First Edition: Aug. 2, 2024

KFF Health News: Since Fall Of 'Roe,' Self-Managed Abortions Have Increased
The percentage of people who say they’ve tried to end a pregnancy without medical assistance increased after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. That’s according to a study published Tuesday in the online journal JAMA Network Open. Tia Freeman, a reproductive health organizer, leads workshops for Tennesseans on how to safely take medication abortion pills outside of medical settings. Abortion is almost entirely illegal in Tennessee. (Varney, 8/2)

KFF Health News: Urgent Care Or ER? With ‘One-Stop Shop,’ Hospitals Offer Both Under Same Roof
Facing an ultracompetitive market in one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities, UF Health is trying a new way to attract patients: a combination emergency room and urgent care center. In the past year and a half, UF Health and a private equity-backed company, Intuitive Health, have opened three centers that offer both types of care 24/7 so patients don’t have to decide which facility they need. (Galewitz, 8/2)

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?' Podcast: Abortion Heats Up Presidential Race
The elevation of Vice President Kamala Harris to the top of the presumed Democratic presidential ticket is newly energizing the debate over abortion, while former President Donald Trump attempts to distance himself from more sweeping proposals in the “Project 2025” GOP blueprint put together by his former administration officials and the conservative Heritage Foundation. (Rovner, 8/1)

The Salt Lake Tribune: Utah Abortion Care Remains Available After State Supreme Court Ruling
Utahns will continue to have access to abortion up to 18 weeks of pregnancy, the majority-woman Utah Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a long-awaited decision on whether a near-total ban on such care could take effect. The ruling impacts only a previously ordered block on the law and does not determine the final outcome of abortion policy in the Beehive State. The case now goes to a lower court to determine the constitutionality of the trigger law. (Stern, 8/1)

Arizona Mirror: Arizona AG Wins Extended Delay Of Civil War-Era Abortion Law Ruling 
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has further delayed the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision to revive a near-total abortion ban from 1864 — and she’s still eyeing an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. ... On Thursday, the Arizona Supreme Court greenlit yet another delay of their ruling. (Gomez, 8/1)

NBC News: Alabama Reproductive Rights Advocates Battle Threat Of Prosecution
A federal court judge in Alabama will soon answer a crucial question: In a state where abortion is illegal, can health care providers and advocates be punished for helping patients seek the procedure elsewhere? In 2022, just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the state’s abortion ban kicked in, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, a Republican, said on a radio show that groups helping to fund out-of-state abortions could face felony charges. (Harris, 8/1)

The 19th: States Have Increased Anti-Abortion Center Funding By Nearly $500M Since Roe
In the two years since Roe v. Wade’s overturn, states have increased public funding for anti-abortion centers — the non-medical facilities meant to dissuade people from terminating their pregnancies — by close to $500 million, according to a new analysis published today. (Luthra, 8/1)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Planned Parenthood Of Northern New England Faces Multimillion-Dollar Deficit, Warns Of Potential Cuts
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England says it’s facing a “bleak” financial situation that could threaten patient services in the coming years, in part due to Republicans’ efforts to block long-standing family planning funding. (Cuno-Booth, 8/1)

NBC News: Many OB-GYNs Aren't Getting Abortion Training, Government Report Finds
Obstetrician-gynecologists are seeing more pregnant patients with dangerous medical complications two-plus years after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, while at the same time receiving less training as residents about how to perform abortions, according to a new report. The findings, shared exclusively with NBC News, are the result of a monthslong investigation by Democrats on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. (Bendix, 8/1)

Roll Call: Abortion Ban Spurs Grieving Mother To Run For Office 
The emotional roller coaster of losing a wanted pregnancy, scrambling to raise money to travel out of state for an abortion and dealing with the onslaught of comments from internet trolls would be debilitating for most people. For Allie Phillips of Clarksville, Tenn., the experience motivated her. Phillips, 29, is running as a Democrat against her Republican state representative, one year after she gained national recognition for sharing her story and crowdsourcing funds through GoFundMe to travel to New York for an abortion. (Raman, 8/1)

Becker's Hospital Review: DOJ Will Offer Rewards To Whistleblowers Exposing Healthcare Fraud
The Justice Department is starting a pilot program to reward whistleblowers who expose healthcare fraud schemes involving private insurance plans. According to an Aug. 1 fact sheet from the Justice Department, the program is intended to fill gaps in its existing reward programs. Under the program, whistleblowers who expose healthcare fraud targeting private insurers can collect a portion of proceeds if information they report results in a successful conviction. (Wilson, 8/1)

