First Edition: Friday, Sept. 27, 2024

KFF Health News: A Few Rural Towns Are Bucking The Trend And Building New Hospitals
There’s a new morning ritual in Pinedale, Wyoming, a town of about 2,000 nestled against the Wind River Mountains. Friends and neighbors in the oil- and gas-rich community “take their morning coffee and pull up” to watch workers building the county’s first hospital, said Kari DeWitt, the project’s public relations director. “I think it’s just gratitude,” DeWitt said. (Tribble, 9/27)

KFF Health News: Democratic Hopefuls Fault GOP Incumbents For Anti-Abortion Records In Congress
In a campaign ad this month, Derek Tran, a Democrat from Orange County, California, blasted his opponent, Republican U.S. Rep. Michelle Steel, for supporting a national abortion ban and voting to limit access to birth control. Democratic challenger Will Rollins also called out his rival, Rep. Ken Calvert, and “MAGA extremists” in an ad last week for their backing of a bill that could criminalize medical practitioners who provide abortions. (Castle Work, 9/27)

KFF Health News: KFF Health News' 'What The Health?': Congress Punts To A Looming Lame-Duck Session
Congress left Washington for the campaign trail this week, but not before approving a spending bill that expires shortly before Christmas. Lawmakers will be busy after the election working on not just the legislation needed to keep the government running, but also several health programs set to expire. Meanwhile, Republicans continue to downplay abortion as Democrats press it as a campaign issue. (Rovner, 9/26)

CNN: Free Covid-19 Tests Are Available Again. Here’s How To Get Them 
 People in the United States can now order more free Covid-19 tests from the federal government as the country heads into respiratory virus season with high levels of the coronavirus already circulating. Each household is eligible to receive four at-home test kits, which can be requested from COVIDTests.gov starting yesterday [Thursday]. They’ll be shipped for free starting next week through the US Postal Service. (McPhillips, 9/26)

UPI: Survey: Most Americans Won't Get New Flu, COVID-19 Vaccines 
Most Americans don't plan to get vaccinated against the flu or COVID-19 this season, a new survey has found. Fewer than two in five U.S. adults (38%) say they will definitely get a flu jab, and only one in four (26%) say they'll get the updated COVID vaccine, according to a survey released Wednesday by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. (Thompson, 9/25)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Reinfection Ups Risk Of Long COVID, New Data Show
A new survey study reveals that people who had two COVID-19 infections were more than twice as likely—and those who had three or more COVID-19 infections were almost four times more likely—to report long COVID as those with one infection. (Wappes, 9/26)

ABC News: Researchers Investigate Potential Link Between RSV And Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths
A rise in rates of sudden unexpected infant deaths may have been linked to an off-season surge of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in 2021, according to a new study published Thursday in the journal JAMA Open Network. Sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUID) includes deaths of infants under one year old without a known cause, deaths that are due to accidental suffocation or strangulation in bed and those from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (Gummerson and Cobern, 9/26)

The Washington Post: FDA Approves New Type Of Antipsychotic Drug, A Potential ‘Game-Changer’ 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration late Thursday approved a new kind of drug to treat schizophrenia, a breakthrough after 70 years of incremental innovation that appears to avoid side effects that cause many patients to stop taking their medication. The new drug, Bristol Myers Squibb’s Cobenfy, targets a different area of the brain than traditional antipsychotic drugs to relieve symptoms like delusions without causing patients to gain weight, fall asleep and experience involuntary muscle jerking. (Gilbert, 9/26)

Axios: Ending ACA Subsidies Could Affect 2 Million Chronically Ill
A decision by Congress to let enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies expire next year could leave 2 million people with chronic conditions uninsured, a new analysis from consulting firm Oliver Wyman shows. Democrats on Wednesday introduced legislation to permanently extend the aid — a long shot, considering it would increase the deficit by $335 billion over a decade. But a short-term extension could be in the cards, especially if one party doesn't control the White House and Congress. (Reed, 9/26)

Modern Healthcare: Cybersecurity Bill Would Set Industry Standards, Penalties
Senate lawmakers rolled out a bill Thursday to set cybersecurity standards in healthcare, promising financial assistance for hospitals to upgrade technology and penalties for organizations that don't measure up. The bill would also toughen standards for companies of "systemic importance" such as UnitedHealth Group's Change Healthcare, which sparked a monthslong collapse of payment and billing systems when it fell victim to a ransomware hack earlier this year. (McAuliff, 9/26)

The Washington Post: Sweeping Bill To Overhaul Supreme Court Would Add Six Justices
A sweeping bill introduced by a Democratic senator Wednesday would greatly increase the size of the Supreme Court, make it harder for the justices to overturn laws, require justices to undergo audits and remove roadblocks for high court nominations. The legislation by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is one of the most ambitious proposals to remake a high court that has suffered a sharp decline in its public approval after a string of contentious decisions and ethics scandals in recent years. It has little chance of passing at the moment, since Republicans have generally opposed efforts to overhaul the court. (Jouvenal and Raji, 9/26)

