First Edition: Friday, Sept. 20, 2024

KFF Health News: Rural NC County Is Set To Reopen Its Shuttered Hospital With Help From A New Federal Program
On a mid-August morning, Christopher Harrison stood in front of the shuttered Martin General Hospital recalling the day a year earlier when he snapped pictures as workers covered the facility’s sign. “Yes, sir. It was a sad day,” Harrison said of the financial collapse of the small rural hospital, where all four of his children were born. Quorum Health operated the 49-bed facility in this rural eastern North Carolina town of about 5,000 residents until it closed. (Sisk, 9/20)

KFF Health News: Fighting Staff Shortages With Scholarships, California Bill Aims To Boost Mental Health Courts
A seemingly innocuous proposal to offer scholarships for mental health workers in California’s new court-ordered treatment program has sparked debate over whether the state should prioritize that program or tackle a wider labor shortage in behavioral health services. Nine counties have begun rolling out the Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment Act, which Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed into law in 2022 to get people with untreated schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders, many of them incarcerated or homeless, into treatment. (Castle Work, 9/20)

KFF Health News: American Health Under Trump — Past, Present, And Future
Dreaming of a Trump victory, Republicans have a wish list of health policy changes — including loosening Affordable Care Act regulations to make cheaper coverage available and ending Medicare drug price negotiations. ... Tami Luhby of CNN, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Joanne Kenen of Politico and Johns Hopkins University join KFF Health News senior editor Emmarie Huetteman to discuss these stories and more. (Huetteman, 9/19)

Military.com: Veterans At 5 VA Medical Facilities Will Have To Start Making Copayments On Prescriptions Again 
Thousands of veterans will resume paying a portion of their prescription medication cost following a two-year suspension of the requirement at five Veterans Affairs facilities served by the department's new electronic health records system. The VA is notifying affected patients in the Pacific Northwest and Ohio this week by letter and email of the impending change, which will go into effect Oct. 1. (Kime, 9/19)

Stat: Top GOP Senator Proposes Changes To Medicare Drug Price Negotiations
Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.), a key Republican senator with seats on the chamber’s health and finance committees, introduced a bill to let some small drugmakers avoid Medicare price negotiations. (Wilkerson, 9/19)

USA Today: Senate Approves Contempt Actions Against Steward Health Care CEO
A Senate committee Thursday overwhelmingly approved two resolutions compelling testimony from a hospital executive who resisted a subpoena to address the lawmakers a week ago. The panel is seeking civil and criminal action against Ralph de la Torre, the CEO of Steward Health Care, following a 20-0 vote on both resolutions, with one abstention. The senators approved a resolution seeking civil enforcement and a criminal contempt charge against the executive after he refused to appear before the committee under subpoena on Sept. 12. (Alltucker, 9/19)

AP: State Asks Judge To Pause Ruling That Struck Down North Dakota's Abortion Ban
The state of North Dakota is asking a judge to pause his ruling from last week that struck down the state’s abortion ban until the state Supreme Court rules on a planned appeal. The state’s motion to stay a pending appeal was filed Wednesday. State District Judge Bruce Romanick ruled last week that North Dakota’s abortion ban “is unconstitutionally void for vagueness,” and that pregnant women in the state have a fundamental right to abortion before viability under the state constitution. (Dura, 9/19)

South Dakota Searchlight: S.D. Court Explains Abortion Ballot Measure Trial Mix-Up But Doesn’t Schedule New Date 
More information emerged Thursday about the confusion that wrecked plans for a trial next week on South Dakota’s abortion-rights ballot measure, but no new trial date has been scheduled, while a motions hearing has been scheduled for nearly a month after the election. A judge signed an order last month saying the trial would take place the week of Sept. 23 in Sioux Falls. On Tuesday of this week, the judge emailed the parties saying the matter still needed to be added to the court calendar. The email surprised lawyers on both sides who had been planning for the Sept. 23 trial. (Haiar, 9/19)

