First Edition: Dec. 6, 2023

KFF Health News: Grassroots College Networks Distribute Emergency Contraceptives On Campus 
Limya Harvey and Cydney Mumford set up a folding table a few times a month on the University of Texas-San Antonio campus to give away kits containing emergency contraceptives, condoms, and lube, or menstrual products like tampons and pads. They typically bring 50 of each type of kit, and after just an hour or two everything is gone. The 19-year-old sophomores — Harvey is enrolled at UTSA and Mumford at Northeast Lakeview College — founded the organization Black Book Sex Ed last spring. Their mission is to educate students and others in need about sexual health and connect them with free services and products packaged into kits they distribute on campus, in the community, and through their website. (Andrews, 12/6)

KFF Health News: Biden Wants States To Ensure Obamacare Plans Cover Enough Doctors And Hospitals 
The Biden administration plans to push states to boost oversight of the number of doctors, hospitals, and other health providers insurers cover in Obamacare plans, under rules proposed in November. The annual regulatory proposal, known as the payment parameters rule, also seeks to expand access to adult dental coverage in Affordable Care Act marketplaces and would require states to hold open enrollment periods for Obamacare plans at the same time of year. It’s likely one of the last major ACA policy efforts of President Joe Biden’s first term — and, if he loses reelection, could represent his final touches on the landmark health program created when he was vice president. (Appleby, 12/6)

KFF Health News: Readers Slam Hospital Monopolies And Blame The Feds For Understaffed Nursing Homes 
KFF Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories. (12/6)

KFF Health News: These Programs Put Unused Prescription Drugs In The Hands Of Patients In Need 
On a recent November evening, Angie Phoenix waited at a pharmacy here in Colorado’s second-largest city to pick up prescription drugs to treat her high blood pressure and arm seizures. But this transaction was different from typical exchanges that occur every day at thousands of pharmacies across the United States. The cost to Phoenix, 50, who lives in the nearby community of Falcon and has no health insurance, was nothing. (Ruder, 12/6)

KFF Health News: Watch And Listen: Opioid Settlement Case Triggers Protests Outside The High Court
The Supreme Court heard a case this week about who could claim bankruptcy protection from civil lawsuits. The case stems from the opioid epidemic and lawsuits brought by state and local governments against the companies that made, sold, or distributed prescription painkillers — in this instance, Purdue Pharma, which marketed OxyContin. (Pattani, 12/5)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute' 
This week on the KFF Health News Minute: The U.S. faces a shortage of physical therapists, and more Americans face the prospect of dying broke because of the rising cost of long-term care. (12/5)

USA Today: GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville Caves On Military Holds Over Abortion Policy
Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville's blockade on military promotions that stretched over 10 months has come to an end. The Alabama lawmaker, who has been protesting a Pentagon policy on abortion since February, told reporters Tuesday he will be lifting holds on military promotions for nominees three-stars and below. The blockade has prevented more than 400 military jobs from being filled. "It's been a long fight. We fought hard. We did the right thing for the unborn and for our military," he said Tuesday. (Looker, 12/5)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Judge Rules Wisconsin's 1849 Law Does Not Ban Abortions
A Dane County judge on Tuesday ruled that a 174-year-old law thought to prohibit abortion in Wisconsin does not, in fact, do so. "The Court declares Wis. Stat. § 940.04 does not prohibit abortions," wrote Dane County Circuit Judge Diane Schlipper. Schlipper ruled that the law in question, a statute written in 1849, does not apply to abortions but to feticide. A consensual abortion is sought out by a pregnant woman who voluntarily determines to end a pregnancy. (Opoien, 12/5)

CNN: Texas Woman Forced To Carry High-Risk Pregnancy Files Lawsuit To Have Abortion
A pregnant Texas woman who says her unborn baby has a genetic condition and carrying the child to term could threaten her life filed suit against the state Tuesday, asking a court to declare she has the right to terminate the pregnancy. Kate Cox said the state’s current abortion ban puts her husband and her gynecologist at legal risk if she has an abortion in Texas. (Rose, 12/5)

