First Edition: July 7, 2023

KFF Health News: ‘It Was A Bloodbath’: Rare Dialysis Complication Can Kill, And More Could Be Done To Stop It 
Nieltje Gedney was half-asleep in her West Virginia home, watching murder mysteries over the hum of a bedside hemodialysis machine, when she felt something warm and wet in her armpit. A needle inserted into her arm had fallen loose, breaking a circuit that the machine used to clean her blood. It was still pumping, drawing and filtering blood as designed, but the blood was now spilling into her bed instead of returning to her body. (Kelman, 7/7)

KFF Health News: Idaho Drops Panel Investigating Pregnancy-Related Deaths As US Maternal Mortality Surges 
On July 1, Idaho became the only state without a legal requirement or specialized committee to review maternal deaths related to pregnancy. The change comes after state lawmakers, in the midst of a national upsurge in maternal deaths, decided not to extend a sunset date for the panel set in 2019, when they established the state’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee, or MMRC. (Schachar, 7/7)

KFF Health News: California Promises Better Care For Thousands Of Inmates As They Leave Prison 
California has agreed to improve health care for newly released prison inmates who are disabled, including through a series of measures that advocates say will help almost everyone trying to make the transition from incarceration. Attorneys representing inmates say proper care during the transition from prison has long been lacking and can lead to homelessness. A recent study found that 1 in 5 Californians experiencing homelessness came from an institution such as prison or jail. (Thompson, 7/7)

KFF Health News: Medi-Cal’s Fragmented System Can Make Moving A Nightmare 
When Lloyd Tennison moved from Walnut Creek to Stockton last year, he assumed his coverage under Medi-Cal, California’s safety-net health insurance program, would be transferred seamlessly. About three weeks before his May move, Tennison called the agency that administers Medi-Cal in Contra Costa County, where Walnut Creek is located, to inform them he’d be moving to San Joaquin County. (Wolfson, 7/7)

AP: Biden Launches New Push To Limit Health Care Costs, Hoping To Show He Can Save Money For Families 
President Joe Biden on Friday plans to roll out a new set of initiatives to reduce health care costs: a crackdown on scam insurance plans, new guidance to prevent surprise medical bills and an effort to reduce medical debt tied to credit cards. Biden’s remarks would build on previous initiatives to limit health care costs, with the Department of Health and Human Services releasing new estimates showing 18.7 million older adults and other Medicare beneficiaries will save an estimated $400 per year in prescription drug costs in 2025 because of the president placing a cap on out-of-pocket spending as part of last year’s Inflation Reduction Act. (Boak, 7/7)

CNN: Biden Wants To Roll Back Trump's Expansion Of Short-Term Health Insurance Plans
The proposal would largely reverse former President Donald Trump’s expansion of short-term plans in 2018, which extended the duration of the policies to just under a year and allowed them to be renewed for a total of up to 36 months. The move was one of many actions the prior administration took to chip away at the Affordable Care Act. (Luhby, 7/7)

Axios: Home Health Group Sues CMS Over Payment Cuts
The home health industry is suing the Biden administration over hundreds of millions of dollars in planned Medicare cuts that it says were improperly calculated and could imperil in-home services nationwide. The National Association of Home Care and Hospice suit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, escalates tensions between home health agencies and the administration over the way providers are paid. (Dreher and Goldman, 7/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden’s Pick For U.S. Health-Research Chief Stalled By Drug-Costs Fight
President Biden’s choice to run the U.S. government’s medical research is at a standstill because of an impasse with Sen. Bernie Sanders over high drug costs. Sanders, the Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats and chairs the Senate’s health committee, is refusing to hold a key hearing on Dr. Monica Bertagnolli’s nomination as National Institutes of Health director until the White House has spelled out a plan to cut drug prices, a spokesman said. (Whyte, 7/6)

