The Hill: COVID Deaths Tick Up In Some States Ahead Of Holidays
Several states are experiencing increases in deaths related to COVID-19 as the holidays approach and this year’s respiratory viral season sets in. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), eight states saw increases in coronavirus deaths based on data available through Nov. 11: Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Michigan, North Carolina and Tennessee. The absolute increases ranged from 0.1 percent in Colorado to 3 percent in Maryland. (Choi, 11/21)

Axios: Omicron Still Driving COVID Infections For Second Holiday Season
With the holidays approaching, it may be the first time in years that COVID-19 is not a predominant concern – but the Omicron wave of the pandemic is not exactly over. In the two years since Omicron emerged, it has continued to rank as the predominant strain in the U.S., and its subvariants are now driving most of the country's coronavirus infections. (Habeshian, 11/21)

The Boston Globe: COVID-19 Levels In Boston-Area Waste Water Increase Slightly
Public health officials are distributing rapid COVID-19 tests and urging people to receive an updated vaccine as levels of coronavirus in Boston-area waste water rise ahead of the holiday season. Boston Public Health Commission officials said they will hand out 10,000 free testing kits at community centers and other distribution hubs across the city. As of Nov. 15, coronavirus levels rose 93 percent over the previous 14 days, the commission said. (Sweeney, 11/21)

Also —

San Francisco Chronicle: How To Minimize COVID, Flu And RSV Risk This Thanksgiving
A recent survey found that about 75% of adults expressed little or no worry about getting infected with the coronavirus, while two-thirds downplayed the risk of transmission to loved ones. And federal data shows only about 14% of eligible adults have received the reformulated COVID vaccine, while about 35% have gotten the flu vaccine. But with an uptick in COVID cases and hospitalizations, the flu season kicking off early, and respiratory syncytial virus making the rounds, some of us may think twice about spreading respiratory viruses this Thanksgiving. This is especially true for anyone who is immunocompromised or elderly. (Hwang, 11/22)

Axios: COVID, RSV Cases Rise As Americans Gather For The Holidays
Virus activity is picking up again as millions of Americans crisscross the country for Thanksgiving, taking fewer precautions to protect themselves against illness as concerns about COVID-19 fade away. Indoor holiday gatherings are expected to fuel a spike in cases of COVID-19, RSV and the flu — and with vaccinations against all three respiratory viruses lagging, health experts worry hospitals could be slammed again this winter. (Reed, 11/22)

The New York Times: How Viral Infections Cause Long-Term Health Problems
Infection with the coronavirus is known to leave behind a long legacy of health problems, many of which are characterized as long Covid. But mounting evidence suggests that independent of that syndrome, the coronavirus also befuddles the immune system into targeting the body, causing autoimmune disorders in some people. ... Covid is not unique in this aspect. Scientists have long known that infection can set the body down the path of autoimmune disease. The classic example is Epstein-Barr virus. (Mandavilli, 11/22)

Meanwhile, nursing home vaccination rates are lagging —

Axios: Nursing Home Vaccination Rates Are Low As COVID Cases Rise
Only about 17% of nursing home residents and 2% of staff are up to date on their COVID-19 shots as cases rise across the country and health officials prepare for another seasonal tripledemic of respiratory diseases. (Reed, 11/22)

The Detroit News: Whitmer Signs Bills Deregulating Some Aspects Of Abortion In Michigan
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday signed into law a series of bills that aim to codify abortion rights into Michigan law and repeal measures that abortion advocates say inhibit access to the medical procedure of terminating a pregnancy. The Reproductive Health Act would put the language of the Reproductive Freedom For All constitutional amendment, Proposal 3 of 2022, in state law and make a variety of additional repeals and changes to existing Michigan abortion law. (LeBlanc and Livengood, 11/21)

AP: Democratic Division Blocks Effort To End Michigan’s 24-Hour Wait For An Abortion
Michigan Democrats, who early this year had built on the state’s recent reputation for safeguarding abortion rights, have stalled on the once-assured effort due to dissent within the state legislative caucus in recent months. Two key pieces of legislation that would have repealed a 24-hour wait period required for patients receiving an abortion and also allowed state Medicaid dollars to pay for abortions were left out of a package signed Tuesday by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. (Cappelletti, 11/21)

