First Edition: Aug. 10, 2023

KFF Health News: Lost Medicaid Health Coverage? Here’s What You Need To Know 
The nation’s health insurance system is undergoing tremendous upheaval as an estimated 8.2 million people will need to find new coverage since pandemic protections for Medicaid enrollees came to an end this spring. That’s leaving many patients confused about how to get new medical insurance. “It’s an overwhelming task,” said Taffy Morrison, who is working to connect Louisiana residents to new coverage through the nonprofit Southwest Louisiana Area Health Education Center. But Morrison reminds people: “Don’t panic. There is help.” (Liss, 8/10)

KFF Health News: Medi-Cal Covers Gender-Transition Treatment, But Getting It Isn’t Easy 
From an early age, Pasha Wrangell felt different. Societal expectations of boys, and many characteristics of masculinity, did not match how Wrangell felt inside. Bullied and ostracized, Wrangell started repressing those feelings in middle school and kept them bottled up for a long time. That led to decades of sadness, isolation, and even a couple of suicide attempts. What gnawed at Wrangell was gender dysphoria, a condition widely acknowledged in the medical community, which causes severe distress to people whose sexual identity does not match their sex assigned at birth. (Wolfson, 8/10)

Military.com: Veterans Hit With Error Messages While Filing To Make PACT Act Deadline 
What was described as an "extremely high volume" of PACT Act claims overwhelmed the Department of Veterans Affairs website Tuesday, causing veterans and survivors to be shut out as a deadline looms for backdated payments. The online system sent error messages to about 18% of veterans and survivors who were submitting claims as well as notices of intention to file claims, which were due Wednesday to receive retroactive disability payments dated to Aug. 10, 2022. (Kime, 8/9)

Military Times: Officials Urge Vets To Apply For PACT Act Benefits Despite Tech Issues
Despite some technical issues with online submissions, officials are encouraging applications for payouts connected to historic legislation aimed at helping veterans exposed to toxic substances during their military service before an important deadline passes. President Joe Biden signed the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act — better known as the PACT Act — a year ago on Aug 10, 2022, expanding Department of Veterans Affairs health care benefits to veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances. (Lehrfeld, 8/9)

Becker's Hospital Review: Hawaii Wildfires Burn Clinic And Dialysis Center
Wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui have killed [at least 36] people, consumed homes and destroyed multiple commercial buildings — including one hospital-run clinic and one dialysis center, Hilton Raethel, president and CEO of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii told Becker's. Mr. Raethel did not confirm the names of the two burned healthcare facilities on Aug. 9 to allow those facilities to respond to the situation, but did confirm they are both hospital-operated, not independently run. (Hollowell, 8/9)

The 19th: Extreme Heat Could Impact Birth Control, Pregnancy Test Effectiveness
Extreme heat has already made pregnancy more dangerous. Now, it is also complicating efforts to control when and how someone becomes pregnant: Record heat waves across the country could threaten access to effective pregnancy tests, condoms and emergency contraception pills. (Luthra, 8/9)

The Washington Post: Democrats Embrace Abortion Rights Even More Tightly After Ohio Result 
After Ohio voters turned out in unexpectedly high numbers Tuesday to reject a Republican-backed referendum that would have made it harder to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution, Democrats are eyeing new opportunities to highlight abortion rights in the 2024 election. They are pushing new ballot initiatives on abortion access in places like Arizona and Florida, calling out Republicans in states where bans are taking effect, and encouraging President Biden to speak out more forcefully on the issue as he pursues a campaign that so far has focused more on the economy. (Olorunnipa, Roubein and Marley, 8/9)

AP: Opponents Of Maine's New Abortion Law Won't Seek To Nullify It Through A Referendum
Groups opposed to Maine’s new law expanding abortion access won’t attempt to nullify the statute through a so-called People’s Veto referendum. Republican Rep. Laurel Libby, leader of the Speak Up for LIFE group, said Wednesday that allies have decided to focus their resources on electing candidates who are opposed to abortions instead of collecting signatures and running a referendum campaign. (Sharp, 8/9)

