First Edition: Dec. 13, 2023

KFF Health News: As Foundation For ‘Excited Delirium’ Diagnosis Cracks, Fallout Spreads 
When Angelo Quinto’s family learned that officials blamed his 2020 death on “excited delirium,” a term they had never heard before, they couldn’t believe it. To them, it was obvious the science behind the diagnosis wasn’t real. Quinto, 30, had been pinned on the ground for at least 90 seconds by police in California and stopped breathing. He died three days later. (Rayasam, Hawryluk and Young, 12/13)

KFF Health News: Millions In Opioid Settlement Funds Sit Untouched As Overdose Deaths Rise
Nearly a year after Montana began receiving millions of dollars to invest in efforts to combat the opioid crisis, much of that money remains untouched. Meanwhile, the state’s opioid overdose and death counts continue to rise. The money is part of the approximately $50 billion that states and local governments will receive nationwide in opioid settlement funds over nearly two decades. The payments come from more than a dozen companies that made, distributed, or sold prescription opioid painkillers that were sued for their role in fueling the overdose epidemic. (Houghton and Pattani, 12/13)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute' 
This week on the KFF Health News Minute: People seeking food and cash assistance are getting lost in the bureaucracy as states purge their Medicaid rolls, and a tip for how listeners can avoid pricey bills for routine bloodwork. (12/12)

Fierce Healthcare: TEFCA Goes Live In 'Big Bang' For Nationwide Health Data Sharing
Seven years in the making, a nationwide network to exchange patient data called the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement is now operational, marking a critical step in establishing universal connectivity across providers. The interoperability framework, called TEFCA, was mandated by the 21st Century Cures Act back in 2016 and was designed to create an infrastructure to enable data sharing between health information networks. (Landi, 12/12)

Modern Healthcare: HHS’ TEFCA Goes Live With Epic, Others Leading The Way
The TEFCA launch represents a milestone in the long journey toward national health data interoperability, said HHS Secretary Xavier Beccera at a news conference. The creation of TEFCA was required by the 21st Century Cures Act, which was signed into law in December 2016 by President Barack Obama. But Micky Tripathi, national coordinator for health IT, said the government’s vision for a national exchange of health information dates back nearly 20 years to when ONC was established in 2004 under President George W. Bush. (Perna, 12/12)

The Hill: Nearly Half Of 5 Million Veterans Screened Found To Have Potential Toxic Substance Exposure
Nearly half of the 5 million veterans that have been screened by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) under a new law have reported at least one possible exposure to toxic substances during their military service. Announcing the 5 million screening milestone, the VA revealed that 2.1 million veterans — or 43 percent of those screened — were potentially exposed to such substances during their service. (Frazin, 12/12)

The Washington Post: FDA To Review MDMA-Assisted Therapy, A Milestone For Psychedelics
MAPS Public Benefit Corp. filed an application on Tuesday with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve the psychedelic drug MDMA — also known as Ecstasy — in combination with therapy to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, in what would be the first treatment of its kind. The filing is a milestone in researchers’ quest to move psychedelic drugs from tightly restricted substances into mainstream medical treatments that are widely accessible to patients. It comes after decades of studies have demonstrated the promise of psychedelics — including psilocybin, or magic mushrooms, and ketamine — to treat mental health disorders. (Gilbert and Ovalle, 12/12)

Arizona Republic: Arizona’s Supreme Court Is Considering Abortion Law. Lawyers Arguing The Case Are All Men
For an hour Tuesday, six justices of the Arizona Supreme Court questioned attorneys in a high-profile case that could either protect, or effectively erase, a woman's right to obtain an abortion in the state. Four lawyers argued two sides of the case. All were men. It was a noticeable approach in a consequential case when the broader policy discussion about abortion often focuses on the rights of women to make their own healthcare decisions. Supporters of abortion access argue the government has no role in such choices, and the decision should be between a woman and her doctor. (Barchenger, 12/12)

AP: New Mexico Supreme Court Weighs Whether To Strike Down Local Abortion Restrictions 
The New Mexico Supreme Court is weighing whether to strike down local abortion restrictions by conservative cities and counties at the request of the attorney general for the state where abortion laws are among the most liberal in the country. Oral arguments were scheduled for Wednesday in Santa Fe. At least four state supreme courts are grappling with abortion litigation this week in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last year to rescind the constitutional right to abortion. (Lee, 12/13)

