AP: Supreme Court Could Leave Current Abortion Medication Rules In Place
The Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed likely to preserve access to a medication that was used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. last year, in the court’s first abortion case since conservative justices overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago. In nearly 90 minutes of arguments, a consensus appeared to emerge that the abortion opponents who challenged the FDA’s approval of the medication, mifepristone, and subsequent actions to ease access to it, lack the legal right or standing to sue. (Sherman, 3/26)

Stat: Supreme Court Mifepristone Arguments Center On Docs' Right To Sue
Supreme Court justices on Tuesday seemed to question physicians’ right to sue the Food and Drug Administration to reinstate restrictions around a commonly used abortion pill — a line of questioning that suggests they are unlikely to restrict access to the pill. (Owermohle, 3/26)

NBC News: Abortion Pill Case At Supreme Court Hinges On 'Conscience Objections'
A Supreme Court rejection of a challenge to abortion pill mifepristone could hinge on how the justices assess "conscience objections" raised by doctors who do not wish to treat patients suffering from complications after taking the drug. The court signaled during Tuesday's argument that it could conclude that the plaintiffs — seven named doctors and associated anti-abortion groups — do not have legal standing to bring the lawsuit in part because their conscience objection arguments are lacking. (Hurley, 3/26)

The Washington Post: Alito And Thomas Kept Bringing Up Comstock. That Scared Abortion Rights Supporters
Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Clarence Thomas repeatedly invoked the Comstock Act during Tuesday’s oral arguments regarding the abortion drug mifepristone, pressing lawyers about whether the 1873 federal law should apply to abortion drugs sent through the mail today. Alito rejected the Biden administration’s argument that the law is obsolete — it has not been applied in nearly a century — with the conservative justice insisting that Food and Drug Administration officials should have accounted for the law when expanding access to mifepristone by mail in 2021. (Diamond, 3/26)

The Washington Post: Periods, ‘Live Tissue:’ Female Justices Get Specific About Women’s Health
Four of the nine justices who heard Tuesday’s highly anticipated Supreme Court oral arguments on a challenge to a key abortion drug are women, the highest number ever to sit on the high court for an abortion case. All three attorneys who argued the case, on both sides, are also women, a relative rarity in the male-dominated Supreme Court bar. The result appeared to be strikingly candid, specific and non-euphemistic exchanges about women’s health, highlighting the high court’s changing gender ratio. (Kitchener, 3/26)

Also —

Roll Call: In Front Of Supreme Court, A Nation Divided On Abortion Drug 
Hours before the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a major abortion case, advocates on either side of the debate began preparing for what they see as the most consequential court case since Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which ended the national right to an abortion. Police informally estimated that about 600 to 700 individuals gathered outside the Supreme Court in the lead-up to oral arguments in a challenge to the Food and Drug Administration’s regulation of mifepristone, a drug used in medication abortions. (Raman, 3/26)

The New York Times: Erin Hawley: The Woman Arguing Against The Abortion Pill Before The Supreme Court
Ms. Hawley represents a group of anti-abortion doctors and an umbrella group of conservative medical associations that claim that the abortion pill — approved more than two decades ago — is a danger to women. The F.D.A. has pointed to substantial scientific evidence that the medication abortion is safe. (Dias and VanSickle, 3/26)

The New York Times: About 13 Abortion Rights Activists Arrested At Supreme Court Protest
Bearing colorful signs and banners that read “Doctors Not Doctrine” and “Abortion is Health Care,” hundreds of activists chanted, marched and rallied for hours outside the Supreme Court starting Tuesday morning, before the justices weighed the availability of a commonly used abortion pill. Supporters of abortion rights outnumbered those opposing abortion, but the two factions occasionally sparred with rallying calls. (Qiu, 3/26)

AP: Controversial Military Reproductive Health Care Travel Policy Was Used Just 12 Times In 7 Months
A controversial military policy that allows service members to be reimbursed for travel if they or a family member have to go out of state for reproductive health care — including abortions — was used just 12 times from June to December last year, the Pentagon said Tuesday. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin instituted the policy after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 to ensure that troops who were assigned to states where abortions or other types of health care such as IVF treatment were no longer provided could still access those services. (Copp, 3/26)

