- KFF Health News Original Stories 2
- She Was Dancing On The Roof And Talking Gibberish. A Special Kind Of ER Helped Her.
- States Push For Caregiver Tax Credits
- Political Cartoon: 'Best Before?'
- Coverage And Access 1
- What Would Abolishing Our Complex, Confusing Private Health Care In Favor Of 'Medicare For All' Really Look Like?
- Women’s Health 1
- Abortion Rights Activists Flood Lower Courts With Their Eyes On SCOTUS. But Will The Justices Be As Friendly To The Cause As They Hope?
- Opioid Crisis 1
- Guggenheim Museum Won't Accept Any Future Gifts From Sacklers, In Latest Sign Of Shifting Tide Against Family
- Health IT 2
- GoFundMe Joins Social Media Peers In Cracking Down On Antivaccination Movement
- Patients Are Confessing Suicidal Thoughts To Apps Meant To Manage Health Problems Like Diabetes, Leaving Startups To Grapple With What To Do
- Administration News 3
- CMS Issues Guidance To Help Determine If Assisted-Living Facilities Are Meeting Medicaid Funding Requirements
- Personal, Banking Data From Millions Of Survivors Of U.S. Environmental Disasters Accidentally Shared By FEMA
- After Reports Of Breast Implants' Link To Rare Cancer, FDA To Hold Hearing On Potential Negative Health Effects
- Public Health 1
- This Year's Flu Season Wasn't As Extreme As The Last One, But It's The Longest Lasting In Decades
From KFF Health News - Latest Stories:
KFF Health News Original Stories
She Was Dancing On The Roof And Talking Gibberish. A Special Kind Of ER Helped Her.
With mental health beds in short supply, emergency rooms increasingly have become the care of first and last resort for people in the grips of a psychiatric episode. Now, hospitals around the country are opening emergency units that calmly cater to patients with mental health needs. (Anna Gorman, 3/25)
States Push For Caregiver Tax Credits
Families often spend thousands of dollars caring for ailing loved ones at home. Lawmakers in California and at least seven other states want to provide some financial relief with state income tax credits. (Samantha Young, 3/25)
Political Cartoon: 'Best Before?'
KFF Health News provides a fresh take on health policy developments with "Political Cartoon: 'Best Before?'" by Signe Wilkinson .
Here's today's health policy haiku:
NO ONE IS SAFE
A surprise visit,
Lucky I have insurance.
Wait. Pay how much more?
- Christopher Anderson
If you have a health policy haiku to share, please Contact Us and let us know if we can include your name. Haikus follow the format of 5-7-5 syllables. We give extra brownie points if you link back to an original story.
Opinions expressed in haikus and cartoons are solely the author's and do not reflect the opinions of KFF Health News or KFF.
Summaries Of The News:
For all the attacks it weathers, the health care system makes up a fifth of the nation's economy and is quite baked into the country's landscape. Completely upending that would be a large disruption at the level that experts say is unprecedented. Meanwhile, despite other countries having "universal coverage" in concept, their systems are different enough from the "Medicare for All" proposals that have gained steam in the U.S. that they don't really serve as helpful models.
The New York Times:
Medicare For All Would Abolish Private Insurance. ‘There’s No Precedent In American History.’
At the heart of the “Medicare for all” proposals championed by Senator Bernie Sanders and many Democrats is a revolutionary idea: Abolish private health insurance. Proponents want to sweep away our complex, confusing, profit-driven mess of a health care system and start fresh with a single government-run insurer that would cover everyone. But doing away with an entire industry would also be profoundly disruptive. (Abelson and Sanger-Katz, 3/23)
CQ:
How 'Medicare For All' Would Change Health Care ... And The Economy
A single-payer health care plan would mean significant change to every sector of the health care industry. Hospitals and doctors would need to adjust to a new payment system, the insurance industry would shrink to a fraction of its size, and the government would bring drug companies to the negotiating table to determine prices. The 2010 health care law left in place most of the existing health care infrastructure in the U.S. Still, experts warn that the lessons from that more incremental transition show how dramatic it would be to shift to a single-payer system. (McIntire, 3/25)
The Associated Press:
Medicare For All Legislation Has Thorny Issues
The "Medicare for All" legislation that's become a clarion call for progressives has two little-noticed provisions that could make it even more politically perilous for 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. The legislation from White House hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders, along with a similar measure in the House, lifts curbs on government health insurance for people in the country illegally and revokes longstanding restrictions on taxpayer-funded abortions. (3/25)
CQ:
Models Abound, But U.S. Single-Payer System Would Be Unique
Supporters of “Medicare for All” often cite systems in other industrialized countries to illustrate how putting health care funding in government hands could work in the United States. Some of the benefits are clear. Besides expanding access to health insurance, the system could eliminate many complexities for patients, doctors and hospitals. (Siddons, 3/25)
CQ:
Single-Payer Systems Are No Easier In The States
The hurdles for a government-run, single-payer health care system are amplified at the state level, where universal coverage ambitions are hampered by politics, costs and federal restrictions. These realities ultimately undercut efforts in two of the nation’s most liberal states — Vermont, which ended its attempts to institute a single-payer system in 2014, and California, which is expected to fall short again this year. (Clason, 3/25)
And in related news —
Bloomberg:
Pelosi Says Democrats To Unveil `Sweeping' Health Bill March 26
House Democrats plan to unveil health-care legislation on March 26 aimed at lowering costs and protecting people with pre-existing conditions, according to an advisory from the office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The bill, broadly timed to coincide with the 9th anniversary this weekend of Obamacare being signed into law, would “reverse the Trump administration’s health-care sabotage, and take new measures to lower health premiums and out-of-pocket costs for families,” according to the statement. (Chipman, 3/23)
Twice in recent months, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has sided with liberal justices in abortion cases--a sign that to some suggests that the court isn’t likely to rewrite its longstanding holding, laid down in Roe v. Wade, that a woman has a constitutional right to an abortion before the fetus attains viability. Meanwhile, there's a growing push on the Democrats' side to allow abortion coverage in publicly funded health programs. And in Ohio, health officials cut off funding to Planned Parenthood following court ruling over public money going to the group.