AP: Physicians, Clinic Ask Judge To Block Enforcement Of Part Of A North Dakota Abortion Law
Physicians and the former, sole abortion provider in North Dakota on Tuesday asked a judge to block enforcement of part of a revised law that bans most abortions, saying a provision that allows the procedure to protect a woman’s health is too vague. North Dakota outlaws all abortions, except in cases where women could face death or a “serious health risk.” People who perform abortions could be charged with a felony under the law, but patients would not. (Dura, 11/22)

Bloomberg Law: Idaho Asks US Supreme Court To Permit Abortion Law Enforcement
Idaho requested the US Supreme Court let it enforce a near-total abortion ban, pending appeal of a decision that found the ban makes it impossible for hospitals in the state to comply with a federal emergency care law. Attorney General Raúl Labrador Monday filed an emergency application to stay an injunction that prevents the state from imposing penalties on physicians who perform abortions in emergency situations, except when necessary to save the pregnant person’s life. (Pazanowski, 11/21)

ABC News: Virginia Democrats Propose Amendment To Guarantee Abortion Access After Winning General Assembly
After winning full control of the state's General Assembly two weeks ago, Virginia Democrats are wasting no time exercising their power. On Monday, the party introduced four bills including legislation to create a constitutional amendment that would codify abortion access in the state. "Virginia voters sent a message on Nov. 7 that they want Virginia to remain an open and welcoming state that honors individual freedom, privacy and economic opportunity for all of its residents," said Scott Surovell, the majority leader for the Virginia Senate. (Romero, 11/21)

Also —

Mother Jones: Mexico Has Become A Haven For Americans Seeking An Abortion
One last-minute round-trip flight from Biloxi, Mississippi, to Cancún, Mexico, runs about $171 USD; three nights at a three-star hotel there can cost as little as $129. A three-day car rental in the resort town rings in at just $20 per day. And the price for one surgical abortion at MSI Reproductive Choices’ Cancún clinic would be about $350. The total cost for a trip to Cancún to access reproductive health services no longer available in some American states? $710. (Vesoulis, 11/22)

KFF Health News: Anti-Abortion Groups Shrug Off Election Losses, Look To Courts, Statehouses For Path Forward
Anti-abortion groups are firing off a warning shot for 2024: We’re not going anywhere. Their leaders say they’re undeterred by recent election setbacks and plan to plow ahead on what they’ve done for years, including working through state legislatures, federal agencies, and federal courts to outlaw abortion. And at least one prominent anti-abortion group is calling on conservative states to make it harder for voters to enact ballot measures, a tactic Republican lawmakers attempted in Ohio before voters there enshrined the right to abortion in the state’s constitution. (Pradhan, 11/22)

The Hill: Biden Skeptical Of China’s Cooperation On Curbing Fentanyl: ‘We Have To Verify It’
President Biden said Tuesday that he took important steps during his meeting last week with Chinese President Xi Jinping to curb the flow of fentanyl into the United States, but that he will have to verify that the Chinese follow through. Biden and Xi met in San Francisco during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, and the White House said their conversations on the deadly opioid fentanyl was a top deliverable out of the talks. Biden reiterated Tuesday that he “made important progress” during his meeting with Xi, as well as with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. (Gangitano, 11/21)

Bloomberg: Biden Asks Congress For More Funding, Tighter Laws To Counter Fentanyl Crisis
President Joe Biden pressed lawmakers to approve more funding and tighten laws to help block fentanyl trafficking, following his agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping to crack down on the deadly drug. Biden on Tuesday heralded an agreement with Xi, who pledged during their summit last week to carry out a law-enforcement campaign against Chinese fentanyl components, and his talks with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on stopping the flow of drugs across the southwest border. (Jacobs, 11/21)

In news on Medicare and nursing home rules —

The Hill: Biden’s Nursing Home Staffing Rules Divide Democrats Ahead Of 2024
The Biden administration is walking a political tightrope with its plan to impose minimum staffing levels on nursing homes.  The White House is facing criticism from the left and the right, and the proposal is dividing Democrats, especially some front-line members facing a difficult reelection in 2024. Those lawmakers, mostly from rural areas, argue that the proposal is too strict and would force nursing homes to close.  (Meyn, 11/22)