Reuters: Abortion Rights Group Wins More Legal Fees In Secret Videos Case
A U.S. judge has awarded the reproductive rights advocate National Abortion Federation nearly $700,000 more in legal fees in a long battle over an activist’s secretly recorded videos, bringing the money recouped by the group so far to at least $7 million. ... An attorney for the abortion rights federation in a statement said the "defendants in this case violated their legal obligations and must be held accountable for putting abortion providers’ safety at risk." (Scarcella, 3/26)

Reproductive health news from around the country —

Politico: Abortion Proves Winning Strategy For Alabama Democrat
An Alabama Democrat who campaigned aggressively on abortion access won a special election in the state Legislature on Tuesday, sending a message that abortion remains a winning issue for Democrats, even in the deep South. Marilyn Lands, ... a mental health professional, centered her bid on reproductive rights and criticized the state’s near-total abortion ban along with a recent state Supreme Court ruling that temporarily banned in vitro fertilization. (Crampton, 3/26)

AP: Kansas Legislators Pass A Bill To Require Providers To Ask Patients Why They Want Abortions
epublican legislators gave final approval Tuesday to a bill that would require Kansas abortion providers to ask their patients why they want to terminate their pregnancies and then report the answers to the state. The Senate approved the bill 27-13 after the House approved it earlier this month, sending the measure to Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. She is a strong abortion rights supporter and is expected to veto the bill, but supporters appear to have exactly the two-thirds majorities in both chambers they would need to override a veto. (3/26)

AP: Iowa Attorney General Not Finished With Audit That's Holding Up Contraception Money For Rape Victims
The Iowa attorney general’s office said it is still working on an audit of its victim services that has held up emergency contraception funding for victims of sexual assault despite having a completed draft in hand. Attorney General Brenna Bird, a Republican, paused the funding while awaiting the results of the audit to decide whether to continue those payments. Her office said the audit, which Bird announced when she took office 14 months ago, is in its “final stages” and a report would be released soon. (Fingerhut, 3/26)

The 19th: Is ‘Baby Olivia’ Fetal Development Video Headed To A School Near You?
Aftyn Behn hoped that this would be the year the Tennessee legislature was free of bills related to the anti-abortion movement. Since it is now illegal to terminate pregnancies in the state, the Democrat figured her Republican counterparts in the Tennessee House would concentrate their efforts on causes other than restricting reproductive rights. But she was mistaken: The House on March 18 passed the “Baby Olivia Act,” which gives public schools the greenlight to screen a fetal development video produced by a controversial anti-abortion group. (Nittle, 3/26)

AP: Biden And Harris Argue That Democrats Will Preserve Health Care And Republicans Would Take It Away
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday promoted their health care agenda in the battleground state of North Carolina, arguing that Democrats like themselves would preserve access to care while Republicans would reverse gains made over the past decade and a half. ... Republicans have opposed Biden’s signature initiatives to lower medical costs, and they’ve seized opportunities to restrict abortion rights after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. (Megerian, 3/27)

The Hill: Senate GOP Cautions Trump On 15-Week National Abortion Ban 
Senate Republicans are warning former President Trump that restrictions on abortion should be left to the states and that proposing a 15-week national abortion ban ahead of this year’s election would be a major political blunder. Republican lawmakers have argued for years that states should have the authority to set parameters on abortion and hailed the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022 for handing that power to the states. (Bolton, 3/26)

In other administration news —

Reuters: Exclusive: US Lawmaker Seeks Answers On FDA Inspection Of Musk's Neuralink
A U.S. lawmaker involved in health policy has asked the Food and Drug Administration why it did not inspect Elon Musk's Neuralink before allowing the brain implant company to test its device in humans. Reuters reported last month that FDA inspectors found problems with record keeping and quality controls for animal experiments at Neuralink last June, less than a month after the startup said it was cleared to test its brain implants in humans. (Taylor, 3/26)

Modern Healthcare: How Healthcare AI Is Regulated By The FDA, HHS, State Laws 
Widespread oversight of artificial intelligence in healthcare is still a work in progress but that doesn’t mean the technology is completely unregulated. AI regulation is in its early days and some observers say the plethora of solutions and overall excitement has led to a “wild west” environment within the industry. Congress doesn't appear close to moving significant legislation, which largely leaves the health tech industry to govern itself.  (Perna, 3/26)

