First Edition: March 12, 2024

KFF Health News: How The Anti-Vaccine Movement Pits Parental Rights Against Public Health 
Gayle Borne has fostered more than 300 children in Springfield, Tennessee. She’s cared for kids who have rarely seen a doctor — kids so neglected that they cannot speak. Such children are now even more vulnerable because of a law Tennessee passed last year that requires the direct consent of birth parents or legal guardians for every routine childhood vaccination. Foster parents, social workers, and other caregivers cannot provide permission. (Maxmen, 3/12)

KFF Health News: California Voters Are Skeptical That More Money Is The Answer To Homelessness
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s expensive ballot-box attempt to tackle the mental health and addiction crisis on the state’s streets is leading by a razor-thin margin, a week after the March 5 election. The close vote reflects growing skepticism among voters that he can effectively address the state’s homelessness epidemic. Proposition 1 would fund thousands of new housing units and treatment beds with a $6.4 billion bond and by redirecting $3 to $4 billion in existing mental health tax revenue. (Hart, 3/12)

KFF Health News: A New $16,000 Postpartum Depression Drug Is Here. How Will Insurers Handle It?
A much-awaited treatment for postpartum depression, zuranolone, hit the market in December, promising an accessible and fast-acting medication for a debilitating illness. But most private health insurers have yet to publish criteria for when they will cover it, according to a new analysis of insurance policies. The lack of guidance could limit use of the drug, which is both novel — it targets hormone function to relieve symptoms instead of the brain’s serotonin system, as typical antidepressants do — and expensive, at $15,900 for the 14-day pill regimen. (Dembosky, 3/12)

Modern Healthcare: Biden’s Budget Includes Health Cybersecurity, Insurance Subsidies
The White House released its fiscal 2025 budget blueprint Monday, and its healthcare provisions are very much as President Joe Biden previewed them during his State of the Union address last week. The Health and Human Services Department budget request offers more detail about Biden's plans, including how his administration wants to respond to cyberattacks such as the one that has crippled UnitedHealth Group unit Change Healthcare for nearly three weeks. (McAuliff, 3/11)

New Hampshire Public Radio: In First New Hampshire Visit In Two Years, Biden Talks Cutting Health Care Costs
President Joe Biden paid New Hampshire his first visit in nearly two years Monday, using a brief speech at the Goffstown YMCA to promote his $7.3 trillion proposed federal budget and criticize Republicans as obstructionists. (Rogers, 3/11)

The Washington Post: Marcia Fudge To Step Down As HUD Secretary At End Of Month 
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia L. Fudge will step down from her role in the Biden administration this month, she announced Monday, saying she had “mixed emotions” about leaving an agency that serves those most frequently left behind. ...In a statement, President Biden praised Fudge as someone whose “transformational leadership” led to lower housing costs and increased housing supply, with more housing units under construction now than at any time in the past 50 years. (Wang, 3/11)

Modern Healthcare: Johns Hopkins, AMA Want Hospital-At-Home Waiver Extended 
Providers, associations, technology companies and other health organizations are calling on Congress to extend a federal waiver program offering equal Medicare reimbursement for hospital-at-home care. The program is due to expire at the end of 2024. In a Monday letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), more than 50 stakeholders said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver program should be extended by at least five years. (Eastabrook, 3/11)

NBC News: Chicago Measles Outbreak Grows With More Cases In Migrant Shelter
Three more people at a migrant shelter in Chicago have been diagnosed with measles, bringing the city's total to five cases so far this year. The Chicago Department of Public Health reported on Monday that two adults at the shelter had been diagnosed and were in stable condition. That followed a Sunday announcement that a young child residing at the shelter had been hospitalized with measles but was in “good condition.” (Bendix, 3/11)

