First Edition: April 14, 2022

KHN: A Travel Nurse Leaves Fears Of Hospital Drug Tampering Across Three States
Health officials in at least three states are investigating a travel nurse suspected of tampering with and potentially contaminating vials and syringes of opioid painkillers in two hospitals, then returning the vials to medication cabinets where they could be unknowingly given to patients. One hundred patients who may have been exposed to contaminated syringes last year at Johnson City Medical Center in Tennessee were urged to get tested for hepatitis and HIV, according to state documents obtained by KHN through a public records request. (Kelman, 4/14)

KHN: Persistent Problem: High C-Section Rates Plague The South 
All along, Julia Maeda knew she wanted to have her baby naturally. For her, that meant in a hospital, vaginally, without an epidural for pain relief. This was her first pregnancy. And although she is a nurse, she was working with cancer patients at the time, not with laboring mothers or babies. “I really didn’t know what I was getting into,” said Maeda, now 32. “I didn’t do much preparation.” (Sausser, 4/14)

KHN: A Year In, Montana’s Rolled-Back Public Health Powers Leave Some Areas In Limbo
A year after a new Montana law stripped local health boards of their rulemaking authority, confusion and power struggles are creating a patchwork oversight system that may change how public health is administered long after the pandemic is over. The law, which took effect last April amid criticism of mask mandates and other covid restrictions on businesses, gave local elected leaders the final say in creating public health rules. Supporters said elected officials would be accountable to voters if they abuse that authority, while opponents said the change would inject politics into health decisions. (Houghton, 4/14)

KHN: How A Former Catholic Priest Is Navigating A California Medicaid Plan Through Big Changes 
For Michael Hunn, the path from priesthood to health care was seamless. Hunn, a native of St. Louis, counseled hospitalized patients as a Catholic priest in the 1980s before leaving the clergy and shifting to health care administration. Over the next three decades, he was CEO of nine different hospitals — in California, Texas, and Missouri — among other senior executive positions. Across his unusual trajectory, there’s been a common thread: a desire to help people. (Wolfson, 4/14)

The Washington Post: Grassley Says Republicans Won’t Repeal Affordable Care Act If They Retake Senate 
Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said this week that Republicans will not try to repeal the Affordable Care Act if they retake the Senate in November’s midterm elections, the latest signal that the GOP is abandoning its long-running effort to scrap the health-care law also known as Obamacare. Grassley, 88, was among the most vocal opponents of the law when it was being debated by Congress more than a decade ago. Back then, some Republicans had falsely claimed a provision in the ACA would create “death panels” that would decide whether older Americans should live or die. At the time, Grassley did not push back against those claims and told Iowans that they had “every right to fear” the health-care law. (Sonmez, 4/13)

CBS News: McKinsey Consulted On Opioids For The FDA — And Also With Opioid Makers, Report Claims 
More than 20 employees from consulting firm McKinsey worked for the U.S. government on issues related to the opioid epidemic while also doing the same type of consulting for major opioid makers like Purdue Pharma, according to a new congressional report. McKinsey, one of the world's most prestigious consulting firms, has been double-dipping with drugmakers and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for years, creating a "serious conflict of interest" for the company, the report alleges. The report also found McKinsey officials used their contract with the government to drum up even more consulting work with private companies. (Brooks, 4/13)

The New York Times: McKinsey Opened A Door In Its Firewall Between Pharma Clients And Regulators 
Jeff Smith, a partner with the influential consulting firm McKinsey & Company, accepted a highly sensitive assignment in December 2017. The opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma, beleaguered and in financial trouble, wanted to revamp its business, and an executive there sought out Dr. Smith. Over the following weeks, he traveled to Purdue’s offices in Stamford, Conn., meeting and dining with executives. His team reviewed business plans and evaluated new drugs that Purdue hoped would help move the company beyond the turmoil associated with OxyContin, its addictive painkiller that medical experts say helped to spark the opioid epidemic. But the corporate reorganization was not Dr. Smith’s only assignment at the time. He was also helping the Food and Drug Administration overhaul its office that approves new drugs — the same office that would determine the regulatory fate of Purdue’s new line of proposed products. (Hamby, Bogdanich, Forsythe and Valentino0DeVries, 4/13)

