Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: Aug. 7, 2023
KFF Health News: As Many American Cities Get Hotter, Health Systems Face Off Against Heatstroke
As the hour crept past three in the afternoon, New Orleans’ French Quarter was devoid of tourists and locals alike. The heat index was over 105 degrees. New Orleans Emergency Medical Services has been busy this summer, responding to heat-related emergency calls and transporting patients to nearby hospitals. (Hawkins, 8/7)
KFF Health News: The NIH Ices A Research Project. Is It Self-Censorship?
Many Americans don’t understand a lot about their health. Whether due to people believing conspiracy theories or simply walking out of their doctor’s offices without a good idea of what was said, communicating what scientists know has been a long-standing challenge. The problem has gotten particularly acute with a recent wave of misinformation. And when Francis Collins led the National Institutes of Health, the world’s premier medical research agency, he thought he had a solution: to study health communications broadly. “We basically have seen the accurate medical information overtaken, all too often, by the inaccurate conspiracies and false information on social media. It’s a whole other world out there,” he said in 2021 as part of a farewell media tour. (Tahir, 8/7)
KFF Health News: Journalists Zero In On Opioid Settlement Cash, Congress, And The Medicaid Unwinding
KFF Health News senior correspondent Aneri Pattani discussed the spending of opioid settlement money with NPR’s “Morning Edition” on Aug. 2. The PBS NewsHour also featured Pattani on July 31 and Aug. 1 as it reported on how the debate around the spending is playing out in North Carolina and Ohio. (8/5)
NPR: Texas Abortion Bans Back In Place After State Appeals Judge's Order
"Texas pro-life laws are in full effect," the attorney general's office said in a press release on Saturday. "This judge's ruling is not." (McCammon and Bowman, 8/5)
AP: Fall Abortion Battle Propels Huge Early Voter Turnout For An Ohio Special Election This Week
A hastily called summer special election over a Republican-pushed measure that would make it harder for Ohio voters to pass future constitutional amendments, including one on the November ballot to guarantee abortion rights, has driven off-the-charts early turnout before Tuesday’s final day of voting. Early turnout has been so heavy that some election offices are straining to manage the load and trying to recruit additional poll workers. (Hendrickson, 8/4)
The Washington Post: Ahead Of Abortion Vote, Ohioans Weigh Making It Harder To Amend Constitution
Ohio voters are grappling with a confluence of two hot-button ideas: the fate of abortion rights and, when it comes to citizens’ ability to change the state constitution, the future of an important tool of democracy. (Marley and Roubein, 8/6)
Axios: Cyberattack Hits Hospitals Across Three States
Hospitals and outpatient facilities in at least three states are still working to restore their computer systems after a cyberattack hit their parent company, forcing some locations to shut down for days. Prospect Medical Holdings, a Los Angeles-based private equity company, which operates 16 hospitals and 165 outpatient facilities across California, Texas, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania, announced it sustained an attack on Thursday evening, the Associated Press reported. (Reed, 8/7)
AP: Attacks At US Hospitals Show Why Health Care Is One Of The Nation’s Most Violent Fields
The shooting at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center in Portland was part of a wave of gun violence sweeping through U.S. hospitals and medical centers, which have struggled to adapt to the growing threats. Such attacks have helped make health care one of the nation’s most violent fields. Data shows American health care workers now suffer more nonfatal injuries from workplace violence than workers in any other profession, including law enforcement. (Boone, 8/7)
The Hill: Childhood Vaccinations Falter Ahead Of Crucial Fall Season
Childhood vaccine coverage across the U.S. has hit a measurable decline once again as health authorities hope to avert major surges in diseases such as RSV and COVID-19 this winter. Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the rate of vaccinations against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) for kindergarteners has fallen below the healthy target rate of 95 percent for the second year in a row to 93 percent. (8/6)
AP: Federal Appeals Court Upholds Connecticut Law That Eliminated Religious Vaccination Exemption
A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a 2021 Connecticut law that eliminated the state’s longstanding religious exemption from childhood immunization requirements for schools, colleges and day care facilities. The decision comes about a year and a half after a lower court judge dismissed the lawsuit challenging the contentious law, which drew protests at the state Capitol. (8/4)
AP: Massachusetts State Police Must Reinstate 7 Troopers Who Refused To Be Vaccinated, Arbitrator Says