CNN: Measles: CDC Team To Help Chicago Officials With Response To Outbreak
 A team of experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to arrive in Chicago on Tuesday to help local public health officials manage a measles outbreak there. The Chicago Department of Public Health said last week that the city had its first measles case since 2019. The person is recovering well at home, the department said. (Christensen, 3/11)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Child With Measles May Have Exposed 300 People
A child with a confirmed case of measles may have exposed 300 people from 16 California counties to the highly infectious disease last week, health officials in El Dorado County said Friday. The child was present at two hospitals, San Joaquin Urgent Care and the UC Davis Health Emergency Department, on March 5. People at the hospital may have been exposed during that time. It is the third confirmed case of measles in California in 2024, and it comes as measles cases in the United States are on the rise. (Ho, 3/11)

Los Angeles Times: More Parents Are Delaying Kids’ Vaccines, Posing Risk To Toddlers
As measles cases pop up across the country this winter — including several in California — one group of children is stirring deep concerns among pediatricians: the babies and toddlers of vaccine-hesitant parents who are delaying their child’s measles-mumps-rubella shots. Pediatricians across the state say they have seen a sharp increase recently in the number of parents with concerns about routine childhood vaccinations who are demanding their own inoculation schedules for their babies. (Gold, 3/11)

Bloomberg: As Covid Spread, A Strain Of Flu Disappeared. Now Scientists Say A Second Could Go, Too
Stay-at-home orders, border closures, mask-wearing and other measures aimed at stemming Covid-19’s spread led to the global disappearance of a notorious winter germ. Now, scientists say it might be feasible with better vaccines to rid the world of a second one. For decades, flu epidemics were driven by four strains. One of them, the so-called Yamagata-lineage of type B influenza, was struggling to compete before the pandemic and hasn’t been seen since March 2020. (Gale, 3/12)

Reuters: Walgreens Settles New York Charges It Grossly Inflated Prices Of Infant Formula 
Walgreens has settled charges by New York Attorney General Letitia James that it grossly inflated prices on at least 20 infant formula products after a recall by Abbott Labs led to a nationwide shortage in early 2022. The largest U.S. pharmacy chain did not admit or deny wrongdoing in entering an assurance of discontinuance with James' office, including a $50,000 payment covering civil penalties and costs, that was made public on Monday. (Stempel, 3/11)

The Washington Post: VA To Expand IVF To Injured Single Veterans And Same-Sex Couples
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday that it will cover in vitro fertilization treatment for qualifying veterans who are single or in same-sex marriages, after it faced legal challenges last year that said its policies were discriminatory. VA had for years covered IVF costs for veterans with injuries and health conditions from their military service that affected their fertility, but only for those who were legally married and able to produce their own eggs and sperm from that relationship. Those benefits will now be extended to veterans regardless of marital status if they have service-connected fertility problems, VA said. (Somasundaram, 3/12)

AP: Asked To Clear Up Abortion Bans, GOP Leaders Blame Doctors And Misinformation For The Confusion
GOP leaders accuse abortion rights advocates of deliberately spreading misinformation and doctors of intentionally denying services in an effort to undercut the bans and make a political point. At the same time, however, some states are taking steps that they say will provide more clarity about when abortions can be legally performed. The Republican-controlled South Dakota Legislature wants to create a video in which medical experts — and the state’s attorneys — would explain to doctors and patients when abortions can be legally performed. The measure was passed last month and is now awaiting the signature of Republican Gov. Kristi Noem, who has indicated she will sign it. (Kruesi, 3/11)

The Washington Post: Settlement In Florida ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Lawsuit Says It’s OK To Say Gay 
A lawsuit settlement over Florida’s “don’t say gay” statute announced Monday affirms that teachers and students can discuss LGBTQ+ issues and have access to related library books, largely canceling many of the impacts of the signature legislation from Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. The settlement was immediately praised by rights groups who said it marked a major victory for LGBTQ+ students, teachers and families who were effectively barred from speaking about their own personal lives or loved ones in same-sex relationships. (Rozsa, 3/11)

Fox News: GOP AGs Warn Maine To Kill 'Totalitarian' Bill Making Sanctuary State For Sex-Change Surgeries, Or Be Sued
A group of Republican attorneys general are sending a warning shot to the state of Maine for a bill under consideration that would effectively establish Maine as a sanctuary state for procedures like sex-change surgeries for minors – a move the AGs say is "totalitarian." The bill, known as LD 227, would prohibit "interference" with abortion or sex change procedures, legally protect medical workers from facing lawsuits, and could potentially permit concealment of medical records from plaintiffs seeking legal action against a provider. (Herlihy, 3/11)