Modern Healthcare: Health Plans Ducking 2024 Medicare Advantage Rule, AHA Tells CMS
Medicare Advantage insurers are already finding ways to skirt new federal regulations designed to ease beneficiary access to medical care, according to the American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals. ... Citing a notice UnitedHealthcare sent hospitals Oct. 30 outlining its coverage policies for 2024, however, the hospital trade groups says insurers are not complying and continue to set higher bars for coverage than the regulation allows. (Bennett, 11/21)

CNBC: Retirees Face Significantly Higher Medicare Part D Drug Costs In 2024
A new law is poised to cap seniors’ prescription drug costs covered under Medicare, starting in 2025. But retirees may be in for a shock next year — significantly higher Medicare Part D premiums for prescription drug coverage. (Konish, 11/21)

On drug pricing —

Stat: Bernie Sanders Calls In Merck, J&J, And Bristol Myers Squibb
Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), on Tuesday mounted a public pressure campaign to get the executives of Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Bristol Myers Squibb to testify in a January hearing on why the United States pays more for prescription drugs than other countries. (Cohrs, 11/21)

Also —

Stat: House Republicans Call CDC Director To Testify 
A House committee that has sparred with the Biden administration over its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the virus’ origins is delving back into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s role. The Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing Nov. 30 with CDC Director Mandy Cohen, who assumed the leadership post this summer. While this is far from the first time the GOP-controlled panel has interrogated the CDC’s pandemic work, it will be the first time Cohen appears before them. (Owermohle, 11/21)

Politico: Amid Drug Pricing Battle, PhRMA Gave House GOP-Linked Group $7.5 Million
The pharmaceutical industry’s leading lobbying organization contributed $7.5 million to the American Action Network last year, a group linked to House Republicans, according to an analysis of 2022 tax forms. It’s the most PhRMA has ever given to the group in a year, though the network has received $34.5 million in PhRMA cash since 2010, according to Issue One, a campaign finance reform advocacy group. (Wilson and Oprysko, 11/21)

Politico: Food Aid For Low-Income Mothers, Babies Becomes Spending Flashpoint
Congress’ failure to include extra aid money for low-income moms and babies in last week’s spending bill sets up a potential showdown early next year. At stake: whether the government will have to begin turning away large numbers of mothers and their children from the program, known as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, breaking with decades of precedent. (Brown and Lee Hill, 11/21)

Reuters: Novo Rations Ozempic Starter Kits Amid Surge In Use For Weight Loss
Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO) will ration starter kits of Ozempic in Europe and reduce supplies of another diabetes drug, Victoza, to prioritise producing Ozempic, which has seen a surge in demand from people using it to lose weight. Ozempic contains semaglutide, an ingredient in Novo's hugely popular anti-obesity drug Wegovy. Ozempic is not officially approved to treat obesity, but that hasn't held back demand. (Burger and Mathews, 11/21)

Reuters: Medtronic Shrugs Off Concerns Over Newer Weight-Loss Drugs, Raises Annual Forecast
Medtronic (MDT.N) raised its annual earnings forecast on Tuesday as strong sales in its surgical and diabetes units allayed concerns about the impact of new diabetes and weight-loss drugs on long-term growth, sending its shares up nearly 4% in morning trade. Makers of medical products used in bariatric surgery and glucose-monitoring devices have been trying to ease investor concerns over a potential hit to demand from the rising popularity of new GLP-1 drugs like Novo Nordisk's (NOVOb.CO) Ozempic and Eli Lilly's (LLY.N) Mounjaro. (Mandowara and Santhosh, 11/21)

In other industry developments —

The Boston Globe: Merck & Co. Buys Caraway Therapeutics
Merck & Co. has agreed to pay as much as $610 million to buy Caraway Therapeutics, a small, privately owned Cambridge biotech working on potential drugs for neurodegenerative and rare diseases. The total includes an undisclosed upfront payment and payments contingent on reaching goals for developing medicines to treat conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, ALS, and rare kidney diseases. (Saltzman, 11/21)

Reuters: Monsanto Hit With $165 Million Verdict Over PCBs In Seattle School
A U.S. jury has ordered Bayer's Monsanto to pay $165 million to employees of a school northeast of Seattle who claimed chemicals made by the company called polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, leaked from light fixtures and got them sick. The Washington state court jury found the company liable for selling products containing PCBs used in the Sky Valley Education Center in Monroe, Washington, that were not safe, and did not include adequate warnings. The award included nearly $50 million in compensatory damages, and $115 million in punitive damages. (Mindock, 11/21)

