First Edition: February 17, 2023

KHN: Mark Cuban Has Been Taking On The Drug Industry. But Which One?
When billionaire Mark Cuban announced his attack on the pharmaceutical industry and its high-priced drugs in January 2021, it was met with cheers. His new company — the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co., known as Cost Plus Drugs — has the “lowest prices on meds anywhere,” he said. (Tahir, 2/17)

KHN: After Staying Away During Pandemic, Doctors Return To Lobby Congress
Dr. Timothy McAvoy, an internist from Waukesha, Wisconsin, held his infant granddaughter Tuesday while standing in the Longworth House Office Building, waiting to talk to a congressional aide about increasing Medicare pay for doctors. Facing a highly partisan Congress where Republicans have vowed to cut federal spending, McAvoy hoped his Midwestern charm, along with a dose of supporting data, would sway members to remember physicians’ cause. (Galewitz, 2/17)

KHN: California Requires Hospitals To Turn To A Patient’s Next Of Kin, Closing A Longtime Loophole
About four years ago, Dr. Gene Dorio sat on the ethics committee of a Southern California hospital whose administrators insisted they could decide whether to disconnect a ventilator from an unconscious patient — even though the man’s wife and adult children wanted to continue life support. (Kreidler, 2/17)

KHN: Amid Dire Suicide Rates In Montana, Governor Expands Student Mental Health Screening
Bella Nyman has struggled with her mental health since age 7, when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and anxiety. Nyman said she was afraid to tell her parents she had thoughts of suicide. Looking back, a mental health screening might have helped her to stop hiding her struggles from adults and peers, she said. (Larson, 2/17)

NPR: Biden Gets A Clean Bill Of Health As He Mulls A 2024 Run — Where His Age Is A Concern
The president's personal physician Dr. Kevin O'Connor has issued Biden a clean bill of health Thursday and cleared him fit to continue fulfilling his duties as commander in chief. "The president remains fit for duty, and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations," O'Connor wrote in his report. (Jones, 2/16)

The Washington Post: Biden Remains ‘Healthy, Vigorous,’ Doctor Says After Physical Exam
Kevin O’Connor — who has been Biden’s primary care doctor since 2009 — wrote that the most notable update from Biden’s last physical in November 2021 was his coronavirus infection over the summer, but said the president has not experienced any lingering symptoms that could be characterized as “long covid.” (Olorunnipa and Abutaleb, 2/16)

AP: Doctor Says Biden's 'Vigorous' As He Readies For 2024 Run
The president had a lesion removed from his chest that is undergoing a traditional biopsy. But Thursday’s results largely matched the findings after the president’s last exam in November 2021, which said his coughing was due to acid reflux and his stiffened gait was the result of spinal arthritis, a previously broken foot and neuropathy in his feet. (Boak and Megerian, 2/16)

The Hill: White House Brushes Off Haley’s Call For Mental Competency Test
White House aides are confident they can combat GOP attacks on President Biden’s age and mental acuity, saying he has proven time and again that he’s up to the job. The criticisms resurfaced this week as Republican Nikki Haley labeled herself a “next generation” candidate in making her opening pitch for her 2024 presidential bid. Haley also insisted that anyone over 75 years old should be subjected to a mental competency test. (Parnes and Gangitano, 2/16)

AP: Kentucky High Court Lets Near-Total Abortion Ban Continue
Abortion access in Kentucky remained virtually shut off Thursday after the state’s highest court refused to halt a near-total ban that has largely been in place since Roe v. Wade was overturned. Kentucky’s Supreme Court, which was weighing challenges to the state’s near-total ban and a separate one that outlaws abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy, sent the case back to a lower court for further consideration of constitutional issues related to the more restrictive ban. (Schreiner, 2/16)

Politico: Kentucky Supreme Court Leaves Abortion Ban In Place
The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Thursday to keep two state abortion restrictions in place for now — dashing the hope of clinics in the deep-red state that had sued for the right to resume providing the procedure while legal challenges continue. (Miranda Ollstein, 2/16)

The Hill: Pentagon To Allow Up To 3 Weeks Of Leave To Service Members For Abortion Travel
The Pentagon will allow service members up to three weeks of leave to travel for abortions and other noncovered reproductive health care, according to a slate of new policies announced on Thursday. (Shapero, 2/16)

The Hill: Democratic AGs Urge CVS, Walgreens To Continue With Plans To Dispense Abortion Pills
Democratic attorneys general on Thursday urged CVS and Walgreens not to back down from their respective plans to offer mifepristone and misoprostol in retail pharmacies in the wake of threats from GOP-led states. In a letter, a coalition of 23 state attorneys general said the company’s executives should ignore the threats of legal retaliation from Republican states. (Weixel, 2/16)

NBC News: Natural Immunity As Protective As Covid Vaccine Against Severe Illness
Immunity acquired from a Covid infection provides strong, lasting protection against the most severe outcomes of the illness, according to research published Thursday in The Lancet — protection, experts say, that’s on par with what’s provided through two doses of an mRNA vaccine. Infection-acquired immunity cut the risk of hospitalization and death from a Covid reinfection by 88% for at least 10 months, the study found. (Syal, 2/16)