Reuters: US FDA Approves Merck's Therapy For Rare Lung Condition 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved Merck's (MRK.N) treatment for adults with high blood pressure due to constriction of lung arteries, adding another potential blockbuster drug to the pharmaceutical giant's portfolio. Shares of Merck were up more than 4% in extended trading. The therapy, branded Winrevair, is approved for treating pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), which affects about 40,000 people in the United States. (Leo and Erman, 3/27)

CNN: Winrevair: FDA Approves New Drug That May Help Stop And Even Reverse PAH
When doctors told Katrina Barry that she had a rare and serious condition called pulmonary arterial hypertension or PAH, they warned her not to Google it. Come on, she thought; they wanted a young woman who was bound for graduate school, who had survived a transatlantic plane flight while having a heart attack and now open-heart surgery, not to look up the condition that kept trying to kill her? (Goodman, 3/26)

Stat: FDA Is Still Struggling To Inspect Clinical Research Sites, Watchdog Finds
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s oversight of clinical research in hospitals and clinics has fallen considerably in recent years, due to disruptions caused by the Covid pandemic and challenges finding and keeping investigators, according to a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. (Silverman, 3/26)

NPR: Bats Are Key To Stopping The Next Pandemic, Says New Study
Almost every pandemic we've seen over the last century has come from a virus that's spilled over into humans from an animal. "Generally, pandemics are seen as a biomedical problem," says Raina Plowright, an infectious disease ecologist at Cornell University. "Certainly, once the pandemic is underway, it is a biomedical problem ..." she says. "But the genesis of the pandemic is actually an ecological problem," says Plowright. That is, it's due to the complex interactions between wildlife, habitat, climate and people. (Danielm 3/26)

NPR: Mpox Outbreak In Democratic Republic Of Congo Is A Worry To Disease Docs
"It's just a matter of time, if nothing is done, that the transmission crosses the border in the African region and, again, globally," says Dr. Jean Nachega, an epidemiologist at the University of Pittsburgh. Nachega is one of a number of public health experts expressing alarm over a major outbreak of mpox – formerly called monkeypox – in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They say the current situation represents a triple threat. (Emanuel, 3/27)

On other public health developments —

USA Today: U.S. Life Expectancy Increased Slightly In 2022
Life expectancy rose to 77.5 years on average in 2022, a slight increase of 1.1 years from 2021, according to new studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Life expectancy at birth increased 1.1 years...largely because of decreases in mortality due to COVID-19, heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, and homicide," the report stated. (Chernikoff, 3/26)

Fortune: Is Medicare Keeping Pace With Our Aging Population? Experts Say 'We Need To Double Down And Go Faster'
Americans are living longer than they did in 1965, when Medicare was established. Back then, average U.S. life expectancy was about 70; today it’s about 77 and a half—down slightly from a pre-pandemic high of nearly 79. ... That also means needing Medicare benefits for another 20 years. ... But Medicare was never designed to help us live this long, and services have sometimes been slow to adjust to the needs of the aging population, say some experts. (Seegert, 3/26)

KFF Health News: The Burden Of Getting Medical Care Can Exhaust Older Patients
Susanne Gilliam, 67, was walking down her driveway to get the mail in January when she slipped and fell on a patch of black ice. Pain shot through her left knee and ankle. After summoning her husband on her phone, with difficulty she made it back to the house. And then began the run-around that so many people face when they interact with America’s uncoordinated health care system. (Graham, 3/27)

Newsweek: Dementia Risk May Fall As Younger Generations Have Larger Brains
Human brains are getting bigger, which might spell good news for our overall brain health.Alzheimer's disease affects roughly 6.7 million Americans today over the age of 65, according to a 2023 report by the American Alzheimer's Association. Barring the discovery of medical breakthroughs in Alzheimer's treatment, this number is expected to double by 2060. But despite the absolute numbers of Alzheimer's cases rising, in line with America's aging population, the percentage of the population affected by the dementia disease is actually decreasing. (Dewan, 3/26)

The New York Times: An Open-Air Approach To Mental Health Treatment
Timal and Grant are the faces of a pilot project, now in its fourth week, called Open Air Connections. It was billed as seeking to remove the stigma around mental health care through a community outreach effort. The two men were trained to assess the concerns of the people they approach ... and make referrals to agencies that can provide help. “Most people are doing life and just need a little extra,” said Shola Thompson, an official from the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene who devised the program. (Barron, 3/26)

Minnesota Public Radio: A Look At The Risks Of CTE In Hockey Following Former Wild Player Chris Simon’s Death
Former Minnesota Wild player Chris Simon died of suicide last week, and it’s renewing the conversation about a degenerative brain disease called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE. (Wurzer and Kuznetsov, 3/26)

