First Edition: Aug. 23, 2023

KFF Health News: The Painful Pandemic Lessons Mandy Cohen Carries To The CDC 
As covid-19 devastated communities across the nation in spring 2020, a group of Black ministers in this racially divided city made an urgent plea for more testing in their neighborhoods. Testing at the time “was outside of communities of color,” said the Rev. Jordan Boyd, pastor of Rockwell AME Zion Church in Charlotte. For Boyd, pandemic losses were personal: Covid-related complications killed a brother-in-law who worked as a truck driver. “We saw what was happening with our folks.” (Clasen-Kelly, Pradhan and Hacker, 8/23)

KFF Health News: Doctors And Patients Try To Shame Insurers Online To Reverse Prior Authorization Denials
Sally Nix was furious when her health insurance company refused to pay for the infusions she needs to ease her chronic pain and fatigue. Nix has struggled with a combination of autoimmune diseases since 2011. Brain and spinal surgeries didn’t ease her symptoms. Nothing worked, she said, until she started intravenous immunoglobulin infusions late last year. Commonly called IVIG, the treatment bolsters her compromised immune system with healthy antibodies from other people’s blood plasma. (Sausser, 8/23)

KFF Health News: Naming Suicide In Obits Was Once Taboo. Changing That Can Help Loved Ones Grieve
When Deborah and Warren Blum’s 16-year-old died by suicide in November 2021, they went into shock. For two days, the grief-stricken Los Angeles couple didn’t sleep. But when it came time to write a death notice, Deborah Blum was clearheaded: In a heartfelt tribute to her smart, funny, popular child, who had recently come out as nonbinary, she was open and specific about the mental health struggles that led to Esther Iris’ death. (Waldman, 8/23)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest ‘KFF Health News Minute’
“KFF Health News Minute” brings original health care and health policy reporting from the KFF Health News newsroom to the airwaves each week. (8/22)

The Hill: HHS Awards $1.4B In Grants To Develop Future COVID-19 Tools
The awards are part of Project NextGen, an initiative led by ASPR that fosters public-private partnerships to develop the next generation of COVID-19 countermeasures. These are the first grants to be issued from NextGen, which has an initial investment of $5 billion. Officials said Tuesday they currently don’t anticipate the need for additional funds. (Choi, 8/22)

USA Today: As US Maternal Death Rate Jumps, Women Report Negative Doctor Visits
"This is unacceptable," Dr. Debra Houry, chief medical officer for the CDC, said on a call with reporters. "We know mistreatment and discrimination can have a negative impact on the quality of maternity care. We have to encourage a culture of respectful maternity care. This should be part of greater efforts to improve quality by standardizing care to reduce complications and deaths related to pregnancy and delivery." (Cuevas, 8/22)

NPR: High-Risk Patients Head To Illinois Hospitals From States With Abortion Bans
Since the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, who can get an abortion and where has been complicated by medically ambiguous language in new state laws that ban or restrict abortion. Doctors in those states fear they could lose their medical licenses or wind up in jail. Amid these changes, physicians in abortion havens like Illinois are stepping up to fill the void and provide care to as many patients as they can. (Schorsch, 8/23)

The New York Times: Expert Panel Recommends New Drugs For HIV Prevention
An influential expert panel has given its highest recommendation to an expanded menu of H.I.V. prevention strategies for adults and adolescents, a move that will require private insurers to cover the drugs without a co-pay or deductible under the Affordable Care Act. The recommendation arrives as the Biden administration is fighting to preserve no-cost coverage of all preventive services under the A.C.A., after a Texas judge ruled the mandate to be unconstitutional. (Mandavilli, 8/22)

AP: Florida Agencies Are Accused In A Lawsuit Of Sending Confusing Medicaid Termination Notices
Three Florida residents filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday, alleging that state agencies aren’t adequately notifying low-income and disabled people that their public health insurance is ending. The class-action lawsuit was filed in Jacksonville federal court by the Florida Health Justice Project and the National Health Law Program on behalf of the three Floridians, according to court records. The defendants are the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and the Florida Department of Children and Families. (8/22)