CIDRAP: Omicron Hospital Illness 54% Deadlier Than Flu Hospital Cases, Study Finds
Adults hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infections in Switzerland died at 1.5 times the rate of those diagnosed as having influenza A or B, shows a multicenter study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. (Van Beusekom, 2/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: Growing Signs Of New Bay Area COVID Wave As Wastewater Counts Soar
If it feels like more people you know are getting COVID-19 lately, that may be true. Though the rise is relatively small, it marks a reversal of the downward trend the Bay Area had experienced since early December. California’s public health leaders are keeping their fingers crossed that the state will be ready to move past the pandemic as the state of emergency comes to an end later this month, despite the recent uptick in coronavirus cases attributed to the fast-moving omicron subvariant XBB.1.5. (Vaziri, 2/16)

The Hill: US Navy Will No Longer Require COVID Vaccines For Deployment
The U.S. Navy is rolling back requirements for COVID-19 vaccines, axing the consideration of vaccination status when making decisions about the deployment of sailors. The decision by the Navy reverses a policy that was in place for more than a year, mandating that vaccination status be considered when determining deployment. (Neukam, 2/16)

Fierce Healthcare: Senate Panel Launches Effort To Shore Up Health Workforce
A key Senate panel is launching a major effort to shore up the healthcare workforce after lingering shortages have roiled the industry. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing Thursday on addressing the crisis. Some of the policy solutions include expanding the Graduate Medical Education program and growing teaching health centers. (King, 2/16)

The Hill: Sanders Calls For Expanded Access To Medical Education To Address Worker Shortage
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), called to reduce barriers to medical education in a hearing on Thursday, bringing in medical school administrators from across the country to discuss their experiences and proposed solutions. (Choi, 2/16)

The New York Times: Burn Pit Program For Veterans Could Cost At Least $400 Billion, Agency Finds
A sweeping new entitlement program to provide medical care to millions of veterans who may have been exposed to trash burn pits on U.S. military bases around the world may increase federal spending on veterans by at least $400 billion and as much as $789 billion over a decade, according to the official budgetary scorekeepers in Congress. (Lai and Tankersley, 2/16)

The Washington Post: Institutional Review Boards, Or IRBs, Backed By Private Equity Deserve More Scrutiny, GAO Says
A government watchdog called for greater federal oversight of ethics boards that sign off on scientific studies, finding that for-profit companies have taken an outsize role in approving certain research and questioning whether financial motivations could put human subjects at risk. (Gilbert and Johnson, 2/16)

Stat: Medicare Advantage Membership Grows 7% For 2023
Nearly 31.2 million seniors and people with disabilities are now enrolled in a private Medicare plan, known as Medicare Advantage, according to new federal government data analyzed by STAT. That total is 7.1% higher than the 29.1 million people who had a Medicare Advantage plan in 2022. Although that annual growth rate is the lowest since 2016, the private plans now catch roughly half of the entire Medicare population. (Herman, 2/17)

Fierce Healthcare: Lawmakers Question Why PBMs ‘Even Exist’ In Heated Hearing
Senators pilloried the lack of transparency from pharmacy benefit managers during a hearing Thursday, as lawmakers hope to pass reforms this session. The Senate Commerce Committee hosted the hearing amid concerns that PBMs steer patients toward pharmacies that they own. Lawmakers have introduced legislation to shed light on the issue, but some Republicans have balked over giving the federal government more authority. (King, 2/16)

Politico: EPA Moves To Cement Pesticide Protections For Farmworkers
The Biden administration is moving to solidify protections for the nation’s 2 million farmworkers. In a proposed rule, the EPA is reaffirming protections established in 2015 that required agricultural employers to keep workers and others out of areas while pesticides are being sprayed, known as the Application Exclusion Zone. The AEZ can range from 25 to 100 feet depending on the height of the sprayer and size of droplets. (Brown, 2/16)

The New York Times: John Fetterman Checks In To Hospital For Treatment Of Clinical Depression
Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, who was hospitalized last week after feeling lightheaded, checked himself in to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Wednesday night to receive treatment for clinical depression, his office said on Thursday. (Karni, 2/16)

AP: Fetterman Draws Praise For Getting Help For Depression
When Patrick Kennedy was in Congress, he would sneak in his treatments for substance abuse over the holidays, in between congressional work periods. And he refused mental health treatment recommended by his doctors, worried he would be recognized in that wing of the hospital. (Clare Jalonick, 2/17)

The New York Times: Margaret Heagarty, Champion For Children’s Health In Harlem, Dies At 88
In her 22 years at Harlem Hospital, a public institution run by New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corporation and affiliated with Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, Dr. Heagarty made a name for herself as an eloquent and effective champion for children’s health. She fought for causes like reducing teenage pregnancies and playground injuries. (Roberts, 2/16)

CIDRAP: Antibiotics Linked To Rare, Drug-Associated Skin Conditions
A systematic review and meta-analysis found that antibiotics may be associated with more than a quarter of cases of rare, serious drug reactions that affect the skin and mucous membranes, researchers reported yesterday in JAMA Dermatology. (Dall, 2/16)

