The Washington Post: Gen X And Millennials At Higher Cancer Risk Than Older Generations
Generation X and millennials are at an increased risk of developing certain cancers compared with older generations, a shift that is probably due to generational changes in diet, lifestyle and environmental exposures, a large new study suggests. In a new study published Wednesday in the Lancet Public Health journal, researchers from the American Cancer Society reported that cancer rates for 17 of the 34 most common cancers are increasing in progressively younger generations. (Bever, 7/31)

CBS News: Double Mastectomy Shows No Survival Benefit For Most Breast Cancer Patients, Study Says 
A new study published in JAMA Oncology followed more than 650,000 women with breast cancer in one breast for up to 20 years and found that women who underwent double mastectomy were less likely to develop cancer in the other breast, but didn't live any longer, on average, than women who didn't undergo double mastectomy. In other words, women who had a lumpectomy or a mastectomy on the affected side but kept their other breast did just as well from a survival benefit as women who had both breasts removed. They say this may not apply to women with the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes which puts them at much higher risk of breast cancer. (Marshall, 7/31)

Stat: Cancer Moonshot's Future May Hinge On Election, Advocates Say 
In President Biden’s address to the nation after dropping out of the election race, he said he would “keep fighting for my Cancer Moonshot.” He will, at least, for his remaining six months in office. Biden’s impending exit from the political stage leaves uncertainty hanging over the future of this signature health initiative, which Biden began first as vice president under Barack Obama and later renewed as president. (Chen, 8/1)

On the hack of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's cancer records —

The Washington Post: Jury Convicts Man Of Illegally Accessing Justice Ginsburg’s Health Records
A 34-year-old man was convicted Wednesday of illegally accessing the private medical data of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2019 but acquitted of posting the information to an online message board where conspiracists falsely claimed Democratic politicians were covering up her death. Trent J. Russell testified in his own defense near the end of a two-day trial in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., repeatedly asserting that he never viewed or posted the justice’s confidential medical information, which showed details of her cancer treatments at George Washington University Hospital. (Rizzo, 7/31)

Military.com: With Medical Readiness At Stake, Pentagon Embarks On Plan To Fix The Military Health System 
The Defense Department is taking a four-pronged approach to improve military hospitals and clinics following a drop in patient load that has caused providers' skills to deteriorate. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Lester Martinez-Lopez said Tuesday that, with roughly 60% of Defense Department medical care now provided through the civilian Tricare network, the DoD is working to attract staff and bring back patients. (Kime, 7/31)

The Hill: Effort To Patch VA Budget Shortfall Sees Conservative Resistance
Senate conservatives are showing early resistance to expediting legislation to address a roughly $3 billion budget shortfall for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), as officials warn millions of veterans’ benefits are at risk in the coming weeks. Some senators had been hopeful of passing the bipartisan bill this week amid growing concern over the shortfall. However, the effort is getting pushback from some conservatives, as Republicans have raised scrutiny over the issue. (Folley, 7/31)

Military.com: Tricare Patients Would See Lower Mental Health Care Costs Under Bill Introduced In Congress 
Out-of-pocket costs for mental health care appointments for patients in the military health care system would be capped under a bill introduced in Congress on Wednesday. Under the Stop Copay Overpay Act, Tricare users' out-of-pocket fees for outpatient behavioral and mental health visits would not be allowed to cost more than those for primary care visits. The limitation could cut patients' costs by an average of 48%, according to a news release from the office of Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., one of the bill's sponsors. (Kheel, 7/31)

On veteran suicide and PTSD —

MIlitary.com: Military Jobs With High Deployment Pace, Blast Exposure Correlated With Higher Suicide Rates, Data Shows 
Members of the military's combat specialties experienced higher suicide rates than other troops -- and the broader American public -- in the waning years of the War on Terror, according to numbers delivered by the Pentagon to Congress this month. The worst-hit jobs included career fields with high operational tempo and occupational exposure to explosions. Between 2011 and 2021, the enlisted job groupings with the highest suicide rates were armored and amphibious vehicle crew members, infantry, combat engineers, explosive ordnance disposal and divers, combat operations control troops, and artillerymen assigned to both guns and rocket units, according to the data. All of those specialties saw suicide rates at least 50% higher than the general population during that period. (Winkie, 7/31)

NPR: Advocates Haven't Given Up On MDMA Therapy Getting FDA Approval
It’s a pivotal moment: By August 11, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to make a landmark decision on whether to approve MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD. Supporters may face an uphill battle. In June, a panel of advisors to the FDA poked holes in the research from the drugmaker Lykos Therapeutics and voted overwhelmingly to reject the evidence. (Stone, 8/1)

If you need help —

Dial 988 for 24/7 support from the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. It's free and confidential.

