First Edition: July 9, 2024

KFF Health News: From Dr. Oz To Heart Valves: A Tiny Device Charted A Contentious Path Through The FDA
In 2013, the FDA approved an implantable device to treat leaky heart valves. Among its inventors was Mehmet Oz, the former television personality and former U.S. Senate candidate widely known as “Dr. Oz.” In online videos, Oz has called the process that brought the MitraClip device to market an example of American medicine firing “on all cylinders,” and he has compared it to “landing a man on the moon.” (Hilzenrath and Hacker, 7/9)

KFF Health News: GOP’s Tim Sheehy Revives Discredited Abortion Claims In Pivotal Senate Race
Tim Sheehy, the Republican candidate seeking to unseat Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana and give U.S. Senate control to the GOP, is campaigning on what he calls Tester’s and Democrats’ “extreme” position on abortion. In a televised debate June 8, Sheehy accused Tester and Democrats of voting for “elective abortions up to and including the moment of birth.” That statement prompted Tester to respond: “To say we’re killing babies at 40 weeks is total BS.” (Volz, 7/9)

KFF Health News: If Lawsuit Ends Federal Mandates On Birth Control Coverage, States Will Have The Say
David Engler had been pretty sure he didn’t want children. Then a frustrating school day two years ago helped seal the deal for the now 43-year-old substitute teacher. “It was wild. I had to call the office seven times to get kids pulled out,” he said. “The next day, I called Kaiser and said, ‘I’d like to know how much a vasectomy is.’” (Whitehead, 7/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Republicans Adopt Stripped-Down Platform That Reflects Trump’s Abortion Views 
Republicans released a party platform on Monday that was much shorter and less detailed than those of the past, sidestepping many policy specifics and the potential internal fights that could have been triggered by a more detailed document. The 16-page platform makes only brief mention of abortion, long a top issue for the GOP. It softens language included in a 2016 version of the document that called for a constitutional amendment making clear that fetuses have due process rights. Instead of calling for a “human life amendment,” the new platform states that the 14th Amendment “guarantees that no person can be denied life or liberty without due process, and that the states are, therefore, free to pass laws protecting those rights.” (Restuccia and McCormik, 7/8)

Politico: Trump’s Platform Changed The GOP’s Position On Abortion. Not Everyone Is Happy. 
A small but vocal contingent on the right is frustrated with the new Republican Party platform. There isn’t much they can do about it. Even as anti-abortion groups largely lined up behind former President Donald Trump’s platform on Monday, some prominent and rank-and-file evangelicals criticized the language for backpedaling on the GOP’s longstanding promise to use the federal government to stop abortion. (Messerly and Sentner, 7/8)

AP: Support For Legal Abortion Has Risen Since Dobbs, AP-NORC Poll Finds
A solid majority of Americans oppose a federal abortion ban as a rising number support access to abortions for any reason, a new poll finds, highlighting a politically perilous situation for candidates who oppose abortion rights as the November election draws closer. Around 6 in 10 Americans think their state should generally allow a person to obtain a legal abortion if they don’t want to be pregnant for any reason, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That’s an increase from June 2021, a year before the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to the procedure, when about half of Americans thought legal abortion should be possible under these circumstances. (Fernando and Thomson-Deveaux, 7/9)

Tampa Bay Times: Florida Records Drop In Doctor Residency Applicants Post-Roe V. Wade
Ritu Sidgal volunteered at a hospice in California in high school, reading to patients and offering bedside comfort. After attending college in Missouri to study biology and global health, she applied to medical schools and eventually moved to Tampa, enrolling at the University of South Florida. She won’t graduate until 2027 but she’s already thinking of specializing in women’s reproductive health care as an obstetrician-gynecologist. (Ogozalek, 7/8)

The New York Times: Parkinson’s Expert Visited The White House Eight Times In Eight Months 
An expert on Parkinson’s disease from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center visited the White House eight times in eight months from last summer through this spring, including at least once for a meeting with President Biden’s physician, according to official visitor logs. The expert, Dr. Kevin Cannard, is a neurologist who specializes in movement disorders and recently published a paper on Parkinson’s. The logs, released by the White House, document visits from July 2023 through March of this year. More recent visits, if there have been any, would not be released until later under the White House’s voluntary disclosure policy. (Baumgaertner and Baker, 7/8)

NPR: White House Doctor Says Neurological Exams Were Part Of Biden's Routine Physicals
The White House physician says a neurological specialist has only visited President Biden as part of routine physicals, following questions about Biden’s fitness for office. Other visits by the specialist to the White House were to treat military personnel who experience neurological issues related to their service, the White House physician added in a letter issued on Monday. (7/8)

