First Edition: July 28, 2023

KFF Health News: His Anesthesia Provider Billed Medicare Late. He Got Sent To Collections For The $3,000 Tab. 
Thomas Greene had been experiencing pain in his right leg, a complication from diabetes, when doctors recommended a procedure to increase blood flow to the limb. Retired from a career as an electrician and HVAC technician, he had an outpatient procedure in April 2021 to alleviate his pain by dilating the clogged artery using a balloon snaked into his blood vessel. (Galewitz, 7/28)

KFF Health News: Bankrupt California Hospital Receives Lifeline From Adventist, Report Says 
Bankrupt Madera Community Hospital has received a last-minute lifeline from the hospital chain Adventist Health, which reached a preliminary agreement to take over the shuttered hospital and save it from liquidation, The Fresno Bee reported today. The deal comes as a federal bankruptcy court in Fresno weighs whether to force Madera to sell off its assets to satisfy creditors. The biggest creditor is Fresno’s St. Agnes Medical Center, which walked away from a deal to take over Madera and effectively forced it into bankruptcy. The hospital closed in January. (Weber, 7/27)

KFF Health News: In Wisconsin, Women’s Health Care Is Constricted By An 1849 Law. These Doctors Are Aghast
The three women sitting around a table at a busy lunch spot share a grim camaraderie. It’s been more than a year since an 1849 law came back into force to criminalize abortion in Wisconsin. Now these two OB-GYNs and a certified midwife find their medical training, skill, and acumen constrained by state politics. “We didn’t even know germs caused disease back then,” said Kristin Lyerly, an obstetrician-gynecologist who lives in Green Bay. (Varney, 7/28)

KFF Health News: Texan Activists Thirst For A National Heat Standard To Protect Outdoor Workers
Construction workers, airport baggage handlers, letter carriers, and other outdoor workers — many of whom traveled to Washington, D.C., from Texas — gathered at the steps of the Capitol on Tuesday. They were joined by labor organizers and lawmakers for what was billed as “a vigil and thirst strike” to protest a law Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently signed, which, as a downstream consequence, eliminates mandated water breaks for construction workers. The Republican governor signed House Bill 2127 — known as the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act but dubbed the “Death Star” by critics — the same month the state saw at least 13 heat-related deaths amid a scorching heat wave that’s on track to break records. (DeGuzman, 7/28)

KFF Health News: KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Another Try For Mental Health ‘Parity’ 
The Biden administration continued a bipartisan, decades-long effort to ensure that health insurance treats mental illnesses the same as other ailments, with a new set of regulations aimed at ensuring that services are actually available without years-long waits or excessive out-of-pocket costs. (7/27)

Axios: Biden Admin Launches Precision Cancer Surgery Effort
The Biden administration on Thursday launched an effort under its new science agency ARPA-H to help surgeons better remove cancerous tumors without damaging nerves, blood vessels and other healthy tissue. It's the first cancer program for the multi-billion-dollar Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health and is paired with the "cancer moonshot" as part of President Biden's "unity agenda" aimed at cutting the cancer death rate in half over 25 years. (Bettelheim, 7/27)

The Washington Post: Senate Passes Pentagon Policy Bill, Teeing Up Partisan Clash With House
In the weeks to come, the Democratic-led Senate and the Republican-controlled House must reconcile their sharpest differences — deciding, for example, whether the final bill will include hard-right provisions to roll back Pentagon policies on abortion access and gender-affirming care — or risk failing to pass a National Defense Authorization Act for the first time in more than six decades. (Hauslohner, 7/27)

The Hill: Biden: Tuberville Military Holds, GOP Silence Causing ‘Growing Cascade Of Damage And Disruption’ 
President Biden on Thursday said Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) hold on military nominations — as well the Senate Republicans who have refused to stop it — is causing “a growing cascade of damage and disruption.” ... “A growing cascade of damage and disruption all because one senator from Alabama—and 48 Republicans who refuse to stand up to him — to lift a blockade over a Pentagon policy offering servicemen and women, their families access to reproductive health care rights they deserve if they’re stationed in states that deny it,” the president said. (Gangitano, 7/27)

Stat: Key Republicans Nix Idea To Give FDA New Power To Regulate CBD
The Food and Drug Administration says it needs Congress to give it more power to regulate CBD. Two powerful congressional Republicans made clear Thursday that they aren’t willing to do that. (Florko, 7/27)

