First Edition: December 18, 2023

KFF Health News: ‘They See A Cash Cow’: Corporations Could Consume $50 Billion Of Opioid Settlements
The marketing pitches are bold and arriving fast: Invest opioid settlement dollars in a lasso-like device to help police detain people without Tasers or pepper spray. Pour money into psychedelics, electrical stimulation devices, and other experimental treatments for addiction. Fund research into new, supposedly abuse-deterrent opioids and splurge on expensive, brand-name naloxone. These pitches land daily in the inboxes of state and local officials in charge of distributing more than $50 billion from settlements in opioid lawsuits. (Pattani, 12/18)

KFF Health News: In New Year, All Immigrants In California May Qualify For Medicaid Regardless Of Legal Status
Milagro, a Peruvian immigrant in Riverside County, California, has had spotty access to health care in the two decades she’s been in this country. The 48-year-old, who works as the office manager at a nonprofit, can get emergency care through a narrow set of benefits the state makes available to immigrants without legal residency. And she has been able to get mammograms, X-rays, and blood tests at clinics that charge according to income. But it can take a long time to get such appointments, and they are often far from home. (Wolfson, 12/18)

KFF Health News: Mysterious Morel Mushrooms At Center Of Food Poisoning Outbreak
A food poisoning outbreak that killed two people and sickened 51, stemming from a Montana restaurant, has highlighted just how little is known about morel mushrooms and the risks in preparing the popular and expensive delicacy. The FDA conducted an investigation into morel mushrooms after the severe illness outbreak linked to Dave’s Sushi in Bozeman in late March and April. The investigation found that undercooked or raw morels were the likely culprit, and it led the agency to issue its first guidelines on preparing morels. (Larson, 12/18)

CBS News: COVID And Flu Surge Could Strain Hospitals As JN.1 Variant Grows, CDC Warns 
Hospitals and emergency rooms could be forced to ration care by the end of this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Thursday, saying recent trends in COVID-19 and influenza are now on track to again strain America's health care system. The new COVID variant JN.1 is making up an increasing share of cases, the CDC's tracking shows."COVID-19 hospitalizations are rising quickly," the agency said in its weekly update. "Since the summer, public health officials have been tracking a rise in multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), which is caused by COVID-19. Influenza activity is growing in most parts of the country. RSV activity remains high in many areas." (Tin, 12/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Hospital Beds Filling Up With Sick Kids Amid Flu, RSV And COVID Surge
Hospitals and emergency rooms in California and across the nation may have to ration care by the end of the month, federal health authorities warned this week. Officials are particularly worried about an insufficient number of beds for children in pediatric hospitals and wards throughout the country as respiratory illnesses hit especially hard among Americans younger than 18 years old. (Vaziri, 12/15)

Houston Chronicle: After Texas Abortion Ruling Adds To Confusion, Will The State’s Medical Board Step In?
But the medical board has so far been silent on how physicians should navigate the legal gray areas around patients like Kate Cox, the 31-year-old Dallas woman, despite requests from people on both sides of the abortion debate. And in a phone call with Hearst Newspapers, Dr. Sherif Zaafran, the president of the board, said it would be impractical to weigh in on specific situations. “We can’t put up every single hypothetical scenario that’s out there,” Zaafran said. “At the end of the day, what you can reference is what the attorney general put out there, and that’s what we put on our website.” (Gill, 12/15)

Reuters: Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital A 'Bloodbath' Says WHO
Gaza's Al Shifa hospital is providing only basic trauma stabilization, has no blood for transfusions and hardly any staff to care for a constant flow of patients, the World Health Organization said on Sunday. After a U.N. visit to deliver medicines and surgical supplies, the team described the emergency department in the enclave's main health facility as resembling a "bloodbath". The WHO said there were hundreds of wounded patients, with new ones arriving by the minute and trauma injuries being stitched on the floor, with almost no pain management available. (Al-Mughrabi, 12/17)