Military.com: Extra $12B For VA Medical Budget In Limbo After Exclusion From Short-Term Spending Bill
The Department of Veterans Affairs' request for an extra $12 billion from Congress to cover medical care costs is in limbo after lawmakers did not include the money in a short-term funding bill approved this week. Congress passed what's known as a continuing resolution, or CR, on Wednesday to ensure the government stays open after the fiscal year ends next week. While CRs typically just extend existing funding levels, VA officials asked Congress to include extra funding for the department to make up for an expected shortfall in its medical budget, warning that failing to provide the funding could mean staffing cuts and increased wait times for veterans. (Kheel, 9/26)

Military.com: Caregivers To Younger Veterans Face Depression And Suicidal Thoughts, Study Finds
The 14 million Americans who care for a chronically ill or injured veteran face challenges such as financial insecurity, stress and a lack of support that warrant attention by advocacy groups and the federal government, a new report has found. Roughly 5.5% of the U.S. adult population provides daily care and medical support for a veteran, services worth an estimated $199 billion to $485 billion annually, according to the report "America's Military and Veteran Caregivers: Hidden Heroes Emerging from the Shadows," which was released Tuesday. (Kime, 9/26)

Military.com: Veterans Nationwide Can Now Use Their Phones To Get Emergency Care From VA 
Veterans can now access emergency care from a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital by telephone or video under a new program that links patients experiencing medical distress with a VA provider. The VA announced Thursday that its tele-emergency care program, called tele-EC, is now available across the country, following a gradual rollout this year that has helped 61,182 veterans get care. (Kime, 9/26)

The War Horse: Months After Biden’s Promise to Pardon Thousands of LGBTQ Veterans, Only 8 Have Applied
The White House claimed that “thousands” of veterans could benefit when President Biden announced this summer he was issuing pardons to gay veterans who were forced out of the military because of their sexual orientation “and have carried the burden of this great injustice for decades.” But three months later, only eight veterans have applied for pardons—six from the Air Force, two from the Army, and none from the Coast Guard, Navy, or Marines. (Anne Marshall-Chalmers, 9/26)

NPR: More Trans Teens Attempted Suicide After States Passed Anti-Trans Laws, A Study Shows
States that passed anti-transgender laws aimed at minors saw suicide attempts by transgender and gender nonconforming teenagers increase by as much as 72% in the following years, a new study by The Trevor Project says. The peer-reviewed study, published published Thursday in the journal Nature Human Behavior, looked at survey data from young people in 19 states, comparing rates of suicide attempts before and after bans passed. (Simmons-Duffin, 9/26)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Sues Biden Administration Over Requirement To Provide LGBTQ+ Youth Foster Placements
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the federal government over its requirement that states provide LGBTQ+ affirming placement for foster care youth. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, states that the rule issued by the U.S. Health and Human Services would exacerbate the foster care provider shortage by compelling states to recruit new providers that comply with the rule while costing Texas money. If it fails to implement the requirements, Texas could lose as much as $432 million in annual federal funding for its foster care program. (Moore, 9/25)

Roll Call: On Campaign Trail, Vance Lays Out ‘Concept Of A Plan’ For Health Care 
J.D. Vance’s comments, made over the last week, have added some details to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s assertion during the Sept. 10 presidential debate that he had a “concept of a plan” to reform the Obama-era health exchanges. “We’re going to actually implement some regulatory reform in the health care system that allows people to choose a health care plan that works for them,” Vance said at a campaign rally last week in Raleigh, N.C., adding that people who use the health care system frequently would be on a different plan from those who are healthy and don’t go to the doctor as often. (Cohen and Raman, 9/26)

The Atlantic: Trump's IVF Plan Would Transform The American Family
In the days after former President Donald Trump declared that he’d make in vitro fertilization more accessible for Americans, the anti-abortion movement went to work. The activist Lila Rose urged her social-media followers not to vote for Trump, equating his enthusiasm for IVF with support for abortion. The Pro-Life Action League asked Trump to walk back his remarks, citing the “hundreds of thousands” of embryos that would be destroyed. (Brown, 9/26)

The Hill: Harris Border Visit To Focus On Curbing Fentanyl Flow, Boosting Resources For Border Agents
Vice President Harris plans to call for more resources for border patrol agents, on her visit to the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday, a senior campaign official said. She is also set to describe curbing the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. a “top priority” if she’s elected in November. (Gangitano, 9/27)