The Wall Street Journal:
New Anti-Abortion Measures Could Struggle For Traction In Courts
Republican-led states are pushing through a raft of new anti-abortion legislation recently, but it’s far from clear that the toughest restrictions will survive judicial scrutiny. States this year have introduced hundreds of anti-abortion bills—including “fetal heartbeat” laws recently enacted in Mississippi and Kentucky—at a rate abortion-rights advocates say is unprecedented. Perhaps most notably, the governors of Kentucky and Mississippi signed bills this month making it a crime for doctors to terminate a pregnancy after an ultrasound detects fetal cardiac activity. (Gershman, 3/24)
The Hill:
Dem Support Grows For Allowing Public Funds To Pay For Abortions
Support is growing among Democrats in Congress for allowing abortion coverage in publicly funded health programs. House Democrats, who say they have a “pro-choice majority” for the first time in history, are vowing to end a long-standing ban of abortion coverage in Medicaid. They also want to ensure that future government healthcare plans allow recipients to get abortion coverage. (Hellmann, 3/23)
The Associated Press:
Ohio Cuts Funding For Planned Parenthood After Court OK
The Ohio Department of Health is ending grants and contracts that send money to Planned Parenthood after a divided federal appeals court upheld a state anti-abortion law that blocks public money for the group. The department notified recipients and contractors Thursday that it will end that funding within a month to comply with the law, unless the court delays the effect of its ruling as Planned Parenthood has requested. The health department said the law requires it to ensure state and certain federal funds aren't "used to perform or promote nontherapeutic abortions." (3/22)
Columbus Dispatch:
After Favorable Court Ruling, State Cutting Off Funding To Planned Parenthood
The state is cutting off Planned Parenthood’s funding from Ohio taxpayers.Last week, a federal appeals court in Cincinnati upheld an Ohio law that allows the state to cut off state funding to abortion providers. On Thursday, the Ohio Department of Health announced it will end Planned Parenthood’s funding in 30 days. (Prosser, 3/22)
Cleveland Plain Dealer:
Planned Parenthood Sites Across Ohio Receive Notice Of State Funding Termination
Planned Parenthood locations across Ohio on Thursday received notice from the Ohio Department of Health that their state funding will end next month. The notice comes following a federal appeals court ruling this month that upheld a 2016 Ohio law forbidding the state from sending preventive health funding to any organization, or affiliate of an organization, that “performs or promotes” non-therapeutic abortions. (Zeltner, 3/22)
And in other news —
NPR:
'Abortion Reversal' With Progesterone Is Being Tested In Study
Dr. Mitchell Creinin never expected to be in the position of investigating a treatment he doesn't think works. And yet, Creinin will be spending the next year or so using a research grant from the Society of Family Planning to put to the test a treatment he sees as dubious — one that recently has gained traction, mostly via the Internet, among groups that oppose abortion. They call it "abortion pill reversal." (Gordon, 3/22)
CQ:
Abortion Rights Activists See Win On Grant Changes As Harbinger
The Trump administration quietly declined this week to keep defending in court its controversial changes to the Teen Pregnancy Prevention, a bipartisan grant program that emphasizes evidence-based programs. Abortion rights advocates hope that the administration’s surrender foreshadows success on other legal challenges to women’s health changes. The Health and Human Services Department has prioritized many regulatory moves over the past two years that would change access to reproductive health services including contraception, sexual health education, and abortion – and many of those changes have been challenged in court. (Raman, 3/22)
The Guggenheim's decision follows in the footsteps of Britain’s National Portrait Gallery and the Tate Museum in cutting off ties with the family's charitable arm. The Sacklers are currently mired in a court battle over their role in the opioid epidemic.
The New York Times:
Guggenheim Museum Says It Won’t Accept Gifts From Sackler Family
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York said on Friday that it did not plan to accept future gifts from the family of Mortimer D. Sackler, a philanthropist and former board member whose money has been met with growing unease in the art world as his family’s pharmaceutical interests have been linked to the opioid crisis. The Guggenheim’s decision was announced one day after Tate, which runs some of the most important art museums in Britain, announced a similar move, saying that “in the present circumstances we do not think it right to seek or accept further donations from the Sacklers.” (Stack, 3/22)
The Washington Post:
Sackler Family Money Is Now Unwelcome At Three Major Museums. Will Others Follow?