Reuters: Lawyers Challenging Kentucky Abortion Ban Call For More Plaintiffs 
A Kentucky woman who filed a class action last week challenging the state's near-total ban on abortion is no longer pregnant, her lawyers said Tuesday, calling for more plaintiffs to carry the case forward. Lawyers for the woman at Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in a statement that the woman learned her embryo no longer had cardiac activity after she filed the lawsuit on Friday. (Pierson, 12/12)

The Texas Tribune: Amarillo City Council Could Be Next Texas City To Ban Travel For Abortion
Near the tip of the top of the state, Amarillo is far from the Capitol in Austin, Dallas’ busy downtown, and Houston’s congested highways. The “floating” city in the Panhandle is often forgotten by much of the state, residents say. Most of the country has never heard of their home. That changed when the Amarillo City Council took up a proposed abortion travel ban in October. The debate put an unfamiliar spotlight on the city — activists flocked to Amarillo, national organizations joined local efforts, and council members' phones rang off the hook. (Carver, 12/13)

The Washington Post: Covid And Flu Are Rising, And RSV In Some Places, Driving More ER Visits 
Respiratory viruses are rebounding in the United States on the precipice of the end-of-year holidays, with emergency room visits for covid-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus collectively reaching their highest levels since February. Among the three, covid continues to be the biggest driver of hospitalizations, settling into a familiar rhythm of causing periodic waves without wreaking havoc on the health-care system as it once did. Hospitals reported more than 22,000 new covid admissions the week ending Dec. 2, the highest since the peak of the summer wave in September. (Nirappil, 12/12)

CIDRAP: COVID Study: 40% Of Children Still Infectious After Symptom Resolution 
A study today of viral shedding dynamics in 101 children who had COVID-19 during the Omicron surge in Toronto shows that 40% were still infectious on the day after their symptoms resolved. Moreover, rapid antigen tests (RATs) were often negative early in the course of illness, and thus cannot be relied on to exclude infection, they authors say. The study is published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. (Soucheray, 12/12)

Axios: SmileDirectClub Shutdown Leaves Patients Stranded With No Plan In Sight
The sudden collapse of SmileDirectClub has stranded users of its clear-plastic, removable teeth aligners — in some cases just weeks after they were given a discount for paying up front. Customers experiencing problems with their treatment will not be able to get new aligners, treatment, or other support from the company. (Bomey, 12/12)

Reuters: US Panel Recommends Children With Obesity Start Counseling From Age 6 
Children with obesity should receive intensive counseling to promote healthy diet and exercise habits starting at age 6, according to a draft recommendation issued by a panel of U.S. experts on Wednesday. The government-backed U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) had recommended in 2017 that screening for obesity start at age 6. Research since then has shown the effectiveness of intensive behavioral interventions - defined as at least 26 hours of counseling with one or more health professionals - for achieving a healthy weight and improving the quality of life for children and adolescents, the panel said. The recommendation did not specify a timeframe. (Lapid, 12/12)

NBC News: Marijuana Use During Pregnancy Linked To Low Birth Weight, Study Finds
Women who use marijuana during pregnancy may be putting their babies’ health at risk, with risk increasing as use goes up, a new study suggests.An analysis of data from more than 9,000 moms-to-be from across the U.S. revealed that cannabis exposure during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of unhealthy outcomes, especially low birth weight. Moreover, the more cannabis moms-to-be consumed, the higher the risk, according to the report, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. (Carroll, 12/12)

Axios: Patients Worry About How Doctors May Be Using AI: Survey
The vast majority of American patients are wary of how their doctor may use generative AI to help treat them, according to a new Wolters Kluwer Health survey. The technology is still in limited use in physician offices — mostly to help with administrative tasks — but one day may help doctors make diagnoses or develop care plans. (Reed, 12/13)

Stat: Medicare Advantage Beneficiaries Sue Humana Over Algorithm Use
Medicare Advantage beneficiaries on Tuesday filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that the health insurance giant Humana illegally used an algorithm to prematurely cut off payment for rehabilitation care after patients suffered serious illnesses and injuries. (Ross and Herman, 12/12)

Modern Healthcare: Kaiser Permanente Layoffs Hit 115 IT Employees
Kaiser Permanente has joined the growing number of health systems cutting back their IT teams. The Oakland, California-based health system confirmed it eliminated 115 workers from IT positions last month. Kaiser declined to specify how many IT employees were retained or provide detail about the roles and locations affected. (Turner, 12/12)

