First Edition: March 21, 2024

KFF Health News: Rapid Rise In Syphilis Hits Native Americans Hardest
From her base in Gallup, New Mexico, Melissa Wyaco supervises about two dozen public health nurses who crisscross the sprawling Navajo Nation searching for patients who have tested positive for or been exposed to a disease once nearly eradicated in the U.S.: syphilis. Infection rates in this region of the Southwest — the 27,000-square-mile reservation encompasses parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah — are among the nation’s highest. (Nowell, 3/21)

KFF Health News: Telehealth Sites Promise Cure For ‘Male Menopause’ Despite FDA Ban On Off-Label Ads
Online stores sprang up during the covid-19 pandemic’s telehealth boom touting testosterone as a cure-all for men’s age-related illnesses — despite FDA rules issued years ago restricting such “low testosterone” advertising. In ads on Google, Facebook, and elsewhere, testosterone telemedicine websites may promise a quick fix for sluggishness and low libido in men. But evidence for that is lacking, physicians said. (Scaturro, 3/21)

KFF Health News: Biden Said Medicare Drug Price Negotiations Cut The Deficit By $160B. That's Years Away
President Joe Biden has been making his case for reelection to voters by telling them he is good for their pocketbooks, including at the pharmacy counter. During his State of the Union address, Biden said legislation he signed gave Medicare the power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. (Sherman, 3/21)

Politico: CDC: US Life Expectancy Rises After 2-Year Dip
U.S. life expectancy increased for the first time in two years, according to a new report by the CDC. The report, released Thursday, marks a notable reversal: People born in the U.S. in 2022 can expect to live 77.5 years, an increase from 76.4 in 2021. Life expectancy had dropped in 2020 and 2021, which experts have said was driven by Covid-19 deaths and drug overdoses. The 2021 life expectancy report — a decline from 77 years to 76.4 years — marked the lowest U.S. life expectancy since 1996. (Cirruzzo, 3/21)

Stat: Overdose Deaths Hit Another Record But Show Signs Of Leveling Off 
The U.S. recorded 107,941 drug overdose deaths in 2022, according to a new federal report — a total that marks an all-time record but also shows signs that the country’s overdose rate may finally be leveling off after years of steady increase. (Facher, 3/21)

CBS News: Social Security Clawed Back Overpayments By Docking 100% Of Benefits. Now It's Capping It At 10%
By law, the agency must claw back overpaid benefits, but SSA's policies had sparked outrage and concern after some Social Security recipients reported surprise bills that demanded payment within 30 days. Sometimes the bills mounted into the tens of thousands of dollars. If they couldn't immediately pay the bill, the agency could dock their entire monthly Social Security payment, leaving some people financially destitute, as reported by "60 Minutes," KFF Health News and other media outlets. In a statement issued Wednesday, Social Security Commissioner Martin O'Malley said the agency will cease "the heavy-handed practice of intercepting 100% of an overpaid beneficiary's monthly Social Security benefit." (Picchi, 3/20)

Politico: Congressional Leaders Roll Out Final $1.2T Funding Package Ahead Of Saturday Shutdown Deadline 
Congressional leaders are one step closer to closing out a particularly chaotic government funding season, releasing a massive, $1.2 trillion spending package early Thursday morning that they aim to pass through both chambers by week’s end. Lawmakers are again racing against a partial government shutdown that would hit just after midnight Saturday morning, after a fight over border-related funding delayed legislative text. The new package leaders unveiled overnight would boost budgets for the military through the end of September, while keeping funding for most non-defense agencies about even with current spending levels. (Emma and Scholtes, 3/21)

The Hill: Rand Paul Vows To Hold Up $1T ‘Minibus’ That Must Pass By Friday 
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says he will hold up a $1 trillion “minibus” spending package that needs to pass by the end of the day Friday to avoid triggering a partial government shutdown. “I will hold it up primarily because we’re bankrupt, and it’s a terrible idea to keep spending money at this rate,” Paul told The Hill on Wednesday. (Bolton, 3/20)

Modern Healthcare: Bill To Help Health Workers With Burnout Moves Ahead In Congress
A bill designed to help counter depression, burnout and suicide among healthcare providers cleared a key hurdle Wednesday, passing unanimously out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Reauthorization Act of 2024 updates and extends for five years an earlier version of the law. It funds grants for healthcare organizations and associations to run programs aimed at improving workers' mental health amid staff shortages and ongoing fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. (McAuliff, 3/20)

The Washington Post: House Republicans Call For Probe Into Unspent Mental Health Funds 
House Republicans asked a government watchdog to investigate federal officials’ oversight of mental health funding, citing documents showing that more than $3.8 billion intended for emergency coronavirus response and for a 988 suicide and crisis hotline remained unspent as of late last year. (Diamond, 3/20)