CBS News: Minnesota-Based Just The Pill Providing Women With Mobile Reproductive Health Care
A Minnesota-based startup is hitting the road for abortion rights, but this is not a policy campaign. Just The Pill is an organization that offers reproductive health services to women via telehealth and a mobile clinic that its directors think will be a model for the future of this health care. "We have a lot to build back after Roe," medical director Dr. Julie Amaon told WCCO, referring to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision that rescinded a national right to abortion. (Kaplan, 12/5)

Axios: Biden Pushed To Strengthen Free Birth Control Coverage Under ACA
Democrats and reproductive rights organizations are putting renewed pressure on the Biden administration to ensure that health insurers fully cover contraception, citing fresh evidence that companies are failing to meet the Affordable Care Act requirement. (Reed, 12/6)

Reuters: Biden Admin Urges Court To Allow Graphic Warning Labels For Cigarettes
The Biden administration on Tuesday urged a federal appeals court to let a regulation requiring graphic health warnings on cigarette packages and advertisements take effect, a year after it was blocked by a lower court in response to a challenge by tobacco companies. Lindsey Powell, representing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, told a three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals the images on the proposed labels were necessary because text-only warnings failed to deter teenagers from starting to smoke. The labels would include 11 graphic images, such as diseased feet with amputated toes, to illustrate the risks of smoking. (Pierson, 12/5)

The Washington Post: Biden Ban On Menthol Cigarettes To Be Delayed Amid Political Concerns, Officials Say 
The Biden administration will further delay a long-awaited ban on menthol cigarettes after fierce lobbying from critics who warn that a prohibition could anger some Black smokers who favor the products and could hurt President Biden’s reelection prospects, administration officials said. The administration is expected to announce Wednesday that it plans in March to finalize federal rules that would lead to menthol cigarettes being removed from the market, according to three officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss forthcoming regulations. The officials acknowledged that the process could be delayed still further because of pressure during an election year. (Diamond and Ovalle, 12/5)

Stat: Medicare's Role In Drug Shortages Gets A Closer Look In The Senate
Members of the Senate Finance Committee took their first steps today toward using Medicare payment policy to fix drug shortages. (Wilkerson, 12/5)

Stat: CVS Drug Pricing Plan May Not Lower Costs For Consumers
CVS Health is promising to simplify how its pharmacies get paid for drugs. At first blush, it sounds like the model popularized by Mark Cuban of Shark Tank fame, whose own drug program claims to save employers up to 60% compared with conventional arrangements. Drug pricing experts, however, say CVS’ CostVantage program appears designed to pad CVS’ own bottom line rather than make drugs cheaper for patients and employers. (Bannow, 12/5)

Axios: CVS Drug Pricing Overhaul Signals Broader Industry Shift
CVS Health's new plan to make the way it prices prescription drugs more predictable is the latest shift by pharmacy giants to overhaul their business models amid increasing pressure from policymakers and industry upstarts. More transparent pricing that's more closely tied to the base cost of a drug could drive down how much consumers and insurers pay for some medicines. (Reed, 12/6)

USA Today: Drug Coupons Targeted In Court Ruling, Leaving Patients In The Lurch
Millions of Americans with robust health insurance rely on drug company coupons or discount cards to fill expensive prescriptions for chronic health conditions. But those offerings may soon be limited in the wake of legal challenges and upcoming changes to federal regulations. ... These coupons and discount cards have effectively made prescription meds affordable for consumers with chronic medical conditions, according to patient advocacy groups. (Alltucker, 12/6)

Military.com: Thousands Of Troops May Be Caught In Medical Debt. Sen. Elizabeth Warren Wants The Pentagon To Find Out How Many
The Pentagon isn't tracking medical debt among troops despite federal recommendations that it should, and now Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the chairwoman of the Senate Armed Services Committee's personnel panel, wants to change that. Warren has been pressing the Pentagon for an update on medical debt and wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in March asking about recommendations from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, that called for better collection of the data to safeguard service members' financial stability and credit ratings. (Kime, 12/4)

