First Edition: January 10, 2023

KHN: Hospitals’ Use Of Volunteer Staff Runs Risk Of Skirting Labor Laws, Experts Say
Most of the 30 volunteers who work at the 130-bed, for-profit East Cooper Medical Center spend their days assisting surgical patients — the scope of their duties extending far beyond those of candy stripers, baby cuddlers, and gift shop clerks. (Sausser, 1/10)

KHN: Behavioral Telehealth Loses Momentum Without A Regulatory Boost
Controlled substances became a little less controlled during the pandemic. That benefited both patients (for their health) and telehealth startups (to make money). (Tahir, 1/10)

Politico: Biden Team Preps For End To Covid's Public Health Emergency — After One More Extension
When the Biden administration renews the Covid public health emergency this week, it will mark the 11th time since the coronavirus arrived that the government declared its presence a national crisis. It may also be the last. (Cancryn, 1/10)

The Washington Post: House GOP To Launch Probe On Coronavirus Origin And Federal Response
House Republicans on Monday commissioned a special investigative panel focused on the coronavirus pandemic, hoping to leverage their new, powerful majority to press scientists and federal officials about the origin of the public health crisis and the government’s response to it. (Romm, 1/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Moderna Considers Price Of $110-$130 For Covid-19 Vaccine
Moderna Inc. said it is considering pricing its Covid-19 vaccine in a range of $110 to $130 per dose in the U.S. when it shifts from government contracting to commercial distribution of the shots. The range is similar to the one Pfizer Inc. said in October it was considering for the Covid-19 vaccine it developed with BioNTech SE. (Loftus, 1/9)

Reuters: Ocugen-Bharat Biotech COVID Vaccine Meets Main Goals In U.S. Trial
Ocugen Inc (OCGN.O) said on Monday the COVID-19 vaccine developed by its Indian partner Bharat Biotech International Ltd met the main goals of a trial in the United States. The vaccine, sold under brand name Covaxin, showed an immune response in individuals who had not received a COVID vaccine previously as well as those vaccinated with mRNA vaccines by Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and Moderna Inc (MRNA.O), meeting its main goals, Ocugen said. (1/9)

Reuters: Omicron COVID Booster Cuts Hospitalization In Over 65s, Israeli Study Finds
The Omicron-adapted COVID-19 vaccine booster developed by Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE) sharply reduced hospitalizations among older patients, Israeli researchers said on Monday, in some of the first evidence of the jab's real-world effectiveness. The study by researchers from healthcare provider Clalit, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Sapir College has not yet been peer reviewed. (1/9)

The Washington Post: China’s Crematoriums In Demand As Covid Surges, Satellite Images Show
A Washington Post examination of satellite imagery, firsthand videos posted to social media and witness accounts suggests that China’s covid death toll is far higher than the government’s tally, undermining Beijing’s claim that the outbreak remains under control. (Oakford, Kuo, Chiang, Pipier and Li, 1/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Earth’s Ozone Layer Recovers As Airborne Chemicals Decline
In a report released Monday by the United Nations Environment Program and the World Meteorological Organization, researchers found a significant thickening of the ozone layer, a region of the atmosphere from 9 to 18 miles high that absorbs ultraviolet rays and prevents them from reaching the Earth’s surface. (Niiler, 1/9)

The Washington Post: The Ozone Layer’s Recovery Is Good News For Climate Change, Too
As a result, the ozone layer — which blocks ultraviolet sunlight from reaching Earth’s surface — continues to slowly thicken. Restoring it is key for human health, food security and the planet. UV-B radiation causes cancer and eye damage in humans. It also damages plants, inhibiting their growth and curbing their ability to store planet-warming carbon dioxide. (Dance, 1/9)

Roll Call: For New GOP House Majority, A Focus On Abortion Messaging
The House GOP majority plans to vote this week on three measures aimed at emphasizing its opposition to abortion, including a rules package that will fast-track consideration of legislation permanently banning federal funding of abortion. (Raman, 1/9)

AP: Birth Control Ruling To See Fresh Scrutiny At Texas Capitol
Starting Tuesday, access to reproductive healthcare is likely to command fresh scrutiny before the Republican-controlled Texas Capitol, where new restrictions are on the table in the first session since a stringent statewide abortion ban took effect. Texas’ abortion ban is one of the nation’s strictest, allowing no exceptions in cases of rape or incest, and Republican leaders have been non-committal about adding carveouts over the next five months. (Coronado, 1/10)

