First Edition: Dec. 22, 2022

KHN: ER Doctors Call Private Equity Staffing Practices Illegal And Seek To Ban Them 
A group of emergency physicians and consumer advocates in multiple states are pushing for stiffer enforcement of decades-old statutes that prohibit the ownership of medical practices by corporations not owned by licensed doctors. Thirty-three states plus the District of Columbia have rules on their books against the so-called corporate practice of medicine. But over the years, critics say, companies have successfully sidestepped bans on owning medical practices by buying or establishing local staffing groups that are nominally owned by doctors and restricting the physicians’ authority so they have no direct control. (Wolfson, 12/22)

KHN: ‘Caged … For No Fault Of Your Own’: Detainees Dread Covid While Awaiting Immigration Hearings 
In October, Yibran Ramirez-Cecena didn’t alert the staff at Stewart Detention Center to his cough and runny nose. Ramirez-Cecena, who had been detained at the immigration detention facility in southwestern Georgia since May, hid his symptoms, afraid he would be put in solitary confinement if he tested positive for covid-19. “Honestly, I didn’t want to go spend 10 days by myself in a room — they call it the hole,” Ramirez-Cecena said. He is being held at the center as he waits to learn whether he will be deported to Mexico or can remain in the United States, where he has lived for more than two decades. (Rayasam, 12/22)

KHN: Centene, Under Siege In America, Moved Into Britain’s National Health Service
In the final days of 2020, the U.S. health insurer Centene made a swift incursion into Britain’s prized National Health Service, one of the world’s largest employers. A Centene subsidiary, Operose Health, took over nearly three dozen medical practices in London — gateways for NHS care — in a deal worth tens of millions of dollars. The subsidiary became the largest private supplier of general practice services in the United Kingdom, with 67 practices accounting for 570,000 patients. (Spolar, 12/22)

KHN: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: Getting Insurance To Pay For Oral Surgery Is Like Pulling Teeth 
Health coverage generally does not cover dental work. But Susan Rice of Atlanta should have been the exception: She was hit by a speeding car, causing extensive damage to her own “grill.” She’s been fighting to get her oral surgery covered for 18 months and counting. The “An Arm and a Leg” podcast connected Rice with University of South Carolina law professor Jacqueline Fox, who, when she was practicing law, fought insurers on behalf of patients. Fox said Rice has “done everything right.” Her insurer’s refusal to pay may be tied to a bigger problem in the Affordable Care Act marketplace … one that’s led to a class-action lawsuit. (Weissmann, 12/22)

NPR: American Life Expectancy Is Now At Its Lowest In Nearly Two Decades
The average life expectancy for Americans shortened by over seven months last year, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That decrease follows an already big decline of 1.8 years in 2020. As a result, the expected life span of someone born in the U.S. is now 76.4 years — the shortest it has been in nearly two decades. (Noguchi, 12/22)

The Washington Post: U.S. Life Expectancy Fell In 2021 As Covid, Drug Deaths Surged
Notably, every age group in the U.S. — from young children to seniors 85 and older — saw a rise in its death rate. Men, women and most racial groups lost ground. In some previous years, even when overall life expectancy declined, some groups advanced. “This one, it’s sort of across-the-board bad news,” said Eileen Crimmins, a professor of gerontology at the University of Southern California who studies life expectancy around the world. “We’ve gone since 1996 without improving. That’s incredible, given how much we’ve learned about medicine, how much we’ve spent.” (Bernstein, 12/22)

USA Today: US Life Expectancy Continues To Fall, Erasing 25 Years Of Health Gains
What's killing Americans? Causes of death remained largely the same between 2020 and 2021, led by heart disease, cancer and COVID-19, all three of which occurred more often last year. Eight of the top 10 causes of death saw statistically significant increases in 2021 over 2020, including unintentional injury and stroke. Only Alzheimer's disease and chronic lower respiratory diseases declined among the leading causes of death.(Weintraub, 12/22)

The Hill: Mike Lee, Title 42 Drama Holds Up Omnibus Passage 
An effort led by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) to maintain Title 42 is threatening efforts to pass a sweeping government funding bill before a shutdown deadline later this week. Congressional negotiators on both sides say the biggest holdup is ongoing negotiations to decide what the voting threshold would be to pass the amendment. (Folley, Bernal and Weaver, 12/21)

