First Edition: June 27, 2024

KFF Health News: Chorus Or Cacophony? Cicada Song Hits Some Ears Harder Than Others
Shhhooo. Wee-uuu. Chick, chick, chick. That’s the sound of three different cicada species. For some people, those sounds are the song of the summer. Others wish the insects would turn it down. The cacophony can be especially irritating for people on the autism spectrum who have hearing sensitivity. (Dyer, 6/27)

KFF Health News: Battleground Wisconsin: Voters Feel Nickel-And-Dimed By Health Care Costs
The land of fried cheese curds and the Green Bay Packers is among a half-dozen battleground states that could determine the outcome of the expected November rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump — a contest in which the cost and availability of health care are emerging as defining issues. ... Wisconsinites said they’re struggling to pay for even the most basic health care, from common blood tests to insulin prescriptions. (Hart, 6/27)

KFF Health News: Rate Of Young Women Getting Sterilized Doubled After ‘Roe’ Was Overturned
Sophia Ferst remembers her reaction to learning that the Supreme Court had overturned Roe v. Wade: She needed to get sterilized. Within a week, she asked her provider about getting the procedure done. Ferst, 28, said she has always known she doesn’t want kids. She also worries about getting pregnant as the result of a sexual assault then being unable to access abortion services. “That’s not a crazy concept anymore,” she said. (Bolton, 6/27)

KFF Health News: US Judge Finds California In Contempt Over Prison Mental Health Staffing
A federal judge has found top California prison officials in civil contempt for failing to hire enough mental health professionals to adequately treat tens of thousands of incarcerated people with serious mental disorders. Chief U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller on June 25 ordered the state to pay $112 million in fines at a time when the state is trying to close a multibillion-dollar budget deficit. (Thompson, 6/26)

Bloomberg: Read The Full Text Of Supreme Court Document On Idaho Abortion Ban 
The raw text that was originally posted to the court’s website has been converted to PDF by Bloomberg News for readability. No styling or textual changes have been made. (6/26)

AP: Wisconsin Supreme Court Seeks Investigation After Abortion Draft Order Leaks 
The chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court called for an investigation Wednesday after the leak of a draft order that showed the court would take a case brought by Planned Parenthood that seeks to declare that access to abortion is a right protected by the state constitution. Chief Justice Annette Ziegler called for the investigation after Wisconsin Watch reported on the draft order that it obtained. The order as reported by Wisconsin Watch said the court would hear the court challenge, but it was not a ruling on the case itself. (Bauer, 6/26)

Bloomberg: Plan B Use Plunges In US States That Enacted Near-Total Abortion Bans
Use of prescription emergency contraception, also known as Plan B, fell by 60% in US states that implemented near-total abortion bans almost immediately after the Dobbs decision, due in part to clinic closures and misinformation. The findings, published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open, add to concerns about abortion bans limiting a wide range of reproductive care. Levels held steady in states with moderate restrictions. (Vahanvaty, 6/26)

NBC News: Biden-Trump Debate 2024: What Experts Want To See Addressed About Health Care
When President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump face off Thursday during the first general election debate, health policy experts say tackling the exorbitant cost of health care is as much a top issue for voters as the U.S. economy. Health care costs in the United States continue to rise — and Americans increasingly say they are unable to afford the care they need. (Lovelace Jr., 6/26)

NBC News: Biden Administration To Lower Costs For 64 Drugs Through Inflation Penalties On Drugmakers
The Biden administration on Wednesday said it will impose inflation penalties on 64 prescription drugs for the third quarter of this year, lowering costs for certain older Americans enrolled in Medicare. ... A provision of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act requires drugmakers to pay rebates to Medicare, the federal health program for Americans over age 65, if they hike the price of a medication faster than the rate of inflation. (Kim Constantino, 6/26)

Modern Healthcare: Health Inequity Laws, Policies See Mixed Results In Last 20 Years
The National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine on Wednesday said law and policy changes aimed at eliminating health disparities have made slow and uneven progress improving racial inequities over the past 20 years. The Ending Unequal Treatment report found that people of color in 2024 are still disproportionately uninsured, underutilizing care services and underrepresented in the healthcare workforce. (Devereaux, 6/26)

Axios: Smallest Businesses Feel Crush Of Health Care Costs
Employee health care costs are increasingly eating up larger shares of payroll costs for America's smallest businesses, according to a new analysis from the JPMorgan Chase Institute. (Reed, 6/27)

The New York Times: Federal Officials Revise Recommendations For R.S.V. Vaccine 
In an unusual move, federal health officials revised their recommendations for who should receive the vaccine against the respiratory syncytial virus. Among Americans aged 60 to 74, only those with certain health conditions need to receive the shots, the CDC concluded. (Mandavilli, 6/26)

Reuters: Moderna Says Its RSV Shot Is 50% Effective Across A Second Season
Moderna Inc. respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) shot mRESVIA showed 50% efficacy in preventing RSV after 18 months, the drugmaker said on Wednesday. In their clinical trials, GSK's RSV vaccine Arexvy was 78% effective in preventing severe RSV over a second year and Pfizer's was 78% effective through a second RSV season. (6/26)

