Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Federal Appeals Court Rules Kentucky Can Enforce Minors' Gender Care Ban
AP: Appeals Court Lets Kentucky Enforce Ban On Transgender Care For Minors
A federal appeals court is allowing Kentucky to enforce a recently enacted ban on gender-affirming care for young transgender people while the issue is being litigated. The 2-1 decision Monday from the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati is not unexpected. The same three-judge panel ruled the same way earlier this month on a similar case in Tennessee. (Barakat, 7/31)
Stat: How Primary Care Doctors Are Learning About Trans Health
Harrison has an informal test that he runs on primary care physicians when he meets them for the first time: the eye contact test. When he arrives at the appointment and tells them that he’s transgender, he watches their eyes for a reaction. He’s looking for signs of shock — have they ever met a trans person before? Do they get nervous, or start talking at him, rather than with him? Trying to find an accepting clinician, especially where he lives in the mountains of North Carolina, can be tough. He’s been ghosted before — doctors tell him to follow up over an online patient portal or to call back later, which he does, only to never hear back again. (Gaffney, 8/1)
More health news from across the U.S. —
The Colorado Sun: Not All 988 Crisis Calls Are Reaching Colorado’s Call Center
A year after it went live, the 988 national mental health hotline is still working out some issues — and Colorado needs a huge increase in staff to meet the 24/7 demands. For starters, when people dial the three-digit number, their call is routed to the state call center that matches their area code, not their location. This is particularly bad for Colorado, which has a high number of transplants who moved here with out-of-state area codes and a large military population. Also, Colorado realized it needs 260 additional employees to answer the calls on top of the 130 it started with if it’s going to meet a federal requirement taking effect in April that call centers must pick up within 20 seconds. The current threshold is 59 seconds. (Brown, 7/31)
North Carolina Health News: NC Jails Have Arbitrary Release Protocols For Sick Inmates
When a group of local researchers set out to understand more about health care services in jails in the Southeast, they discovered that there are many informal ways incarcerated people are released early because they have various health conditions. Jails are required by law to provide health services for those in custody, and research has shown over time that the jail population tends to be sicker than the general population. Incarcerated individuals have higher rates of bloodborne illnesses, chronic illnesses and mental illness, largely because they come from low wealth communities and have had limited access to health care before they were incarcerated. (Knopf, 8/1)
Minnesota Public Radio: Fergus Falls Nonprofit To Help Forgive Medical Debt For 3,700 Minnesotans
Beginning Aug. 7, about 3,700 Minnesotans can expect a pink envelope in the mail that says: “Congratulations, your medical debt has been retired and we have notified the credit bureaus that this debt has been extinguished. ”That’s according to Jeff Smedsrud. He’s the managing director of CA Foundation, a Fergus Falls nonprofit that made a donation last week to a national charity that will buy $3.3 million in unpaid medical debt from low-income Minnesotans. (Ki, 8/1)
Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Gave Up On A Mental Health Program — And Is Handing Back Millions In Grants
Providers insist that what are known as child and adult outreach triage teams were saving some of L.A. County’s sickest residents by closing a gap in care. Officials with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, however, said they were underwhelmed by the teams’ performance. (Seidman, 7/31)
Detroit Free Press: 2 Michigan Residents Test Positive For Mosquito-Borne Jamestown Canyon Virus
A resident of Oakland County and another from Macomb County have tested positive for the Jamestown Canyon virus. They have the first confirmed human cases of mosquito-borne disease in Michigan in 2023, state health officials said. They may also be the first in the U.S. to contract the virus this year. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that, as of July 25, the nation had not yet recorded any confirmed human cases in 2023. (Jordan Shamus, 7/31)
New Hampshire Public Radio: NH Hospital Aims To Meet Emergency Food Needs With ‘Little Free Pantry’
It looks like one of those take-a-book, leave-a-book lending libraries that you might see around town. But the “Little Free Pantry” outside New London Hospital is filled with canned goods, pasta and other food items. It’s part of an effort to address food insecurity in the area. People can stop by to take any food they need, or donate if they’re able. (Cuno-Booth, 8/1)
