First Edition: June 28, 2023

KFF Health News: Will The Doctor See You Now? The Health System’s Changing Landscape
Lucia Agajanian, a 25-year-old freelance film producer in Chicago, doesn’t have a specific primary care doctor, preferring the convenience of visiting a local clinic for flu shots or going online for video visits. “You say what you need, and there’s a 15-minute wait time,” she said, explaining how her appointments usually work. “I really liked that.” But Olga Lucia Torres, a 52-year-old who teaches narrative medicine classes at Columbia University in New York, misses her longtime primary care doctor, who kept tabs for two decades on her conditions, including lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, and made sure she was up to date on vaccines and screening tests. Two years ago, Torres received a letter informing her that he was changing to a “boutique practice” and would charge a retainer fee of $10,000 for her to stay on as a patient. (Appleby and Andrews, 6/28)

KFF Health News: Misinformation Obscures Standards Guiding Gender-Affirming Care For Trans Youth 
Almost three weeks after Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, signed a bill making it a felony for doctors to provide gender-affirming care to transgender minors, a judge issued a preliminary injunction preventing enforcement of the law for three children whose parents are part of an ongoing lawsuit. Florida is one of at least 20 states that have limited gender-affirming treatment for minors. The legislators sponsoring some of these bills say their intent is to protect children and families from pressure “to receive harmful, experimental puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones and to undergo irreversible, life-altering surgical procedures,” as a new Montana law puts it. (Santoro, 6/28)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest ‘KFF Health News Minute’ 
On the KFF Health News Minute this week: A doctor in Tennessee surrendered his medical license after giving a fraudulent covid-19 vaccine exemption to a dog, and Congress weighs a proposal for the government to treat hospital accidents more like plane crashes. (6/27)

NPR: Smoke From Canada Wildfires Has Reached Europe
The enormous band of smoke began reaching the Azores islands on Sunday and reached western Europe on Monday, according to the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere, or IPMA. The smoke is also affecting Spain, France and other countries to the north. Unlike the low-lying smoke that triggered hazardous air quality alerts in the U.S. earlier this month, the smoke that has reached Europe seems to be hanging higher in the air, at 1,100 meters (3,609 feet) and above, according to climate agencies. (Chappell, 6/27)

Axios: How Canada's Wildfire Smoke Affects Your Body
A new wave of wildfire smoke from Canada reached the U.S. on Tuesday, triggering air quality alerts for millions of people. Why it matters: Breathing in the unhealthy levels of smoke and other air pollution can increase a person's risk of developing lung and heart conditions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (Knutson, 6/27)

Dallas Morning News: Texas May Reach Temperatures Hotter Than 99% Of The World As Dangerous Heat Wave Persists
Large swaths of Texas are forecast to be hotter than 99% of the world Wednesday with Dallas’ stretch of scorching hot days expected to reach a peak of 107 degrees, according to meteorologists. The heat index value, which measures what it feels like outside based on air temperature and humidity, for Dallas could be as high as 115, according to KXAS-TV (NBC5). (Ferguson, 6/27)

ABC News: ER Visits And EMS Calls For Heat-Related Emergencies Are Up, As Texas Battles Extreme Heat: CDC
Emergency room visits in Texas have increased from the same time last year, as the state battles extreme heat, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For the week of June 18 to June 24, the region averaged 837 heat-related visits per 100,000 emergency department visits compared to 639 visits per 100,000 emergency department visits during the same period in 2022, CDC data shows. (Grant, 6/28)

CNN: How To Stay Healthy In Hot Weather
Over 50 million people in the southern United States will be under oppressive heat conditions this week. The temperature is expected to climb over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, or 37.8 degrees Celsius, for several days. The heat index, which takes into account air temperature and humidity and is colloquially known as the “feels like” temperature, could soar to over 125 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 51.6 degrees Celsius. As the temperatures rise, there are health concerns associated with extreme heat, including heat exhaustion and heatstroke. Who is most vulnerable, and what steps can people take if a heat wave is expected in their area? Are there specific precautions that the elderly and families with young children should take? And how can everyone prepare for hot weather events outdoors? (Hetter, 6/28)