Reuters: U.S. Life Expectancy Fell By 2 Yrs In 2020, Sharpest Drop Among High-Income Peers 
Life expectancy in the United States fell by nearly two years in 2020 to about 77 years amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the sharpest drop compared to 21 other high-income countries, according to a global study. Americans on average are now expected to live for 76.99 years from 78.86 years in 2019, according to the study, which looked at national death and population counts in 2019 and 2020 to calculate the mortality rate ratio. (Roy, 4/13)

CIDRAP: Pandemic Cut US Life Span Almost 2 Years, More Than Any Peer Nation 
Life expectancy in the United States declined 1.87 years from 2019 to after the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, more than any of 21 other high-income countries—with greater losses in Hispanic and Black populations, according to a modeling study published today in JAMA Network Open. Researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University estimated life expectancy in the United States and 21 peer countries using a simulation of life tables based on national death and population data in 2019 and 2020. Life expectancy reflects how long a group of people can expect to live were they to experience at each age the age-specific mortality rates of that year, the study authors noted. (Van Beusekom, 4/13)

Los Angeles Times: Mortality Rate For L.A. Latinos Surpasses White Residents'
For years, public health experts have observed how Latinos have overall better mortality rates than white residents, despite being more likely to have lower incomes, chronic health issues and decreased access to healthcare. Now, the historic COVID-19 pandemic has upended the so-called Latino paradox in Los Angeles County. For the first time in the last decade, the mortality rate for Latinos in Los Angeles County became worse than that of white residents, starting in 2020 — the first year of the pandemic — and worsening the next year. (Campa, Lin II and Alpert Reyes, 4/13)

AP: CDC Extends Travel Mask Requirement To May 3 As COVID Rises 
The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is extending the nationwide mask requirement for airplanes and public transit for 15 days as it monitors an uptick in COVID-19 cases.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was extending the order, which was set to expire on April 18, until May 3 to allow more time to study the BA.2 omicron subvariant that is now responsible for the vast majority of cases in the U.S. (Miller and Koenig, 4/13)

NPR: Mask Mandate For Travelers Extended
The Biden administration is extending its face mask requirement for public transit for another 15 days. That means travelers will still need to mask up in airports, planes, buses, trains and at transit hubs until May 3. The mask travel requirement had been set to expire this coming Monday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is keeping in place its mask order "in order to assess the potential impact the rise of cases has on severe disease, including hospitalizations and deaths, and health care system capacity," according to an agency spokesperson. (Stone and Huang, 4/13)

NPR: COVID Remains A Public Health Emergency For Now, Says WHO And Biden Administration
The World Health Organization and the Biden administration are both saying that COVID-19 remains a public health emergency, even as global deaths from the virus have reached the lowest levels since March 2020. Both the WHO and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services first declared COVID-19 a public health emergency in January 2020. More than two years later, the pandemic situation has improved, but global health experts believe the virus is still a major health threat. More needs to be done before the WHO can lift this designation, the organization's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday during a press conference. (Diaz, 4/13)

Axios: U.S. COVID Cases On The Rise Again
After two months of plummeting COVID cases across the U.S., the virus is on the rise again, with the Northeast accounting for many of the new cases. We knew this was coming. Now it's just a matter of seeing how large an impact this surge of the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron has in the U.S. "We've got to be careful, but I don't think this is a moment where we need to be excessively concerned," White House's COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha told the Today show this week, pointing to low infection numbers and hospitalizations. (Reed and Beheraj, 4/14)

NBC News: Covid Cases Are On The Rise, Yet Few Precautions Have Come Back. Why?
When Philadelphia’s health commissioner announced this week that the city’s indoor mask mandate would be reinstated as Covid-19 cases there rise, something unusual happened: Not a single other major U.S. city followed suit. Throughout the pandemic, local, state and federal precautions have followed a predictable pattern. As key Covid indicators, such as infections, hospitalizations and deaths, have gone up, so has the number of officials who have required masks, proof of vaccination or other measures to slow the rate of transmission of the coronavirus.  (Chuck, 4/13)