CNN: Biden Administration Offers To Release Tamiflu From Strategic National Stockpile 
With an early and severe flu season straining resources, the Biden administration says it will release the prescription antiviral Tamiflu from the Strategic National Stockpile to states and territories that request it. The US Department of Health and Human services said Wednesday this should help ease access to the medication – one of several types of medicines patients have sometimes struggled to find amid a surge of respiratory viruses, including flu, RSV, Covid-19 and others. (Goodman, 12/21)

AP: As Flu Rages, US Releases Medicine From National Stockpile
The administration is not releasing how many doses will be made available. Antiviral medications were released from the stockpile more than a decade ago during the H1N1, also known as swine flu, pandemic. Last week, the federal agency also announced it would allow states to dip into statewide stockpiles for Tamiflu, making millions of treatment courses available. Tamiflu can be prescribed to treat flu in people over the age of 2 weeks old. (Seitz, 12/22)

Bloomberg: Paxlovid, Tamiflu Prescriptions Free At Mobile NYC Test, Treat Clinics
New Yorkers who are feeling sick can now go to one of the city’s mobile clinics to get tested for RSV, Covid-19 or the flu — and get a prescription for medicines like Tamiflu on the spot. (John Milton, 12/21)

CNBC: FDA Urges Parents Not To Stockpile Children's Flu Medications
The surge in flu cases and Covid-19 infections this month, along with elevated levels of childhood respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, infections has caused elevated demand for children’s over-the-counter cold and flu medications. The commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration said his agency is working with producers to improve supply but the current demand is unprecedented. (Coombs, 12/21)

NBC News: Children’s Medication Shortages Strain Parents And Pharmacies
Hugh Chancy, the president of the National Community Pharmacists Association, which represents over 19,000 independent pharmacies, said member pharmacies are under tremendous pressure. Some, including one of his own five pharmacies in Georgia, also function as compounding facilities, where licensed pharmacists can create drugs to meet the needs of individual patients. (Samee Ali, 21/21)

Side Effects Public Media: If The Antibiotics Shortage Worsens, Children With Sickle Cell Risk Preventable Deaths
Mary Warlo has been extremely worried lately. Her baby Calieb, who is six months old, has sickle cell disease. In early December he went for a few days without liquid penicillin, a medication that he – and thousands of other children in the U.S. – rely on to prevent potentially life threatening infections. Warlo couldn’t easily find a pharmacy in Indianapolis that had the medicine in stock. She and her husband frantically drove around for hours, stopping at five different pharmacies before they were able to get their prescription filled. (Yousry, 12/21)

The Washington Post: Fewer Than Half Of Nursing Home Residents Have Received Bivalent Covid Boosters 
Fewer than half of all nursing home residents in the United States have received the latest coronavirus vaccine booster shot — and rates among nursing home staff are even worse — raising concerns that vulnerable elderly people face a spike in preventable covid-19 deaths this winter. ... As of Dec. 4, only 47 percent of residents in nursing homes have received the latest booster; the rate for nursing home staff was 22 percent. (Rowland, 12/21)

The New York Times: As Covid Deaths Climb, Even Seniors Skip The Latest Booster 
As the pandemic barrels into its third winter, and Covid hospitalizations and deaths climb once again, medical experts worry that there is no effective plan to update the immunizations of the most vulnerable Americans. Two years ago, when Covid shots were first introduced, the federal government sent teams into thousands of nursing homes and community centers to vaccinate seniors, curbing the devastation of the virus. But so far this fall, the White House has only offered grants to community organizations to get shots into the arms of older people, without the clear messaging strategy or logistical support that they need most, many caregivers and nursing home executives said in interviews. (Baumgaertner, 12/21)

North Carolina Health News: More Seniors Hospitalized For COVID Now Than Before Vaccines 
During the first week of December, hospitals were once again admitting hundreds of North Carolinians for COVID and other respiratory diseases. But while much of the media coverage has focused on pitiable small children coughing and struggling for air, it turns out many of the new admissions have really white hair: Nearly three in 10 of those being checked into hospitals were older than 80. That’s beyond the shrinking life expectancy, newly announced, for U.S. women at 79.3 years, and men at 73.5. (Goldsmith, 12/22)

