First Edition: June 20, 2024
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
KFF Health News:
‘We’re Flying Blind’: CDC Has 1M Bird Flu Tests Ready, But Experts See Repeat Of Covid Missteps
It’s been nearly three months since the U.S. government announced an outbreak of the bird flu virus on dairy farms. The World Health Organization considers the virus a public health concern because of its potential to cause a pandemic, yet the U.S. has tested only about 45 people across the country. “We’re flying blind,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health. With so few tests run, she said, it’s impossible to know how many farmworkers have been infected, or how serious the disease is. (Maxmen, 6/20)
KFF Health News:
Experts: US Hospitals Prone To Cyberattacks Like One That Hurt Patient Care At Ascension
In the wake of a debilitating cyberattack against one of the nation’s largest health care systems, Marvin Ruckle, a nurse at an Ascension hospital in Wichita, Kansas, said he had a frightening experience: He nearly gave a baby “the wrong dose of narcotic” because of confusing paperwork. Ruckle, who has worked in the neonatal intensive care unit at Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph for two decades, said it was “hard to decipher which was the correct dose” on the medication record. (Pradhan and Wells, 6/20)
KFF Health News:
A Tale Of Two States: Arizona And Florida Diverge On How To Expand Kids’ Health Insurance
Arizona and Florida — whose rates of uninsured children are among the highest in the nation — set goals last year to widen the safety net that provides health insurance to people 18 and younger. But their plans to expand coverage illustrate key ideological differences on the government’s role in subsidizing health insurance for kids: what to charge low-income families as premiums for public coverage — and what happens if they miss a payment. (Chang, 6/20)
KFF Health News:
Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute'
“Health Minute” brings original health care and health policy reporting from the KFF Health News newsroom to the airwaves each week. (6/18)
Modern Healthcare:
CBO: Uninsured Rate Projected To Hit 8.9% By 2034
The uninsured rate is poised to climb over the coming decade, the Congressional Budget Office predicts in an article published in the journal Health Affairs Tuesday. The uninsured rate is 7.7% this year with 26 million people lacking health coverage, up from an all-time low of 7.2% in 2023, according to the CBO. The nonpartisan legislative branch agency projects the share will rise to 8.9% in 2034. (Early, 6/18)
Modern Healthcare:
Medicare Star Rating Changes Could Cut $19.5B In Bonuses
Medicare Advantage insurers that have earned high quality scores in the past stand to lose up to $19.5 billion over 10 years in bonus payments under a policy proposal on the books at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. CMS first floated this change two years ago and has not issued a regulation to carry it out. But as the agency reacts to court rulings that spurred it to roll back another methodological change to the Medicare Advantage Star Ratings program, health insurance industry experts think the time may be ripe for CMS to revisit its plans. (Tepper, 6/19)
Modern Healthcare:
Medicare Advantage Pay To Blame For Dropped Contracts: Scripps
Last year, Scripps Health declared it would pull two medical practices from Medicare Advantage networks, risking losing patients in exchange for ridding itself of insurers tying it up in red tape and paying less than it considered adequate. So far, so good, according to Scripps Health President and CEO Chris Van Gorder. “We don't regret making the decision, that's for sure,” he said. (Berryman, 6/18)
The New York Times:
‘We Just Always Expect It To Work’: 911 Outage Shows System’s Perils
The abrupt failure of Massachusetts’ 911 system on Tuesday was a stark example of the disastrous consequences that can occur when an emergency network that is supposed to be reliable is, without warning, suddenly unreliable. The outage, lasting two hours, prompted a scramble among emergency agencies as they directed the public to reach out directly to the local authorities at less-familiar phone numbers or, as a last resort, go in person to their local firehouse. (Bogel-Burroughs, 6/19)
AP:
Firewall To Deter Cyberattacks Is Blamed For Massachusetts 911 Outage
A firewall designed to prevent cyberattacks and hacking was to blame for the 911 outage that hit Massachusetts this week, state officials said Wednesday. While some calls didn’t go through, the state said the system “allows dispatch centers to identify the phone number of callers and return those calls.” As a result, the Department was not aware of any emergencies being negatively affected by the outage. (Casey, 6/19)
NPR:
Prevention Task Force Recommends Intensive Counseling For Kids With Obesity