Military Times: Open Season Ending Soon For Tricare, Dental, New Child Care Accounts
With just a few days left before open season ends, those in the military community have some decisions to make, including those who will have child care expenses in 2024. Changes made during open season will take effect Jan. 1. Tricare is the health care program for service members, retirees and their families worldwide. (Jowers, 12/5)

AP: The Air Force Is Expanding A Review Of Cancers For Service Members Who Worked With Nuclear Missiles
The Air Force is expanding its study of whether service members who worked with nuclear missiles have had unusually high rates of cancer after a preliminary review determined that a deeper examination is needed. The initial study was launched in response to reports that many who served are now ill. The Air Force isn’t making its initial findings of cancer numbers public for a month or so, but released its initial assessment Monday that more review is necessary. (Copp, 12/4)

The Spokesman-Review: Army Veteran Files Lawsuit Alleging VA Computer System Delayed Cancer Diagnosis 
An Eastern Washington veteran and his wife are suing the federal government and the companies behind a computer system the Department of Veterans Affairs has tested in Spokane, alleging that flaws in the system delayed the diagnosis of cancer that became terminal before it could be treated. Chewelah resident Charlie Bourg and his wife, Deborah Brinson, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington on Friday. They are seeking unspecified monetary damages from the government and the companies that have developed the electronic health record system — including Cerner, to which the VA awarded a $10 billion contract in 2018, and Oracle, which acquired Cerner for $28.3 billion in 2022. (Smith, 12/5)

Reuters: Bayer Ordered To Pay $3.5 Million In Latest Roundup Weedkiller Trial 
Bayer was ordered on Tuesday to pay nearly $3.5 million by a Philadelphia jury that found the company's Roundup weedkiller caused a woman's cancer, the company said, the latest in a string of trial losses for the company as it tries to fend off thousands of similar lawsuits. The verdict in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas marks the fifth consecutive loss for Bayer, but it is much smaller than recent verdicts against the company that total more than $2 billion. The German conglomerate has faced pressure from some investors to reach a speedy settlement of the litigation in order to avoid further hefty trial verdicts. (Pierson, 12/5)

Reuters: J&J Says It Has Settled Some Talc Claims, Will Continue Bankruptcy Strategy
Johnson & Johnson's worldwide vice president for litigation said on Tuesday that the company has recently reached settlements with several law firms over their clients' claims that J&J talc products caused cancer. The settlements were reached "with a goal to facilitate our pursuit of a consensual prepackaged bankruptcy resolution," Erik Haas said on an investor call. It was not clear whether the deals have been finalized. (Pierson, 12/5)

Stat: J&J To Emphasize Cancer Drugs, Stop Much Of Its Vaccine Research
Eight months into his tenure, Johnson & Johnson’s R&D chief is putting a big emphasis on medicines for cancer, treatment-resistant depression, and autoimmune disease. To sharpen that focus, R&D chief John Reed told STAT that the company is de-emphasizing two areas that have been mainstays for the drug and medical device giant: infectious disease and vaccines, as well as medicines targeting kidney disease and rare eye conditions. (Herper, 12/5)

Stat: Pfizer Plans To Depart BIO 
Pfizer has decided to leave the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, according to two sources familiar with the planning. The departure is a blow to BIO, which represents members ranging from small biotech startups to massive pharmaceutical companies. It’s the latest instance in a growing trend of pharmaceutical companies re-evaluating their memberships in large trade groups following a historic lobbying loss when Democrats passed a new drug pricing reform law in August 2022. (Cohrs, 12/5)

Bloomberg: HHS Cyberattack At 2020 Covid Onset Was Bigger Than First Realized
On March 15, 2020, just days after the US declared a national emergency because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the computer network for the US Department of Health and Human Services briefly vanished from the internet. In public remarks the following day, HHS Secretary Alex Azar attributed the 10-minute outage to a cyberattack but downplayed its severity, telling reporters that “there was no data breach or no degradation in terms of our ability to function and serve our important mission here.” (Robertson and Griffin, 12/6)