Axios: Senate Probe Examines High-Risk Biotech Research
Senators are launching an investigation of national security threats posed by high-risk biological research amid intensifying concern over U.S.-China biotech competition and lingering questions about COVID's origins. The probe by the top lawmakers on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee could help fuel a push for new restrictions on Chinese contract research firms like WuXi AppTec that critics say are tied to Beijing and pose a security risk. (Bettelheim, 3/21)

Roll Call: With Fiscal 2024 Funding Still In The Works, Becerra Looks To 2025 
Two influential House panels questioned the administration’s top health official Wednesday during hearings on the White House’s fiscal 2025 budget proposal for the Health and Human Services Department, even as Congress races to avoid a partial government shutdown involving this year’s HHS funding. (Raman and Clason, 3/20)

USA Today: Obama, Pelosi Join Biden To Mark Affordable Healthcare Anniversary
President Joe Biden is touting his health care policy record with the help of some special guests: former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Biden campaign is launching a week of events in eight battleground states ahead of the Affordable Care Act anniversary as the president vies for his second term in the White House. Obama and Pelosi, D-Calif., will join the president on a national organizing call Saturday to mobilize supporters around protecting the ACA. (Looker, 3/20)

Los Angeles Times: Newsom's Proposition 1 Passes In California's Primary Election
The close contest over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $6.4-billion bond measure to transform California’s mental health system finally ended Wednesday, more than two weeks after the primary election. Though election officials have until April 12 to officially certify the results, Proposition 1 led with 50.2% of the vote when the race was called with more than 7.5 million ballots counted statewide. (Luna, 3/20)

AP: California Wants To Pay Doctors More Money To See Medicaid Patients
When Hunter Morgan bought an optometry practice in Southern California three years ago, one of the first things he did was start seeing patients who use Medicaid — the government-funded health insurance program for low-income people. The previous owners had not accepted patients on Medicaid, which covers roughly a third of California’s 39 million residents. But Morgan felt he had a responsibility to serve people in need. (Beam, 3/21)

AP: Washington Gov. Inslee Signs Fentanyl Bill Sending Money To Disproportionately Affected Tribes
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has signed a multimillion-dollar measure to send state money to tribes and Indigenous people in the state who die from opioid overdoses at disproportionately high rates in Washington. It was one of seven fentanyl-related bills Inslee signed Tuesday while on the Tulalip Indian Reservation, KING-TV reported. (3/20)

The Hill: Expanded ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law Advances To Alabama House
Alabama state lawmakers on Wednesday advanced legislation that would prohibit classroom discussions or instruction related to gender identity or sexual orientation in public schools through 12th grade, expanding the existing law that extends through 5th grade. The House Education Policy Committee advanced the legislation, which now heads to the Alabama House of Representatives for a full vote. (Fortinsky, 3/20)

Reuters: Trump Signals Support For 15-Week National Abortion Ban
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he was leaning toward a 15-week national ban on abortion but supports exceptions for rape, incest and saving the life of the mother because "you have to win elections." (Chiacu and Oliphant, 3/20)

Reuters: UnitedHealth Says Unit Change Has Restored And Rebuilt Functions Handled By Amazon
UnitedHealth Group said on Wednesday its unit Change Healthcare's cloud-based services for handling medical claims were completely rebuilt and restored, about a month after a cybersecurity attack on the subsidiary crippled healthcare in the United States. Amazon's cloud services for two of Change Healthcare's applications were restored from backups and cleared by their cybersecurity partners, the insurer said. (3/20)

Axios: UnitedHealth Hack Reveals Gaps In Doctors' Cyberattack Insurance
Many health care providers struggling to get paid after the hack of a UnitedHealth Group subsidiary are still trying to figure out if their cyberattack insurance will help cover their losses. (Reed, 3/21)

Modern Healthcare: Staffing Shortages Named Top Issue For Hospitals In 2023: ACHE
Workforce challenges remain the top worry of hospital CEOs, according to a survey by the American College of Healthcare Executives. A shortage of technicians and nurses and burnout among non-physician workers were the most pressing issues related to staffing, according to the group's survey of 241 CEOs at community hospitals last fall. The survey asked participants to rank hospital industry challenges on an 11-point scale in terms of how pressing they were. (DeSilva, 3/20)

Axios: Doctors Less Likely To Respond To Black Patients' Emails, Study Suggests
Black patients at large health systems may be less likely than white patients to get responses from doctors to emailed questions, a new JAMA Network Open study suggests. (Goldman, 3/21)