AP: US Health Authorities Need To Play A Larger Role In Cannabis Policy, A New Report Says
With more Americans using ever-stronger marijuana, a federal advisory panel is calling for a public health approach that’s a big departure from “Just Say No.” Thursday’s report proposes a health-focused strategy with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention taking a larger role in cannabis policy than ever before. “We’d like the federal government to step up to provide some leadership in this area,” said Dr. Steven Teutsch of the University of Southern California, who chaired the committee behind the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report. (Johnson, 9/26)

AP: Kentucky Awards The First Business License For Its Startup Medical Cannabis Program 
Kentucky awarded the first business license for its startup medical cannabis program on Thursday, selecting a laboratory that will be assigned to test the products before being offered to patients. Gov. Andy Beshear called it another step toward ensuring that Kentuckians suffering from a list of serious illnesses have access to safe products when the program launches at the start of 2025. (Schreiner, 9/26)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Advantage Overpayments Highlighted In OIG Reports
Three health insurance companies overcharged taxpayers by more than $140 million combined by exaggerating the severity of Medicare Advantage members' illnesses, according to reports the Health and Human Services Department Office of Inspector General published Thursday. Humana, HealthAssurance Pennsylvania — a unit of CVS Health subsidiary Aetna — and EmblemHealth deny the accusations and reject the OIG's recommendations that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recoup a portion of the alleged overpayments. (Early, 9/26)

The New York Times: Acadia Hospitals Reach $20 Million Settlement With Justice Dept. 
Acadia Healthcare, one of the country’s largest for-profit chains of psychiatric hospitals, has agreed to pay nearly $20 million to settle a federal investigation accusing the company of defrauding taxpayer-funded health insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid, the Justice Department said on Thursday. Prosecutors said that Acadia had held patients for longer than necessary and admitted people who didn’t need to be there. Once patients entered its facilities, the government said, Acadia failed to provide therapy and kept staffing dangerously low, leading to assaults and suicides. (Thomas and Silver-Greenberg, 9/26)

Modern Healthcare: Hospital Charity Care Part Of 2 Reports On Tax Breaks
Two recent reports attempt to put a number on the value of nonprofit hospitals' tax breaks. As nonprofit health systems and hospitals grow, a smaller number of organizations account for a larger share of total tax exemptions, including income, sales and property tax. The dynamic has reinvigorated a debate on nonprofit hospitals’ tax-exempt status among industry groups and policymakers, along with other stakeholders. (Kacik, 9/26)

AP: A Top Government Scientist Engaged In Research Misconduct, NIH Finds
A National Institutes of Health investigation has found research misconduct by one of its top neuroscientists, the agency said Thursday. In a statement, the NIH said the findings involve images in two studies co-authored by Dr. Eliezer Masliah, who in 2016 joined the agency’s National Institute on Aging as its neuroscience division director. NIH said images or “figure panels” that represented different experimental results were reused or relabeled in the publications. NIH said it would notify the two scientific journals of the findings “so that appropriate action can be taken.” (9/26)

Modern Healthcare: Ascension Cyberattack Prompts Revised Outlook From Moody's
Moody's Investors Services revised its outlook for Ascension to negative, from stable, due to the health system's cybersecurity incident and concerns over its ability to improve its financial position. However, the credit ratings agency said it affirmed its ratings for Ascension's senior bonds, subordinated bonds and commercial paper instruments. (DeSilva, 9/26)

Stat: Cassava Sciences And Former Execs, Facing SEC Charges For Misleading Claims, Agree To Fines
Facing charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission for misleading claims related to a controversial Alzheimer’s drug candidate, Cassava Sciences and two of the company’s former executives have agreed to pay fines, the company announced Thursday. The news comes on the same day that the SEC filed charges against Cassava, former CEO Remi Barbier, and former senior vice president of neuroscience Lindsay Burns. (Wosen, 9/26)

NBC News: New Prescription Drug Price Hikes Hit Black Patients Hard
Prices for prescription pharmaceutical drugs have skyrocketed, disproportionately making them harder for people of color to afford, a new report finds. The advocacy organization Patients for Affordable Drugs released a report this month showing that pharmaceutical companies increased prices on at least 1,000 prescription drugs so far this year, with about half of the price increases being above the rate of inflation. (Bellamy, 9/26)

USA Today: Lawsuit: Patients Say Ozempic, Mounjaro Caused Stomach Paralysis
Dana Filmore was terrified of taking Ozempic. Her fear of needles made the idea of injecting herself in the stomach with the drug, which can only be administered under the skin, seem near-impossible. But the antidiabetic pills Filmore was taking weren’t enough to bring her blood sugar down to a healthy level. Her doctor told her that Ozempic, a medication approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat Type 2 diabetes, could help. (Kim, 9/27)