A panel of experts has updated their recommendations for doctors screening children for obesity. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force now recommends intensive behavioral interventions for kids aged 6 and older with a high body mass index. These recommendations were published Tuesday in JAMA.The new advice replaces the task force’s 2017 guidance which recommended that primary care providers should simply screen children for obesity. (Noguchi and Wroth, 6/18)
NBC News:
Lack Of Sleep Linked To High Blood Pressure In Children And Teens, New Research Finds
Children and teenagers who regularly get too few hours of sleep may be at higher risk of developing high blood pressure, new research indicates. The findings may change how doctors talk with kids and their parents about hypertension. An analysis of data from more than 500 children and teens with hypertension revealed an association between shorter-than-recommended sleep times and high blood pressure, according to the study, published Wednesday in Pediatrics. (Carroll, 6/18)
The New York Times:
Doctors Test The Limits Of What Obesity Drugs Can Fix
Lesa Walton suffered for years with rheumatoid arthritis. “It was awful,” said Ms. Walton, 57, who lives in Wenatchee, Wash. “I kept getting sicker and sicker.” She also had high blood pressure, and she was obese. Doctors told her to diet and exercise, which she did, to no avail. Then she found a doctor who prescribed Wegovy, one of the new obesity drugs. Not only did she lose more than 50 pounds, she said; her arthritis cleared up, and she no longer needed pills to lower her blood pressure. (Kolata, 6/18)
Axios:
Sanders Hopes Pressure Will Lower Ozempic Price
Sen. Bernie Sanders is trying to use the bully pulpit to lower the price of wildly popular anti-obesity drugs the same way he helped push drugmakers to limit inhaler and insulin costs. But this bid could be much more of an uphill climb. (Sullivan, 6/20)
The New York Times:
South Africa Runs Out Of Insulin Pens As Global Supply Shifts To Weight-Loss Drugs
South Africa’s public health care system has run out of the human insulin pens that it provides to people with diabetes, as the pharmaceutical industry shifts production priorities to blockbuster weight-loss drugs that use a similar device for delivery. Novo Nordisk, the company that has supplied South Africa with human insulin in pens for a decade, opted not to renew its contract, which expired last month. No other company has bid on the contract — to supply 14 million pens for the next three years, at about $2 per pen. (Nolen, 6/19)
Modern Healthcare:
FTC Court Win Prompts Novant, CHS To Call Off Hospital Sale
Novant Health ended its 16-month pursuit of a $320 million deal to acquire two North Carolina hospitals from Community Health Systems after a federal appellate court on Tuesday dealt it a harsh blow. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit hit Novant's proposed acquisition of Mooresville-based Lake Norman Regional Medical Center when a panel voted 2-1 to grant the Federal Trade Commission's motion to stop that proposal pending appeal. (Hudson, 6/18)
The Boston Globe:
Steward Hospital Sales Delayed By At Least Three Weeks
Less than a week before bids were due for eight of its Massachusetts hospitals, bankrupt Steward Health Care has pushed back its planned auction of the facilities by three weeks amid mounting questions about who will take over their operations. The new bid deadline is July 15, with the auction set for July 18, according to a Steward filing in US Bankruptcy Court in Houston. (Weisman, 6/19)
Crain's Cleveland Business:
University Hospitals To Cut More Than 300 Positions
University Hospitals is eliminating more than 300 positions amid challenges in the healthcare industry. The health system announced Wednesday, June 19, that it was reducing its leadership structure by more than 10% as part of an organizational reset. (Bennett, 6/19)
Modern Healthcare:
Nurses Union To Pay HCA Healthcare $6.2M Over 2020 Strike
A local unit of SEIU has been ordered to pay HCA Healthcare's Riverside Community Hospital $6.2 million for conducting a 10-day strike in 2020. An arbitrator last month ordered the payment after it was found last year that nurse labor union SEIU Local 121RN violated a collective bargaining agreement with the hospital by holding the strike in June 2020. (DeSilva, 6/19)
Modern Healthcare:
NAHC, NHPCO To Combine Into Single Trade Organization
The nation’s two largest trade groups representing home health, hospice and palliative care are merging. The National Association for Home Care and Hospice and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization said Tuesday the executive officers of the trade groups signed a letter of intent June 10 to become a single organization. (Eastabrook, 6/18)
Modern Healthcare:
Done Global Disagrees With Ruthia He, David Brody’s Charges
Digital behavioral health startup Done said it "disagrees" with criminal charges filed against its founder and CEO Ruthia He and clinical president Dr. David Brody. Done, sometimes called Done Global or Done Health, said in a statement posted to its website Tuesday it is continuing normal operations following last week's arrest of He and Brody over allegations including fraud. (Turner, 6/18)
