First Edition: Aug. 29, 2023

KFF Health News: She Paid Her Husband’s Hospital Bill. A Year After His Death, They Wanted More Money
Last summer, Eloise Reynolds paid the bill for her husband’s final stay in the hospital. In February 2022, doctors said that Kent, her husband of 33 years, was too weak for the routine chemotherapy that had kept his colon cancer at bay since 2018. He was admitted to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, not far from their home in Olivette, Missouri. Doctors discovered a partial blockage of his bowel, Reynolds said, but she remained hopeful that his treatment would soon resume. (Liss, 8/29)

KFF Health News: Epidemic: Speedboat Epidemiology
Shahidul Haq Khan, a Bangladeshi health worker, and Tim Miner, an American with the World Health Organization, worked together on a smallpox eradication team in Bangladesh in the early 1970s. The team was based on a hospital ship and traveled by speedboat to track down cases of smallpox from Barishal to Faridpur to Patuakhali. Every person who agreed to get the smallpox vaccination was a potential outbreak averted, so the team was determined to vaccinate as many people as possible. ... Episode 4 of “Eradicating Smallpox” explores what it took to bring care directly to people where they were. (8/29)

KFF Health News: Californians Headed To HBCUs In The South Prepare For College Under Abortion Bans 
When I’laysia Vital got accepted to Texas Southern University, a historically Black university in Houston, she immediately began daydreaming about the sense of freedom that would come with living on her own, and the sense of belonging she would feel studying in a thriving Black community. Then, a nurse at her high school’s health clinic in Oakland, California, explained the legal landscape of her new four-year home in Texas — where abortion is now fully banned. (Dembosky, 8/29)

AP: Biden Administration Targets Diabetes Drug, Blood Thinner, Others For Medicare Price Negotiations
The blood thinner Eliquis and popular diabetes treatments including Jardiance are among the first drugs that will be targeted for price negotiations in an effort to cut Medicare costs. President Joe Biden’s administration on Tuesday released a list of 10 drugs for which the federal government will take a first-ever step: negotiating drug prices directly with the manufacturer. (Murphy, Seitz and Megerian, 8/29)

Axios: Drugmakers, Investors Say They've Already Changed Bets In IRA's First Year
In the year since the passage of Democrats' drug pricing law, pharmaceutical companies and venture capitalists have shifted their priorities and placed less emphasis on developing synthetic drugs that will be subject to price negotiations faster than biologics. Pharmaceutical interests say it's proof that Democrats' signature health policy achievement is driving investment away from some mainstays of modern medicine. (Reed, 8/29)

The Hill: Biden Urged To Get Tough As Millions Lose Medicaid
Millions of people are being pushed off state Medicaid rolls as the U.S. dismantles one of the last major Covid-era safety nets, and congressional Democrats and health advocates want the Biden administration to do more to ensure people are protected. Nationwide, nearly 5.5 million people have been purged from state Medicaid rolls across 45 states and the District of Columbia, according to health policy research group KFF.  (Weixel, 8/28)

AP: Medicaid Expansion Won't Begin In North Carolina On Oct. 1 Because There's Still No Final Budget
With the state budget’s passage now two months late, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration announced Monday that it can’t start the implementation of Medicaid expansion to hundreds of thousands of low-income adults in the early fall as it had wanted. State Health and Human Services Secretary Kody Kinsley said that expansion won’t begin on Oct. 1, which in July he unveiled as the start date — provided that a budget law was enacted by Sept. 1. (Robertson, 8/28)

Axios: How Medicaid Is Trying To Boost School's Health Funding
Schools across the country are missing out on millions of dollars from an unlikely federal source — Medicaid — because of longstanding bureaucratic hurdles that the Biden administration is now trying to address. (Harris, 8/29)

The New York Times: Grief And Anger Continue To Reverberate From Jacksonville Shootings
It was previously reported that Mr. Palmeter was held for involuntary psychiatric evaluation in 2017, when he was 15, and that a year earlier the police received a domestic violence call involving him and his brother. On Monday, those police reports were released. (Betts andM anna, 8/28)

The New York Times: U.N.C. Faculty Member Is Fatally Shot In Lab 
An assailant fatally shot a faculty member in a laboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Monday, forcing the campus into lockdown for several hours as students barricaded themselves in classrooms, dorms and bathrooms, the authorities said. ... Chief James and Kevin M. Guskiewicz, chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, did not name the faculty member who was killed, saying that relatives were still being notified. (Levenson and Holpuch, 8/28)