The Sacklers are mired in legal action, investigations and looming congressional inquiries about their role in marketing a drug blamed for a significant early role in an epidemic of overdose deaths that has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans since 1997. Is this a trend? These moves may affect immediate plans but won’t put much of a dent in the museums’ budgets. The impact on the Sackler family’s reputation, however, will force American arts institutions to pay attention. The Sackler family, which includes branches with differing levels of culpability and involvement with the issue, has a long history of donating to cultural organizations. Arthur M. Sackler, who gave millions of dollars’ worth of art and $4 million for the opening of the Smithsonian’s Sackler Gallery in 1987, died long before the OxyContin scandal began. (Kennicott, 3/23)
The Wall Street Journal:
Sackler Family Actively Trying To Resolve Purdue Pharma Lawsuits
Members of the Sackler family who own OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP have become more involved in recent months in settlement negotiations to resolve the company’s share of more than 1,600 lawsuits accusing the drug industry of helping spark the nation’s opioid crisis, according to people familiar with the matter. Lawyers for cities and counties pressing claims have requested at least $10 billion from Purdue and its owners, the people said. Any potential settlement sought by plaintiffs would likely require more than just funding, such as treatment programs for people suffering from addiction. It isn’t known how close Purdue and other companies are to settlement, if one could be achieved. (Hopkins and Randazzo, 3/22)
In other news —
Pineandlakes Echo Journal:
Sobering Portrait Of Meth Use In Crow Wing County Leads Officials To Outline Policies
Crow Wing County department officials recently painted a picture for the county board about the drug problem in the county and what they are doing about it. The number of county attorney drug cases increased from about 250 in 2015 to 600 in 2017, and the number of sheriff's office drug cases also rose from almost 50 to 200 during that period. (Lee, 3/22)
GoFundMe Joins Social Media Peers In Cracking Down On Antivaccination Movement
“Campaigns raising money to promote misinformation about vaccines violate GoFundMe’s terms of service and will be removed from the platform," GoFundMe spokesman Bobby Whithorne said. The company joins other high-profile tech companies that are stepping up to regulate their online communities. Other vaccination news comes out of Kentucky, Oregon, Michigan and Minnesota.
The Washington Post:
Anti-Vaxxers Face A Crackdown From GoFundMe, Instagram And Other Platforms
GoFundMe has joined a growing list of social media companies cracking down on anti-vaccination propaganda to help stop the spread of misinformation. The increased effort from tech giants, such as Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube, comes amid a relentless anti-vaccine movement, talk about “chickenpox parties” and concerns over measles outbreaks across the country. It also comes as the American Medical Association, the nation’s most prominent doctors’ organization, has urged social media platforms to ensure users have access to accurate information on vaccines. (Bever, 3/22)
The Associated Press:
Kentucky Anti-Vaxxer Gets Hearing Over Chickenpox Ban
An unvaccinated student in Kentucky will get his day in court after suing because he can't participate in extracurricular activities during a chickenpox outbreak. The Courier Journal reports 18-year-old Jerome Kunkel's case will be heard in court April 1. Unvaccinated students have ordered by the state health department to stay away from the Our Lady of the Assumption Church school and its activities during the outbreak. (3/22)
The Oregonian:
The Oregon Tetanus Case Caused Many To Want Justice. But Do Vaccines Reach Child Neglect Bar?
The law in Oregon, Washington and generally across the nation sides with parents on medical issues. While there are some notable examples when hospitals and child protection agencies have stepped in, a child’s medical decisions are almost always in the hands of their parents. A high threshold exists for a state agency, prosecutor or hospital to claim that a parent is abusing or neglecting a child based on medical decisions. Parental medical judgments are rarely challenged. Multnomah County family court judges said they see very few cases -- sometimes only one in 20 years. (Harbarger, 3/24)
Detroit Free Press:
Oakland County Measles Outbreak Up To 8 Cases
The measles outbreak in Oakland County has grown to eight confirmed cases, officials announced Friday. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and the Oakland County Health Division are urging people to get vaccinated. The agencies also have released an expanded list of places where people may have been exposed to the highly contagious disease to include stores, medical facilities, and even the Oakland County Circuit courthouse. (Zaniewski, 3/22)
The Star Tribune:
Look Up Vaccination Rates At More Than 2,900 Minnesota Schools And Day Cares
Hundreds of Minnesota schools and child care centers face an increased risk of measles outbreaks because not enough of their students have been vaccinated against the disease, according to a Star Tribune data analysis. When fewer than 90 percent of students enrolled in a school haven't received both doses of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, known as MMR, health officials consider the school to be at higher risk of an outbreak, compromising "herd immunity" and leaving individuals who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons especially vulnerable. (Palazzolo and Webster, 3/23)
“To be honest, when we started this, I didn’t think it was as big an issue as it obviously is,” said Daniel Nathrath, CEO of Ada Health. The phenomenon, though, is, in some respects, no surprise: There’s a large body of research showing that people are more willing to confess potentially taboo thoughts to a computer than to a fellow human a few feet away.
