First Edition: Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025

KFF Health News: A Year After Super Bowl Parade Shooting, Trauma Freeze Gives Way To Turmoil For Survivors
Emily Tavis was on a first date in December when she looked up and realized they were driving past the downtown Kansas City, Missouri, intersection where a bullet ripped through her leg at last year’s Super Bowl victory parade. “Oh f—,” Tavis said, bewildering her date. She lives 35 miles away in Leavenworth, Kansas, and hadn’t yet returned to Union Station, where the mass shooting happened. She felt like crying. Or maybe it was a panic attack. She held up a finger signaling to her date that she needed a moment. That’s when it hit him, too. (Sable-Smith and Lowe, 2/11)

KFF Health News: Kaiser Permanente Back In The Hot Seat Over Mental Health Care, But It’s Not Only A KP Issue
For more than a decade, Kaiser Permanente has been under the microscope for shortcomings in mental health care, even as it is held in high esteem on the medical side. In 2013, California regulators fined the insurer $4 million for failing to reduce wait times, giving patients inaccurate information, and improperly tracking appointment data. And in 2023, KP agreed to pay $50 million, the largest penalty ever levied by the state’s Department of Managed Health Care, for failing to provide timely care, maintain a sufficient number of mental health providers, and oversee its providers effectively. (Wolfson, 2/11)

The New York Times: Judge Rules That Trump Administration Defied Order To Unfreeze Billions In Federal Grants
A federal judge said on Monday that the White House had defied his order to release billions of dollars in federal grants, marking the first time a judge has expressly declared that the Trump administration is disobeying a judicial mandate. The ruling by Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in Rhode Island federal court ordered administration officials to comply with what the judge called “the plain text” of an ruling he issued on Jan. 29. (Schwartz, 2/10)

MedPage Today: States Sue The Trump Administration Over NIH Grant Funding Cuts
A group of 22 attorneys general sued the Trump administration Monday over its announcement on Friday that the percentage of NIH research grant funding that goes to pay grantees' indirect costs would be cut to 15%. The cuts to indirect cost funding "will devastate critical public health research at universities and research institutions in the United States," the attorneys general wrote. "Without relief from NIH's action, these institutions' cutting-edge work to cure and treat human disease will grind to a halt." (Frieden, 2/10)

Stat: Key GOP Senators Push Back Against NIH Funding Cuts 
Key Republican senators began pushing back Monday against a policy change by the National Institutes of Health that would substantially cut funding for research overhead to universities, medical centers, and other grant recipients. (Wilkerson, 2/10)

Politico: First Lawsuit Targets Trump’s Foreign Aid Freeze
A liberal-leaning advocacy group filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration Monday seeking to halt the freeze on foreign aid the administration has imposed. The group, Public Citizen, argues the freeze on funds appropriated by Congress is unlawful and is endangering lives abroad. (Paun, 2/10)

Bloomberg: US To Continue Limited PEPFAR Services In South Africa, Embassy Says
The US said a waiver on halting some activities in South Africa under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, will focus on “life-saving” treatments. These will include HIV care and treatment services such as testing for the disease, counseling prevention, the treatment of opportunistic infections related to HIV and procurement of medicine, the US Embassy to South Africa said in a statement on Monday. (Sguazzin, 2/10)

The Washington Post: Trump Expected To Order A Crackdown On D.C. Crime, Homeless Encampments 
Details of the executive order may shift, but early drafts have included language that would order homeless encampments cleared, direct prosecutors to pursue tougher penalties for gun violence as well as petty crime such as public urination, and revive one of President Trump’s 2020 executive orders to protect national monuments, the people said. The order is also expected to focus broadly on federal parks controlled by the National Park Service. (Hsu and Davies, 2/10)

Military.com: Transgender Recruits And Gender-Affirming Health Care Restricted By Hegseth Memo 
All military services must pause accepting recruits with histories of gender dysphoria and halt some gender-affirming health care for transgender service members, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered in a memo revealed Monday. The memo, which was dated Friday, was disclosed in a Monday court filing from the Trump administration as it fights a lawsuit against President Donald Trump's order to ban transgender people from serving in the military. (Kheel and Toropin, 2/10)

NPR: Some Hospitals Are Complying With Trump's Order On Transgender Teens
Kristen Chapman had already moved her family from Tennessee to Virginia to try to find a state that would be more welcoming to her transgender daughter, Willow. After months waiting for an appointment at the gender-affirming care clinic at VCU Health in Richmond, Willow had one on the calendar on Jan. 29. President Trump's executive order limiting transgender health care for youth came out in the afternoon of Jan. 28. (Simmons-Duffin, 2/10)