Stateline: Abortion Rights Amendment Petition Writers Sue Ohio Ballot Board For 'Deceptive' Summary
Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights announced Monday afternoon that it plans to file a lawsuit Monday asking the Ohio Supreme Court either to order the ballot board to use the full text of the amendment on ballots this November, or to “correct blatant inaccuracies.” “The summary that was adopted by the Ballot Board is intentionally misleading and fails to meet the standards required by Ohio law,” said OURR’s Lauren Blauvelt in a statement announcing the move. (Tebben, 8/28)

The 19th: Kentucky Governor's Race: How Abortion Is Shaping Cameron, Beshear's Campaigns
“Only one candidate stopped abortion in Kentucky: Daniel Cameron,” boasts a September 2022 ad from his campaign for governor. For the current attorney general and now Republican gubernatorial nominee, it’s a central issue in his run. It is for abortion rights advocates, too. (Panetta, 8/28)

AP: ACLU Sues Over Indiana Law Blocking Gender-Affirming Surgery For Inmates 
Civil rights advocates are suing Indiana’s Department of Corrections over the state’s law prohibiting gender-affirming surgery for inmates. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit against the department in federal court in Evansville on Monday. ... Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb also signed a bill in April prohibiting minors from accessing gender-affirming care such as transgender surgeries or medication. The ACLU has filed a federal lawsuit challenging that law, as well. (8/28)

AP: Missouri Law Banning Minors From Beginning Gender-Affirming Treatments Takes Effect
Two new laws restricting the access of transgender youth in Missouri to gender-affirming health care and school sports took effect Monday. One law bans minors from beginning puberty blockers and hormones and outlaws gender-affirming surgeries for youths. The other law requires student athletes from kindergarten through college to play on sports teams that align with their sex as assigned at birth. (Ballentine, 8/28)

AP: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer To Call On Democrats To Codify 'Obamacare' Into State Law 
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will call on state lawmakers this week to pass legislation proactively protecting key provisions in the Affordable Care Act, including no-cost preventive services, as the nation’s health law continues to face legal challenges in federal court. Whitmer, who is in her second term and working for the first time with a Legislature under complete Democratic control, will call for a plan to codify the Affordable Care Act during a speech Wednesday where she will outline her legislative priorities for the second half of the year. (Cappelletti, 8/28)

Crain's New York Business: Telehealth Pivots To Hybrid To Treat Youth Mental Health Crisis
Amid the pandemic and a behavioral workforce shortage, the growing need for adolescent mental healthcare has created opportunities for telemedicine startups to provide specialized services to children and teens. But in an unstable funding environment for telemedicine, emerging companies in the New York City area say they’ve had to develop solutions that address the complexity of the youth mental health crisis—such as combining virtual care with in-person models and creating a supply of clinicians to mitigate the behavioral health workforce shortage. (D'Ambrosio, 8/28)

Modern Healthcare: Hospital Portfolios Shrink As Systems Sell Non-Essential Businesses
Hospital systems are returning to their roots as they look to cut costs and simplify operations. Over the past two decades, many health systems have acquired long-term care, rehabilitation, home health, nursing home and hospice businesses, seeking to keep patients within their system. Owning these services allowed providers to generate extra revenue while closely overseeing care transitions and quality. (Kacik, 8/28)

Modern Healthcare: Cigna To Exit Kansas, Missouri Health Insurance Exchanges In 2024
Cigna will halt health insurance exchange sales in Kansas and Missouri while expanding its presence in North Carolina for the 2024 plan year, the company announced Monday. The insurer will participate in the health insurance exchange marketplace in 350 counties across 14 states for next year, including 15 additional counties in North Carolina, a net decrease of 13 counties compared with this year. Cigna previously outlined plans to sell exchange policies in 20 states by 2025. (Tepper, 8/28)

Modern Healthcare: Providence Still Recovering After Fallout From Hoag Split
Providence Health & Services is still working to recover from last year's multibillion-dollar losses. The Renton, Washington-based system on Monday reported a net loss of $232 million in the first half of 2023, compared with a loss of $5.24 billion in the year-ago period. Providence did not report the size of its second-quarter net loss but a spokesperson said it totaled $115 million. The system reported a net loss of $117 million in the first quarter. (Hudson, 8/28)

Modern Healthcare: Bon Secours Mercy Sues Anthem For Alleged $93M In Unpaid Claims
Bon Secours Mercy Health sued Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield on Monday, alleging that the insurer owes the health system nearly $100 million in unpaid, reduced and denied claims for patient care provided in Virginia. ... Cincinnati-based Bon Secours Mercy filed the suit in the Circuit Court of Henrico County. It seeks the damages of at least $93 million and an injunction that would stop “Anthem’s slow pay and systemic, unfair claims practices,” according to the suit. (Kacik, 8/28)

