First Edition: May 6, 2024

KFF Health News: Stranded In The ER, Seniors Await Hospital Care And Suffer Avoidable Harm
Every day, the scene plays out in hospitals across America: Older men and women lie on gurneys in emergency room corridors moaning or suffering silently as harried medical staff attend to crises. Even when physicians determine these patients need to be admitted to the hospital, they often wait for hours — sometimes more than a day — in the ER in pain and discomfort, not getting enough food or water, not moving around, not being helped to the bathroom, and not getting the kind of care doctors deem necessary. (Graham, 5/6)

KFF Health News: Could Better Inhalers Help Patients, And The Planet?
Miguel Divo, a lung specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, sits in an exam room across from Joel Rubinstein, who has asthma. Rubinstein, a retired psychiatrist, is about to get a checkup and hear a surprising pitch — for the planet, as well as his health. Divo explains that boot-shaped inhalers, which represent nearly 90% of the U.S. market for asthma medication, save lives but also contribute to climate change. (Bebinger, 5/6)

KFF Health News: Journalists Delve Into Climate Change, Medicaid 'Unwinding,' And The Gap In Mortality Rates
KFF Health News and California Healthline staffers made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances. (5/4)

The Hill: Biden Races Clock On Health Regulations With Eye On Potential Trump Return 
President Biden’s administration is working overtime to ensure his health care priorities are protected from a potential second Trump White House. In recent weeks, regulatory agencies have been racing against the clock to finalize some of their most consequential policies, such as abortion data privacy, antidiscrimination protections for transgender patients and nursing home minimum staffing. (Weixel, 5/5)

Chicago Tribune: Missouri Abortion-Rights Campaign Turns In More Than Double The Needed Signatures To Get On Ballot 
Advocates on Friday turned in more than twice the needed number of signatures to put a proposal to legalize abortion on the Missouri ballot this year. The campaign said it turned in more than 380,000 voter signatures — more than double the minimum 171,000 needed to qualify for the ballot. (Ballentine, 5/4)

The 19th: Abortion Bans In Florida And Arizona Highlight Outsize Impacts To Latinas
Millions of Latinx Floridians and Arizonans started off the month of May with new and looming restrictions on their reproductive health decisions. Florida, home to the third-largest Latinx population in the country, on Wednesday became the latest state to ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before many people know they are pregnant. In Arizona, a key battleground state and home to the sixth-largest Latinx population in the country, a Civil War-era total abortion ban will go into effect for at least several months until a repeal approved by state lawmakers takes effect. (Barclay, 5/3)

AP: After Roe, An 'Underground' Network Helps Others Get Abortions 
Waiting in a long post office line with the latest shipment of “abortion aftercare kits,” Kimra Luna got a text. A woman who’d taken abortion pills three weeks earlier was worried about bleeding — and disclosing the cause to a doctor. “Bleeding doesn’t mean you need to go in,” Luna responded on the encrypted messaging app Signal. “Some people bleed on and off for a month. ”It was a typically busy afternoon for Luna, a doula and reproductive care activist in a state with some of the strictest abortion laws in the nation. (Ungar, 5/4)

Politico: With 6-Week Abortion Ban In Place, Florida Eyes ‘Safe Haven’ Expansion 
Florida’s six-week abortion ban officially went into effect this week. But another bill also intended to lower the number of abortions could soon quietly become law as well. An expansion of Florida’s “Safe Haven” policy — which decriminalizes surrendering unwanted infants, as long as they are given up to specific agencies like hospitals, fire stations and EMS services — faces just one more hurdle to becoming law. It has long been a piece of legislation in the toolbox of anti-abortion supporters who view legal infant surrenders as a way to encourage more women to carry their pregnancies to term. (Duncan, 5/4)

The Boston Globe: RI Bill To Shield Doctors Who Provide Abortion, Transgender Care, Passed In State Senate
The state Senate this week passed a bill that would shield medical providers who offer transgender care and abortion services in Rhode Island from civil or criminal action by other states or their residents. On Thursday, the Senate voted 29 to 7 for legislation introduced by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairwoman Dawn Euer, a Newport Democrat. The bill now heads to the House, where Majority Floor Manager John G. “Jay” Edwards, a Tiverton Democrat, has introduced a companion bill. (Fitzpatrick, 5/3)