CBS News: New Weight Loss Drugs Spark Eating Disorder Concerns In Teens
There is concern over the newest weight loss drugs sparking eating disorders in teens. Newer GLP-1 weight loss drugs, like Wegovy, have been approved for kids 12 and up and the number of teenagers taking these medications rose nearly sevenfold between 2020 and 2023. But a recent study found that nearly 80% of teens seeking treatment for obesity reported symptoms of depression and eating disorders. (Marshall, 9/26)

The Wall Street Journal: A U.S. Crackdown Targeted A Silicon Valley ‘Pill Mill.’ Secretly, It Had Already Moved To China. 
Federal authorities came down hard on Done Global, the California-based telehealth startup that prosecutors allege is an Adderall “pill mill” with a “predatory business model.” Its founder was arrested and most of its U.S. staff have quit, but it’s still pumping out prescriptions to its American clientele. Done’s big secret? Key operations were moved to China. (Winkler, 9/26)

CIDRAP: UN Calls For Action, Accountability On Antimicrobial Resistance 
World leaders today agreed to a wide-ranging set of commitments to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through a One Health approach. The commitments are laid out in a political declaration adopted today by 193 United Nations (UN) member states at the UN High-Level Meeting on AMR in New York. It's the second time in 8 years that the UN has addressed the rising threat of drug-resistant infections, which recent estimates suggest have killed more than a million people annually since 1990 and could claim more than 39 million lives by 2050. (Dall, 9/26)

Politico: Gavin Newsom Signs California Apology For Slavery And Discrimination
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed an official apology for harms caused by slavery and hundreds of years of discrimination against Black Californians. “Healing can only begin with an apology,” said Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, who authored the apology bill, in a statement. “The state of California acknowledges its past actions and is taking this bold step to correct them, recognizing its role in hindering the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness for Black individuals through racially motivated punitive laws.” (Holden, 9/26)

CBS News: Gov. Newsom Signs Law To Shed Light On State Storage Of Newborn DNA, Prompted By 10-Year CBS News California Investigation
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill (SB 1099) Wednesday prompted by a decade-long CBS News California investigation into California's newborn genetic biobank. We still won't know who is using your DNA for research, or what the research is for, but the California Department of Public Health must now reveal the number of newborn DNA samples that California is storing and the number of DNA samples that the state sells to researchers each year. (Watts, 9/26)

CBS News: Boar's Head Plants Nationwide Now Part Of Law Enforcement Investigation, USDA Says
Boar's Head processing plants nationwide are now part of an ongoing law enforcement investigation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture disclosed Thursday, in the wake of a deadly outbreak blamed on some of the company's now-recalled deli meats. At least 59 hospitalizations and 10 deaths have been linked to a listeria strain traced back to Boar's Head products distributed from a now-shuttered plant the company ran in Virginia. (Tin, 9/26)

Reuters: Alabama Executes Convicted Murderer In Second-Ever Nitrogen Gas Execution 
Alabama executed convicted murderer Alan Miller on Thursday in the second-ever nitrogen-asphyxiation execution since the state pioneered the method which it says is less painful than lethal injections but human rights experts say may amount to torture. The 65-year-old shook, pulled against restraints and gasped for breath for several minutes before dying, journalists who witnessed the execution said. Miller was convicted for the 1999 murders of three men, including two co-workers, in a shooting spree at two offices in Pelham, Alabama. The state botched an attempt to execute Miller by lethal injection in 2022. (Allen, 9/26)

The Washington Post: U.S. Reaches 1,600 Executions Since Death Penalty Was Reinstated
The cluster of executions this past week drew national scrutiny to the death penalty. All five of the cases raised varying issues that have long concerned abolition advocates, including executions that were allowed to proceed despite strong claims of innocence and methods that might be unconstitutionally cruel and unusual. (Bellware, 9/26)

NBC News: 1 In 3 Teens Can't Get Tampons Or Pads During Their Periods, Study Finds
A third of teens and young adults in the U.S. can’t afford or otherwise access menstrual products, according to new research from Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. The study found that “period poverty” — that is, insufficient access to menstrual hygiene products and related education — appears to affect young people equally, despite differences in race, ethnicity, neighborhood or whether they have health insurance. (Edwards, 9/27)

NPR: 3D Mammograms May Help Find More Advanced Breast Cancers, New Research Finds
Three-dimensional imaging outperformed older digital mammography at reducing anxiety-producing callbacks for more breast cancer testing, a new study shows. The research, published this month in the journal Radiology also suggests the newer technology might find more worrisome cancers earlier during routine screenings. Lead author Dr. Liane Philpotts, a Yale School of Medicine radiology professor, hailed 3D mammography, also known as digital breast tomosynthesis or DBT, as “a win, win, win.” (Cohen, 9/26)