Also —

The 19th: Tighter Regulations Are Reducing The Risk Of Lead Exposure In Public Housing
A new study suggests that lead inspection and removal regulations for public housing have been effective over time, reducing the risk of lead exposure for residents. After decades of high lead levels in its housing stock, it’s a sliver of hope for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that remediation and safety efforts are working. (Kutz, 3/26)

The Wall Street Journal: How Often Do You Really Need To Check Your Blood Sugar Levels?
How closely should you be tracking your blood-sugar levels? People with diabetes have long used devices to monitor their glucose fluctuations. In the past few years, a broader group of people have become interested in doing so to try to optimize their health, obtaining prescriptions for wearable monitors to see how their bodies react to different foods and activities. (Janin, 3/26)

CIDRAP: Study: Kids With COVID But No Symptoms Play Key Role In Household Spread 
A study today in Clinical Infectious Diseases conducted across 12 tertiary care pediatric hospitals in Canada and the United States shows that asymptomatic children with COVID-19, especially preschoolers, contribute significantly to household transmission. The researchers discovered that 10.6% of exposed household contacts developed symptomatic illness within 14 days of exposure to asymptomatic test-positive children, a rate higher than expected. (Soucheray, 3/26)

CIDRAP: Survey Identifies Unmet Child Medical Needs In First 2 US COVID Pandemic Waves
In the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, 16% of children aged 5 to 12 years didn't visit their healthcare provider, 11% went without a well-child visit, and 30% didn't complete a well-child visit in the past year, parent responses to a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey show. (Van Beusekom, 3/26)

CNBC: Moderna Says New Covid Vaccine Showed Positive Late-Stage Data
Moderna on Tuesday said a new version of its Covid vaccine triggered a stronger immune response against the virus than its current shot in a late-stage trial. (Constantino, 3/26)

In research into non-covid subjects —

CIDRAP: Colorectal Cancer Surgeries Dipped 17% Early In COVID Pandemic, Research Finds
A Mayo Clinic–led study shows that colorectal cancer surgeries dropped 17.3% in the first 9 months of the COVID-19 pandemic and that more patients were diagnosed as having later-stage disease. The study, published yesterday in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, used the National Cancer Database to compare rates of surgeries for colorectal cancer, tumor stages, socioeconomic factors, and other variables among 105,317 patients before and during the pandemic (2019 and 2020). (Mary Van Beusekom, 3/26)

CIDRAP: Study: Gut Microbiota Mix May Affect Risk Of Hospitalization From Infection
An observational study of patients in Finland and the Netherlands suggests gut microbiota composition may be linked to risk of hospitalization for infection. In the study, which was released last week in advance of the upcoming European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, a team led by researchers at Amsterdam University Medical Center sequenced the DNA of fecal samples from 10,699 participants (4,248 from the Netherlands and 6,451 from Finland). (3/26)

Reuters: Viking Therapeutics' Weight-Loss Tablet Shows Promise In Small Study
Viking Therapeutics' (VKTX.O) experimental tablet reduced weight by as much as 3.3% when tested in volunteers enrolled in a small early-stage trial, meeting Wall Street expectations and sending the company's shares up 15% in premarket trading on Tuesday.Popular market leaders from Eli Lilly (LLY.N) and Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO are administered under-the-skin, with companies also testing oral versions that they hope will offer patients a more convenient option. (Mishra and S K, 3/27)

KFF Health News: As AI Eye Exams Prove Their Worth, Lessons For Future Tech Emerge
Christian Espinoza, director of a Southern California drug-treatment provider, recently began employing a powerful new assistant: an artificial intelligence algorithm that can perform eye exams with pictures taken by a retinal camera. It makes quick diagnoses, without a doctor present. His clinics, Tarzana Treatment Centers, are among the early adopters of an AI-based system that promises to dramatically expand screening for diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause of blindness among working-age adults and a threat to many of the estimated 38 million Americans with diabetes. (Norman, 3/27)

Axios: Andreessen Backs Startup To Fix Faxes In Health Care
Tennr, a provider of document automation software for health care practices that still rely on faxes, raised $18 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. The antiquated communications tool remains pervasive in U.S. health care, despite policies aimed at phasing it out. (Primack, 3/26)