Modern Healthcare: Nursing Homes To Receive 4.2% Medicare Pay Bump In 2025
Medicare rates for skilled nursing facilities will increase 4.2% in fiscal 2025 under a final rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published Wednesday. That's higher than the 4.1% reimbursement increase CMS proposed in March. Payments for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 are based on a 3% increase in the skilled nursing facility market basket minus a 0.5 percentage point productivity adjustment and plus a 1.7 percentage point boost to correct previous forecasts. (Eastabrook, 7/31)

Healthcare Dive: Humana Expects To Lose ‘Few Hundred Thousand’ Medicare Advantage Members Next Year 
Medicare Advantage giant Humana expects to lose a “few hundred thousand” members in its marquee business next year, after seriously shrinking its benefits and exiting markets for 2025 in a bid to boost profits, the insurer disclosed Wednesday. It’s the first time Humana has estimated membership losses from culling its plans, and squares with past guesses from market watchers. (Pifer, 7/31)

Modern Healthcare: GE HealthCare Optimistic Following CMS Reimbursement Proposals
GE HealthCare cut its year-end revenue growth estimates, citing headwinds in the Chinese market — but executives pointed to potential U.S. regulatory changes as reasons for optimism. Proposed Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reimbursement updates could help GE HealthCare's business lines, especially regarding products often used for cancer, cardiovascular problems and neurological disorders, said President and CEO Peter Arduini on the company's second-quarter earnings call Wednesday. (Perna, 7/31)

Also —

Healthcare Dive: Google Cuts Ties With Amazon’s One Medical 
Google will not renew its contract with Amazon’s primary care subsidiary One Medical, ending a longstanding agreement that gave Google employees access to discounted medical care, the companies confirmed to Healthcare Dive. The contract loss is a major blow for the provider. Google was One Medical’s largest customer, accounting for 10% of its revenue in 2020. That figure dipped slightly in 2021, after which One Medical stopped disclosing its finances publicly. (Pifer, 7/30)

Reuters: Massachusetts Warns Of Health 'Crisis' Amid Steward Hospital Sale Delay 
Massachusetts could face a "public health crisis" if bankrupt Steward Health Care cannot quickly complete a sale of six hospitals, an attorney for the state said Wednesday. Steward has binding purchase agreements in place for all six properties, but the sale has been delayed by a dispute between Steward and its landlords, Medical Properties Trust (MPT) and Macquarie Asset Management, a lawyer representing the office of attorney general and other state agencies said at a U.S. bankruptcy court hearing in Houston, Texas. (Knauth, 7/31)

Chicago Tribune: CVS Doubling Down On Health Care, Opening New Clinics In Chicago
CVS Health is doubling down on offering primary care, with plans to open 25 Oak Street Health clinics in its stores, including three in the Chicago area — a move that comes as competitors Walgreens and Walmart pull back on the idea. (Schencker, 7/31)

The Colorado Sun: New Lutheran Medical Center Hospital Prepares To Open In Wheat Ridge
On Saturday, barring any last-minute hiccups, Intermountain Health’s Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge will shut down its current location and move 3 miles west to a brand new, $680 million campus. It’s the first major hospital relocation in Colorado in years, and the new facility showcases how the COVID-19 pandemic has forced health systems to rethink what a hospital must be able to do. (Ingold, 8/1)

Wyoming Public Radio: A New Partnership Aims To Funnel Indigenous Peoples Into The Medical Field
Indigenous peoples around the country have a new opportunity to enter the medical field for free. It’s a way to funnel tribal members into careers while filling healthcare gaps. Health Tech Academy, a company that offers online medical training and fills staffing shortages, is partnering with the Jackson, Wyoming-based nonprofit Native American Jump Start, which helps “jumpstart” tribal members’ college and employment careers. (Merzbach, 7/31)