Stat:
Patients Are Using Digital Health Apps To Confess Suicidal Thoughts
Digital health apps, which let patients chat with doctors or health coaches or even receive likely medical diagnoses from a bot, are transforming modern health care. They are also — in practice — being used as suicide crisis hotlines. Patients are confessing suicidal thoughts using apps designed to help them manage their diabetes or figure out why they might have a headache, according to industry executives. As a result, many digital health startups are scrambling to figure out how best to respond and when to call the police — questions that even suicide prevention experts don’t have good answers to. (Robbins, 3/25)
In other health and technology news —
Modern Healthcare:
Lawmakers' EHR Scrutiny Ramps Up
Lawmakers and government officials are seeking to ramp up scrutiny over electronic health records. A week after whistleblower allegations against Community Health Systems' related to its electronic health record implementation were revealed, Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) asked the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology for information on the ONC's processes to ensure compliance with the government's Promoting Interoperability program before paying out incentives. (Livingston, 3/22)
The New York Times:
Depressed And Anxious? These Video Games Want To Help
In the coming adventure video game Sea of Solitude, the main character — a young woman named Kay — navigates a partly submerged city as she faces a multitude of red-eyed scaly creatures. None are as terrifying as her own personal demons. As the game progresses, Kay realizes the creatures she is encountering are humans who turned into monsters when they became too lonely. To save herself, she fights to overcome her own loneliness. (Parker, 3/24)
The New York Times:
Reading To Your Toddler? Print Books Are Better Than Digital Ones
As a supporter of reading with children and a fan of traditional print books, I cannot say I am entirely surprised by the results of new research suggesting that print books are the best way to go when reading with young children. Reading books is one of the great and ongoing pleasures of my life, and although I read all kinds of things on screens, I cling to the print book, the paper book, or what we all secretly call “the book-book.” (Klass, 3/25)
The new guidance all applies to group homes and home-based care settings. In other news, the number of providers participating in CMS' advanced bundled payment model has dropped.
Modern Healthcare:
CMS Clears Up Home And Community-Based Care Requirements
The CMS offered new advice for state Medicaid directors to determine if assisted-living facilities, group homes and home-based care settings are meeting Medicaid funding requirements. The agency released new guidance on Friday to state Medicaid directors implementing a 2014 rule on Home and Community Based Services, or HCBS. The guidance will help states determine whether a facility such as an assisted-living facility or group home isolates residents from participating in the larger community, which could determine whether the facility loses Medicaid funding. (King, 3/22)
Modern Healthcare:
Bundled-Payment Model's Participation Dips 16% In Five Months
The number of healthcare providers participating in the CMS' advanced bundled payment model has declined by 16% since the program started five months ago, as providers choose to get out now to avoid financial risk. The CMS announced Thursday that 1,086 healthcare providers are participating in the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced model, the first alternative payment model unveiled during the Trump administration. The model was initially rolled out by the CMS in October with 1,299 participants. (King and Castellucci, 3/21)
A spokesman for the agency said 1.8 million people had both their banking information and addresses revealed, and about 725,000 people had just their addresses shared. The victims included those from the California wildfires in 2017 and Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.
The Washington Post:
FEMA ‘Major Privacy Incident’ Reveals Data From 2.5 Million Disaster Survivors
The Federal Emergency Management Agency shared personal addresses and banking information of more than 2 million U.S. disaster survivors in what the agency acknowledged Friday was a “major privacy incident.” The data mishap, discovered recently and the subject of a report by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, occurred when the agency shared sensitive, personally identifiable information of disaster survivors who used FEMA’S Transitional Sheltering Assistance program, according to officials at FEMA. Those affected included the victims of California wildfires in 2017 and Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, the report said. (Achenbach, Wan, and Romm, 3/22)
In other administration news —
ProPublica:
HUD’s Inspection System Gets A Poor Grade In Congressional Watchdog’s Report
The federal government’s system of inspecting taxpayer-subsidized housing is fundamentally flawed, and leaders at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development haven’t taken adequate steps to fix it, according to a congressional watchdog report released Thursday. The findings of the Government Accountability Office mirror those of an investigation by The Southern Illinoisan and ProPublica last year, which documented numerous cases in which substandard housing complexes received passing — and in some cases, glowing — scores from HUD. The news organizations built an online tool to allow users to look up the scores of taxpayer subsidized housing developments near them. (Parker, 3/23)
The FDA's longstanding position is that implants are essentially safe as long as women understand they can have complications. But that mentality could be changing.
The Associated Press:
FDA Takes Up Decades-Long Debate Over Breast Implant Safety
U.S. health officials are taking another look at the safety of breast implants, the latest review in a decades-long debate. At a two-day meeting that starts Monday, a panel of experts for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will hear from researchers, plastic surgeons and implant makers, as well as from women who believe their ailments were caused by the implants. (3/24)
The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Breast Implants: It’s Women Vs. Industry, As Mounting Evidence Forces FDA To Take Another Look
Can breast implants trigger chronic illness and even cause cancer? That question has plagued silicone gel-filled implants almost from their introduction in the 1960s, so there may be a sense of here-we-go-again when advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration revisit the debate during hearings Monday and Tuesday. (McCullough, 3/22)
This Year's Flu Season Wasn't As Extreme As The Last One, But It's The Longest Lasting In Decades
Usually, flulike symptoms drop quickly after the peak of the season, which usually occurs mid- to late-February, but this season those symptoms have plateaued. “It looks like we still have a ways to go,” said Lynnette Brammer, the head of the CDC’s Domestic Influenza Surveillance team. In other public health news: memory, cancer treatment, sleep deprivation, contrast agents for CT scans, older fathers, stillbirths and more.
The Wall Street Journal:
The Flu Season Hasn’t Been This Bad This Late In 20 Years
The percentage of doctor visits for flulike symptoms last week, 4.4%, is the highest figure for this time of the year since 1998, the first season the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began tracking flu prevalence this way. While this season hasn’t been as extreme as some in recent years, it has been a long one. It is still widespread in 42 states, though that’s down from 47 states and Puerto Rico for the week ended March 9, the CDC says. (Umlauf and Abbott, 3/22)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Flu Activity Continues To Go Down But Still Considered High
Flu activity in Georgia continues to decline but remains high and widespread. The Georgia Department of Public Health said 4 percent of patient visits to doctors were for the flu during the week ending March 16. That’s down from 4.2 percent of visits the week before, according to the most recent report released on Friday. (Oliviero, 3/22)
The New York Times:
Can We Get Better At Forgetting?