The Washington Post: WHO Denounces ‘Effective Destruction’ Of Kamal Adwan Hospital
The World Health Organization is “appalled by the effective destruction” of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media, adding that it was a “severe blow” to a health system “already on its knees.” The besieged enclave is now fertile ground for disease, The Washington Post reported, with the WHO particularly concerned about the spread of bloody diarrhea, jaundice and respiratory infections. (12/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Matthew Perry’s Death Darkens Ketamine’s Startup Glow
Matthew Perry’s death from the effects of ketamine brought new scrutiny to the booming business to prescribe the powerful anesthetic to patients in clinics and online. Perry was receiving ketamine infusions for depression and anxiety before he was found unresponsive in the pool at his Pacific Palisades, Calif., home on Oct. 28. Drowning, coronary artery disease and effects of buprenorphine, a medication used to treat opioid-use disorder, contributed to his accidental death, the autopsy report released on Friday said. (Winkler and Abbott, 12/16)

USA Today: What Are Ketamine Infusion Clinics Where Matthew Perry Sought Help
The ketamine infusion actor Matthew Perry received days before his Oct. 28 death has become a popular mental health treatment across the U.S. A lower dose of the traditional anesthetic has been used to treat symptoms of depression, typically via IV in clinics. Research has shown its promise, though experts have noted the clinics haven't been as regulated. (Cuevas and Nurse, 12/17)

Tampa Bay Times: Kratom’s Path Across The US Is Marked By Deception And Secrets
By the time these products reach Florida consumers like Franka, suppliers and manufacturers have taken elaborate measures to evade regulators and avoid detection, a Tampa Bay Times investigation has found. Hundreds of businesses make up America’s kratom industry. The Times traced the steps along the trail, focusing on O.P.M.S., one of the country’s most popular names. It has roughly a dozen kratom products on the market, ranging from dried leaf powders to potent liquid shots. (Critchfield, Freund and Taylor, 12/17)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Medicaid Maternal Health Grants Announced
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is offering states money to test Medicaid initiatives designed to tackle the maternal health crisis, the agency announced Friday. CMS will provide up to $17 million over 10 years to as many as 15 states to establish what CMS describes as a holistic approach to childbirth and postpartum care that addresses patients' physical, mental and social needs. Medicaid covers about 40% of childbirths. (Hartnett, 12/15)

Axios: Medicare Urges Payers To Keep Cash Flowing To Pharmacies
Medicare officials are urging health plans and other payers not to put pharmacies in a cash squeeze when a new policy kicks in that may reduce how much they're paid upfront for dispensing drugs. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services wrote to pharmacy benefit managers and insurers Thursday suggesting they make special payment arrangements with pharmacies before the policy takes effect on Jan. 1. (Goldman, 12/15)

The Washington Post: An Alarming Number Of Assisted-Living Residents Die After Wandering Away Unnoticed
The alarms went off at 9:34 p.m. inside Courtyard Estates at Hawthorne Crossing, an assisted-living facility near Des Moines catering to people with dementia. A resident had wandered through an exit door, a routine event in America’s growing senior assisted-living industry. Automated texts pinged the iPads of the two caretakers working the night shift, and the phones of an on-call nurse and the facility’s director. The warnings repeated every few minutes. (Rowland, Frankel, Torbati, Weil, Whoriskey and Rich, 12/17)

The Washington Post: Pilots Hide Mental Health Problems So They Don’t ‘Lose Their Wings’
The commercial airline pilot kept his condition a secret for years. He was supposed to inform the Federal Aviation Administration that he was seeing a therapist for anxiety and depression, but he couldn’t bring himself to share his despair. He was afraid of the repercussions. “I lied to the FAA about the treatment I was receiving because that would have opened a can of worms. I would have been grounded until I was better,” said the 31-year-old first officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because his airline did not authorize him to talk with journalists. “It is very easy to just not tell them what’s going on.” (Sachs, 12/15)