Axios: Trump Remarks On Harris' Race Echo His Birtherism About Obama
Donald Trump's audacious lie about Vice President Kamala Harris' race confirmed what many had long suspected: running against a Black woman could summon the former president's worst impulses. Trump's political rise began with a yearslong crusade to delegitimize the nation's first Black president, Barack Obama. Much has changed since 2011, but Trump has never strayed far from the conspiratorial and racist roots of the birther movement. (Basu, 8/1)

PBS NewsHour: Trump Claims Harris, Who’s Married To A Jewish Man, ‘Doesn’t Like Jewish People’ 
Former President Donald Trump in an interview on Tuesday claimed Vice President Kamala Harris, who is married to a Jewish man, “doesn’t like Jewish people” and seemed to agree with a radio host who called second gentleman Doug Emhoff “a crappy Jew.” (7/30)

The New York Times: Trump Remarks On Harris Evoke A Haunting And Unsettling History 
The audacity of Donald Trump, a white man, questioning how much a Black woman truly belongs to Black America was particularly incendiary. And it evoked an ugly history in this country, in which white America has often declared the racial categories that define citizens, and sought to determine who gets to call themselves what. (Lerer and King, 7/31)

The New York Times: Fact-Checking Trump’s Remarks on Race
The former president falsely accused Vice President Kamala Harris of “only promoting” her Indian heritage, among other inaccurate claims. Here’s a fact check. (Qiu, 7/31)

In case you missed it: Why racism is a public health crisis —

USA Today: After George Floyd's Death, Many Declared Racism A Public Health Crisis. How Much Changed?
In 2020, hundreds of communities agreed racism is a public health crisis. But experts say progress has been slow and the issue has become polarizing. Racial and ethnic minority groups have significantly lower life expectancies and experience higher rates of illness and death from conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, asthma and heart disease. (Bragg and Nurse, 5/25)

NPR: Experiencing Racism May Physically Change Your Brain
Scientists know that Black people are at a greater risk for health problems like heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease than white people. A growing body of research shows that racism in health care and in daily life contributes to these long-standing health disparities for Black communities. Now, some researchers are asking whether part of the explanation involves how racism, across individual interactions and systems, may physically alter the brain. (Hamilton, Carlson and Ramirez, 1/24)

In other news from the campaign trail —

Stat: Kamala Harris Potential VP Picks On Health Care 
With less than 100 days until the presidential election, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris is expected to name her pick for vice president as early as this week. The pool of potential VP picks share some traits: They are largely white men from battleground or conservative-leaning states who can boast working across the aisle and bridging gaps with moderate voters. (Owermohle, 8/1)

KFF Health News: GOP Charge That Harris Backed Taxpayer-Funded Care For All Immigrants Overlooks Details
Attacking Vice President Kamala Harris on immigration, Republicans and allies of former Donald President Trump’s are saying the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate supported using taxpayer dollars to provide free health coverage to immigrants who are in the country without legal permission. Senate and House candidates, an American political action committee supporting Trump, and the Republican National Committee have made similar assertions in recent days. (Armour, 8/1)

The Guardian: JD Vance Writes Glowing Foreword To Project 2025 Leader’s Upcoming Book 
JD Vance endorses the ideas of Kevin Roberts, leader of Project 2025, as a “fundamentally Christian view of culture and economics” and a “surprising – even jarring” path forward for conservatives, the Republican vice-presidential nominee writes in the foreword of Roberts’ upcoming book. The foreword was obtained and published in full by the New Republic on Tuesday. Roberts’ book is out in September. Its title was watered down recently to remove references to “burning down” Washington. (Leingang, 7/30)

Modern Healthcare: Older Americans Act Reauthorization Passes Senate Committee
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee took the next step Wednesday in reauthorizing the expiring Older Americans Act, sending the $15 billion measure to the full Senate. The bill would increase funding for investigating abuse and poor services at long-term care facilities and includes enhanced measures for caregivers, alongside money for items such as senior centers and the Meals On Wheels program. (McAuliff, 7/31)

