First Edition: Monday, Nov. 4, 2024

KFF Health News: Election Outcome Could Bring Big Changes To Medicare
On the campaign trail, both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are eager to portray themselves as guardians of Medicare. Each presidential candidate accuses the other of backing spending cuts and other policies that would damage the health insurance program for older Americans. But the election’s outcome could alter the very nature of the nearly 60-year-old federal program. (Armour, 11/4)

KFF Health News: No Evidence Trump’s Drug Program For Terminal Patients Saved ‘Thousands’ Of Lives
Former President Donald Trump has boasted in recent months about “Right To Try,” a law he signed in 2018. It’s aimed at boosting terminally ill patients’ access to potentially lifesaving medications not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration. “We have things to fight off diseases that will not be approved for another five or six years that people that are very sick, terminally ill, should be able to use. But there was no mechanism for doing it,” Trump said Aug. 30, speaking in Washington, D.C., to supporters of the conservative parental rights advocacy group Moms for Liberty. (Gardenswartz, 11/4)

KFF Health News: What’s At Stake: A Pivotal Election For Six Big Health Issues
In the final days of the campaign, stark disagreements between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump over the future of American health care are on display — in particular, in sober warnings about abortion access, the specter of future cuts to the Affordable Care Act, and bold pronouncements about empowering activists eager to change course and clean house. (Allen, Galewitz, Rovner and Chang, 11/1)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Physician Pay Cut Finalized For 2025
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has gone ahead with a 2.9% cut to Medicare physician reimbursements for 2025, setting up a lobbying fight when Congress gets back to Washington after the elections. CMS published the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule Friday, which retains the payment reduction the agency proposed in July. The American Medical Association and other physician societies are pleading with Congress to stop the cut from taking effect or blunt its impact— as it did for 2024 and prior years. (Early, 11/1)

Modern Healthcare: Outpatient Hospitals To Get 2.9% Medicare Pay Bump In 2025
Hospital outpatient departments and ambulatory surgical centers will receive a 2.9% Medicare pay boost next year under a final rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued Friday. The reimbursement increase is up from the 2.6% hike CMS proposed in July. The hospital outpatient payment update reflects a 3.4% hospital market basket increase offset by a -0.5% productivity adjustment. (Kacik, 11/1)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Pay Bumps Given To Home Health, ESRD Providers In 2025
Home health and dialysis providers will get modest Medicare reimbursement increases in 2025 under final rules the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued Friday. Medicare home health payments will rise 0.5% next year after the agency proposed a 1.7% cut in June. Dialysis providers treating end-stage renal disease patients are set for a 2.7% reimbursement hike, higher than the 2.2% CMS proposed in June. (Young, 11/1)

Stat: Key Senators Propose Using ‘Site-Neutral’ Pay To Boost Rural Hospitals
The hospital industry has pushed back against Medicare payment reforms for years, arguing that the policies would financially hurt rural hospitals. Two key senators on Friday released a plan to get around that issue by reinvesting some of the money saved from payment reforms to help rural and safety-net hospitals. Hospitals that keep providing services like trauma centers, labor and delivery units, and burn units would get financial bonuses, too. (Zhang, 11/1)

Modern Healthcare: Rural Home Care Deserts Caused By Low Medicare Pay, Providers Say
Home health deserts are increasing at an alarming rate across some rural states as home health companies close or reduce services due to financial challenges. Home health companies in Maine, Nebraska and Minnesota say a proposed Medicare rate cut, low Medicare Advantage reimbursements and workforce shortages are forcing them to make difficult business decisions — leaving many communities with limited access or no access to post-acute care in the home. (Eastabrook, 11/1)

Modern Healthcare: Elevance Sues Over Medicare Advantage Star Ratings
Elevance Health is the latest Medicare Advantage insurer to dispute its star ratings quality scores in court. The health insurance company filed suit against the federal government in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Thursday. According to Elevance Health, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services improperly assessed its quality performance, costing the insurer $375 million in bonus payments. The company won a case regarding its 2024 star ratings on different grounds, which led the agency to recalculate scores across the program. (Tepper, 11/1)