The 19th: Planned Parenthood Asks Judge To Rule In Texas Fraud Lawsuit
Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Texas Planned Parenthood affiliates have asked a judge for a ruling in their favor in a lawsuit brought by the state of Texas that accused Planned Parenthood of Medicaid fraud. (Gerson, 1/9)

The Washington Post: What To Know About Getting Abortion Pills At CVS, Walgreens And Your Local Pharmacy
When will I be able to get abortion pills from my local pharmacy? That is not yet clear. The online telemedicine platform GoodRx is already listing prices for mifepristone, suggesting to some experts that pharmacies in states where abortion is legal have begun preparing to dispense the drug. Prices start at just over $30, with an average retail price of close to $75. (Stead Sellers, 1/9)

Stat: The Republicans Leading Health Policy In The House
Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri will helm the powerful House Ways and Means Committee this Congress, as Republicans embark on a promised era of slashed spending and scrutiny of the pandemic response. (Owermohle, 1/9)

Los Angeles Times: Health Chair To Prioritize Mental Health, Homelessness
State Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton), who was instrumental in passing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature mental health care legislation last year, has been appointed to lead the Senate’s influential health committee — a change that promises a more urgent focus on expanding mental health services and moving homeless people into housing and treatment. Eggman, a licensed social worker, co-authored the novel law that allows families, clinicians, first responders and others to petition a judge to mandate government-funded treatment and services for people whose lives have been derailed by untreated psychotic disorders and substance use. (Bluth, 1/8)

The Hill: New Equality Caucus Chair Says Group Will Focus On Combating Bills From  ‘Extremist Anti-LGBTQI+ Politicians’
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) will lead the Congressional Equality Caucus — formerly known as the LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus — in the 118th Congress, the group announced Monday. He will succeed outgoing Chairman Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), who will continue to serve as one of the caucus’s six openly LGBTQ co-chairs. (Migdon, 1/9)

Reuters: U.S. Supreme Court Rebuffs Pfizer Plan To Help Patients Pay For Heart Medication
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away Pfizer Inc's (PFE.N) bid to revive its plan to cover out-of-pocket expenses of Medicare patients for drugs costing $225,000 a year to treat a rare heart condition after federal officials found that the drugmaker's arrangement could amount to illegal kickbacks. (Chung, 1/9)

Stat: FDA Head Califf: Aduhelm Approval Investigation Held "No Surprises"
U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner Robert Califf doesn’t disagree with the basic findings of a congressional investigation into the agency’s role in the controversial approval of Aduhelm, Biogen’s first Alzheimer’s drug. He just wishes the report’s tone had been different. (Wosen, 1/9)

Reuters: U.S. Appeals Court Won't Revive Zofran Birth Defect Cases Against GSK
A federal appeals court on Monday declined to revive hundreds of lawsuits by women who claim that GlaxoSmithKline Plc failed to warn them that taking the anti-nausea drug Zofran during pregnancy could cause birth defects. (Raymond, 1/10)

Bloomberg: US Safety Agency To Consider Ban On Gas Stoves Amid Health Fears 
A federal agency says a ban on gas stoves is on the table amid rising concern about harmful indoor air pollutants emitted by the appliances. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission plans to take action to address the pollution, which can cause health and respiratory problems. (Natter, 1/9)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Increasingly Halting Human Trials As Companies Pursue Risky, Cutting-Edge Drugs
The Food and Drug Administration is pressing pause on drug-company testing of experimental medicines more often, a side effect of the industry’s move into promising but less-proven technologies. (Essley Whyte, 1/10)

Reuters: Teva Says Opioids Settlement To Move Forward In U.S.
Israeli drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TEVA.TA) said there was sufficient participation from U.S. states and local authorities to move forward with its nationwide settlement agreement to resolve opioid-related claims and litigation. (1/9)

Politico: Patient Portals’ Digital Divide
Black and Hispanic patients were less likely than white patients to be offered and use online patient portals, a new study from HHS’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT found. The disparities persisted even when adjusting for age, education and other factors in the data for 2019 and 2020. (Leonard, Schumaker and Reader, 1/9)

