First Edition: Friday, Oct. 25, 2024

KFF Health News: Exclusive: Emails Reveal How Health Departments Struggle To Track Human Cases Of Bird Flu
Bird flu cases have more than doubled in the country within a few weeks, but researchers can’t determine why the spike is happening because surveillance for human infections has been patchy for seven months. Just this week, California reported its 15th infection in dairy workers and Washington state reported seven probable cases in poultry workers. Hundreds of emails from state and local health departments, obtained in records requests from KFF Health News, help reveal why. (Maxmen, 10/25)

KFF Health News: Presidential Election Puts Affordable Care Act Back In The Bull’s-Eye
Health care is suddenly front and center in the final sprint to the presidential election, and the outcome will shape the Affordable Care Act and the coverage it gives to more than 40 million people. Besides reproductive rights, health care for most of the campaign has been an in-the-shadows issue. However, recent comments from former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, about possible changes to the ACA have opened Republicans up to heavier scrutiny. (Armour, 10/25)

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?' Podcast: Less Than Two Weeks To Go
With Election Day rapidly approaching, abortion is gaining traction as a voting issue, according to public opinion polls. Meanwhile, states with abortion bans are reviving the lawsuit — dismissed by the Supreme Court on a technicality this year — that could roll back the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone. Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, Rachel Cohrs Zhang of Stat, and Victoria Knight of Axios join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Tricia Neuman, senior vice president of KFF and executive director of its Program on Medicare Policy, about Medicare open enrollment and the changes to the federal program for 2025. (10/24)

The Hill: Bird Flu Cases Rise To 31, But CDC Says No Person-To-Person Transmission
The number of people infected with bird flu in the U.S. has risen to at least 31, federal health officials said Thursday, but there is no evidence of human-to-human spread after blood tests confirmed health workers in Missouri caring for a hospitalized patient were not infected. Speaking to reporters during a briefing, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials said multiple tests confirmed five symptomatic health workers did not have any evidence of infection. (Weixel, 10/24)

The New York Times: As Bird Flu Spreads, Additional Human Infection Is Reported In Missouri
A Missouri resident who shared a home with a patient hospitalized with bird flu in August was also infected with the virus, federal officials reported on Thursday. But symptomatic health care workers who cared for the hospitalized patient were not infected, testing showed. The news eased worries among researchers that the virus, H5N1, had gained the ability to spread more efficiently among people. (Mandavilli and Anthes, 10/24)

CIDRAP: Serologic Tests Rule Out Avian Flu In Missouri Health Workers; CDC Confirms 2 Washington Infections
Officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today said serologic testing has ruled out H5 avian flu infection among five healthcare workers who had symptoms around the time they were exposed to a patient in Missouri, though results suggest a household contact was likely infected at the same time. At a Department of Health and Human Services briefing today, CDC officials also said tests have confirmed H5 infection in two Washington poultry cullers, though the virus is the D.1.1 genotype, which is different that the B3.13 genotype circulating in US dairy cattle. (Schnirring, 10/24)

AP: Onions From California-Based Produce Company Linked To E. Coli Outbreak, McDonald's Says
A California-based produce company was the source of fresh onions linked to a deadly E. coli food poisoning outbreak at McDonald’s, officials with the restaurant chain said Thursday. Meanwhile, other fast-food restaurants — including Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC and Burger King — pulled onions from some menus. McDonald’s officials said that Taylor Farms, of Salinas, California, sent onions to one distribution facility, which led the fast-food chain to remove Quarter Pounder hamburgers from restaurants in several states. McDonald’s didn’t say which facility it was. (Aleccia and Durbin, 10/24)

Bloomberg: Yum Brands, Burger King Pull Onions After E. Coli Outbreak At McDonald's
Yum! Brands Inc. and Burger King removed onions from some of their locations as the restaurant industry investigates an E. Coli outbreak first traced to McDonald’s Corp. Yum withdrew fresh onions from some Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC locations “out of an abundance of caution,” the company said Thursday in a statement to Bloomberg News, without disclosing which stores and regions were affected or naming suppliers. (Sirtori, 10/24)

Reuters: McDonald's Sued By Colorado Man Sickened In E. Coli Outbreak
A Colorado man has filed what appears to be the first lawsuit against McDonald’s over an E. coli outbreak linked to Quarter Pounder burgers that has killed one person and sickened nearly 50 others. The lawsuit, filed in Circuit Court in Cook County, Illinois, on Wednesday, alleges that Eric Stelly ate food from a Greeley, Colorado, McDonald’s on Oct. 4 and tested positive for E. coli a few days later. ... The lawsuit, which seeks more than $50,000 in damages, claims McDonald's was negligent in its handling and care of the food. (Novak Jones, 10/24)