Politico: Biden’s Physician Was Also A Family Business Associate 
President Joe Biden is leaning on the credibility of White House physician Kevin O’Connor’s optimistic assessment of his health, but that physician is a family intimate and one-time business associate of the president’s brother. When Biden’s brother Jim was exploring a business venture aimed at securing Veterans Affairs contracts in 2017, O’Connor introduced him to a military-focused medical team and accompanied him to a meeting with a hospital president. (Schreckinger, 7/8)

The Wall Street Journal: How Biden’s Inner Circle Worked To Keep Signs Of Aging Under Wraps 
Senior White House advisers for more than a year have aggressively stage-managed President Biden’s schedule, movements and personal interactions, as they sought to minimize signs of how age has taken a toll on the oldest president in U.S. history. The White House has limited Biden’s daily itinerary and shielded him from impromptu exchanges. Advisers have restricted news conferences and media appearances, twice declining Super Bowl halftime interviews—an easy way to reach millions of voters—and sought to make sure meetings with donors stuck to scripted pleasantries.  (Restuccia, Linskey, Glazer, Ballhaus and Schwartzel, 7/8)

The Washington Post: In A Florida Retiree Stronghold, Anger And Hope For Biden 
Perhaps nowhere are President Biden’s senior moments hitting closer to home than in places like RiverWalk, a community that skews older in snowbird-friendly Palm Beach County, Florida. The neighborhood is built around the idea that getting old doesn’t mean staying still. Many of the residents keep a busy calendar well into their 80s. And they reject the idea that there should be an age limit for running the country. (Rozsa, 7/8)

The Washington Post: $1 Billion Gift To Make Johns Hopkins Medical School Free For Most
A $1 billion gift to Johns Hopkins University from billionaire Mike Bloomberg will make medical school free for most students and increase financial aid for those enrolled in nursing, public health and other graduate programs. In a Monday letter in the Bloomberg Philanthropies annual report, Bloomberg addressed the dual challenges of declining health and education. The gift marks an emphatic endorsement of the value of higher learning at a time when academia increasingly has been under political attack. (Svrluga, 7/8)

Modern Healthcare: Where Health Management Graduates Are Taking Jobs
Graduates from health administration master's programs most often go on to work for hospitals or health systems, but other sectors also attract their interest. The Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education examined placement of 2022-23 graduates from select residential, non-executive track full-time programs. The analysis found that after hospitals and systems, most graduates went to consulting firms and physician practice management positions. (Broderick, 7/8)

NBC News: Nearly Half Of U.S. Counties Don't Have A Single Cardiologist
Millions of Americans likely to develop and die from heart disease live in cardiology deserts — areas of the country without a single heart specialist to care for them. New research published Monday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology finds that nearly half of all counties in the U.S. lack a practicing cardiologist. Most of those counties are rural, with residents who tend to be sicker in general with complex medical problems. (Edwards, 7/8)

Modern Healthcare: Hospital Credit Ratings Dip In 2024 Despite Some Improvements
Credit ratings downgrades continue to hit some hospitals and health systems despite their efforts to stabilize finances in a challenging economy. In the first half of 2024, more than 30 hospitals and health systems were downgraded by at least one of the three largest credit rating agencies — Fitch Ratings, Moody's Ratings and S&P Global. The agencies noted challenges such as inflated expenses, including high labor costs, and reimbursement rate negotiations as factors leading to financial stress. (Hudson and Broderick, 7/8)

Modern Healthcare: Hospital-At-Home Receives Positive Opinions In New Survey
More than half of people surveyed would feel just as safe getting hospital-level care at home as they would in a facility, according to the University of Southern California’s Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. Healthcare systems across the country are placing big bets on hospital-at-home programs, pushing access to more rural communities and lobbying state Medicaid programs to reimburse for the service. (Eastabrook, 7/8)

Modern Healthcare: Gun Violence Research Is About To Change Hospitals
"Do you have access to a firearm inside or outside of your house?" asked Louise McEvoy, a pediatric emergency department nurse at the hospital, which is part of New Hyde Park, New York-based Northwell Health​​​​​​. Everyone who visits Cohen's emergency department gets that question. It's standard protocol and an outgrowth of one of the first gun research grants the National Institutes of Health awarded in 2020, the year after Congress ended an effective ban it placed federally funded gun violence research in 1996 because of concerns it aided gun control. (McAuliff, 7/8)

Modern Healthcare: Coalition For Health AI Loses FDA, ONC Board Members
A pair of federal government officials resigned from board positions at the Coalition for Health AI, an industry group aiming to create artificial intelligence standards for healthcare. Dr. Brian Anderson, CEO of CHAI, said in a LinkedIn post on Friday that the Food and Drug Administration's Troy Tazbaz and the Office for the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology's Micky Tripathi have resigned as board members of the coalition. (Turner, 7/8)