AP: Quaker Oats Recalls Granola Products Over Risk Of Salmonella Contamination
Quaker Oats on Friday recalled several of its granola products, including granola bars and cereals, saying the foods could be contaminated with salmonella. Salmonella infections can cause fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and stomach pain, according to the Food and Drug Administration. In rare cases, the bacterial disease can be fatal. Quaker, which is owned by PepsiCo, said in a news release that it has not received any reports of salmonella infections related to the recalled granola products. The full list of recalled foods includes granola oats cereals and Quaker Chewy Bars, which are also sold in PepsiCo’s snack mixes. (12/16)

The Hill: Hepatitis Epidemic Hits Hawaii Harder Than Other States
Viral hepatitis C is curable. Hepatitis B is treatable. Both are preventable — so, why does one U.S. state have such high rates of it? Did you know that Hawaii has higher liver cancer mortality due to hepatitis B and C than the continental United States? "When we look at hepatitis B, and hepatitis C specifically, we also see higher death rates of both of those compared to the continental U.S.,” says Hawaii Department of Health’s Viral Hepatitis Prevention Coordinator Thaddeus Pham. “People who die from hepatitis in Hawaii — hepatitis C specifically — can die up to 20 years earlier than residents in the rest of the state.” (Harjo-Livingston, 12/16)

The New York Times: Michael Stone, Psychiatrist And Scholar Who Studied Evil, Dies At 90
Dr. Michael H. Stone, a psychiatrist and scholar who sought to define evil and to differentiate its manifestations from the typical behavior of people who are mentally ill, died on Dec. 6 at his home in Manhattan. He was 90. The cause was complications of a stroke he had in January, his son David said. Dr. Stone was best known to the public as the author of the book “The Anatomy of Evil” (2009) and as the host from 2006 to 2008 of the television program “Most Evil,” for which he interviewed people imprisoned for murder to determine what motivated them to engage in an evil criminal act. (Roberts, 12/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Good News: You Don’t Have To Sleep With Your Spouse
Ever tried to get a good night’s sleep with your partner snoring or tossing around restlessly next to you? You’re gonna like this: Therapists and sleep scientists say it’s OK for couples to sleep apart as a growing body of research shows the striking importance of sleep. It’s a reversal from the long-held marriage tenet that once partners move to separate beds, the romance is dead. (Bernstein, 12/16)

Fox News: Brown Seaweed Consumption Could Help Type 2 Diabetes Management, Study Shows
Brown seaweed could be a great nutritional supplement for some diabetes patients. A new South Korean study, published in the journal Nutrients, revealed that eating certain algae could be a promising strategy for blood glucose management. Researchers at the Seoul National University of Science and Technology, within the Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, investigated how different diets have been recommended for type 2 diabetes management. (Stabile, 12/15)

CIDRAP: Study: Physical Distancing Better At Stemming COVID-19 Than US/Mexico Border Closure
A genomic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 in San Diego and Mexico reveals that physical distancing was more effective than international border closures in containing the virus. Scripps Research scientists and colleagues sequenced more than 82,000 SARS-CoV-2 samples gathered from routine genomic surveillance in San Diego and the state of Baja California, Mexico, to reconstruct viral spread dynamics from March 2020 to the end of the first Omicron surge in December 2022. (Van Beusekom, 12/15)

CIDRAP: High-Dose Flu Vaccine May Cut Infections 15% Over Standard-Dose Version
The high-dose recombinant influenza vaccine offers more protection against flu than an egg-based standard-dose vaccine among adults aged 50 and 64 years, according to an observational cluster-randomized study published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers from Kaiser Permanente Northern California immunized more than 1.6 million patients aged 18 to 64 years with either the high-dose quadrivalent (four-strain) flu vaccine (Flublok; 632,962 patients) or one of two standard-dose vaccines (997,366) in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 respiratory virus seasons. They compared the effectiveness of the vaccines against infection and hospitalization. (Van Beusekom, 12/15)

