be Vaccinated, Study Finds 
Children in a state with an influenza vaccine mandate during the 2020–2021 flu season were much more likely to be vaccinated than those in non-mandate states, according to a study published today in Pediatrics. (Van Beusekom, 10/10)

The New York Times: The A.D.H.D. Drug Shortage Is Causing Real Pain 
Today, a nationwide shortage of the A.D.H.D. medications he relies on threatens his recovery. This drought of drugs like Adderall, Vyvanse and Ritalin — which has now stretched on for a year — is causing widespread suffering and increasing levels of disability among families across the United States. (Maia Szalavitz, 10/9)

The New York Times: Ozempic Can’t Fix What Our Culture Has Broken 
We have become fluent in the new language of pharmacology, diabetes, and weight loss. Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro are part of our public lexicon. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists are lifesaving drugs, created to help the hundreds of millions of people with Type 2 diabetes and clinical obesity. They promise to rid the United States of obesity, if our country can figure out how to make the pricey fix affordable. (Tressie McMillan Cottom, 10/9)

Stat: Payer-Participating Trials Could Improve Drug Efficacy 
Earlier this year, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert M. Califf proposed something radical: that private health care insurance companies (payers) should participate in clinical research on FDA-approved drugs. (Vijay Ramakrishnan, 10/6)

Bloomberg: Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines Should Evolve With Science 
Recommendations for how often to screen have shifted in recent years, but guidelines are still written for women at average risk. Oncologists now have so much more information on who is at risk for more aggressive cancers, or ones that strike at a younger age. So why aren’t women screened based on their individual risk? (Lisa Jarvis, 10/10)

Columbus Dispatch: Ohioans Can Get Treatment For High Blood Pressure. Abortion Should Be No Different
The path to abortion care is different from almost every other type of necessary medical treatment in Ohio. This is, in large part, because public policy has made it that way. (Mikaela Smith, 10/11)

Dallas Morning News: Texas Isn’t Targeting The Vulnerable In Medicaid; It’s Protecting Them
Since April, Texas has removed more than 600,000 people from Medicaid rolls. The way the story goes, the state is deliberately kicking off needy people, depriving them of the health care they desperately need and can’t afford anywhere else. (Victoria Eardley, 10/11)

Stat: How Should State Employee Insurance Handle Wegovy?
It seems these days like everyone is talking about Ozempic and Wegovy. These drugs, known formally as GLP-1 medications, are getting a lot of buzz thanks to strong clinical results in reducing obesity. The catch? The annual costs per patient can range from $4,000 to $14,000. That can add up — especially when you’re the comptroller of a state whose insurance covers more than 265,000 people. (Sean Scanlon, 10/10)