The New York Times: New Omicron Subvariants Spreading Fast In New York 
Two new versions of Omicron, the coronavirus variant that has swept through the world in the past few months, are circulating in New York State and may be responsible for rising infections in the region over the past few weeks, state health officials announced on Wednesday. The appearance of these variants, both of which evolved from the subvariant BA.2, may explain why New York has been the national hot spot the last few weeks, the officials said. So far, the new viruses do not appear to cause more severe disease than previous variants, the officials said. (Mandavilli, 4/14)

The Boston Globe: Boston Public Health Commission Urges Testing, Vaccination Ahead Of Holiday Weekend As COVID Positivity Rate In City Tops 6 Percent
The Boston Public Health Commission urged residents on Wednesday to take steps to protect themselves against COVID-19 ahead of the upcoming Passover, Easter and Patriot’s Day weekend. In a post to its blog, the commission said the city’s COVID-19 positivity rate is at 6.2 percent, passing their “threshold of concern” of 5 percent. Residents between the ages of 20 to 30 are driving the increased rate, the commission wrote. As people prepare to gather over the long weekend, which includes Monday’s running of the 126th Boston Marathon, the commission urged people to ensure they were fully vaccinated, had received a booster shot, and take a COVID-19 test before gathering. (McKenna, 4/13)

Los Angeles Times: California Says Asymptomatic People Exposed To Coronavirus Don't Need To Quarantine
California is no longer recommending a five-day quarantine period for people who are exposed to the coronavirus but remain asymptomatic, a move that could potentially result in a relaxation of similar rules in Los Angeles County. Doing so, officials say, would relieve the burden for employers and institutions to keep otherwise healthy people at home following exposure. The move also reflects a new pandemic reality, according to state officials — that slowly but steadily increasing vaccination rates and the availability of anti-COVID drugs are reducing the overall risk of California’s hospitals being overwhelmed in potential future surges. (Lin II and Money, 4/13)

AP: Arkansas Jail, Doc: Ivermectin Lawsuit Should Be Dismissed
Attorneys for an Arkansas jail and doctor being sued by inmates who say they were unknowingly given ivermectin to treat their COVID-19 say the lawsuit should be dismissed because the men are no longer being held in the county facility. In a motion filed Tuesday, attorneys for the Washington County jail and Dr. Robert Karas noted that the four inmates who filed the lawsuit are now being held in state prisons. (4/13)

AP: Board Of Health Opts Against New School Vaccine Requirement
The Washington state Board of Health has decided that COVID-19 vaccines will not be required for students to attend K-12 schools this fall. The Board of Health made the decision in a unanimous vote Wednesday, The Seattle Times reported. Last fall, the board created a separate technical advisory group tasked with researching whether a COVID vaccine would meet all the scientific criteria needed to be added to the list of required K-12 immunizations. (4/13 )

Bloomberg: Delta Air To End $200 Monthly Fee For Unvaccinated Employees
Delta Air Lines Inc. will stop assessing a $200 monthly surcharge for employees who have not received a coronavirus vaccination, the latest sign that the travel industry is relaxing its approach to the virus even as the U.S. plans to extend a face-mask requirement. The assessment to cover the added costs of Covid-19 illnesses will end April 30, a Delta spokesman said Wednesday. Delta declined to say how many employees have been paying the surcharge but that more than 95% of its 75,000 workers had been vaccinated as of January. (Bachman, 4/13)

Axios: Children's Mental Health At Risk Of Becoming America's Next Culture War
As more states and school districts move to address children's mental health, some parents and activists are making school-based support programs a political flashpoint, saying they put school officials in inappropriate roles and could indoctrinate students in progressive thinking. The pandemic has created a greater sense of urgency around children's mental health, but statistics have been trending in the wrong direction for years, with sometimes tragic consequences for families and communities. (Owens and Snyder, 4/14)