NBC News: RFK Jr. Says A Trump White House Would Immediately Push To Remove Fluoride From Water
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Saturday that a Trump administration would, on its first day, “advise all U.S​. water systems to remove fluoride from public water.” Kennedy linked fluoride to various illnesses, despite major medical associations supporting water fluoridation, which they say is safe and a benefit to public health. (Lebowitz, 11/3)

The Hill: Trump Expresses Tentative Support For RFK Jr.’s Plan To Remove Fluoride From Water Supply
Former President Trump expressed tentative support for former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s plan to remove fluoride from water. “Well, I haven’t talked to him about it yet, but it sounds OK to me,” Trump told NBC News on Sunday. “You know, it’s possible.” (Irwin, 11/3)

Los Angeles Times: RFK Jr. Wants Fed Health Data For His Antivaccine Claims, Trump Transition Co-Chair Says
A co-chair of Donald Trump’s transition team said Trump supporter Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants access to federal health data so he can try to show vaccines are unsafe and lead to them being pulled from the market in a second Trump administration. The comments by Howard Lutnick are raising concerns among public health experts that giving influence to one of the most prominent antivaccine activists in the world could lead to what one said would be “severe health consequences” for Americans, especially children. (Smith, 11/1)

NBC News: Trump Doesn't Rule Out Banning Vaccines If He Becomes President
Former President Donald Trump said Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would have a “big role in the administration” if he wins Tuesday, telling NBC News in a phone interview that he is open to some of his more controversial ideas. Kennedy, who ran for president as an independent this year before he dropped his bid and endorsed Trump, has long spread conspiracies and falsehoods about vaccines and other public health matters. (Burns and Marquez, 11/3)

The Washington Post: A Milwaukee Woman Whose Father Died Of Covid Presses Neighbors To Vote Against Trump
After losing her father during the pandemic, a young Wisconsin voter tries to persuade her community to vote in unprecedented numbers against Donald Trump. Whitley Riley’s father, Lawrence, was the first person in Milwaukee to die of covid-19. As Trump initially downplayed the lethal nature of the disease, covid had invaded Black neighborhoods like her own. Health departments in majority-White areas were more likely to receive resources to set up testing sites, distribute masks and engage in public education campaigns, even as rumors proliferated that Black people were somehow immune. (Samuels, 11/3)

AP: An Idaho Health Department Isn't Allowed To Give COVID-19 Vaccines Anymore. Experts Say It's A First
A regional public health department in Idaho is no longer providing COVID-19 vaccines to residents in six counties after a narrow decision by its board. Southwest District Health appears to be the first in the nation to be restricted from giving COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccinations are an essential function of a public health department. (Shastri, 11/1)

Stateline: Election Results Could Mean Major Changes In Medicaid
A decade ago, an old work injury put Fred Blackman II in the hospital with a slipped spinal disc that threatened to paralyze him. ... After discharge, he returned to a life he didn’t recognize. He’d lost his job at an insurance company, his health coverage and his house, and his marriage was falling apart. He could barely walk and owed more than $500,000 in medical bills. He got emergency Medicaid coverage with the hospital’s help, but it lapsed after a few months. (Krisberg, Public Health Watch, 11/1)

Roll Call: Election Could Move Fight Over Trans Care From States To DC 
While the legislative fight over transgender care has been largely limited to states to date, a spate of campaign ads from Republicans and worried trans advocates both indicate that could change if Republicans take control of Congress and the White House. (Cohen, 11/1)

Iowa Public Radio: Iowans With Disabilities And Advocates Seek To Close Voter Participation Gap
After years of voting in person, Bettina Dolinsek voted at her home in Ankeny this fall for the first time ever. “It was easier, time convenient for us to just do it here at home,” she said. “So I thought we’d try it.” She needed some help to do that, though. Dolinsek is blind, and so is her husband. Because Iowa’s absentee ballots are on paper, she and her husband were not able to read and mark the ballots themselves. (Sostaric, 11/1)

Reuters: Biden Administration Seeks To Toss States' Abortion Pill Lawsuit From Texas Court
The Biden administration on Friday urged a federal judge in Amarillo, Texas, to dismiss a bid by Missouri, Kansas and Idaho to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone nationwide, saying the three Republican-controlled states have no basis for bringing their claims in the Texas court. The states brought their lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by intervening in a case that was started by anti-abortion doctors and medical groups. By filing in Amarillo, the original plaintiffs had ensured that the case would go to U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a staunch conservative and former Christian activist. (Pierson, 11/1)