AP: Harris, Beyoncé Team Up For A Texas Rally On Abortion Rights — Hoping Battleground States Hear Them
Vice President Kamala Harris will team up with Beyoncé on Friday for a rally in solidly Republican Texas aimed at highlighting the perilous medical fallout from the state’s strict abortion ban and putting the blame squarely on Donald Trump. It’s a message intended to register far beyond Texas in the political battleground states, where Harris is hoping that the aftereffects from the fall of Roe v. Wade will spur voters to turn out to support her quest for the presidency. (Long, Superville and Lathan, 10/25)

The Hill: Actor Patrick Dempsey Calls For NIH To Improve 'Wraparound Care'
Actor Patrick Dempsey called on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to offer better holistic care for cancer patients while receiving one of the 2024 George H.W. Bush Points of Light Awards on Wednesday night.  Dempsey was recognized for his work as founder of the Dempsey Center, which provides personalized and preventative cancer care in Dempsey’s home state of Maine and beyond. It focuses on what Dempsey called “wraparound care,” a form of health care that includes supportive measures such as mental health counseling, acupuncture, nutrition advice and more. (Haner, 10/24)

Stat: Disability Benefits Should Not End Because Of Marriage, Activists Say
When Chelsea Smith met Jason Martin she knew right away that he was the one — so she refused to get his phone number. That’s because getting married would make Smith ineligible for Social Security benefits and Medicaid — financial support that she and many others with disabilities need to survive. Smith didn’t want to risk falling in love knowing she couldn’t get married. (Zamora and Srikanth, 10/25)

Becker's Hospital Review: AHA, FBI Partner To Mitigate Healthcare Targeted Violence: 4 Things To Know
The American Hospital Association and the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit have collaborated to create resources to mitigate targeted violence in healthcare settings, including threat assessment and prevention strategies. Healthcare industry workers experience the highest rate of injury from workplace violence and are five times as likely to suffer a workplace violence injury compared to workers overall, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Gregerson, 10/24)

Stat: Questionable Medicare Payments To UnitedHealth, Humana: Federal Watchdog
A federal watchdog found that Medicare Advantage insurers led by UnitedHealth Group collected billions of dollars in dubious payments from Medicare by using home visits and medical chart reviews to diagnose patients with conditions for which they received no follow-up care. (Ross, Bannow, Lawrence and Herman, 10/24) 

The Hill: Most Say Not Enough Being Done To Ensure Affordable Mental Health Care: Survey
Nearly three-fourths of U.S. adults said the government is not doing enough to ensure access to affordable mental health care, a new West Health-Gallup Healthcare survey found. The survey revealed that 73 percent of Americans said that the government was not doing enough to ensure affordable access to mental health care, compared to 12 percent who said that it was doing about the right amount. Seven percent said the government was doing too much, while another 7 percent said they didn’t know. (Ventura, 10/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Medical Records Are A Mess. Here’s How Technology Can Help Make Sense Of Them
The digital revolution in healthcare was supposed to transform the patient experience. It would make it easy for patients to access their electronic medical records, manage their care via patient portals and mobile apps, and protect their privacy. It has a long way to go. (Landro, 10/24)

Reuters: Baxter Expects To Restart IV Fluids Line At Hurricane-Hit Plant Within Next Week
Medical device maker Baxter (BAX.N) said on Thursday it expects to restart the highest-throughput intravenous solutions manufacturing line at a hurricane-hit plant in North Carolina within the next week. The temporary closure last month of the Marion site, which makes 60% of the nation's supply of IV fluids and peritoneal dialysis solutions as per the American Hospital Association, had triggered a shortage of intravenous products. (10/24)

Stat: Eli Lilly Weight Loss Drug Shortage Underscores Issues With FDA Oversight
A turbulent series of events surrounding the supply of Eli Lilly’s blockbuster weight loss treatment has raised concerns around how the Food and Drug Administration maintains its list of drug shortages and which sources it relies on, an issue that affects a growing number of Americans. (Lawrence, Chen and Silverman, 10/25)

Newsweek: One In 14 American Patients May Be Harmed By Hospital Diagnosis Mistakes
Harmful diagnostic errors may occur for as many as one in every 14 hospital patients receiving medical care, a new study based on a single medical center in the U.S. has found. As many as 85 percent of these errors may be preventable, highlighting the need for improved surveillance in hospital settings. ... In their study, published in the journal BMJ Quality and Safety, [Anuj Dalal, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and lead author on the study] and colleagues concluded that, based on this sample from a single medical center, harmful diagnostic errors occurred in 7 percent of patients, or one in 14, receiving general medical care. They added that the majority of these errors were preventable. (Dewan, 10/24)

