First Edition: July 26, 2024

KFF Health News: The CDC’s Test For Bird Flu Works, But It Has Issues
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says a glitch in its bird flu test hasn’t harmed the agency’s outbreak response. But it has ignited scrutiny of its go-it-alone approach in testing for emerging pathogens. The agency has quietly worked since April to resolve a nagging issue with the test it developed, even as the virus swept through dairy farms and chicken houses across the country and infected at least 13 farmworkers this year. (Allen and Maxmen, 7/26)

KFF Health News: Union With Labor Dispute Of Its Own Threatens To Cut Off Workers’ Health Benefits
The National Education Association, the nation’s largest union, is threatening to cut off health insurance to about 300 Washington, D.C.-based workers on Aug. 1 in an effort to end a bitter contract dispute. It’s a tactic some private employers have used as leverage against unionized workers that has drawn scrutiny from congressional Democrats and is prohibited for state employers in California. Experts on labor law say they’ve never seen a union make the move against its own workers. (Galewitz, 7/26)

KFF Health News: KFF Health News' 'What The Health?': Harris In The Spotlight
For the 2024 campaign, Joe Biden is out, and Kamala Harris is in. As the vice president makes moves toward the top of the Democratic presidential ticket, health policy is resurging as a campaign issue. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Stephanie Armour of KFF Health News, and Rachel Cohrs Zhang of Stat join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. (Rovner, 7/25)

Modern Healthcare: Steward Health’s Ralph De La Torre Subpoenaed By Senate Committee
A Senate committee held an extremely rare vote Thursday to subpoena Steward Health Care Chair and CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre and launch a formal investigation of the hospital chain's bankruptcy filing. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, citing de la Torre's repeated refusals to come before the committee voluntarily, voted 20-1 to subpoena the executive and 16-4 to launch a formal investigation of Steward that could include sworn testimony and future subpoenas for others in the Steward chain of command. (McAuliff, 7/25)

The Washington Post: Top Sinaloa Cartel Leader Taken Into U.S. Custody Alongside Son Of ‘El Chapo’
A longtime senior leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Ismael Zambada Garcia, or “El Mayo,” and a son of famed drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán were taken into custody Thursday by U.S. authorities in Texas, according to senior Mexican and U.S. officials. It was a major blow to the Sinaloa federation, a global drug-trafficking syndicate considered the No. 1 supplier of fentanyl to the United States. (Sheridan and Miroff, 7/26)

Reuters: Fentanyl’s Deadly Chemistry: How Criminals Make Illicit Opioids
The illegal synthetic opioid industry is built on surprisingly simple chemistry. Here’s the science behind fentanyl, and how underworld “cooks” put it to work. (Chung, Gottesdiener and Jorgic, 7/25)

Reuters: We Bought What’s Needed To Make Millions Of Fentanyl Pills – For $3,600
At the tap of a buyer’s smartphone, Chinese chemical sellers will air-ship fentanyl ingredients door-to-door to North America. Reuters purchased enough to make 3 million pills. Such deals are astonishingly easy – and reveal how drug traffickers are eluding efforts to halt the deadly trade behind the fentanyl crisis. (Tamman, Gottesdiener and Eisenhammer, 7/25)

AP: Arkansas Abortion Measure's Signatures From Volunteers Alone Would Fall Short, Filing Shows 
The signatures collected by volunteers for an Arkansas abortion-rights measure would fall short of the number needed to qualify for the ballot if those are the only ones counted, according to an initial tally from election officials filed Thursday with the state Supreme Court. The filing from the secretary of state’s office comes after the court ordered officials to begin counting signatures submitted, but only those collected by volunteers. Arkansans for Limited Government, which used volunteer and paid canvassers, has sued the state for rejecting its petitions. (Demillo, 7/25)

AP: Montana Supreme Court Allows Signatures Of Inactive Voters To Count On Ballot Petitions 
Montana’s Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would allow the signatures of inactive voters to count on petitions seeking to qualify constitutional initiatives for the November ballot, including one to protect abortion rights. District Court Judge Mike Menahan ruled last Tuesday that Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen’s office wrongly changed election rules to reject inactive voter signatures from three ballot initiatives after the signatures had been turned in to counties and after some of the signatures had been verified. The groups that sued — Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights and Montanans for Election Reform — alleged the state for decades had accepted signatures of inactive voters. (Hanson, 7/23)

Side Effects Public Media: Iowa's New Abortion Law Could Have Ripple Effects Across The Region
It’s quiet over the lunch hour on a recent Friday at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Mankato, Minn. Brooke Zahnle, the health center manager, steps into the southern Minnesota clinic’s small hallway to point out the clinic’s lab and five exam rooms, including an ultrasound room. The clinic is tucked away in a strip mall close to Minnesota State University, Mankato. It’s about an hour from the Iowa border. (Krebs, 7/25)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Sues Over Confidential Contraception For Teens
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday announced he is suing the Biden administration over a federal contraception program that provides teens birth control without requiring parental consent. The Title X program has long been the only way minors in Texas can access confidential contraception, but since a court ruling in 2022, Texas providers have been required to get parental sign-off. (Klibanoff, 7/25)