AP: Biden Wants To Compensate New Mexico Residents Sickened By Radiation During 1945 Nuclear Testing 
President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he’s open to granting assistance for people sickened by exposure to radiation during nuclear weapons testing, including in New Mexico, where the world’s first atomic bomb was tested in 1945. Biden brought up the issue while speaking Wednesday in Belen at a factory that produces wind towers. “I’m prepared to help in terms of making sure that those folks are taken care of,” he said. (8/9)

CIDRAP: SARS-CoV-2 Can Damage Mitochondrion In Heart, Other Organs, Study Finds
The COVID-19 International Research Team (COV-IRT) and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) report that they have identified abnormal mitochondrial function in the heart, kidneys, and liver after SARS-CoV-2 infection, which leads to long-term damage and may help explain long COVID. Mitochondria are the so-called "powerhouses" of cells, and the researchers noted that previous studies have shown that SARS-CoV-2 proteins can bind to mitochondrial proteins in host cells, possibly leading to dysregulation. (Van Beusekom, 8/9)

AP: COVID-19 Took A Toll On Heart Health And Doctors Are Still Grappling With How To Help
Firefighter and paramedic Mike Camilleri once had no trouble hauling heavy gear up ladders. Now battling long COVID, he gingerly steps onto a treadmill to learn how his heart handles a simple walk. “This is, like, not a tough-guy test so don’t fake it,” warned Beth Hughes, a physical therapist at Washington University in St. Louis. Somehow, a mild case of COVID-19 set off a chain reaction that eventually left Camilleri with dangerous blood pressure spikes, a heartbeat that raced with slight exertion, and episodes of intense chest pain. Doctors were stumped until Camilleri found a Washington University cardiologist who’d treated patients with similar post-COVID heart trouble. (Neergaard, 8/10)

Reuters: With Eris On The Rise, US CDC Sees No Major Shift In COVID Variants
Currently spreading COVID-19 variants such as EG.5, or Eris, do not represent a major shift and updated vaccines in September will offer protection, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday. "Right now, what we're seeing with the changes in the viruses, they're still susceptible to our vaccine, they're still susceptible to our medicines, they're still picked up by the tests," Director Dr. Mandy Cohen said in an interview on former Biden administration adviser Andy Slavitt's "In the Bubble" podcast. "We're seeing small changes that are what I would call subtypes of what we've seen before." (8/9)

NBC News: Covid, Flu, RSV Vaccines Urged As Officials Brace For Respiratory Season
For the first time this fall, there will be three different vaccines against the biggest respiratory virus threats: a new Covid booster, the yearly flu shot and two RSV vaccines for older adults. On Tuesday, state health officials urged eligible Americans to get the vaccines ahead of what many believe could be an intense winter respiratory season, especially after several years of unpredictable viral activity. (Edwards, 8/9)

Stat: CDC Overhauls Leadership Of Center That Led Response To Covid-19
The new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mandy Cohen, is overhauling the leadership of the CDC center that led the agency’s Covid-19 response. In an announcement to staff issued Tuesday, Cohen said José Romero, who headed the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases for the past 14 months, would be leaving the CDC at the end of August. (Branswell, 8/9)

San Francisco Chronicle: California COVID Surge Confirmed By 48% Walgreens Positivity Rate
The recent resurgence of COVID-19 in California is confirmed by a significant upswing in positive test results at Walgreens locations across the state. Data from the pharmacy chain reveal that the positivity rate of coronavirus tests conducted at its stores around California has reached 48.3% — the highest figure since January and nearly double the 27% figure recorded in June. (Vaziri, 8/9)