Politico: DeSantis Deploys Government Resources To Fight Florida Abortion Amendment 
Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Florida Republican leaders have repeatedly tapped into taxpayer-funded resources to fight a November ballot initiative that would overturn the state’s six-week abortion ban. Their repeated efforts — from a state-run website attacking the amendment to election police questioning signers of the petition to get the measure on the ballot — have drawn them into a protracted legal fight with the campaign behind the initiative, which will appear before voters as Amendment 4. It is an escalation of government overreach, amendment supporters say. (Sarkissian, 9/20)

The Hill: Florida Warns Physicians Abortions Must Be Given ‘At Any Stage’ To Save Life And Health
Florida health officials told physicians Thursday that abortion is permitted “at any stage in pregnancy” to save the life and health of the mother, and regulatory action will be taken against any providers who don’t offer that care.  In a notice to providers, the Florida Department of Health and the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) said Florida “requires life-saving medical care to a mother without delay when necessary.” (Weixel, 9/19)

AP: Republicans Are Trying A New Approach To Abortion In The Race For Congress
In the most contested races for control of the U.S. House, many Republican candidates are speaking up about women’s rights to abortion access and reproductive care in new and surprising ways, a deliberate shift for a GOP blindsided by some political ramifications of the post-Roe v. Wade era. Looking directly into the camera for ads, or penning personal op-eds in local newspapers, the Republicans are trying to distance themselves from some of the more aggressive anti-abortion ideas coming from their party and its allies. Instead the Republican candidates are working quickly to spell out their own views separate from a GOP that for decades has worked to put restrictions on reproductive care. (Mascaro, 9/19)

The 19th: Health Plan Floated By JD Vance Could Weaken Protections For Pregnant People
A health care proposal suggested by Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance could gut a popular Affordable Care Act protection, making it legal for companies to charge more for or deny coverage of expensive medical conditions, including pregnancy. (Luthra, 9/19)

The New York Times: Former N.Y.C. Covid Czar Partied While Preaching Social Distancing 
The official in charge of New York City’s pandemic response participated in sex parties and attended a dance party underneath a Wall Street bank during the height of the pandemic, even as he was instructing New Yorkers to stay home and away from others to stop the spread of Covid-19. He acknowledged his transgressions on Thursday after being caught on hidden camera boasting about his exploits. The video of the official, Dr. Jay K. Varma, who was City Hall’s senior public health adviser under Mayor Bill de Blasio from April 2020 to May 2021, was posted on Thursday by the conservative podcaster Steven Crowder. (Nir, 9/19)

USA Today: Free COVID Tests Offered By Government: How You Can Order
At the end of September, American households will be able to order free COVID-19 tests that will detect current variants and be usable until the end of the year, according to officials. In August, public health officials announced that the COVIDtest.gov program will once again be made available ahead of the COVID-19 surge that happens during winter. The respiratory virus peaks twice a year, once in summer and once in winter, according to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. (Gomez and Forbes, 9/19)

Modern Healthcare: How Healthcare Finances Are Affected By The COVID-19 Pandemic
Some industry players are still trying to move past the COVID-19 pandemic 4 1/2 years after health officials declared it a global health crisis, though the lingering effects are giving others a financial boost. Executives at health systems, insurers, home health agencies and virtual care companies have pointed to the pandemic's continuing impacts as they feel out the latest trajectories for labor costs, utilization rates and investment priorities during earnings calls, investor presentations and conferences. (Hudson, 9/19)

The New York Times: Research That Led to Obesity Drugs Wins Major Medical Prize
The Lasker Awards, a prestigious set of prizes given for advances in medicine and public health research, were given on Thursday to scientists whose research helped lead to the discovery of a new class of obesity drugs, infectious disease specialists who worked on the drivers of H.I.V. infection and how to stop it, and a scientist who discovered a way the body protects itself from infectious diseases and cancer. The Laskers are highly regarded in the fields of biomedicine and are sometimes seen as foretelling recipients of the Nobel Prizes in the sciences. (Kolata and Nolen, 9/19)

