First Edition: Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024

KFF Health News: Harris Did Not Vote To ‘Cut Medicare,’ Despite Trump's Claim
During a July 24 campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, former President Donald Trump claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris was responsible for passing legislation in the U.S. Senate to cut Medicare spending by nearly $300 billion. “As Vice President, Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to cut, as you know, Medicare by $273 billion,” Trump told rally attendees. “She cast a vote to cut Medicare.” Trump gave no further explanation for which vote he was referring to or how he arrived at that figure. (Gardenswartz, 8/20)

KFF Health News: Traveling To Die: The Latest Form Of Medical Tourism
In the 18 months after Francine Milano was diagnosed with a recurrence of the ovarian cancer she thought she’d beaten 20 years ago, she traveled twice from her home in Pennsylvania to Vermont. She went not to ski, hike, or leaf-peep, but to arrange to die. ... Dying with medical assistance wasn’t an option when Milano learned in early 2023 that her disease was incurable. At that point, she would have had to travel to Switzerland — or live in the District of Columbia or one of the 10 states where medical aid in dying was legal. (Waldman, 8/20)

Stat: At DNC, Health Care Platform Favors Smaller Goals Over Grand Reform
Gone are the days when Democrats bickered over wholesale reform of the American health care system — including Vice President Harris herself during the 2020 campaign cycle. Instead, their plan this election cycle evokes President Biden’s slogan to “finish the job” — even though they’re running a new candidate. With the notable exception of calling to erase medical debt by working with states, Democrats are largely eyeing marginal extensions or reinstatements of their prior policy achievements. (Zhang, 8/19)

The New York Times: Biden Defends His Record and Endorses Harris: ‘America, I Gave My Best to You’
President Biden used his valedictory address at the Democratic National Convention on Monday to deliver a lengthy defense of his own record aimed at cementing a 50-year legacy of public service, even as he passed the reins to Vice President Kamala Harris as the new face of the party he led until just weeks ago. ... One by one, Biden ticked through a litany of achievements from the stump speeches of his now-ended campaign: $35 insulin; beating “big Pharma”; burn pits that harmed veterans; appointing a Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court; and more. (Shear, 8/19)

The Washington Post: 5 Takeaways From The Democratic Convention, Biden’s Speech On Day 1
The pandemic was a more surprising focus — but also one with a personal touch. Speakers mentioned Trump’s lack of leadership, his efforts to downplay the threat and his conspiracy theories. And more than one spoke from the heart as the relative of someone who died. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) mentioned the deaths of his health-care-worker mother and stepfather and added, “When Donald Trump and his MAGA extremists like Marjorie Taylor Greene downplayed the horror of the pandemic, it should make us all furious.” (Blake, 8/20)

Politico: Amanda Zurawski, Kaitlyn Joshua And Hadley Duvall Talk About The Consequences Of State Abortion Bans 
Three women who the Harris campaign is leaning on to demonstrate the far-reaching consequences of state abortion bans in the post-Roe era took the stage here in Chicago Monday evening to share their stories. The women — Amanda Zurawski, Kaitlyn Joshua and Hadley Duvall — have emerged as key figures in the Harris campaign’s effort to demonstrate why former President Donald Trump’s leave-abortion-to-the-states approach is insufficient and poses barriers to people receiving needed medical care. (Messerly, 8/19)

Crain's Chicago Business: UI Health Nurses Go On Strike Near DNC In Chicago
Hundreds of registered nurses at the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System, or UI Health, went on strike this morning at the West Side hospital near the United Center, the headquarters of this week’s Democratic National Convention. Unionized UI Health nurses, represented by the Illinois Nurses Association, or INA, say they are protesting management’s unfair labor practices, understaffing and stagnating pay. (Davis, 8/19)

Stateline: New Planned Parenthood Clinic Expands Abortion Access For Patients In And Outside Kansas
A new Planned Parenthood clinic in southeast Kansas will be the closest abortion access point for many people in the South and will provide easier access to reproductive health care for southeast Kansans who previously had to travel to Overland Park, a Kansas City suburb. The center, which opened Monday in Pittsburg, expects to have patients from six states in its first five days — Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana. (Hills, 8/19)