Reuters: GSK's Cancer Drug Combination Meets Primary Goal In Late-Stage Trial 
GSK (GSK.L) said on Monday that a combination of its cancer drugs Zejula and Jemperli, when as used as a maintenance therapy following Jemperli plus chemotherapy, met the main goal of a late-stage trial to treat a certain type of endometrial cancer. The results from the trial showed that Jemperli plus chemotherapy followed by Jemperli and Zejula improved progression-free survival, compared to chemotherapy alone in both the overall patient population and in a subpopulation of patients with certain types of tumours. (12/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Bristol Myers Squibb To Discontinue Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Trial
Bristol Myers Squibb said its study that evaluated treating metastatic colorectal cancer through a combination of nivolumab and relatlimab will be discontinued. The global biopharmaceutical company on Friday said the decision regarding the Phase 3 Relativity-123 trial comes after receiving a planned analysis conducted by an independent data-monitoring committee. (Ojea, 12/15)

Reuters: US FDA Approves Arcutis' Drug To Treat Chronic Skin Disease
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday approved Arcutis Biotherapeutics' (ARQT.O) drug for treating a skin condition called seborrheic dermatitis in individuals nine years of age and older. Shares of Arcutis jumped 20% in extended trade to $2.94. (Jain, 12/15)

Reuters: US FDA Approves Astellas' Combination Therapy For Bladder Cancer
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Astellas Pharma's (4503.T) Padcev in combination with Merck's (MRK.N) Keytruda for a type of bladder cancer. In April, FDA had granted accelerated approval to this combination for treating patients suffering from the disease that are ineligible for chemotherapy with the commonly used cancer drug, cisplatin. (12/15)

Reuters: Exclusive: US FDA Finds Control Lapses At Moderna Manufacturing Plant 
U.S. drug regulators in September found quality control lapses at Moderna’s (MRNA.O) main factory including with equipment used to manufacture drug substance for its COVID-19 vaccine, according to the report obtained by Reuters via a Freedom of Information Act request. The Sept. 11-21 inspection by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration took place at Moderna’s facility in Norwood, Massachusetts, which is used to manufacture the company’s COVID shot Spikevax and an experimental mRNA cancer vaccine being developed with Merck & Co. (Wingrove, 12/15)

Reuters: Novo Owner Commits $265 Mln Of Wegovy Windfall To Respiratory Diseases
The Novo Nordisk Foundation, which controls drug maker Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO), said on Monday it would commit up to 1.8 billion Danish crowns ($265 million) to setting up an initiative aimed at improving vaccines for respiratory diseases. A huge windfall from the runaway success of Novo Nordisk's weight-loss drug Wegovy has bulged coffers of the foundation, potentially making it a major philanthropist and environmental, social and governance (ESG) investor. (Gronholt-pedersen, 12/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Illumina To Shed Cancer-Test Maker Grail After Antitrust Battle
Gene-sequencing company Illumina said Sunday it will divest itself of cancer blood test maker Grail, following Illumina’s loss in its legal battle against U.S. antitrust regulators.Illumina said it will pursue the divestiture through a third-party sale or capital markets transaction, with a goal of completing terms by the middle of next year. (Loftus, 12/17)

Bloomberg: HCSC, Elevance Compete For Cigna Medicare Advantage Unit
Health Care Service Corp. and Elevance Health Inc. are competing to acquire Cigna Group’s business providing medical coverage to people aged 65 and over, people with knowledge of the matter said. Bloomfield, Connecticut-based Cigna expects final bids for its Medicare Advantage business to be submitted next week, according to the people. The asset may fetch more than $3 billion, they said. (Davis and Monks, 12/15)

Modern Healthcare: Elevance, Blue Cross Of Louisiana Revive $2.5B Merger Bid
Elevance Health's $2.5 billion acquisition of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana may be back on. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana filed a new application with state regulators to convert from a nonprofit to a for-profit company Thursday. Elevance Health announced its intention to acquire the smaller insurer in January, but the parties suspended the deal in September amid concerns from policyholders and regulators about how the conversion would impact Louisiana's' healthcare market. (Tepper, 12/15)

