First Edition: Feb. 6, 2023

KHN: A Technicality Could Keep RSV Shots From Kids In Need 
After more than five decades of trying, the drug industry is on the verge of providing effective immunizations against the respiratory syncytial virus, which has put an estimated 90,000 U.S. infants and small children in the hospital since the start of October. But only one of the shots is designed to be given to babies, and a glitch in congressional language may make it difficult to allow children from low-income families to get it as readily as the well-insured. (Allen, 2/6)

KHN: Why Two States Remain Holdouts On Distracted Driving Laws
He had lost a grandson to an overdose just hours before, but aiding stranded motorists was second nature to the 73-year-old retired school custodian, who remembered thousands of students’ names and regularly brought food pantry donations to a retirement community. “He always was there to help people,” said his son Bobby Herrick, who was in the car with him that night. Just moments later, a truck driver trying to text his wife a picture of the hand sanitizer he had purchased swerved onto the shoulder and plowed into the vehicles, according to court and crash records. (Berger, 2/6)

KHN: Journalists Probe Problems In Providing Care For Foster Kids And Propping Up Addiction Treatment 
KHN senior editor Andy Miller discussed the problems with Georgia’s foster care system on Georgia Public Broadcasting’s “Lawmakers” on Jan. 26. ... KHN Midwest correspondent Bram Sable-Smith discussed Howard Buffett’s $30 million donation for a recovery center on KMOX’s “Total Information A.M.” on Jan. 25. (2/4)

Reuters: Biden Administration Seeks To Toughen School Nutrition Standards
School meals for millions of children in the United States would include less sugar, more whole grains, and lower sodium under new standards proposed by the Biden administration on Friday. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the updated standards, to be rolled out over the next several years, were essential to tackling health concerns like childhood obesity. "This is a national security imperative. It’s a healthcare imperative for our children. It’s an equity issue. It’s an educational achievement issue. And it’s an economic competitiveness issue," he said in a livestreamed event announcing the standards. (Douglas, 2/3)

The Washington Post: USDA Announces Rigorous New School Nutrition Standards
The new rules, which will be rolled out gradually over the next few years, will limit added sugars, including in flavored milks. Previously, there was no federal standard for how much sugar could be included in school meals. The rules will also further reduce the allowable amounts of sodium, and emphasize whole grains. (Reiley, 2/3)

The Washington Post: Fears Mount Around ‘Catastrophic’ Abortion Pills Case As Decision Nears 
Abortion rights advocates delivered a stark warning to the Biden administration’s top health official in a private meeting last week: It’s time to take seriously “fringe” threats that could wind up blocking abortion access across the country. Driving their anxiety is a Texas lawsuit brought by conservative groups seeking to revoke the decades-old government approval of a key abortion drug, mifepristone. ... The case was filed in Amarillo, where U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, nominated by President Donald Trump and known for his conservative views on issues like same-sex marriage and abortion, could rule as early as this week. An appeal would land in the right-leaning Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, ultimately presenting the Supreme Court with another major abortion case less than a year after its conservative majority retracted the constitutional right to abortion. (Kitchener and Stein, 2/5)

AP: US States Take Control Of Abortion Debate With Funding Focus 
Though the Insight Women’s Center sits at the epicenter of a reinvigorated battle in the nation’s culture wars, the only hint of its faith-based mission to dissuade people from getting abortions is the jazzy, piano rendition of “Jesus Loves Me” playing in a waiting room. The Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature is considering allocating millions of dollars in state funds to similar anti-abortion centers that persuade people to bring their pregnancies to term by offering free pregnancy tests and sonograms, as well as counseling and parenting classes taught by volunteers. They’re also considering offering millions more in income tax credits for donors supporting what they call “crisis pregnancy centers.” (Hanna and Mulvihill, 2/5)

