First Edition: April 24, 2024

KFF Health News: Tire Toxicity Faces Fresh Scrutiny After Salmon Die-Offs 
For decades, concerns about automobile pollution have focused on what comes out of the tailpipe. Now, researchers and regulators say, we need to pay more attention to toxic emissions from tires as vehicles roll down the road. At the top of the list of worries is a chemical called 6PPD, which is added to rubber tires to help them last longer. When tires wear on pavement, 6PPD is released. It reacts with ozone to become a different chemical, 6PPD-q, which can be extremely toxic — so much so that it has been linked to repeated fish kills in Washington state. (Robbins, 4/24)

KFF Health News: FTC Chief Says Tech Advancements Risk Health Care Price Fixing
New technologies are making it easier for companies to fix prices and discriminate against individual consumers, the Biden administration’s top consumer watchdog said Tuesday. Algorithms make it possible for companies to fix prices without explicitly coordinating with one another, posing a new test for regulators policing the market, said Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, during a media event hosted by KFF. “I think we could be entering a somewhat novel era of pricing,” Khan told reporters. (Rovner and Hilzenrath, 4/23)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute'
“Health Minute” brings original health care and health policy reporting from the KFF Health News newsroom to the airwaves each week. (4/23)

AP: Remnants Of Bird Flu Virus Found In Pasteurized Milk, FDA Says 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that samples of pasteurized milk had tested positive for remnants of the bird flu virus that has infected dairy cows. The agency stressed that the material is inactivated and that the findings “do not represent actual virus that may be a risk to consumers.” Officials added that they’re continuing to study the issue. “To date, we have seen nothing that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe,” the FDA said in a statement. (Aleccia, 4/23)

Stat: H5N1 Flu Virus Outbreak In Cows Likely Started Earlier Than Thought 
The H5N1 bird flu outbreak in dairy cows in the United States has likely been going on for months longer than was previously realized, and has probably spread more widely across the country than the confirmed outbreaks would imply, according to an analysis of genetic sequences that were released Sunday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (Branswell, 4/23)

CIDRAP: Scientists Find Clues In Early Analysis Of Newly Shared US H5N1 Avian Flu Sequences
Analysis of the hemagglutinin, neuraminidase, and internal genes hints that the virus hasn't changed much from its introduction into cattle in late 2023 or 2024, said Michael Worobey, head of the ecology and evolutionary biology department at the University of Arizona at Tucson. There's a strong possibility that the virus has been circulating undetected for months, even before a mysterious illness began affecting dairy cows in February, Worobey said. "This reveals massive gaps in our pathogen and surveillance system." (Schnirring, 4/23)

CNN: Scientists Say USDA Is Sharing Too Little Data Too Slowly On H5N1 Flu
When the US Department of Agriculture announced late Sunday that it had publicly posted new data from its investigation into a bird flu outbreak in cattle, scientists eagerly searched a well-known platform used globally to share the genetic sequences of viruses. The sequences weren’t there. As of Tuesday morning, they still aren’t. (Goodman, 4/23)

Stat: Can We Make Enough H5N1 Bird Flu Vaccine If There's A Pandemic? 
The unsettling reality of H5N1 bird flu circulating in dairy cow herds in multiple parts of the United States is raising anxiety levels about whether this dangerous virus, which has haunted the sleep of people who worry about influenza pandemics for more than 20 years, could be on a path to acquiring the ability to easily infect people. (Branswell, 4/24)

NBC News: 'One Person Responsible For This Nightmare': Biden Pins Florida 6-Week Abortion Ban On Trump
President Joe Biden on Tuesday scorched Florida's impending six-week abortion ban and said Donald Trump was responsible, casting the former president as a danger to women's freedoms. "This extreme Florida law is going to impact 4 million women in the state," Biden said during a speech in Tampa. "Let's be real clear. There's one person responsible for this nightmare. And he's acknowledged and he brags about it – Donald Trump." (Egwuonwu, Richards and Korecki, 4/23)

NPR: What's At Stake As The Supreme Court Hears Case About Abortion In Emergencies
The case, known as Moyle v. United States (Mike Moyle is the speaker of the Idaho House), has major implications on everything from what emergency care is available in states with abortion bans to how hospitals operate in Idaho. Here's a summary of what's at stake. (Simmons-Duffin, 4/23)