CBS News: Nurses, Staff Members Rally At Seton Medical Center
Nurses and staff members held separate rallies at Seton Medical Center in Daly City on Tuesday morning, calling for decisions to cut jobs to be overturned and for their benefits to be increased. ... "AHMC is the worst operator we've ever seen at Seton," Christina Caradis, a radiologic technologist who has worked at the hospital for 26 years, said in a press release. "They're not able to provide basic needs for the hospital or patients." (12/12)

CBS News: Hackers Had Access To Patient Information For Months In New York Hospital Cyberattack, Officials Say
A group of New York hospitals and health care centers were targeted in a cyberattack that for two months allowed hackers to access patients' private information, officials said this week. ... HealthAlliance, Inc., the corporate parent of the three facilities, said Monday that it "began mailing notification letters to patients whose information may have been involved in a data security incident." (Czachor, 12/12)

Modern Healthcare: Nemours To Launch Pediatric Hospital-At-Home Program Next Year
Nemours Children’s Health plans to launch a pediatric hospital-at-home program next year, despite questions about how it will be reimbursed for home-based care.The program would provide acute home-based care to patients within a 40-mile radius of the health system’s two hospitals in Wilmington, Delaware, and Orlando, Florida, said Dr. Eric Jackson, chief innovation officer. The care would include remote patient monitoring, telehealth and in-person visits to children with urgent, short-term illnesses such as respiratory syncytial virus, Covid-19, bronchitis and influenza. (Eastabrook, 12/12)

CBS News: Virtual Reality Surgery Puts North Shore Community College Students In Simulated Operating Rooms
The future of education is here at North Shore Community College where surgical technology students are using virtual reality to learn procedures in simulated operating rooms. "It's game changing for these students. They're so much more prepared to go to clinical," program coordinator, Jennifer Forte told WBZ-TV. She said there's a nationwide critical shortage of surgical technologists and this enhances their program to get more students into the field. (Kincade, 12/12)

Reuters: US Diabetes Patients Face Delays As Insurers Tighten Ozempic Coverage 
Some patients with type 2 diabetes say they are having more difficulty getting reimbursed for drugs like Ozempic as U.S. insurers implement restrictions designed to deter doctors from prescribing the medication for weight loss. Novo Nordisk confirmed in a recent email that it is seeing tighter health plan management of GLP-1 drugs including Ozempic and is working to minimize disruption for type 2 diabetes patients. The trend has contributed to a recent dip in U.S. prescriptions, an executive at the Danish drugmaker said at an investor conference last month. (Beasley, 12/12)

Stat: Leukemia Patients Are Helped By Syndax's New Type Of Therapy 
One of the toughest subtypes of acute leukemia involves a genetic alteration in the KMT2A gene. Many cancers with this genetic alteration end up relapsing or don’t respond to treatment, but new data presented at the annual American Society of Hematology meeting offer hope of a new targeted therapy for these patients. (Chen, 12/12)

Stat: In Cancer Care, Patients With Disabilities Face False Assumptions
People with disabilities often spend a lot of time navigating bias and educating others about their condition. When it comes to cancer, assumptions made by their doctors can undermine their care even before it starts. (Cooney, 12/13)

Stat: More Sickle Cell Patients Might Benefit From Bone Marrow Transplant 
The sickle cell community has for the past few days been buzzing with news of the first-ever approved gene therapies for the devastating disease. Meanwhile, researchers at the American Society of Hematology meeting on Tuesday are reporting advances in a less expensive and more established strategy proven to cure patients: bone marrow transplant. (Wosen, 12/12)

North Carolina Health News: NC Pushes Back Medicaid Unwinding For Children
North Carolina children insured through Medicaid will remain covered for another year as the state works its way through recertifications of everyone on the program. Health experts praise the move, which they say should help protect children from losing coverage over procedural issues when they would otherwise still be eligible during the process known as the “unwinding,” where states have been disenrolling people who gained Medicaid during the pandemic. (Fernandez, 12/13)

The Colorado Sun: A Safe2Tell Report After Suicidal Social Media Post Saved A Colorado Student’s Life
A student’s quick action in making a report to Colorado’s anonymous Safe2Tell program stopped a suicide attempt in progress in a child’s home, state officials revealed Tuesday. A peer who saw another student’s social media post about wanting to kill themselves made a report to the school safety program, which resulted in police officers driving to the student’s home. They found the student “actively attempting suicide” and took the student to a hospital, according to information released by the state Attorney General’s Office, which oversees the Safe2Tell program. (Brown, 12/12)