The New York Times: FDA Makes Alzheimer’s Drug Leqembi Widely Accessible 
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday gave full approval to the Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi, and Medicare said it would cover much of its high cost, laying the foundation for widespread use of a medication that can modestly slow cognitive decline in the early stages of the disease but also carries significant safety risks. The F.D.A.’s decision marks the first time in two decades that a drug for Alzheimer’s has received full approval, meaning that the agency concluded there is solid evidence of potential benefit. But the agency also added a so-called black-box warning — the most urgent level — on the drug’s label, stating that in rare cases the drug can cause “serious and life-threatening events” and that there have been cases of brain bleeding, “some of which have been fatal.” (Belluck, 7/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: What The Newly Approved Alzheimer’s Drug Leqembi Means For Patients
To be eligible for Leqembi, someone must be in the early stages of the disease, marked by mild cognitive impairment and a buildup of the amyloid protein in the brain – the latter of which can be determined with a PET scan or spinal fluid test. The amyloid protein, along with the tau protein, are found in clumps and tangles in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s; Leqembi reduces amyloid buildup. An estimated 6 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s, and Leqembi could be an option for roughly 250,000 to 500,000 of them, said Dr. Gil Rabinovici, director of UCSF Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. (Ho, 7/6)

Reuters: Explainer: Who Is Eligible For The New FDA-Approved Alzheimer's Drug? 
The FDA recommends on Leqembi's label that doctors conduct testing for a gene called APOE4 that is associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer's as well as brain swelling associated with amyloid-lowering drugs. The FDA included a "boxed warning" that flags the risk of brain swelling on the label. The agency does not require APOE4 genetic testing and doctors and patients will need to weigh the risk of brain swelling against the drug's potential benefits. (Beasley, 7/6)

The New York Times: Heat Records Are Broken Around the Globe as Earth Warms, Fast
The past three days were quite likely the hottest in Earth’s modern history, scientists said on Thursday, as an astonishing surge of heat across the globe continued to shatter temperature records from North America to Antarctica. The spike comes as forecasters warn that the Earth could be entering a multiyear period of exceptional warmth driven by two main factors: continued emissions of heat-trapping gases, mainly caused by humans burning oil, gas and coal; and the return of El Niño, a cyclical weather pattern. (Plumer and Shao, 7/6)

The Washington Post: How Our Brain Tries To Beat The Heat — And Why Heatstroke Is Dangerous
Our brain works hard to coordinate and regulate our body’s temperature. But rising temperatures and humidity make us increasingly susceptible to heatstroke, especially during exercise. “When you overheat your body, you can basically cook your cells, essentially, and that will cause cell death and cell dysfunction,” said Rebecca Stearns, the chief operating officer of the Korey Stringer Institute, a nonprofit housed at the University of Connecticut dedicated to studying and preventing heatstroke in athletes. (Sima, 7/6)

The Washington Post: More Than 100 Migrants Died Of Heat Near U.S.-Mexico Border This Year
More than 100 migrants have died from heat this year along the U.S.-Mexico border as the Southwest continues to swelter through record-breaking heat. There were 13 deaths and 226 rescues for dehydration and other heat-related causes last week alone, U.S. Border Patrol chief Jason Owens said Wednesday on Twitter. (Vinall, 7/7)

Bloomberg: Canada’s Record Wildfire Season Set To Worsen As Heat Builds
The Canada fire season, which normally runs from April to September, is barely half over but the country has already surpassed the modern historical record for area burned, with an estimated 8.8 million hectares scorched so far, an area larger than South Carolina. That’s well above the 10-year average of about 805,000 hectares. The previous record of 7.6 million hectares was set in 1989. (Bochove, 7/6)

The New York Times: Abortion Drugs May Be Safe Even After The First Trimester, Study Suggests 
An overwhelming majority of women were able to end unwanted pregnancies with abortion medications on their own and without additional medical procedures, even if they were well beyond the first trimester, according to a report published on Thursday. The study was based on the experiences of 264 women who were nine to 16 weeks pregnant in Argentina, Nigeria and an unnamed country in Southeast Asia where abortion is illegal. Almost half of the women took only one drug, misoprostol, instead of the standard two-drug regimen, mifepristone and misoprostol. (Rabin, 7/6)

AP: Maine Governor Expected To Sign Bill Easing Restrictions On Abortions Later In Pregnancy
The Maine Legislature gave final approval Thursday to a proposal to expand access to abortions later in pregnancy, sending the bill to the governor for her signature. Once signed into law by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, as expected, Maine will have one of the least restrictive abortion laws in the country. (Sharp, 7/6)

The 19th: States Push To End Diaper Taxes As Abortion Rights Disappear
Over the past 10 years, distribution at Doug Adair’s Nashville diaper bank has swelled from a couple of thousand diapers a year to nearly 3 million. Running the bank, Adair has learned and relearned the critical role diaper access plays for families. But it hasn’t always felt like most other people knew that. “I think more about diapers than anybody my age that is not wearing them — yet,” said Adair, a 68-year-old former mortgage banker turned diaper banker who got into this line of work because, in his words, he asked the second most expensive question he has ever asked in his life: “What can I do to help?” (Carrazana, 7/6)