The Hill: Hollywood Studio Brings Back Mask Mandate Amid Spike In COVID Cases
Hollywood studio Lionsgate is returning to mask mandates for many of its employees amid rising COVID-19 cases reported in Los Angeles. In an internal email obtained by Deadline, response manager for Lionsgate/Starz Sommer McElroy said that employees at its flagship office in Santa Monica will be required to wear a medical grade face covering, such as a surgical mask a or a KN95 or N95 mask. (Scully, 8/22)

CBS News: Atlanta-Based Morris Brown College Says They Are Reinstating Covid Mask Mandates
Atlanta-based Morris Brown College has announced that the school is reinstating its Covid mask mandate for the next two weeks as a result of positive cases at the Atlanta University Center. (King, 8/22)

Politico: Califf Urges Congress To Give FDA More Power To Respond To Drug Shortages
Congress should grant the FDA more authority to address drug shortages, Commissioner Robert Califf said Tuesday. The domestic generic drug industry is a victim of its own success, with product prices too low to sustain quality manufacturing and distribution, Califf said during a webinar hosted by the Alliance for a Stronger FDA, which advocates for agency appropriations. (Gardner, 8/22)

Politico: FDA Warns Amazon, Walmart And Others Over Unapproved Drug Products
The FDA has issued six warning letters, including to retail giants Amazon and Walmart, for selling unapproved products online that target a skin condition common in children. The warnings, posted Tuesday to the agency’s website, require the companies to respond within 15 days with evidence that they are no longer selling the products or that their sale doesn’t violate FDA rules. The FDA says non-compliance could prompt the agency to take further action. (Gardner, 8/22)

The Washington Post: The FAA Reauthorization Bill Would Preserve A Future For Leaded Gas
Controversial language in a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration would effectively require small airports to continue selling leaded gasoline, despite the health hazards of lead, a powerful neurotoxin. The provisions have sparked a fierce debate among lawmakers, public health advocates, pilots and fuel producers. The debate isn’t over whether to ditch leaded aviation gas, but how quickly to do so in light of safety concerns. (Joselow and Montalbano, 8/22)

Reuters: Altria Seeks US Import Ban On Juul E-Vapor Products
Marlboro maker Altria Group (MO.N) said on Tuesday that its subsidiary e-cigarette firm NJOY has filed a complaint against rival Juul Labs with the U.S. International Trade Commission, seeking a ban on the import and sale of Juul products. The move escalates a dispute between the two e-cigarette makers after Juul filed a similar patent infringement case against NJOY at the ITC in June. (8/22)

NBC News: Mosquitoes That Spread Malaria Aren't Tracked In The U.S.
A ninth case of malaria diagnosed in a person who had not traveled out of the U.S. has experts on alert — and calling for more surveillance of the mosquitoes that spread the illness. "The time to think about the next mosquito-borne disease is not when we find a sick person. It's now," said Dan Markowski, technical adviser to the American Mosquito Control Association, a nonprofit organization representing groups that monitor mosquito activity. (Edwards, 8/22)

The Hill: Young Adults Less Likely, Older Adults More Likely To Drink Alcohol: Gallup
Just 62 percent of Americans aged 18 to 34 say they drink, according to the findings, a drop from 72 percent two decades ago. Adults who are 55 and older, meanwhile, are drinking more. Gallup found 59 percent in this category say they drink, compared to 49 percent two decades ago. (Suter, 8/22)

Politico: Employers Grappling With Spike In Mental Health Needs, Cost Increases For 2024
Large employers are seeing their workforce’s mental health needs skyrocket as the nation recovers from a pandemic that left many people isolated and lonely. About 77 percent of large employers reported an increase in the mental health needs of their workforces, according to the Business Group on Health’s 2024 Large Employer Health Care Survey, released Tuesday. That’s a 33-percentage-point increase over last year, when 44 percent of employers saw an increase in employees’ mental health needs. (Hooper, 8/22)

CBS News: Record Number Of FDNY Members, Families Seeking Mental Health Counseling, Nonprofit Says
A nonprofit that helps FDNY and their families with mental health counseling says they're seeing record high numbers when it comes to people reaching out for help. They tell CBS New York's Shosh Bedrosian the culture around mental health in the community continues to improve, but some calls for help can have a long-lasting impact. (Bedrosian, 8/22)