Gothamist: NY Doctors Make Final Pitch For Prop 1 Ballot Measure Reinforcing Abortion Rights
A group of New York doctors is making a last-minute attempt to sway voters in favor of Proposition 1, a ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. A letter released Monday with more than 150 signatures from health care providers across specialties argues that Prop 1 is crucial for protecting reproductive health care access in New York amid abortion restrictions and bans in other states that have made it harder for some pregnant patients to get needed medical services — even if they’re not seeking an abortion. (Lewis, 11/4)

The Hill: Kathy Hochul Says New Yorkers Who Vote Republican Are ‘Anti-Woman’ And ‘Anti-American’
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said New Yorkers who vote Republican in the state’s tight congressional races are “anti-woman” and “anti-American.” “If you’re voting for these Republicans in New York, you are voting for someone who supports Donald Trump, and you’re anti-woman, you’re anti-abortion, and basically, you’re anti-American because you have just trashed American values and what our country is about over and over and you wear this on Election Day,” Hochul said Saturday on MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation,” highlighted by Mediaite. (Irwin, 11/3)

Health News Florida: Why This Florida Mom Had To Go Out-Of-State For Abortion Care, Despite Exceptions
Thea Thompson was about 18 weeks pregnant when an ultrasound technician told her in September that she was going to have a baby girl. She and her husband were excited to welcome a second child into their family. But the good news stopped there. Thompson, 37, was having a detailed ultrasound after previous genetic testing showed her fetus had a small risk of developing abnormalities. She could tell her medical team did not like what they saw. (Colombini, 11/1)

AP: Florida Will Vote On Marijuana, Abortion In An Election That Will Test GOP's Dominance
Florida’s election will test whether the state maintains its new reputation as a Republican stronghold, or whether Democrats make some gains by tapping into the support for abortion and marijuana ballot questions and the new energy Vice President Kamala Harris brings to the race. Gone are the days when Florida was looked at as the biggest prize among swing states. After former President Barack Obama won Florida twice, former President Donald Trump carried the state by a whisker in 2016 and then by a much larger share in 2020. In 2022, Republicans took all five statewide seats on the ballot by landslide margins. (Farrington, 11/4)

The Texas Tribune: Texas OB-GYNs Urge Lawmakers To Change Abortion Laws After Reports On Pregnant Women's Deaths
A group of 111 OB-GYNs in Texas released a letter to elected state leaders Sunday urging them to change abortion laws they say have prevented them from providing lifesaving care to pregnant women. The doctors pointed to recent reporting by ProPublica on two Texas pregnant women who died after medical staff delayed emergency care. (Salhotra, 11/3)

Chicago Tribune: University Of Illinois Hospital Nurses Set Date For Second Strike
About 1,700 University of Illinois Hospital & Clinics nurses plan to go on an open-ended strike Nov. 13, the nurses’ union announced Friday afternoon. The strike would be the second time the nurses have walked off the job since August. The union, the Illinois Nurses Association, and UI Health have additional negotiating sessions planned before Nov. 13, meaning a strike may still be averted. (Schencker, 11/1)

The CT Mirror: CT Launches Inquiry Into Cuts At Prospect-Owned Rockville Hospital
Connecticut officials are investigating service cuts at Rockville General Hospital in Vernon that may have violated state laws, according to an Oct. 17 letter sent by the Office of Health Strategy to Prospect CT CEO Deborah Weymouth. Rockville is one of three hospitals in Connecticut owned by Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings, along with Manchester Memorial and Waterbury Hospital. (Golvala, 11/1)

Bloomberg: New Jersey Hospital Chain CarePoint Health Files For Bankruptcy
CarePoint Health, a long-troubled New Jersey hospital chain, has filed for bankruptcy on Sunday. CarePoint listed assets of $500,001 to $1 million and liabilities of up to $50,000 in a Chapter 11 petition filed in the Delaware court. (Suhartono and Phakdeetham, 11/4)

Modern Healthcare: Ascension Finalizes $450M Hospital Sale To UAB Health
The University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System Authority finalized its $450 million acquisition of Ascension St. Vincent's Health System. The transaction included five Alabama hospitals, a specialty care and rehabilitation center, a freestanding emergency department, imaging centers and Ascension Medical Group clinics, according to a Friday news release. (Hudson, 11/1)