Reuters: Bird Flu Infects Three More Colorado Poultry Farm Workers 
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on Thursday announced three additional human cases of bird flu among poultry farm workers, bringing the total number of confirmed human cases in the U.S. this year to 13. The three new cases involved poultry farm workers who were killing infected chickens at a Weld County egg farm, the health department said. The workers are experiencing mild illness and have been offered antiviral drugs, said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a statement. (Douglas, 7/25)

Modern Healthcare: Optum Layoffs Hit 524 Workers, Including Some Clinicians, Nurses
UnitedHealth Group’s Optum Health division will lay off 524 employees in California and remote locations, according to a report by the state's Employee Development Department. The affected employees include physicians, physician assistants, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, patient care coordinators, nurse practitioners and social workers, according to the company's Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice obtained by Modern Healthcare. (Berryman, 7/25)

Modern Healthcare: Ascension To Sell 13 Illinois Sites To Prime Healthcare
Ascension plans to sell 13 hospitals and other care sites in Illinois to Prime Healthcare, the systems said Thursday. The definitive agreement marks another divestiture for nonprofit Ascension in the Midwest as it continues to shrink its footprint. (DeSilva, 7/25)

Modern Healthcare: CHS Hospital Sales To Continue Despite Failed Novant Health Deal
Community Health Systems is negotiating deals to divest some assets and does not anticipate running into the same issues that last month killed its plan to sell two hospitals to Novant Health. During a second-quarter earnings call with financial analysts Thursday, executives at the Franklin, Tennessee-based provider said the buyer pool is shifting and those changes should benefit its efforts. (DeSilva, 7/25)

Modern Healthcare: Envision Healthcare Ends Private Equity Case, Leaves California
Envision Healthcare, a top private equity-backed emergency physician staffing company, is exiting California and avoiding a lawsuit that threatened the legality of its business model in the state. The Nashville, Tennessee-based company had been battling the American Academy of Emergency Medicine, which sued in 2021 after Envision Healthcare won a contract that the American Academy of Emergency Medicine Physician Group previously held at Placentia-Linda Hospital. (McAuliff, 7/25)

Bloomberg: WeightWatchers Chief Medical Officer Meister Leaves After Less Than Year
The chief medical officer of WW International Inc., better known as WeightWatchers, has stepped down from her role after less than a year, people familiar with the matter said. WeightWatchers announced Amy Meister’s appointment in October as the company was attempting to reposition itself by offering prescription weight-loss drugs after decades of promoting dieting. The company said in a press release at the time that Meister’s appointment would “further WeightWatchers’ commitment to providing the most clinically proven tools and interventions surrounding weight health.” (Muller, Swetlitz and Garde, 7/25)

The Boston Globe: 'July Effect' Kicks In At Hospitals As Brand-New Doctors Arrive
For Dr. Jeremy Faust, July 1 is like New Year’s Day. That’s when thousands of new medical school graduates enter teaching hospitals across the country and provide care to patients as doctors for the first time. ... With that excitement also comes a seemingly perennial debate around a phenomenon called the “July effect” — the idea that the inexperience of first-year residents, commonly called interns, might lead to a decrease in patient safety or increase in medical errors. (Getahun-Hawkins, 7/25)

CBS News: North Korean Charged In Ransomware Attacks On NASA, U.S. Hospitals; $10 Million Reward Offered
North Korean hackers allegedly targeted a number of U.S. hospitals and healthcare systems with ransomware as part of an illegal scheme to fund a covert information exfiltration campaign against American military and scientific entities, federal investigators revealed Thursday. ... The State Department is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to the location of Rim or other members of the malicious cyber group. (Legare and Sganga, 7/25)

Military.com: VA's Electronic Health Records System May Require Lots Of New Staff. The Cost Worries Lawmakers. 
The introduction of the new digital medical records system at a joint Veterans Affairs-Defense Department hospital went well but required extra temporary and full-time staff. (Kime, 7/25)

The Washington Post: Online Portals Deliver Scary Health News Before Doctors Can Weigh In 
More Americans are learning of devastating health diagnoses through their phones and computers instead of personally from their doctors because of a federal requirement that people receive immediate access to medical test and scan results, from routine bloodwork to MRIs. This shift has sparked a debate in the medical community about whether instant information empowers patients or harms them. (Nirappil, 7/26)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Heart Institute Makes 'Groundbreaking' Artificial Heart Implant
A new chapter in artificial heart development unfolded Thursday in Houston, where officials at the Texas Heart Institute announced they had successfully implanted a novel device that they hope can become the first long-term solution for patients with advanced heart failure. The device — a rotary-powered, hand-sized artificial heart — whirred inside a 58-year-old man’s chest for eight days, helping him maintain normal vital signs and organ function until he received a lifesaving heart transplant on July 17. (Gill, 7/25)

CIDRAP: Scientists Say They Developed Faster Way To Diagnose, Treat Sepsis 
A new ultra-rapid, phenotype-based antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) method eliminates the need for conventional blood culture in patients with suspected sepsis, potentially speeding antibiotic prescription by upwards of 40 to 60 hours, scientists reported yesterday in Nature. (Van Beusekom, 7/25)