Axios: Surprise Medical Bill Law Has Been Good For Providers
The federal process for resolving billing disputes for out-of-network care has to date yielded payouts well above what Medicare and most in-network private insurers would pay providers, according to a new Brookings Institution analysis provided first to Axios. (Owens, 3/27)

Roll Call: Experts Say Medicaid Rebate Change Is Behind Inhaler Price Cuts  
A recent tweak to a Medicaid formula could be behind the shake-up to inhaler products, a series of changes that have both benefited and harmed patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. (Clason, 3/26)

KFF Health News: Some Medicaid Providers Borrow Or Go Into Debt Amid ‘Unwinding’ Payment Disruptions
Jason George began noticing in September that Medicaid payments had stalled for some of his assisted living facility residents, people who need help with daily living. Guardian Group Montana, which owns three small facilities in rural Montana, relies on the government health insurance to cover its care of low-income residents. George, who manages the facilities, said residents’ Medicaid delays have lasted from a few weeks to more than six months and that at one point the total amounted to roughly $150,000. (Houghton, 3/27)

On other developments across the health industry —

The Wall Street Journal: Johnson & Johnson Considers Deal For Shockwave Medical
Johnson & Johnson JNJ 0.35% is in talks to acquire the medical-device maker Shockwave Medical SWAV 10.04% pointing triangle. A deal could be completed in the coming weeks, assuming talks don’t fall apart, according to people familiar with the matter. It is also possible another suitor could emerge. (Thomas and Cooper, 3/26)

Modern Healthcare: Ascension Sells 3 Michigan Facilities To MyMichigan Health
Ascension signed a definitive agreement to sell three northern Michigan hospitals and an ambulatory surgery center to MyMichigan Health as the nonprofit health system continues to downsize its Michigan footprint. ... “This transition will ensure that Saginaw, Tawas City and Standish have sustainable, quality healthcare access long into the future,” Jordan Jeon, interim regional president and CEO of Ascension Michigan’s northern region, said in a news release. (Kacik, 3/26)

Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealth Group's Optum To Buy Steward Physician Group 
UnitedHealth Group’s Optum Care unit plans to acquire Steward Health Care's physician group in a deal that would extend its reach as the nation's largest employer of physicians.Optum Care, a subsidiary of Optum, said in a regulatory filing with the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission that it plans to buy Stewardship Health, the for-profit health system’s physician group that spans nine states. Under the proposed transaction, Optum would acquire all of the issued and outstanding stock of Stewardship Health. (Kacik, 3/26)

Boston Globe: Steward Health Care Has Deal To Sell Doctor Network To UnitedHealth 
Troubled hospital operator Steward Health Care, grappling with a financial crisis that’s engulfed its eight Massachusetts hospitals, has moved to shore up its finances by striking a deal to sell its nationwide physician network to insurance giant UnitedHealth’s Optum Care unit. (Pressman, Bartlett and Weisman, 3/26)

Boston Globe: Roche Subsidiary Foundation Medicine Opens New Headquarters
Contemporary paintings by artists who have overcome homelessness or disabilities greet visitors in the lobby. Upstairs in the cafeteria, employees order lunches served by local restaurants, including barbecued pulled pork sandwiches from Pennypacker’s. On the top floor, workers can savor a panoramic view of the Seaport District and downtown Boston. This is the new headquarters of Foundation Medicine. (Saltzman, 3/26)

Reuters: Rite Aid Reaches Bankruptcy Settlement With Lenders, DOJ, McKesson
Pharmacy chain Rite Aid has reached a settlement with its lenders, the U.S. Department of Justice, and drug supplier McKesson Corp clearing a path for Rite Aid to complete its bankruptcy case by late April, a company lawyer said Tuesday. "We have reached an agreement on all key points with all key economic stakeholders," Rite Aid attorney Aparna Yenamandra said at a bankruptcy court hearing in Trenton, New Jersey. (Knauth, 3/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Merck’s $11.5 Billion Bet On Its Next Big Drug Finally Arrives
Merck MRK 0.17% is making a big bet that its new drug, approved Tuesday in the U.S. for a potentially fatal lung disease, will take the company a long way toward heading off a massive revenue decline later this decade. The drug, which will sell under the name Winrevair, treats a condition called pulmonary arterial hypertension that affects nearly 40,000 people in the U.S. In 2021, Merck paid $11.5 billion for the company developing the medicine. Some analysts estimate sales as high as $7.5 billion a year. (Loftus, 3/26)