The Washington Post: Texas Man Files Legal Action To Probe Ex-Partner’s Out-Of-State Abortion
As soon as Collin Davis found out his ex-partner was planning to travel to Colorado to have an abortion in late February, the Texas man retained a high-powered antiabortion attorney — who court records show immediately issued a legal threat. If the woman proceeded with the abortion, even in a state where the procedure remains legal, Davis would seek a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the abortion and “pursue wrongful-death claims against anyone involved in the killing of his unborn child,” the lawyer wrote in a letter, according to records. Now, Davis has disclosed his former partner’s abortion to a state district court in Texas, asking for the power to investigate what his lawyer characterizes as potentially illegal activity in a state where almost all abortions are banned. (Kitchener, 5/3)

NBC News: Dairy Worker With Bird Flu Never Developed Respiratory Symptoms, Only Pinkeye
The Texas dairy worker who caught bird flu from a sick cow in late March had none of the symptoms typically associated with influenza, including fever, coughing or sneezing. The only indication that he had been infected was a striking case of pinkeye. Details of the man’s case — the only documented instance of bird flu spreading from a cow to a human — were published Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine, from health officials in Texas and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Edwards, 5/3)

USA Today: Bird Flu Outbreak: Don't Drink Raw Milk, No Matter What Social Media Says
Don't drink raw milk, no matter what social media tells you. Seriously. In an update on the outbreak of bird flu in the U.S. on Wednesday, federal agencies revealed that recent testing on commercial dairy products detected remnants of the virus in one in five samples. However, none contained the live virus that could sicken people .Officials also said that testing on contaminated dairy reaffirmed that pasteurization kills the bird flu virus, making it safe to consume. (Walrath-Holdridge, 5/3)

CIDRAP: US Respiratory Virus Levels Tail Off To Low Levels 
US indicators for flu, COVID, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) declined further last week, with no states reporting moderate, high, or very high activity, down from one the week before, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its weekly updates. (Schnirring, 5/3)

CIDRAP: Common Diabetes Drug Lowers SARS-CoV-2 Levels, Clinical Trial Finds 
Today, researchers from the University of Minnesota published evidence that the common diabetes drug metformin decreases the amount of SARS-CoV-2 in the body and helps reduce the risk of rebound symptoms if given early in the course of non-severe illness. The study, published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, suggests metformin may also help prevent long COVID. Early treatment was key: Participants were enrolled within 3 days of a positive test, and if symptomatic, reported having symptoms for 7 or fewer days. (Soucheray, 5/3)

The Boston Globe: Steward Bankruptcy Filing Leaves Its Eight Massachusetts Hospitals In Limbo
Steward Health Care, which once trumpeted its community hospital system as a low-cost alternative to Boston’s medical goliaths before expanding nationally and falling into a deep financial crisis, filed for bankruptcy protection early Monday morning. Under Chapter 11 of the US bankruptcy code, Steward will become a “debtor in possession,” continuing to operate its 32 hospitals in eight states while it seeks to restructure its debt under court supervision. (Weisman and Bartlett, 5/6)

Modern Healthcare: Cue Health To Lay Off 49% Of Staff In Cost-Saving Strategy
Biotech company Cue Health plans to cut 230 employees, or 49% of its staff, the organization said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing May 1, marking its fifth round of layoffs since January 2023. The staff reduction is part of the company's latest cost-savings plan to allow it to focus more on other priorities, specifically an at-home digital testing program for several health conditions, a spokesperson said Friday. (DeSilva, 5/3)

Bloomberg: Rite Aid Closes A Quarter Of Stores As It Navigates Bankruptcy
Rite Aid Corp. is working to complete a deal with lenders to exit bankruptcy. But even with a rescue deal in hand, the ailing pharmacy chain is poised to to be significantly smaller. Since filing Chapter 11 in October, Rite Aid has said it will close more than 520 locations, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of court records. The closures, which could increase, represent nearly a quarter of the 2,111 stores Rite Aid operated when it entered bankruptcy. (Randles, 5/3)

AP: Aetna Agrees To Settle Lawsuit Over Fertility Coverage For LGBTQ+ Customers 
Aetna has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the health insurer of discriminating against LGBTQ+ customers in need of fertility treatment. Under the deal announced Friday, the insurer will make coverage of artificial insemination standard for all customers nationally and work to ensure that patients have equal access to more expensive in-vitro fertilization procedures, according to the National Women’s Law Center, which represented plaintiffs in the case. (Murphy, 5/3)

