First Edition: Aug. 18, 2023

KFF Health News: A New Medicare Proposal Would Cover Training For Family Caregivers 
Even with extensive caregiving experience, Patti LaFleur was unprepared for the crisis that hit in April 2021, when her mother, Linda LaTurner, fell out of a chair and broke her hip. LaTurner, 71, had been diagnosed with early-onset dementia seven years before. For two years, she’d been living with LaFleur, who managed insulin injections for her mother’s Type 1 diabetes, helped her shower and dress, dealt with her incontinence, and made sure she was eating well. (Graham, 8/18)

KFF Health News: A Peek At Big Pharma’s Playbook That Leaves Many Americans Unable To Afford Their Drugs 
America’s pharmaceutical giants are suing this summer to block the federal government’s first effort at drug price regulation. Last year’s Inflation Reduction Act included what on its face seems a modest proposal: The federal government would for the first time be empowered to negotiate prices Medicare pays for drugs — but only for 10 very expensive medicines beginning in 2026 (an additional 15 in 2027 and 2028, with more added in later years). Another provision would require manufacturers to pay rebates to Medicare for drug prices that increased faster than inflation. (Rosenthal, 8/18)

KFF Health News: Abortion Pill’s Legal Limbo Continues 
A divided three-judge federal appeals court panel has ruled that a lower court was wrong to try to reverse entirely the FDA’s approval of the abortion drug mifepristone. The panel did find, however, that the agency violated regulatory rules in making the drug more easily available and that those rules should be rolled back. In practice, nothing changes immediately, because the Supreme Court has blocked the lower court’s order that the drug effectively be removed from the U.S. market — for now. (8/17)

Roll Call: COVID Vaccine Program For Uninsured Could Be Late To Pharmacies
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's new program to get the next generation of COVID-19 vaccines to uninsured and underinsured Americans will likely not be ready in pharmacies by the time the new vaccines hit the market as early as this September, leaving millions of high-risk Americans in the lurch. (Cohen, 8/17)

Politico: Biden's Fall Covid Vaccine Rollout For The Uninsured Won't Include Pharmacies At First 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the delay in pharmacy availability, with spokesperson Kathleen Conley saying the government is still finalizing contracts with companies like CVS and Walgreens that will allow them to distribute the vaccines for free. ... The uninsured will instead need to go to federal health centers or individual providers for free vaccines during the first stage of the fall vaccination campaign. (Cancryn and Lim, 8/17)

Reuters: Pfizer's Updated COVID Shot Effective Against 'Eris' Variant In Mice Study 
Pfizer Inc said on Thursday its updated COVID-19 shot, which is being tested against emerging variants, showed neutralizing activity against the "Eris" subvariant in a study conducted on mice. (8/17)

CIDRAP: Bivalent COVID Vaccine Boosts Protection Against Emergency, Urgent Care In Young Kids 
A dose of bivalent (two-strain) mRNA COVID-19 vaccine booster pushed effectiveness against emergency or urgent care (ED/UC) to 80% among preschool children, compared with 46% after two Moderna monovalent (single-strain) doses and 70% after three monovalent Pfizer/BioNTech doses. (Van Beusekom, 8/17)

Reuters: US CDC Tracks New Lineage Of Virus That Causes COVID
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday that it was tracking a new, highly mutated lineage of the virus that causes COVID-19.The lineage is named BA.2.86, and has been detected in the United States, Denmark and Israel, the CDC said in a post on messaging platform X. (Beasley, 8/18)

USA Today: Marijuana Usage And Binge Drinking Hit Historic Levels Among US Adults
Binge drinking, vaping, marijuana use, and hallucinogen consumption reached an all-time high among U.S. adults in 2022, showing a significant upward trajectory in substance use in recent years, according to a study released Thursday. New research from the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future (MTF) panel revealed that middle-aged adults, between the ages of 35 and 50, in the United States are using marijuana and hallucinogens at record levels. Binge drinking had also spiked to the "highest prevalence... ever recorded for this age group," according to the panel study. (Nguyen, 8/18)

Military.com: Six Months After New Abortion Leave Policy, Pentagon Doesn't Know How Many Troops Have Used It 
As an Alabama senator's ongoing protest over the Pentagon's abortion leave policy has left three service chief positions vacant, a key question remains: How many service members have actually used the policy to seek abortions? Nearly six months after it was implemented, the Pentagon can't answer that question. (Kime, 8/17)

The Colorado Sun: Colorado Medical Board Finds That So-Called Abortion Reversal Is Outside “Generally Accepted Standard Of Practice”
Colorado doctors who prescribe the so-called abortion reversal pill will be operating outside the “generally accepted standard of practice” and subject to investigation by the state medical board, the board decided Thursday. (Brown, 8/17)