Stat: Gender-Affirming Care Experts Dispute Claims Of Health Dangers
Hundreds of messages from an internal chat board for an international group of transgender health professionals were leaked in a think tank report last week and framed as revealing serious health risks associated with gender-affirming care, including cancer. But experts say this correlation is false and oversimplifies the complex role of hormones in the body. (Gaffney, 3/11)

Modern Healthcare: Unions Try To Enforce Nurse Staffing Agreements With HCA, Kaiser
Healthcare unions say contracts that specify how many clinicians should work each shift aren’t enough to hold hospitals accountable for ensuring sufficient staffing levels. Staffing agreements have become increasingly common in union contracts over the past few years as bargaining committees seek to mitigate nurse shortages that are expected to reach 195,400 by 2031, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Devereaux, 3/11)

Crain's Chicago Business: UChicago Medicine Nurses Union Cancel Strike
UChicago Medicine will avoid a nurse strike this week after leadership and the nurses union reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract. After months of negotiation, the union announced earlier this month that it planned to hold a one-day strike on March 14 to protest what it describes as severe understaffing at the academic health system. (Davis, 3/11)

Modern Healthcare: Steward Health Care Looks To Sell Massachusetts Hospitals  
Steward Health Care confirmed it wants to sell its Massachusetts hospitals amid financial troubles and scrutiny from state and federal lawmakers. Steward, a for-profit national hospital operator once owned by private equity firm Cereberus Capital Management, has received a “strong level of interest from numerous qualified health systems” regarding its nine Massachusetts hospitals, a spokesperson said in a statement. (Kacik, 3/11)

Stateline: Facing Public Backlash, Some Health Care Companies Are Abandoning Hospital Deals
Worried about hospitals closing and higher costs for patients, state lawmakers are increasingly tangling with hospitals over potential health care mergers, in some cases derailing deals they think don’t serve the public interest. ... After a pandemic-era slowdown, health care mergers and acquisitions have risen steadily over the past two years. But some proposed hospital deals in Connecticut, Louisiana, Minnesota and elsewhere have fizzled amid heavy pushback from lawmakers, organized labor and grassroots organizations. (Claire Vollers, 3/11)

St. Louis Public Radio: Feds Fine Directors Of Closed North St. Louis Nursing Home
Officials from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have fined the directors of the closed Northview Village nursing home in north St. Louis more than $56,000 for violations over three days late last year, when the facility abruptly closed overnight. The Dec. 15 closure unexpectedly scattered approximately 170 residents to different nursing homes in the St. Louis region, and some family members were not able to track down residents for days after the closure. (Fentem, 3/11)

Modern Healthcare: Mass General Brigham, Medstar, Others Join Microsoft AI Group
Big tech firm Microsoft joined a group of 16 health systems on Monday to launch a stakeholder group that's focused on implementing artificial intelligence guardrails. Microsoft is calling the consortium the Trustworthy & Responsible AI Safety Network (TRAIN). Initial participants include Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine, Boston-based Mass General Brigham, Columbia, Maryland-based MedStar Health and Charlotte, North Carolina-based Advocate Health. (Turner, 3/11)

Military.com: Electronic Health Record System Unveiled At VA And Pentagon's Largest Shared Health Care Facility 
The Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs launched a shared electronic health record system at a Chicago hospital on Saturday, completing the military's adoption of the system and moving the VA a step closer to restarting its rollout across its 172 medical centers and clinics. VA officials said the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, which serves more than 75,000 patients per year, adopted the Oracle Cerner electronic health record system -- the first launch for a VA site since it paused the program in April 2023 amid concerns over patient safety, training and user-friendliness. (Kime, 3/11)

CIDRAP: Pandemic-Era Medicaid Extensions Increased Postpartum Insurance Coverage, Data Reveal 
During the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) prevented Medicaid programs from disenrolling people during the public health emergency. For the first time in history, Medicaid-enrolled postpartum mothers were allowed insurance for more than 60 days past birth. This policy change, and other extensions to Medicaid made in 2021, led to a 40% decline in postpartum lack of insurance, according to a new study in JAMA Health Forum. (Soucheray, 3/11)

