First Edition: July 30, 2024

KFF Health News: California Lawmakers Debate Sending Local Health Inspectors Into Immigration Facilities
Covid-19, mumps, and chickenpox outbreaks. Contaminated water, moldy food, and air ducts spewing black dust. These health threats have been documented inside privately run immigration detention facilities in California through lawsuits, federal and state audits, and complaints lodged by detainees themselves. But local public health officers who routinely inspect county jails and state prisons say they don’t have the authority under state law to inspect detention centers operated by private companies, including all six federal immigration centers in California. (Sánchez, 7/30)

KFF Health News: Readers Weigh In On The Abortion Debate And Ways To Tackle The Opioid Crisis
KFF Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories. (7/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden Calls For Supreme Court Reforms, Constitutional Amendment To Limit Presidential Immunity
President Biden called Monday for a constitutional amendment overturning the Supreme Court’s recent decision awarding former presidents immunity for crimes they commit while in office—and endorsed proposals for a mandatory ethics code and 18-year term limit for justices. “In recent years, extreme opinions that the Supreme Court has handed down have undermined long-established civil rights principles and protections,” Biden said, speaking at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. He cited decisions that the court’s right-leaning majority views as landmark achievements, including rulings that limited federal voting-rights protections, overturned Roe v. Wade and ended affirmative action in college admissions. (Bravin, 7/29)

The New York Times: How The Current Supreme Court Would Look Under Biden’s Term-Limit Plan 
Under Mr. Biden’s term-limit plan, presidents would appoint a new Supreme Court justice every two years. If that rule had already been in effect over the past two decades and each justice had served the full 18-year term, the court’s ideological split would be flipped, as this chart shows. (Shao, 7/29)

Modern Healthcare: Chevron Ruling Could Boost Rural Hospital Medicare Pay
A small hospital in Washington state and 800 other so-called “tweener” hospitals could gain an important label and more financial security in a post-Chevron world. The 67-bed Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles, Washington, is too large to be considered a critical access hospital and too small to be a rural referral center. Critical access hospitals with no more than 25 beds are paid 101% of their costs for many Medicare services. (Kacik, 7/29)

The Washington Post: Medical Worker On Trial In Leak Of Justice Ginsburg’s Health Records
As Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg sought to privately battle cancer, federal prosecutors said Monday, her health records reached a dark corner of the internet where users floated antisemitic conspiracy theories. Her information, according to prosecutors and court testimony from an FBI agent, was accessed by a former organ transplant coordinator while she was under the care of George Washington University Hospital in 2019 and then posted to the online message board 4chan, which is known for salacious and conspiracy-themed discussions. (Rizzo, 7/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Harris Puts Abortion, A Weakness For Trump, At Center Of Campaign
After locking up the support to be the Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris’s campaign launched a blitz of abortion-related campaign activities Monday, including events hosted by second gentleman Doug Emhoff and advocates. The campaign also released a video with the vice president condemning a new abortion law in Iowa, hoping to energize women and independent voters with her promise to protect abortion rights. (Lucey, Kusisto and Salama, 7/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Why JD Vance Worries About Childlessness 
After joining the Senate last year, JD Vance became one of the most outspoken lawmakers about the decline in U.S. fertility. The issue has long been on Vance’s mind. In an interview in April with The Wall Street Journal, Vance described low fertility as having many causes, no simple remedy and negative consequences beyond simply a smaller workforce and less sustainable programs such as Social Security. (Ip and Adamy, 7/29)

AP: Russia Is Relying On Americans To Spread Election Disinformation, Officials Say 
The Kremlin is turning to unwitting Americans and commercial public relations firms in Russia to spread disinformation about the U.S. presidential race, top intelligence officials said Monday, detailing the latest efforts by America’s adversaries to shape public opinion ahead of the 2024 election. The warning comes after a tumultuous few weeks in U.S. politics that have forced Russia, Iran and China to revise some of the details of their propaganda playbook. What hasn’t changed, intelligence officials said, is the determination of these nations to seed the internet with false and incendiary claims about American democracy to undermine faith in the election. (Klepper, 7/29)

USA Today: Inside An Iowa Planned Parenthood Clinic Before Abortion Ban Starts
Thursday marked what many clinic staff believed could be one of the last days for what has been its normal operations. Soon, an Iowa law will go into effect that prohibits most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, dramatically changing how the clinic cares for its patients. “It's really demoralizing, and actually is such an invasion into the practice of medicine and the patient-physician relationship that really doesn't belong,” said Dr. Sarah Traxler, the OB-GYN overseeing the clinic Thursday and the chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood North Central States. (Ramm, 7/29)