CIDRAP: COVID And Flu Markers Continue Downward Trends
After a modest holiday bump for COVID-19 and an early surge for flu, levels of both illnesses continue to fall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in separate reports. Proportions of the more transmissible Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant continue to rise, and the CDC estimates that it now makes up 66.4% of new cases, up from about 60% the previous week. The proportion of XBB.1.5 is rising in all parts of the country but is dominant across the eastern seaboard and in the south. All other Omicron lineages are declining, including CH.1, which appears to be partly fueling upward COVID-19 levels in the United Kingdom. (Schnirring, 2/3)

Reuters: U.S. House Plans Vote To End Foreign Air Traveler COVID Vaccine Mandate 
The U.S. House of Representatives plans to vote next week on a bill that would end a requirement that most foreign air travelers be vaccinated against COVID-19, Majority Leader Steve Scalise said on Friday. The Biden administration in June dropped its requirement that people arriving in the country by air must test negative for COVID-19 but has not lifted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccination requirements. (Shepardson, 2/3)

The Denver Post: “Huge Jump” In Pregnant Women Hospitalized With Flu May Be Due To Lagging Vaccinations
Pregnant women may be at higher risk from the flu this season, but it appears to have more to do with falling vaccination rates than with the virus itself. Dr. Michelle Barron, senior director of infection prevention and control at UCHealth, said about half of the system’s female patients between the ages of 18 and 44 have been pregnant so far this year. During the 2019-2020 flu season — the last normal one before the pandemic — only about 17% were, which is more typical, she said. (Wingerter, 2/3)

AP: 'Died Suddenly' Posts Twist Tragedies To Push Vaccine Lies 
Results from 6-year-old Anastasia Weaver’s autopsy may take weeks. But online anti-vaccine activists needed only hours after her funeral this week to baselessly blame the COVID-19 vaccine. A prolific Twitter account posted Anastasia’s name and smiling dance portrait in a tweet with a syringe emoji. A Facebook user messaged her mother, Jessica Day-Weaver, to call her a “murderer” for having her child vaccinated. In reality, the Ohio kindergartner had experienced lifelong health problems since her premature birth, including epilepsy, asthma and frequent hospitalizations with respiratory viruses. ... But those facts didn’t matter online, where Anastasia was swiftly added to a growing list of hundreds of children, teens, athletes and celebrities whose unexpected deaths and injuries have been incorrectly blamed on COVID-19 shots. Using the hashtag #diedsuddenly, online conspiracy theorists have flooded social media with news reports, obituaries and GoFundMe pages in recent months, leaving grieving families to wrestle with the lies. (Swenson and Fichera, 2/4)

ABC News: 'I Felt Powerless': Black Americans Suffering From Long COVID Say They Have Trouble Accessing Care
Throughout the pandemic, Black Americans have made up a disproportionate share of cases, hospitalizations and deaths compared to any other racial or ethnic group. Now, doctors and advocates are warning the Black community is facing another barrier: access to long COVID care. (Kekatos, 2/6)

Los Angeles Times: While COVID Raged, Another Deadly Threat Was On The Rise
As COVID-19 began to rip through California, hospitals were deluged with sickened patients. Medical staff struggled to manage the onslaught. Amid the new threat of the coronavirus, an old one was also quietly on the rise: More people have suffered severe sepsis in California hospitals in recent years — including a troubling surge in patients who got sepsis inside the hospital itself, state data show. (Alpert Reyes, 2/5)

Modern Healthcare: Cigna 2022 Profits Swelled Thanks To Evernorth Subsidiary
The growth of Cigna’s healthcare services subsidiary helped fuel a 24% increase in net income to $6.7 billion last year, the health insurance reported Friday. Revenue rose 4% to $180.5 billion in 2022, according to Cigna's financial report. The company's Evernorth operations, which include pharmacy benefit management, specialty pharmacy and care delivery, generated $140.3 billion last year, a 6% improvement over 2021. (Kacik, 2/3)

Modern Healthcare: Jobs Report: Healthcare Jobs Trends In 4 Charts 
With hiring levels consistently on the rise, the outlook for employment in healthcare is brighter than some other industries. Some sectors of the industry, however, continue to be plagued by staffing shortages and trouble with recruitment. Since the pandemic hit, most areas in healthcare have averaged hiring growth annually, outweighing minor fluctuations month-to-month and surpassing pre-pandemic levels. (Devereaux and Broderick, 2/3)