CBS News: Propellants In Regularly Prescribed Inhalers Are Accelerating Global Warming
New reports reveal the most commonly prescribed inhaler in the U.S. may actually be contributing to climate change. While these inhalers are critically important to saving lives and making it easier to breathe, a Stanford-led study is showing that there are easier, less polluting options. (Goodrich and McCrea, 9/19)

Chicago Tribune: Former Outcome Health Exec Sentenced To 7 Months In Prison
A former executive at Outcome Health — who was the star witness against his bosses in a trial last year — was sentenced to seven months in prison on Thursday for his role in what prosecutors have called a $1 billion fraud at the company. (Schencker, 9/19)

Modern Healthcare: Optum Layoffs To Hit 160 Workers In New Jersey
UnitedHealth Group's Optum filed plans to lay off 160 employees at one of its locations in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. The majority of the cuts will occur on Dec. 11, with a single worker laid off Jan. 22, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice filed with the state of New Jersey this month. (DeSilva, 9/19)

CBS News: Allina Reducing Hours For Some Owatonna Hospital Workers; Nurses Union Says Mayo Clinic Culpable
Allina Health says it will soon be reducing hours for some of its medical-surgical staff members at Owatonna Hospital, but the Minnesota Nurses Association says the reductions are actually layoffs caused in part by the Mayo Clinic. An Allina Health spokesperson says the nonprofit is trimming the hospital's elective surgery schedule from five to four days a week, resulting in cuts to hours for its registered nurse care coordinator staff. (Swanson, 9/19)

The Colorado Sun: Do Hispanic Women Account For Only 2% Of All Doctors In The U.S.? 
The percentage of Latina doctors in the U.S. has held at 2% for several years, even as Latinas accounted for 17% of all women here. Nearly 19% of the U.S. population overall is Latino, and advocates for Hispanic health say the population of doctors who are Latinos is severely underrepresented. Just 6% of Latino men work as doctors. (George, 9/20)

Modern Healthcare: Cigna To Pull Back Medicare Advantage Plans In 8 States In 2025
Cigna Group's health insurance unit is scaling back Medicare Advantage offerings in eight states next year, according to a notice to third-party marketers published by the insurance brokerage Pinnacle Financial Services. Members in 36 health plans will be affected by Cigna Healthcare’s cuts and service area reductions in Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. Most people will have another Cigna Medicare Advantage plan available in their counties. (Berryman, 9/19)

Reuters: UnitedHealth Tech Unit's Rivals Say New, Post-Hack Customers Are Staying
Smaller rivals to UnitedHealth's tech unit Change Healthcare say they are signing longer-term contracts with hospitals and other customers who had temporarily switched from the company after February's cyberattack shut down the unit's services. The new contracts landed by Waystar and privately held Availity and Inovalon show a shift to healthcare practices signing deals with multiple service providers instead of relying on a single vendor, in what may be the first sign of needed change in an industry. Health tech experts said the move to more than one vendor is long overdue, but was hastened by the hack. (Leo and Roy, 9/19)

North Carolina Health News and Charlotte Ledger: Atrium Health Cancels Hundreds Of Past Medical Debt Judgments 
Atrium Health announced Thursday, Sept. 19, that it is wiping out all existing judgments and liens against patients for unpaid medical bills, offering relief to hundreds of North Carolinians who have been sued by the hospital system. The Charlotte Ledger/NC Health News reported in October 2023 that the nonprofit system had quietly stopped filing new lawsuits against patients but that the hospital was still pursuing collection on past debts. (Crouch, 9/20)