AP: Trial Canceled In North Dakota Abortion Ban Lawsuit As Judge Ponders Dismissal 
A trial looming in a lawsuit challenging North Dakota’s abortion ban was canceled Monday as the judge in the case weighs whether to throw out the lawsuit. It was not immediately clear why the trial was canceled. State District Judge Bruce Romanick issued a notice to parties regarding trial saying the Aug. 26-30 trial is canceled and will be removed from the calendar. The notice comes nearly a week after the state and plaintiffs, who include the formerly sole abortion clinic in North Dakota, made their pitches to the judge as to why he should dismiss the two-year-old case, or continue to trial. (Dura, 7/29)

AP: A New York Ballot Referendum Meant To Protect Abortion May Not Use The Word
A proposed amendment to New York’s Constitution that’s intended to protect abortion rights might appear on the ballot this fall without any mention of the word “abortion.” That’s partly because of sharp disagreements about what the so-called Equal Rights Amendment would actually do, if passed. The state’s Board of Elections, which is charged with writing easy-to-understand explanations of proposed laws appearing on the ballot, decided Monday that rather than try and interpret the amendment, they would simply repeat its somewhat unclear language in material given to voters. (Izaguirre, 7/29)

AP: Senate Set To Pass Bill Designed To Protect Kids From Dangerous Online Content 
The Senate is expected to pass legislation Tuesday that is designed to protect children from dangerous online content, pushing forward with what would be the first major effort by Congress in decades to hold tech companies more accountable for the harm that they cause. The bill has sweeping bipartisan support and has been pushed by parents of children who died by suicide after online bullying. It would force companies to take reasonable steps to prevent harm on online platforms frequently used by minors, requiring them to exercise “duty of care” and ensure that they generally default to the safest settings possible. (Jalonick, 7/30)

PoliticoPro: MultiPlan Makes Its Case To Congress
MultiPlan CEO Travis Dalton, whose data analytics company is under fire from providers and lawmakers amid allegations that it is colluding with health insurers, said his recent meetings on Capitol Hill couldn’t have gone better. Following demands from Congress for the DOJ and FTC to open investigations into MultiPlan’s business practices, Dalton held several meetings with Senate staffers over the past few weeks, during which he defended his company and showed how it uses publicly available data to recommend how much providers should be paid for out-of-network care. (Hooper, 7/30)

CIDRAP: Experts Consider H5N1 Avian Flu Unknowns As State Fairs Loom 
In the next 6 to 10 weeks, hundreds of state and country fairs will take place across the United States, and thousands of Americans will attend agricultural shows, walk through barns, watch dairy cattle be milked, and even observe an animal giving birth. But veterinarians, public health researchers, and scientists are unclear to what extent—if any—the recent explosion in cases of H5N1 avian influenza in dairy cattle will affect animals on exhibition or pose a threat to human health. H5N1 is deadly to poultry, but causes mild to moderate symptoms in the bovine population. So far, humans who have been infected with H5N1 via contact with infected cows have also exhibited mild illness, but case numbers in humans remain low. (Soucheray, 7/29)

The New York Times: New York Has Only 1 Drug Stockpiled In Case Of A Bird Flu Epidemic
New York’s plan for confronting bird flu if it begins spreading among people relies heavily on a vast stockpile of flu treatment medicine. But experts worry the stockpile is missing a key tool. New York has only one type of flu antiviral drug, Tamiflu, which might prove less effective than hoped against a pandemic strain of bird flu, some experts say. There is another antiviral that might work, even if Tamiflu doesn’t — a drug called baloxavir marboxil. And yet the state has not stored a single dose of it in case of emergency. (Goldstein, 7/29)

ABC News: New Initiative Launched By WHO To Develop MRNA Bird Flu Vaccines
The World Health Organization announced Monday that it has launched an initiative to help accelerate the development of a human bird flu vaccine using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. The project, which will be led by Argentinian pharmaceutical company Sinergium Biotech, will aim to identify vaccine candidates for manufacturers in low- and middle-income countries, the WHO said. (Kekatos, 7/30)

Reuters: Drugmaker Sinergium To Share Bird Flu Vaccine Data Globally, Says WHO 
Bird flu vaccine developer Sinergium Biotech will share its data with manufacturers in low and middle-income countries to help to accelerate a fair rollout if a pandemic occurs, the World Health Organization said on Monday. (Farge, 7/29)

