First Edition: Dec. 20, 2023
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
KFF Health News:
A New Test Could Save Arthritis Patients Time, Money, And Pain. But Will It Be Used?
Erinn Maury knew Remicade wasn’t the right drug for Patti Schulte, a rheumatoid arthritis patient the physician saw at her Millersville, Maryland, practice. Schulte’s swollen, painful joints hadn’t responded to Enbrel or Humira, two drugs in the same class. But the insurer insisted, so Schulte went on Remicade. It didn’t work either. What’s more, Schulte suffered a severe allergic reaction to the infusion therapy, requiring a heavy dose of prednisone, a steroid with grave side effects if used at high doses for too long. (Allen, 12/20)
KFF Health News:
‘I Am Just Waiting To Die’: Social Security Clawbacks Drive Some Into Homelessness
More than a year after the federal government first cut off her disability benefits, Denise Woods drives nightly to strip malls, truck stops, and parking lots around Savannah, Georgia, looking for a safe place to sleep in her Chevy. Woods, 51, said she had rented a three-bedroom house she shared with her adult son and grandson until March 2022, when the government terminated her disability payments without notice. (Clasen-Kelly, 12/20)
KFF Health News:
Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute'
This week on the KFF Health News Minute: The end of federal abortion protections could be making it more dangerous for Black women to be pregnant, and new Sesame Street videos aim to help kids understand addiction. (12/19)
Modern Healthcare:
HHS Seeks To Dismiss Medicare Home Health Payment Lawsuit
The Biden administration has asked a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit by the National Association for Home Care and Hospice challenging how the agency sets payments to providers. The motion filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by the Health and Human Services Department claims the lawsuit should be dismissed “for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.” (Eastabrook, 12/19)
CNN:
Senators Raise Alarm About Nation’s Largest Prison Health Care Provider
The nation’s largest prison health care provider has come under fire from a group of Democratic senators who say they are alarmed the government contractor’s chronic understaffing and cost-cutting measures may have put inmates’ lives in danger. (Ellis and Hicken, 12/19)
Reuters:
Judge Won't Force Government To Turn Over Study On Cancer At Camp Lejeune
The U.S. government will not be forced to turn over a draft of a study on cancer incidence at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune to attorneys representing people allegedly harmed by tainted water on the base, a federal judge in North Carolina said on Tuesday. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Jones Jr denied a motion to compel production of the study filed by the plaintiffs’ leadership team in the litigation, which includes more than 1,400 lawsuits and more than 130,000 administrative claims filed with the government. (Jones, 12/19)
Military.com:
Millions Of Vets Got Health Care And Benefits Under The PACT Act. Thousands Left Out Want The Same Chance.
Legislation passed in 2022 expanded benefits for former troops sickened by burn pits, Agent Orange and contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, but others still wait. (Kime, 12/19)
The New York Times:
As Need Rises, Housing Aid Hits Lowest Level in Nearly 25 Years
As the safety net has expanded over the past generation, the food stamp rolls have doubled, Medicaid enrollment has tripled and payments from the earned-income tax credit have nearly quadrupled. But one major form of aid has grown more scarce. After decades of rising rents, housing assistance for the poorest tenants has fallen to the lowest level in nearly a quarter-century. The three main federal programs for the neediest renters — public housing, Section 8, and Housing Choice Vouchers — serve 287,000 fewer households than they did at their peak in 2004, a new analysis shows. That is a 6 percent drop, while the number of eligible households without aid grew by about a quarter, to 15 million. (DeParle, 12/19)
Reuters:
US Senate Looks To End Last Of Abortion-Related Military Promotion Blockade
The U.S. Senate will confirm this month the last of hundreds of military promotions held up for much of the year over a senator's protest of the Pentagon's payment of abortion-related travel costs, Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday. "Before we leave for the Christmas holiday, the Senate will also finish confirming the last of the military nominees held up by Senator (Tommy) Tuberville," Schumer said in remarks opening the Senate. (Zengerle, 12/19)
CNN:
A Woman Who Had A Miscarriage Is Now Charged With Abusing A Corpse As Stricter Abortion Laws Play Out Nationwide