CNN: Are The US Malaria Cases In Florida And Texas A Cause For Concern? Our Medical Analyst Explains
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an alert this week to clinicians that there are locally acquired cases of malaria in Florida and Texas, with four cases identified in Florida and one in Texas over the past two months. While thousands of Americans become sickened by malaria every year, the vast majority of cases are acquired outside of the United States. These cases represent the first time that malaria has been transmitted within the US in 20 years, according to the CDC. (Hetter, 6/27)

Axios: The Rise In Mosquito-Spread Malaria Explained
Malaria spread by mosquitos has been detected in the U.S. for the first time in two decades. The big picture: While there's concern over a potential rise in cases amid increased summer travel, the risk of contracting malaria in the U.S. remains extremely low. (Habeshian, 6/27)

CNN: Transgender People Face Significantly Higher Suicide Risk, Danish Study Finds
People who identify as transgender have significantly higher rates of suicide and suicide attempts compared with the rest of the population, according to a population-level study out of Denmark. The study of more than 6.6 million people found that those who identified as trans had 7.7 times the rate of suicide attempts and 3.5 times the rate of suicide deaths than the broader Danish population. (Christensen, 6/27)

AP: Arizona Governor's Executive Actions Ban 'Conversion Therapy,' Allow Transgender Health Care
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs issued two pro-LGBTQ executive orders on Tuesday, banning state support of so-called conversion therapy and allowing transgender state employees to receive gender-affirming health care under their insurance plan. Hobbs made the announcement from the offices of a central Phoenix nonprofit that focuses on helping LGBTQ+ youth. (6/27)

AP: Ban On Gender-Affirming Care For Minors In North Carolina Clears Another Legislative Chamber 
Restrictions on access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth have now passed both North Carolina legislative chambers, as the Senate on Tuesday approved a ban on hormone therapy, puberty blockers and surgeries that is more stringent than what the House recently passed. The Senate’s proposal would prohibit any health care provider in the state from giving such care to anyone under 18, with exceptions for certain procedures or disorders. Medical professionals who violate the restrictions could have their licenses revoked and could be sued. (Robertson, 6/27)

Military.com: New VA Gender Affirmation Surgery Policy Sitting On Secretary's Desk 
It's been two years since VA Secretary Denis McDonough announced that the VA would cover gender affirmation surgery for transgender veterans, but to date, the VA has yet to publish regulations that would allow it to start providing treatment. On Tuesday, McDonough said the holdup was with him -- that the policy is on his desk and he is "not yet ready" to roll out the rule under the federal regulatory process that would create the benefit. (Kime, 6/27)

NBC News: Pregnant Workers May Get More Accommodations As New Law Takes Effect
Millions of pregnant and postpartum workers across the country could be legally entitled to longer breaks, shorter hours and time off for medical appointments and recovery from childbirth beginning Tuesday, when the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act takes effect. The new law mandates that employers with at least 15 employees provide "reasonable accommodations" to workers who need them due to pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is tasked with enforcing the law. (McShane, 6/27)

Bangor Daily News: Maine House And Senate Vote To Enact Janet Mills’ Abortion Bill
The bill from Gov. Janet Mills to allow doctors to perform abortions they deem necessary after Maine’s viability cutoff of around 24 weeks will soon end up on her desk, as the House of Representatives voted Tuesday to enact the measure. The House vote was expectedly tight, with the chamber passing it by a 73-69 margin shortly after 9 pm. Tuesday. (Kobin, 6/27)

Reuters: South Carolina Top Court Appears Open To Upholding New Abortion Ban
South Carolina's highest court on Tuesday appeared open to upholding a new state law banning abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy, months after it blocked a similar ban. Abortion providers, led by Planned Parenthood, last month won a court order temporarily blocking the law from taking effect until their lawsuit challenging it could be heard by the South Carolina Supreme Court. (Pierson, 6/27)

Axios: Abortion Rights Advocates Hope New Bill Sparks Action
Reproductive rights advocates know a new federal bill seeking to expand abortion access will face an uphill fight in Congress, but they hope it will spring communities of color to action. Driving the news: The Abortion Justice Act, which calls for increased investments in reproductive care with the aim to better serve immigrants, people of color, and people who identify as LGBTQ+, was introduced Thursday by Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) (Franco, 6/27)