Healthcare Dive: Average Cost Of Healthcare Data Breach Nearly $10M In 2024: Report 
Healthcare remains the most expensive industry for responding to and recovering from data breaches, a rank the sector has held since 2011, according to a report by IBM and the Ponemon Institute. The average cost for a breach in the industry this year was $9.8 million, a decline from 2023 when the price tag reached $10.9 million. (Olsen, 8/1)

Military Times: VA Secretary To Remain In Role Through End Of Term In January
Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough will continue in his role until President Joe Biden exits office in January, a VA official confirmed Thursday. Until that time, McDonough is “fighting like hell” to help veterans get their earned benefits and health care, said VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes. A Bloomberg report Tuesday suggested the VA secretary would step down after the election, which is Nov. 5. (Wentling, 8/1)

Military.com: New Burn Pit Registry Aims For Data On 4.7 Million Veterans To Assist In Research On Exposure To Hazards 
The Department of Veterans Affairs has overhauled its registry for veterans exposed to burn pits and other airborne hazards overseas, working with the Defense Department to include 4.7 million veterans who served in locations with potentially dangerous air quality. The VA announced Thursday that the new Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry, which includes basic information on veterans as well as deployment history, will advance scientific research on the health effects of exposure overseas to smoke, sand, chemical fires and fine particulate matter. (Kime, 8/1)

CIDRAP: Previously Undetected H5N1 Avian Flu Cases In Farmworkers Revealed In New Report
A team of US researchers has revealed evidence of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu infections in two Texas farmworkers not previously confirmed to have the disease, and the investigators also cultured infectious H5N1 virus from milk and cattle samples taken from two Texas dairy farms that previously had H5N1 outbreaks. The research, led by scientists with the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston, was published yesterday on the preprint server medRxiv, meaning that it has not yet been peer-reviewed. It comes as the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed two more dairy farms affected by H5N1 in cows, as well as newly infected mammalian species. (Wappes, 8/1)

The Boston Globe: Coronavirus Waste Water Levels In Mass., N.H. Soar To ‘Very High’ Levels
The levels of coronavirus in Massachusetts waste water nearly quadrupled over two weeks in July and are now about twice the national average, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new data is based on testing that concluded in late July, according to the agency. (Ellement, 8/1)

CBS News: 3 New Jersey Residents Test Positive For West Nile Virus, Officials Say
Three New Jersey residents tested positive for West Nile Virus, health officials said Thursday. These are the first cases of West Nile Virus in New Jersey so far this year. Health officials said two patients, one person older than 70 and another under 18, have been treated and released. (Zanger, 8/1)

CIDRAP: WHO Warns Of Increase In Hypervirulent, Multidrug-Resistant Klebsiella Strains
The World Health Organization (WHO) is warning countries about increasing reports of hypervirulent and multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (hvKp). ... In contrast to "classic" K pneumoniae, an opportunistic pathogen that is a leading cause of healthcare-associated infections and tends to cause infections in vulnerable, immunocompromised hospitalized patients, hvKp strains can cause severe invasive infections in healthy individuals that develop quickly and spread to various body sites. Infections caused by hvKp strains have been associated with high morbidity and mortality. (Dall, 8/1)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Hospital Ratings: 60% Of Hospitals Earned 3 Stars Or Less
Many hospitals have struggled to offer safe and effective care in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic turned their operations upside down. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ 2024 hospital star ratings, released Wednesday, showed more hospitals than last year performed poorly. That may be, in part, because the data submitted by hospitals was from April 2019 through March 2023 and excluded facilities’ performance on quality metrics from the first half of 2020. (Devereaux, 8/1)

Modern Healthcare: IPPS Rule Increases Medicare Pay 2.9% In 2025
Medicare reimbursements for inpatient hospital care will increase 2.9% in fiscal 2025 under a final rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued Thursday. The agency offered hospitals a larger pay hike than the 2.6% it proposed in April, which the industry decried as insufficient. The regulation also includes additional provisions such as higher graduate medical education funding and an initiative to improve drug supplies at small hospitals. (Kacik, 8/1)

Los Angeles Times: UC Healthcare And Service Workers Demand Wage Hike And Housing Aid
Hundreds of UC healthcare and campus service workers converged in front of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center to picket during their lunch break Wednesday, demanding higher wages and investment in affordable housing solutions. The informational picket was one of five across the UC campuses organized by AFSCME Local 3299, which represents more than 30,000 workers, who are among the lowest-paid in the UC system. (Roseborough, 8/1)