Whatever its other properties, memory is a reliable troublemaker, especially when navigating its stockpile of embarrassments and moral stumbles. Ten minutes into an important job interview and here come screenshots from a past disaster: the spilled latte, the painful attempt at humor. Two dates into a warming relationship and up come flashbacks of an earlier, abusive partner. The bad timing is one thing. But why can’t those events be somehow submerged amid the brain’s many other dimming bad memories? (Carey, 3/22)
The Associated Press:
Special Evaluations Can Help Seniors Cope With Cancer Care
Before she could start breast cancer treatment, Nancy Simpson had to walk in a straight line, count backward from 20 and repeat a silly phrase. It was all part of a special kind of medical fitness test for older patients that's starting to catch on among cancer doctors. Instead of assuming that elderly patients are too frail for treatment or recommending harsh drugs tested only in younger patients, they are taking a broader look. Specialists call these tests geriatric assessments, and they require doctors to take the time to evaluate physical and mental fitness, along with emotional and social well-being. (3/22)
NPR:
Sleep Deprived? Try These Strategies To Catch Up
There are lots of reasons why many of us don't get the recommended seven hours or more of sleep each night. Travel schedules, work deadlines, TV bingeing and — a big one — having young children all take a toll. Research published recently in the journal Sleep finds that up to six years after the birth of a child, many mothers and fathers still don't sleep as much as they did before their child was born. For parents, there's just less time in the day to devote to yourself. (Aubrey, 3/24)
NPR:
Contrast Agents For CT Scans: Time To Rethink The Risk?
One of the most widely used drugs in the world isn't really a drug, at least not in the usual sense. It's more like a dye. Physicians call this drug "contrast," shorthand for contrast agent. Contrast agents are chemical compounds that doctors use to improve the quality of an imaging test. In the emergency room, where I work, contrast is most commonly given intravenously during a CT scan. (Dalton, 3/23)
The New York Times:
The Risks To Babies Of Older Fathers
People are becoming parents at ever-increasing ages, a trend that can have implications for the health of the pregnancy, the babies and the women who birth them. But while most women know that reproductive risks to themselves and their babies rise as they get older, few men past 40 realize that their advancing years may also confer a risk. The age at which couples start families has been rising steadily for the last four decades as more couples marry later and delay having children until they’ve completed their education and are secure in their careers. (Brody, 3/25)
The Washington Post:
Could Excessive Sleep During Pregnancy Be Related To Stillbirths?
It can be difficult to sleep while pregnant. Any number of issues can interrupt sleep, including the frequent need to urinate, back pain, abdominal discomfort and shortness of breath, among others. Moreover, disruptive sleep during pregnancy can be risky for the fetus, contributing to curbing growth. But a recent study suggests that excessive, undisturbed sleep may be a problem, too. Sleeping continuously for nine or more hours may be related to the danger of late stillbirth, that is, the loss or death of a baby before or during delivery. (Cimons, 3/24)
Kaiser Health News:
She Was Dancing On The Roof And Talking Gibberish. A Special Kind Of ER Helped Her.
For decades, hospitals have strained to accommodate patients in psychiatric crisis in emergency rooms. The horror stories of failure abound: Patients heavily sedated or shackled to gurneys for days while awaiting placement in a specialized psychiatric hospital, their symptoms exacerbated by the noise and chaos of emergency medicine. Long wait times in crowded ERs for people who show up with serious medical emergencies. High costs for taxpayers, insurers and families as patients languish longer than necessary in the most expensive place to get care. (Gorman, 3/25)
The Hill:
Ebola Outbreak Hits 1,000 Cases
More than a thousand people have been infected with the deadly Ebola virus in two eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in an outbreak that has claimed hundreds of lives and flummoxed public health officials. The Congolese health ministry said Sunday the virus has killed at least 629 people and infected 1,009 people, making it by far the worst Ebola outbreak in Congo's modern history, and the second-worst outbreak in the world, behind an epidemic that struck three West African countries beginning in 2014. (Wilson, 3/24)
The New York Times:
Why You Procrastinate. (It Has Nothing To Do With Self-Control.)
If you’ve ever put off an important task to, say, alphabetize your spice drawer, you know it wouldn’t be fair to describe yourself as lazy. After all, alphabetizing requires focus and effort — and hey, maybe you even went the extra mile to wipe down each bottle before putting it back. And it’s not like you’re hanging out with friends or watching Netflix. You’re cleaning — something your parents would be proud of! This isn’t laziness or bad time management. This is procrastination. (Lieberman, 3/25)
The Washington Post:
Americans Are Becoming Less Happy, And There’s Research To Prove It
Life in America keeps getting more miserable, according to the latest data from the General Social Survey, one of the longest-running and most highly regarded public opinion research projects in the nation. On a scale of 1 to 3, where 1 represents "not too happy" and 3 means "very happy," Americans on average give themselves a 2.18 — just a hair above "pretty happy." That's a significant decline from the nation's peak happiness, as measured by the survey, of the early 1990s. The change is driven by the number of people who say they're not too happy: 13% in 2018 compared with 8% in 1990. That's a more than 50% increase in unhappy people. (Ingraham, 3/23)
The Washington Post:
A Toddler’s Dwindling Voice Was Chalked Up To Acid Reflux. Her Problem Was Far More Serious.