CIDRAP: New Study Aims To Define Long COVID Through Phenotypes Of Patients
A new study in the Journal of Infectious Diseases uses data from 1,988 SARS-CoV-2–positive US Military Health System beneficiaries to define the characteristics and clinical patterns observed in patients with long COVID, or post-COVID condition (PCC), grouping patients into three phenotypes based on clusters of symptoms. (Soucheray, 6/26)

CIDRAP: USDA Confirms More H5N1 Detections In Dairy Herds And Cats
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed H5N1 avian influenza in three more dairy herds, two in Colorado and one in Iowa, raising its number of affected herds to 129 in 12 states. APHIS today added reports of nine more H5N1 detections in mammals across four states, of which five were domestic cats. The infected cats were from Minnesota (Kandiyohi County) and Texas (Hartley County). Other detections involved raccoons from Michigan and New Mexico, a striped skunk for New Mexico, and a red fox from Minnesota. The group also added eight more detections in wild birds, including five bald eagles from Iowa, New Jersey, and Virginia and three agency-harvested birds from New Mexico. (Schnirring, 6/26)

Stat: Mike Leavitt Interview On Bird Flu Response 
Mike Leavitt is in the small club of government officials who’ve led an avian flu response. The experience is still fresh in his mind nearly two decades later. When he first heard about the avian flu outbreak in 2005, he had been secretary of health and human services in George W. Bush’s administration for just a couple of months. (Zhang, 6/27)

Modern Healthcare: Walmart Health To Close All Clinics Friday
All Walmart Health clinics will close Friday, ending the retail chain's yearslong effort to build its own primary care network. Walmart announced April 30 it would shut down Walmart Health, including the virtual care platform and all 51 clinics across five states. The company did not provide closing dates for individual centers, but at the time a spokesperson said some clinics would be open for up to 90 days, or the end of July. (Hudson, 6/26)

Modern Healthcare: Home Health Agencies Face 1.7% Medicare Pay Cut In 2025 From CMS
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is proposing a net 1.7% Medicare pay cut to home health agencies for 2025. The proposed reduction is the sum of several factors: The agency proposes a 2.5% payment update, which is offset by a proposed 0.6% fixed-dollar loss cut and a 3.6% spending cut tied to the Patient-Driven Groupings Model. (Early, 6/26)

Modern Healthcare: Skilled Nursing Facilities Compete For Labor With Home Health
Home health companies fear care delivery could get harder as a federal nursing home staffing mandate forces them to vie for a limited pool of talent with skilled nursing facilities. Demographics, consumer preference and Medicare Advantage are driving more post-acute care into the home and increasing the demand for home healthcare workers. But companies offering home health services worry the nursing home staffing mandate ... will make it even harder for them to recruit enough workers to meet rising demand. (Eastabrook, 6/26)

The Wall Street Journal: CEO In Major Health-Advertising Fraud Gets 7.5-Year Prison Sentence 
Tech entrepreneur Rishi Shah was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison Wednesday for his part in what prosecutors called a billion-dollar fraud scheme centered on video advertisements in doctors’ offices. Federal Judge Thomas Durkin said Shah, former chief executive and co-founder of startup Outcome Health, had undermined the integrity of the markets. (Keilman and Winkler, 6/26)

Reuters: US FDA Approves Verona Pharma's Inhaled COPD Therapy 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted approval to a treatment from Verona Pharma for a chronic lung disease that commonly affects smokers, the U.K.-based company said on Wednesday. (Jain and Chari, 6/26)

Stat: FDA Issues Long-Awaited Draft Guidance For Enrolling More People Of Color In Clinical Trials
The Food and Drug Administration has drafted guidance aimed at getting drug companies and medical device makers to enroll more people of color and women in the clinical trials that test whether products work. (Wilkerson, 6/26)

Modern Healthcare: 340B Drug Program Discounts Protected Under New State Laws
Drug manufacturers are rolling back their limitations on 340B drug discounts as more states pass laws aimed at making the program's benefits more accessible. Missouri is the latest state to pass legislation requiring pharmaceutical manufacturers to distribute discounted drugs to pharmacies that contract with hospitals, federally qualified health centers and other 340B-covered providers. (Kacik, 6/26)

ABC News: Texas Hospital Is Reportedly 1st In US To Use Holograms For Doctor-Patient Visits
A Texas hospital could be the first in the United States to use a technology that allows doctors to visit patients via hologram. Crescent Regional Hospital, located in Lancaster -- about 13 miles south of Dallas -- has installed "Holobox," a 3D system that projects a life-sized hologram of a doctor so that they can perform real-time consults with patients at a clinic 30 miles away. (Kekatos, 6/26)

The Boston Globe: State House Unanimously Approves Maternal Health Bill
Pregnant women and new mothers could soon benefit from expanded physical and mental health care options under a sweeping maternal health bill the state House unanimously passed on June 20. Representatives say the legislation could stem the tide of deteriorating maternal health outcomes, particularly among people of color, by creating a pathway for certified professional midwives (CPMs) and lactation consultants to be licensed in Massachusetts, and removing regulatory barriers to open birth centers that offer home-like environments during labor. (Kuznitz, 6/26)

