First Edition: Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024

KFF Health News: Native American Public Health Officials Are Stuck In Data Blind Spot
It’s not easy to make public health decisions without access to good data. ... The 2010 reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act gave tribal epidemiology centers public health authority and requires the federal Department of Health and Human Services to grant them access to and use of data and other protected health information that’s regularly distributed to state and local officials. But tribal epidemiology center workers have told government investigators that’s not often the case. (Orozco Rodriguez, 8/6)

KFF Health News: Inside Project 2025: Former Trump Official Outlines Hard Right Turn Against Abortion
From his perch in the Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services, Roger Severino made a controversial name for himself, working to shield health workers who declined to perform medical procedures including abortion on religious grounds. After President Donald Trump left office, Severino helped the conservative Heritage Foundation develop a plan to expand that conservative stamp to the broader department, recasting HHS with a focus on traditional marriage and family. (Armour, 8/6)

Stat: Millions Of People Became Uninsured As Medicaid Programs Cut Coverage, New Data Show
The national uninsured rate rose from 7.7% to 8.2% earlier this year, a result of states booting millions of Americans from their state Medicaid programs, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Herman, 8/6)

Axios: The States With The Most Uninsured Americans, Mapped
Texas is home to the country's largest share of Americans under 65 without health insurance, according to new Census Bureau data, with 18.8% of residents uninsured as of 2022. That's a big improvement over 2006, when 27.6% of Texans were uninsured — but still nearly double the national uninsured rate of 9.5%. (Fitzpatrick and Beheraj, 8/6)

Axios: Charted: Uninsured Population Grows
1.6 million more people lost health coverage in the first quarter of this year as states continued to cut their Medicaid rolls and unemployment ticked up, according to preliminary Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. (Goldman, 8/6)

The New York Times: Study Puts A $43 Billion Yearly Price Tag On Cancer Screening
The United States spent $43 billion annually on screening to prevent five cancers, according to one of the most comprehensive estimates of medically recommended cancer testing ever produced. The analysis, published on Monday in The Annals of Internal Medicine and based on data for the year 2021, shows that cancer screening makes up a substantial proportion of what is spent every year on cancer in the United States, which most likely exceeds $250 billion. The researchers focused their estimate on breast, cervical, colorectal, lung and prostate cancers, and found that more than 88 percent of screening was paid for by private insurance and the rest mostly by government programs. (Kolata, 8/5)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Doctor Pay, PBM Bills In Limbo As Congress Takes A Break
Members of Congress headed home for the summer over the weekend, leaving the healthcare community in an all-too-familiar position: Wondering how key priorities will turn out after lawmakers failed to address them in the first part off the year. At the top of the list is money, with billions of dollars in cuts to physician pay and safety net hospitals funding set to begin in January, as well as appropriations for expiring programs such as community health centers. (McAuliff, 8/5)

The New York Times: Harris Officially Secures Democratic Party’s Nomination For President 
Vice President Kamala Harris has secured the Democratic nomination for president, becoming the first woman of color to win a major party’s nomination and officially setting up her matchup against former President Donald J. Trump. Ms. Harris, 59, earned the support of 99 percent of the 4,567 delegates who cast ballots, the Democratic National Committee said in a statement late Monday. In an unusual move meant to avoid potential legal headaches, the roll call was held virtually over five days, instead of in-person at the Democratic National Convention, which begins on Aug. 19 in Chicago. (Nehamas, 8/6)

USA Today: Agenda47 On Healthcare: Trump's Proposal On Lowering Drug Prices
Agenda47 is Trump's official campaign platform for the 2024 election. ... While Trump's proposals on healthcare are slim, he has put forward a few policies focused on drug shortages, prices and addiction. The U.S. faces an uphill battle against private, for-profit pharmaceutical companies that develop our drug supply, according to Colleen Grogan, a professor at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. (Crowley, 8/5)

CIDRAP: USDA Confirms More H5N1 In Dairy Cows, Wild Birds, And Small Mammals 
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed three more H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks in dairy cattle, raising the national total to 181 from 13 states. The latest confirmations are from Colorado, South Dakota, and Texas. (Schnirring, 8/5)

CIDRAP: US COVID Markers Continue Steady Rise 
Nationally, test positivity is 16.3%, up slightly from the previous week. Levels are highest in Texas and surrounding states, averaging 25.7%, followed by the Southeast, the Midwest, and the Northwest. ... In its latest variant proportion update, the CDC said the percentage of KP.3.1.1 sequences jumped from 14.4% to 27.8% over the past 2 weeks. The variant is cutting into the proportion of its parent variant KP.3, which currently makes up 21.1% of sequences. (Schnirring, 8/5)

CIDRAP: After Pandemic, School Openings Linked To Poor Mental Health
While many studies have shown that COVID-19 pandemic-era school closures had negative effects on student mental health, a new study in JAMA Network Open shows the opposite: the re-opening of schools trigged an increased incidence of acute psychiatric emergencies, suggesting school can be a substantial source of stress for some students. The study is based on 13,014 psychiatric emergency department (ED) visits at 9 university hospitals in Italy from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2021. (Soucheray, 8/5)