The Hill: Biden Says As Catholic He’s ‘Not Big On Abortion’ But Thinks Roe ‘Got It Right’ 
President Biden on Tuesday said that he is not big on abortion as a practicing Catholic but defended the reproductive rights that were previously granted under Roe v. Wade. “I’m a practicing Catholic. I’m not big on abortion, but guess what? Roe vs. Wade got it right,” Biden said at a fundraiser with about 100 donors in Chevy Chase, Md. (Gangitano, 6/27)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Las Vegas Sees Big Spike In Out-Of-State Abortion Seekers
Las Vegas saw a 37 percent increase in out-of-state patients at Planned Parenthood health centers since June 2022 when the Supreme Court issued its Dobbs decision, ruling the Constitution does not guarantee the right to an abortion, according to Lindsey Harmon, executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes Nevada. More than 1,200 patients have come to Las Vegas from out of state, she said. (Hill, 6/27)

The Boston Globe: Abortion Training In Residency May Attract New Doctors To Liberal States
As she prepared to graduate from medical school this year, Sophia Landay applied to 75 different OB/GYN residency programs throughout the country. Not one was in a state with a strict abortion ban. And all of the 15 or so other prospective OB/GYNs in her class at UMass Chan Medical School matched in a state that was friendly to abortion, she said, with many telling Landay that it was an important part of their training. (Bartlett and Freyer, 6/27)

AP: Scientists Use Stem Cells To Create Models Of Human Embryos And Study Our Earliest Days
Scientists have created embryo models to help study the mysteries of early human development, the medical problems that happen before birth and why many pregnancies fail. These models are made from stem cells, not egg and sperm, and can’t grow into babies. “They’re complete enough to give you a picture of what may be happening in the embryo during pregnancy, but they’re not so complete that you could actually use them for reproduction,” said Insoo Hyun, an ethicist and director of life sciences at Boston’s Museum of Science. “It just will not work.” (Ungar, 6/27)

AP: The Great Grift: More Than $200 Billion In COVID-19 Aid May Have Been Stolen, Federal Watchdog Says 
More than $200 billion may have been stolen from two large COVID-19 relief initiatives, according to new estimates from a federal watchdog investigating federally funded programs that helped small businesses survive the worst public health crisis in more than a hundred years. The numbers issued Tuesday by the U.S. Small Business Administration inspector general are much greater than the office’s previous projections and underscore how vulnerable the Paycheck Protection and COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs were to fraudsters, particularly during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. (Lardner and McDermott, 6/27)

Fortune Well: Your Blood Type Can Make You More Likely To Get COVID, New Research Suggests. Who's Most At Risk
Can your blood type increase your chance of developing COVID? The idea was floated early in the pandemic, as scientists worked to determine why some became much sicker than others. Initial research suggested that those with Type A blood might be at an elevated risk compared to those with Type O—and new research published Tuesday in the journal Blood seems to confirm the notion. Those with Type A blood—about a third of the U.S. population—are at a 20% to 30% greater risk of infection with the novel coronavirus than those with Type O blood (nearly half of Americans), Dr. Sean Stowell, associate professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School and lead author on the study, tells Fortune. (Prater, 6/27)

Reuters: Lysol Creates 'Air Sanitizing Spray' Effective Against Coronavirus 
Reckitt's Lysol disinfectant brand said on Tuesday that it would start selling in the U.S. an "air sanitizing spray" that kills 99.9% of airborne viruses and bacteria. The spray, which Reckitt said helps reduce the spread of airborne pathogens such as cold, Influenza and Coronavirus, has been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (Naidu, 6/27)

The Wall Street Journal: More Deaths In Fungal Meningitis Outbreak Linked To Cosmetic Surgeries In Mexico 
A fungal meningitis outbreak among people who underwent cosmetic procedures in Mexico this year has now killed at least six people. The cases have been linked to two clinics in Matamoros, Mexico, where patients received epidural anesthesia during surgical procedures including liposuction and breast augmentation, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ... U.S. officials said in late May two people had died from the suspected outbreak, including an otherwise healthy woman in her early 30s. As of June 23, the death toll stood at six. (Ansari, 6/27)