An Ohio woman who had sought treatment at a hospital before suffering a miscarriage and passing her nonviable fetus in her bathroom now faces a criminal charge, her attorney told CNN. Brittany Watts, 33, of Warren, has been charged with felony abuse of a corpse, Trumbull County court records show. (Campinoti, Yan and Sylla, 12/19)
KERA News:
An El Paso Woman Is Suing Her Doctor For Negligence Over An Unwanted Pregnancy
Grissel Velasco didn’t want more kids. In 2014, Velasco — 31 years old at the time — was expecting her third child, and was receiving care at Sun City Women’s Health Care in El Paso, owned by OB-GYN and then-El Paso City Council member Dr. Michiel Noe. With Sun City staff’s guidance, allegedly at Noe’s recommendation, she paid to receive tubal ligation — also known as tube tying — at the same time she delivered her baby boy. Having any more C-section births in the future would be risky, she said she was told. (Osibamowo, 12/19)
Medill News Service:
Abortion Limits Complicate Choices For Pregnant Cancer Patients
The patient had already made the agonizing decision to start chemotherapy to address her colon cancer, even though she was 30 weeks pregnant. Within a day, the decisions got harder: her colon perforated, and the pain was excruciating. She would need urgent surgery — and she would have to undergo an emergency C-section immediately. (Pant, 12/20)
AP:
Some State Abortion Bans Stir Confusion, And It's Uncertain If Lawmakers Will Clarify Them
Currently, 14 states are enforcing bans on abortion throughout pregnancy. Two more have such bans on hold due to court rulings. And another two have bans that take effect when cardiac activity can be detected, about six weeks into pregnancy — often before women know they’re pregnant. Each state ban has a provision that allows abortion under at least some circumstances to save the life of the mother. At least 11 — including three with the strictest bans — allow abortion because of fatal fetal anomalies, and some do when the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest. (Kruesi and Mulvihill, 12/20)
AP:
What To Know About Abortion Policy Across The US Heading Into 2024
Abortion is going to be a major issue in the U.S. again in 2024, the second full year after the nation's top court ended a right to abortion and making it largely a state issue. (12/20)
NPR:
The Annual Abortion Onscreen Report Finds Most Depictions Are Unrealistic
Scripted television continues to be unrealistic when it comes to depictions of abortion, though there's some improvement, according to the annual Abortion Onscreen report released Tuesday by a research program on reproductive health based at the University of California San Francisco. There was a slight decline in the number of abortion plotlines on TV in 2023, which researchers attribute not to "a lack of interest" but rather the lengthy writers' and actors' strikes. (Blair, 12/19)
CIDRAP:
COVAX Winds Down With COVID Vaccine Shift To Regular Programs
The World Health Organization (WHO) today announced that COVAX, a program formed in 2020 to increase equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, will close on December 31 as distribution shifts to regular immunization programs. COVAX was jointly led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF, and the WHO. So far, it has distributed nearly 2 billion doses to 146 economies, the WHO said in a statement. The groups estimate that the vaccines distrusted through COVAX averted 2.7 million deaths and helped lower-income countries achieve 57% two-dose coverage, compared to the 67% global average. (Schnirring, 12/19)
Biz Community:
3 Lessons From Covax As The Organization Draws To A Close
As an emergency solution launched amid the pandemic, Covax faced many challenges. Without having any cash reserves up front, it was initially limited in its ability to sign early contracts with manufacturers, and while it was able to ship doses to 100 economies in the first six weeks of the global roll-out, export bans and other factors meant that large-volume deliveries were only received in the third quarter of 2021. While Covax was unable to completely overcome the tragic vaccine inequity that characterized the global response, it significantly alleviated the suffering caused by Covid-19 in the Global South. (12/20)
CNN:
Coronavirus Subvariant JN.1 Growing Fast In US, Already Dominant In The Northeast
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the coronavirus subvariant JN.1 is now causing about 20% of new Covid-19 infections in this country, and it’s the fastest-growing strain of the virus. It’s already dominant in the Northeast, where it is estimated to cause about a third of new infections. (Goodman, 12/19)
The Atlantic:
Winter Illness This Year Is A Different Kind Of Ugly
Earlier this month, Taison Bell walked into the intensive-care unit at UVA Health and discovered that half of the patients under his care could no longer breathe on their own. All of them had been put on ventilators or high-flow oxygen. “It was early 2022 the last time I saw that,” Bell, an infectious-disease and critical-care physician at the hospital, told me—right around the time that the original Omicron variant was ripping through the region and shattering COVID-case records. This time, though, the coronavirus, flu, and RSV were coming together to fill UVA’s wards—“all at the same time,” Bell said. (Wu, 12/19)