Modern Healthcare: Epic To Receive Payout From 2014 Tata Trade Secrets Lawsuit
Electronic health record giant Epic Systems will receive about $125 million in court-awarded payments from Tata Consultancy Services,  the Mumbai, India-based information-technology and consulting firm said in a regulatory filing Tuesday. In 2014, Verona, Wisconsin-based Epic alleged Tata illegally accessed Epic Systems' internal documents as Tata sought to enter the U.S. EHR market. (Turner, 11/21)

Reuters: European Patent Office Declares Moderna MRNA Patent Invalid
The European Patent Office declared a contested mRNA patent owned by Moderna (MRNA.O) invalid, the office said on Tuesday, handing a win to BioNTech (22UAy.DE) and its partner Pfizer (PFE.N) in a patent dispute between the two coronavirus vaccine makers. Moderna said in a statement that it disagreed with the office's decision and would lodge an appeal. Shares in Moderna were down 2.3% in premarket trading on Wall Street after the decision was announced by BioNTech earlier on Tuesday. (11/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Foot Locker, Teamsters Show Their Drug-Benefit Managers The Door
Employers and unions are getting fed up with the firms they have used for years to help control their spending on prescription drugs—because their costs keep soaring. Footwear retailer Foot Locker dropped UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx drug-benefit manager last year, while a Teamsters fund in Philadelphia recently reupped with its replacement for CVS Health’s Caremark. (Evans, 11/21)

Stat: Morphosys Mixed Study Results For Blood Cancer Drug
An experimental blood cancer drug from MorphoSys hit its primary target in a pivotal trial, the company announced late Monday, but the drug faltered in addressing patient symptoms, causing the company’s stock to fall in early Tuesday trading. (Joseph and Feuerstein, 11/21)

Modern Healthcare: Mount Sinai Health System Names Brendan Carr As Next CEO
Mount Sinai Health System has named Dr. Brendan Carr as its next chief executive, effective early next year. Carr is a professor of emergency medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and chair of emergency medicine at the New York-based health system. He joined nonprofit Mount Sinai in February 2020. (Hudson, 11/21)

Also —

KFF Health News: Why Long-Term Care Insurance Falls Short For So Many
For 35 years, Angela Jemmott and her five brothers paid premiums on a long-term care insurance policy for their 91-year-old mother. But the policy does not cover home health aides whose assistance allows her to stay in her Sacramento, California, bungalow, near the friends and neighbors she loves. Her family pays $4,000 a month for that. “We want her to stay in her house,” Jemmott said. “That’s what’s probably keeping her alive, because she’s in her element, not in a strange place.” (Rau and Aleccia, 11/22)

KFF Health News: A Guide To Long-Term Care Insurance
If you’re wealthy, you’ll be able to afford help in your home or care in an assisted living facility or a nursing home. If you’re poor, you can turn to Medicaid for nursing homes or aides at home. But if you’re middle-class, you’ll have a thorny decision to make: whether to buy long-term care insurance. It’s a more complex decision than for other types of insurance because it’s very difficult to accurately predict your finances or health decades into the future. (Rau, 11/22)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute'
“Health Minute” brings original health care and health policy reporting from the KFF Health News newsroom to the airwaves each week. (11/21)

Fox News: Coffee And COVID: Could Drinking 1 Or 2 Cups A Day Reduce Severity Of Viral Illness?
Your daily cup of coffee could potentially double as COVID protection, a new study from China Medical University is suggesting. ... Evaluating a group of 64 adult participants, the researchers determined that consuming one to two cups of coffee per day helped to prevent infection by multiple COVID variants. The results were published in the journal Cell and Bioscience on Nov. 16 (Rudy, 11/21)

Axios: How Income Disparities Drive Heart Risks For Middle-Aged Adults
Over roughly the past two decades, middle-aged adults with lower incomes were more likely to develop high blood pressure, while those with higher incomes were more likely to develop diabetes and obesity, according to a new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine. (Reed, 11/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: New UC Davis Study May Answer Why People Get ‘Red Wine Headaches’
In a study published Monday in the Scientific Reports journal, the researchers focused on quercetin, a member of the broader group of compounds known as flavonols. While quercetin is an antioxidant..., when combined with alcohol it transforms into quercetin glucuronide, said Andrew Waterhouse, wine chemist and professor emeritus a UC Davis. “When it gets in your bloodstream, your body converts it to a different form,” he said. “In that form, it blocks the metabolism of alcohol.” This allows the toxin acetaldehyde to accumulate rapidly, causing a headache. (Vaziri, 11/21)