CIDRAP: CDC Traces Legionnaires' Outbreaks On 2 Cruise Ships To Hot Tubs
From November 2022 to June 2024, 12 cases of Legionnaires' disease were reported to the CDC among travelers on two cruise ships, with eight on ship A and four on ship B. The ship A outbreak was the largest cruise Legionnaires' disease outbreak that the CDC had investigated since 2008. Legionnaires' is a serious type of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria. (Van Beusekom, 10/24)

AP: EPA Imposes Stricter Standards To Protect Children From Exposure To Lead Paint
Two weeks after setting a nationwide deadline for removal of lead pipes, the Biden administration is imposing strict new limits on dust from lead-based paint in older homes and child-care facilities. A final rule announced Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency sets limits on lead dust on floors and window sills in pre-1978 residences and child-care facilities to levels so low they cannot be detected. (Daly, 10/24)

The Hechinger Report: Kids With Obesity Do Worse In School. One Reason May Be Teacher Bias  
Almost every day at the public elementary school she attended in Montgomery County, Maryland, Stephanie heard comments about her weight. Kids in her fifth grade class called her “fatty” instead of her name, she recalled; others whispered, “Do you want a cupcake?” as she walked by. One classmate spread a rumor that she had diabetes. Stephanie was so incensed by his teasing that she hit him and got suspended, she said. But nothing the kids did upset her as much as the conduct of her teachers. For years teachers ignored her in class, even when she was the only one raising her hand, said Stephanie, whose surname is being withheld to protect her privacy. “I was like, ‘Do you not like me or something?” she recalled. (Cardoza, 10/23)

CIDRAP: GAO Report Shows How US Schools Spent Pandemic Relief Funds, Including On Better Ventilation
A new report from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) concludes that, by the end of the 2021-22 school year, US school districts had spent about $60 billion in federal COVID-19 emergency aid through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund. Eighty percent of this money was used to address students' social-emotional needs and to keep schools running, while 20% went to addressing health concerns, including improving ventilation, enhanced cleaning and disinfection, and hiring school psychologists. (Soucheray, 10/24)

Bloomberg: Meta, Google, TikTok Must Face School Districts’ Suits Over Addiction Claims
Meta Platforms Inc., Google, TikTok and Snap will have to face lawsuits brought by school districts in federal court blaming their “addictive” apps for contributing to a mental health crisis among students. The ruling Thursday by US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, follows a contrasting June 7 decision by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge in favor of the companies. The split leaves the platforms potentially on the hook for damages in more than 150 cases before Rogers even as they’re poised to dodge liability for claims in more than 600 other cases filed in Los Angeles. (Poritz, 10/25)

CIDRAP: Broad-Spectrum Antibiotics For Pneumonia Linked To Increased Risk Of Adverse Events
A study of US adults who had community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) but were otherwise healthy found that broad-spectrum antibiotics were associated with increased risks of adverse drug events (ADEs), researchers reported yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases. (Dall, 10/24)

CIDRAP: Adjuvanted Flu, Shingles Vaccines Can Safely Be Given Together, Clinical Trial Shows
The adjuvanted influenza and adjuvanted shingles vaccines can be safely administered at the same time, a randomized, blinded clinical trial concludes. Duke University investigators compared the safety of and reactions to simultaneous intramuscular vaccination with the quadrivalent (four-strain) inactivated adjuvanted flu vaccine (allV4) and the adjuvanted recombinant herpes zoster (shingles) vaccine (RSV) with that of simultaneous administration of the RZV and quadrivalent high-dose inactivated nonadjuvanted flu vaccine (HD-IIV4) vaccines. (Van Beusekom, 10/24)

The Hill: Ozempic May Lower Alzheimer's Risk In Diabetics: Study
The diabetes and weight loss drug Ozempic could lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease among people with Type 2 diabetes, according to a new study published Thursday. Alzheimer’s disease is the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States, with roughly 120,000 people dying from the disease each year, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (O’Connell-Domenech, 10/24)

CIDRAP: COVID Genomic Surveillance Details Rise, Evolution Of JN.1 In US This Year
New genomic surveillance data published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report show that JN.1 and its descendants have been the most common SARS-CoV-2 variants in 2024, and they're still evolving. The genomic surveillance was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's national SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance program, which previously detected both the Delta and Omicron variants. (Soucheray, 10/24)

Reuters: Goldman-Backed Drug Developer Septerna Raises $288 Mln In US IPO
Biotech firm Septerna on Thursday said it raised $288 million in its initial public offering that has been upsized twice, a sign of upbeat investor sentiment for the capital-intensive sector. Septerna sold 16 million shares in the offering at $18 a piece. Earlier in the day, the drug developer had already upsized the offering to nearly 15.3 million shares, from 10.9 million shares and said it aimed to sell at $18 a piece versus an earlier target range of $15 and $17 a share. (Kannagi Basil, 10/24)