San Francisco Chronicle: Laguna Honda Hospital Restarts Admissions Of New, Former Residents
San Francisco’s largest skilled nursing facility, Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, will begin readmitting former residents it was forced to move out over the past two years while it underwent a grueling process to regain federal certification to care for patients. At least 10 former residents are slated to return in the coming weeks, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health, which oversees the public hospital. This week, one new resident moved in. (Ho, 8/1)

AP: Massachusetts Governor Says Steward Health Care Must Give 120-Day Notice Before Closing Hospitals 
Gov. Maura Healey said Thursday she is pressing Steward Health Care to adhere to a state Department of Public Health regulation that hospital owners must give 120 days notice before any medical facility can close in Massachusetts. Healey made the comment a day after a bankruptcy judge allowed Steward’s decision to close two Massachusetts hospitals. Steward announced July 26 its plan to close the hospitals — Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center — on or around Aug. 31 because it had received no qualified bids for either facility. (Leblanc, 8/1)

Modern Healthcare: Jefferson Health, Lehigh Valley Health Network Close Merger
Jefferson Health and Lehigh Valley Health Network completed a merger Thursday that creates a $15 billion nonprofit health system serving Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Jefferson Health CEO Dr. Joseph Cacchione, who is leading the new enterprise, said the provider has its sights set on integrating the organization's 32 hospitals and more than 700 locations over the next few years. The company will operate under the Jefferson Health brand. (Hudson, 8/1)

Stat: UnitedHealth And HCA Clash Over Hospital Chain’s Rates In ‘Battle Of The Giants’
Contract disputes between hospitals and health plans have become routine, but they tend to be local, affecting a handful of hospitals and the people in the surrounding communities. This latest one is different. It involves the country’s biggest private health insurer, UnitedHealthcare, and its biggest hospital chain, HCA Healthcare. (Bannow, 8/2)

CNN: Regular Aspirin Use May Help Lower Risk Of Colorectal Cancer, Study Finds, Especially For Those With Unhealthy Lifestyles 
Regular aspirin use may keep the oncologist away, at least when it comes to colorectal cancer, according to a new study, and people with unhealthy lifestyles seemed to see the greatest benefit. (Christensen, 8/1)

Stat: Blood Culture Bottle Shortage: What We Know And Don't Know
In July, federal health officials warned hospitals that there would be a critical shortage of blood culture bottles that will stretch into September. Blood culture bottles are key in diagnosing sepsis, a deadly infection of the bloodstream caused by a number of different bacteria. (Trang, 8/2)

Reuters: Lilly CEO Says Weight-Loss Drug Shortage To End 'Very Soon', Bloomberg News Reports 
U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly expects its blockbuster weight-loss drug to officially come out of shortage in the United States in coming days, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing an interview with the company's CEO, David Ricks. Lilly's drug, tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for weight management, will cease to be in shortage "very soon," CEO David Ricks said in an interview with Bloomberg in Paris. (8/1)

Bloomberg: WeightWatchers (WW) To Cut Jobs, Spending As Business Declines
WW International Inc., better known as WeightWatchers, is laying off employees and cutting costs as blockbuster obesity drugs have decimated its business. The New York company is now “investigating” selling compounded versions of weight-loss drugs made by Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk A/S, Chief Executive Officer Sima Sistani said on a conference call with analysts Thursday. The company previously said it was “wholeheartedly against this path” on its website earlier this week. (Garde, 8/1)

Stat: Cutting-Edge Immunotherapy Wins FDA Approval In Rare Sarcomas
U.S. regulators have authorized a cutting-edge treatment relying on T cells for a rare cancer that arises in the body’s soft tissues, extending the power of immunotherapies to difficult-to-reach sarcomas. (Joseph, 8/2)

Stat: Jim Wilson, Gene Therapy Pioneer, Departs Penn To Set Up New Companies
Jim Wilson, a leading gene therapy researcher who has persisted through the field’s ups and downs, is leaving his longtime academic home at the University of Pennsylvania to found two new companies. (Joseph, 8/1)

The Washington Post: Robin Warren, Pathologist Who Rewrote The Science On Ulcers, Dies At 87
Robin Warren, an Australian pathologist who shared a Nobel Prize for rewriting medical views on gut health with research that included his partner drinking a bacteria-laced brew to show how microbes can cause ulcers, died July 23 in Perth, Australia. He was 87. The death was announced by the University of Western Australia, where Dr. Warren was a professor emeritus. The statement gave no other details. The discoveries by Dr. Warren and Barry Marshall at Royal Perth Hospital completely upended long-standing medical assumptions that the stomach’s gastric fluids would kill any invasive bacteria. Yet, for more than a decade, the two researchers confronted a medical community slow to accept their theories and acknowledge their findings. (Murphy, 7/31)