CIDRAP: Studies Show Parental Involvement, Doctor Education Raise HPV Vaccine Uptake
Two new studies show that involving parents and kids, whether through physician-led education or reminder mailings from clinics, can increase the likelihood of childhood human papillomavirus virus (HPV) vaccination. The findings come at a precarious time for HPV vaccination in the United States. Despite an estimated 36,500 new cancer diagnoses annually linked to HPV, in 2022, for the first time since 2013, HPV vaccine series initiation did not increase among adolescents, according to an editorial yesterday in JAMA Pediatrics. (Soucheray, 11/21)

On antibiotics —

CIDRAP: Outpatient Stewardship Intervention At Mayo Clinic Linked To Fewer Unnecessary Antibiotics
A multifaceted outpatient antibiotic stewardship intervention implemented at Mayo Clinic hospitals was associated with reduced unnecessary antibiotic prescribing for upper respiratory infections (URIs), researchers reported today in Open Forum Infectious Diseases. The intervention, implemented across Mayo Clinic facilities in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Florida, and Arizona in July 2020, aimed to reduce antibiotic use for Tier 3 URI syndromes, which are defined as URIs for which antibiotics are never indicated. (Dall, 11/21)

CIDRAP: Community Antibiotic Use Returned To Pre-Pandemic Levels In Europe In 2022
An analysis of community antibiotic consumption in Europe shows a return to pre–COVID-19 pandemic levels, researchers reported last week in Eurosurveillance. Using data from the European Surveillance of Antimicrobial Consumption Network (ESAC-Net), a team led by researchers from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, analyzed community-sector consumption of antibacterials for systemic use in 29 European Union/European Economic Activity (EU/EEA) countries from 2019 through 2022. (Dall, 11/21)

Stat: White House AI Order Triggers Fear Of Regulatory Burden For Tech Startups
Entrepreneurs across the country desperate to bring the power of AI into health care are urging Washington to consider the risk of blocking innovation, bringing into focus a chasm between the startup world’s race toward deployment and regulators’ attempts to protect patients from harmful, biased algorithms. (Ravindranath, 11/22)

Stat: Turmoil At OpenAI Shows The Need For AI Standards In Health Care
The leadership turmoil within OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, is triggering calls for stepped-up efforts to establish standards for how generative AI is used across the health care industry, where experts worry that one or two companies could end up with too much control. (Ross, 11/21)

On claim denials by AI —

Modern Healthcare: What UnitedHealth, Cigna Lawsuits Mean For AI, Automation
The alleged use of artificial intelligence for prior authorization and claim denials has led to lawsuits against two major health insurance companies. UnitedHealth Group and Cigna have been separately accused of allegedly using automated tools to deny some claims, which plaintiffs say reduces the insurers' labor costs. Both policymakers and physician leaders are asking insurance companies to open up their AI playbooks in response to these allegations. (Berryman and Turner, 11/21)

MoneyWatch: Wilcox Ice Cream Recalls All Flavors Due To Possible Listeria Contamination
Wilcox Ice Cream is recalling all flavors of Wilcox brand ice cream, yogurt and ice cream bars, as well as Leonardo's brand gelato, because the products could be contaminated with listeria, the company said. ..."As part of our investigation, we determined that preliminary testing showed that the ice cream mix purchased to make our products may contain listeria monocytogenes," Wilcox said in a recall notice posted by the Food and Drug Administration. (Gibson, 11/21)

CBS News: Most Applesauce Lead Poisonings Were In Toddlers, FDA Says
Most reported patients in the growing applesauce lead poisoning probe are young children, a Food and Drug Administration spokesperson confirmed, as authorities continue to field reports from parents and doctors following last month's recall ... Information collected from consumer complaints and reports submitted to the FDA show "most patients fall between 1-4 years of age," the spokesperson said in a statement. (Tin, 11/21)