AP: An Illicit, Chinese-Owned Lab Fueled Conspiracy Theories. But Officials Say It Posed No Danger
Jesalyn Harper, the only full-time code enforcement officer for the small, agricultural city of Reedley in California’s Central Valley, was responding to a complaint about vehicles parked in the loading dock of a cold-storage warehouse when she noticed a foul smell and saw a garden hose snaking into the old building. A woman in a lab coat answered her knock, and behind her were two others in plastic gloves and blue surgical masks, packing pregnancy tests for shipping. Harper said they spoke broken English and told her they were from China. Walking through the lab, she found dozens of refrigerators and ultralow-temperature freezers hooked to illegal wiring; vials of blood and jars of urine in shelves and plastic containers; and about 1,000 white lab mice being kept in crowded, soiled containers. (Rodriguez, 8/9)

FiercePharma: BioNTech And Twitter Warned By PR Body For Trying To Duck COVID-19 Vaccine Debate 
The self-regulatory body of the German communications industry has accused BioNTech of trying to pull out of a public debate about vaccine patents. BioNTech received the warning after it asked Twitter to “hide” its account ahead of an online campaign that targeted developers of COVID-19 vaccines in 2020. (Taylor, 8/10)

The Washington Post: Why Moving Fast 3 Minutes A Day Can Lower Cancer Risk 
Run to catch the bus and you might also help to lower your risk of developing at least 13 types of cancer, according to a surprising new study in JAMA Oncology. The study used activity-tracker data for more than 22,000 men and women to show that those people who moved fast for at least 3 minutes a day, rushing up the stairs or hurrying to the subway, were about 30 percent less likely to die of many types of cancer than people who almost always strolled gently from place to place, even if none of them otherwise exercised. (Reynolds, 8/9)

CBS News: Daily Sugary Drinks Can Increase Liver Cancer Risk In Women, Study Suggests
A team of researchers, including from Harvard, studied dietary data on nearly 100,000 postmenopausal women over two decades. They found that those who consumed one or more servings a day of sugar-sweetened beverages, such as soda, had significantly higher rates of liver cancer and chronic liver disease compared to women who drank these beverages no more than three times a month. (Marshall, 8/9)

Axios: Patients May Miss Out On Free Coverage Of Cancer Screenings And Vaccinations
Health insurers are failing to adequately inform consumers about preventive services they are entitled to receive at no additional cost, according to a new report from consumer representatives to the national trade group for state insurance regulators. (Goldman, 8/10)

USA Today: Heartburn Relief Medicine For Acid Reflux Raises Dementia Risk: Study
People who use a common type of acid reflux drug for more than four years face a higher risk of dementia later in life, a new study found. The research examined people prescribed proton pump inhibitors for frequent acid reflux, stomach ulcers or other digestive tract issues. Those who took the drugs more than 4.4 years had a 33% greater likelihood of developing dementia compared to those who did not take the medication, according to a study published Wednesday in the medical journal "Neurology." (Alltucker, 8/9)

Reuters: Novo Nordisk Extends U.S. Supply Curbs On Weight-Loss Drug Wegovy
Novo Nordisk will continue to restrict U.S. supplies of starter doses of its hugely popular Wegovy weight-loss drug in the coming quarters, it said on Thursday, as the company struggles to keep up with soaring U.S. demand. (Skydsgaard, 8/10)

Stat: Telehealth Drives Many Weight Loss Drug Prescriptions, Claims Suggest
As a new class of obesity medications has soared in popularity, so have the online outlets built to get them in the hands of patients. A new analysis of claims data from Trilliant Health suggests that collectively, telehealth companies — in particular, cash-pay options that market directly to consumers — could account for nearly half of the patients with insurance claims for GLP-1 prescriptions in 2022. (Palmer, 8/10)

Stat: Genentech Weighs Delaying Cancer Therapy After Drug Pricing Law
Plenty of pharmaceutical executives have decried Democrats’ new drug pricing law as detrimental to the industry. But few are willing to say they may be willing to delay treatments for cancer patients if it means making more money. (Cohrs, 8/10)

Axios: Hospitals And Clinics Are Now Among America's Most Dangerous Workplaces
Health care workers are increasingly being assaulted or shot on the job, making hospitals and clinics among the most dangerous workplaces in America. Violence was a serious problem before COVID-19 — the field suffered more nonfatal injuries from workplace assaults than any other profession, even law enforcement, per the Associated Press — and pandemic stressors like backlash against public health measures have made matters worse. (Reed and Millman, 8/10)