AP: Bipartisan Push On Mental Health Crisis That COVID Worsened
A major effort to overhaul care for people in the United States with mental health and drug problems is gaining traction as Congress and the Biden administration work on overlapping plans to address concerns across dividing lines of politics, geography and race. Top goals include responding to the mental health crisis among youth, increasing the supply of professional counselors and clinicians, narrowing a persistent gap between care for physical and mental health problems, and preserving access to telehealth services that proved their usefulness in the pandemic. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 4/13)

Stat: Justice Department Probes Bausch Health Over Marketing For Dermatology Drugs 
Bausch Health is being investigated by U.S. authorities in connection with marketing of four medicines used to treat different skin conditions, according to an internal document reviewed by STAT. The Department of Justice sent a civil investigative demand last year to the company seeking information about various activities in which the medicines may have been promoted for uses not approved by regulators. The inquiry is focused on three drugs used to treat plaque psoriasis — Bryhali, Siliq, and Duobrii – and a fungal treatment called Jublia, the document stated. (Silverman, 4/13)

Modern Healthcare: Nursing Home Industry Decries Poor Timing Of Proposed Medicare Cuts
Nursing homes are steeling for a $320 million Medicare pay cut they say will make it harder to deliver care during an already challenging time. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published a proposed rule Tuesday that would reduce Medicare Part A reimbursements for fiscal 2023 to make up for what the agency characterized as unintentionally high pay rates in fiscal 2020. "It's going to put a lot of strain on operations, especially for the smaller, individual skilled nursing facilities," said Karen Maseli, assistant vice president of operations for ProMedica Senior Care. (Christ, 4/13)

Modern Healthcare: CMS 'Birthing-Friendly' Hospital Designation Will Debut In 2023
Hospitals can begin receiving a "birthing-friendly" designation from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in fall 2023, the agency announced Wednesday. The designation will initially be based on the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program's maternal morbidity structural measure. Hospitals will need to meet expanded criteria in the future, CMS said in a news release. The reporting period for the morbidity measure began in October and hospitals will submit data to CMS for the first time in May. The metric requires hospitals to attest whether they participate in a state or national perinatal quality improvement collaborative program and whether they have implemented safety practices or bundles to address birth complications such as hemorrhages and sepsis. (Goldman, 4/13)

Detroit Free Press: St. Joseph Mercy Health And Mercy Health Are Changing Their Names
Eight Michigan hospitals and 320 other health care sites in the state will incorporate the Trinity Health name and logo as part of the rebranding, which will take place through 2023. "We are transforming our identity to assert our presence as one of Michigan’s largest health care systems, with a singular commitment to keeping our patients at the center of everything we do," said Rob Casalou, president and CEO of Trinity Health Michigan and Southeast Regions. "We are peeling back the layers to reveal a unified organization with a shared legacy and mission of service to the communities we're honored to serve." (Jordan Shamus, 4/13)

The Boston Globe: Health Care Watchdog Pushes To Hold Down Spending Despite Pandemic
Despite two years of unprecedented disruption in the health care market, Massachusetts has ordered insurers and providers to keep health care spending low. On Wednesday, the state’s Health Policy Commission set a 3.6 percent benchmark for health care spending growth in 2023. That number is up slightly from the 3.1 percent benchmark the state has had in place since 2018. The low spending growth goal comes despite requests from state hospital lobbying groups that the state pause the benchmark for a year to account for massive disruptions in the market. (Bartlett, 4/13)