WUSF: Abortion Funds Say They Need More Money As Florida's Law Fuels Demand For Help
Whether scrambling to get abortions before six weeks or having to travel hundreds of miles to clinics in other states, abortion funds say patients need a lot more help since Florida's ban went into effect. (Colombini, 8/19)

The Atlantic: The Plan to Take Down the Hyde Amendment
For nearly 50 years, the Hyde Amendment has been considered an unassailable fixture of the United States budget. First passed in 1976, just three years after the now-defunct Roe v. Wade ruling, the amendment prohibits federal programs from covering the cost of most abortions, with exceptions for cases of rape, incest, and life-threatening pregnancies. Although the original amendment applied only to Medicaid, Hyde’s restrictions now extend to other programs, including Medicare, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, and the Indian Health Service. To many of its supporters, the amendment serves as both a guard against taxpayers funding abortions and a broad-brush check on abortion access. (Tu, 8/19)

The Washington Post: Female Candidates Are Sharing Their Reproductive History, Once Seen As A Liability 
Up and down the ballot, women running for office this year are opening up about their own reproductive health, sharing their experiences with IVF, miscarriage and abortion — topics that for years on the campaign trail were considered, at best, uncouth and, at worst, potentially damaging. But after the Supreme Court reversed abortion protections two years ago, that calculus — Can I talk about these deeply personal issues and still win an election? — has changed. (Wells and Knowles, 8/20)

CNN: US Fertility Rate Dropped To Record Low In 2023, CDC Data Shows 
Women in the United States are having babies less often, and the fertility rate reached a record low in 2023, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2023, the US fertility rate fell another 3% from the year before, to a historic low of about 55 births for every 1,000 females ages 15 to 44, according to final data published Tuesday by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. Just under 3.6 million babies were born last year, about 68,000 fewer than the year before. (McPhillips, 8/20)

NBC News: More Pregnant Women Are Going Without Prenatal Care, CDC Finds
The number of women going through pregnancy without prenatal care is growing — even though the overall number of babies born in the U.S. is falling, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The lopsided trend, published Tuesday by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, may reflect, in part, a growing number of women unable to access OB/GYN care after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. (Edwards, 8/20)

The New York Times: Walz Family Fertility Journey Ran Not Through I.V.F. But Another Common Treatment 
Unlike in vitro fertilization, the procedure used by the Walzes does not involve freezing embryos, so it has not been targeted by anti-abortion leaders. (Harmon, 8/19)

CIDRAP: COVID-Related Loss Of Smell Tied To Changes In The Brain 
A new study of 73 adults recovering from COVID-19 finds that those who lost their sense of smell showed behavioral, functional, and structural brain changes. The results were published late last week in Scientific Reports. (Van Beusekom, 8/19)

Reuters: Mpox Is Not The New COVID, Says WHO Official 
A World Health Organization official stressed on Tuesday that mpox, regardless of whether it is the new or old strain, is not the new COVID, as authorities know how to control its spread. "We can and must tackle mpox together," said Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, in a media briefing. (8/20)

Reuters: One Case Of Clade 2 Mpox Detected In Pakistan, New Strain Not Detected 
One case of the mpox virus has been detected in Pakistan of the clade 2 variety, the country's ministry of health said on Monday, adding that no cases of the clade 1b strain of the disease have been diagnosed. Clade 1b has triggered global concern because it seems to spread more easily though routine close contact. (8/19)

Reuters: Emergent To Donate 50,000 Vaccine Doses To Address Mpox Outbreak In Africa 
Emergent BioSolutions said on Monday it would donate 50,000 doses of its smallpox vaccine to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other impacted countries of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda to address the current mpox outbreak. Emergent's ACAM2000 vaccine, approved for smallpox, has been used as an mpox shot but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is yet to approve its application for use against the virus. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ACAM2000, a live, replicating virus vaccine, has more known side effects and risks than Danish biotech Bavarian Nordic A/S's Jynneos vaccine, which is approved in the U.S. for both smallpox and mpox. (8/19)