The New York Times: Abortion Data Wars: States And Cities Debate How Much Information To Collect 
In the fierce debate over abortion in the United States, the subject of data collection might seem wonky and tangential. But the information that state and city governments collect about abortion patients is becoming another flashpoint in the country’s bitter divide over the issue. Some states with Republican-controlled legislatures have moved to require more information about each abortion, while some states where Democrats dominate are reducing the information they collect, fearing that it may be used to identify patients or to prosecute abortion providers. (Belluck and Fitzsimmons, 4/23)

NBC News: Watchdog Group Asks 5 Attorneys General To Investigate Crisis Pregnancy Center Privacy Practices
A progressive watchdog group sent letters Tuesday asking attorneys general in five states to investigate the privacy practices of crisis pregnancy centers, arguing they could be misleading patients with claims that sensitive medical data is protected by health privacy laws, according to copies of the letters obtained by NBC News. (Brooks, 4/23)

Military.com: Military Women At Greater Risk Of Having Babies With Low Birth Weight, Scientific Review Finds 
Women in the military could have a higher risk of giving birth to low-weight babies than their civilian counterparts, according to a scientific review published this week. The review, which analyzed 21 separate studies of pregnancies in the U.S. military from 1979 to 2023, found that about two-thirds of the studies concluded that active-duty servicewomen may be at heightened risk of having babies with a low birth weight. (Kheel, 4/23)

CBS News: IVF Clinic Accused Of Implanting Dead Embryos Into Would-Be Mothers
Nine Southern California couples have filed a lawsuit accusing the Ovation Fertility lab of negligence and recklessness for implanting dead embryos into would-be mothers, according to attorneys. "Late January of this year, Ovation committed a catastrophic error in their laboratory in which they exposed embryos to lethal chemicals, killing them," attorney Rob Marcereau said. "They killed all nine of our clients' embryos along with, we believe, many other people's." (Gile, 4/23)

AP: Ashley Judd And Aloe Blacc Help The White House Unveil Its National Suicide Prevention Strategy 
Actor Ashley Judd and singer-songwriter Aloe Blacc, who both lost loved ones to suicide, on Tuesday helped the Biden administration promote its new national strategy to prevent suicide. Judd’s mother, country star Naomi Judd, died nearly two years ago. Blacc’s frequent collaborator, Tim Bergling, died in 2018. Both were on hand as Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, helped unveil the Democratic administration’s blueprint for reducing suicides in the United States. Some 132 people a day kill themselves, he said. “We’re here today because we know that we can and will change this,” Emhoff said. “Suicide is preventable.” (Superville, 4/23)

Politico: Xavier Becerra Plots His Political Future After Biden Administration 
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra’s plans to leave the Biden administration and run for California governor are more advanced than previously known — with hiring discussions and spending further developed than he’s letting on. Not only has Becerra had conversations over the past weeks about making the move, he or emissaries have approached political firms about standing up a gubernatorial campaign to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2026, two people briefed on those discussions told POLITICO. (Cadelago and Lippman, 4/23)

Stat: How The FTC's Noncompete Agreement Ban Could Impact Health Care 
The Federal Trade Commission approved a far-reaching noncompete ban Tuesday that could force sweeping changes across the health care industry. But those changes may not take effect for years — if they ever do — because the contentious rule will almost certainly be held up in litigation. (Bannow, 4/23)

Stat: NIH Raises Minimum Salary For Postdoctoral Researchers 
The National Institutes of Health will raise the minimum salary for postdoctoral researchers to $61,008 next year, the agency announced Tuesday, responding to growing calls from young life scientists to provide a living wage. The 8% pay bump is far short of the increase to $70,000 that was recommended by an NIH working group late last year. But the agency noted in a press release that it’s the largest year-over-year update for NIH-funded postdocs since 2017. (Gaffney, 4/23)

San Francisco Chronicle: Nurses At S.F. General Argue Understaffing Is At Crisis Level
Hannah Lucero shows up for her nursing shifts at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center and says she’s often told there will be no breaks. Due to a lack of adequate staffing in the hospital’s inpatient psych unit, Lucero said, she and her co-workers are forced to take on extra patients, frequently work mandated overtime and suffer repeated assaults from patients. ... “Unstaffed shifts are not just inconvenient or really busy,” she said. “They’re scary, unsafe, lonely and mentally exhausting.” (Angst, 4/23)