Stat: Researchers Link Certain Genes To Obesity Complications In Women
With hundreds of genes thought to be linked to obesity, the challenge is sifting through them all to determine which ones increase the risk of downstream complications like heart disease and diabetes. In a study published Thursday in Nature Genetics, researchers took the first steps in finding a potential candidate specifically in women. (Chen, 2/16)

CIDRAP: Adherence To Treatment Guidelines May Improve Candidemia Survival Rates
A study of patients with candidemia at hospitals in 20 European countries revealed that adherence to clinical guideline recommendations may improve survival rates, researchers reported yesterday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. (Dall, 2/16)

CIDRAP: Long-COVID Patients Report Job, Money Issues In Addition To Lingering Symptoms
Long-COVID patients have higher rates of unemployment and underemployment than their recovered peers and are likely to have persistent or new-onset symptoms, disabilities, and financial problems in the 6 months after hospitalization, according to two US studies published in JAMA Network Open. (Van Beusekom, 2/16)

Reuters: Moderna Flu Vaccine Delivers Mixed Results In Trial, Shares Fall
Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) on Thursday said its closely watched experimental messenger RNA-based influenza vaccine generated a strong immune response against A strains of the flu but failed to show it was at least as effective as an approved vaccine versus less prevalent influenza B. (Wingrove and Erman, 2/17)

The Wall Street Journal: GE HealthCare Makes Push Into Artificial Intelligence
In pursuing a software platform that can help hospitals do things like find open beds and identify patients at risk for sepsis, GE HealthCare is taking on tech powerhouses such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp., which are already selling such services and bring the big-data and artificial-intelligence expertise the technology requires. (Evans, 2/16)

FiercePharma: Doctors Are Still Hesitant To Trust Biosimilars, Survey Says
AbbVie’s mega-blockbuster Humira is finally subject to biosimilar competition in the United States. With the launch last month of Amgen’s Amjevita—to be followed later this year by other Humira biosimilars entering the market—patients finally have access to lower-cost alternatives to the immunology blockbuster. But there are key players who are not on board with biosimilars. And their reticence could hinder the uptake of these lower-cost knockoffs. (Dunleavy, 2/16)

Reuters: Allianz Swings To Q4 Net Profit, Bounces Back From U.S. Funds Debacle
Germany's Allianz (ALVG.DE) on Friday swung to a fourth-quarter net profit, marking a return to the black after taking big charges a year earlier for a U.S. funds scandal. The fourth quarter was helped by strength at its life and health insurance business due to a higher investment margin, Allianz said, while its asset management division saw lower revenues and fees. (2/17)

Politico: California Hospitals Warn Of Closures If State Doesn’t Provide Lifeline
California may be on the verge of losing many of its hospitals as it emerges from the pandemic. The California Hospital Association says treating people with Covid-19, combined with long-term financial issues, has put medical institutions on the edge of insolvency around the state — and they need an immediate lifeline of $1.5 billion to prevent more from having to close. (Castanos, 2/16)

Politico: Adams To Albany: Stop Taking City Sales Tax For Struggling Hospitals
Mayor Eric Adams wants state lawmakers to stop siphoning hundreds of millions of dollars from the city’s pool of sales tax revenue to fund financially distressed hospitals and nursing homes. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins April 1 would continue a maneuver that withholds $150 million from the city’s annual sales tax collections and deposits it into a temporary fund established to help health facilities during the Covid pandemic. (Kaufman, 2/16)

The New York Times: ‘Chernobyl 2.0’? Ohio Train Derailment Spurs Wild Speculation
On social media like Twitter and Telegram, commentators have called the situation the “largest environmental disaster in history” or simply “Chernobyl 2.0,” invoking the 1986 nuclear disaster. They warned, without evidence, that vital water reservoirs serving states downriver could be badly contaminated. And they suggested that the authorities, railroad companies and mainstream news media were purposefully obscuring the full toll of the crisis. (Thompson, 2/16)

The Washington Post: After Toxic Train Derailment, Ohio Residents Report Rashes And Worries
Not everyone was comforted by the EPA administrator’s assurances Thursday that their municipal water and air was safe, based on ongoing tests. “I’m going to East Palestine and will get a glass of water, and I’m going to ask him to drink it because I don’t believe it,” said Dave Anderson, a farmer in nearby New Galilee, Pa. Anderson, a plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against Norfolk Southern, said his cattle have had diarrhea since the disaster. (Dance, McDaniel and Dennis, 2/16)

AP: Wisconsin Nurse Pleads Not Guilty To Amputating Man's Foot
A western Wisconsin nurse accused of amputating a hospice patient’s frostbitten foot without his consent and without doctor’s orders pleaded not guilty Thursday. A lawyer for 38-year-old Mary K. Brown, of Durand, Wisconsin, entered pleas of not guilty for her to charges of mayhem, physical abuse of an elderly person and intentionally abusing a patient, causing great bodily harm, WEAU-TV and WQOW-TV reported. (2/17)