The Washington Post: New Version Of Bird Flu Infects Nevada Dairy Worker 
A Nevada dairy worker was infected with a version of bird flu that is known to have killed one person in the United States and severely sickened a teen in Canada, state and federal health authorities said Monday. This version of the virus was detected for the first time in dairy farms last month in Nevada. The Central Nevada Health District said Monday that an adult was exposed to infected dairy cattle while working at a farm in the northwestern part of the state. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said its genetic analysis confirmed that the virus in the Nevada person is the same as was detected in the Nevada dairy cows. (Sun, 2/10)

The Boston Globe: Mass General Brigham Layoffs The Largest In Its History 
Mass General Brigham said Monday it will let go of hundreds of employees in the next two months, the largest layoff in the organization’s history, as the health system grapples with anticipated financial shortfalls and ongoing operational challenges at its 12 hospitals. (Bartlett, 2/10)

Fierce Healthcare: Striking Providence Oregon Nurses Reject Tentative Deal In Vote
The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) announced over the weekend that a tentative deal with Providence was "overwhelmingly" and "resoundingly" shot down by nurses across eight hospitals, extending the month-long, 5,000-nurse strike. Across seven of the eight bargaining units, the union reported Friday 92% turnout for a ratification vote with 83% no votes. The vote for those at the final hospital, Providence Medford Medical Center, was delayed a day due to inclement weather, but on Saturday joined in rejecting the offer.  (Muoio, 2/10)

Modern Healthcare: Kaiser Permanente Sees Earnings Boost From Risant Health
Kaiser Permanente reported Friday a $15 billion increase in operating revenue for 2024 with the addition of Risant Health. Treasurer Tom Meier said about 60% of the revenue growth stemmed from Kaiser's core hospital and health plan operations, while the rest can be attributed to Risant and its acquisitions of Geisinger Health in March and Cone Health in December. The combined operating revenue of $115.8 billion in 2024 includes nine months of Geisinger operations and one month of Cone operations, he said. (Hudson, 2/10)

Axios: Nonprofit Hospital Draws Backlash For Super Bowl Ad
A New York City academic medical center is drawing unexpected fire from doctors, patients and others in health care for buying a pricey Super Bowl ad touting its services. NYU Langone's ad comes amid heightened scrutiny of nonprofit hospitals, which don't pay federal income taxes, and as Americans' frustration with the broader health care system is cresting. (Goldman, 2/11)

Modern Healthcare: Medline, Department Of Veterans Affairs Sign 5-Year Contract
Medline Industries announced a five-year contract Monday with Veterans Affairs Department to supply the agency with medical-surgical products. The contract includes supplying products to the majority of the agency's medical centers, along with products to the Indian Health Service, the Bureau of Prisons and the Health and Human Services Department. The new contract, along with existing ones, have an estimated value of over $1 billion annually and cover more than 90% of the department's integrated service networks, according to the company. (Dubinsky, 2/10)

MedPage Today: Bill Would Allow AI To Prescribe Drugs
Artificial intelligence (AI) could be used to prescribe medications to patients -- if a new bill makes its way through Congress. The proposed legislation, sponsored by Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), would amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to clarify that AI and machine learning technologies can qualify as a practitioner eligible to prescribe drugs if authorized by the state involved and approved by the FDA. (Henderson, 2/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Novartis To Buy Anthos Therapeutics From Blackstone For Up To $3.1 Billion
Novartis agreed to acquire Blackstone Life Sciences’ Anthos Therapeutics for up to $3.08 billion to boost its cardiovascular-drug pipeline. The deal means the Swiss pharmaceutical company retakes control over a treatment candidate for blood clots it licensed to Anthos when the Boston-based firm was launched in 2019. (Figueras, 2/11)

The Hill: Indiana Doctors Sue To Protect Abortion Patients’ Health Information
A pair of Indiana doctors are trying to stop the state’s Department of Health from releasing personal information on abortion patients. Obstetrician-gynecologists Caitlin Bernard and Caroline Rouse recently filed a lawsuit in Marion County Superior Court to block the release of “terminated pregnancy reports” required under an executive order issued by Governor Mike Braun last month. (O’Connell-Domenech, 2/10)

KELO: South Dakota Bill Aims To Show Abortion Videos In School
A South Dakota representative is trying to mandate showing videos of abortions in high school health classes and the process of fertilization in middle and elementary school classes. Two bills introduced by Republican Rep. Tony Randolph would require health curriculum changes for South Dakota schools to include videos on human growth and development in the womb. (Terrall, 2/10)