Stat: Small Employers Brace For Giant Health Insurance Price Hikes
Many small companies are expected to face double-digit hikes to their health insurance premiums next year — increases that would add to the broader strain on the take-home pay and budgets of millions of American workers, families, and small business owners. Health insurance brokers, consultants, and benefits advisers told STAT that health care premiums for a lot of smaller employers likely will rise by at least 10% to 15% for 2023. The pandemic is contributing to that, creating headaches for insurance actuaries who are trying to estimate how much care people will get while a deadly virus keeps circulating. (Herman, 4/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Kentucky Legislature Overrides Governor’s Veto, Passes Abortion Restrictions
The Kentucky Legislature overrode its governor’s veto and passed new abortion regulations Wednesday that local providers said would force them to cease offering the procedure immediately, potentially making Kentucky the first state in decades without legal access to abortion. The bill imposes additional reporting requirements on providers related in part to medication abortions and stipulates that they can’t dispose of fetal remains as medical waste and must work with a funeral home to provide individual burial or cremation, among other provisions. The bill also bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy with an exception for the life or health of the mother, similar to a Mississippi law now being weighed by the Supreme Court. (Kusisto and Calfas, 4/13)

AP: Kentucky Lawmakers Push To Put More Restrictions On Abortion
Demonstrators’ chants echoed through Kentucky’s Capitol on Wednesday as Republican lawmakers started pushing aside the Democratic governor’s veto of a bill putting new restrictions on abortion — including banning the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy. About two dozen abortion-rights supporters chanted “hands off our bodies” at the bottom of the stairs leading to the House chamber as the lawmakers debated the abortion measure. Both sides of the debate mentioned the demonstrators, whose voices could be heard by lawmakers as the emotional debate continued. (Schreiner, 4/13)

AP: Catholic Church Can't Intervene In Idaho Abortion Lawsuit 
The Idaho Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a request by the Roman Catholic Church in Idaho to intervene in a lawsuit over a new Idaho law banning nearly all abortions. The court did not explain why the church was excluded after the Diocese of Boise on Monday asked to be allowed to join the lawsuit in support of the ban. (Ridler, 4/13)

San Francisco Chronicle: Colleagues Worry Dianne Feinstein Is Now Mentally Unfit To Serve, Citing Recent Interactions
When a California Democrat in Congress recently engaged in an extended conversation with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, they prepared for a rigorous policy discussion like those they’d had with her many times over the last 15 years. Instead, the lawmaker said, they had to reintroduce themselves to Feinstein multiple times during an interaction that lasted several hours. Rather than delve into policy, Feinstein, 88, repeated the same small-talk questions, like asking the lawmaker what mattered to voters in their district, they said, with no apparent recognition the two had already had a similar conversation. (Kopan and Garofoli, 4/13)

The Washington Post: William Husel Trial: Ex-Doctor Accused Of Killing Patients With Fentanyl Awaits Jury Decision 
The doctor told Christine Allison he was going to give her husband something to make him comfortable, and a nurse pulled shut the curtain around his bed in the intensive care unit. When it opened again, Troy Allison, 44, was lifeless. His wife was stunned, she later recalled in court testimony. In the hours since an ambulance had carried him to Mount Carmel West, a Catholic hospital near their home in the Columbus, Ohio, area, Troy Allison had gone into cardiac arrest and been revived four times. But he seemed to be comfortable and resting. Results from a CT scan hadn’t come back yet. (Shammas, 4/13)

Houston Chronicle: City Council Unanimously Approves Paid Parental Leave For Houston Employees After Decade-Long Push
City employees will have access to paid parental leave for the first time beginning in May after a decade-long push to adopt the family-friendly policy that advocates hope will help the city attract and retain working parents. City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved the new leave policy, which will give workers who have been with the city for at least six months up to 12 weeks of paid leave for the birth, adoption or foster placement of a child. The policy also includes paid time off during pregnancy for certain health matters. (Mishanec, 4/13)

The 19th: Colorado Could Be First State To Guarantee Paid Family Leave To Lawmakers
The Colorado legislature is on the cusp of guaranteeing 12 weeks of paid parental leave to its lawmakers, which would make the state’s policy one of the most generous of its kind — and the first to be codified. The Colorado Senate approved the bill in early April, and a key legislative leader in the Colorado House said the proposal is expected to advance in that chamber in the next few weeks. The bill would offer an additional four weeks of paid leave to lawmakers who experience pregnancy or childbirth complications. (Rodriguez, 4/13)