Modern Healthcare: Joint Commission To Launch Health Data Accreditation
The Joint Commission will begin offering a new certification program aimed at protecting patient privacy and creating standards for the secondary use of de-identified healthcare data. The program's goal is to provide an objective evaluation of whether best practices are being observed in the use of data and secondary data, the commission said Tuesday. (DeSilva, 12/5)

News-Medical.Net: 'GREAT PLEA' System Proposed For Responsible Use Of Generative AI In Healthcare
In a recent study published in the journal NPJ Digital Medicine, researchers reviewed current guidelines on the ethical implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in military and healthcare applications. Their discussions focus on ‘generative AI,’ a novel technology aimed at efficiently generating information, and attempts to overcome currently prevalent limitations on the ethical use of the technology. They develop and propose a novel system for the ethical application of AI to military and clinical research, named the “GREAT PLEA.” (de Sousa, 12/5)

USA Today: These Are The Best Labor And Delivery Hospitals, According To US News
Expectant parents scrambling to ready the nursery and find affordable childcare, sometimes defer one important decision until late in the game: Choosing where to give birth. For anyone in that group or people planning pregnancies in the new year, this year's ratings of the "Best Hospitals for Maternity Care" by U.S. News & World Report offers a comprehensive cheat sheet. ... Instead of a traditional ranking system, the hospitals in each state were designated as “high performing” and “not high performing.” (Rodriguez, 12/5)

Modern Healthcare: Physicians Leaving Private Practice Hurt Patient Care Quality: PAI
Physicians leaving private practice for employment has hurt patient care quality, according to a recent survey of doctors commissioned by the Physicians Advocacy Institute. The survey polled 1,000 physicians employed by insurers, health systems, staffing agencies and private equity firms on how corporate ownership affects their workplace experience and ability to meet patients’ needs. The research was conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago. (Devereaux, 12/5)

Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Labor Issues Slow Hospital Recovery: Fitch
Nonprofit hospitals and health systems are recovering financially but more slowly than expected, according to a report Fitch Ratings published Tuesday. Much of the sector has broken even in operations on a month-to-month basis in 2023, but it happened later in the year and to a lesser extent than analysts anticipated, the credit ratings agency reported. Labor costs, although softening, remain the top pressure point. (Hudson, 12/5)

The CT Mirror: Athena Nursing Homes Behind On Paying Worker Health Claims, CEO Says
Athena Health Care Systems, one of the largest providers of long-term care in Connecticut, is six months behind on paying health claims for workers on its health plan, President and CEO Lawrence Santilli said in a memo to employees obtained by The Connecticut Mirror. (Carlesso, 12/5)

Modern Healthcare: Banner Health Ends Arizona Hospice Operations, Transitions Staff
Banner Health ceased its hospice operations in Arizona and transitioned 100 staff to a nonprofit hospice organization providing services in the Phoenix and Tucson markets, effective Dec. 1. The Phoenix-based health system will continue to operate its hospice locations in Colorado. (Eastabrook, 12/5)

Modern Healthcare: NorthShore—Edward-Elmhurst Rebrands As Endeavor Health
NorthShore—Edward-Elmhurst Health is now Endeavor Health, the Chicago-area nonprofit system announced Tuesday. Its website, signage, uniforms and other branding will start transitioning to the new name over the coming months. The system's hospitals will keep their names but be associated with the Endeavor brand. Other care sites will change to the Endeavor name. (Hudson, 12/5)

USA Today: Organ Transplant Patients Lament Recent Changes To Lifesaving Tests
Evan Dame lives in near-constant fear his body will reject his transplanted kidney. Managing those fears became far more difficult in March, when federal changes regarding how to pay for the screenings meant the at-home tests were no longer available to Dame. Tuesday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, along with advocates for doctors and patients, planned to call on the Biden administration to reverse the change. (Cuevas, 12/5)