The Boston Globe: Steward Morton Hospital Concerns Spark Taunton Rally
From emergency room visits to childbirth, Morton Hospital is the closest acute care center for nearly 60,000 Taunton residents. Now, with hospital owner Steward Health Care facing a financial crisis, community members worry about what will become of their lifeline. Dozens of medical professionals, community members, and local officials gathered Tuesday at a Taunton park, calling for the for-profit hospital chain to keep Morton open. (Walia, 4/23)

Houston Chronicle: Patients' Families Seek Court Order Against Memorial Hermann Doctor
The families of three patients who died before they could receive liver transplants are seeking a temporary restraining order against a Memorial Hermann – Texas Medical Center doctor accused of manipulating records in a way that potentially prevented some patients from receiving life-saving organs. The request, filed Tuesday in Harris County 295th District Court, asks a judge to prevent Dr. J. Steve Bynon from deleting or destroying critical evidence that may be relevant to a potential wrongful death claim in the future. (MacDonald and Gill, 4/23)

Modern Healthcare: Cross-Market Mergers Can Raise Prices By 12% For Patients: Study
Regulators have largely overlooked merger proposals that involve health systems operating in different markets, but new research shows those that acquired out-of-market hospitals tended to increase prices. Larger health systems that purchased hospitals at least 50 miles away increased prices by 12.9% after six years relative to a peer group of hospitals not involved in mergers or acquisitions, according to a study published Tuesday in Health Services Research. (Kacik, 4/23)

Military.com: VA's PACT Act Management Could Use Lessons From 9/11 First Responders Legislation, Rand Says 
The Department of Veterans Affairs should be concerned about the lack of input from veterans and family members in decisions related to the PACT Act, as well as the absence of strong scientific processes to determine new presumptive conditions, analysts with a California-based think tank said Tuesday in a new report. But the VA could find potential fixes in legislation passed to aid 9/11 responders and survivors who were exposed to environmental hazards after the terrorist attacks in 2001, Rand Corp. said in the report. Those earlier laws included beneficiaries in decisions and mandated robust research. (Kime, 4/23)

Stat: HCA Healthcare Plans Broader Rollout Of Augmedix AI Scribe In ER
HCA Healthcare, the largest for-profit hospital chain in the United States, is planning to expand the use of an artificial intelligence tool to document doctor-patient interactions in its emergency rooms. (Trang, 4/24)

San Francisco Chronicle: Oracle Plans To Move Headquarters To Nashville
Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison announced on Tuesday that the company is relocating its world headquarters to Nashville as part of a strategic move aimed at being closer to the epicenter of the healthcare industry. The move follows the tech giant’s previous relocation from Silicon Valley to Austin, Texas. (Vaziri, 4/23)

Reuters: Gerber, Perrigo Sued Over 'Store-Brand' Infant Formula Prices 
Infant formula makers Gerber and Perrigo have been hit with a proposed class-action lawsuit accusing them of scheming to artificially drive up prices for “store-brand” formula sold at Walmart, Walgreens and other retailers. The lawsuit, opens new tab, filed Monday in Alexandria, Virginia, federal court, said Perrigo violated antitrust law by illegally agreeing with Gerber to block competitors from cutting into the market for store-brand formula. (Scarcella, 4/23)

USA Today: High Costs Of Cancer: Survivors Struggle With Job Demands, Finances
Working adults often face a second major worry when they're living with a life-threatening cancer diagnosis ‒ financial hardship. A new study reports nearly 3 in 5 working-age adults with cancer face at least one financial challenge, including taking unpaid leave or losing a job or health insurance, according to an American Cancer Society study published Tuesday. (Alltucker, 4/23)

CBS News: More Women Are Falling Behind On Breast Cancer Screenings, Study Shows
A simple mammogram can be life-saving. The problem is that not enough women are getting them. Dr. Debra Houry, the chief medical officer of the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said about 40,000 women die each year from breast cancer and having these screening mammograms can save lives. A new CDC Vital Signs study found that only about 65% of women ages 50-74, with three or more health-related social needs, are up to date with their mammograms. (Garcia, 4/23)