In other public health news —

Daily Yonder: New Study Offers Surprising News About Rural Access To Dialysis
Rural residents as a group live farther from dialysis treatment facilities than their urban counterparts. Given that rural America generally scores lower on health care access, that’s not a surprise. But there is some unexpected news in a new study of dialysis access. One of the chronically medically underserved populations in rural America, African American residents, on average live closer to dialysis facilities than white residents do. (Carey, 11/22)

CBS News: It's OK To Indulge On Thanksgiving, Dietician Says, But Beware Of These Unhealthy Eating Behaviors
"Complicated relationships (around food) are much more heightened during times like this, where we're celebrating something that revolves culturally around food," says Amanda Holtzer, a registered dietician based in New Jersey. "That can really trigger a lot of potentially negative emotions in people with negative or complicated relationships with food." ... But Holtzer says indulging in a holiday meal like this isn't going to have a major impact on your body or your health. (Moniuszko, 11/21)

CNN: Travel Constipation: Causes And Treatments 
Once you’re finally on vacation, it’s no fun when suddenly not being able to poop keeps you from enjoying your trip. This predicament is known as travel constipation, when people who typically don’t have digestive problems at home develop “the characteristic symptoms of constipation” while they’re traveling, said Dr. Darren Brenner, a gastroenterologist and professor of medicine and surgery at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Illinois. (Rogers, 11/21)

Also —

KFF Health News: Watch: A Nation In Transition
CBS Reports’ “A Nation in Transition” follows trans youth from three states where lawmakers have recently debated policies that would directly affect their lives: California, Tennessee, and Texas. More than two-thirds of states in the U.S. either passed or proposed laws restricting gender-affirming care during the 2023 legislative season. In the documentary, KFF Health News editor-at-large for public health Céline Gounder discusses how families of transgender youth are uprooting their lives due to anti-trans policies and their ripple effects. (11/22)

Health News Florida: Nonprofit's Analysis Shows Florida Left Nearly $800M Unspent For People With Disabilities 
Nearly $800 million in state and federal matching funds meant for Floridians with lifelong disabilities have gone unspent over the past two years. According to an Orlando Sentinel report, this came to light after a budget analysis was conducted by The ARC of Florida, a nonprofit organization that advocates for services for people with disabilities. (11/21)

In other health news from across the country —

San Francisco Chronicle: California Law Giving Researchers Access To Gun Data Reinstated
Any intrusion on a gun owner’s privacy by providing the purchase records to academic researchers, the court said, must be weighed against the public value of learning more about weapons purchases and their effects. ... Among other findings ... the UC Davis researchers determined that “in the first week after the purchase of a handgun, the rate of suicide by means of firearms among purchasers was 57 times as high as the adjusted rate in the general population.” (Egelko, 11/21)

Politico: State Delays Essential Plan Expansion, Nixes Premiums
A long-awaited expansion of the state’s Essential Plan to cover a new income tier will not launch until at least April 1, according to an updated application filed last week by the Department of Health. The program’s expansion to cover New Yorkers earning between 200 percent and 250 percent of the federal poverty line, which state lawmakers authorized under last year’s budget, was originally slated for Jan. 1. However, the federal government did not approve the state’s waiver request in time for the beginning of open enrollment activities in October, the Health Department said. (Kaufman, 11/21)

Politico: N.J. Proposal Would Require Age Verification, Parental Permission For Social Media Use
An influential state lawmaker hopes to require age verification and parental consent for kids to join social media platforms, which would make New Jersey one of just a handful of states to impose the requirement. Assemblymember Herb Conaway (D-Burlington) on Monday introduced the legislation, NJ A5750 (22R), which would require social media platforms to verify that users are at least 18 and require minors to get consent to join from a parent or guardian. It would also ban certain online messages between adults and children. (Friedman, 11/21)

New Hampshire Public Radio: At Hampstead Hospital, Promises To Fix NH's Youth Mental Health System Remain Unfulfilled
Last year, the state took over Hampstead Hospital – a private mental health facility – with the goal of expanding mental health treatment for young people. State officials hailed it as a major step toward reforming the youth mental health system, which was struggling to keep up with the rising number of children and teens in crisis. Without enough inpatient psychiatric beds, many were forced to spend days in emergency rooms, waiting for care. (Cuno-Booth, 11/21)