Modern Healthcare: Change Healthcare Update: Dated Tech Slows System Restoration
More than two months after being hit with a cyberattack, Change Healthcare is still bringing its systems back online. Restoring them hasn't been an easy task. ... The company processes 15 billion transactions a year and touches one-third of patient records. The scope of Change Healthcare, coupled with its legacy technology, has complicated restoration efforts. (Berryman, 5/3)

Houston Chronicle: Peter Hotez Named Among Most Influential Public Health Figures By Time
Time magazine has named Peter Hotez, the co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, on its list of the most influential figures in global health. Hotez and hospital co-director Maria Elena Bottazzi were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 for their work on vaccine development efforts. The professor and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine is one of 100 people placed on the inaugural 2024 Time100 Health. (Ikramuddin, 5/3)

The Atlantic: Marijuana’s Health Effects Are About To Get A Whole Lot Clearer
Earlier this week, news leaked of the biggest change in federal drug policy in more than half a century. The Associated Press reported—and the Department of Justice later confirmed—that the Drug Enforcement Administration plans to recategorize marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act. ... Cannabis will soon be moved to the much less restrictive Schedule III, which includes prescription drugs such as ketamine and Tylenol with codeine that have a moderate-to-low risk of addiction. (Berke, 5/3)

AP: As The US Reclassifies Marijuana, Could More States Legalize It? 
As the U.S. government moves toward reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, there may be little immediate impact in the dozen states that have not already legalized cannabis for widespread medical or recreational use by adults. But advocates for marijuana legalization hope a federal regulatory shift could eventually change the minds — and votes — of some state policymakers who have been reluctant to embrace weed. (Lieb, 5/4)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Settles With Drugmaker It’s Working With On Overdose Meds
California announced a tentative settlement agreement Friday with a pharmaceutical company over its alleged role in perpetuating the opioid addiction crisis battering the state — the same company Gov. Gavin Newsom is partnering with to produce lower-cost opioid overdose reversal drugs. That means the state could hand any funds it receives from the settlement right back to the company for the overdose reversal drugs it is partnering with the company, Amneal Pharmaceuticals, to produce. (Bollag, 5/3)

CNN: Nearly 100,000 Children In The US Lost A Parent To A Drug Overdose Or Gun Violence In 2020, Study Finds 
Deaths from drug overdoses and firearm-related injuries have reached record levels in the United States in recent years, and it’s created a “double burden” for children who face an increased risk of losing their parents and of dying themselves, according to the authors of a new study. (McPhillips, 5/4)

The New York Times: Widening Racial Disparities Underlie Rise In Child Deaths In The U.S. 
Thanks to advancements in medicine and insurance, mortality rates for children in the United States had been shrinking for decades. But last year, researchers uncovered a worrisome reversal: The child death rate was rising. Now, they have taken their analysis a step further. A new study, published Saturday in The Journal of the American Medical Association, revealed growing disparities in child death rates across racial and ethnic groups. Black and Native American youths ages 1 to 19 died at significantly higher rates than white youths — predominantly from injuries such as car accidents, homicides and suicides. (Baumgaertner, 5/4)

The Boston Globe: Mass. Foster Kids Will Now Keep Their Social Security Money
The Department of Children and Families is ending a controversial practice that diverted to the state millions in federal Social Security benefits meant for foster children. In recent years, DCF withheld about $5.5 million annually, or roughly 90 percent of the survivor and disability benefits intended for foster children who lost a parent or have a disability, and instead redirected the money to the state’s general treasury. (Laughlin, 5/5)

The Washington Post: Prosecutor Seeks To Drop Charges Against Five Deputies In Otieno Case
The Virginia prosecutor investigating the death of Irvo Otieno is seeking to withdraw charges against five law enforcement officers who were indicted on murder counts last year, curtailing the scope of what was once a sprawling case to just three defendants. Otieno, a 28-year-old Black man whose family said he was in mental distress when he arrived at Central State Hospital for treatment, died there of asphyxia as Henrico County sheriff’s deputies and hospital workers restrained him for 11 minutes, according to surveillance video and the medical examiner. (Rizzo, 5/5)