Health News Florida: BayCare Plans To Open 'Compact' Proton Cancer Therapy Center In 2025
Proton therapy is an advanced, cutting-edge cancer treatment that can precisely target a tumor with minimal side effects. It’s a well-established approach, but accessibility has been an issue due to the house-like size of the hardware and cost. However, ongoing advancements are shrinking these units and expanding their use. BayCare broke ground Tuesday on a $33 million "compact" proton therapy center at St Joseph’s hospital in Tampa with plans to begin treating patients in fall 2025. (Mayer, 9/19)

Stat: New Guidelines On Research Misconduct Draw Mixed Response
Amid a steady rise in research misconduct allegations over the past decade, the Department of Human Health and Services last week updated its guidance on how universities and other institutions investigate claims. It’s a move that experts say is a step in the right direction — though many warn that more systemic change is needed to address mounting concerns over data manipulation and other issues in the sciences. (Oza, 9/20)

CIDRAP: California Identifies Dengue Case Cluster In LA County
Los Angeles County Public Health yesterday announced that two more locally acquired dengue cases have been identified, raising the number in the cluster to three. The two latest patients are from Baldwin Park, the same area where the first case was reported last week. (Schnirring, 9/19)

Minnesota Public Radio: Vaccine Hesitancy Concerns Physicians Amid Minnesota Measles Outbreak
Minnesota’s measles outbreak has grown to 51 cases as of Thursday, and most infected are unvaccinated children in the Somali community living in Hennepin County, as confirmed by the state health department. Twelve people have been hospitalized. Across the board, people are challenging the need for all vaccines, not just the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. The general vaccination rate is even lower in the Somali community, Michael Osterholm, head of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told MPR News. (Wurzer and Stockton, 9/19)

Mississippi Today: An Epidemic Of Antipsychotic Drugs In Mississippi Nursing Homes 
Mississippi consistently ranks in the top five in the nation for its rates of antipsychotic drugging in nursing homes, data from the federal government shows. More than one in five nursing home residents in the United States is given powerful and mind-altering antipsychotic drugs. That’s more than 10 times the rate of the general population – despite the fact that the conditions antipsychotics treat do not become more common with age. In Mississippi, that goes up to one in four residents. (Paffenroth, 9/19)

Houston Chronicle: HISD Considering Policy Against Student Phone Use During Emergencies
Houston ISD is working toward a new policy prohibiting students from using cellphones during certain campus emergencies because they could be “counterproductive," top school safety officials said Thursday. ... “I understand the need for communication, and parents want to make sure that their children are safe, so there's a time and a place for cellphones, but again, as it pertains to a lockdown situation, the best practice is to remain silent, and so the use of cellphones, as natural as it may be, may be counterproductive,” HISD Police Chief Shamara Garner said. (Menchaca, 9/19) 

Stat: FDA: Indian Generic Drug Manufacturer Tossed Truckloads Of Key Documents
Amid ongoing concern over the quality of medicines made in India, a major supplier of generic medicines was seen removing three truckloads of “scrap materials” from a facility that was being inspected last month by the Food and Drug Administration. Specifically, a “large number of torn pieces” of documents that should have been kept to verify manufacturing and testing practices were found in the trucks, as well as in a scrap bag at a site run by Granules in Telangana, India. And when confronted by the FDA inspectors, the plant management acknowledged the papers should not have been destroyed. (Silverman, 9/19)

Reuters: Mpox Is Not Under Control In Africa, Warns Africa CDC 
The mpox outbreak in Africa is still not under control, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) warned on Thursday, adding that cases were still increasing in several countries. The number of mpox cases in Africa has surged 177%, and deaths have increased 38.5% compared with the same period a year ago, data from the Africa CDC showed. (9/19)

CIDRAP: Amid New Mpox Outbreak, Study Suggests Waning Protection Of Jynneos Vaccine
Jynneos vaccine wane significantly over the course of a year, raising new questions about just how protected vaccinated people are against reinfection and if booster doses of the vaccine are needed among at-risk populations. (Soucheray, 9/19)