The Baltimore Sun: At Hopkins Greenberg Center, Doctors Offer More Than Medical Advice To People With Dwarfism
By and large, Donné Settles Allen of Silver Spring has a tall family. She’s 5 feet 9 inches, and both her husband and oldest son are over 6 feet. Then, there’s her 13-year-old son, Asante Allen — an outgoing, tenacious goofball who stands 3 feet 9 inches. (He’s quick to point out that with socks and shoes, he’s closer to 3 feet 11 inches).Asante is the only one in his family who has achondroplasia, the most common type of dwarfism and the same one that actor Peter Dinklage has. (Roberts, 11/21)

Politico: Legal Weed In Ohio Puts Pressure On Pennsylvania
After Ohio approved a legalization initiative on the ballot earlier this month with support from 57 percent of voters, the Keystone state will see a renewed push to embrace full legalization. But while pro-legalization advocates have pushed the policy for years, no adult-use cannabis bill has mustered enough bipartisan support to even make it to a floor vote in the state House or Senate — and that’s unlikely to change in the near future. “It’s going to be a long fight to get through both chambers,” said Democratic Rep. Rick Krajewski, who recently led a hearing on cannabis legalization in a Health subcommittee. (Zhang, 11/21)

Politico: From ‘Earthly Problems’ To Hookworms, Advocate Continues Sanitation Justice Push
A renowned advocate is ramping up her fight for sanitation rights as well as pursuing innovative approaches to wastewater treatment involving "extraterrestrial learnings." Catherine Coleman Flowers has spent decades pushing for low-income communities of color to have the same wastewater access as their wealthier counterparts. That relentless struggle for environmental justice has brought her individual accolades, but the grandmother of two is keeping her focus on breakthroughs on both a local and national level. (Crunden, 11/21)

Also —

KFF Health News: From Hospital To Hospitality: Spin Doctors Brand Getting Sick As An Adventure. It's Not
The last time I stepped on a plane for vacation, for fun, was more than three years ago. I haven’t been able to visit California, whose coast I adore. Nor Rome, where my husband and I lived for some time. And yet, I’m told, I’ve been on a journey. Two journeys, actually: First, a “traumatic brain injury journey,” experienced at Johns Hopkins Hospital after I banged my head and developed trouble with my balance and gait. More recently, I’ve been a traveling companion on my husband’s “cancer journey” at Memorial Sloan Kettering, in New York City. (Rosenthal, 11/22)

Stat: 12-Month Prescriptions Can Help The Pharmacist Crisis 
Pharmacies could be called the most “rock solid” entity in our health care system. Even before Covid, pharmacies were held in high esteem; during the pandemic, they raised their game by making it easy for tens of millions of Americans to get vaccinated, fulfilling a long-standing ambition of pharmacists to provide more expansive clinical services. (Stephen Buck, 11/21)

JAMA: Why Some Patients Overpay For Specialty Generic Drugs
One key quid pro quo of the US pharmaceutical market is that consumers should expect to pay high prices for a set period of time for drugs offering important clinical advantages, after which generic competition quickly lowers prices closer to the cost of production. This trade-off was the intent of the Hatch-Waxman Act of 1984, the bipartisan compromise that increased brand-name drug manufacturers’ revenues by expanding exclusivity periods while facilitating subsequent regulatory approvals of interchangeable generic versions of the drugs. (Francis J. Crosson, MD and Aaron S. Kesselheim, MD, JD, MPH, 11/20)

JAMA: Therapeutic Benefit From New Drugs From Pharmaceutical Companies
In JAMA Internal Medicine, Osipenko and colleagues1 expand our knowledge about the role of the public sector in both contributing to the development of new drugs and the therapeutic gains from those drugs. They found that 27% of the 632 new drugs introduced to the French market between 2008 and 2018 originated either in the academic setting alone or in collaboration with the commercial sector. (Joel Lexchin, MSc, MD, 11/20)

ScienceDaily: Certain Skin Bacteria Can Inhibit Growth Of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria 
The fact that we have medicines against bacterial infections is something many people take for granted. But increasing resistance among bacteria means that more and more antibiotics do not work. (UiT The Arctic University of Norway, 11/21)

ScienceDaily: New Approaches In The Fight Against Drug Resistance In Malaria 
Malaria is one of the most widespread and deadly infectious diseases worldwide. New compounds are continuously required due to the risk of malaria parasites becoming resistant to the medicines currently used. A team of researchers has now combined the anti-malaria drug artemisinin with coumarin, which, like artemisinin, is also found in plants, and developed an auto-fluorescent compound from both bioactive substances. (Friedrich-Alexander-Universitat Erlangen-Nurnberg, 11/20)