Axios: Rich-Poor Divide In U.S. Hospitals Widens As 700+ At Risk Of Closing
Some of America's largest hospital systems saw their financials soar in the first half of 2024. And yet, more than 700 facilities across the country still are at risk of closing. It's a familiar tale of the rich getting richer, as big, mostly for-profit health systems see improved margins while smaller facilities in outlying areas are barely hanging on. (Reed, 8/6)

Modern Healthcare: Tenet To Sell Majority Stake In 5 Hospitals To Orlando Health
Tenet Healthcare is selling its majority stake in Brookwood Baptist Health to Florida-based Orlando Health in a $910 million cash deal. The transaction is expected to close this fall and involves five Alabama hospitals: Brookwood Baptist Medical Center, Princeton Baptist Medical Center, Walker Baptist Medical Center, Shelby Baptist Medical Center and Citizens Baptist Medical Center, as well as affiliated physician practices and other operations, according to a Monday news release. (Hudson, 8/5)

Modern Healthcare: Novant To Buy UCI Medical’s Urgent Cares, Physical Therapy Sites
Novant Health said Monday it is acquiring UCI Medical Affiliates, which includes the urgent care business Doctors Care and Progressive Physical Therapy, from BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina. The transaction is expected to close in the fall, Novant said. Financial details were not disclosed. (Hudson, 8/5)

Modern Healthcare: Low-Paid Nursing Aides, Assistants Have More Medical Debt: Report
Extensive training requirements and lower wages lead healthcare professionals to accrue more debt than other workers, according to a recent analysis published in JAMA Health Forum. The study, which used 2018 through 2021 data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation, found physicians and registered nurses are more likely to have student loan debt. Nursing aides and environmental service workers have more medical debt. (Devereaux, 8/5)

ABC News: Red Cross Declares Emergency Blood Shortage After National Inventory Falls By 25% In July
The American Red Cross said Monday that it is experiencing an emergency blood shortage, and extreme heat may be partly to blame. In a press release, the organization said its national blood inventory fell by more than 25% since July 1. Rolling heat waves and record temperatures have impacted more than 100 drives in the last month in every state where the Red Cross collects blood. (Kekatos, 8/5)

Reuters: US FDA Approves Adaptimmune's Therapy For Rare Type Of Cancer
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it has approved Adaptimmune's first-of-its-kind treatment for a rare type of cancer in the soft tissues that most often affects young people. The therapy, branded as Tecelra, was approved to treat synovial sarcoma — a potentially life-threatening cancer — in certain patients who have received prior chemotherapy. (Sunny, 8/5)

Bloomberg: GSK Prevails In Second Zantac Cancer Case To Go To Trial
GSK Plc convinced an Illinois jury that the former heartburn drug Zantac was not liable for a woman’s colorectal cancer in a second trial win for the British drugmaker. It comes just over two months after jurors in Chicago also found that GSK and Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH weren’t liable for another woman’s illness. (Furlong, 8/6)

Stat: Roche Cancels Rare Disease Trial, Infuriates Parents, Scientists
Roche, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant, earlier this year abruptly cancelled an international clinical trial of a drug being studied to treat children with a rare genetic disorder, citing “trade-offs made … to increase the overall portfolio value.” The news stunned parents of children enrolled in the Phase 2 study, as well as the academic researchers running it. (Cohen, 8/6)

Stat: BioMarin To Restrict Sales Of Hemophilia Therapy, Seeking To Overcome Slow Sales
Struggling to find new patients, BioMarin Pharmaceuticals on Monday said it would restrict sales of its gene therapy for hemophilia A to three countries where it is currently approved, including the United States — a restructuring intended to reduce costs and help the treatment become profitable by next year. (Feuerstein, 8/5)

The Washington Post: Getting A Continuous Glucose Monitors Soon Won’t Require A Prescription 
In a groundbreaking expansion of technology previously aimed at diabetics who need to carefully control their blood sugar, Abbott Laboratories and Dexcom are poised to begin selling continuous glucose monitors over the counter, meaning they can be purchased by adults without first seeing a doctor. (Gilbert, 8/5)

AP: Families Whose Loved Ones Were Left Rotting In Colorado Funeral Home Owed $950M 
The Colorado funeral home owners who allegedly stored 190 decaying bodies and sent grieving families fake ashes were ordered by a judge to pay $950 million to the victims’ relatives in a civil case, the attorney announced Monday. The judgment is unlikely to be paid out since the owners, Jon and Carie Hallford, have been in financial trouble for years. They also face hundreds of criminal charges in separate state and federal cases, including abuse of a corpse, and allegations they took $130,000 from families for cremations and burials they never provided. (Bedayn, 8/5)