Reuters: Ardent Health Targets Valuation Of About $3.15 Billion In US IPO 
Healthcare provider Ardent Health is targeting a valuation of about $3.15 billion in its initial public offering, it said on Monday, as the U.S. capital market continues to run hot by attracting new entrants. (7/8)

Military.com: More Than Three-Fourths Of Tricare Directories' Mental Health Provider Listings Are Inaccurate, Report Finds
A federal watchdog has determined that most of the mental health provider listings in Tricare network directories are inaccurate or outdated, a problem that could prevent military service members and families from getting vital behavioral health care. The Government Accountability Office estimated that 85% of listings in the Tricare East Region and 79% in the Tricare West Region had troubles with location, gender of the provider, specialty or subspecialty descriptions, or phone and fax numbers. (Kime, 7/8)

The Wall Street Journal: CDK Global Hack Shows Risk Of One Software Vendor Dominating An Industry 
The cyberattack on software firm CDK Global that forced U.S. car dealerships to break out pen and paper to do business is putting a spotlight on other sectors critically reliant on just a handful of vendors. Airlines, banks and healthcare providers all use a handful of niche software providers—many of which have been dominant for decades—for key functions such as booking flights, processing payments and managing patient data. (Lin, 6/29)

Reuters: Abbott Faces Trial Over Claims That Preterm Infant Formula Caused Dangerous Disease 
Similac baby formula maker Abbott is expected to face a trial on Monday over claims that its formula for preterm infants used in neonatal intensive care units causes a potentially deadly bowel disease, the second trial out of hundreds of similar lawsuits in the United States. Lawyers for the company and for Illinois resident Margo Gill will make their opening statements to jurors in St. Louis, Missouri, and the trial is expected to last most of the rest of the month. Gill alleges in the lawsuit that her premature infant child developed necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) as a result of being fed Abbott's products for premature babies. (Pierson, 7/8)

Reuters: Purdue Creditors Seek Approval To Sue Sackler Family Members
Purdue Pharma's creditors sought permission from a U.S. bankruptcy court on Monday to sue the company's wealthy owners, arguing that the litigation can serve as both a negotiating tool and a fallback option as the OxyContin maker re-starts talks on a bankruptcy settlement. Purdue is going back to the drawing board to negotiate a comprehensive settlement of lawsuits against it and its Sackler family owners alleging that the company's deceptive marketing of OxyContin spurred an opioid addiction crisis in the U.S. A U.S. Supreme Court decision last month upended a previous bankruptcy deal. (Knauth, 7/8)

Los Angeles Times: Mounjaro Bests Ozempic For Weight Loss In Comparison Of Real-World Use
The researchers who conducted the analysis also found that compared with people on Ozempic, those on Mounjaro were 2.5 times more likely to lose at least 10% of their initial weight and more than three times as likely to lose at least 15% of their weight during their first year on the medications. The findings were published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. (Kaplan, 7/8)

Los Angeles Times: Live Poultry Markets May Be Source Of Bird Flu Virus In San Francisco Wastewater 
Federal officials suspect that live bird markets in San Francisco may be the source of bird flu virus in area wastewater samples. (Rust, 7/4)

Reuters: Bird Flu Strain In US Cows Shows Minimal Air Spread In Ferret Study 
The bird flu strain found in cows in the United States is not easily transmitted through the air among ferrets, a new study shows, although the scientist who led the work said it had shown some ability to spread this way. Ferrets are considered to be the best small mammal for studying influenza virus infection and transmission, and are often used to inform assessments of the public health risks of emerging viruses. (Rigby, 7/8)

CIDRAP: Young People's Mental Health Suffered Amid COVID Pandemic, 3 New Studies Suggest 
The COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdowns harmed the mental health of Canadian and US youth, exacerbating depression, anxiety, and eating disorders among certain groups, according to a trio of new studies published in JAMA journals. (Van Beusekom, 7/8)

The Mercury News: Public Exposed To Measles In Santa Clara And Santa Cruz Counties
Santa Clara County health officials are urging members of the public to review their immunization records after a person with measles visited the area last week. The person, who lives in another state, traveled to three locations in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties while contagious, according to the Santa Clara County Public Health Department. (Green, 7/8)