Modern Healthcare: Zoom Solidifies Its Role In Healthcare With Epic, Suki Deals
Zoom, a company that rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, is looking to expand its presence in healthcare through artificial intelligence. The company recently announced plans to incorporate ambient AI documentation technology from digital health company Suki in its clinical platform. Zoom plans to use the ambient AI technology, which turns a recording of a doctor-patient conversation into usable clinical notes in the electronic health record, for virtual and in-person visits. (DeSilva, 11/1)

The Boston Globe: Boston Children's Hospital Trial Reveals Dispute Over Gender Care
A trial involving one of Boston’s premier hospitals is laying bare a sharp divide among specialists over how to evaluate minors seeking gender transition care. The dispute centers around the shortened time psychologists at Boston Children’s Hospital spend assessing patients in person before recommending medical interventions: two hours. Some clinicians contend that is far too little time for an assessment that can open the door to powerful treatments, including puberty blockers and hormones that can help align a person’s body with their gender identity. (Damiano, 11/1)

The New York Times: 1 In 4 Child Deaths After E.R. Visits Are Preventable, Study Finds
If every emergency room in the United States were fully prepared to treat children, thousands of lives would be saved and the cost would be $11.84 or less per child, researchers found. (Baumgaertner, 11/1)

The Mercury News: Bay Area Counties Implement Mask Mandates For Health Care Facilities
As fall brings the start of respiratory illness season, mask mandates are coming back to health care facilities across the Bay Area. The mandates in health care settings returned Friday — some just for health care personnel and others for patients and visitors — in Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo and Contra Costa counties. (Pender, 11/1)

Houston Chronicle: Leeches Save Severed Fingers At Ben Taub Hospital. Here's How
Using leeches to suck the blood out of a person might sound medieval, but it’s actually a medicinal practice still used today at many trauma hospitals. Though only used in a handful of cases, the blood-sucking critters can save lives when all else fails. At Harris Health Ben Taub hospital, leeches are an important player in the post surgical ICU unit to help doctors and nurses get blocked blood out of tissue so it can be healthy, especially when traditional routes fail. (Babbar, 11/2)

Reuters: US FDA Warns Against California Facility Making Compounded Weight-Loss Drugs
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday warned against the use of compounded drugs, including versions of popular weight-loss treatments, made by a California-based facility over concerns that they could be contaminated. The facility, Fullerton Wellness, makes compounded versions of Novo Nordisk's and Eli Lilly's weight-loss drugs, among others. It distributes them to patients by medical offices and clinics. (11/1)

The Washington Post: Drug Companies Make Billions From Wildlife. Should Host Countries Get Paid?
A flower from Madagascar held a secret to halting cancer. A sea sponge in the Caribbean was responsible for the first antiretroviral treatment for HIV. The venom of a lizard found in Mexico and the United States inspired the blockbuster drug Ozempic for weight loss and diabetes.For decades, drugmakers and researchers have found lifesaving medical advances in plants, animals and other organisms. But the countries harboring the richest biodiversity on Earth — in Latin America, Africa and Asia — often don’t profit from the creation of treatments and other innovations inspired by nature. (Grandoni, 11/2)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Gov. Moore Signs Agreement For Health Care Equity
Gov. Wes Moore signed an agreement Friday pledging Maryland’s participation in a federal model to promote equitable and affordable health care for all Maryland residents. With Moore’s signature, the state will participate in the federal States Advancing All-Payer Equity Approaches and Development Model, also known as the AHEAD Model. (Hacker, 11/3)

Chicago Tribune: 2 Tuberculosis Cases Reported At Elmhurst University
Two Elmhurst University students tested positive for tuberculosis Thursday, according to a statement from university President Troy VanAken. They have been isolated and placed under medical supervision. The private liberal arts school has been working with the DuPage County Health Department to identify and notify individuals who may have been exposed to the potentially serious but treatable bacterial infection that primarily affects the lungs. (Atkins, 11/3)