Politico: NJ Rep. Pascrell Breathing On His Own As Doctors Discuss Hospital Discharge, Staff Says
Rep. Bill Pascrell remains hospitalized but is no longer receiving breathing assistance, according to his office. (Friedman, 7/30)

PoliticoPro: Q&A: US House Candidate Maxine Dexter
Congress is likely to get a new doctor next year. Maxine Dexter, a pulmonologist at Kaiser Permanente and Oregon state representative, won a crowded primary to replace Rep. Earl Blumenauer’s (D-Ore.) Portland-area seat after he decided not to seek reelection. Dexter bested progressive Susheela Jayapal, the sister of Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), in a heavily Democratic district. (Leonard, 8/1)

NBC News: After Private Equity Takes Over Hospitals, They Are Less Able To Care For Patients, Say Top Medical Researchers
After private-equity firms acquire hospitals, the facilities’ assets and resources diminish significantly, leaving the facilities less equipped to care for patients, according to a new study by physician researchers at the University of California at San Francisco, Harvard Medical School and the City University of New York’s Hunter College. Published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the research highlights a pattern of asset stripping at health care facilities purchased by private-equity firms, its researchers said, and is the first study to analyze the activity nationwide. (Morgenson, 7/31)  

USA Today: Nearly Half Of Insured Americans Get Surprise Expenses In Medical Bills, Survey Finds.
Nearly half of Americans with health insurance said they received a recent medical bill or a charge that "should have been free or covered by their insurance," according to a survey released Thursday. The survey, from the Commonwealth Fund in New York City, found 45% of working-age consumers last year were erroneously billed, however, fewer than half of those patients challenged their health insurance company or a medical provider about the unexpected charges. (Alltucker, 8/1)

WHYY: Most U.S. Adults Don’t Know They Can Fight Insurance Denials, New Study Finds
Despite laws in states like Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware that aim to ensure people have access to affordable health care services, research shows that patients still receive unexpected medical bills and face insurance denials — and few of them choose to take action. A new national survey report released Thursday by the Commonwealth Fund shows that fewer than half of people who experienced insurance denials and billing issues actually fought the decisions. (Leonard, 8/1)

Healthcare Dive: North Carolina To Offer Enhanced Medicaid Funds To Hospitals That Help Eliminate Medical Debt 
North Carolina will offer enhanced Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals that forgive medical debt and adopt policies designed to prevent further debt from accruing, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said in a press release Monday. North Carolina is one of at least 17 states, cities and counties that have passed policies attempting to erase debt or block future medical debt from increasing, according to a recent analysis from center-left think tank the Third Way. (Vogel, 7/31)

Bloomberg: Almost Half Of Dementia Cases Can Be Delayed Or Prevented, Study Finds
Almost half of dementia cases can be prevented or delayed by addressing health issues such as vision and hearing loss along with depression, researchers said, offering potential relief as cases of the condition continue to rise. Wearing head protection in contact sports and controlling levels of cholesterol, a blood fat that’s also been linked to dementia, are among 14 actions that should be encouraged by health officials and doctors to slow growth of the condition in the population, according to a report in the Lancet medical journal. (Mannion, 7/31)

Stat: Report Identifies Two Treatable Factors That Can Lower Risk Of Dementia
Untreated vision loss and high LDL cholesterol have been added as two new potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia in a report released Wednesday by the Lancet Commission. (Rajeev, 7/31)

CNN: Replacing Red Meat Cuts Dementia Risk By 20%, Study Says
Dementia risk rose by 14% when people ate about 1 ounce of processed red meat a day — the equivalent of slightly less than two 3-ounce servings a week — compared with people who only ate about three servings a month, a preliminary new study found. (LaMotte, 7/31)