Reuters: U.S. Says Traffic Deaths Fell Slightly In First Nine Months Of 2022
U.S. traffic deaths fell 0.2% in the first nine months of 2022, reversing a sharp rise in the two prior pandemic years when speeding and other unsafe behavior increased, regulators said on Monday. (Shepardson, 1/9)

PBS NewsHour: CDC Warns Of Rising Strep Throat Infections Among Children 
The CDC is investigating a rise in severe cases of strep throat among kids in the U.S. Several children’s hospitals across the country have reported an increase in strep cases since November, including in Colorado where two children died. (1/9)

AP: Callers Keep Flooding 988 Mental Health, Suicide Helpline
When Jamieson Brill answers a crisis call from a Spanish speaker on the newly launched national 988 mental health helpline, he rarely mentions the word suicide, or “suicidio.” Brill, whose family hails from Puerto Rico, knows that just discussing the term in some Spanish-speaking cultures is so frowned upon that many callers are too scared to even admit that they’re calling for themselves. (Seitz, 1710)

CIDRAP: Mental Telehealth Use Surged As In-Person Care Dropped Amid COVID
The expansion of mental health telemedicine more than offset the drop in in-person mental health services among more than 5.1 million US adults for some diagnoses during the first year of the pandemic, finds a study published late last week in JAMA Health Forum. (Van Beusekom, 1/9)

Stat: Officials Fear Mpox Cases Will Go Undetected And Unreported 
In the transmission heyday of the international mpox outbreak early last summer, it appeared that containment might not be possible. In recent months, though, the rate of growth of new cases has slowed considerably in a number of countries. In the United States, daily case reports have been in the single digits since mid-December; the U.K. hasn’t reported a new case since before Christmas. (Branswell, 1/10)

The Hill: Children Living Near Airports May Be Exposed To High Levels Of Lead: Study
Children who live near airports may be unknowingly exposed to dangerous concentrations of lead, a new study finds. The decade-long investigation, published Tuesday in PNAS Nexus, determined that kids who lived adjacent to the Reid-Hillview Airport in Santa Clara County, Calif., had elevated lead levels in their blood. (Udasin, 1/10)

The New York Times: A.I. Turns Its Artistry To Creating New Human Proteins
David Baker, the director of the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington, has been working to build artisanal proteins for more than 30 years. By 2017, he and his team had shown this was possible. But they did not anticipate how the rise of new A.I. technologies would suddenly accelerate this work, shrinking the time needed to generate new blueprints from years down to weeks. (Metz, 1/9)

Politico: Brain-Computer Interface Company Releases First Safety Trial Data
Synchron, a New York City company that hopes to enable paralyzed patients to use computers without the use of their hands, has just published results of its first in-human safety trial in JAMA Neurology. The study sought to answer two questions: Is inserting a brain-computer interface into a vein in the brain safe and will it allow paralyzed patients to use a computer. The company said the answer to both is yes. (Reader, 1/9)

Stat: Arrowhead RNA Treatment Improves Liver Scarring In Patients
An experimental RNA treatment reduced liver scarring in half of patients with an inherited disease called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, or AATD, according to results from a mid-stage clinical trial reported Monday by its maker Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals. The improvement in liver fibrosis demonstrated by the treatment, called fazirsiran, was generally in line with expectations based on previous data. However, 38% of patients treated with a placebo also showed the same liver-fibrosis improvement — a response that was higher than expected, making it more difficult to discern fazirsiran’s benefit. (Feuerstein, 1/9)

CNN: Here's How To Eat To Live Longer, New Study Says
You can reduce your risk of an early death for any reason by nearly 20%, just by eating more foods from your choice of four healthy eating patterns, according to a new study. People who more carefully followed any of the healthy eating patterns — which all share a focus on consuming more whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes — were also less likely to die from cancer, cardiovascular illness, and respiratory and neurodegenerative disease. (LaMotte, 1/9)

CIDRAP: WOAH Report Highlights Continued Use Of Antibiotics For Animal Growth
A report today from the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) indicates that farmers in many countries are still using medically important antibiotics for growth promotion. (Dall, 1/9)