Vivienne Weil was an unusually quiet baby. “She never cried loudly enough to bother us,” recalled Natalia Weil of her daughter, who was born in 2011. Although Vivienne babbled energetically in her early months, her vocalizing diminished around the time of her first birthday. So did the quality of her voice, which dwindled from normal to raspy to little more than a whisper. Vivienne also was a late talker: She didn’t begin speaking until she was 2. (Boodman, 3/23)
The Washington Post:
A Mind-Boggling Trip Into The 3-Pound Slimy, Spongy Mass That Is The Human Brain
What weighs three pounds and is much more than a slimy, spongy mass? The human brain, of course. It’s the most complex organ in the body — home to 86 billion neurons that act like a miraculous supercomputer, allowing our bodies to function and our minds to roam freely. But how much do you really know about your own brain? If you’re brain-curious, a visit to BrainFacts.org may be in order. (Blakemore, 3/23)
The Washington Post:
Can Beet Juice Improve Athletic Performance?
Carnitine, chromium, anabolic steroids: Athletes have experimented with a broad array of aids in pursuit of performance edge. A popular — if unglamorous — one today that seems safe and backed by solid data: the juice of beets, for the nitrates they contain. Inorganic nitrate is added to cured and processed meats to extend their shelf life and give them their distinctive pink color. It’s also naturally found in spinach, arugula and beets. In the past decade, new evidence has suggested that the nitrate in these vegetables enhances athletic performance and may also increase cardiovascular health in old age. (Ortega, 3/24)
The tragedy continues one year after a gunman took the lives of 17 students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. While local leaders distributed information about how students can get help, others say the services being offered don't go far enough.
Reuters:
'Apparent Suicide' Of Parkland Student Days After Massacre Survivor Took Her Life
A student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida has died in "an apparent suicide," police said on Sunday, less than a week after a 19-year-old survivor of the 2018 massacre at the school took her own life. The student's death occurred on Saturday evening and is under investigation, said Coral Springs Police spokesman Tyler Reik. The student's name, age and gender were not disclosed, he said. (3/24)
The Washington Post:
Parkland Teen Dies In Apparent Suicide, Police Say, A Week After Another Student's Death
“17 + 2,” tweeted Ryan Petty, who is the father of Alaina Petty, a student killed in the shooting, and the founder of the Walkup Foundation, a school safety organization. Hillary Clinton tweeted Sunday that “nothing is worth the tremendous costs our young people bear because of our inaction on guns.” David Hogg, one of the student activists who rose to prominence in the wake of the Parkland shooting, called for officials to do more to prevent such deaths. (Rozsa, Epstein and Mettler, 3/24)
Media outlets report on news from California, Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire, Maryland, Virginia, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Georgia and Washington.
Stateline:
State Policies Might Keep Stroke Patients From The Care They Need
Unlike state rules for accident victims, which uniformly require first responders to take severely injured patients to the most advanced trauma unit available, state policies for stroke patients vary widely. Most state rules direct paramedics to the closest hospital with a stroke unit, regardless of the attack’s severity. And some states limit paramedics to taking stroke patients to hospitals within state borders. (Vestal, 3/22)
The Associated Press:
Florida May Boost Regulation Of Cosmetic Surgery Clinics
Choeun Nuon traveled from her home in California to a Miami-area cosmetic surgery clinic to have a so-called Brazilian butt lift in February 2017. Instead of recovering after the procedure, the 32-year-old mother of two began slipping in and out of consciousness. She eventually passed out because of a severe drop in blood pressure. When Nuon awoke and slowly found her bearings, she was in an emergency operating room at a nearby hospital, surrounded by medical staff. Medics learned that her surgeon had punctured her lumbar artery, causing her profuse internal bleeding. (3/24)
The Associated Press:
Michigan Deal Bars LGBT Discrimination In State Adoptions
Faith-based adoption agencies that are paid by the state of Michigan will no longer be able to turn away LGBT couples or individuals because of religious objections under a legal settlement announced Friday. The agreement was reached between Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel's office and lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued the state in 2017 on behalf of two lesbian couples and a woman who was in foster care in her teens. (3/22)
Kaiser Health News:
States Push For Caregiver Tax Credits
Gloria Brown didn’t get a good night’s sleep. Her husband, Arthur Brown, 79, has Alzheimer’s disease and had spent most of the night pacing their bedroom, opening and closing drawers, and putting on and taking off his jacket. So Gloria, 73, asked a friend to take Arthur out for a few hours one recent afternoon so she could grab a much-needed nap. She was lucky that day because she didn’t need to call upon the home health aide who comes to their house twice a week. (Young, 3/25)
Concord Monitor:
New Medical Office Building At Concord Hospital Will Hold Concord Orthopaedics
The steel framework rising above Concord Hospital signals a $56 million addition to the medical campus that officials say will help guide the hospital through the medical, technical and financial changes sweeping health care. It also signals something else: Neighbors on Pleasant Street can stop worrying about getting rezoned. When the medical office building opens a year from now, the bottom of its four floors will hold the surgery center of Concord Orthopaedics, a move from nearby facilities in which the facility has operated for two decades, in partnership with the hospital. That shift means the institution no longer wants to build a standalone surgical center on Pleasant Street, an idea that produced months of loud opposition before planners shelved it last year. (Brooks, 3/23)
The New York Times:
A Children’s Book Is Causing A Political Scandal In Baltimore. It’s Quite A Tale.