Stat: Insulet Sues Rival For Allegedly Stealing Trade Secrets On Diabetes Tech
Insulet filed a lawsuit this month against its rival EOFlow, accusing it of stealing trade secrets in a case that could shake up the diabetes technology market and throw a wrench in Medtronic’s planned $738 million acquisition of EOFlow. (Lawrence, 8/29)

The Baltimore Sun: Expansion Planned To Hopkins’ Bloomberg School Of Public Health; Groundbreaking Slated For 2024
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health plans to expand into a new building to accommodate its growth. Construction is slated to start early next year on a 250,000-square-foot, seven-story building on existing Johns Hopkins property at the corner of McElderry and Washington streets, next to Bloomberg School’s main building at 615 N. Wolfe Street, Johns Hopkins said in a news release. (Roberts, 8/28)

Reuters: Pfizer Could Restart Production At Tornado-Hit Plant By Early Q4 
Pfizer said on Monday it expects to restart production at its North Carolina plant by the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2023 as it seeks to repair tornado damage to one of the world's largest sterile injectable drug facilities. The facility was struck by a tornado on July 19, and Pfizer had earlier said some drugs, including painkiller fentanyl, could see a supply disruption. Pfizer has since placed limits on how much supply of those drugs its customers can buy. (8/28)

Stat: FDA Delays Enforcement Of Law To Stop Counterfeit Drugs
In response to growing complaints, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has postponed its plans to enforce a law designed to thwart counterfeit or diverted medicines passing through the pharmaceutical supply chain. The law was supposed to be fully enforced in late November, but the agency now says it will not take action until November 2024. (Silverman, 8/28)

Bloomberg: Walmart, CVS, Walgreens Want To Disrupt Doctors With New Treatment Options
Walmart Inc., Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and CVS Health Corp. are rolling out new care options normally only available at doctor’s offices. Testing and treatment services for strep throat, flu and Covid-19 are now available from Walmart pharmacists in 12 states, the company said in a statement Tuesday. Walgreens will soon have a similar offering across 13 states. And CVS pharmacists will evaluate symptoms and prescribe flu antiviral medicine and cough suppressants in 10 states, although they won’t offer tests. (Rutherford and Case, 8/29)

The New York Times: Ozempic And Wegovy, Novo Nordisk’s Weight Loss Drugs, Reshape Denmark’s Economy
After 100 years of relatively quiet existence as a maker of diabetes drugs, the Danish firm Novo Nordisk has suddenly grown so big that the company is reshaping the Danish economy. The reason: Ozempic and Wegovy, two weight loss drugs made by Novo Nordisk that have been proclaimed as revolutionary in the field of obesity. (Nelson, 8/28)

AP: West Virginia Governor Appoints 5 To Board Overseeing Opioid Fund Distribution 
Gov. Jim Justice announced the appointment Monday of five people to the board of a private foundation that will distribute most of West Virginia’s $1 billion-plus in opioid lawsuit settlements. (8/28)

CBS News: MDH Announces 3 More Conditions Approved For Newborn Screening In Minnesota
Three additional conditions have been approved for the Minnesota Department of Health's Newborn Screening Program. On Monday, MDH announced the addition of these conditions will boost protections for newborn infants in Minnesota. The conditions are rare, but can be serious if not detected and treated early. (8/28)

The Washington Post: D.C. Fails To House 98 Percent Of Homeless Young Adults, Data Show
The vast majority of young adults and single adults experiencing homelessness in the District remained unhoused last year despite an infusion of vouchers meant to address a problem that is surging in the region, according to data publicly shared earlier this month by D.C. officials. The stark breakdown in services that target some of D.C.’s most vulnerable populations, including young adults under the age of 25 and members of the LGBTQ+ community, points to a deep disparity that government officials had not previously revealed in such detail. (Lang and Moyer, 8/28)

Axios: Syphilis Rates Still A Concern For Arkansas Health Officials
Arkansas, like much of the country, continues to grapple with a surge in syphilis cases. Syphilis can cause serious health problems — like blindness, hearing loss or dementia — if left untreated, according to the CDC. (Golden, 8/28)

The Washington Post: Airlines Tried To Stop Fake Service Animals. It Kept Blind People Off Flights
Some passengers say their dogs have been rejected for simple paperwork mistakes. The required forms also have been difficult to fill out, blind travelers say, because they are often not compatible with the screen reader technology people use to convert text to speech. In interviews, blind people told The Washington Post that the regulations are so difficult to navigate that they are now hesitant to fly or are anxious about the experience. Various organizations for the blind are calling for the forms to be changed or eliminated. (Morris, 8/28)

