First Edition: Friday, Dec. 20, 2024

KFF Health News: How America Lost Control Of The Bird Flu, Setting The Stage For Another Pandemic
Keith Poulsen’s jaw dropped when farmers showed him images on their cellphones at the World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin in October. A livestock veterinarian at the University of Wisconsin, Poulsen had seen sick cows before, with their noses dripping and udders slack. But the scale of the farmers’ efforts to treat the sick cows stunned him. They showed videos of systems they built to hydrate hundreds of cattle at once. In 14-hour shifts, dairy workers pumped gallons of electrolyte-rich fluids into ailing cows through metal tubes inserted into the esophagus. (Maxmen, 12/20)

KFF Health News: Employers Press Congress To Cement Health Price Transparency Before Trump’s Return
It seems simple: Require hospitals and insurers to post their negotiated prices for most health care services and — bingo — competition follows, yielding lower costs for consumers. But nearly four years after the first Trump administration’s regulations forced hospitals to post massive amounts of pricing information online, the effect on patients’ costs is unclear. (Appleby, 12/20)

KFF Health News: ‘Bill Of The Month’: The Series That Dissects And Slashes Medical Bills
Over 6½ years ago, KFF Health News and NPR kicked off “Bill of the Month,” a crowdsourced investigation highlighting the impact of medical bills on patients. The goal was to understand how the U.S. health care system generates outsize bills and to empower patients with strategies to avoid them. We asked readers and listeners to submit their bills — and they kept coming. “Bill of the Month” has received nearly 10,000 submissions, each a picture of a health system’s dysfunction and the financial burden it places on the patients. (Rosenthal, 12/20)

KFF Health News: Readers Offer Solo Agers Support And Reflect On Ancestors
KFF Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories. (12/20)

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?' Podcast: End-Of-Year Chaos On Capitol Hill
Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate successfully negotiated an enormous end-of-Congress health package, including bipartisan efforts to address prescription drug prices — only to see it blown up at the last minute after Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump applied pressure. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court accepted its first abortion-related case of the term, and the attorney general of Texas sued a doctor in New York for prescribing abortion pills to a Texas patient. (Rovner, 12/19)

NPR: Is Anyone Actually Happy With The Business Of Health?
Health care companies are ending 2024 in the hot seat. Yet some of the pressures they're facing have been mounting all year — or longer. This month's killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson thrust his company, and his industry, into the spotlight. It also sparked widespread consumer reckoning over denied claims and the high costs of care in the United States, where health care is the most expensive in the world. Now lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle are stepping up their scrutiny of the industry. (Aspan, 12/20)

CIDRAP: Review Of US Vaccine Injury Reimbursement Program Shows Less Than 3% Of Claims Eligible For Compensation
A report yesterday from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) on federal response to medical countermeasure injury compensation claims—primarily about COVID and flu vaccines—reveals that, during the first few years of the COVID-19 pandemic, claims spiked to 27 times the typical number received, and less than 3% of the claims were eligible for compensation. About half of the claims were related to COVID vaccination. The vast majority of money paid for claims, however—more than $6 million—was for harms tied to the H1N1 flu vaccine. (Wappes, 12/19)

The New York Times: U.S. Files Murder Charge Against Mangione That Could Bring Death Penalty
Federal prosecutors on Thursday unsealed a murder case against the suspect in the shooting of UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive, holding out the possibility of the death penalty even after a trial on separate state charges. The federal criminal complaint against the suspect, Luigi Mangione, 26, includes one count of using a firearm to commit murder, which carries a maximum potential sentence of death, along with two stalking counts and a firearms offense. (Weiser, 12/19)

The New York Times: Bird Flu Has Hit California Dairies So Hard That They’re Calling It ‘Covid For Cows’
A fast-growing outbreak of avian flu has upended California’s dairy industry, the nation’s largest producer of milk, infecting most of the state’s herds and putting thousands of farmworkers at risk for contracting the virus. In just about four months, cows in 645 dairies in California have tested positive for H5N1, even as many ranchers have taken strict precautions to stop the virus from spreading. ... The virus is spreading so quickly that dairy farmers are calling it “Covid for cows,” and scientists are racing to figure out how to stop the contagion. (Karlamangla, Mayorquín and Jiménez, 12/19)