CIDRAP: SARS-CoV-2 Widespread In Virginia Wildlife, Likely From People
Deer mice, opossums, raccoons, groundhogs, Eastern cottontail rabbits, and Eastern red bats had signs of infection, and isolates from an opossum showed previously unreported viral mutations closely matching the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant circulating in people at the time, which the authors said suggests at least seven recent human-to-animal virus transmission events. The mutations could alter the virus's effects on people. The team also identified two mice on the same day with the same variant, indicating that one mouse infected the other or that they both were infected by the same person. (Van Beusekom, 7/29)

Crain's Chicago Business: Lurie Children's Hospital Layoffs Hit Workers Amid Shortfalls
Lurie Children’s Hospital has laid off a small number of employees, the Chicago hospital confirmed to Crain’s. Lurie enacted the recent layoffs after reviewing its budget and identifying opportunities to improve operating efficiency, spokeswoman Julianne Bardele said in a statement. (Davis, 7/29)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: St. Louis University Hospital Nurses Reach Labor Deal
After more than a year of contract negotiations and two strikes at one of the region’s largest and busiest hospitals, union-represented nurses at St. Louis University Hospital voted this weekend to ratify a new three-year contract. (Merrilees, 7/29)

CBS News: Some NYC Behavioral Health Professionals Get $5 Million In Student Loan Relief
Staffing issues are top of mind as New York City hospitals care for patients experiencing a mental health crisis. A generous donation to one health system is helping turn the tide. Black Family Philanthropies, which has a history of donating millions to healthcare in the city, just donated $5 million to pay off the debts of more than 120 staffers in behavioral health at NYC Health + Hospitals. (Carlin, 7/29)

The Boston Globe: Steward Hospital Sales In Massachusetts Delayed Until August 13
Steward Health Care has delayed a sales hearing for six of its Massachusetts hospitals amid mounting protests over its move to shut down two others and the Healey administration’s decision to accede to the closings. The bankrupt company’s move to postpone Wednesday’s hearing, where a judge was set to rule on the sale of a half dozen Steward hospitals. (Weisman and Fonseca, 7/29)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Mercy Gets State Approval For $650M Hospital In Wentzville
Mercy received the state’s stamp of approval on Monday to build a $650 million hospital campus in Wentzville. Mercy said the project had received a certificate of need from the state, a layer of oversight intended to rein in unnecessary health care spending. Any organization looking to build a new hospital or nursing home in Missouri has to secure approval from the nine-person, state-level panel. (Merrilees, 7/29)

Bloomberg: US Commits To Buying HIV Drugs Through African Suppliers
The US government is throwing its weight behind African production of antiretrovirals as the continent grapples the world’s largest HIV epidemic. The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief program — known as Pepfar — has committed to expand its purchase of ARVs from local suppliers to cover 2 million African patients, said Stavros Nicolaou, the head of strategic trade at Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. (Kew, 7/29)

Bloomberg: GSK, Flagship Enter Multibillion-Dollar Drug Development Deal
GSK Plc and Flagship Pioneering Inc. entered a partnership to develop as many as 10 new drugs in a deal that could pay more than $7 billion to firms supported by the venture capital biotech. Flagship, which created mRNA Covid-vaccine maker Moderna Inc., and GSK will jointly put $150 million upfront toward exploring new respiratory and immunology treatments, according to a statement Monday. (Furlong, 7/29)

Reuters: GSK Settles Another Heartburn Drug Lawsuit In Illinois
British drugmaker GSK said on Monday it has agreed to confidentially settle a lawsuit in Illinois that alleged its discontinued heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer, the latest in a series of settlements to end costly litigation. (7/29)

CIDRAP: Most Antibiotic Prescriptions For Kids' Ear Infections Are Too Long, Study Finds 
A study conducted at two large pediatric academic healthcare systems found that three-quarters of antibiotic prescriptions for children with ear infections were longer than recommended, researchers reported last week in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. (Dall, 7/29)

Stat: Study Warns Of More Heart Attacks If Statin Guidance Shifts
If millions of Americans no longer qualify for a statin or a blood pressure medication based on a new calculator updated to better predict their risk, that could lead to 107,000 more heart attacks and strokes over 10 years, a new study estimates. (Cooney, 7/29)

Modern Healthcare: How Pain Management Is Improving For Black, Hispanic Patients
Patients of color receive different pain care than white patients, and universities are turning to implicit bias training for clinicians and revamping medical school curricula to help fix the problem. Disparities between racial groups in pain management largely exist due to the widespread, incorrect belief among providers that race is biological rather than a social construct, according to experts. (Devereaux, 7/29)

The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore City Health Commissioner To Depart Immediately
Baltimore Health Commissioner Ihuoma Emenuga, the city’s top health official of fewer than eight months, has been terminated effective immediately. According to a memo sent to the Baltimore City Council and a subsequent news release from Mayor Brandon Scott’s administration, Emenuga, who previously worked for the city in a different capacity, departed her city position Monday. (Opilo, 7/29)