What has become a full-blown political scandal in Baltimore started innocently enough. In fact, it began with a children’s book. Mayor Catherine Pugh, a fitness fanatic, said that about a decade ago, she was inspired to encourage children to pursue healthy lifestyles, and so she created the “Healthy Holly” series of books, about a little girl devoted to self-improvement and the betterment of those around her. (Williams, 3/22)
San Jose Mercury News:
State Agency Blasts San Jose Foster Care Provider Unity Care
Within four months, the state of California — in a rare move — took action to revoke the licenses of Unity Care’s five San Jose foster homes that were part of a new program serving the highest-risk foster youths.In a legal action obtained by the Bay Area News Group, the state Department of Social Services outlined a disturbing list of failures that accused Unity Care of leaving high-risk foster youths without proper supervision in filthy, unsafe environments. (Prodis Sulek, 3/23)
KQED:
Cal/OSHA Launches Probe Into Attack That Injured Two Stanford Hospital Psych Nurses
State workplace regulators are investigating Stanford Hospital after a nurse in her 70s was attacked by a patient in a psychiatric unit earlier this month in an incident police learned of two days later.The attack, which left the nurse with serious injuries, took place on March 12, but Palo Alto police did not learn of the incident until March 14. (Goldberg, 3/22)
The Associated Press:
California Grower Recalls Avocados Over Possible Listeria
A Southern California company is voluntarily recalling whole avocados over possible listeria contamination. Henry Avocado, a grower and distributor based near San Diego, said Saturday that the recall covers conventional and organic avocados grown and packed in California. The company says they were sold in bulk across California, Arizona, Florida, Wisconsin, North Carolina and New Hampshire. There have been no reports of any illnesses associated with the avocados. (3/24)
Richmond Times-Dispatch:
New Program Addresses Homelessness Among LGBTQ+ Youth
Homelessness among LGBTQ+ youth in the Richmond region was the subject of a community forum Sunday that included the public unveiling of a new program that will provide temporary housing as well as other services. Host Home is seeking volunteers willing to open their homes to youth experiencing homelessness. (Lohmann, 3/24)
The CT Mirror:
Network Proposed To Help LGBTQ Community
[Patrick] Dunn recounted the young man’s story as part of his testimony Thursday before the legislature’s Human Services Committee on a bill establishing a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Health and Human Services Network. The purpose of the network is to make recommendations to the state about how to “work toward a safer and healthier environment for the LGBTQ community.” (Megan, 3/22)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Increasing Number Of Milwaukee Children Hospitalized For Poisoning
Increasing numbers of Milwaukee area children are being hospitalized for severe lead poisoning, a Children's Hospital of Wisconsin doctor said Friday. Heather Paradis, a pediatrician who serves as the hospital's medical director for community services, delivered the disturbing news during a heated meeting at City Hall about lead poisoning in Milwaukee. (Spicuzza, 3/22)
Sacramento Bee:
CA’s Healthiest Counties Are Also Its Richest, Study Says
A new study revealing California’s healthiest, and least healthy, counties highlights the divide between both urban and rural California as well as richer and poorer counties. ...The findings showed that that the Bay Area, Napa Valley and Southern California were home to some of the healthiest counties in the state, while the least healthy counties all were found in rural Northern California and along the Central Valley. (Sheeler, 3/22)
Capital Public Radio:
Undocumented Health Care Varies By County In California
A new report released Thursday by the Insure the Uninsured Project, a nonprofit group pushing for universal health care, shows that county programs for the medically indigent are generally serving fewer people now than they did before the Affordable Care Act. At the same time, more counties are offering some level of care to their undocumented population than ever before. (Caiola, 3/24)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Rural Georgia Hospitals Watch Health Care Bills With A Wary Eye
The brutal economics of rural hospitals have come up again and again in the Georgia Legislature over the years. This year, lawmakers are debating a number of bills that have the potential to change the picture. One measure, Senate Bill 106, with serious momentum and the potential to drive billions of dollars into the state, could give Gov. Brian Kemp the power to help insure hundreds of thousands of Georgians through Medicaid and private insurance. (Hart, 3/22)
Seattle Times:
City Removes Homeless Camp Near Seattle’s Fremont Troll That Was Site Of Overdoses
The city of Seattle has removed a large, unauthorized homeless encampment near the famed Fremont Troll sculpture that was the site of several drug overdoses this year. City officials have also pledged to prevent the encampment from reforming, according to an email to a Fremont resident from Deputy Mayor David Moseley obtained by The Seattle Times. (Davila, 3/23)
Editorial writers weigh in on issues surrounding women's reproductive rights.