The New York Times: New York City Moves To Ban Solitary Confinement, Defying Mayor Adams
The city’s public advocate, Jumaane Williams, who is a sponsor of the bill, said that isolating detainees was cruel and that the bill still allowed for people to be separated when needed. “Losing privileges is something that is understandable,” he said. “Losing a basic human right shouldn’t be.” Solitary confinement, also known as punitive segregation, is the practice of holding a detainee alone in a cell for most of the day as punishment. The bill would ban the practice beyond a four-hour “de-escalation” period during an emergency. Correction officers would be required to check on detainees every 15 minutes during that period and refer health concerns to medical staff. (Fitzsimmons, 12/18)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Jails Can't Deny Addiction Medicine To Inmates, Justice Department Says
Jails that limit access to addiction treatment medications are likely discriminating against disabled people and violating federal law, Philadelphia’s top federal law enforcement official says. A lawsuit brought by a Delaware County man who was allegedly denied his prescribed methadone in the county’s jail has the support of Jacqueline Romero, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In court filings this week, she said jails must improve access to medication treatment options for opioid addiction. (Whelan, 12/15)

Columbus Dispatch: Drug Overdoses Dropped 5% In Ohio In 2022
The number of Ohioans who died from unintentional drug overdoses dropped 5% in 2022, according to a report released by the Ohio Department of Health. While the nation saw a slight increase of 1% in overdose deaths last year, there were 4,915 unintentional drug overdoses in Ohio in 2022, a drop from the state's 2021 record of 5,174. (Meighan, 12/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: ‘People Are Dying On Their Watch’: Newsom Slams Counties For Conservatorship Delay
Gov. Gavin Newsom said he’ll work with lawmakers to push California counties to more quickly adopt a new state law that expands the number of people who can be forced into mental health and addiction treatment amid news that many counties are opting to delay. (Newsom, 12/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Surpasses Deadliest Year For Drug Overdoses. This Is The Grim Toll
San Francisco has surpassed its deadliest year for accidental drug overdose deaths, a dreaded milestone reached a month before the new year and propelled by the prevalence of fentanyl. In the first 11 months of 2023, San Francisco recorded 752 deaths, newly released data from the medical examiner’s office indicates. That’s 26 more than the previous peak of 726 deaths in all of 2020. Deaths recorded in December will drive this year’s total higher. (Angst and Leonard, 12/14)

NBC News: Norovirus Outbreak Traced To North Carolina Sushi Restaurant Sickens 241
A norovirus outbreak linked to a North Carolina sushi restaurant has sickened at least 241 people since late last month, local health authorities said Thursday. Before falling ill, all the victims had visited Sushi Nine in Raleigh between Nov. 28 and Dec. 5, according to Wake County’s public health and environmental services departments. (Li, 12/15)

AP: Families Say Autism Therapy Helped Their Kids. Indiana's Medicaid Cuts Could Put It Out Of Reach
Shaunna Thompson was running out of childcare options. Her daughter Abbie was expelled from daycare in 2022 because of “all over the place” behavior. Thompson found an in-home provider for the toddler, but was told Abbie was “too much” to watch every day of the week. The experiences motivated Thompson to seek assistance for her daughter, who also was missing developmental milestones. Abbie, now 3, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in October of last year. (Volmert, 12/17)

Los Angeles Times: After Monterey Park Shooting, Pastor Tried To De-Stigmatize Therapy For Asian Immigrants
Eric Chen never met Yu Lun Kao. But in February, he helped bury the 72-year-old ballroom dancer known to his friends as “Mr. Nice.” Kao, who went by Andy, was shielding his longtime dance partner from the hail of bullets when he was killed during the shooting at Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park. He’d been a fixture in the dance community since immigrating from Taiwan two decades ago. (Lin, 12/17)