CIDRAP: A Few More BA.2.86 COVID-19 Detections Noted In Human Samples, Wastewater
Ohio, which had a preliminary positive from wastewater, now has a BA.2.86-positive human sample, which was collected on July 29. Marc Johnson, PhD, a molecular virologist at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, said the patient sample was collected from the same general area as Ohio's wastewater sample and that the Ohio sample matches a sublineage that includes earlier Danish and UK samples, which differs from an earlier Michigan sample that was related to the lineage that includes Israel's sample. The different lineages hint at three separate introductions into the United States, he said. (Schnirring, 8/28)

CIDRAP: Omicron Variant May Be Less Likely To Lead To Long COVID
Infection with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant is less likely to lead to long COVID than previous variants, and prior infection—but not monovalent (one-strain) vaccination—helps protect against persistent symptoms, suggests a study published late last week in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases. (Van Beusekom, 8/28)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Spillover To White-Tailed Deer May Speed Virus Evolution
A group of researchers at the Ohio State University who first reported detection of SARS-CoV-2 in white-tailed deer (WTD) in December 2021 published a study today based on ongoing surveillance that shows more than 30 human-to-animal spillover events and fast virus evolution in a relatively small sample size of deer in northeastern Ohio. The findings, published in Nature Communications, raise questions for scientists who are trying to see how and if SARS-CoV-2 will become established in animal reservoirs. And, when established, how the virus in animals might ricochet back to reinfect humans. (Soucheray, 8/28)

CIDRAP: Heart Attack Patients Had Higher Odds Of Poor Outcomes Amid COVID Surges 
Hospitalized US patients who had a type of heart attack called non–ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) were at a 51% higher risk of death by 30 days and 32% higher risk of release to non-home settings amid COVID-19 patient surges than before, a University of Rochester–led research team reports. (Van Beusekom, 8/28)

AP: Federal Jury Finds Michigan Man Guilty In $3.5 Million Fraudulent N95 Mask Scheme
A federal jury in San Francisco has found a Michigan man guilty of failing to deliver almost $3.5 million worth of N95 masks to thousands of customers as the COVID-19 pandemic began. Online court records show the jury found Rodney Lewis Stevenson II of Muskegon guilty of wire and mail fraud as well as money laundering Thursday. (8/28)

Bloomberg: More US Dog Owners Question Rabies Vaccines Amid Post-Covid Anti-Vaccine Wave
Vaccine skepticism has spread to our pets. More than half of US dog owners expressed concerns about vaccinating their dogs, including against rabies, according to a new study published Saturday in the journal Vaccine. The study comes as anti-vaccine sentiments among humans have exploded in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. (Brown, 8/28)

The Hill: Sustained Exposure To Wildfire Smoke Reducing Life Expectancy In Parts Of California: Report
Sustained exposure to wildfire smoke is taking a toll on human health in California, where residents of one county are losing an average of two years off their lives due to the air they breathe, a new report has found. Twenty of the nation’s top 30 most polluted counties in 2021 were located in California, according to new data released by the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) of the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute. (Udasin, 8/29)

The Hill: ‘Valley Fever’ Fungus Surging Northward In California As Climate Changes 
Workers across California are grappling with yet another climate change-induced threat: a rapidly spreading fungus that can land its unsuspecting victims with prolonged flu-like symptoms, or far worse. The culprit is a soil-dwelling organism called coccidioides, which is now spreading the disease coccidioidomycosis — known as “Valley fever” — farther and farther north of its Southwest origins. Rather than spreading from person to person, Valley fever results from the direct inhalation of fungal spores — spores climate change is now allowing to flourish in new places. (Udasin, 8/28)

AP: Need To Know About Lifesaving CPR? A New Study Says It's Probably Wise Not To Ask Alexa Or Siri 
Ask Alexa or Siri about the weather. But if you want to save someone’s life? Call 911 for that. Voice assistants often fall flat when asked how to perform CPR, according to a study published Monday. Researchers asked voice assistants eight questions that a bystander might pose in a cardiac arrest emergency. In response, the voice assistants said: “Hmm, I don’t know that one" and “Sorry, I don’t understand.” (Johnson, 8/28)

CNN: Australia: Doctors Remove 3-Inch Parasitic Worm From Woman's Brain In World First 
When a 64-year-old Australian woman was sent to hospital for brain surgery, neurosurgeon Dr. Hari Priya Bandi was not expecting to pull out a live 8-centimeter (3-inch) long parasitic roundworm that wriggled between her forceps. “I’ve only come across worms using my not-so-good gardening skills … I find them terrifying and this is not something I deal with at all,” Bandi told CNN of the world’s first discovery of a live worm inside a human brain. (Magramo, 8/29)