Newsweek: Woman Says Male Doctor Gave Her Two-Year Max Contraceptive For A Decade
A TikTok video highlighting the seldom discussed risk of a particular contraceptive has gone viral, with thousands of women reacting in anger. The video, uploaded to TikTok by influencer Morgan Roos, reveals how she had been using the injectable contraceptive called Depo-Provera for 10 years under her male doctor's advice, only to be told by her new female doctor that the drug should only be taken for two years at the most. (Jess Thomson, 11/20)

The New York Times: Speak Up At Thanksgiving. Your Health Depends On It
Continually suppressing our opinions and emotions, especially if they arise from genuine concern or moral standpoints, can have profound consequences. Psychologically, emotional suppression can lead to an increased risk of depression. Physiologically, holding back our feelings is linked to a variety of health problems, such as immune dysfunction, hypertension and cancer. (Sunita Sah, 11/21)

Stat: Infectious Disease Doctor Shortage Threatens Future Health
In 2009, I was practicing in the emergency department when the H1N1 pandemic emerged. Then, I saw firsthand the vital role infectious disease physicians played in not only facilitating a coordinated public health response, but also helping patients, providers, and the public navigate the uncertainty that comes with confronting a novel virus. While on the frontlines of that pandemic, I depended on our community’s infectious disease specialists as I worked in real-time to provide patients with the answers and care they needed. (Raul Ruiz, 11/22)

The Washington Post: We Can Bring Gun Violence Under Control. Here's One Way How
Over the past decade, excluding accidents and suicides, more than 300,000 Americans have been shot, and nearly half of them have died. Millions more have suffered trauma, either as witnesses to shootings or as friends and family members of victims. By every measure, the physical, financial and emotional toll of gun violence in our society is staggering. (Andrew V. Papachristos, 11/22)

New England Journal of Medicine: Improving Trauma-Informed Care In The Face Of Firearm Violence 
In this Double Take video from the New England Journal of Medicine, Drs. Franklin Cosey-Gay, Sonya Mathies Dinizulu, Selwyn O. Rogers, Jr., and Bradley Stolbach (University of Chicago) meet with members of REACT (Recovery Empowerment after Community Trauma) to discuss continuous traumatic stress from community violence in terms of its effects on health, its root causes, and how medical providers can better support survivors of violence. They also discuss ways in which the medical community can work toward prevention of community violence and strengthen patient advocacy outside the hospital. (Lynquell Biggs, et al, 11/16)

Newsweek: Want Better Health Care? Vote Democrat 
Health care does not look to be as central to the 2024 campaign as it was in 2020, when the issue thoroughly dominated the Democratic primary before COVID upended the political world, or in 2016, when the long Republican plot to overturn the Affordable Care Act was centerstage right next to the world-historic issue of Hillary Clinton's private emails. But one thing is for certain—Democrats still have total issue ownership of health care, and the idea that it is going to be a strength next year for former President Donald Trump and the Republicans is so impossible that not even the most delusional person on Earth could believe it before breakfast. (David Faris, 11/21)

Stat: Why Rosalynn Carter Fought For Mental Health Reform 
Few people leave the world with as much grace or influence as Rosalynn Smith Carter, who died Sunday at the age of 96. While she called her autobiography “The First Lady of Plains,” to many she was also the first lady of mental health reform. Decades ago, she took bold stances on mental health topics that, today, have become conventional wisdom: Mental health is health, stigma is deadly, and people with mental illness deserve to be part of society instead of hidden away in overcrowded, dangerous facilities. (Phyllis Vine, 11/21)

New England Journal of Medicine: Opening The Door Wider To International Medical Graduates — The Significance Of A New Tennessee Law
International medical graduates (IMGs), defined by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) as people who graduated from a medical school located outside the United States and Canada, account for one in four physicians in the United States. Despite their important role in boosting physician supply and mitigating physician shortages in underserved areas,1 many IMGs face substantially higher barriers to licensing than graduates of U.S. or Canadian medical schools, which hinders their ability to practice medicine in the United States. (Tarun Ramesh, B.S., Marcela Horvitz-Lennon, M.D., M.P.H., and Hao Yu, Ph.D., 11/18)