Reuters:
Judge Questions 'Unusual' DOJ Plan To Pay Lead-Testing Device Victims
A federal judge on Tuesday questioned what she called an "unusual" provision of an agreement between the U.S. Justice Department and lead-testing device maker Magellan Diagnostics that would compensate victims of lead poisoning without any court supervision. U.S. District Judge Patti Saris in Boston raised her concerns during the first hearing on Magellan's agreement last month to pay $42 million to resolve criminal charges that it concealed a malfunction in its lead-testing devices that led to patients receiving inaccurately low results. (Raymond, 6/18)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Summer COVID-19 Swell Drives Rising Reinfections In California
As the COVID-19 summer swell intensifies, many people who have previously recovered from the virus are falling ill again due to new variants known as FLiRT. UCSF infectious disease specialist Dr. Peter Chin-Hong noted that this trend is becoming more common with omicron offshoots, as the coronavirus falls into a predictable pattern of surging approximately every six months and evolving to evade protections developed against previous versions. (Vaziri, 6/18)
The Mercury News:
San Jose Homeless Encampments Face Shigella Outbreak, Public Health Department Says
An outbreak of the gastrointestinal illness Shigella has been identified in encampments of people experiencing homelessness in San Jose since June 3, according to Santa Clara County’s public health department. There have been three confirmed cases of Shigella related to the outbreak, as well as four cases under evaluation and at least 19 suspected cases, said Dr. Monika Roy, assistant health officer and communicable disease controller for Santa Clara County. Two of the cases have resulted in hospitalization, which is how officials learned of the outbreak, she added at a Tuesday news conference. (Pender, 6/18)
Los Angeles Times:
Thousands Of Seniors Face Hunger As L.A. Ends A Free Meal Program
Tim Icely did everything he was supposed to do to save up for retirement. He worked 27 years in hospitality and hotel management before he was furloughed during the pandemic and forced to retire at 74. Icely is now 76, single with no dependents and no spouse, living on his own in Van Nuys. Half of his Social Security check goes toward rent, and sometimes it feels as though he’s tiptoeing on the edge of disaster. (Deng, 6/19)
The Salt Lake Tribune:
Utah Votes To Ignore Biden Administration's Title IX Protections For Trans Students
With federal funding for public schools in the balance, Utah lawmakers voted Wednesday to instruct state entities to ignore an expansion of Title IX under President Joe Biden that offers protections for transgender students. Around a hundred protesters — many wrapped in transgender flags — chanted “vote no” outside the doors of the Utah House chamber as representatives convened before voting to adopt the pair of resolutions. (Stern and Nesbitt, 6/20)
Politico:
New York City Council Pushes For IVF Coverage For Gay Male City Employees
The Adams administration is facing a legal and legislative battle over the meaning of “infertility.” The New York City Council’s LGBTQIA+ Caucus is pushing Mayor Eric Adams to extend IVF coverage to gay men who work for the city but struggle to access the benefit. That’s because, according to the caucus, the city health plan only covers cycles of in vitro fertilization for employees who can show documentation of infertility — defined as the incapacity to impregnate someone else or to conceive. The definition is memorialized in a 2020 state law that requires insurance plans to cover three cycles of IVF for people facing infertility. (Kaufman, 6/18)
The Texas Tribune:
Texas Town Aims For First-Of-Its-Kind Memory Loss Care Center
Addy Lois Dunn’s memory became a concern after she began running red lights and forgetting well-worn routes. She would soon be diagnosed with dementia, and her family, including her son, Randy Dunn, would rally to her care. That was more than 20 years ago. Addy is now gone. She died in February 2012 at 74. Yet, her battle inspired Randy, who is now the mayor of Quitman, a small East Texas town. And he is part of a group on a multi-year quest to establish a new kind of care for Texans living with dementia and Alzheimer’s. (Huff and Simpson, 6/19)
The Philadelphia Inquirer:
During A Heat Wave, High Indoor Temperatures Can Also Prove Dangerous, Study Shows
Most of the public’s attention is focused on skyrocketing outdoor temperatures that can cause serious medical complications such as heat stroke. But for many people, especially those who lack access to air-conditioning, temperatures inside can become dangerous, as well. ... In a recently published article reviewing the research on indoor overheating, Drexel researchers noted that many vulnerable people, including the very old and young, spend most of their time indoors — but may not be able to adequately cool their houses in a heat wave. (Whelan, 6/19)