North Carolina Health News and WRAL-TV: Former Employees Say NC Psych Hospital Rife With Violence, Abuse 
In June last year, 11-year-old Henry picked up a sharp object and threatened to harm himself and his mother. It had been a rough year for Henry, who has autism spectrum disorder and has been diagnosed with a host of other developmental, mental and physical health conditions. His mother, Nicole, said her son had been bullied by kids near their home in northeastern North Carolina, and he had been hospitalized a few months earlier due to suicidal thoughts. (Knopf, 5/6)

Iowa Public Radio: The Number Of Iowans Disenrolled From Medicaid Far Exceeds Projections 
A year into the process of Medicaid unwinding, the number of Iowans who have been disenrolled has far exceeded the state's initial projection. According to state data, at least 283,000 Iowans have been disenrolled as of March, including 87,000 children. (Krebs, 5/3)

The Washington Post: Senior Living Homes Won’t Pick Up Fallen Residents, Call 911 Instead 
The 911 call came just before 8 a.m., and Ladder 5′s four-man crew scrambled to the truck just as their overnight shift was about to end. It was the kind of call that veteran firefighter Chad Callison said he dreaded. It was not a heart attack, or a car crash or a building fire. It was a “lift assist” at Heritage Woods, a local assisted-living facility. Lift-assist 911 calls from assisted living and other senior homes have spiked by 30 percent nationwide in recent years to nearly 42,000 calls a year, an analysis of fire department emergency call data by The Washington Post has found. That’s nearly three times faster than the increase in overall 911 call volume during the same 2019-2022 period, the data shows. (Frankel, 5/3)

WUSF: STD Surge: Florida Hits Record High Rates, Surpassing Pre-Pandemic Levels 
Sexually transmitted disease rates in Florida have skyrocketed by 42% in the last decade. These numbers are surpassing prepandemic levels, hitting its highest since 1990.The highest rate in Florida belongs to Leon County with 1,760 per 100,000 people, which is more than twice the state average. (Kissel, 5/3)

The Baltimore Sun: This Program Pays Students To Get Their Nursing Degrees
Becoming a nurse sounded like the perfect job for Danielle Gonzalez — at least on paper. She already had experience working in health care. Before leaving the workforce to look after her third child, who was born with health problems, she worked as a certified medical assistant for about 10 years. Plus, she loved caring for others. (Roberts, 5/3)

NBC News: Gas Stoves Linked To Childhood Asthma Cases, Study Finds
Gas stoves, found in more than 40 million U.S. homes, are likely giving some children asthma, new research suggests. A study published Friday suggests that around 50,000 current cases of pediatric asthma in the U.S. are linked to long-term exposure to nitrogen dioxide from gas and propane stoves. ... It is known to irritate airways and worsen existing respiratory problems. Previous studies have also linked long-term exposure to new cases of asthma and chronic lung disease. (Bendix, 5/3)

Axios: A Common Liver Disease With An Unfortunate Name Gets A Rebrand
A common liver condition — non-alcoholic fatty liver disease — is in the midst of a rebrand. The name of the condition, which affects 1 in 4 U.S. adults, was officially changed by several medical societies in the last year, and is part of a broader effort to eliminate stigmatizing language from medicine. (Reed, 5/6)

Stat: Cancer Researcher Catriona Jamieson Is Sending Tumors Into Space
What happens when you catapult cancer into space? Or shoot stem cells toward the stars? Catriona Jamieson, a hematologist and director of the Sanford Stem Cell Institute at the University of California, San Diego, has done both. Through collaborations with organizations like NASA, her lab has sent tumors and stem cells aboard private spaceflights like SpaceX CRS-24 and the recent Axiom-3 mission to be studied in the International Space Station. (StFleur, 5/6)

The Mercury News: Our Brains Are Growing. Will That Help Prevent Dementia?
A new study by researchers at UC Davis Health found that the brains of people born in the 1970s had 6.6% larger volumes and almost 15% greater brain surface area than those of people born in the 1930s. “We found that brains got larger with each 10 years,” said neurologist Dr. Charles DeCarli, principal investigator of the study, published in a recent issue of the journal JAMA Neurology. It was based on an analysis of thousands of volunteers in the famed Framingham Heart Study. (Krieger, 5/3)