Reuters: U.S. FDA Approves Roche's COVID-19 Antibody
Roche Holding AG said on Wednesday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved its monoclonal antibody for treating COVID-19 in hospitalized adult patients. The intravenous anti-inflammatory drug, Actemra, is a monoclonal antibody that reduces inflammation and was approved in 2010 to treat rheumatoid arthritis. It is the first FDA-approved monoclonal antibody to treat COVID-19, Roche said. (12/21)

Becker's Hospital Review: Researchers Find Possible Genetic Cause For MIS-C
A new study suggests there may be an underlying genetic cause for why some children develop a rare but serious inflammatory condition known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome, or MIS-C, after a COVID-19 infection. More than 9,000 MIS-C cases, including 74 deaths, have been reported to the CDC since the agency started tracking them in May 2020. A study published Dec. 20 in Science identified genetic mutations to the proteins OAS and RNase L that increased the inflammatory response in some immune cells. The mutations were found in five unrelated children with MIS-C. (Carbajal, 12/21)

Stat: Hospitals Should Stop Routine Covid Screenings For All: Report
An influential board of infectious disease physicians recommended Wednesday that hospitals and other health care facilities stop routinely screening asymptomatic patients for Covid-19, saying the potential risks of screenings now outweigh the benefits. (Mast, 12/21)

Fierce Healthcare: Asymptomatic COVID Screening No Longer Recommended For Hospitals
A major professional organization for healthcare epidemiologists announced Wednesday that it no longer recommends universal COVID-19 screening for asymptomatic patients entering the hospital due to care delays and testing’s “unclear benefit” when layered upon a healthcare facility’s other infection prevention measures. (Muoio, 12/21)

Reuters: BioNTech Doses First Patient In Herpes Vaccine Candidate Clinical Trial
BioNtech has dosed the first patient with its BNT163 herpes vaccine candidate designed to prevent genital lesions as part of a first-in-human Phase 1 clinical research study, the German vaccine maker said on Wednesday. The vaccine candidate is meant to prevent HSV-2, the herpes simplex virus that causes genital herpes, and potentially HSV-1, which causes oral herpes and can lead to genital herpes. (12/21)

CIDRAP: WHO Supports 1-Dose HPV Vaccine Strategy
The World Health Organization (WHO), in a revised position paper, has updated its human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine recommendations to include a single-dose schedule, an effort to expand vaccination amid a worrying global decline in coverage. Earlier this year, WHO vaccine advisers endorsed the one-dose strategy as an alternative to the standard three-dose regimen. (Schnirring, 12/21)

WMFE: Study Finds That Hearing Aids May Reduce Dementia Risk For Senior With Hearing Loss
As we age, the frightful prospect of dementia is, in some respects, out of our hands. Simply getting older is the biggest risk factor, followed by genetics. There are factors we can address, like diet, lifestyle and managing blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes. But a study published earlier this month in the journal JAMA Neurology looked at hearing loss, which is found in about two-thirds of adults over 70. (Byrnes, 12/21)

Fortune: They Live With Alzheimer's. Here's How They Want To Be Treated During The Holidays—In Their Own Words
Everyone diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or dementia experiences it differently and may need a host of accommodations that don’t require them to miss out on traditions they have cherished, like at the holidays. ... To make people living with Alzheimer’s feel more comfortable during the holidays, the Alzheimer’s Association encourages people to share their diagnosis so people can know the symptoms to better engage with that individual. Someone in the early stages may feel anxious or uncomfortable around noise or chaos, so having a quiet room during the holidays may be beneficial. Consider including that person in the conversation and asking yes or no questions if someone has difficulty speaking. (Mikhail, 12/21)