More mental health news —

The Washington Post: Maryland's Prince George’s County Opens First 24/7 Mental Health Care Center 
The Dyer Care Center, named for inventor Leonard Dyer, is a first-of-its kind behavioral health crisis stabilization center in Maryland that has been in the works for four years. Funded by a $23 million grant from the Health Services Cost Review Commission, the center located in Clinton, Md., will be open to patients within the next 30 days. Once at the Dyer Care Center, patients can spend 23 hours there receiving specialized behavioral care that meets their immediate needs. (Uber and Mettler, 7/31)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Why It's So Hard To Find A Youth Therapist In New Hampshire Right Now
Jennifer’s been a foster parent in Keene for about six years. In that time, they’ve taken in a dozen kids, ranging from toddlers to teens. Being removed from home and placed in foster care can be traumatizing in itself, and one of the first things Jennifer typically does with a new foster child is try to set them up with a therapist. (Cuno-Booth, 7/31)

The Wall Street Journal: For Decades, Mississippi Locked Up The Mentally Ill. It’s Trying Something Different. 
A federal judge in 2019 ordered Mississippi to effectively stop cycling people in and out of psychiatric institutions and instead offer more community services. While some states, including California, are moving to make it easier to order mentally ill people into confinement, Mississippi is now trying to keep them out. It has been slow going. (Frosch and Evans, 7/31)

CBS News: Hazelden Betty Ford Launches Program Focusing On Mental Health, Generational Trauma In Native American Communities
Hazelden Betty Ford has launched a free virtual program that helps Native American community members address generational trauma and the various struggles that come with it. Jason Delmont, a descendant of the Mendota Dakota helps lead the program. (Littlefield, 7/31)

NBC News: Weight Loss Drugs Like Wegovy May Trigger Eating Disorders In Some Patients, Doctors Warn
Over the past six months, psychologist Tom Hildebrandt has seen an increase in patients with eating disorders who are taking popular weight loss drugs like Wegovy or Zepbound. “They start using this drug and next thing you know, they’ve developed what looks very much like anorexia nervosa,” said Hildebrandt, who leads Mount Sinai’s Center of Excellence in Eating and Weight Disorders in New York City. (Szabo, Kopf and Syal, 7/31)

Bloomberg: Lilly’s Weight-Loss Drug Zepbound Slashed Heart Failure Risks in Study
Eli Lilly & Co.’s blockbuster Zepbound improved the long-term health of patients with obesity-related heart failure in a study, illuminating the cardiovascular benefits of the weight-loss shot. The risk of death, hospitalization and other bad outcomes was 38% lower in patients given Zepbound compared to those who received a placebo, Lilly said Thursday. The drug also significantly reduced heart failure symptoms, including shortness of breath, fatigue and an irregular heartbeat. (Muller and Garde, 8/1)

Bloomberg: Copycat Weight-Loss Shots' Safety Report To Be Released By Hims
Hims & Hers Health Inc., a telehealth company that offers prescriptions for knockoff weight-loss drugs, will provide quality reports about the shots starting next month, the company said in a press release Wednesday. Shortages of Novo Nordisk A/S’s and Eli Lilly & Co.’s blockbuster brand-name weight-loss drugs have given rise to what could be a $1-billion-a-year market of alternatives made by compounding pharmacies, which are allowed to produce the drugs but receive less government oversight. (Swetlitz, 7/31)

In other pharmaceutical news —

Bloomberg: Demand For Menstrual Cups Surges After Toxins Found In Tampons
More consumers appear to be ditching tampons for menstrual cups and discs.The growing shift follows a study earlier this month that showed concerning levels of lead and other toxic metals in tampons. According to The Flex Co., a maker of menstrual discs and cups, the study led to the sell-out of its period products in hundreds of Target Corp. stores across the US. (Patton, 7/31)

Stat: Malaria Vaccines: Decades-Long Race Finally Reaches Starting Line
Malaria is one of our most ancient foes — and one of the wiliest. Caused by parasites that certain mosquitoes spread through their bites, malaria overwhelms us, establishing an infection before we can put up a fight. It can go on to destroy red blood cells, batter organs, and even damage the brain. (Joseph, 8/1)

Stateline: Conservatives Push To Declare Fetuses As People, With Far-Reaching Consequences
When Missourians head to the polls in November, they may get to vote on whether to overturn their state’s near-total abortion ban and legalize abortions up to the point of fetal viability. But one lawmaker says the results of that vote may not matter if his colleagues approve his bill declaring that fetuses are people. Missouri state Rep. Brian Seitz, a Republican, plans to reintroduce a bill in January that would grant “unborn children” the same rights as newborns, building on a similar Missouri law that has been on the books since the 1980s. (Claire Vollers, 7/31)