CBS News: Minnesota Officials Monitoring Human Case Of Bird Flu In Wisconsin Closely
Wisconsin has identified its first human case of the bird flu. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services announced Wednesday that it had detected a presumptive positive human case of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A, or H5N1, in Barron County. The Wisconsin DHS said the human case followed an infected flock of commercial poultry in the same county. (Mitchell, 12/19)

The Washington Post: What To Know About Bird Flu Outbreak And What Are Its Symptoms
As the Trump administration prepares to take office, the H5N1 strain of avian influenza is one of the top emerging infectious-disease threats. The virus has started to spread among dairy cows for the first time and has infected dozens of Americans, mostly farmworkers. While public health experts still consider bird flu a low risk for the general public, they warn it could spark the next pandemic if it is left unchecked and transforms to transmit easily between humans. Here’s what to know about the virus, how it spreads and the toll it is inflicting. (Nirappil, 12/19)

Stat: Maternal Mortality Data Is Murky — But The Crisis Faced By New Moms Is Clear
Too many new moms are dying in the U.S. Exactly how many, however,  is harder to establish. After years of neglect, the issue of maternal mortality is finally getting attention in policy and politics, as well as in the media, with headlines drawing attention to figures that show the maternal mortality rate has, at least according to some measurements, doubled in the past two decades. (Merelli, 12/20)

ProPublica: The CDC Isn’t Asking States To Track Deaths Linked To Abortion Bans
After the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in 2022, President Joe Biden issued an executive order tasking the federal government with assessing the “devastating implications for women’s health“ of new state abortion bans. Experts were warning that these bans would interfere with critical medical care and lead to preventable deaths. And the states that passed the laws had little incentive to track their consequences. (Surana, Fields, Branstetter, 12/20)

AP: Kentucky Attorney General Finds No Requirement To Use Tax Dollars To Pay For Inmate Gender Surgeries
Kentucky is under no legal requirement to use taxpayer money to cover the costs of gender-affirming surgeries for people incarcerated in state prisons, Attorney General Russell Coleman said Thursday. The Kentucky Department of Corrections requested the opinion from the state’s Republican attorney general as the agency amends its administrative regulations regarding medical care for people in prison. ... “Common sense dictates that it is not ‘cruel and unusual’ for the department to decline to spend taxpayer dollars on such controversial medical procedures,” Coleman’s opinion said. (Schreiner, 12/19)

The Hill: Reproductive Health Advocates Brace For Return Of Title X Challenges Under Trump 
Reproductive health advocates expect President-elect Trump to reinstate a rule that weakened the country’s sole federally funded family planning program during his first term once he returns to office next year. The Title X Family Planning Program, which makes it easier for millions of low-income Americans to access reproductive services like birth control, emergency contraception and abortion referrals, is still grappling with the impact of restrictions imposed by the first Trump administration five years ago. (O’Connell-Domenech, 12/19)

Modern Healthcare: Trump-Backed Funding Bill Fails With Health Measures In Limbo
Congressional Republican leaders failed to advance a slimmed down year-end funding bill endorsed by President-elect Donald Trump after they scrapped a larger package he opposed that included major bipartisan healthcare legislation. The Trump-favored bill dropped major provisions imposing new restrictions on pharmacy benefit managers, partially reversing Medicare reimbursement cuts for doctors, and extending Medicare telehealth authorities. It failed in a hastily called in the GOP-led House Thursday night. (McAuliff, 12/19)

CBS News: A Government Shutdown Could Occur On Dec. 21. Here's What Services And Payments Could Be Impacted
The nation's 67 million Social Security recipients would continue to receive their checks even if the government closes for business. Medicare will also continue to operate, which means seniors covered by the health care plan won't have their medications or treatments impacted. That's because both Social Security and Medicare benefits are authorized by laws that don't require annual approval. (Picchi, 12/19)