Bloomberg:
US Workers Overuse Cold Medicine Due To Office Sick Shaming Fear
At the height of the pandemic, Meg McNamara’s employer sent her home with symptoms that looked a lot like Covid, but she knew better. A negative Covid test proved that the 37-year-old’s coughs and red eyes were just her usual allergies. Determined to not be wrongly accused again, the New York-based physician’s assistant turned to over-the-counter medication. She started popping Benadryl every morning to mask her symptoms, but that caused other problems. (LaPara andBrown, 12/20)
AP:
States Are Trashing Troves Of Masks And Pandemic Gear As Huge, Costly Stockpiles Linger And Expire
With expiration dates passing and few requests to tap into the stockpile, Ohio auctioned off 393,000 gowns for just $2,451 and ended up throwing away another 7.2 million, along with expired masks, gloves and other materials. The now expiring supplies had cost about $29 million in federal money. A similar reckoning is happening around the country. Items are aging, and as a deadline to allocate federal COVID-19 cash approaches next year, states must decide how much to invest in maintaining warehouses and supply stockpiles. (Peltz and Lieb, 12/20)
CIDRAP:
Study Spotlights Persistent Daily Headaches After COVID-19
A study based on patients in 11 South American countries shows that new daily persistent headache (NDPH) can be a clinical symptom after COVID. "Persistent headache, with a prevalence ranging from 8 to 15% in the first six months after COVID-19 remission, is a frequent symptom," the authors of the study write. "However, limited knowledge exists regarding the clinical spectrum and predisposing factors." The mean age was 40 years, and most participants were women (81.5%), with university education (76.2%). More than 90% described their COVID-19 infections as mild to moderate. (Soucheray, 12/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
Court Rejects Claims Linking Tylenol To Autism, ADHD
A federal judge dealt a likely fatal blow to hundreds of lawsuits against manufacturers of Tylenol and generic acetaminophen, ruling the plaintiffs don’t have admissible evidence to support claims that using the pain reliever during pregnancy raises a child’s risks of autism or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. In a ruling late Monday, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan said the more than 400 consolidated lawsuits were centered on scientific claims that were fundamentally unreliable. (Mulvaney, 12/19)
CIDRAP:
Court Strikes Down EPA Approval Of Streptomycin As Citrus Pesticide
A coalition of public interest, environmental health, and farmworker advocacy groups are hailing a decision by a federal appeals court that struck down the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) approval of the medically important antibiotic streptomycin for use on citrus crops. The ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated the EPA's amended registration of streptomycin for use as a pesticide against citrus diseases, saying that it did not satisfy the requirements of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and Endangered Species Act (ESA). It also sent the amended registration back to the agency so that it could address the defects. (Dall, 12/19)
Reuters:
US FDA Approves First Test To Identify Opioid Use Addiction Risk
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Tuesday it has approved the first test to assess if there is a risk of opioid use addiction in certain individuals. The test, AvertD, is developed by privately held SOLVD Health. The FDA granted the approval to AutoGenomics, a unit that SOLVD acquired in 2019. ... It is a prescription-use only genetic laboratory test for patients 18 years and older for those who have not previously used oral opioid painkillers. (12/20)
The Wall Street Journal:
One State Wanted To Understand Youth Opioid Use. So It Tested High-School Wastewater
To get a better handle on its youth drug use, New Mexico health officials are looking in school sewers. Using a technique that became popular nationally to spot Covid-19 outbreaks, New Mexico appears to be the first state to test wastewater at public high schools for a range of opioids and stimulants. Initial data released since last week from more than three dozen high schools mostly in and around Albuquerque included what school leaders and state officials called a surprise: cocaine use in nearly 82% of the campus communities. (Randazzo, 12/19)
Axios:
Rite Aid Faces 5-Year Facial Recognition Ban Over "Reckless" Use Of AI Tech