The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore, Drug Companies Tussle In Court Over Responsibility For City’s Opioid Crisis 
The city of Baltimore’s high-stakes lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors is facing a major test in court this week that will decide whether the case goes to a jury. Baltimore City Circuit Judge Lawrence Fletcher-Hill heard arguments Monday on whether he should throw out the lawsuit because, the drug companies argue, the city has not provided enough evidence to show they are responsible for the harms of the opioid crisis. (O'Neill, 8/5)

The CT Mirror: CT To Spend $6 Million To Boost Safety Of Home Health Care Workers
State officials Monday outlined a new safety program for home health care workers that will include GPS monitoring and escorts to potentially risky clients. The program comes in response to the murder last year of a visiting nurse who was killed when she went to administer medications to a registered sex offender. (Altimari, 8/5)

The Missouri Independent: Missouri Reduces Backlog Of Nursing Home Inspections
Over the past year, Missouri has made significant progress in reducing its backlog of overdue nursing home inspections, recent federal data shows. However, the state continues to be notable for the low levels of nursing staff at many of its facilities. (Bates, 8/5)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: California Anti-Abortion Group Sues To Protect Access To ‘Abortion Pill Reversal’
A San Diego-based Catholic nonprofit filed a lawsuit this week against California Attorney General Rob Bonta that seeks to protect access to a treatment that’s said to reverse medication-induced abortions if taken quickly enough. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Diego, is a response to a state lawsuit Bonta filed last year alleging that a national anti-abortion group and five crisis pregnancy centers in Northern California were using “false and misleading statements” to advertise and promote what they call “abortion pill reversal,” or APR. (Riggins, 8/5)

Stat: North Carolina Urges HHS To License Novo, Lilly Obesity Drugs
Frustrated by the lack of access to expensive weight loss drugs, North Carolina officials are urging the Biden administration to negotiate licenses with the manufacturers so that lower-cost alternatives can be made available. (Silverman, 8/5)

CBS News: Excessive Smartphone Use Can Negatively Impact Teen's Mental Health, Researchers Find
Researchers have found more evidence that excessive smartphone use could impact a teen's mental health. Scientists refer to it as "problematic smartphone use" or PSU; in other words, behaviors around smartphone use akin to an addiction. ... Researchers at King's College London found that teens with PSU were twice as likely to have anxiety and almost three times more likely to suffer from depression compared to teens without problematic smartphone use. (Marshall, 8/5)

The Washington Post: Teenager Sues Meta Over ‘Addictive’ Instagram Features
A minor from New York on Monday filed a lawsuit seeking class-action status against Meta, alleging that the social media giant sought to keep teens hooked on Instagram while knowingly exposing them to harmful content. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, argues that Meta implemented features its leaders knew would make Instagram addicting for teens, such as displaying counts of how many “likes” posts receive, even as internal evidence grew that the service could harm their mental health. The 13-year-old girl is seeking $5 billion in damages, to be shared among eligible Instagram users if the suit is certified as a class action. (Nix, 8/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Google Loses Antitrust Case Over Search-Engine Dominance 
A federal judge ruled that Google engaged in illegal practices to preserve its search engine monopoly, delivering a major antitrust victory to the Justice Department in its effort to rein in Silicon Valley technology giants. Google, which performs about 90% of the world’s internet searches, exploited its market dominance to stomp out competitors, U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta in Washington, D.C. said in the long-awaited ruling. (Wolfe and Kruppa, 8/5)

USA Today: Boar's Head Recall, Listeria Outbreak Prompts Lawsuit In New York
Boar’s Head, the popular deli meat and cheese company, is now facing a potential class action lawsuit after more than 7 million pounds of Boar's Head products were recalled and linked to a deadly listeria outbreak. Filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York on August 1, the lawsuit alleges that Boar’s Head Provisions, Co. Inc. “improperly, deceptively, and misleadingly labeled and marketed its products,” by failing the full extent of possible contamination by Listeria monocytogenes, a disease-causing bacteria. (Hauptman and Walrath-Holdridge, 8/5)

Stateline: Ice Rink Fumes Have Sent Kids To The Hospital. Still, Few States Require Tests
Last December, dozens of young hockey players were rushed to hospitals in the Buffalo, New York, area — some vomiting, lethargic and suffering from headaches. The skaters had been exposed to high levels of carbon monoxide at an indoor ice rink, a problem that is far from uncommon. Most rinks use ice resurfacing machines — often known by the brand name of Zamboni — and edgers that often run on propane or other fuels. (Brown, 8/5)

Reuters: As U.S. Heat Deaths Rise, Some Landlords Oppose Right To Air Conditioning 
Across the United States, about 12 percent of homes – or about 12.7 million households – had no access to air conditioning in 2020, according to the most recent government data. Many more had some air conditioning, like Gay, but not enough to beat the heat. Most often, homes with little or no air conditioning are occupied by low-income residents – often renters — and people of color, a 2022 Boston University analysis of 115 U.S. metro areas found. (Dickie, 8/5)