The Boston Globe: Amid Opioid Crisis, Mass. Senate Leaders Unveil Proposal To Allow For Supervised Consumption Sites
Massachusetts senators are set to vote Tuesday on a bill that would allow cities or towns to approve sites that could offer supervised consumption of drugs, marking an 11th-hour push for a provision that surprised House leaders who passed their own opioid-related bill earlier this summer. The provision allowing for so-called overdose prevention centers, more commonly known as safe consumption sites, is part of a larger package released by the Senate on Monday aimed at treating substance abuse. ( Gross, Stout and Laughlin, 7/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: Breed Wants To Pay Welfare Recipients $100 A Week To Stay Off Drugs
Faced with a devastating fentanyl crisis, San Francisco Mayor London Breed has increasingly embraced punishment and law enforcement crackdowns to try to stop people from using illicit drugs. But a proposal released Monday would rely on incentives rather than discipline to encourage sobriety. Breed and Supervisor Matt Dorsey on Monday unveiled legislation called “Cash Not Drugs” that would reward some welfare recipients with $100 every week they test negative for illicit drugs. (Angst, 7/29)

Los Angeles Times: Valley Fever Strikes Attendees Of California Music Festival
California health officials are urging people who attended the Kern County music festival Lightning in a Bottle to seek medical care if they are experiencing respiratory symptoms or a fever. Authorities have identified five patients with valley fever who attended the six-day event, which was held May 22-27 at Buena Vista Lake, near Bakersfield. Three people have been hospitalized. More than 20,000 people attended the festival. (Rust, 7/29)

AP: Midwest Sees Surge In Calls To Poison Control Centers Amid Bumper Crop Of Wild Mushrooms 
The warm, soggy summer across much of the Midwest has produced a bumper crop of wild mushrooms — and a surge in calls to poison control centers. At the Minnesota Regional Poison Center, calls from April through July more than tripled over the same period last year, said Samantha Lee, the center’s director. The center took 90 calls for potential exposures over that period, compared to 26 calls for the same months in 2023. Exposures include people who have had actual or suspected contact with potentially poisonous mushrooms and who may or may not develop symptoms, she said. (Karnowski, 7/29)

CBS News: Minnesota Ranked Best In Nation For Health Care, Study Finds
Minnesota's health care system has long been recognized as one of the best in the country and a recent study has reinforced that viewpoint. According to a WalletHub study published Monday, Minnesota's health care system is No. 1 in the nation, followed by Rhode Island and South Dakota. The study compared all 50 states and the District of Columbia across three key dimensions: cost, access and outcomes. (Premo, 7/29)

The Baltimore Sun: ‘New Era’ In War On Cancer: 29.2% Drop In Death Rates Since 1999
You’re less likely to die of cancer today than you were a generation ago. True, you could’ve said the same thing 20 years ago and 40 years ago. But the gains made against cancer during the first two decades of the 21st century are so profound – and so unexpected given other trends that should be leading to more cancer deaths, not fewer – that some experts are talking again about the idea that cancer could be cured. (Mouchard, 7/29)

NPR: Misdiagnosis Is A Big Problem For Older Adults. Here's What Can Help
Errors in diagnosis are relatively common among older people. The reasons are many: older adults may have multiple conditions, take many medications, and illnesses can look very different in older people than they do in younger ones. Older adults may show different symptoms or none at all. And sometimes health care workers assume that whatever is bothering the patient is “because of your age.” All this can lead to older patients being either under-treated or over-treated. (Milne-Tyte, 7/30)

Los Angeles Times: Study: Wildfire Smoke Raises Dementia Risk More Than Other Pollutants
Exposure to wildfire smoke increases the odds of being diagnosed with dementia even more than exposure to other forms of air pollution, according to a landmark study of more than 1.2 million Californians. The study — released Monday at the Alzheimer’s Assn. International Conference in Philadelphia — is the largest and most comprehensive review of the impact of wildfire smoke on brain health to date, according to its authors. (Wigglesworth, 7/29)

Reuters: Nearly A Quarter Of Adolescent Girls Suffer Partner Violence, WHO Study Finds 
Around a quarter of adolescent girls who have been in relationships have endured physical or sexual violence, a World Health Organization study said on Tuesday, calling for more prevention actions. The WHO analysis published in the Lancet medical journal was based on surveys from thousands of adolescent girls aged between 15 and 19 from 154 countries and areas. It showed that 24% of them had been subjected to intimate partner violence at least once, with 16% reporting it in the past year. (Farge, 7/29)