Politico: Biden's Medicaid Wins Are Being Undone At The Worst Possible Time 
The U.S. is dismantling one of the last major pillars of its Covid-era safety net. For President Joe Biden, the timing couldn’t be worse. States across the country, both blue and red, are purging their Medicaid programs of millions of low-income enrollees for the first time in three years, after a pandemic policy meant to prevent vulnerable people from suddenly losing health coverage expired earlier this spring. (Cancryn and Messerly, 8/9)

Fierce Healthcare: Hospitals Often Charge Commercial Plans Double Or More Than MA For Same Services, Study Finds
Hospitals nationwide charge payers more than double for healthcare services covered under commercial plans than they do for the same insurer’s Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, according to a recent Johns Hopkins analysis of hospitals’ published pricing data. (Muoio, 8/9)

Modern Healthcare: CMS’ Updated HCAHPS Survey For Patients Explained
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is revising its patient experience survey to address low response rates and expand data on care quality. Announced Aug.1 as part of the agency's inpatient prospective payment system final rule, the modifications to the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey have been years in the making. (Devereaux, 8/9)

Fierce Healthcare: Most MA Enrollees Don't Fully Understand Their Plan
Most Medicare Advantage (MA) beneficiaries are satisfied with their health plan, but many enrollees feel they are overbilled, have struggled navigating the prior authorization process or are confused by the features of their plan, a new survey from Retirement Living recently revealed. (Tong, 8/9)

ABC News: Amazon-Owned One Medical Begins Opening New Locations Across US
Amazon is beginning to open new locations of the primary care provider One Medical -- a potential game-changer for medical care -- which it acquired earlier this year, as the tech giant moves into the health care space. One Medical told ABC News it has just opened two locations in Connecticut, is planning to open a third office in the Castro neighborhood in San Francisco, and will open its first office in Milwaukee this fall. (Kekatos, 8/9)

The Boston Globe: Leominster Hospital Maternity Ward Essential, State Finds
The state is requiring UMass Memorial Health to submit detailed explanations and workarounds for its planned closure of a Leominster hospital’s maternity unit after finding that the services are critical to maintaining health in the region. The determination, outlined in a letter addressed to the hospital, won’t stop the closure from happening but aims to protect some of the community’s most vulnerable residents. However, advocates are pointing to the Department of Public Health letter as justification for their position that the hospital should reverse its decision. They have called on the Healey administration to get involved to preserve the service. (Bartlett, 8/9)

ProPublica: This PA Doctor Has Been Investigated At Every Level. How Is He Still Practicing? 
Medical boards, a health department and even federal investigators have scrutinized Dr. James McGuckin’s vascular clinics. Today he still practices, despite a decadelong string of sanctions, fines and lawsuits. (Waldman, 8/9)

AP: A Lawsuit Accuses A Georgia Doctor Of Decapitating A Baby During Delivery 
A doctor used too much force and decapitated a Georgia woman’s baby during delivery, according to a lawsuit attorneys said was filed Wednesday. The baby’s mother and father, Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr., attended a news conference in Atlanta where their attorneys announced the lawsuit against Dr. Tracey St. Julian and Southern Regional Medical Center, a hospital in Riverdale, Georgia, where Ross went on July 9 to have her son. ... According to the suit, the baby got stuck during delivery, but St. Julian delayed a surgical procedure and failed to seek help quickly. Instead, she applied “ridiculously excessive force” on the baby’s head and neck to try to deliver it, attorney Roderick Edmond, who is also a physician, said. (Thanawala, 8/9)

Los Angeles Times: Los Angeles Crime Lab Finds 4% Of Seized Fentanyl Samples Contain Flesh-Eating Sedative
Five months after public health officials warned Angelenos that a dangerous, flesh-eating sedative may have infiltrated the illicit drug supply, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that it has arrived on the city’s streets. Results from a three-month pilot program showed that just over 4% of seized fentanyl samples tested by the department’s crime lab came back positive for xylazine, an animal tranquilizer that experts say is frequently mixed with illicit opioids to prolong the high. (Blakinger, 8/9)