Rite Aid will be banned from using AI-powered facial recognition technology for five years under a proposed settlement of Federal Trade Commission charges, the FTC announced Tuesday. The FTC alleged in a complaint Tuesday that the pharmacy retail chain failed to implement reasonable procedures in hundreds of stores and prevent harm to consumers with what the agency called Rite Aid's "reckless" use of facial recognition technology that it said "disproportionately impacted people of color." (Falconer, 12/19)
Axios:
AI Guardrails Can Fall Short In Health Care: Study
When physicians use artificial intelligence tools with baked-in systemic bias to help figure out what's wrong with patients, it's perhaps little surprise they're apt to make less accurate diagnoses. But a common safeguard against potential bias — transparency about how the AI came to form its predictions — doesn't help mitigate that problem, a new JAMA study finds. (Reed, 12/20)
Fierce Healthcare:
Nabla Sees Rapid Uptake Of Spanish Language AI Scribe
Within the first four months of implementing a Spanish language AI assistant for practitioners, Nabla has seen 10% of its clinicians using the feature. Nabla, a Paris-based startup, launched a Spanish language option for Copilot, as the tool is called, earlier this summer. It claims to be the first AI scribe to have done so. So far, it has seen rapid adoption among clinicians, the company says, particularly among psychiatrists, psychologists and psychotherapists, who account for nearly half of its total users. (Gliadkovskaya, 12/18)
Modern Healthcare:
Kaiser Permanente Layoffs Hit 79 Administrative Employees
One week after confirming IT layoffs, Kaiser Permanente said it will cut 79 additional employees in California early next year.A spokesperson for the Oakland, California-based health system said Tuesday the change will affect administrative roles. The layoffs are effective Jan. 4, according to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification documents filed this month. (Hudson, 12/19)
Health News Florida:
There Are More Florida Nursing Students But Fewer Qualified Applicants, A Report Shows
The number of students enrolling in nursing programs in Florida is increasing. But colleges and universities are reporting a drop in qualified applicants. That’s one of the findings in a new report from the Florida Center for Nursing. It surveyed more than 500 programs over the past year – most of them in Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. (Zaragovia, 12/19)
Modern Healthcare:
Employer Direct Healthcare Scores $92M Investment, $1B Valuation
Employer Direct Healthcare, a specialty healthcare network that connects patients with providers, is now valued at $1 billion following a $92 million investment from Insight Partners, a global technology investor. The industry unicorn's other investors are Serent Capital, Redmile Group and Dundon Capital Partners, which will maintain their ownership stakes. (DeSilva, 12/19)
Modern Healthcare:
Jefferson, Lehigh Valley Health To Merge In 2024
Jefferson and Lehigh Valley Health Network plan to merge next year, creating a system of 30 hospitals and more than 700 care sites in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The two health systems said Tuesday they signed a non-binding letter of intent to merge and plan to sign a definitive agreement and close the transaction sometime in 2024, pending regulatory approval. (Hudson, 12/19)
Modern Healthcare:
General Catalyst, OMERS Investors Predict 2024 In Digital Health
Digital health faced a tumultuous funding environment in 2023, and some investors expect more of the same in 2024. The year started with only a trace of the momentum following funding records in 2021 and early 2022. As the calendar turned to 2023, all signs pointed toward a tighter market. ... Heading in 2024, most investors are still cautious about their investments, although some are a little more optimistic, especially when it comes to artificial intelligence. (Perna and Turner, 12/19)
San Francisco Chronicle:
New California Rule Allows Sewage To Be Recycled To Tap Water
California water regulators on Tuesday approved rules, long in the making, that will allow local water agencies to recycle wastewater directly into tap water after extra cleaning. The unanimous decision by the State Water Resources Control Board will open a new option for water supplies across the drought-prone state. ... The presence of contaminants that are not already known — the arrival several years ago of the coronavirus was a recent example — is one of several areas that will be closely watched. (Galbraith, 12/19)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. County Delays New Criteria For Gravely Disabled
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to delay the implementation of Senate Bill 43, the landmark legislation that expands the criteria by which people can be detained against their wills by police, crisis teams and mental health providers. ... According to the motion, the size of the crisis presents logistical problems for counties responsible for administering involuntary holds that proceed conservatorship hearings. Adding severe substance use disorder to the definition of gravely disabled could lead to a 10% increase of those involuntarily detained. (Curwen, 12/19)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. Lost Tool That Could Cause Radiation Poisoning. Resident Finds It