The Boston Globe: COVID-19 Waste Water Numbers Reach Lowest Levels In Two Years
The amount of coronavirus detected in Eastern Massachusetts waste water has dropped to its lowest level in nearly two years, according to data from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. Waste water data has emerged as an important way to keep tabs on the pandemic as fewer people test themselves for COVID-19 and even fewer results get reported to public health departments. (Obregón Dominguez, 7/6)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Hospital Markers Up In A Few Reporting Countries 
In its variant proportion update, the WHO said Omicron XBB.1.5 levels continue to decline steadily, falling from 30.1% to 16.3% of sequences over the past month. Meanwhile, XBB.1.16 levels continue to rise, up from 18.1% to 21.2% over the reporting period. The WHO said proportions vary by region, with XBB.1.5 dominant in the Americas and XBB.1.16 most common in Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Western Pacific. Of the other subvariants that the WHO monitors, only three increased: XBB, XBB.1.9.2, and XBB.2.3. (Schnirring, 7/6)

CIDRAP: Researchers Create Test To Detect SARS-CoV-2 In Any Animal Species 
A team led by University of Illinois researchers has developed a test they say can detect SARS-CoV-2 in any species of wild or domesticated animal. Their research, published today in mSphere, details the development and validation of their monoclonal antibody (mAb)-based blocking enzyme-linked immunoassay (bELISA) test, which the study authors say is a useful tool for identifying potential new animal reservoirs to prevent future coronavirus outbreaks. (Van Beusekom, 7/6)

Los Angeles Times: California High Court: Employers Not Responsible For COVID Spread To Workers' Families
Employers in California are not legally responsible for preventing the spread of COVID-19 from their employees to the employees’ family members, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday. Workers’ compensation laws in the state do not preclude such claims, the court found. But companies also cannot be held legally responsible for preventing such infections, it said, given the tremendous burden such a requirement would place — not just on the companies, but on the courts and on society as a whole. (Rector, 7/6)

CIDRAP: Report: No Evidence Bleach Consumed To Cure COVID-19 During Pandemic 
A new report dispels accounts that Americans drank bleach to cure or prevent COVID-19, a practice even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned against during the early months of the pandemic. The report was published yesterday in PLOS One. (Soucheray, 7/6)

Miami Herald: Florida Hospitals Will Now Ask About Your Immigration Status. What To Know, How To Answer 
Hospitals ask patients a lot of personal questions. Medical history? Medications? Preexisting conditions? Smoke, drink or do drugs? As of Saturday, you’ll have one more question to answer: What’s your immigration status? Florida hospitals that accept Medicaid will be required to query patients about that, although a person can decline to answer. The measure is just one of many in a new bill, SB 1718, approved by the Florida Legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in May to crack down on the flow of illegal immigration into the state. (Marchante, 7/1)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Penn Medicine Closed Its Only Urgent Care Center In Philadelphia
The University of Pennsylvania Health System last week closed its urgent care center in South Philadelphia, citing increased use of telemedicine by patients who might otherwise go to an urgent-care center for their ailment. Penn said it will open a cardiology practice in the urgent care’s space at Constitution Health Plaza, at the intersection of South Broad Street and Passyunk Avenue. The building is the site of the former St. Agnes Hospital, which closed in 2004. (Brubaker, 7/6)

Axios: Denver Hospital Opens Youth Detox Center 
Denver Health is providing treatment for young people with drug addictions through its new adolescent detoxification facility — the first licensed center in the state. The facility was created in response to a spike in opioid use among teenagers, with Dr. Kristina Foreman of Denver Health telling us more people under 21 are seeking treatment. (Hernandez, 7/6)

The Colorado Sun: Hundreds Left In Jails As Colorado’s State Mental Hospitals Can’t Find Enough Nurses
First, state officials offered $7,000 signing bonuses for nurses willing to work in Colorado’s two state mental hospitals. No one seemed to care. It wasn’t much of a bonus, at least in terms of the competition across the state, which is facing a shortage of an estimated 10,000 nurses. Then the Colorado Department of Human Services bumped its signing bonuses to $14,000, on top of 5% raises this year and temporary 8% raises for next year for nurses at the mental hospitals in Pueblo and at Fort Logan in Denver. Now, the state is making some progress on the severe staffing shortage that has plagued the hospitals since the coronavirus pandemic hit Colorado and huge numbers of nurses quit their jobs. (Brown, 7/6)