Massachusetts State Police must reinstate seven troopers who refused to be vaccinated for COVID-19, an independent arbitrator has ruled. The troopers have been on unpaid leave, but the arbitrator’s decision means they can return to work with retroactive pay if they choose. (8/6)
Stat: Late Stage Cancers On The Rise After Pandemic Delayed Screenings
Early-stage cancer diagnoses decreased by nearly 20% in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. A new study published in Lancet Oncology emphasizes how, because of disruptions in care, patients were more likely to get diagnosed with deadly metastatic disease — across nearly all cancer types. This study is the most comprehensive analysis of cancer diagnoses during the pandemic, using a nationwide registry that captures over 70% of all cancers in the United States. The starkest decline was observed after the initial shutdowns, with the regular 70,000 monthly cancer diagnoses (captured by the study’s inclusion criteria) being cut in half in April 2020. (Bajaj, 8/4)
Politico: Comity Crumbles On Congress’ Covid Committee
The decadelong friendship between Reps. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) and Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) survived elections, impeachments and the Jan. 6 insurrection. But the battle over where to place blame for the last pandemic, and how to confront the next one, is testing its limits. Ruiz, Wenstrup and their staffs began the year with high hopes that the lawmakers — fellow doctors who both entered Congress in 2013, had neighboring offices, regularly went out to dinner together and co-wrote several wonky health care bills — could meaningfully collaborate as chair and ranking member of Congress’ sole committee dedicated to investigating the government response to Covid-19. (Ollstein, 8/6)
Stat: Group Behind ProMed Defends Move To Subscription-Based Model
The organization that runs ProMed, an early warning system on disease outbreaks, defended its plans to charge a subscription for its service on Friday, calling it “the only viable path forward” given the resources required to run it. In a lengthy statement, the head of the International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID) apologized for “any confusion and distress” caused by communication of the group’s plans. But she also said there was little choice but to move to a subscription-based model. (Branswell, 8/4)
CIDRAP: CDC Reports 2023’s First Two US Human Infections With Swine Flu
The first two US human infections with swine flu viruses in 2023 were reported this week in Michigan, according to an update today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).The CDC said the two infections occurred in people who attended different agricultural fairs in Michigan and had contact with pigs. The infections were caused by two different types of flu virus variants—likely influenza A(H3)v and influenza A(H1N2)v—that are usually associated with contact with pigs. (Dall, 8/4)
The Washington Post: Second Deadly TB Outbreak Linked To Tainted Bone Grafts
U.S. health officials are racing to control an outbreak of tuberculosis linked to contaminated bone graft material that has killed one person and infected at least four others — the second outbreak of the rare disease in two years. Eight people died in 2021 when the same type of bone repair product used in spinal surgery was also contaminated with the bacteria that causes tuberculosis. The product was supplied by Aziyo Biologics, the Silver Spring, Md., company also involved in the current outbreak. (Sun and Bernstein, 8/4)
AP: A Hospital In A Rural North Carolina County With A Declining Population Has Closed Its Doors
rural eastern North Carolina hospital has closed its doors, largely the result of what its operators described as a declining surrounding population that was going elsewhere for medical care. Martin General Hospital in Williamston suspended operations on Thursday and is filing for bankruptcy, according to a hospital news release. (8/4)
Modern Healthcare: Mass General Brigham Bets Big On Hospital-At-Home
Mass General Brigham sees hospital-at-home care as a big part of its long-term future. In the short term, the nonprofit health system's plan depends on a favorable ruling from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The Boston-based provider says it is on track to shift 10% of inpatient care to hospital-at-home—through which acute care is delivered in-home and virtually and patients are connected to remote monitoring—within five years. In the coming weeks, Mass General Brigham anticipates word from CMS about regulatory waivers that would enable that expansion by OK'ing Medicare reimbursements for these services that match payments for inpatient care. (Eastabrook, 8/7)
Stat: Doctors Push To Include Dialysis Machines In Emergency Stockpile