The Hill: Construction, Food Preparation Workers More Likely To Die From Overdoses During Pandemic: CDC Data
Construction and food preparation workers were more likely than those in other professions to die from overdoses during the COVID-19 pandemic, new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows. Researchers from the CDC found that among different industries, drug overdose death rates were highest in construction and extraction and food preparation in 2020. The researchers analyzed fatal drug overdose data from 46 states and New York City, largely focusing on different industries and occupations. (Sforza, 8/22)

CIDRAP: Veterans Study Shows Excess Mortality Leveled Off 6 Months After Acute COVID-19
Yesterday JAMA Internal Medicine published a study of more than 200,000 US veterans infected with COVID-19 demonstrating that the excess mortality risk from acute infection diminished within 6 months of initial diagnosis. The study was based on health record data from 208,061 patients seen at Veterans Affairs hospitals for initial COVID-19 infections from March 2020 to April 2021. Mortality outcomes among case-patients were compared to 1,037,423 matched uninfected peers. (Soucheray, 8/22)

CNN: Mediterranean Diet During Pregnancy Improved 2-Year-Olds’ Cognitive, Social Abilities
Mothers who followed the Mediterranean diet while pregnant improved their children’s cognitive, social and emotional development at age 2 compared with children whose mothers did not follow the diet, according to a new randomized clinical trial. (LaMotte, 8/22)

The Boston Globe: ChatGPT, As Good As Recent Med School Graduates? Study Says Yes
Artificial intelligence is nearly as good as a recent medical school graduate at making clinical decisions, but struggles in key areas that show it won’t be replacing the doctor anytime soon, according to a new study by Mass General Brigham. The study, published Tuesday in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, found that ChatGPT was about 72 percent accurate in overall clinical decision-making for patients — from arriving at a final diagnosis to coming up with treatment plans. While there are no formal benchmarks, researchers estimate that such passing performance is on par with a new doctor, known as an intern or resident. (Bartlett, 8/22)

Modern Healthcare: GLP-1s, Virtual Health Draw Employer Skepticism
Employers are increasingly troubled about some of the downsides of virtual health, the survey revealed. Around 70% of respondents expressed trepidation about how virtual care solutions can create a siloed experience for their employees accessing services, and nearly half said they're concerned about how these solutions may not directly connect with each other. Many digital health companies that target the employer market say buyers are not interested in “point solutions,” an industry term for software products that only focus on one area of medical care. (Perna, 8/22)

Reuters: US FDA Panel Backs Otsuka's Blood Pressure Treatment Device
A panel of advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday recommended the use of a device made by a unit of Otsuka Holdings (4578.T) in a type of surgery to treat high blood pressure. The FDA panel backed the use of the device made by the Japanese company's unit ReCor for renal denervation, which is indicated for use in patients whose hypertension, or high blood pressure, cannot be controlled with drugs. (Roy, 8/22)

The Wall Street Journal: The Upheaval At America’s Disappearing Nursing Homes, In Charts
Patients spend months waiting in hospitals for nursing-home beds. The U.S. has at least 600 fewer nursing homes than it did six years ago, according to a WSJ analysis of federal data. (Kamp, Evans and Lenth, 8/23)

Modern Healthcare: Hospital Charity Care Spending Scrutiny Intensifies
States are increasing their oversight of nonprofit hospitals’ financial assistance policies, seeking to ensure hospitals are earning their tax exemptions by doing enough to help the poor. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (D) signed a bill in July that looks to increase access to free or discounted healthcare by requiring hospitals to proactively screen patients and streamline the signup process. The law represents a growing effort among states to bolster accountability and increase scrutiny of nonprofit hospitals’ charity care contributions. (Kacik, 8/22)

AP: Court Battle Begins Over Missouri's Ban On Gender-Affirming Health Care For Minors
Missouri’s Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey and the families of transgender children are in court this week fighting over whether a new law banning minors from receiving gender-affirming health care will take effect as scheduled Monday. Lawyers last month sued to overturn the law on behalf of three families of transgender minors, doctors and two LGBTQ+ organizations. They asked a county judge to temporarily block the law as the court challenge against it plays out. (Ballentine, 8/22)

AP: No Harmful Levels Of PCBs Found At Wyoming Nuclear Missile Base As Air Force Investigates Cancers
No harmful levels of carcinogenic PCBs were found inside the missile launch facilities at F.E. Warren Air Force base in Wyoming, the service said Tuesday, as it looks for possible causes for cancers being reported among its nuclear missile community. (Copp, 8/22)