A potentially dangerous device that uses radiation went missing last week, but was found Monday and returned to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works. The agency had issued a $1,000 reward over the weekend for information that could lead to the recovery of the device, which could cause radiation poisoning if damaged or mishandled. (Childs, 12/19)
NPR:
Study: Known Carcinogen Hexavalent Chromium Found In California Wildfire Ash
According to a study released in Nature Communications last week, researchers discovered dangerous levels of hexavalent chromium in samples of ash left behind by the Kincade and Hennessey fires in 2019 and 2020. Workers in the manufacturing industry who've been exposed to elevated levels of hexavalent chromium, or chromium 6, have higher rates of lung cancer, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. (Hernandez, 12/19)
The Washington Post:
New York To Study Reparations For Descendants Of Enslaved People
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed a bill Tuesday to create a commission that will consider reparations for the descendants of enslaved people, following in the footsteps of California and Illinois, which have similar task forces. ... The measure authorizes a commission to examine the history of slavery and its legacy, the scale of the slave trade in the United States and the treatment of enslaved people. It will also investigate the extent to which the federal and state governments supported slavery, the effects of discrimination against Black people after 1865, and the negative impacts of slavery on “living people of African descent.” (Jeong, 12/20)
CBS News:
Baltimore County Public Schools To Provide Free Telehealth Therapy To High School Students
Baltimore County Public Schools announced a new partnership with the behavioral health care company Talkspace, in order to provide free unlimited telehealth therapy to high school students ages 13 and above. "BCPS is committed to the academic success and to the physical, social, and emotional well-being of all our students," BCPS Superintendent Dr. Myriam Yarbrough said. (Olaniran, 12/19)
CBS News:
Recalled Applesauce Pouches Now Linked To More Than 200 Lead Poisoning Cases In 33 States, CDC Says
Health authorities are now investigating at least 205 cases of lead poisonings across 33 different states linked to contaminated applesauce, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday. That's up from 125 cases in the agency's last weekly tally. The growing case count comes as the Food and Drug Administration continues its probe into the source of the tainted cinnamon blamed for the contamination. The FDA has faced "limited jurisdiction" in Ecuador, where the FDA says it cannot take "direct action" to investigate some of those suspected to be behind the poisonings. (Tin, 12/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
Hemp Gummies Are Sending Hundreds Of Kids To Hospitals
Jessica Harris’s 15-year-old daughter was walking to her school bus in London, Ky., last month when a classmate offered her a piece of red candy. The square-shaped sweet seemed harmless at the time to Harris’s daughter. But it turned out it contained a form of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the intoxicating ingredient in cannabis plants, and it sent her to the hospital. An explosion of products containing THC and similar chemicals—some of them in kid-enticing forms such as candy or gummy bears—is sending children to emergency rooms across the country and has federal and state regulators grappling with how to contain it. (Whyte, 12/19)
Stat:
The Latest In The Food As Medicine Movement: Teaching Kitchens
Tony McKoy, Jr. was ready to eat. Black chef’s hat on his head, apron tied on, the five-year-old contemplated his favorite foods, prompted by his mother, Shaquana Peebles. “Pineapple!” he said, savoring its sweetness with his eyes closed while he imagined biting into one. Also, brownies made with black beans. PB&J. Spaghetti. Tony’s enthusiasm for food is a remarkable turnaround for a child who wasn’t growing as well as he should just a couple of years ago. (Nayak and Cooney, 12/20)
Bloomberg:
New Drugs To Stop Menopause May Have Longevity Breakthroughs
When David Pepin dissected the mouse on a dark fall afternoon in 2013, he couldn’t believe what he saw. As he pushed the kidneys aside to get to the ovaries, he noticed something strange. “They looked like neonatal ovaries,” Pepin recalls. They were the size he’d expect to see in a newborn female, not an adult. “They were miniature.” Pepin, then a postdoc at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, had seen enough mouse ovaries to know that something unusual had happened. (Brown, 12/20)