Bloomberg: Congo Expects Mpox Vaccines From US By As Early As Next Week
The Democratic Republic of Congo may receive Mpox vaccines from the US as soon as next week, Health Minister Roger Kamba said. The central African nation has asked the US and Japan to send vaccines to help stem an outbreak that has so far infected more than 16,700 people and caused 570 deaths, he said. (Kavanagh, 8/20)

Chicago Tribune: Ascension, Prime Plan To Close West Side Hospital
Less than a month after Ascension announced plans to sell nine Illinois hospitals to Prime Healthcare, the systems are asking the state for permission to close one of those hospitals. The systems also revealed for the first time, in applications to the state Health Facilities and Services Review Board, that Prime is paying Ascension more than $370 million to buy the nine hospitals. (Schencker, 8/19)

St. Louis Public Radio: SSM Opens Mental Health Urgent Care To Relieve Emergency Room
SSM Health will open the first behavioral health urgent care clinic in St. Louis next week on South Grand Boulevard, officials announced Monday. The facility, based at the former emergency department at SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital, will operate like one of the dozens of no-appointment-needed urgent care centers around the region. But instead of conducting flu tests and treating skin infections, health workers will treat patients with depression, bipolar, addiction and other mental health issues. (Fentem, 8/19)

Modern Healthcare: Inside Intuitive Health's Emergency Room-Urgent Care Strategy
Patients with non-emergency conditions seeking care in emergency departments drain resources from hospitals and health systems, leading some providers to consider a dual-care model. A growing number of health systems are partnering with private equity-backed company Intuitive Health to establish combined emergency and urgent care sites. (Hudson, 8/19)

Stat: Large Teams May Hamper Young Researchers' Career Prospects 
Science is a team sport, and those teams are getting larger. While that expansion might help researchers answer complex biomedical questions by working together, a recent study suggests that this trend has hampered the career prospects of Ph.D. graduates. (Wosen, 8/20)

Stat: Another Suit Filed Against FDA Over Lab-Developed Test Rule
A group representing molecular pathologists sued the Food and Drug Administration on Monday over its plan to regulate lab-developed tests. It’s the second legal challenge to the rule, following the American Clinical Laboratory Association’s suit in May. (Lawrence, 8/19)

The New York Times: Matthew Perry’s Death Shines A Harsh Light On Ketamine Treatment
Was Matthew Perry, whose struggles with substance abuse were widely known, a good candidate for a drug used to relieve depression? Doctors say his case raises thorny questions. (Stevens and Hamby, 8/19)

Axios: The Back-To-School Hunt For Adderall Is On
For a third year, back-to-school preparations will include a scramble to find popular drugs used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Despite signs from the Food and Drug Administration that manufacturers were catching up to outsized demand, the stimulants remain hard to track down with pharmacies out of stock and the Drug Enforcement Administration taking a harder line policing them. (Reed, 8/20)

AP: Georgia Governor Doubles Down On Medicaid Program With Work Requirement Despite Slow Start 
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Monday defended and doubled down on his signature Medicaid program — the only one in the nation with a work requirement — further dimming chances the state could adopt a broader expansion of the taxpayer-funded low-income health plan without a work mandate any time soon. Georgia Pathways requires all recipients to show that they performed at least 80 hours of work, volunteer activity, schooling or vocational rehabilitation in a month to qualify. It launched in July 2023, but has so far signed up a tiny fraction of eligible state residents. (Thanawala, 8/19)

AP: ‘Hitting Kids Should Never Be Allowed’: Illinois Bans Corporal Punishment In All Schools
This school year, Illinois will become just the fifth state in the nation to prohibit corporal punishment in all schools. Legislation that Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law this month bans physical punishment in private schools while reiterating a prohibition on the practice in public schools implemented 30 years ago. (O'Connor, 8/20)