Stat: New Definition Of A Human Embryo Proposed Amid Rapid Advances
Earlier this summer, when scientists revealed they’re now able to create blobs of stem cells in the lab that self-organize into the same sorts of structures embryos themselves build during those first few weeks, it blasted wide open whatever ideas of the embryo we used to have. Were these structures embryo models, as some scientists named them, or something approaching actual embryos? How would anyone know when that line had been crossed? (Molteni, 8/17)

Stat: Blue Shield Of California Overhauls Drug Pricing Operation
Blue Shield of California, a health insurance company that covers almost 5 million people, is restructuring how it will pay for prescription drugs by dividing the work up among five different vendors — two of which include Amazon and Mark Cuban’s pharmacy company. (Herman, 8/17)

The Hill: The US Pays More For Newer Weight Loss Drugs Than Its Peers: Report 
The prices charged for drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro are significantly higher in the U.S. when compared with other wealthy nations, with the list price being 10 times lower in some countries, according to a new analysis from KFF. As KFF’s analysis found, a one-month supply of Ozempic — which is indicated for diabetes but is sometimes prescribed for weight loss off-label — has a list price of $936 in the U.S. Among the nine other countries that KFF looked at, none paid more than $200 for a month’s supply of the same drug. (Choi, 8/17)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Shared Savings Program Revised To Attract Providers
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has a plan to kickstart provider participation in one of its largest alternative payment models, but providers say they're leery that recent changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program will prove sufficiently enticing to holdouts. CMS' goal is that all fee-for-service Medicare enrollees will be under accountable care organizations or other valued-based care arrangements by 2030, and the agency is relying on potential cost savings to shore up the Medicare trust fund, which is projected to run dry by 2031. (Tepper, 8/17)

AP: Feds Raise Concerns About Long Call Center Wait Times As Millions Dropped From Medicaid 
As millions of Medicaid recipients face the potential loss of health coverage for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic, state call centers are getting inundated with questions from people needing help. In some cases, federal officials say, it’s taking too long to get answers. Nearly one-third of the states have received warnings from federal Medicaid officials that their lengthy call center wait times may be causing people to hang up — and give up — as they attempt to renew Medicaid coverage amid a massive nationwide effort to clean up the rolls of the government health insurance program for lower-income residents. (Lieb, 8/17)

NBC News: In Florida, Hours Of Delays And Dropped Calls Are Keeping Many Hispanic Families Out Of Medicaid, Report Says
Research from UnidosUS, the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights advocacy organization, first shared with NBC News, shows that an average Spanish-language caller had to wait nearly four times longer than an English-language caller to be able to speak to a representative at Florida’s Medicaid call center. And that’s if their call wasn’t dropped. Almost one third (30%) of all Spanish-language calls were disconnected before the caller reached a representative, compared to 10% of English-language calls, according to the report published Thursday. (Acevedo, 8/17)

Modern Healthcare: Medicaid Coverage For Hospital-At-Home Sought By Providers
As the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services weighs the future for hospital-at-home services under Medicare, providers are pressing more states to extend it to Medicaid beneficiaries. Eight states—Arizona, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Texas—either have policies or have passed legislation allowing Medicaid beneficiaries to receive hospital-level care in their homes, and New York is considering such a move. (Eastabrook, 8/17)

AP: North Carolina's Governor Visits Rural Areas To Promote Medicaid Expansion Delayed By Budget Wait 
With a Medicaid expansion kickoff likely delayed further in North Carolina as General Assembly budget negotiations drag on, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper wrapped up a week of rural travel Thursday to attempt to build pressure upon Republicans to hustle on an agreement. Cooper met with elected officials and physicians in Martin, Richmond and Yadkin counties to highlight local health care challenges, which include shuttered hospitals, rampant drug abuse and high-quality jobs. (8/17)

Modern Healthcare: Oregon Passes Nurse-Patient Ratio Law For Hospitals
Oregon has become the fourth state to enact a law requiring nurse-to-patient ratios at hospitals, a move praised by labor groups and panned by health systems. Hospitals in the state will have until Sept. 1 to comply with certified nursing assistant ratios set by the bill signed Tuesday by Gov. Tina Kotek (D). Beginning in June 2025, the Oregon Health Authority will start enforcing other minimum nurse staffing requirements that vary by type of unit and patient acuity and take effect next year. (Devereaux, 8/17)

Politico: Newsom Makes Concessions On The Way To Mental Health Reform 
Gov. Gavin Newsom has spent four years trying to overhaul how counties pay for mental health care, betting his reputation on making a dent on homelessness, substance abuse and mental health problems. Now, he is making concessions amid concerns he’s going too far, POLITICO has learned. (Bluth, 8/16)