Stat: Young Cancer Survivors At Increased Risk For Depression, Anxiety
Thanks to advances in treatments, children’s chances of surviving cancer are higher than ever before. But the trauma that patients experience as they deal with the disease can pose a lifelong risk to their mental health, according to a recent analysis published in JAMA Pediatrics. The meta-analysis of 52 clinical studies measured the prevalence and severity of psychological disorders in over 20,000 young cancer survivors. Overall, childhood, adolescent, and young adult cancer survivors were 57% more likely to develop depression, 29% more likely to develop anxiety, and 56% more likely to develop psychotic disorders in the years following treatment compared to their siblings or healthy members of a control group. (Iskandar, 6/28)

Stat: The Cancer Drug Shortage Isn’t New — And Neither Are The Solutions
A young girl, maybe 5 or 6 years old, had come into Yoram Unguru’s clinic with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common of all childhood cancers. One of the drugs needed for treatment was methotrexate. The only problem was that the drug was in short supply. “Oftentimes we can cure kids of their disease, but we can’t do that without the drugs,” said Unguru, a pediatric hematologist oncologist at Children’s Hospital at Sinai in Baltimore and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. “It’s just so, so maddening.” (Chen, 6/28)

The Boston Globe: DOJ Demands CVS MinuteClinic Improve Accessibility For Deaf Patients In New Settlement 
The health care provider arm of retail giant CVS reached an agreement with the Justice Department on Tuesday after investigators found that the company failed to provide proper interpretation services for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing during their appointments with medical staff. (Gagosz, 6/27)

Modern Healthcare: FTC Proposal Could Slow Healthcare Mergers 
The antitrust agency voted Tuesday to publish a proposed rule that would, in part, require merging parties to disclose any minority investors in an effort to weed out any conflicts of interest; information about prior acquisitions; supplier agreements; subsidies from foreign entities; and workforce data, including information on executives and board members. The FTC estimated the requirements would add an average of 107 hours to the current average time of 37 hours that it takes to prepare a merger filing. (Kacik, 6/27)

Axios: SNAP Combats Racial Divides, Study Finds
Racial disparities in food insecurity persist among low-income households that don't participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), but not among those that do, according to a new study. Why it matters: Food insecurity is considered a critical public health threat, and the new evidence suggests that SNAP can be an effective tool in minimizing inequities created by a lack of access to nutritious foods. (Horn-Muller, 6/27)

Modern Healthcare: Joint Commission To Launch Health Equity Certification Program 
The Joint Commission will strengthen health equity standards within its hospital accreditation programs and launch a certification focused on disparities in patient care. The nonprofit accrediting agency added mandates on strategy and data collection for health system leaders earlier this year, including standards on screening patients for social determinants of health and stratifying safety and quality data by race and ethnicity. Beginning Saturday, those standards will be designated as national patient safety goals. (Hartnett, 6/27)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Nurses In Philly Area With Fake Degrees Says They Were Scammed
The flier advertising the Florida nursing school came in the mailbox of Ramatu Ali’s Delaware home. It promised a “bridge” program for lower-level nurses to become higher-skill, better-paid registered nurses. Ali and four of her friends — all licensed practical nurses from the Philadelphia area — piled into Ali’s car and drove to an open house at a Penn’s Landing hotel to learn more about the Palm Beach School of Nursing. (Ruderman, 6/28)

AP: Struggling With A Drug Crisis, San Francisco Wants Narcan Available At Every Pharmacy 
San Francisco could become the first city in the country to require every pharmacy within its boundaries to always carry naloxone, a drug that reverses overdoses caused by fentanyl and other opioids. San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey will introduce a bill Tuesday that, if approved, would require every pharmacy to always have in stock at least two nasal sprays containing the drug or face fines. (Rodriguez, 6/27)

Fox News: IV Therapy Craze Has Americans Pumping Vitamins Into Their Veins: Results Are 'Pretty Dramatic' 
While IV drip therapy has gained popularity as a trendy hangover cure and health trend, the practice of fueling the body with essential vitamins faster than an ingestible can has been around for decades. IV clinic owners Dr. Pauline Jose (PH Drip Lab in California) and Dr. Christopher Neary (Prime IV, which has franchises around the country) shared with Fox News Digital the types of vitamin cocktails they’ve been serving up of late. (Stabile, 6/27)