NBC News: American Academy Of Dermatology Votes To Keep Diversity Programs After Anti-DEI Proposal
The American Academy of Dermatology on Sunday voted to reject a proposal to end its diversity, equity and inclusion programs, in what Black dermatologists are calling a small victory for the organization and the field in general. The academy, a nonprofit organization of dermatologists in the U.S. and Canada, has been embroiled in DEI-related controversy since February, when dozens of members co-authored a resolution looking to put an end to DEI initiatives and programs being implemented in the institution. (Adams, 3/11)

The Boston Globe: Pediatricians Fail To Prescribe Life-Saving Medications For Opioid Addiction
The summer before Becca Schmill entered her junior year of high school in 2018, she admitted to her parents that she was self-medicating with opioids and cocaine to cope with the trauma of being raped by a boy she met on social media. Becca’s mother, Deb Schmill of Needham, said she immediately notified Becca’s pediatrician and checked her into an outpatient treatment program for adolescents with substance use problems. Yet ... Becca never received a prescription for buprenorphine — a standard medication for treating opioid addictions. (Serres, 3/11)

Stat: Methadone Clinics' Rigid Rules Jeopardize Opioid Addiction Treatment
Every morning, Rebecca Smith, nursing a surgically repaired knee, carefully walks down the hallway of her brutalist brick apartment building, takes the elevator one floor to the lobby, and negotiates the sharply angled driveway outside. There, she waits for an Uber to take her to the last place she wants to go: her methadone clinic. (Facher, 3/12)

Stat: Methadone Treatment Changes Are Coming. Do They Go Far Enough?
The federal government is reforming methadone care for the first time in over two decades. But how far do the changes actually go? To many methadone clinics, the Biden administration’s recent refresh of the rules governing opioid treatment programs represents an unprecedented opportunity to offer care that is more compassionate and responsive to patients’ needs. To many patient advocates, however, it simply nibbles around the edges. (Facher, 3/12)

CBS News: Denver Lab Is Developing First-Of-Its-Kind Tool For Early Ovarian Cancer Detection
When it comes to cancer survival, early detection is key. Unfortunately, that's next to impossible for ovarian cancer. Right now, there is no screening or tool to detect ovarian cancer early, leading to 80% of women diagnosed at a late stage. ... Now, a new lab in Denver is turning that hope into reality. AOA Diagnostics – a women-founded startup – is working to develop a first-of-its-kind tool that could transform women's healthcare. Instead of an invasive surgery, a simple blood test could detect ovarian cancer before it's too late. (Werthmann, 3/11)

Reuters: FTC, 10 US States Sue 'Sham' Women's Cancer Charity 
The Federal Trade Commission and 10 U.S. states on Monday sued what they called a "sham" charity that raised $18.25 million to help women fight cancer, but spent just $194,809 for that purpose. According to a complaint filed in Houston federal court, telemarketers hired by Women's Cancer Fund and its founder Gregory Anderson lied to tens of thousands of prospective donors by promising their money would "help save lives," and help cash-strapped patients pay for rent, utility bills and food. California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin joined the FTC lawsuit. (Stempel, 3/11)

The Wall Street Journal: The New Science On What Ultra-Processed Food Does To Your Brain 
Ultra-processed foods may not only affect our bodies, but our brains too. New research suggests links between ultra-processed foods—such as chips, many cereals and most packaged snacks at the grocery store—and changes in the way we learn, remember and feel. These foods can act like addictive substances, researchers say, and some scientists are proposing a new mental-health condition called “ultra-processed food use disorder.” Diets filled with such foods may raise the risk of mental health and sleep problems. (Petersen, 3/11)

The Washington Post: Teens Say Parents Are Distracted By Screens, Too
Almost half of teenagers say their parents at least sometimes get distracted by their phones during conversations, according to a survey from the Pew Research Center. However, 31 percent of parents said this is something they do. (Kelly, 3/11)