AP: Newsom Orders California State Agencies To Start Clearing Homeless Encampments
California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered state agencies Thursday to start removing homeless encampments on state land in his boldest action yet following a Supreme Court ruling allowing cities to enforce bans on sleeping outside in public spaces. This executive order directs state agencies “to move urgently to address dangerous encampments while supporting and assisting the individuals living in them.” It also provides guidance for cities and counties to do the same, which applies pressure on them, though they are not legally bound to the order. (Nguyen, 7/25)

AP: West Virginia Is Asking The US Supreme Court To Consider Transgender Surgery Medicaid Coverage Case 
West Virginia is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review rulings that found the state’s refusal to cover certain health care for transgender people with government-sponsored insurance is discriminatory, Republican Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said Thursday. In April, the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 8-6 in the case involving coverage of gender-affirming surgery by West Virginia Medicaid, finding that the “coverage exclusions facially discriminate based on sex and gender identity,” according to a majority opinion penned by Judge Roger Gregory. (Willingham, 7/25)

WUSF: Mental Health Professionals Are Now Responding To 911 Calls In Tampa
Dispatchers now have another option when someone in Tampa calls 911 with a mental health emergency. Instead of police officers, crisis counselors will respond. The program partners the Tampa Police Department and the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay. (Shanes, 7/25)

CBS News: Measles Confirmed In 3 Unvaccinated Twin Cities Children, Health Department Says
Three children in the Twin Cities were confirmed to have measles this week, and two of them required hospitalization, health officials said. The cases occurred in Anoka, Hennepin and Ramsey counties, the Minnesota Department of Health said, and all three children were unvaccinated. "Based on current information, these cases are not directly linked to each other and have not traveled, so there is concern for possible spread of measles in the community," the health department said. (Bettin, 7/25)

Stateline.org: In The 10 States That Didn’t Expand Medicaid, 1.6M Can’t Afford Health Insurance
Nearly 1 of every 5 uninsured working-age adults across the 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act are, according to a new analysis, stuck in a health care limbo known as a “coverage gap.” That means they earn too much money to receive Medicaid but not enough to qualify for financial help to purchase their own plan on the marketplace. (Chatlani, 7/25)

Stat: Breast Cancer Mastectomy Paradox Found In New Study
Breast cancer surgeons have tended not to push patients towards bilateral mastectomy, since data have long shown that the complete removal of both breasts doesn’t improve survival. New data from a large epidemiological study affirmed that, but an accompanying finding is puzzling. Breast cancer survivors who ended up developing a second breast cancer in the opposite or contralateral breast had a higher risk of death, even though preventing that cancer with surgery didn’t change outcomes. (Chen, 7/25)

CNN: Barbie’s Gynecologist Appointment Increased Online Search Interest Around Reproductive Health, New Study Finds
When she leaves Barbie Land for the real world, Barbie must keep up with her regular health maintenance, which includes seeing her gynecologist.A new study published Thursday in the journal JAMA Network Open has found that the ending in the 2023 blockbuster film “Barbie” had an influence on online search interest in terms around gynecology, the branch of medicine that deals with women’s reproductive health. (Nicioli, 7/25)

AP: An Olympic-Sized Fight Erupts Among Anti-Doping Officials, And It's Just Getting Started 
Global regulators hinted at sanctioning America’s drug-fighting watchdog, a suggestion that further ratchets up tensions between those in charge of keeping sports clean. (Pells, 7/25)

Fortune Well: Team USA Psychologist Cares For Olympians’ Mental Health At 2024 Paris Games
Kweku Smith, PhD, will make his Olympic debut in the City of Light less than a year after joining the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee as a psychological services provider. Smith says he and his colleagues will be on call 24/7 throughout the Olympics and Paralympics, ready to tend to athletes’ mental health whether they’re in crisis or just need to bend an ear. Athletes are also free to schedule an appointment with a psychologist, or flag one down in the Olympic Village or the arena where they’re competing. (Leake, 7/25)

Popsugar: The History Of Condoms At The Olympics 
This year, Olympic Village director Laurent Michaud told Sky News that there are a whopping 300,000 condoms available for the 10,500 athletes competing at the 2024 Paris Games (that's almost 29 condoms per athlete, mind you). "It is important that the conviviality here is something big," Michaud said. Over email, a Paris 2024 spokesperson confirmed to PS that there will be 200,000 male condoms, 10,000 male condoms without latex, 20,000 female condoms, and 10,000 oral dams — all of which are accompanied with a lubricant pouch — available in the Village. (Gulino, 7/23)

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School Of Public Health: Public Health Prep For The Paris Olympics
Like any mass gathering event, there is a raised risk of public health threats. So how does the International Olympic Committee (IOC) mitigate these dangers—both before and during the competitions? In this Q&A, adapted from the July 24 episode of Public Health On Call, Lucia Mullin, MPH, an associate scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and an associate in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, talks with Lindsay Smith Rogers about her role as a member of the WHO Collaborating Center for Global Health Security's mass gathering expert group, the inner workings of preventative public health measures during the Olympics, and insights gained from previous Games. (7/24)