WFSU: DeSantis Signs A Bill That Requires Youth Coaches To Undergo CPR And AED Training
A law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday requires youth athletic coaches to learn how to render lifesaving aid — including CPR. State Sen. Jay Collins, R-Tampa, sponsored the measure. He says as a parent he wants every coach to know the basics. (Andrews, 3/26)

Chicago Tribune: Questions About The Measles Outbreak In Chicago
Chicago health officials recorded the city’s first measles case in five years earlier this month with an unknown origin. Soon after, an outbreak spread to the city’s largest migrant shelter. On Tuesday, Chicago’s total sat at 31 cases, with two reported in suburban Will County and Lake County. Though most vaccinated people have close to zero chance of contracting the virus, here’s what to know about the disease. (Guffey, 3/27)

New Hampshire Public Radio: NH Health System Still Reeling From Cyberattack On Billing Platform, Officials Say 
State insurance regulators say last month’s cyberattack on a major billing platform continues to affect New Hampshire’s health care system, putting medical practices under financial strain and disrupting patient care. The attack shut down services at Change Healthcare, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth that many insurers use to process claims. (Cuno-Booth, 3/26)

AP: NYC Subway Violence: Rider Pushed Onto Tracks, Killed
While violence in the nation’s largest transit system is rare, being shoved from a subway station’s narrow platform onto the track has long loomed large in riders’ fears. ... Mayor Eric Adams renewed that discussion Tuesday, saying at a City Hall news conference that New York City still has a “severe mental health illness problem” that “played out on 125th Street and Lexington Avenue at the subway station.” (Matthews and Attanasio, 3/27)

The New York Times: What’s Going On With Legal Marijuana In New York?
In New York, the recreational cannabis market hasn’t quite taken off as planned.It’s been three years since New York legalized marijuana, and the state has awarded few licenses to applicants who want to open cannabis businesses. Today, illicit head shops far outnumber licensed dispensaries. So this month, Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered a review of the state’s Office of Cannabis Management, with the goal of speeding up its licensing bureaucracy. (McGinley, 3/26)

In other health news from across the country —

Minnesota Public Radio: Addressing The Disparity In Access To Colon Cancer Screenings In Minnesota 
Colon cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in Minnesota, according to the state department of health. And like most cancers, the chances of survival are much higher when you catch it early. But studies show colorectal cancer screening rates in Minnesota are only 50 to 55 percent in non-white populations, compared to 75 percent in white populations. The pandemic made that disparity worse. (Wurzer and Elder, 3/26)

The Maine Monitor: Study Finds Treating Self-Neglect Can Prevent Later Abuse
A few years ago, Adult Protective Services put Polly Madson Cox in touch with an older woman who was neglecting herself. She lived alone, struggled to meet her basic needs and was on the verge of eviction. Madson Cox, who was an advocate with the Elder Abuse Institute of Maine, worked with the woman to try and find a way to stay in her apartment. During that time, the woman invited someone to live with her. Madson Cox soon learned this person was exploiting her, controlling her medications, ability to leave the house and her finances. A recent study found this is a common problem. (Lundy, 3/24)

Iowa Public Radio: Report Says Some Iowa Jails Unlawfully Charge Inmates For Health Care 
At least nine Iowa jails are breaking the law when charging jail inmates for health care, according to a report from the state ombudsman’s office. While investigating complaints from inmates, the ombudsman found some county jails take money directly out of inmate commissary accounts to pay for medical expenses, violating Iowa law. (Smith, 3/21)

Axios: More States Are Adding Protections Against Big Ambulance Bills
More states are jumping in to shield patients from large, unexpected bills for ambulance rides in the absence of federal protections. Ground ambulances are a major source of surprise bills, and it's unlikely Congress will pursue nationwide protections anytime soon after excluding them from the landmark No Surprises Act in 2020. (Goldman, 3/27)