Stat: Mental Illness, Drug Addiction Must Be Tackled Together, Top U.S. Official Says
At a House oversight hearing Thursday, the Biden administration’s top drug policy official emphasized the need to address both mental illness and drug addiction simultaneously to reduce fentanyl deaths. According to a 2021 survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, over nine million adults in the U.S. have this co-occuring disorder. (Bajaj, 7/27)

NBC News: A New Bipartisan Bill Aims To Increase Access To Fentanyl Test Strips Amid Overdose Deaths
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is working to address the staggering number of opioid overdoses nationwide, as two-thirds of drug overdose deaths last year were caused by synthetic opioids like fentanyl, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Tsirkin, 7/27)

Roll Call: Health Deadlines Pile Up As Congress Adjourns For August
Lawmakers leave town at the end of this week with a lengthy to-do list, several health programs expiring Sept. 30 and very few work days left. ... Looming expirations include laws to fund the government and community health centers, reauthorize emergency response and pandemic preparedness programs and renew substance use and mental health aid. The bills are also lawmakers’ best chances of attaching other related policy riders, but the partisan divide on some could further threaten the bills’ odds of passing. (Clason, Cohen, Hellmann and Raman, 7/27)

Stat: Mitch McConnell Episode Has Important Public Health Takeaway
The handling of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s abrupt medical issue this week is raising concerns among medical experts that the event sent a potentially dangerous public-health message — that when someone experiences an episode with symptoms like McConnell’s, they can simply return to work as though nothing had happened. (Merelli, 7/27)

Stat: Experts Call On CMS To Ensure Sharing Of Alzheimer's Drug Data
More than two dozen prominent health policy experts are urging the Biden administration to ensure that patient data collected about a new Alzheimer’s treatment is accessible to the public, which they say is critical to understanding the risks and benefits of the medicine. (Silverman and Cohrs, 7/27)

Modern Healthcare: AHA, AMA, Insurers Urge CMS To Clarify Data Exchange Rules
Conflicting rules governing patient data exchanges during prior authorization reviews need to be reconciled to avoid confusion and higher costs, a coalition of healthcare industry groups wrote the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Wednesday. The American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, the health insurance association AHIP and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association urge CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to clear up a mismatch between two proposed rules published in December that mandate different data exchange standards. (Tepper, 7/27)

Politico: Abortion Fight Clouds AIDS-Fighting Program’s Future
Democrats’ efforts to reauthorize the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief are floundering in the face of GOP opposition. A bid by Foreign Relations Chair Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) to amend the defense policy bill that’s on the Senate floor this week to reauthorize PEPFAR for five years failed when Republican members objected. (Ollstein, 7/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Facebook Bowed To White House Pressure, Removed Covid Posts 
Facebook removed content related to Covid-19 in response to pressure from the Biden administration, including posts claiming the virus was man-made, according to internal company communications viewed by The Wall Street Journal. The emails show Facebook executives discussing how they managed users’ posts about the origins of a pandemic that the administration was seeking to control. “Can someone quickly remind me why we were removing—rather than demoting/labeling—claims that Covid is man made,” asked Nick Clegg, the company’s president of global affairs, in a July 2021 email to colleagues. (Tracy, 7/28)

NPR: Biden Announces New Actions To Help People Deal With Extreme Heat
President Biden on Thursday announced new actions aimed at protecting communities from extreme heat, and meeting with mayors from two cities grappling with high temperatures. Biden directed the Department of Labor to issue a hazard alert for dangerous conditions in industries like agriculture and construction, where workers face a greater risk of injury and death from extreme heat — and the department plans to boost inspections in those sectors, he said. (Sprunt, 7/27)

The New York Times: Millions In U.S. Under Heat Warnings As Temperatures Spike In The Northeast 
New York City’s power company asked customers to cut back on electricity use Thursday afternoon, and Philadelphia declared a health emergency as the dangerous heat that has scorched other parts of the country for more than a month spread to the nation’s most populous region. Soaring temperatures and a blanket of oppressive humidity prompted widespread warnings in New England and the Mid-Atlantic States. The heat will probably peak in the region on Friday, forecasters said, before easing over the weekend — a respite not seen in other, longer-suffering parts of the country. (Russell, Nolan and Jones, 7/27)

Philadelphia Inquirer: What It Really Means When They Say It Will Feel Like 105 In Philly. It’s Probably Not What You Think
Whether the “heat index” reaches 104 or hits 105 in Philly on a given day represents more than a degree of difference to the National Weather Service. But would your body know the difference between a “feels like” temperature of 104 vs. 105? And would your mind care? (Wood, 7/27)