Modern Healthcare: Is Virtual Reality Healthcare? Here's What's Preventing Adoption
Kids undergoing a bone-setting procedure scuba dive with brightly colored fish while physicians complete their work. Residents of a skilled nursing facility use a headset to guide their physical therapy exercises. It’s not science fiction or a video game: Healthcare organizations are increasingly turning to virtual reality to complement care. (Turner, 2/6)

The Boston Globe: Why You Can’t Get In To See Your Primary Care Doctor. ‘It’s Almost Frightening.’
Across Massachusetts, people have been struggling to make appointments with primary care physicians, with doctors saying demand is higher than ever at a time when an increasing number of providers are leaving the field. The problems are further straining the state’s health care system, potentially leaving patients sicker and in need of more intensive care down the road. (Bartlett, 2/5)

Modern Healthcare: Post-Acute Care Providers Use Technology To Save Time, Fight Burnout
Six years ago, clinicians at Vitas Healthcare were struggling. The organization, which operates 49 hospice programs in 14 states, was maintaining information about patient care manually. Because about 80% of the company’s end-of-life services are delivered in the home, staff members were carrying overflowing binders, paper planners and weekly schedules from site to site. Any patient condition changes or schedule updates had to be called in, often several times a day. (Devereaux, 2/6)

The Wall Street Journal: More Money For Mental-Health Programs Gets Bipartisan Support In Many States 
Governors in at least a dozen states—including California, South Carolina, Ohio and Georgia—are pushing for more money for mental health.  ... The budget proposals seek to address the nationwide scarcity of mental-health workers, the mental-health needs in schools and growing demand for emergency services. They represent a rare bipartisan point of agreement for more government action and underscore how dire many think the problem has become. (Frosch, 2/5)

Axios: Only A Quarter Of Hospitals In Full Compliance With Transparency Rule, Per Report
Only a quarter of hospitals studied were fully compliant with a federal price transparency rule, according to a new report by Patient Rights Advocate — but compliance is a spectrum. The findings come as Congress has expressed bipartisan concern over compliance with the Trump administration rule and potential interest in legislating on the topic. (Owens, 2/6)

AP: Feds Say Cyberattack Caused Suicide Helpline's Outage
A cyberattack caused a nearly daylong outage of the nation’s new 988 mental health helpline late last year, federal officials told The Associated Press Friday. Lawmakers are now calling for the federal agency that oversees the program to prevent future attacks. “On December 1, the voice calling functionality of the 988 Lifeline was rendered unavailable as a result of a cybersecurity incident,” Danielle Bennett, a spokeswoman for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said in an email. (Seitz, 2/3)

Houston Chronicle: Houston 988 Crisis Hotline Center Answers Nearly Half Of State's Calls
Calls to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline have surged in Texas and the United States since its launch last summer, highlighting the demand for mental health services in the wake of the pandemic and the related workforce challenges. (Bauman, 2/3)

Philadelphia Inquirer: U.S. News Best Medical School Rankings Debated As Penn, Harvard And Other Elite Schools Drop Out
When Glenn N. Cummings met with Bryn Mawr College students recently to discuss preparing for the medical school admission exam, he casually mentioned some news that stopped the meeting cold. Top-ranked Harvard had just announced it would no longer participate in the annual rankings of the best medical schools by U.S. News & World Report. (Avril, 2/4)

The Washington Post: Dennis O'Leary, Doctor Who Briefed Media After Reagan Shooting, Dies At 85 
Dennis O’Leary, a Washington hospital administrator who was thrust into the world spotlight in 1981 as the spokesman for medical teams treating President Ronald Reagan after he was shot by would-be assassin John W. Hinckley Jr., died Jan. 29 at a hospice center in Kansas City. He was 85. The cause was complications from Parkinson’s disease, his wife, Margaret, said. ... Over nearly two weeks, Dr. O’Leary was the public face of the world’s biggest news event. (Murphy, 2/2)