Reuters: Ex-Leaders Of Massachusetts Veterans' Home Avoid Prison Over COVID Outbreak
Two former leaders of a Massachusetts veterans' home that was the site of one of the deadliest COVID-19 outbreaks at a U.S. long-term care facility on Tuesday resolved criminal neglect charges against them without having to go to prison. Former Holyoke Soldiers' Home Superintendent Bennett Walsh and former Medical Director David Clinton withdrew their previous not guilty pleas during hearings in Hampshire Superior Court and admitted there were facts sufficient to find them guilty of the charges against them, prosecutors said. (Raymond, 3/26)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland's Drug Affordability Board Starts Cost Review Process
Maryland’s Prescription Drug Affordability Board Monday selected eight drugs to consider for its first cost review – an intensive process that will determine whether the drugs are too expensive and suggest strategies for making them more affordable. (Roberts, 3/26)

Wyoming Public Radio: Hospitals Across The State Will Be Getting New Ultrasound Imaging Devices 
Hospitals throughout Wyoming will receive 143 ultrasound imaging devices. Plus the University of Wyoming (UW) will provide training opportunities so physicians can use the devices to the best of their ability. That’s all thanks to a nearly $13.9 million grant from the Helmsley Charitable Trust. (Kudelska, 3/26)

Minnesota Public Radio: Minneapolis At Forefront Of Alternatives To Policing, Mental Health Crisis Response
On a warmer-than-usual February night in Minneapolis, a nurse dialed 911 because one of her patients sounded disoriented or inebriated. The 911 dispatcher didn’t forward the welfare check to police like she would have done just a few years before, but sent it to the Minneapolis Behavioral Crisis Response team — otherwise known as BCR. (Collins, 3/27)

Also —

AP: Lawsuit Says Ohio's Gender-Affirming Care Ban Violates The State Constitution
Two families of transgender minors filed a constitutional challenge on Tuesday to an Ohio law that severely limits gender-affirming health care for youth under 18. ... The legislation in question contains a ban on transgender surgeries and hormone therapies for minors, unless they are already receiving such therapies and it’s deemed a risk to stop by a doctor, as well as restrictions on the type of mental health services a minor can receive. (Carr Smyth and Hendrickson, 3/26)

The Hill: ACLU Sues Ohio Over Ban On Gender-Affirming Care For Minors
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the state of Ohio on Tuesday over a law set to take effect next month that bans gender-affirming medical care for minors. Ohio lawmakers in January overrode Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto of legislation barring transgender minors from accessing treatments including puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapy and surgery. DeWine in December said the consequences of such a law for transgender children and their families “could not be more profound.” (Migdon, 3/26)

Reuters: Pharmacies Take Appeal Of $650 Mln Opioid Award To Ohio Top Court 
Pharmacy operators CVS, Walmart, and Walgreens, on Tuesday urged Ohio's highest court to conclude they cannot be held liable for fueling an opioid epidemic in two of the state's counties that won a $650.9 million judgment against them. Jeffrey Wall, a lawyer for Walgreens, told the Ohio Supreme Court that state law bars Lake and Trumbull counties' claims that the dispensing of addictive pain medications by the pharmacy chains created a public nuisance in their communities that the companies should be forced to help remedy. (Raymond, 3/26)

Reuters: Walgreens Sues To Block ‘Egregious’ $987 Mln Arbitration Award
Retail pharmacy giant Walgreens has asked a Delaware federal judge to strike down what it called an “egregious and improper” arbitration award of nearly $1 billion for telemedicine provider PWNHealth in a contract dispute between the companies. PWNHealth, which does business as Everly Health Solutions, separately asked the judge to affirm the arbitration award, according to court filings unsealed on Tuesday. (Scarcella, 3/26)

Reuters: AstraZeneca Sues Arkansas To Block Drug-Discount Program
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has sued to block an Arkansas law that it said would unlawfully expand a federal drug-discount program to include for-profit pharmacy chains such as CVS and Walgreens. The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker's lawsuit, filed in Little Rock federal court on Monday against the Arkansas insurance department, said the state measure violates provisions of the U.S. Constitution and federal patent law. (3/26)

CIDRAP: Combination Antibiotic Gets Boost From European Regulators 
Pfizer announced last week that its novel investigational combination antibiotic for multidrug-resistant bacterial infections has moved a step closer to regulatory approval in Europe. (Dall, 3/26)

CIDRAP: Study Highlights Potential To Reduce Antibiotic Use In Newborns
A large nationwide study in Sweden found that low exposure to antibiotics in newborns treated in neonatal units over a 9-year period was not associated with an increased risk of early-onset sepsis (EOS), researchers reported today in JAMA Network Open. (Dall, 3/22)