The Boston Globe: First Partial Heart Transplant In New England Helps 4-Year-Old Boy
Amy Mangan was hopping between pillows and sofa cushions with her two sons, pretending the living room floor of their New Jersey home was boiling lava, when she got a phone call telling her to drive to Boston right away. ... It was the first so-called “partial heart transplant” in New England, a potentially life-saving cutting-edge operation designed specifically for children, primarily for valve defects. (Saltzman, 7/8)

Wyoming Public Radio: 988 Suicide Hotlines Answer Rates Are Up In Some Western States, But Gaps Remain
The 988 suicide hotline has offered 24/7 crisis care to callers nationwide for almost two years, but answer rates still vary widely in the West. In Wyoming, answer rates for the three-digit hotline hovered at 90% last year, according to a new report from mental health group Inseparable. Angela Kimball, chief advocacy director for Inseparable, said that number nearly doubled in the past few years. The organization lists 90% as its target response rate. (Hanna Merzbach, 7/8)

North Carolina Health News: New Program Aims To Ease Summer Hunger For N.C. Children
Madhu Vulimiri, deputy director of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Child and Family Well-Being, says summer is often the “hungriest time of year” for food-insecure households. It can be an especially harsh season, she said, for low-income families that rely on the National School Lunch Program, which provides free or reduced-cost meals to more than 900,000 students in North Carolina. The meals stop when public schools adjourn for the summer, leaving many children at risk of going undernourished over the long break. (Baxley, 7/9)

San Francisco Chronicle: ‘Help Us, We Can’t Breathe’: Inmate At California Women’s Prison Dies During Heat Wave
A woman incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla died Saturday during a statewide heat wave and prisoner advocates are blaming her death on heat exhaustion. The woman was hospitalized on July 4 and died two days later, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesperson Mary Xjimenez said Monday afternoon. ... Advocates with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners faulted extreme temperatures inside the prison for the woman’s death. (Mishanec, 7/8)

NBC News: Health Risks Linked To Extreme Heat Linger Even As Temperatures Drop
Heat accumulates over time in people’s bodies, and the risk of a heart attack, heatstroke or other medical ailment often rises over time. Some experts said medical risks due to heat often trail behind the rise in temperatures — but spike as the days of risk add up. “Usually you see deaths from heat waves not from the first day, but on the second and third day,” said Dr. Lisa Patel, a clinical associate professor who practices as a pediatrician at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health. (Bush, 7/8)

The New York Times: Children With Autism Carry Unique Gut Flora, Study Finds 
A study published Monday in Nature Microbiology bolsters a growing body of research that suggests an unlikely path to more objective autism diagnoses: the gut microbiome. After analyzing more than 1,600 stool samples from children ages 1 to 13, researchers found several distinct biological “markers” in the samples of autistic children. Unique traces of gut bacteria, fungi, viruses and more could one day be the basis of a diagnostic tool, said Qi Su, a researcher at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a lead author of the study. (Rosenbluth, 7/8)

Stat: A Faster, Cheaper Cancer Cell Therapy Is To Be Tested In Humans
In a long-awaited study, patients in Australia will soon receive an IV infusion designed to transform their own immune cells into swarms of cancer-fighting drones. The trial, announced on Tuesday by Interius Biotherapeutics, will be the first to test what’s known technically as in vivo CAR-T therapy. Researchers have long hoped the approach could provide a potentially cheaper, safer, and more scalable version of the cell therapies that are curative for some blood cancer patients but remain out of reach for many. (Mast, 7/9)

CBS News: Why Some Doctors Are Recommending Apple Watches To Manage Health Conditions
Dr. Rod Passman, cardiologist and professor of medicine at Northwestern Medicine. "It empowers patients to get involved in their health care. It allows them to understand lifestyle choices may impact their health. And from my perspective, it allows me to monitor my patients long term, remotely, no matter where they are in the world, to understand what's going on with their heart rhythm, simply by doing an EKG from the watch itself," Passman told CBS News. (Barnett and Moniuszko, 7/8)

USA Today: Chicken Recall: Frozen Al-Safa Products Recalled For Listeria Risk
More than 2,000 pounds of frozen chicken meals are being recalled nationwide for risk of listeria poisoning. Al-Safa US has recalled 2,010 pounds of imported frozen ready-to-eat chicken products that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, according to a notice shared Friday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). (Walrath-Holdridge, 7/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Russian Missiles Hit Kyiv Children’s Hospital In Deadly Attacks Across Ukraine 
Russia launched its largest missile attack on Ukraine in months on Monday, striking a children’s hospital in Kyiv as well as other sites across the country, in an assault that left at least 33 people dead and more than 100 injured, according to Ukrainian officials. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a series of images from the wreckage on social media, which showed children covered in blood and broken glass strewn across hospital rooms with cribs. (Lovett and Faucon, 7/9)