The New York Times: Jury Finds Parents Of Gunman Not Liable In 2018 Texas School Shooting
The parents of a gunman who was 17 when he killed eight students and two teachers at his high school in Santa Fe, Texas, in 2018 are not financially liable for his heinous actions, a jury found on Monday. The verdict, reached after a day of deliberations, followed an emotional three-week trial that was among the first attempts to hold parents accountable in civil court for the actions of their child in a school shooting. But instead of finding that the parents bore responsibility for the shooting, the jury decided that blame rested with the gunman and with the company that sold him ammunition used in the shooting. (Goodman, 8/19)

Houston Chronicle: HISD To Amend AED Policy After Marshall Middle School Student Death
HISD vowed Monday to repair the 170 automated external defibrillators that aren't working and to inspect all 1,038 of the life-saving machines located on campuses, following last week's death of a Marshall Middle School student. The district noted that about 85% of AEDs are functional and that every campus has an operating machine, according to a news release Monday. (Partain, 8/19)

The Washington Post: D.C. 911 Outage Will Be Subject Of Investigation, Officials Say 
D.C. police are investigating the cause of a 911 technology failure earlier this month that left dispatchers and other first responders operating without access to key location-tracking software for hours, officials confirmed Monday. The police investigation, first reported by NBC Washington, will look into whether a botched software update that caused the computer outage was criminally negligent, City Administrator Kevin Donahue told reporters Monday. (Gathright, 8/19)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Manchester Daycare Exposed To Tuberculosis By Infected Adult
An adult with tuberculosis spent time in a Manchester daycare center while infectious. State health officials said there have been no other confirmed cases related to this one. Families have been notified of the potential exposure, which occurred from March 1 to August 6, and the individual is no longer in the daycare center. (McFadden, 8/19)

San Francisco Chronicle: Oakland Fails To Tell Families About High Levels Of Lead At 22 Schools
Nearly 200 water faucets in Oakland public schools had levels of lead that exceeded district standards, sparking outrage among staff who criticized district officials this week for failing to immediately notify school communities about results found earlier this summer and spring. It’s unclear how long students were exposed to the tainted taps. (Tucker, 8/19)

The Washington Post: Alcohol Played A Part In 2.6 Million Deaths In 2019, WHO Says
Alcohol consumption played a role in 2.6 million deaths worldwide in 2019, according to a report from the World Health Organization. The report analyzed alcohol and psychoactive drug usage in 2019 across 145 countries. While rates of alcohol-related deaths had decreased since 2010, the overall number is still “unacceptably high,” WHO officials said in the report released in June. Deaths linked to alcohol consumption made up about 4.7 percent of all deaths worldwide. (Docter-Loeb, 8/19)

NPR: A New Alzheimer's Study Suggests Where You Live Can Affect The Odds Of A Diagnosis
Researchers at the University of Michigan and Dartmouth College found that diagnosis rates vastly differ across the country and those different rates could not simply be explained by dementia risk factors, like if an area has more cases of hypertension, obesity and diabetes. The reasons behind the disparity aren't clear, but researchers speculate that stigma as well as access to primary care or behavioral neurological specialists may impact the odds of getting a formal diagnosis. (Kim, 8/19)

The New York Times: A Personalized Brain Pacemaker For Parkinson’s 
In a new frontier for deep brain stimulation, researchers used A.I. to develop individualized algorithms, which helped a skateboarder and other patients with Parkinson’s disease. (Belluck, 8/19)

CIDRAP: Salmonella Outbreak Linked To Pet Turtles Sickens At Least 51 People In 21 States 
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced a Salmonella outbreak linked to contact with small pet turtles, similar to several other outbreaks linked to the animals in previous years. In the latest outbreak, the CDC has received reports of 51 illnesses from 21 states, with 23 patients hospitalized. No deaths have been reported. (Schnirring, 8/19)