Colorado Sun: Colorado Bill Would Make It A Felony To Have More Than 1 Gram Of Fentanyl
Knowingly possessing more than 1 gram of fentanyl or a fentanyl compound for personal use would be a felony in Colorado under an amendment passed Wednesday afternoon by the House Judiciary Committee to a bill seeking to stem rising overdose deaths linked to the powerful synthetic opioid. The committee’s 7-4 vote to adopt the amendment is a response to criticism from law enforcement, who said the measure — House Bill 1326  — was too weak because it failed to change a 2019 law that made possessing up to 4 grams of fentanyl a misdemeanor. Harm reduction advocates argued fiercely against making fentanyl possession for personal use a felony again, saying that the criminal justice system is not a solution to addiction. (Najmabadi and Paul, 4/13)

NPR: Study: Severe Black Lung Disease Among Appalachian Coal Miners Linked To Silica
Exposure to a toxic rock dust appears to be "the main driving force" behind a recent epidemic of severe black lung disease among coal miners, according to the findings of a new study. Lawmakers have debated and failed to adequately regulate the dust for decades. The study, which examined the lungs of modern miners and compared them to miners who worked decades ago, provides the first evidence of its kind that silica dust is responsible for the rising tide of advanced disease, including among miners in Appalachia. (Benincasa, 4/13)

AP: Heal Thyself: Most Who Tear Achilles Tendon Can Skip Surgery
It’s a weekend warrior’s nightmare. You’re playing hoops in the driveway and go up for a lay-up. You land and hear a pop: you’ve torn your Achilles tendon. Do you have surgery or hope it heals with just a cast and rehab? New research says both options led to similar outcomes about a year later. ... In the biggest-ever study investigating which treatment is best, scientists in Norway tracked 526 patients — mostly men with an average age of 39 — who ripped their Achilles tendon. They either had minimally invasive surgery, a standard surgery or non-surgical treatment, a brace to immobilize the affected foot and physical therapy. All patients got rehab therapy and were told to avoid risky activities for six months. (Cheng, 4/13)

The Boston Globe: Can An App That Pays People $5 A Day To Stop Drinking Keep Them Sober?
Researchers have known for years that offering people struggling with addiction small rewards, like vouchers or gift cards, for making positive changes can help break the cycle of drug or alcohol dependency. Known as “contingency management,” the treatment works by triggering the same instant gratification response in the brain that someone might get from substance abuse. But contingency management has been difficult and expensive to administer, while also being criticized for giving money that might be spent inappropriately. “All the drugs of abuse disrupt the brain reward center, which is deeper in the brain,” said David Gastfriend, DynamiCare’s cofounder and chief medical officer. “When we just put people in detox and then send them to counseling, we’re saying, ‘Use your thinking brain to try and overcome your chemical drive center.’ The problem is, behavior works in the opposite direction.” The goal of the app, by contrast, is to go right to the reward center. (Pressman, 4/13)

Reuters: Britain Approves Valneva's Easy-To-Store COVID Shot 
Britain approved on Thursday Valneva's COVID-19 vaccine, making it the first European country to give a nod to the French firm's coronavirus shot, that is easier to store and involves a process widely used in making flu and polio vaccines. (Grover and Morland, 4/14)

Fox News: Ukraine Focus Shows Bias Against Black Lives, WHO Chief Says
World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hit the global community Wednesday for its focus on the war in Ukraine, questioning "if the world really gives equal attention to Black and White lives." In a press briefing, the agency chief said that ongoing emergencies in Ethiopia, Yemen, Afghanistan and Syria have garnered only a "fraction" of the global concern for Ukraine. In March, Tedros – who is from Ethiopia – said there is "nowhere on Earth where the health of millions of people is more under threat" than the country's Tigray region. Thousands have been killed since the civil war began in November 2020, and the UN Refugee Agency reports that more than 3,000 people have been fleeing from Tigray each day into eastern Sudan. (Musto, 4/13)