The New York Times: An Overlooked Cure for Loneliness
Loneliness often stems from unwanted solitude. But it is also driven by a discrepancy between how you perceive your relationships versus what you want (or expect) from them. That disconnect is why you can be surrounded by family at Christmas and still feel like an outsider. A potential cure? Kindness toward others. Something as simple as volunteering can improve our health, ease feelings of loneliness and broaden our social networks, studies suggest. Opportunities to give back — both in person and virtually — are more commonplace than they were last year, and the need for volunteers hasn’t let up, especially at food pantries. (Caron, 12/21)

NBC News: Adults Say They're Expecting More Stress In 2023, Survey Finds
The American Psychiatric Association's Healthy Minds poll surveyed more than 2,200 U.S. adults Dec. 7 and 8. The results were compared to those of a similar poll from the group that ran in December 2021. Roughly 26% of the respondents reported that they expected to experience more stress in the New Year, up from 20% the previous year. (Lovelace Jr., 12/21)

Fox News: Texas Federal Judge Rules Against HHS Program Allowing Teens Confidential Birth Control
A federal court ruling Tuesday could make it nearly impossible for Texas teens to access birth control without parental permission. US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled that Title X, the federal program that provides free, confidential contraception to anyone regardless of age, income or immigration status, violates parental rights and violates state and federal laws. (Rumpf, 12/21)

The Texas Tribune and The New York Times: Winter Storm, Increase In Migrants Pressure Cities Throughout Texas
With freezing temperatures expected across much of the state Thursday and Friday, Texas cities are turning their attention to their unhoused communities — the people most at risk from the single-digit temperatures. The impending freeze is not expected to bring conditions as severe as the 2021 winter storm, and the state power grid’s governing body said this week it expects the grid to stay online. But with temperatures in many parts of the state plummeting into single digits, unsheltered people will be especially vulnerable. (Tompkins and Salhotra, 12/22)

NPR: 'Health Freedom' Activists Gain Seats On Major Hospital's Board
A Florida hospital has become the latest front for political activists eager to challenge protocols for treating COVID. While most of the 6,000 hospitals in the United States are privately-run, about 200 are controlled by publicly-elected board members, according to Larry Gage, former president of the National Association of Public Hospitals. Typically, those elections usually have nothing to do with national politics or culture war issues. (Hirsch, 12/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: UCSF Apologizes For ‘Unethical’ Experiments With Mosquitoes And Pesticides On Prisoners Decades Ago
According to the newly released report, two UCSF dermatologists — one of whom remains at the university — experimented on “at least” 2600 people incarcerated at the California Medical Facility, a prison hospital in Vacaville. The report said that the experiments did not appear to have the green light from a UCSF committee that was supposed to approve any studies on human subjects. Records of the subjects providing informed consent, indicating they had full knowledge of the ramifications and were voluntarily participating, were also sparse. (Parker, 12/21)

AP: US Starts Grappling With 'Travesty' Of Untreated Hepatitis C 
Too many Americans are missing out on a cure for hepatitis C, and a study underway in a hard-hit corner of Kentucky is exploring a simple way to start changing that. The key: On-the-spot diagnosis to replace today’s multiple-step testing. In about an hour and with just a finger-prick of blood, researchers can tell some of the toughest-to-treat patients — people who inject drugs — they have hepatitis C and hand over potentially life-saving medication. (Neergaard, 12/20)

NBC News: Bad Breath? Certain Types Of Probiotic Bacteria May Help
When it comes to persistent bad breath, the types of probiotic bacteria found in fermented foods like yogurt, sourdough bread and miso soup may help ease the offending odor, a new study suggests. (Carroll, 12/21)

CBS News: Wisconsin Warns Against A Holiday Tradition: Raw Meat Sandwiches
Like rules, some holiday traditions were made to be broken. So say health officials in Wisconsin, where it's long been customary in some families to serve at festive gatherings an appetizer of raw, lean ground beef on rye cocktail bread with sliced onions, salt and pepper. 8Gibson, 12/21)

AP: New Label Law Has Unintended Effect: Sesame In More Foods
A new federal law requiring that sesame be listed as an allergen on food labels is having unintended consequences — increasing the number of products with the ingredient. Food industry experts said the requirements are so stringent that many manufacturers, especially bakers, find it simpler and less expensive to add sesame to a product — and to label it — than to try to keep it away from other foods or equipment with sesame. (Aleccia, 12/21)