The Washington Post: Surging Need Creates Safety Issues At Va. Mental Hospitals, Study Finds
Overcrowding at Virginia’s public psychiatric hospitals is creating unsafe conditions for patients and workers, prompting a staff exodus and causing delays in care for those in crisis, according to a comprehensive study of the system. The 159-page report by a body that oversees state agencies for the General Assembly found breakdowns in many facets of the nine-hospital system and recommended closing a troubled facility for children despite a decade of changes aimed at bolstering how the state cares for some of its most vulnerable residents. (Jouvenal and Portnoy, 12/12)

News Service of Florida: Florida Appeal Targets District Judge's Ruling Over Children In Nursing Homes
Florida is asking a federal appeals court to overturn a district judge’s ruling in a decade-long battle about children with complex medical needs receiving care in nursing homes, describing a key part of the ruling as an “arbitrary and unachievable” goal. A panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled Jan. 24 to hear arguments in the state’s appeal of a ruling by U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks that the Florida Medicaid program violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. (Saunders, 12/12)

The Washington Post: Arlington Doctor Convicted Of Sprawling Conspiracy To Deal Painkillers
An Arlington County doctor who prosecutors said “flooded” Virginia with more than 1 million oxycodone pills she prescribed over a decade was convicted Tuesday of a drug distribution conspiracy. Kirsten Van Steenberg Ball testified at her trial in U.S. District Court in Alexandria that she kept prescribing oxycodone to patients who failed drug tests, shared pills with others in violation of criminal laws or neglected to provide documentation that she requested. An undercover FBI agent testified that he kept obtaining oxycodone prescriptions from Ball after all of those lapses. (Rizzo, 12/12)

CBS News: Federal Officials Investigate Legionella Bacteria At McNamara Building In Detroit
In a statement on Tuesday, Dec, 12, the U.S. General Services Administration Great Lakes Region said water testing on Nov. 8 determined elevated levels of the bacteria in specific test points. "Immediately after receiving these test results, GSA notified building occupants, shut off the affected water outlets, and restricted access to the outlets. In addition, GSA is continuing to flush water through these points while developing a full building water flushing and sampling testing plan," a GSA spokesperson said in the statement. (Booth-Singleton, 12/12)

NBC News: Hepatitis A Rising Among Homeless, Illicit Drug Users In Massachusetts, Officials Say
Hepatitis A is on the rise among homeless people and those who use illicit drugs in Massachusetts, state health officials said Tuesday. The highly contagious virus and liver infection was discovered in six people last month in three counties surrounding Boston — Suffolk, Norfolk and Plymouth — as well as in Hampden County in western Massachusetts, they said. No deaths were reported, but some patients were hospitalized, the state Public Health Department said in a statement. Four of the six patients are men 36 and older. (Romero, 12/13)

Reuters: Pope Wants To Simplify Papal Funeral Rites, Be Buried Outside Vatican 
Pope Francis, who has shunned much of the Vatican's pomp and privilege, has decided to vastly simplify the elaborate funeral rites for a pontiff and be the first one to be buried outside the Vatican in more than a century. The pope, who turns 87 on Sunday, disclosed plans for his funeral in an interview with Mexico's N+ television on Tuesday evening to mark the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. (Pullella, 12/13)

NPR: From Gaza To Syria To Ukraine, Attacks On Health Care Are Part Of Warfare
The year 2022 set a grim record — 1,989 attacks on health-care facilities and their personnel, the worst total number in the decade since the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition began its sobering count.This year is on track to be even more devastating for the toll on health care. In many of the world's ongoing conflicts — like Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and now between Israel and Hamas — health care has been a target. The reasons for this may differ from conflict to conflict but the end result is an affront to international humanitarian law, written to protect health care in times of war. (Daniel, 12/12)

Reuters: Eisai To Launch Alzheimer's Drug Leqembi In Japan On Dec 20
Eisai said on Wednesday its Alzheimer's drug Leqembi will launch in Japan on Dec. 20 following its inclusion on the National Health Insurance price list. Intravenous treatment of the drug, co-developed with U.S. partner Biogen, will cost about 2.98 million yen ($20,438) per patient per year, based on a Japanese health ministry panel ruling the same day. ... The drug is priced at about $26,500 in the United States, where it gained full approval in July. Leqembi was given the nod by Japanese regulators in September. (12/13)

Reuters: Japan's Health Ministry Reports Country's First Death From Mpox 
Japan's health ministry on Wednesday reported the country's first fatality from mpox. The patient was a man in his 30s with a prior infection with HIV and no travel history, the ministry said in a statement. (12/13)