The New York Times:
How Heat Affects The Brain
High temperatures can make us miserable. Research shows they also make us aggressive, impulsive and dull. (Smith, 6/19)
Los Angeles Times:
Dollar Tree Left Applesauce On Shelves After Recall, FDA Says
Dollar Tree failed to effectively recall lead-tainted applesauce pouches linked to reports of illness in more than 500 children, leaving the products on some store shelves for two months, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday. The FDA sent a warning letter to Dollar Tree this month and placed Negasmart, the Ecuadorean distributor of WanaBana apple cinnamon pouches, under import alerts after the October recall of the products found to be contaminated with “extremely high” levels of lead and chromium. (Aleccia, 6/19)
CNN:
Microplastics Discovered In Human Penises For The First Time
Scientists have found microplastics in human penises for the first time, as concerns over the tiny particles’ proliferation and potential health effects mount. Seven different kinds of microplastics were found in four out of five samples of penis tissue taken from five different men as part of a study published in IJIR: Your Sexual Medicine Journal on Wednesday. (Guy, 6/19)
WUFT:
Americans Spend More Than Two Weeks A Year Working While Sick
A recent poll by the market research company Talker Research found that the average American works 84 hours, or just over two work weeks a year, while sick with a cold or other virus. About half the 2,000 adult workers surveyed said they would rather just power through their day than call in. A third worry about looking overly dramatic by staying home to rest and recover. (Levesque, 6/18)
Stat:
New Study Bolsters Evidence Rare Genetic Mutation Can Delay Early Alzheimer’s
For members of a large extended Colombian family, an early Alzheimer’s diagnosis is practically a grim guarantee. But new research further supports the idea that a rare genetic mutation can delay the devastating disease’s onset. (Wosen, 6/19)
Stat:
Substance Abuse Experts Have A New Worry: Gambling Addiction
Downstairs was a sensory overload: Roulette wheels spun, slot-machine chimes rang, and dealers hurried to scoop up stacks of casino chips resting in front of busted blackjack hands. Many gamblers held a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other. It was perhaps a strange setting for a conference about substance use treatment. But there may have been no better venue than the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino for the stark warning being offered in a ballroom upstairs: America’s addiction professionals are ignoring gambling. (Facher, 6/19)
Axios:
U.S. House Targets China Over Fentanyl Trade In Opioid Crackdown
House members from both parties are forming a new group to crack down on China's role in the U.S. fentanyl epidemic as part of a more aggressive push to cut off illicit supply of the lethal drug. Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids kill tens of thousands of Americans every year, tearing apart families while fracturing communities and disrupting the labor market. (Saric, 6/20)
Military.com:
The Military On Guam Has No Intensive Care Unit For Newborns In Critical Condition. Some Don't Make It.
In late 2022, a baby born to an active-duty U.S. military family on Guam needed immediate, advanced medical care for a life-threatening pulmonary condition. With no neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU, on the island that meets U.S. standards, a specialty neonatal team was dispatched from U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa, Japan, to provide care. The team arrived 24 hours later, but the newborn was too ill to move. (Kime, 6/18)
The Washington Post:
A Deadly Bacterial Infection Is On The Rise In Japan. What Is STSS?
A record number of cases of streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS) in Japan this year has focused attention on the rare and potentially deadly bacterial infection. There have been 1,019 cases of STSS in the first six months of 2024, surpassing the total number recorded last year in the country. Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases warned of a rise in cases in March, after 77 deaths from the illness were recorded. The majority of the cases at that time were of people above the age of 50. (Masih and Vinall, 6/19)
Reuters:
Vaccine Group Gavi Seeks $11.9 Billion To Immunize World's Poorest Children
The global vaccine organization Gavi is likely to seek around $11.9 billion from governments and foundations on Thursday to fund immunization efforts in the world’s poorest countries over five years, board documents reviewed by Reuters showed. The amount will be finalized at a meeting on Thursday in Paris, where donors will make pledges for the organization’s plan for 2026-2030. A separately funded $1 billion scheme to boost vaccine production in Africa, the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator, will also launch on Thursday. (Rigby, 6/20)