Axios: Health Experts Want FDA Safety Review Of Fast-Tracked Alzheimer's Drug
Doctors and scientists are urging the Food and Drug Administration to convene an expert panel to review safety concerns around an Alzheimer's drug that won fast-track approval in January. It's the latest concern over whether the FDA is cutting corners evaluating Alzheimer's drugs, prompted by its controversial 2021 approval of Biogen's Aduhelm, which came over the objections of an advisory panel and without evidence the drug actually slowed the decline of memory and brain function. (Gonzalez, 2/6)

The Boston Globe: A Pill For Postpartum Depression Is On The Horizon
Stephanie Hathaway knows the agony of postpartum depression all too well, having been tormented by intrusive suicidal thoughts after each of her two daughters were born. Both bouts were excruciating, but the second, in 2017, was unremitting. (Cross and Saltzman, 2/4)

NBC News: Women Suing J&J Speak Out After Company's Failed Legal Maneuver
Plaintiff Deborah Smith’s case was held up for 15 months because of the attempted maneuver, a legal strategy colloquially known as the Texas Two-Step. J&J’s approach relied on the creation of a subsidiary called LTL Management that could take on the liability for talc-related legal claims. Within days of its creation in 2021, LTL filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. (Bendix and Wile, 2/4)

AP: Court Throws Out Wyoming Doctor's Pill Convictions 
A federal appeals court on Friday threw out the convictions of a doctor accused of overprescribing powerful pain medication and ordered a new trial for him. The Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the case of Shakeel Kahn, who worked in both Arizona and Wyoming, hinged on the instructions given to jurors during his trial and came after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of him and another doctor convicted in Alabama in a case stemming from the nation’s opioid addiction crisis. In June, the Supreme Court ruled that the government needed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that doctors accused of overprescribing medication intended to act without authorization and sent Kahn’s case back to the 10th Circuit, which previously had upheld his conviction. (2/3)

AP: Maine Sets Another Record For Overdose Deaths, Report Says 
More than 700 people died from drug overdoses last year in Maine, setting the third straight record, officials said. A report by the attorney general’s office Thursday notes there were 716 suspected or confirmed drug overdose deaths in 2022, compared to 636 deaths the year before and 504 deaths in 2020. (2/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Hoped To Mandate Treatment For Up To 100 More Mentally Ill Homeless People. Years Later, No One Is In The Program
New data shows that a program in San Francisco to mandate more homeless people struggling with addiction and mental illness into treatment has largely failed, pointing to the city’s ongoing struggle to help thousands of people suffering on its streets. (Moench, 2/3)

The Washington Post: To Curb Drug Deaths, Communities Turn To Reddit, Texts And Wastewater 
When New York City’s overdose prevention center detects an unusually potent bag of illegal fentanyl, it quickly sends out a “bad batch alert” on the “canary network” to warn other drug users of the urgent danger. Staffers walk drug user encampments in East Harlem, Washington Heights and the South Bronx to spread the news. Word goes out on social media. The city’s health department is notified, along with other organizations. ... OnPoint NYC’s approach is one of many attempts to warn large numbers of users about the imminent threat of fatal overdoses from the opioid fentanyl and other drugs laced with it. (Bernstein and Kornfield, 2/5)

AP: Legal Recreational Pot Sales Begin For Missouri Adults
Recreational marijuana sales in Missouri officially began Friday after the state health department unexpectedly began approving dispensary permits early. Medical marijuana has been legal in the state since a ballot measure passed in 2018, but voters went a step further this November by approving a constitutional amendment legalizing the drug for anyone 21 or older. The new law made Missouri the 21st state to allow recreational use. (Ballentine, 2/3)

The Washington Post: Ohio Train Derailment: Officials Urge People To Stay Away From Hazardous Scene 
Authorities warned Sunday night that a “major explosion” or toxic gas release could happen at the site of a train derailment in northeastern Ohio, ordering anyone within a mile to evacuate or face possible arrest. ... Because some cars were carrying hazardous chemicals, including vinyl chloride and phosgene, firefighters could not safely put out the blaze. By Sunday afternoon, investigators said the area remained a hot zone. (Salcedo and McDaniel, 2/5)