CIDRAP: Study Finds No Tie Between COVID Vaccine, Infection And Newborn Anomalies
A Scottish study finds no link between COVID-19 vaccination or infection of pregnant women and major congenital anomalies in their babies. The nationwide study, led by University of Edinburgh and Public Health Scotland researchers, was published late last week in Nature Communications. (Van Beusekom, 1/9)

CBS News: COVID-19 Vaccines: From Nasal Drops To A Redesign, What 2023 Could Have In Store 
Several vaccine companies say they are expecting breakthroughs as early as this year as they pursue new ways to protect people against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. (Tin, 1/9)

Crain's New York Business: More Than 7,000 Nurses Strike At Montefiore And Mount Sinai Hospital
On Monday morning more than 7,000 nurses in the New York State Nurses Association at Montefiore Medical Center and Mount Sinai Hospital went on strike after they failed to reach contract renewal agreements with their hospitals following 10-day strike notices issued at the end of last year. (Neber, 1/9)

Politico: Negotiations Resume With New York City Nurses Union As Thousands Go On Strike
Negotiations restarted Monday afternoon between the New York Nurses Association and Montefiore Medical Center several hours after more than 7,000 of the union’s nurses kicked off a strike at three Montefiore hospital campuses and the Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. A Mount Sinai spokesperson, meanwhile, said hospital management has not returned to the bargaining table since union negotiators walked out on them about 1 a.m. Monday. (Kaufman, 1/9)

Stat: Study Finds Heavier Reliance On Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants After Private Equity Takeovers
A new study suggests physician practices acquired by private equity rely more heavily on advanced practice providers like nurse practitioners and physician assistants and experience higher churn compared with their non-private equity owned peers. (Bannow, 1/9)

Reuters: Eisai, Biogen's Alzheimer's Drug Price Should Not Dent Demand, Analysts Say
The $26,500-per-year price tag for Eisai Co Ltd and Biogen Inc's newly approved Alzheimer's disease drug is slightly above expectations, but should not dent demand for the promising therapy, Wall Street analysts said. The U.S. health regulator on Friday granted accelerated approval to the drug, Leqembi, and the decision was hailed by patient groups. (1/9)

Reuters: Qiagen Acquires DNA-Biometrics Firm Verogen In $150 Mln Deal
Life sciences firm Qiagen said on Monday it has acquired DNA-biometrics firm Verogen in a $150-million cash deal, strengthening its forensics portfolio. The deal builds on the companies' existing partnership from 2021, under which Qiagen has the rights to distribute some of Verogen's products such as its next-generation gene sequencing panels and genetic code analyzing technology GEDmatch. (1/9)

Politico: City Labor Officials Defended Medicare Advantage As Council Members Cast Doubts At Hearing
City labor officials defended legislation that would charge municipal retirees who don’t opt into the Medicare Advantage plan for health insurance, as Council members questioned the move at a hearing Monday. (Touré, 1/9)

Orange County Register: Why Do Some In Orange County Die From COVID-19 But Others Don’t?
Since Jan. 20, 2020, when health officials reported the first local fatality from COVID-19 – involving a man who had just come back from Wuhan, China – the still-mysterious and evolving disease has gone on to kill more than 7,700 people in Orange County, making it the most lethal health event of the past century. But according to three years of local health data, COVID-19 has been something else as well – an unequal-opportunity killer. (Mouchard, 1/8)

Politico: Connecticut Launches Marijuana Sales
Nine medical marijuana dispensaries in Connecticut have been cleared to open their doors to customers over 21 on Tuesday. The openings mark the latest adult-use cannabis launch in the Northeast: New Jersey, Vermont, Rhode Island and New York all started recreational weed sales last year. (Zhang, 1/9)

Stat: South Dakota Plans Ramp Up Of Hepatitis C Treatment In Prison
The head of South Dakota prisons is pledging to dramatically overhaul how the system treats hepatitis C in the coming year. South Dakota’s new hepatitis C policy for incarcerated people, which is not yet final or public, will treat all people with hepatitis C for the virus, regardless of the stage of their infection, Corrections Secretary Kellie Wasko told STAT in an interview Monday. The policy will also mandate that all people being booked into prison be tested for the virus, she added. (Florko, 1/9)