Modern Healthcare: 20M Fewer Medicaid Enrollees Means Trouble For Providers
Over the past year, states have removed more than 20 million beneficiaries from Medicaid after suspending eligibility redeterminations during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Thousands of those people are Clinica Family Health patients. The Lafayette, Colorado-based community health center felt the pain of lost reimbursements when patients went from having Medicaid coverage to being uninsured, a fate that has befallen almost one-fourth of these former Medicaid enrollees nationwide, according to KFF. (Tepper, 4/23)

Houston Chronicle: AG Ken Paxton Won't Get Seattle Hospital Records On Transgender Youth
Seattle Children’s Hospital will not have to release records about Texas transgender children who may have received transition care after it reached a settlement with the Texas attorney general this week. The hospital had sued Attorney General Ken Paxton in December after his office requested the information, calling the investigation a “sham” and saying it does not employ staff in Texas who treat patients here, either in-person or via telemedicine. (Goldenstein, 4/23)

EdSource: Judge Rejects Changing The Name Of California’s Trans Youth Ballot Measure
A group working on a fall ballot initiative that would limit the rights of transgender students lost a round in court Monday when a judge sided with the state in its description of the measure. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Stephen Acquisto ruled that Attorney General Rob Bonta’s title, “Restricts Rights of Transgender Youth,” is a fair description of the initiative, which would require schools to notify parents if a student identifies as transgender, ban gender-affirming care for those under 18 and place other limits on students who identify as a gender other than what they were assigned at birth. (Jones, 4/23)

The New York Times: New Study Bolsters Idea Of Athletic Differences Between Men And Trans Women 
A new study financed by the International Olympic Committee found that transgender female athletes showed greater handgrip strength — an indicator of overall muscle strength — but lower jumping ability, lung function and relative cardiovascular fitness compared with women whose gender was assigned female at birth. That data, which also compared trans women with men, contradicted a broad claim often made by proponents of rules that bar transgender women from competing in women’s sports. It also led the study’s authors to caution against a rush to expand such policies, which already bar transgender athletes from a handful of Olympic sports. (Longman, 4/23)

CIDRAP: National COVID-19 Guidelines Vary Widely, Often Promote Ineffective Treatments 
A comparative analysis yesterday in BMJ Global Health shows that national clinical guidelines for treating COVID-19 vary significantly around the world, and nearly every national guideline (NG) recommends at least one COVID-19 treatment proven not to work. Several countries, especially those in poorer regions, in 2022 continued to recommend treatments that had been disproven and were not recommended by the WHO, including chloroquine, lopinavir–ritonavir, azithromycin, vitamins, and zinc. (Soucheray, 4/23)

The Washington Post: Tennessee Passes Bill To Let Teachers Carry Guns, A Year After Mass Shooting
The Tennessee legislature passed a bill Tuesday that would allow teachers and school staffers to carry concealed handguns in schools, one of the most divisive steps taken by Republican leaders in the year since six people were killed by a shooter at a Nashville school. The House approved the measure as protesters shouted objections, nearly drowning out the proceedings with chants of “Not one more kid!” At least one person was kicked out of the gallery by House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R). (McDaniel and Rosenzweig-Ziff, 4/23)

USA Today: More Americans Breathing Toxic Air, Lung Report Finds
Americans are breathing more toxic air now than in the past quarter century, according to a new report from the American Lung Association. The findings released Wednesday show the worst toxic particle pollution in the 25 years the ALA has released its annual “State of the Air” report. The recent spike in pollution, experts say, is likely the result of climate change including the increase in wildfires. More than 131 million Americans lived in areas that showed unhealthy levels of air pollution, the report showed. (Cuevas, 4/24)

CNN: Nearly Two-Thirds Of Parents Feel Lonely And Burned Out, Survey Finds
Many parents today find parenting a challenge to their ability to connect with other adults, according to a new national survey published Wednesday by the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus. In fact, 66% of 1,005 surveyed parents felt the demands of parenthood sometimes or frequently left them feeling isolated and lonely, while nearly 40% felt as if they have no one to support them in their parenting role. (LaMotte, 4/24)