The New York Times: Train Derailment In Ohio Sparks Huge Fire And Prompts Evacuations
“Those with children in their homes who decline to evacuate may be subject to arrest,” Gov. Mike DeWine added. There were no reports of injuries or deaths, Trent Conaway, the mayor of East Palestine, said at a news conference on Saturday. But 1,500 to 2,000 residents had been asked to evacuate the area near the derailment, officials said. (Medina, 2/4)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Pennsylvania Law Makes It Easier To Treat Sexually Transmitted Infections Like Chlamydia And Gonorrhea
The approach, called expedited partner therapy (EPT), allows a person with a diagnosed STD to ask a doctor for a prescription for a sex partner, and the doctor can fill that prescription without evaluating the partner, or even knowing that person’s name, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported. A doctor can fill out a script addressed simply to “EPT,” and a pharmacist will fill it. The person the prescription is meant for can pick it up at a pharmacy anonymously or can have their partner pick it up. (Laughlin, 2/3)

Columbus Dispatch: Dispatch Investigation Shows Medical Board Failed On Sexual Misconduct
Operating in secret for decades, the State Medical Board of Ohio failed to properly investigate sexual misconduct cases, leaving serious abuse and even criminal behavior unaddressed, only sporadically referring it to law enforcement. (Smola Shaffer, Filby and Wagner, 2/2)

Stat: Why Did EMS Workers Fail Tyre Nichols?
By the time medics arrived, Tyre Nichols was sitting on the ground, handcuffed and propped against a police car. The 29-year-old’s face was bloody and he was groaning in pain. On Jan. 7, after pulling Nichols over for a traffic stop, Memphis police officers had tased him, pepper-sprayed him, punched him, kicked him in the head, and beaten him with a baton. He weighed about 150 pounds, according to his mother, and suffered from Crohn’s disease. Other than helping Nichols back up when he slumped over, the emergency medical technicians  who’d arrived on the scene barely engaged with him, according to police body camera footage of the incident. (Renault, 2/6)

NBC News: Washington Woman With Tuberculosis Refuses Treatment, Prompting Court Orders
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department in Washington has obtained multiple court orders requiring a Tacoma resident to get treatment for her active tuberculosis, officials told NBC News on Friday. The woman has thus far refused to isolate or take the necessary medications, according to Nigel Turner, the department's division director of Communicable Disease Control. (Bendix, 2/4)

CNN: More Than 400 Products Including Breakfast Sandwiches And Fruit Cups Recalled Due To Possible Listeria Contamination
More than 400 food products sold under dozens of brand names were recalled due to possible Listeria contamination, the US Food and Drug Administration announced Friday. The recall by Fresh Ideation Food Group LLC includes ready-to-eat sandwiches, salads, yogurts, wraps and other products sold in nine states and Washington, DC, from January 24 through January 30. (Salahieh, 2/6)

USA Today: Bird Flu H5N1 Virus Found In Mammals. What Does This Mean For Humans?
One of the world’s largest outbreaks of bird flu, which led to the slaughter of millions of chickens to limit its spread, appears to be spilling over into mammals. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the avian influenza A virus has been detected in mammals such as skunks, bears, a raccoon and a red fox. (Rodriguez, 2/3)

Bloomberg: Record UK Health Strike Piles Pressure On Stretched Service
Health care workers are walking out in record numbers this week, crippling the National Health Service and piling pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to resolve multiple disputes over pay for public-sector workers. (Pham and Akil Farhat, 2/6)

Reuters: Pope Francis Says Laws Criminalizing LGBT People Are A 'Sin' And An Injustice 
Pope Francis said on Sunday that laws criminalizing LGBT people are a sin and an injustice because God loves and accompanies people with same-sex attraction. ... "The criminalization of homosexuality is a problem that cannot be ignored," said Francis, who then cited unnamed statistics according to which 50 countries criminalize LGBT people "in one way or another" and about 10 others have laws including the death penalty for them. (Pullella, 2/6)