Los Angeles Times: Bird Flu Virus Found In Los Angeles County Wastewater
Los Angeles County health officials said they have detected H5N1 bird flu virus in wastewater collected from the A.K. Warren Water Resource Facility in Carson. The viral “hit” was detected on Oct. 28 by WastewaterSCAN, an infectious disease monitoring network run by researchers at Stanford, Emory University and Verily, Alphabet Inc.’s life sciences organization. Hits were also seen during the last week in San José, Redwood City, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Sacramento, Santa Cruz, Marina and Turlock. (Rust, 11/1)

CIDRAP: Report Details Deadly Meningococcal Disease Outbreak That Hit Black Adult Virginians Hard
Yesterday in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, investigators describe a deadly outbreak of meningococcal disease primarily in Virginia's Eastern Health Planning Region from 2022 to 2024. The outbreak is notable, as almost 80% of the cases occurred in Black residents, and 63.9% were in an age group (30 to 60 years) not generally considered at increased risk of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD). (Soucheray, 11/1)

North Carolina Health News: How Cadaver Dogs Search For Lives Taken By Helene In WNC
The remnants of Hurricane Helene claimed at least 101 lives in western North Carolina, burying many victims beneath rubble and floodwater. Highly trained dogs have played a crucial role in finding victims’ remains; one canine-assisted search team from Guilford County recovered 20 bodies in the immediate aftermath of the storm. These specialist canines and their handlers are likely to find more casualties in the weeks to come, according to cadaver dog expert Cat Warren. (Baxley, 11/4)

Kansas City Star: Prisoner Sues Kansas Corrections System Over Health Care
A Kansas City, Kansas, woman incarcerated in a state prison alleges the Department of Corrections ignored her medical problems, leading to a hospitalization and surgery in September, as well as lifelong kidney failure. (Moore, 11/2)

The Washington Post: D.C. Charter School Accused Of Violating Law For Students With Disabilities
The SEED School of Washington, D.C., a rare charter boarding campus in the District, has been accused of flouting local and federal education laws that protect students with disabilities — drawing outrage and a “notice of concern” from the city’s charter school board. A September audit found the high school, one of D.C.’s oldest charter schools, suspended students without first holding federally mandated meetings that are supposed to determine whether a child’s behavior is the manifestation of a disability or the result of an IEP — or individualized education program — that has not been fully implemented. IEPs are legal documents that detail a student’s special education needs and how they should be met. (Lumpkin, 11/3)

Bloomberg: Fungal Infections: Deadly Outbreaks Surge Following Covid Pandemic
A largely unnoticed surge of rare but deadly fungi is accelerating around the world, helped by the Covid-19 pandemic and a warming planet that appears to be training them to survive at higher and higher temperatures. While the pandemic’s grisly scenes of packed intensive care units and rows of patients on intubators have largely faded from public view, its legacy in the form of driving fungal spread is only now being understood by doctors and scientists. (Hong and Shrivastava, 11/3)

The New York Times: Thousands Of Children In Gaza Get 2nd Dose Of Polio Vaccine
Nearly 94,000 children in Gaza City received a second dose of polio vaccine this weekend in an effort that was delayed by intense Israeli bombardment and mass evacuation orders in northern Gaza, the Gazan health ministry said. The second phase of the vaccination campaign was originally set to begin on Oct. 23 across the north of the territory, but it was postponed because of a lack of assurances about pauses in the fighting and bombardment to ensure the safety of health workers, the World Health Organization and UNICEF said in a statement on Friday. (Yazbek, 11/3)

CIDRAP: Five Countries Report More Polio Cases As Vaccination Resumes In Gaza
Afghanistan and Pakistan reported more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases this week, part of a notable uptick in activity in the two countries where WPV1 is still endemic, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) said in its latest weekly update, as vaccination efforts are poised to resume in Gaza. (Schnirring, 11/1)

AP: Mpox Cases In Congo May Be Stabilizing. Experts Say More Vaccines Are Needed To Stamp Out Virus
ome health officials say mpox cases in Congo appear to be “stabilizing” — a possible sign that the main epidemic for which the World Health Organization made a global emergency declaration in August might be on the decline. In recent weeks, Congo has reported about 200 to 300 lab-confirmed mpox cases every week, according to WHO. That’s down from nearly 400 cases a week in July. The decline is also apparent in Kamituga, the mining city in the eastern part of Congo where the new, more infectious variant of mpox first emerged. (Cheng and Alonga, 11/3)