Ariel Brigham was drowning. Hurricane Harvey had dumped over 50 inches of rain across Houston and coastal Texas, leaving the then-26-year-old Texan stranded in her flooded apartment. But what was killing Brigham wasn’t water from the hurricane. It was the excess fluid and toxins building up in her own body. Brigham had kidney failure, and she relied on dialysis three times each week to remove waste from her blood. Without regular dialysis treatments, she could die. But the extreme flooding from Harvey in August 2017 had closed most of the region’s dialysis clinics and made travel to other clinics and emergency rooms impossible, even by ambulance. All Brigham could do was wait for the water to recede. (Arnold, 8/7)
Modern Healthcare: Clover Health Achieves Nasdaq Listing Compliance Again
Clover Health's financial position took a turn for the better this week after the insurance company said it had regained compliance with the Nasdaq Stock Market's listing standards. The insurance company announced in April that it needed to raise its share prices to $1 and hold that value for 10 consecutive days by Oct. 17 in order to remain listed on the exchange. Clover Health, which sells Medicare Advantage plans and physician enablement technology, had been mulling a reverse stock split and share reduction proposal and had scheduled a shareholder vote on the matter for Aug. 30. The carrier will now reevaluate the proposals, the insurance company said in a news release issued after Thursday's market close. (Tepper, 8/4)
Modern Healthcare: Steve Jobs' Son, Healthmap Headline Funding Rounds
Reed Jobs, the son of deceased Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, is starting an investment fund that will focus on cancer care. The fund, named Yosemite, will invest in therapeutics, diagnostics and digital health around the oncology ecosystem. The company will fund early-stage companies and provide grants to emerging research. (Turner, 8/4)
AP: Nurses At New Jersey's Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Go On Strike
Nearly 2,000 nurses at one of New Jersey’s biggest hospitals have gone on a labor strike. Nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital picketed the New Brunswick hospital on Friday. (8/4)
Stat: Community Health Workers Fight For Their Place In The System
A nurse supervisor at Montefiore Comprehensive Health Care Center in the Bronx was delivering her start-of-shift updates and mantras — “Covid is not finished with us … clean, clean, clean!”— to the clinicians and administrative staff bunched up nearby. Hawa Abraham, not one or the other, stood among them. It was going to be another busy day at the clinic, with 150 patients expected, and Abraham, a community health worker, would be seeing several herself. (Castillo, 8/7)
AP: Judge's Decision Could Force Change In Michigan's Handling Of Newborn Blood Samples
The state of Michigan must return or destroy dried blood samples from nine newborns or get approval from parents to keep them, according to the latest scathing opinion from a federal judge who found parts of a routine testing program unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Thomas Ludington is not interfering with the practice of pricking the heels of babies to draw blood to screen for more than 50 diseases, a longstanding procedure in hospitals across the United States. (White, 8/4)
USA Today: 'Tampon Tax': Texas Is Latest State To End Taxes On Period Products
Texas will eliminate sales tax on menstrual products, as well as a handful of maternity products, this September, joining a growing number of states removing "period" or "pink" taxes. Senate Bill 379, which passed in the 2023 legislative session, will end the sales tax of baby wipes, diapers, bottles, menstrual products, nursing bras and maternity clothes. The bill will go into effect next month. (Butera, 8/6)
Los Angeles Times: Bay Area Spa Ordered Closed Following Two Deaths; Legionnaires’ Disease Suspected
Contra Costa county health officials are investigating two recent deaths associated with Legionnaires’ disease, a serious lung infection, possibly linked to visits to a Richmond spa. Health officials so far have determined that both deaths, which were reported to county health officials Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, came after the patients visited the spa just days prior to the onset of their illnesses. (Watanabe, 8/5)
NBC News: Don't Rub Castor Oil In Your Eyes, Doctors Say, No Matter What They Do On Social Media
Castor oil has long been considered a jack-of-all-trades home remedy, used as a laxative, a moisturizer and as a chest rub to ease lung congestion. Now some people on TikTok claim they're using castor oil as a way to treat vision problems. Doctors warn that's a way to ruin your eyes. (Camero, 8/5)
Axios: Half Of World's Population Faces Mental Disorders By 75
About half of the world's population "can expect to develop" at least one type of mental disorder by the time they are 75 years old, according to a new study published in the scientific journal The Lancet Psychiatry. The number of Americans experiencing mental health challenges has risen in recent years, particularly during the pandemic. The study finds evidence that certain disorders — such as depression and addiction — are also on the rise at the global level. (Ravipati, 8/5)