San Francisco Chronicle: Fentanyl Crisis: California Teen Overdose Deaths Plunged In 2022
Newly released state data showed 151 teens ages 15 to 19 died from a fentanyl overdose in 2022, down from 230 the year before and 250 in 2020 — a 40% decline in two years, according to preliminary state data updated late last week. (Tucker, 8/9)

Stat: Naloxone Nonprofit Donates 200,000 Doses After FDA Approval
A nonprofit naloxone manufacturer is celebrating its recent market approval by giving away 200,000 doses of its over-the-counter nasal spray. Harm Reduction Therapeutics said in a statement that it will donate nearly a quarter-million doses of its new product to the Remedy Alliance, an organization devoted to affordable naloxone access. (Facher, 8/9)

Reuters: Defunct Ohio Drug Distributor To Settle Opioid Cases With Remaining Insurance Funds 
A now-defunct Ohio drug distributor has agreed to pay no more than about $4 million to settle lawsuits by cities and counties that it contributed to the U.S. opioid epidemic, after the state's top court ruled that one of its insurers did not have to cover costs stemming from the cases. The settlement is limited by the funds available from Masters Pharmaceutical Inc's only available insurance policy, through Chubb, according to a Wednesday order by U.S. District Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland halting litigation against the company. (Pierson, 8/9)

AP: Montana Clinic Files For Bankruptcy Following $6 Million Judgment Over False Asbestos Claims 
A health clinic in a Montana town plagued by deadly asbestos contamination has filed for bankruptcy protection after a judge ordered it to pay the government almost $6 million in penalties and damages for submitting hundreds of false claims for benefits. The federal bankruptcy filing, submitted Tuesday, will allow the Center for Asbestos Related Disease clinic in the small town of Libby to continue operating while it appeals last month’s judgment, said clinic director Tracy McNew. (Brown, 8/9)

CBS News: Possible Legionnaires' Cluster Investigated In Passaic County
he New Jersey Department of Health is investigating a possible cluster of Legionnaires' disease impacting residents of Passaic and Bergen counties. So far, they've identified nine cases in "neighboring Passaic County municipalities, along with one additional case in a neighboring Bergen County municipality." The cases started occurring on May 27. (Zanger, 8/9)

The Washington Post: Florida Says AP Psychology Doesn’t Violate The Law, After All
After days of confusion, the Florida education commissioner said in a letter sent late Wednesday that high schools may teach Advanced Placement Psychology without running afoul of Florida law — including material on sexual orientation and gender identity. Last week, Commissioner Manny Díaz Jr. told districts that the class could be offered, but only if material on those topics was excluded, according to district officials on a call with him. Large school districts across Florida responded by dropping the course and began a stressful process of quickly preparing instructors to teach new curriculum. (Meckler, 8/9)

Stat: People With Autism Are More Likely To Engage In Self-Harm: Study
Autistic people are at a much higher risk of self-harm leading to emergency care or suicide, according to a recent study published in JAMA Network Open. In particular, the study found, autistic females had an 83% increased risk of self-harm compared to non-autistic females, while for males, the increased risk compared to non-autistic individuals was 47%. (Merelli, 8/9)

Harvard Public Health: America Has A Diaper Crisis. Here’s What Policymakers Can Do.
On a rainy Saturday morning in San Diego, California, Viridiana Montero joined a small crowd at the Logan Temple AME Zion Church. They weren’t looking for God; they were looking for diapers. Montero is a regular at the church’s weekly diaper distribution. She needed two packs of size 3 diapers to get through the week, but volunteer diaper distributors had already run out of size 3s. She took the next size up instead, along with a box of fresh fruit, and headed home. The size 4 diapers wouldn’t be a perfect fit, but they’d still keep the Montero family’s economic life — and her kids’ health — from unraveling. (Emam, 8/9)