AP: Alabama Medical Marijuana Licenses Put On Temporary Hold Again
A judge said Thursday he will temporarily block Alabama from issuing licenses to grow and distribute medical marijuana as he reviews an allegation that the state commission illegally deliberated in secret before selecting winners. (8/17)

Politico: New Jersey Can Sue Gun Companies Under Public Nuisance Law, Federal Appeals Panel Rules 
New Jersey can sue the gun industry under a “public nuisance” law, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday, handing a major victory to the state after last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision loosening public carrying restrictions. (Racioppi, 8/17)

The New York Times: Some Transgender Women May Be Barred From Women’s Chess Competitions
The future of transgender women’s participation in high-level women’s chess competitions seems uncertain, after the International Chess Federation introduced new regulations effectively barring many from women’s events for up to two years or more. ... The regulations state that if the gender of a player “was changed from a male to a female” on their FIDE identification, the “player has no right to participate in official FIDE events for women” until a further decision is made. (Moses and McCarthy, 8/17)

The Hill: Midwestern Cities Become Transgender Health Sanctuaries Amid GOP Legislative Threats
A growing number of Midwestern cities are declaring themselves safe havens for gender-affirming health care, often in direct defiance of laws passed by conservatives at the state level. While state legislatures across the Midwest are controlled overwhelmingly by Republicans, cities and metropolitan areas tend to lean more Democratic, driving some local leaders to introduce resolutions that distinguish the policy priorities of liberal communities from those of the conservative states in which they are located. (Migdon, 8/18)

Bay Area Reporter: Long-Term HIV Survivors Fighting For Their Lives All Over Again
The fight against the HIV epidemic has seen a number of good milestones lately — the World Health Organization reaffirmed July 22 that those who consistently take antiretroviral treatment and maintain undetectable viral loads don't transmit the virus during sex. But those who've acquired HIV infection tell the Bay Area Reporter that they're still fighting for their lives. "As HIV gets older, so are we getting older," Hulda Brown, a 79-year-old straight ally, said in a recent interview. "We need different housing, safer housing, and chairlifts. You may need to walk with a cane. As you get older, we've had to adjust. We need a place to go to find services to explain to us the changes happening in our body, and how we can adapt." (Ferrannini, 8/16)

Stat: Lung Cancer Is America's Deadliest Cancer. Yet So Few Get Screened
It was Thanksgiving 2021, and Michael Young was at Target buying a turkey baster. “I’m in the parking lot, and my chest starts to feel like somebody’s sitting on me,” Young recounted. But he didn’t think too much of it and waited until February to tell the doctor about these on-and-off chest pains. “8:30 a.m. Monday morning, the cardiologist calls me and says, ‘We have a problem; we need to talk,’” Young said. The heart scans had found lung cancer. (Bajaj, 8/18)

The Washington Post: What We Know About Rare Flesh-Eating Bacteria That’s Killed 3 In NY Area 
Many of the people infected with Vibrio vulnificus require intensive care or limb amputations to survive, according to the CDC. Vibrio vulnificus is described as a flesh-eating bacteria because it can lead to what’s called necrotizing fasciitis, a severe infection in which the flesh around an open wound dies. The consequences can be deadly. (Bella, 8/17)

ABC News: Norovirus Outbreak That Sickened More Than 300 People Linked To An Ill Food Handler At Restaurant
The source behind a norovirus outbreak that sickened a few hundred people last year has been identified, according to a report published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ... Investigators with the Tazewell Health Department and Illinois Department of Public Health concluded the outbreak was likely caused by a sick food handler at the restaurant who had ungloved contact with salad, toppings and dressings during food preparation. (Kekatos, 8/17)

NBC News: Blue Light-Blocking Glasses Don't Protect Eyes Or Improve Sleep, Study Finds
Despite their popularity, blue light-blocking glasses probably don’t do much to reduce eyestrain, help keep people alert or improve sleep, according to a meta-analysis looking at 17 studies published Thursday. The glasses, which sellers claim protect the eyes from potentially harmful blue light coming from screens, first hit the scene in the early 2000s. Search interest skyrocketed in the first year of the pandemic. (Sullivan, 8/18)

The Washington Post: Negative Thoughts About Aging Can Be Harmful. Here’s How To Reduce Them
Age bias doesn’t show up only as blatant discrimination (“We want someone younger for that job.”) or snarky birthday cards. One of the most potent sources of ageism comes from older people themselves, and like other forms of ageism, the self-inflicted kind is associated with lower levels of emotional and physical health and can slash years off people’s lives. (Laber-Warren, 8/17)