Bloomberg: Sanofi Profit Lifted by Early Vaccine Sales, Dupixent Growth
Sanofi profit rose on demand for seasonal vaccines and further growth in its blockbuster skin and asthma therapy Dupixent. Earnings per share excluding some items reached €2.86 ($3.10) in the third quarter, Sanofi said Friday. That exceeded analysts’ estimates, helped by its influenza and respiratory syncytial virus shots, which saw earlier-than-anticipated sales. (Furlong and Loh, 10/25)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Rejects HHS OIG's Call To Limit Risk-Adjusted MA Pay
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services declined to crack down on certain Medicare Advantage payments a federal watchdog said are based on improper diagnoses. Insurers have been embroiled in controversy around using health risk assessments to drive up diagnoses among Medicare Advantage enrollees for years. The Health and Human Services Department Office of Inspector General has said the practice led to billions in payments for which patients receive no corresponding follow-up visits, procedures, tests or supplies. Those payments hit $7.5 billion in 2023, the OIG says in a new report issued Thursday. (Early, 10/24)

Modern Healthcare: CHS Finances Weighed Down By Medicare Advantage Payer Denials
Medicare Advantage payer denials and Hurricane Helene put a damper on Community Health Systems' third-quarter earnings results. CHS continues to weather increasing payer denials and coding downgrades, CEO Tim Hingtgen told analysts on Thursday's earnings call. He said the for-profit health system stood up an enhanced utilization review program and centralized its physician adviser services in the last couple of years to make sure CHS receives appropriate payment for the care it provides. (Hudson, 10/24)

The Baltimore Sun: Whooping Cough Cases Up Tenfold In Maryland
Three new cases of whooping cough in Anne Arundel County that made headlines in Maryland this week are part of an ongoing uptick of the highly contagious disease in the United States. But as seriously as Marylanders should take the illness — particularly those who have contact with children under a year old — the spike is not an unexpected development, said Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, a department of the university’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. (Pitts, 10/24)

Newsweek: How To Spot Early Signs Of Potentially Fatal Whooping Cough As Cases Rise
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 18,506 cases of whooping cough between January 1 and October 12—five times more than the same time frame in 2023, according to preliminary data. Cases are not evenly spread throughout the U.S. The Minnesota Department of Health announced on October 10 that the state had seen 1,019 cases so far in 2024, including 376 cases in Hennepin County and more than 40 cases in each of its surrounding counties. (Willmoth, 10/24)

The 19th and Oregon Public Broadcasting: Abortion Access Is Settled Law In Oregon. So Why Are Advocates Worried?
States around the country have seen an onrush of abortion restrictions since the U.S. Supreme Court ended federal abortion protections in June 2022. But in Oregon, the laws have only gotten stronger. Oregon’s broad abortion protections can feel so entrenched that even the state’s most staunch anti-abortion groups concede outlawing the practice is impossible. (Dake, 10/24)

Reuters: Ohio Judge Blocks 'Heartbeat' Abortion Ban, Criticizes Republican Attorney General
An Ohio judge permanently struck down the state's ban on abortion after about six weeks on Thursday and criticized its Republican attorney general for attempting to circumvent the will of Ohioans who voted to enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution. Judge Christian Jenkins of the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas in Cincinnati said the Republican-backed 2019 state law would interfere with women's ability to receive abortions and discourage doctors from performing them, in violation of a constitutional amendment approved by voters last year. (Wiessner, 10/25)

Connecticut Public: Rusty Equipment Found At Prospect-Owned Waterbury Hospital
Operating rooms at Waterbury Hospital were found to have multiple pieces of equipment with heavy rust, according to an unannounced state inspection of the facility last year. Waterbury Hospital, which is owned by the private-equity group Prospect Medical Holdings, was also cited by inspectors from the state Department of Public Health for failing “to ensure that equipment within the operating rooms were able to be properly sanitized” following an inspection of the surgical units last January. (Srinivasan, 10/24)

Chalkbeat: Four New Schools Will Serve Some Of Colorado’s ‘Most Vulnerable’ Students 
Three new specialized Colorado schools began working with school districts this fall to serve students with some of the highest needs in the state. A fourth new school works with teenagers and young adults who are in the juvenile justice system. Known as facility schools, the number of these specialized schools had been dwindling for years due to low state funding, staffing shortages, and operating hurdles. But the four new schools are an indication that a state law passed last year is having the intended effect of increasing options for what one state report called some of Colorado’s “most vulnerable” students. Many students who attend facility schools struggle with intense mental or behavioral health needs. Some have diagnoses of autism or emotional or intellectual disabilities. Others have experienced trauma, chronic illness, or substance abuse. (Asmar, 10/24)