Becker's Hospital Review: Why Supply Chain Resilience Remains Elusive — And What Leaders Can Do About It
In the healthcare supply chain, "resilience" has become a ubiquitous term. It emerged as a critical focus during the COVID-19 pandemic, when hospitals and health systems struggled to procure personal protective equipment, ventilators and medications. The disruptions brought renewed attention to deep-rooted vulnerabilities in the healthcare supply chain, sparking industrywide calls for greater transparency and supplier diversification for essential products. (Murphy, 12/19)

The New York Times: What Are ‘Healthy’ Foods? New Rules For Labeling Are Issued
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday updated the definitions of the term “healthy” for labeling on foods, a move that reflected changes in nutrition and that tightened limits on saturated fat, sugar and salt in food that could be sold under that claim. The effort, while seemingly an inconsequential update to a 30-year-old term, set off a veritable food fight of lobbying over which foods made the cut and whether the F.D.A. would violate First Amendment protections in trying to define “healthy.” (Jewett, 12/19)

The Hill: Mounjaro Will Remain Off Shortage List After FDA Review
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reaffirmed that Mounjaro and Zepbound are no longer in shortage following a reevaluation of its decision to remove it from the federal drug shortage list amid intense pushback from compounded drug manufacturers. The FDA determined in October that the active ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound — tirzepatide — was no longer in shortage after nearly two years. (Choi, 12/19)

The Washington Post: Will RFK Jr. Be Confirmed As Health Secretary?
If no Democrats cross the aisle to vote for Kennedy, he can afford to lose only three Republican votes in the closely divided Senate. Some Republicans have embraced Kennedy’s selection to oversee the nation’s public health infrastructure, saying he will bring overdue changes as Americans struggle with a rise in chronic disease, premature deaths and other problems. Others have called on the former Democrat to explain his positions on vaccines, abortion and agriculture policy, warning they have serious questions about his planned agenda. (Diamond and Roubein, 12/20)

The New York Times: Trump’s Return May Worsen Financial Woes For Global Health Institutions
The election of Donald J. Trump, with his mistrust of international institutions and his history of proposing deep cuts to foreign aid, has complicated a perilous landscape for global health organizations that were already in a frantic competition for sharply reduced funds. Organizations that support the cornerstone health programs to vaccinate children, treat people with H.I.V. and stop the next pandemic through disease surveillance, among other goals, are seeking billions of dollars from high-income countries. (Nolen, 12/19)

Bloomberg: Sandoz CEO Richard Saynor On Ozempic, Big Pharma And Trump's Administration
Richard Saynor wants to transform Sandoz Group AG into a world champion in copying leading-edge drugs, including anti-obesity and biological treatments, with the goal of bringing them to the masses. After leading Europe’s largest generics company through a spinoff from Novartis AG last year, the chief executive officer has nearly doubled Sandoz’s share price. The 57-year-old Brit rejoined Basel-based Sandoz in 2019 after leaving for GSK nearly a decade earlier. (Doenecke and Edwards, 12/19)

Newsweek: Baby Car Seats: More Than 600,000 Recalled Over Debris Dangers
A brand of child's car seat has been recalled after potentially dangerous issues were identified with the harness that could injure kids. 608,786 of the "Rava" child seats have been voluntarily recalled by the brand Nuna Baby Essentials, due to issues with the plastic harness adjuster buttons. (Thomson, 12/20)

The Hill: Frito-Lay Recalls Select Potato Chips
Frito-Lay said in a Monday announcement it is recalling potato chips over an undeclared allergen. In the announcement on the Food and Drug Administration’s website, Frito-Lay said its recall centers on “undeclared milk” in Lay’s Classic Potato Chips bags that are labeled 13 ounces. “Those with an allergy or severe sensitivity to milk run the risk of a serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume the recalled product,” the announcement reads. (Suter, 12/19)