AP: Indiana Seeks First Execution Since 2009 After Acquiring Lethal Injection Drug, Governor Says
Indiana Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb said the state will resume executions for the first time in over a decade after acquiring a drug used for lethal injections. Holcomb said Wednesday that the state is seeking an execution date for Joseph Corcoran, a man convicted in the killings of four people in 1997. The yearslong pause has been attributed to the unavailability of lethal injection drugs. The Indiana Department of Correction now has acquired a drug used by multiple states in lethal injections — the sedative pentobarbital — after “years of effort,” Holcomb’s announcement said. (Volmert, 6/26)

North Carolina Health News: Owner Of NC Psych Hospitals Under Scrutiny From US Senate 
A U.S. Senate report released last week accused four of the nation’s largest behavioral health companies of putting profits above the safety and treatment of children placed in their care. The blistering report — Warehouses of Neglect — is the result of a two-year investigation by Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) into psychiatric residential treatment facilities run by Acadia Healthcare, Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health, Vivant Behavioral Healthcare and Universal Health Services. (Knopf, 6/27)

CNN: Born From The Tragedy Of Gun Violence, This Program Teaches Children How To Stop A Wound From Bleeding Out 
“Chances are, you’re never ever going to have to use this. If you do, it’s gonna be scary,” Kate Carleton told the 20 or so 8- and 9-year-olds. “But because we’ve taught you what to do, it makes it a little less scary.” She spent the next 30 minutes teaching them how to stop a wound from bleeding out. The lesson is appropriately titled “Stop the Bleed.” Carleton is a trauma nurse at Sutter Roseville Medical Center, a level 2 trauma center in Rocklin, California, a northern suburb of Sacramento. At the beginning of her 17-year career, she saw a lot of car crashes, motorcycle accidents and falls. More recently, the number of gunshot wounds coming through her hospital has increased, most often from domestic violence or suicide. (Gupta, 6/25)

The Boston Globe: Heat-Related ER Visits Spiked In New England Last Week
In a heatwave that spanned several states last week, New England experienced the highest rate of heat-related emergency department visits in the country, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the region experienced temperatures of 90 degrees and above, posing a threat to public health. Rates of heat-related ER visits in New England topped those of every other region in the US on Wednesday and Thursday. (Getahun-Hawkins, 6/26)

The Atlantic: A New Danger At America’s National Parks
The thermometer read 121 degrees Fahrenheit when 71-year-old Steve Curry collapsed outside a restroom in Death Valley National Park last summer. Curry, who’d reportedly been hiking on a nearby trail in Golden Canyon, was just trying to make it back to his car. The National Park Service and the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office quickly responded to the scene. They tried to revive him with an external defibrillator, but it was not enough, and the medical helicopter that could’ve transported him to a hospital wasn’t able to take off because of the extreme heat. It was too late. (Mohr, 6/26)

The Conversation: Despite High Demand, Kidneys Donated By Black Americans Are More Likely To Be Thrown Away. Here’s Why. 
As one of the leading causes of death in the U.S., kidney disease is a serious public health problem. The disease is particularly severe among Black Americans, who are three times more likely than white Americans to develop kidney failure. While Black people constitute only 12% of the U.S. population, they account for 35% of those with kidney failure. (Iltis, 6/26)

USA Today: LGBTQ Youth Crisis Line Launched In 2023. It's Been Swamped
The numbers are staggering: 39% of young people who identify as LGBTQ+ seriously considered attempting suicide within the last year. The data, from a May 2024 study by the Trevor Project, a crisis intervention nonprofit for LGBTQ+ youth, also shows that more than 1 in 10 (12%) actually attempted suicide. For transgender and nonbinary young people, it's even worse – 46% report having considered suicide within the last year. And only half of those who wanted mental health care were able to access it, the Trevor Project report said. (Trethan, 6/27)

The Washington Post: Scientists Found Another Way We’re Exposed To ‘Forever Chemicals’: Through Our Skin 
A first-of-its-kind study has found that “forever chemicals” — toxic compounds found in everyday beauty and personal care items like sunscreen, waterproof mascara and lipstick — can seep through human skin and enter the bloodstream. “If you put some of these products directly onto your skin and they contain PFAS, there’s a very high potential for them to be transferred across the skin,” said study co-author Stuart Harrad, whose research was published this week in Environment International. ... It was previously thought that PFAS were unable to breach the skin barrier. (Ajasa, 6/26)

The Washington Post: Neanderthal Community Cared For Child With Down Syndrome, Fossil Suggests
The word Neanderthal is sometimes used as a synonym for stupid or brutish, but a new fossil analysis has added weight to the hypothesis that our prehistoric cousins actually had collaborative or even compassionate qualities. Evidence of a Neanderthal child with Down syndrome who survived to the age of 6 suggests the youngster was cared for by the social group, according to a new study. The piece of bone was found in the Cova Negra cave site in Spain’s Valencia region and analyzed by a research team led by Mercedes Conde-Valverde of the University of Alcalá in Madrid. The results, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, concluded that the fragment likely came from the inner ear of a 6-year-old. (Vinall, 6/27)