CBS News: Colorado Bill Would Make It Harder For Insurance Companies To Deny Coverage For Mental Health Care
A bill that makes it harder for insurance companies to deny coverage for mental health care passed in the Colorado House on Monday. Under federal law, insurers are required to treat physical and mental health care in the same way, but state Sen. Judy Amabile, the sponsor of the bill, says that many insurers are refusing to cover mental health care based on what their definition of what's medically necessary. (Boyd, 2/10)

Military.com: In One Of The Marines' Most Iconic Jobs, A Stunning Pattern Of Suicide 
Marine Corps drill instructors are a national symbol of discipline. But for some, their imposing persona belies a dark reality. (Baker and Lawrence, 2/11)

AP: States Absorb Big Increases In Medicaid For Sicker-Than-Expected Enrollees After COVID-19 Pandemic
States are absorbing substantial increases in health care costs for the poor, as they realize that the people remaining on Medicaid rolls after the COVID-19 pandemic are sicker than anticipated — and costlier to care for. In Pennsylvania, state budget makers recently unveiled the scale of that miscalculation, with Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro proposing an increase of $2.5 billion in Medicaid spending in the next fiscal year. That amounts to a roughly 5% increase in overall state spending, mostly driven by the cost to care for unexpectedly sick people remaining on the state’s Medicaid rolls. (Levy, 2/7)

North Carolina Health News: Bills Take Aim At ‘Government Mandates’ On Health Insurance
Bryan Lewis, 59, of Forsyth County, found a lump on his neck over a year ago. He had just moved to North Carolina and didn’t have health insurance through his employer, so he signed up for a plan through the insurance marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act. Soon after, he was diagnosed with tongue cancer and had to start radiation and chemotherapy treatments. The radiation caused him to be unable to eat or drink, and he eventually had to subsist on a feeding tube. (Vitaglione, 2/11)

WGCU: Florida Ranks Lowest Among States In Passing The Nursing Exam Needed For Licensing
A report recently released from the Florida Center for Nursing noted that in 2024 Florida had the nation's lowest pass rate on the exam required for registered nurses and practical nurses to receive their licenses. (Barbor, 2/10)

Becker's Hospital Review: 4 Pharmacists Sentenced To Prison In $13M Fraud Scheme
Four pharmacy owners have been sentenced for their involvement in a scheme to defraud Medicare, Medicaid and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan out of more than $13 million. Raef Hamaad of Maricopa County, Ariz., was sentenced to 10 years in prison; Tarek Fakhuri of Windsor, Ontario, received a seven-year prison sentence; Ali Abdelrazzaq of Macomb County, Mich., was sentenced to two years; and Kindy Ghussin of Greene County, Ohio, was sentenced to five years, according to an Feb. 6 news release from the Justice Department. (Murphy, 2/10)

CBS News: Minnesota Man's Free Cruise Ends With $47,000 Medical Bill
A free cruise turned into a financial nightmare for Mike Cameron, a Minnesota truck driver of 25 years, and his girlfriend, Tamra. The couple won a free cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line and were excited to celebrate Tamra's recent lung cancer recovery. The pair set sail for the week-long trip in early January, but shortly into the week, Cameron got sick. He said he went to the ship's medical center and was diagnosed with the flu. ... But when it came time to pay the bill, Cameron was shocked to learn that the total cost of his care was more than $47,000. (Mitchell, 2/10)

NBC News: Children With Mild Peanut Sensitivity May Be Able To Use Store-Bought Peanut Butter To Overcome It, Study Finds
Children with milder forms of peanut sensitivity may be able to overcome their allergy by consuming increasing amounts of store-bought peanut butter, a new study suggests. All of the 32 children in the study, who received 18 months of this immunotherapy, were able to consume the equivalent of three tablespoons of peanut butter without experiencing reactions, according to the report published Monday in NEJM Evidence. (Carroll, 2/10)

NBC News: Ozempic For Alcohol Addiction: What The Latest Science Shows
Kara Stainbrook depended on alcohol to get through the day for two years. The 45-year-old from Mercer, Pennsylvania, was going through a bottle of vodka a week, sometimes two, and hiding it from her family and friends. “I needed that feeling of not being able to feel life for a little bit,” she said. That changed in June 2023 after she took her first dose of Mounjaro. “From day one, it has literally changed me in every aspect of my life,” she said. Stainbrook said she’s lost 70 pounds — and the desire to drink. (Kopf and Gosk, 2/10)