KFF Health News: Montana Designs New Hurdles For Abortion Clinics Ahead Of Vote To Protect Access
Montana is proposing wide-ranging rules for licensing abortion clinics under a disputed state law, raising a new potential obstacle for patients even as a constitutional amendment to protect access appears headed for the November ballot. The proposed rules, released July 26 by the state Department of Public Health and Human Services, would set requirements for facilities that perform abortions for or provide medication abortion to at least five patients a year, excluding hospitals and outpatient surgical centers. (Volz, 8/1)

More news about maternal and infant health —

The New York Times: Why Are So Many Americans Choosing To Not Have Children? 
Last year, Ashley St. Clair, a Fox News commentator, described childless Americans this way: “They just want to pursue pleasure and drinking all night and going to Beyoncé concerts. It’s this pursuit of self-pleasure in replace of fulfillment and having a family.” Researchers who study trends in reproductive health see a more nuanced picture. The decision to forgo having children is most likely not a sign that Americans are becoming more hedonistic, they say. For one thing, fertility rates are declining throughout the developed world. (Rosenbluth, 7/31)

The Baltimore Sun: Morgan State Leads Maternal Health Disparity Research
Led by Morgan State University and supported by a $50 million federal grant designed to be paid out over five years, a coalition of colleges across the nation is researching maternal health disparities. (Munro, 7/31)

CNN: Australia Launches Peanut Allergy Immunotherapy Program For Babies In World First
Babies who have a peanut allergy are now being offered potentially life-changing treatment at hospitals across Australia in a world-first program aimed at building tolerance to them. (Kolirin, 7/31)

San Francisco Chronicle: Why It’s Hard To Find A COVID Vaccine Right Now In The Bay Area
The Bay Area is in the midst of a summer COVID wave that has seen test positivity rates climb to a 30-month high and hospitalizations at their highest rate since the winter coronavirus surge waned in March. But some people trying to get a protective shot are having trouble finding them, as supplies of the existing version dwindle ahead of the fall update. Walgreens is one of at least two major health care providers in the Bay Area that no longer offers the 2023-24 COVID-19 vaccine at all its locations. (Wilson and Ho, 7/31)

On bird flu and farmworker health care —

KFF Health News: Bird Flu Cases Are Going Undetected, New Study Suggests. It's A Problem For All Of Us
A new study lends weight to fears that more livestock workers have gotten the bird flu than has been reported. “I am very confident there are more people being infected than we know about,” said Gregory Gray, the infectious disease researcher at the University of Texas Medical Branch who led the study, posted online Wednesday and under review to be published in a leading infectious disease journal. “Largely, that’s because our surveillance has been so poor.” (Maxmen, 7/31)

The Boston Globe: In Mass., Clinicians Travel To Bring Health Care To Farmworkers
At the end of the workday, a line of farm workers here make their way down a well-trodden road to a bus that serves as a mobile health clinic. Inside, they get their blood pressure taken, talk about whatever ailments they may have, and in some cases, get prescribed medications. It is a typical doctor’s visit. Except the Wellness on Wheels bus is surrounded by tobacco fields, the tall green leaves stark against the open blue sky. (Jimenez, 7/31)

In other health news from across the U.S. —

Minnesota Public Radio: The Aliveness Project To Get Nearly $2 Million Fund Transfer From Rainbow Health To Close HIV Care Gap
It’s been nearly two weeks since Twin Cities-based Rainbow Health suddenly announced it was shutting down due to financial problems. The closure of the LGBTQ+ and HIV health clinic opens a huge gap in services like housing programs, benefits counseling, legal services and case management. Many of those services operated with funding from state and local governments, which are now looking for different organizations to run them. The Aliveness Project, another HIV services organization in the Twin Cities, is taking on state contracts to offer financial assistance. (Wurzer, Timar-Wilcox, Haecherl and Elder, 7/31)