CBS News: Norovirus Outbreaks Reported On 3 Cruise Ships This Month, Sickening Hundreds
Hundreds of cruise passengers and workers fell ill with norovirus on three different ships this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The CDC has logged outbreaks in 2024 on 14 cruise voyages, but three ships were hit in December. This is the only month this year when the CDC has reported three confirmed norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships and there's still more than a week to go before the month ends. (Chasan, 12/19)

Military.Com: Veteran Suicides Are Down Since 2018 But Remain Persistently Steady, New VA Report Finds
The number of veterans who died by suicide in 2022 -- nearly 18 per day -- remained steady from the previous year but was down from a peak in 2018, with "encouraging" signs of progress among women and younger veterans, Veterans Affairs officials said Thursday. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs' two-part 2024 annual suicide prevention report released Thursday, 6,407 veterans died by suicide in 2022, compared with 6,404 in 2021, a rate of roughly 34.7 per 100,000. (Kime, 12/19)

CIDRAP: Preventive Levofloxacin Found To Reduce Drug-Resistant TB In Household Contacts
Two studies published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine show that 6 months of preventive treatment with levofloxacin in children and adults with household exposure to multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) resulted in statistically non-significant reductions in TB incidence compared with placebo. But an additional analysis of individual data from the two trials, which were conducted in Vietnam and South Africa, found that preventive levofloxacin led to a much larger relative reduction in cumulative incidence of TB than was initially observed. (Dall, 12/19)

CBS News: Pitt Researchers Advancing Robot For People Living With ALS
A University of Pittsburgh research group is reaching new limits and perfecting a robot to help people with ALS live better lives. Stretch, a robot by the company Hello Robot, looks like a Roomba from the future. Researchers in Pitt's Accessible Smart-Tech Research Group teamed up with Hello Robot and the ALS Association to work on advancing Stretch. (Guay, 12/19)

Bloomberg: Autism Affects One In 127 People, Up From One In 271 In 2019, Study Finds
An estimated 61.8 million people worldwide were on the autism spectrum in 2021, according to a study that highlighted the need for early detection and support of the developmental condition. Autism affects about 1 in 127 people, researchers from the 2021 Global Burden of Disease Study found. That’s a jump from the 1-in-271 reported in 2019, which may have underestimated the condition — characterized by ongoing challenges in social communication, interaction, sensory processing, and repetitive behaviors or interests, and, in some cases, intellectual disability, with varying levels of severity. (Gale, 12/19)

CNN: Vagus Nerve Stimulation May Relieve Treatment-Resistant Depression, Study Finds
Nick Fournie was 24 years old when severe depression upended his life. Fournie had been married to his longtime sweetheart for two years, and had no reason to suspect he had any mental health issues. “I just thought to myself, ‘If this is it, if this is all there is to life — if it ended now, I’d be OK with it,’” Nick, now 62 and based in Illinois, said of that fateful day outdoors nearly 40 years ago. (Rogers, 12/19)

WUFT: A Slimy Surgical Method Could Someday Spell Relief For Spine Patients
For those recovering from spinal surgery, the process can be lengthy and precarious, as patients try to circumvent infection and regain mobility. A key hiccup? The ever-present risk of a herniated disc. Now, Swedish researchers may have identified an unlikely solution in the form of a slime, inspired by the slick coating that covers parasites in the stomach of cows. This slimy coating helps the parasites duck the immune system and prevents immune cells from recognizing them. (Hagmajer, 12/19)

North Carolina Health News: Taking Fewer Medications May Improve Some Older Adults’ Health
Rachel Baxter moved her mother from Connecticut to Baxter’s home in Fuquay-Varina a little over a year ago. Her mother, 89, has Alzheimer’s disease and needed extra help, but Baxter eventually realized that some of her mother’s issues were because of the prescription drugs she took. (Vitaglione, 12/20)