The Washington Post: Extreme Heat And Pollution Can Double The Risk Of A Heart Attack
Exposure to extreme temperatures combined with suffocating air pollution can double the risk of dying from a heart attack, according to Chinese researchers who analyzed more than 200,000 cardiac deaths in China between 2015 and 2020. Experts, who already believe that prolonged heat waves, cold snaps and polluted air are bad for the heart, said the study, published Monday in the journal Circulation, further strengthens the relationship by connecting it to the risk of cardiac death. (Cimons, 7/27)

Politico: Humans ‘Never Experienced A World So Hot In Modern History,’ Scientists Say 
July is on track to become the world’s hottest month on record — with some scientists saying the planet may be experiencing its warmest period in about 120,000 years.  The finding, announced by the World Meteorological Organization and the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service on Thursday, comes as G20 climate ministers travel to India for talks on how to curb planet-warming emissions. (Weise, 7/27)

AP and Grist: In The US, A Hotter Climate Is Helping A Fungal Disease Spread Fast
In the years since the discovery, New York has become an epicenter for C. auris infections. Now, as the illness spreads across the U.S., a prominent theory for its sudden explosion has emerged: climate change. As temperatures rise, fungi can develop tolerance for warmer environments — including the bodies of humans and other mammals, whose naturally high temperatures typically keep most fungal pathogens at bay. Over time, humans may lose resistance to these climate-adapting fungi and become more vulnerable to infections. Some researchers think this is what is happening with C. auris.  (Fassett, 7/27)

AP: Cases Of Tick-Borne Illnesses Are On The Rise. Some Experts Believe Climate Change Is The Cause
In 2022, doctors recorded the first confirmed case of tick-borne encephalitis virus acquired in the United Kingdom. It began with a bike ride. A 50-year-old man was mountain biking in the North Yorkshire Moors, a national park in England known for its vast expanses of woodland and purple heather. At some point on his ride, at least one black-legged tick burrowed into his skin. Five days later, the mountain biker developed symptoms commonly associated with a viral infection — fatigue, muscle pain, fever. (Teirstein, 7/27)

The Washington Post: Tick-Linked Meat Allergy May Be Far More Common Than Previously Known
Up to 450,000 people in the United States may have developed a rare and potentially life-threatening tick-associated allergic condition that is triggered when eating red meat, according to federal health data released Thursday. Alpha-gal syndrome, sometimes known as red-meat allergy, is caused when a tick bites a person and injects a sugar molecule found in its saliva. (Sun, 7/27)

CIDRAP: CDC: Allergy Caused By Tick Bites On The Rise, But Clinicians In The Dark 
Despite growing incidence, in a survey of 1,500 US healthcare providers (HCPs), 42% said they had never heard of the condition. Among those who had heard of the condition, 35% said they were not confident in their ability to diagnose the allergy, and only 55 clinicians (6%) said they had treated 5 or more alpha-gal patients. (Soucheray, 7/27)

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID Numbers Are Ticking Up In California. Here’s What To Know
According to the state’s health department, as of Thursday, California reported an average of 858 COVID-related hospitalizations per day over 14 days, up by 7.4% since the beginning of the month, with an average of nine deaths per day over seven days, compared to five on July 1. (Vaziri, 7/27)

NBC News: CDC Detects Coronavirus, HIV, Hepatitis And Herpes At Unlicensed California Lab
Local and federal authorities spent months investigating a warehouse in Fresno County, California, that they suspect was home to an illegal, unlicensed laboratory full of lab mice, medical waste and hazardous materials. The Fresno County Public Health Department has been "evaluating and assessing the activities of an unlicensed laboratory" in Reedley, the health department's assistant director, Joe Prado, said in a statement Thursday. All of the biological agents were destroyed by July 7 following a legal abatement process by the agency. (Madani, 7/28)

The Washington Post: Doctors Who Put Lives At Risk With Covid Misinformation Rarely Punished
Across the country, doctors who jeopardized patients’ lives by pushing medical misinformation during the pandemic and its aftermath have faced few repercussions, according to a Washington Post analysis of disciplinary records from medical boards in all 50 states. (Sun, Weber and Godfrey, 7/26)

CIDRAP: Michigan Reports Fair-Linked Variant Flu Case As New Study Underscores Zoonotic Threat 
Michigan health officials yesterday reported a presumptive positive human variant H3 influenza case that involves an individual from Lapeer County who exhibited at the Oakland County Fair, which took place July 7 though16. In a statement, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) said a sample will be sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmation testing. In related zoonotic flu developments, researchers who tracked 2009 H1N1 flu virus transmission from people to pigs found hundreds of introductions since 2009, with at least 5 jumps back to people. (Schnirring, 7/27)