Los Angeles Times:
Trump's Title X Rule Will Restrict Abortion Access And Obstruct Women's Healthcare
The Trump administration’s disdain for women’s reproductive rights and reproductive healthcare are well known. Shortly taking office, President Trump reinstituted the “global gag rule” that forbids foreign aid for any overseas healthcare provider that offers abortions or abortion counseling — even if the federal funds are carefully spent only on nonabortion services. Since his election, Trump has regularly threatened to defund Planned Parenthood. He has appointed anti-abortion judges and cut federal grants for family planning research. Now, he and the officials he has put in place at the Department of Health and Human Services are taking aim at the much-respected Title X Family Planning Program in an effort to further limit women’s access to safe and legal abortion. (3/25)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Scientists Oppose Six-Week Abortion Ban In ‘Hearbeat' Bill
The Georgia State House of Representatives and a State Senate committee recently approved House Bill 481, the so-called “fetal heartbeat” bill that would effectively ban abortions after six weeks. In the Senate Science and Technology committee, the bill passed 3-to-2 along both partisan and gender lines, with all three “Yes”’ votes coming from Republican men. HB 481 is not designed to help mothers and children, but rather poses a threat to women’s health and autonomy. (Nastassia Patin, 3/22)
Lexington Herald Leader:
‘Fetal Heartbeat’ Bill Passed In Kentucky Infringes On Basic Rights Of Pregnant Women
Last Thursday, Kentucky became the latest in a growing list of state legislatures passing “fetal heartbeat” bills that would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected—as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. The bill was temporarily blocked Friday by Judge David J. Hale of the Western District of Kentucky. But Hale’s decision, like the many other court rulings that have questioned the constitutionality of these bills, is no cause for relief among advocates of reproductive rights. The battle being fought here is not only legal but cultural. (Susan Bordo, 3/22)
The New York Times:
The First Time Women Shouted Their Abortions
You couldn’t just casually threaten suicide — you had to sound like you meant it, the woman onstage recalled. “You have to go and bring a razor, or whatever: ‘If you don’t tell me I’m going to have an abortion right now, I’m going to go out and jump off the Verrazzano Bridge.’” The woman was speaking in 1969. Legalized abortion nationwide was still four years away; in New York, so-called therapeutic abortions were legal — but only if a doctor judged you mentally unfit to have a child. And so, the woman explained, she ended up seeing two psychiatrists who, to her relief, deemed her suicide threats real enough to be granted the procedure. (Nona Willis Aronowitz, 3/23)
Opinion writers weigh in on these health care topics and others.
The Washington Post:
Democrats Are Attacking Trump’s Medicare ‘Cuts.’ But Bernie Sanders’s ‘Medicare For All’ Requires Them, Too.
The budget President Trump proposed this month is bad news for Medicare-for-all. That’s not so much because of what is in the plan, but rather because of the reactions it has provoked. Democrats have attacked the president for allegedly proposing $850 billion in Medicare cuts. Actually, $270 billion of that total is not a cut at all — just an accounting quirk, and the result of moving pieces of current Medicare spending to a different part of the federal health-care budget. The remaining $500 billion to $600 billion or so in cuts sound scary, particularly when health-care interest groups say they would be “devastating” and “gut Medicare.” But they would not. (3/23)
The New York Times:
My Friend’s Cancer Taught Me About A Hole In Our Health System
Last year, one of my best friends learned he had cancer. In many respects he was lucky. He had great insurance. He had enough money. Partly because one of his friends (me) is well connected in the health care system, he got excellent care. So this is not a story about how the system failed, or how people need insurance or access. He had those. He got the care. This is the United States health care system at its peak performance. But I was utterly floored by how hard it all was. (Aaron E. Carroll, 3/25)
The Hill:
Will Smoking Cannabis Make You Psychotic? Not Likely
A widely reported study published this week in the British journal The Lancet alleges that an estimated 30 to 50 percent of psychosis cases in Europe are due to cannabis exposure, and that exposure to elevated levels of THC increases this risk. But a careful reading of the study’s findings raises far more questions than answers. (Paul Armentano, 3/24)
USA Today:
I Am Not A Robot. I'm A Doctor And My Patients Need The Real Me.
The patient appeared to be dying. She had chronic lung disease, and she had been told she had little reserve left and had barely survived on home oxygen for the past few years. Each time she picked up a lung infection, the buzzards circled closer. Now she had tripped, fallen, broken a bone, had surgery, and her subsequent infection seemed to have pushed her past the point of no return. Still, I held off the palliative care/comfort care team for as long as I could, and she rallied. Everyone saw how tough she was and a fighter and praised my intervention, but it just wasn’t enough in the end and she died.I was reminded of the role I had played with that end-stage lung patient recently when a mechanical device wielding a video screen was rolled into an intensive care unit of a Kaiser Permanente hospital in California so that a doctor could remotely tell his patient that the lung scan showed no lung reserve left and he was a goner. (Marc Siegel, 3/23)
The New York Times:
It Will Take More Than A $34,000 Drug To Stop Postpartum Depression
The Food and Drug Administration last week approved the first-ever drug specifically for postpartum depression. The drug, Zulresso, a synthetic form of a hormone produced in the brain, acts quickly, and its effects can last for a month, but there’s a catch. Until a pill version is approved, the patient has to be hospitalized for 60 hours and receive the drug by IV. She can’t be home with her new baby because the drug may cause dizziness and unconsciousness. The price is also dizzying: $34,000 per treatment. (Elisa Albert and Jennifer Block, 3/24)
Stat:
Coaching, Leadership Training Can Help Med Students Avoid Burnout
Burnout is one of the biggest problems physicians face today. We believe that addressing it early — in medical school — through coaching gives physicians the tools they need to maintain balance and meaning in their personal and professional lives.We say that after reading comments from participants in our coaching program, “A Whole New Doctor,” developed at Georgetown University School of Medicine. This program, born almost by chance, provides executive coaching and leadership training to medical students, who are exactly the right audience for it. (Margaret Cary, Jack Penner and JP Mikhaiel, 3/25)
Sacramento Bee:
California’s Looming Health Worker Shortage Demands Action
California faces a shortage of 4,100 primary care doctors in the next decade, according to a study by the California Future Health Workforce Commission. Left unchecked, this shortage of doctors could mean long waits and less care as Boomers enter their golden years. (3/23)