Reuters: Adherence To Weight-Loss Drugs Is Far Higher With Wegovy Than Older Medicines 
Forty percent of patients who filled a prescription for Novo Nordisk's (NOVOb.CO) Wegovy to treat obesity in 2021 or 2022 were still taking it a year later, more than three times the rate of adherence with older medicines, according to an analysis of medical records and insurance claims data. Only 13% of patients who started taking Contrave from Orexigen Therapeutics and 10% of those who started on Qsymia from Vivus between 2015 and 2022 were still filling their prescriptions a year later, researchers reported on Wednesday in the journal Obesity. (Lapid, 12/6)

WMFE: Tech Glitches Among The Top Worries As Florida's New Medicaid Portal Opens
Florida is flipping the switch Tuesday morning on its new online portal for residents who use Medicaid, SNAP food assistance and child care subsidies. The MyAccess website is retaining its name but shifting the technology that runs it. Meanwhile, Florida is in the middle of its Medicaid unwinding process — the Florida Department of Children & Families is reviewing the eligibility for millions of recipients. The state has made an aggressive push in the redetermination process, terminating 600,000 people in the last six months. The act of switching technologies in the middle of the process is like throwing gasoline on the Medicaid unwinding fire, said Joan Alker, the executive director of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University, since big technological shifts in health care are often accompanied by glitches. (Pedersen, 12/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: New HIV Cases Declining In San Francisco, Except Among Latinos
New HIV cases in San Francisco declined about 5% in 2022 compared with 2021 — an encouraging trend that was somewhat dampened by a notable and worrisome rise in HIV among the city’s Latino population, particularly Latino men. There were 157 new cases of HIV diagnosed in 2022, down from 166 in 2021, according to an annual HIV epidemiology report released by the San Francisco Department of Public Health on Tuesday morning. (Ho, 12/5)

Chicago Tribune: UChicago Project Helps Kidney Donors Qualify
More than 70 kidney transplants were performed every day in the United States last year. Rachel Watson wanted to be one of the donors, but was told she didn’t qualify — at first. Watson, a 27-year-old digital marketer living in Warrenville, had been moved by a news story about a local politician in need of a kidney. In 2022, she reached out to a Chicagoland hospital about donating one of her kidneys to a stranger. During a phone screening, Watson was told that she weighed too much to be considered as a donor. (Arougheti, 12/5)

Fox News: Alzheimer’s Blood Test Could Hit The Market In Early 2024, Researchers Say
Could a simple blood test detect Alzheimer’s disease years before symptoms appear? New research from Resonant, a Utah biotech company that develops diagnostic tests for neurodegenerative diseases, suggests it may be possible. Researchers said its new test achieved 100% accuracy in identifying patients with Alzheimer's disease and individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) who went on to develop Alzheimer's disease within five years. (Rudy, 12/5)

NBC News: Doctors May Have Identified A Fetal Fentanyl Exposure Syndrome
At least 10 babies — possibly more than 12 — have been identified with what doctors believe to be a new syndrome related to exposure to fentanyl in the womb. All of the infants have distinctive physical birth defects, such as cleft palate and unusually small heads. ... All were born to mothers who said they'd used street drugs, particularly fentanyl, while they were pregnant. "This is concerning," said Dr. Elizabeth Cherot, the president of the March of Dimes. "As we see these shared characteristics identified, we may be unroofing a real syndrome." (Edwards, 12/5)

Los Angeles Times: Could A Monthly Treatment Prevent Fentanyl Overdoses? 
Scientists have developed an antibody treatment that shows promise in blocking the potentially deadly effects of fentanyl for nearly a month, raising hopes for a new tool to combat overdoses. Tests in animals found that the treatment could effectively block the effects of fentanyl, laying the groundwork for assessing whether the medication will prove effective in humans, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. (Alpert Reyes, 12/5)

Bloomberg: Pharmaceutical Companies Inch Closer To Drugs Made In Space
Startup LambdaVision Inc. has big plans to develop the world’s first protein-based artificial retina for patients with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic cause of blindness. Manufacturing the retina involves depositing 200 paper-thin layers of a light-sensitive protein in a polymer mesh. The protein layers must be perfectly even for the retina to work properly, a process that’s hard to get right on Earth. (Langreth, 12/5)