Modern Healthcare: Ascension Cyberattack Hit 5.6M Patients
About 5.6 million patients and employees at Ascension were affected by a cyberattack earlier this year, according to a report filed with the federal government. Ascension will notify affected individuals over the next two to three weeks, in addition to providing credit monitoring and identity protection services, the health system said in a Thursday statement. (Hudson, 12/19)

Stat: Ionis Pharmaceuticals Rare Disease Drug Wins FDA Approval 
Ionis Pharmaceuticals on Thursday won Food and Drug Administration approval for a therapy that treats patients with a rare and deadly genetic disease that impedes the body’s ability to break down fats, setting the stage for the company to kick off the first solo drug launch in its 35-year history. (Wosen, 12/19)

Stat: Onward Medical Spinal Cord Stimulator Gets FDA Nod 
Spinal cord injuries dramatically reduce a person’s mobility and independence, but a new device could aid rehabilitation efforts. Onward Medical received Food and Drug Administration clearance on Thursday for its non-invasive spinal cord stimulator, the ARC-EX. In a recent trial, the stimulator boosted hand sensation and strength in 72% of participants. While the treatment cannot replace rehabilitative therapy, device users rave about its effects. (Broderick, 12/19)

Stat: Gilead Plans To Halt Free Access To An HIV Drug, Worrying Patient Advocates
Gilead Sciences will no longer provide four HIV medicines for free as part of a patient assistance program starting at the end of January, alarming community activists who worry the move will limit access and, consequently, impede nationwide efforts to combat the infectious disease. (Silverman, 12/19)

Bloomberg: Lilly’s US Weight-Loss Drug Shortage Ends, Curtailing Copies
Eli Lilly & Co.’s diabetes and weight-loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound are no longer in short supply in the US, which means compounding pharmacies must stop making less expensive copycat versions in the coming months. The US Food and Drug Administration determined that the drug shortage “is resolved,” reaffirming its earlier decision that compounders challenged in court. Such companies, which are allowed to make copies of medicines when they are in short supply, must stop copying Lilly’s drugs in the next 60 to 90 days, the agency said. (Swetlitz, 12/19)

Bloomberg: Amazon To Pay $145,000 Penalty To Settle Worker Safety Citations
Amazon.com Inc. will pay $145,000 in penalties as part of a settlement with federal workplace regulators regarding allegedly unsafe conditions at several of its US warehouse and logistics facilities. The settlement requires Amazon to assess ergonomic risk at all of its facilities and conduct annual updates to improve safety, according to terms announced by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (Soper, 12/19)

AP: A California Recovery Program Keeps Watch On Addicted Health Workers — But Not Doctors 
California doctors struggling with addiction often don’t want anyone to find out, especially the state board that has the power to revoke their medical license. “Doctors are afraid of the medical board,” said Dr. Greg Skipper, a Southern California addiction specialist. “The board is a blunt instrument. It’s basically lawyers and cops.” When doctors are afraid, they hide, which experts and regulators say is dangerous. That’s why, in the coming year, the California Medical Board plans to ask lawmakers to allow it to create an alternative recovery program that’s disconnected from its disciplinary power. (Hwang, 12/19)

NPR: Louisiana Forbids Public Health Workers From Promoting COVID, Flu And Mpox Shots
A group of high-level managers at the Louisiana Department of Health walked into a Nov. 14 meeting in Baton Rouge expecting to talk about outreach and community events. Instead, they were told by an assistant secretary in the department and another official that department leadership had a new policy: Advertising or otherwise promoting the COVID, influenza or mpox vaccines, an established practice there — and at most other public health entities in the U.S. — must stop. (Westwood, 12/20)

CBS News: New Health Clinic For Children May Reduce Barriers To Services For Some Denver Metro Area Residents
One Colorado community is working to address a health care desert- defined as an area where people have little to no access to health care services. A new clinic is being built in Westminster. It's in what has become a growing community where Ana Martinez and her family have chosen to settle down for the last six years. "That's what motivated us to be closer to here," said Martinez. "My husband, my daughter, my son and me." (Vidal, 12/19)