The New York Times: Blood Of Young Mice Extends Life In The Old
A team of scientists has extended the lives of old mice by connecting their blood vessels to young mice. The infusions of youthful blood led the older animals to live 6 to 9 percent longer, the study found, roughly equivalent to six extra years for an average human. While the study does not point to an anti-aging treatment for people, it does hint that the blood of young mice contains compounds that promote longevity, the researchers said. (Zimmer, 7/27)

Los Angeles Times: First Black Full-Face Transplant Recipient: 'I Share What I Look Like'
Robert Chelsea waited with his sister to be seated at a restaurant in Los Angeles. It was his first time going out to eat since he awoke from a six-month coma — and it would be years before he would receive a rare face transplant. “He looks like a zombie,” a little boy in the restaurant screamed as he ran behind his embarrassed father. Chelsea laughed it off; he had become used to people being afraid of him or turning their heads away because of his appearance. (Arredondo, 7/27)

Modern Healthcare: Sanford Health, Fairview Health Services Call Off Merger Proposal
Sanford Health and Fairview Health Services have dropped their plans to merge, marking the second failed combination attempt between the nonprofit health systems over the last decade. Health system executives said Thursday in news releases that they couldn’t continue the merger process without the support from certain stakeholders. (Kacik, 7/27)

Stat: HCA Says Smaller Share Of Spending Going To Labor
The chief executive of the country’s biggest hospital chain said Thursday that labor costs are now lower as a percent of revenue than they were before the pandemic. (Bannow, 7/27)

AP: Indiana Revokes Licenses For 3 Landmark Recovery Addiction Treatment Centers After 3 Deaths 
The state has revoked the licenses of a troubled northern Indiana addiction treatment center and two sister facilities, its parent company acknowledged Thursday. The Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction revoked the license for Praxis Landmark Recovery in Mishawaka and sister facilities in Bluffton and Carmel, the company said. (7/27)

The Colorado Sun: Abortions Surge In Colorado Amid 500% Increase In Texas Patients
Colorado provided more abortions last year than any year in almost four decades, nearing the peak set in the mid-1980s before more effective forms of birth control became widely available. The 22% increase in the number of abortions that occurred in Colorado from 2021 to 2022 was due to the surge in patients from other states where terminating a pregnancy was severely restricted. Colorado saw a 500% increase in patients from Texas, which in 2021 banned abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. Abortions sought by people from Colorado increased slightly less than 2%. (Ingold and Brown, 7/27)

AP: Misleading Clients On Abortion Could Cost Illinois Pregnancy Centers
Illinois crisis pregnancy centers, which often pop up near abortion facilities to offer information about alternatives, could face penalties if they disseminate misleading or untruthful information. The move is another Democratic effort to insulate the state’s virtually unfettered access to abortion, even as neighboring states restrict it. (O'Connor, 7/27)

Politico: CDC Investigators Find More TB Infections Linked To Bone Graft Materials
Three more patients have tested positive for tuberculosis linked to bone graft materials from Aziyo Biologics, the CDC said Wednesday, adding to the two cases previously identified by health officials, one of whom has died. There are also at least 36 patients who underwent a surgical or dental procedure using the suspected contaminated materials, CDC said, and they are all being treated as if they have tuberculosis because of the risk to their health of waiting for confirmatory testing. (Ollstein and Garner, 7/26)

AP: Doctor Who Led COVID-19 Response For Navajo Nation In Arizona To Become Maine CDC Director 
A doctor who led the successful COVID-19 response in the Navajo Nation in Arizona is returning to Maine to serve as director of the state Center for Disease Control and Prevention, officials said Thursday. Dr. Puthiery Va earned her medical degree at the University of New England in Maine. She has extensive experience in primary clinical care, epidemiology and public health emergency response, making her well-equipped to deal with Maine’s public health challenges, said Jeanne Lambrew, commissioner of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. (7/27)

The Washington Post: Bronny James Discharged From Hospital After Cardiac Arrest
Bronny James, the 18-year-old son of NBA star LeBron James, was discharged from a Los Angeles hospital Thursday after he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest during a basketball practice at the University of Southern California on Monday. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center said in a statement that Bronny James was home resting with his family following the incident, which occurred at USC’s Galen Center. ... Merije Chukumerije, a cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai, said in Thursday’s statement that James was “fully conscious, neurologically intact and stable” when he arrived at the hospital and had received “swift and effective” treatment from USC’s medical personnel. (Golliver, 7/27)