CIDRAP: FDA OKs Invivyd's COVID Preventive Pemgarda For Emergency Use 
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 22 granted emergency use authorization (EUA) for Invivyd's monoclonal antibody to prevent COVID-19 in immunocompromised patients, which fills a gap following the withdrawal of Evusheld in January 2023. (Schnirring, 3/25)

CIDRAP: New Data Show Paxlovid Outperforms Molnupiravir Against Severe COVID-19 Outcomes 
A large study yesterday in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases shows that, if prescribed within 5 days of confirmed infection, Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir-ritonavir) is more effective in protecting against all-cause mortality and severe COVID-19 in adults than is molnupiravir, another antiviral drug. (Soucheray, 3/22)

New England Journal of Medicine: Risk Of Autism After Prenatal Topiramate, Valproate, Or Lamotrigine Exposure 
Maternal use of valproate during pregnancy has been associated with an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in children. Although most studies of other antiseizure medications have not shown increased risks of these disorders, there are limited and conflicting data regarding the risk of autism spectrum disorder associated with maternal topiramate use. (Hernandez-Diaz, M.D., Dr.P.H., et al, 3/21)

The New York Times: Ketamine Therapy Offers Hope For This Emergency Worker 
After more than a decade spent working as a peer-support facilitator in suicide prevention and postvention, which involves assisting survivors in the grief process, I slowly became aware of the growing body of evidence supporting psychedelic-assisted therapies as a medical intervention for the types of behavioral health issues I encountered. Like many, I was skeptical. (Brandon Kapelow, 3/26)

JAMA: The FDA In The Crosshairs—Science, Politics, And Abortion 
In its current term, the US Supreme Court will decide Food and Drug Administration (FDA) v Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (AHM), a case challenging FDA’s regulation of mifepristone, a drug involved in more than half of US abortions. Many have drawn attention to the case’s clear implications for reproductive justice, as well as its potentially destabilizing influence on the drug development and innovation ecosystem. (Holly Fernandez Lynch, JD, MBE1; Aaron S. Kesselheim, MD, JD, MPH2, 3/25)

JAMA: Understanding The Impacts Of The Supreme Court Case FDA V Alliance For Hippocratic Medicine 
On March 26, 2024, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case seeking to restrict use of mifepristone for early abortion brought by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (AHM) against the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA originally approved mifepristone in combination with misoprostol for early medication abortion in 2000 with a specific regimen and requirements for use. FDA v AHM seeks to roll back evidence-based modifications the FDA made in 2016, 2019, and 2021, to improve the effectiveness of the medication regimen and expand access through removal of the in-clinic dispensing requirement, removal of the physician-only administration requirement, and through direct pharmacy access. (Eve Espey, MD, MPH1; Tiffany Hailstorks, MD, MPH2; Lisa Hofler, MD, MPH, MBA1, 3/25)

The New York Times: Why Abortion Is Back At The Supreme Court 
In his majority opinion in the case overturning Roe v. Wade, Justice Samuel Alito insisted that the high court was finally settling the vexed abortion debate by returning the “authority to regulate abortion” to the “people and their elected representatives.” (Melissa Murray and Kate Shaw, 3/26)

Bloomberg: Supreme Court Scoffs At Flimsy Abortion Pill Argument 
Abortion is back at the Supreme Court. The case contests decisions by the Food and Drug Administration to make the drug mifepristone available by mail and via telemedicine. But at oral argument on Monday, the court that overturned Roe v. Wade seemed poised to reject the arguments of the pro-life Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. (Noah Feldman, 3/27)

Los Angeles Times: On Medication Abortion, High Court May Do The Right Thing 
It always seemed farfetched that anti-abortion doctors could argue that they have the right to ask a court to severely restrict a drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration simply because they don’t want to treat women who might experience complications. (3/27)

The New York Times: Why Has Obamacare Worked? 
We’ve just passed the 14th anniversary of the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare — although many of the law’s provisions didn’t take effect until 2014. (Paul Krugman, 3/26)

Stat: Primary Care Physicians Play Key Roles In Alzheimer's Management 
When the results of President Biden’s annual physical were released last month, many wondered why his primary care physician hadn’t conducted a cognitive assessment. While this speculation is fueled by an ongoing, politicized debate about the mental fitness of both President Biden and former President Trump, it touches on an important issue that has largely gone overlooked: In navigating an Alzheimer’s disease crisis, what role should primary care providers play in cognitive testing? (Katherine O'Malley, 3/27)