Stat: EMT Emergency Lights And Sirens May Do More Harm Than Good
Jonathan Studnek knows some people imagine that driving an ambulance at high speed with lights flashing and sirens wailing — racing through messily parted traffic to the scene of a crisis — is the best part of being an emergency medic. For him, that couldn’t be further from the truth. “If you’ve been in the industry for any length, you know innately: When you’re in the front of an ambulance and the lights are on, that’s the most dangerous situation for you,” said Studnek, deputy director of Mecklenburg EMS Agency, which serves the Charlotte, N.C., region. “It’s not fun. It’s risky.” (Renault, 7/7)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Advantage Quality Bonus Program Ineffective: Urban Institute
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ quality bonus program is ineffective in many cases, overpays Medicare Advantage organizations and needs reform, according to the Urban Institute. The bonus program, established by the Affordable Care Act in 2010, offers 5% bonus payments to Medicare Advantage contracts with ratings of four stars or higher. In 2022, quality bonus program payments totaled $10 billion, up from $3 billion in 2015. The institute's report noted that combined, United Healthcare and Humana received $4.7 billion in bonuses last year. (Devereaux, 7/6)

Stat: Generic Group Sues Minnesota Over A Drug Pricing Transparency Law
The trade group for generic drug companies has filed a lawsuit alleging a Minnesota law that is designed to provide transparency into prescription drug pricing is unconstitutional, the latest effort to push back against states attempting to lower the cost of medicines. (Silverman, 7/6)

Reuters: Wegovy Maker Novo Nordisk Sues Florida Pharmacies Over Copycat Drugs
Novo Nordisk on Thursday accused three Florida pharmacies of illegally selling products claiming to contain semaglutide, the active ingredient in the Danish drugmaker's weight loss and diabetes drugs Wegovy, Ozempic and Rybelsus. In three separate lawsuits in Florida federal court, Novo Nordisk sought orders barring TruLife Pharmacy, Brooksville Pharmaceuticals and WellHealth Inc from selling the products, and seeking unspecified money damages. The three defendants are compounding pharmacies, which make custom drug preparations for customers. (Pierson, 7/6)

Military.com: 5 New Genetic Diagnostic Tests To Be Covered By Tricare
The Defense Health Agency has extended a pilot program that covers many now-common laboratory genetic tests and added five more to improve diagnostics and care for patients with breast, blood and prostate cancer and suspicious-looking moles or skin lesions. The Pentagon's health arm announced Thursday that it has extended its pilot program that covers more than 45 laboratory-developed tests, or LDTs, through July 18, 2028. (Kime, 7/6)

The Hill: DOJ Finds South Carolina May Violate ADA In How It Treats Mentally Ill Adults 
The Department of Justice (DOJ) found there is reasonable cause to believe South Carolina violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to prevent the unnecessary institutionalization of adults with serious mental illness. The DOJ said in a report released Thursday that the Palmetto State failed to provide sufficient services to prevent institutionalization and instead subsidized stays in adult care homes. (Shapero, 7/6)

The Texas Tribune: Texans On Food Stamps Will Soon Face New Federal Work Requirements
Tens of thousands of Texans are set to face new barriers to accessing food stamps under this spring’s deal to raise the federal debt limit, but fresh efforts are underway to help more Texans avoid hunger. Food advocates and lawmakers are mobilizing to inform lower-income residents about new rules that could cut their access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps. Under legislation brokered between Congress and the White House, starting this summer more middle-aged SNAP participants will have to find jobs to continue with the program. (Choi, 7/7)

Stateline: As More States Legalize Pot, Their Uneven Safety Rules Can Pose A Risk
Amid the growing acceptance and legalization of cannabis use across the country, a concerning reality has emerged: The state-by-state patchwork of safety regulations can leave marijuana consumers wandering through a haze of uncertainty, exposing them to potential risks. Under federal law, marijuana is illegal — period. So, it’s up to individual states to determine their own regulations and safety standards. (Hernández, 7/7)

NPR: CDC Helping States Address Gun Injuries After Years Of Political Roadblocks 
Each year, Utah sees its share of accidental injuries caused by firearms. When state health officials looked carefully at the hundreds of injuries that required emergency treatment in hospitals, they found most resulted from lapses in the most basic elements of gun safety. (Neuman, 7/7)