The Hill: South Carolina Supreme Court Rules Death Penalty By Firing Squad, Other Methods, Legal
The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that death by firing squad and other forms of execution commonly held to be cruel and unusual are legal in the state if the inmate requests the method of execution. The ruling comes after the state passed a law in 2021 allowing executions by firing squad and electrocution in addition to lethal injection, in response to a shortage of lethal injection drugs and a rise in mishaps during executions. (Robertson, 7/31)

Bloomberg: Depression Worsens Years After Covid-19 Hospitalization, Study Says 
Depression and cognitive symptoms worsen in the years following hospitalization for Covid-19, according to a new study into the long-term effects of the disease. People who were admitted to hospital for a Covid-19 infection still experienced “substantial” symptoms years later, with new ones also emerging, researchers from several British universities found. (Furlong, 7/31)

CIDRAP: Risk Of Heart Attack, Stroke Drops After COVID Vaccination, Data Show 
A study today involving 46 million adults in England shows that the incidence of both heart attacks and strokes dropped following COVID-19 vaccination compared to the incidence before or without vaccination. The study authors said the incidence of common cardiovascular diseases dropped after every COVID-19 vaccination, but COVID-19 vaccination was associated with slightly increased rates of myocarditis and pericarditis following mRNA-based vaccines, and vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia following adenovirus-based vaccines such as the AstraZeneca vaccine. (Soucheray, 7/31)

CIDRAP: Young Adults At Higher Risk Of Hearing Loss After COVID Infection, Data Suggest 
The risk of hearing loss (HL) and sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) in young adults rose after COVID-19 infection from 2020 to 2022, according to a study by South Korean researchers, who urge cautious interpretation of the results due to a lack of objective audiologic data and other limitations. (Van Beusekom, 7/30)

CIDRAP: Americans' Trust In Doctors, Hospitals Plunged During Pandemic, Survey Suggests 
Trust in US physicians and hospitals fell from 71% to 40% during the COVID-19 pandemic in across sociodemographic groups, a Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)–led survey study suggests. (Van Beusekom, 7/31)

CIDRAP: Healthy Pre-COVID Lifestyle May Protect Against Severe Infection 
A University of Oxford-led study links a healthy pre-infection lifestyle to a 36% lower risk of long COVID, a 41% lower odds of death, and 22% lower chance of hospitalization. The researchers assessed the association of modifiable lifestyle factors (eg, smoking, alcohol use, body mass index, physical activity, time spent in sedentary activities, sleep duration, diet) with long COVID, death, and hospitalization among 68,896 adults in the UK Biobank cohort who tested positive for COVID-19 from March 2020 to March 2022. (Van Beusekom, 7/29)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Voluntary Outpatient Care Key To Mental Health Treatment 
In the late 1960s, there was a mass deinstitutionalization of psychiatric care in the United States. Hundreds of psychiatric hospitals (so-called “asylums”) were closed in the name of freedom and human rights for their populations. In those asylums, mentally ill patients were kept in locked wards, often involuntarily, and sometimes in inhumane conditions, making it more of a mass incarceration than a compassionate treatment program. (Charles Murchison, 7/30)

Stat: FDA Slow To Act On Better Sunscreens To Prevent Skin Cancer 
A decade after Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) authored the Sunscreen Innovation Act, which became law in 2014, Americans are still waiting for newer, more effective sunscreen products due to the Food and Drug Administration’s chronic inaction. (Darrell Rigel, 8/1)

Bloomberg: Trump's Anti-Vax Agenda Will Kill Americans
Of all the dangers that Donald Trump both threatens and embodies, from seedy criminality to sprawling authoritarianism, perhaps no threat is more acute than the one he poses to public health. “I will not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate,” Trump said at a rally in Minnesota last weekend. The former president used the same language — not “one penny” for schools that require vaccines or masks — at a rally in May. (Francis Wilkinson, 8/1)

Stat: PBMs Put Profits Over Patients When It Comes To Biosimilar Drugs
The Federal Trade Commission presents on Thursday its interim staff report, “Pharmacy Benefit Managers: The Powerful Middlemen Inflating Drug Costs and Squeezing Main Street Pharmacies.” It reveals how pharmacy benefit managers intentionally force people onto high-cost, high-rebate drugs. (Juliana M. Reed, 8/1)