The Boston Globe: Larynx Transplant Update: Mass. Man With New Voice Box Comes Home
On Thursday morning, Marty Kedian did something that was beyond his abilities for years: He sat at a table with his wife and friends and had a conversation. Diagnosed with larynx cancer a decade ago, Kedian had suffered through his voice being reduced to a whisper. ... But in February, Kedian, 59, had his larynx removed and received a donor organ in its place. For almost six months, he recovered and relearned to speak, eat, and breathe near the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. (Laughlin, 8/1)

Crain's New York Business: New York's $7.5B Medicaid Experiment To Begin This Month
Cash will finally start to flow this month from a federal program that enables the state to use Medicaid to pay for housing, nutrition and transportation. The $7.5 billion pilot program, called the 1115 waiver, unlocks federal money to revamp the Medicaid program, allowing New York state to use Medicaid in ways it’s never been used before. The state will offer Medicaid benefits for rent payments, cooking tools and non-medical transportation, for example, to attempt to improve health among enrollees and address disparities. (D'Ambrosio, 8/1)

Health News Florida: Florida's Medicaid Enrollment Decreases Another 59,000 In June 
Enrollment in Florida’s Medicaid program continued to decrease in June, as a federal judge weighs whether the state improperly dropped people from the program after the end of a public health emergency linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. (8/1)

The Washington Post: Youths At Texas Juvenile Facilities Subject To Abuse, Isolation, DOJ Finds 
Juveniles at five state detention facilities in Texas were subject to a pattern of unlawful physical abuse and prolonged isolation and denied essential rehabilitation services, the Justice Department said Thursday in announcing the findings of a three-year investigation. Federal authorities detailed allegations against the Texas Juvenile Justice Department in a 72-page report that found staffers routinely used pepper spray as a response to misbehavior by youths, used physical restraints that obstructed their breathing, and placed them in isolation for days without educational programs or other activities. The facilities house individuals ages 10 to 19 years old. (Nakamura, 8/1)

San Francisco Chronicle: Breed Orders S.F. Homeless People Be Offered Bus Tickets Out Of Town Before Shelter Or Housing
Mayor London Breed on Thursday ordered city employees to offer homeless people a bus ticket out of town before presenting shelter or housing as an option. The mayor’s new executive order, which marks a shift from current practices, comes amid an escalated crackdown on homeless encampments after a recent court Supreme Court ruling gave city officials more power to enforce anti-camping laws. (Angst, 8/1)

CBS News: Wildfires Causing Smoky, Unhealthy Conditions In Much Of Colorado
Thursday was another hot, dry and smoky day for the Denver metro area. The unhealthy air quality is due to both local and out-of-state wildfire smoke. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Regional Air Quality Council issued an Action Day due to the combination of wildfire smoke and ozone. This alert is in place through Friday afternoon. (Zanandrie and Ruch, 8/1)

AP: Heat Deaths Of People Without Air Conditioning, Often In Mobile Homes, Underscore Energy Inequity 
Advocates say air conditioning is no longer a luxury but a public health and affordability issue. The growing number of people dying without sufficient cooling when outdoor temperatures rise underscores the necessity of air conditioning in areas affected by rising summer temperatures. (Snow, 8/2)

The Washington Post: Death Valley Just Recorded The Hottest Month Ever Observed On The Planet 
The hottest place on Earth just observed its hottest month. Death Valley, Calif., registered an average July temperature of 108.5 degrees, the highest monthly value ever recorded among thousands of weather stations around the globe, according to Brian Brettschneider, a climatologist based in Alaska. (Stillman, 8/1)

Reuters: Spanish Lab Sterilizes Mosquitoes As Climate Change Fuels Spread Of Dengue Fever 
A Spanish laboratory is breeding and sterilizing thousands of tiger mosquitoes to fight dengue fever and other diseases as climate change encourages the invasive species to spread across Europe. Using an electron accelerator, the regional government-funded Biological Pest Control Centre in Valencia sterilizes and releases about 45,000 male mosquitoes every week so they can pair with females - whose bite transmits diseases among humans - and eventually reduce the overall mosquito population. (Manez and Garcia, 8/1)