The New York Times: More Studies By Columbia Cancer Researchers Are Retracted
Scientists in a prominent cancer lab at Columbia University have now had four studies retracted and a stern note added to a fifth accusing it of “severe abuse of the scientific publishing system,” the latest fallout from research misconduct allegations recently leveled against several leading cancer scientists. A scientific sleuth in Britain last year uncovered discrepancies in data published by the Columbia lab, including the reuse of photos and other images across different papers. (Mueller, 3/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Elon Musk’s Neuralink Shows First Patient Using Its Brain Implant
Elon Musk’s Neuralink introduced the first patient to receive its brain-computer implant, a 29-year-old diving-accident victim who showed during a livestream that he can now move a computer cursor using the device. ... Moving a computer cursor isn’t a big technical leap for brain-computer interfaces. An older brain chip first implanted in a human in 2004 also helped a paralyzed person move a cursor with only their thoughts. But the older chip must be attached to a device on the outside of the brain to transmit data, requiring wires protruding through the skin. Another notable feature of Neuralink’s presentation was that Noland Arbaugh was multitasking: playing chess while speaking about his experience getting the implant. Prior demonstrations of brain-computer interfaces have required dedicated attention to a particular task. (Winkler and Corse, 3/20)

The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore Is Suing Drug Companies For Conspiring To Boost Insulin Prices
Baltimore is taking Eli Lilly and other pharmaceutical giants to court, accusing them of artificially inflating the cost of insulin and other diabetes medications. Mayor Brandon Scott, a Democrat, and the Baltimore City Council filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Maryland against Eli Lilly and 17 other companies, including CVS and drug maker Novo Nordisk. They are requesting a jury trial. (Roberts, 3/20)

Stat: J&J Alleges Ex-Employee Took Thousands Of Documents To New Job At Pfizer
Johnson & Johnson has accused a long-standing employee of taking thousands of confidential files about commercial strategies as he left for a similar job at Pfizer, according to lawsuit filed in a federal court in New Jersey. (Silverman, 3/20)

Reuters: GSK To Cap Out-Of-Pocket Inhaler Costs In US 
British pharmaceutical giant GSK said on Wednesday it would cap out-of-pocket costs for all its inhaled asthma and chronic lung disease medicines at $35 per month for eligible patients in the United States, following similar moves by two of its rivals. GSK said the decision will take effect by Jan. 1, 2025. (3/20)

Santa Cruz Sentinel: Shigella Cases Continue To Grow In Santa Cruz County
Numbers are continuing to climb when it comes to a bacterial outbreak that Santa Cruz County public health officials have been battling for weeks. As of Monday, there were 37 confirmed cases of shigellosis in the county, primarily in the North County region among individuals experiencing homelessness, county Health Officer Lisa Hernandez told the Sentinel. That is an increase of 10 overall cases since late February. (Hattis, 3/20)

The New York Times: Following Measles Outbreaks, Officials Grow Wary Of Renewed Threat 
Because widespread measles outbreaks have been rare, most Americans, including doctors, may not recognize the vibrant red rash that accompanies respiratory symptoms in a measles infection. They may have forgotten the impact of the disease on individuals and communities. “Most of our local health department folks have never seen a measles outbreak,” said Dr. Christine Hahn, state epidemiologist of Idaho, which contained a small cluster of cases last year. (Mandavilli, 3/20)

CIDRAP: CDC Details 2021-2023 Hepatitis Deaths Of 8 US Children, With Possible Link To Adenovirus 
Yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers described the cases of eight US children who died of acute hepatitis of unknown cause—half of whom tested positive for adenovirus—from October 2021 to June 2023. (Van Beusekom, 3/20)

WUWF: HIV Patients In Panhandle Caught In The Middle Of Two Nonprofits' Contract Dispute
An ugly legal battle between OASIS and AHF —involving a quarter-million dollars in federal funding for HIV medical care — is affecting hundreds of low-income patients in Northwest Florida. (Strickland, 3/20)

The Mercury News: Amputations, Sexual Assault, Lice: Bay Area Nursing Home Operator Settles Lawsuit
A company operating 10 nursing homes in and around the Bay Area has settled a lawsuit by local county prosecutors and the State of California alleging it neglected vulnerable patients’ medical care and hygiene needs and exposed them to physical and sexual assaults. Under the settlement, Mariner Health Care, ... agreed to pay up to $15.5 million if it fails to abide by terms related to patient safety and staffing levels. (Baron, 3/20)

Fox News: Artificial Intelligence Helps Predict Seniors’ Long-Term Care Needs: ‘Critical Next Steps’
Could artificial intelligence predict when your aging loved one will need long-term care? Approximately 70% of adults aged 65 years and older will require long-term care at some point in their lifetime, statistics show — and the time leading up to that can be fraught with uncertainty. One California company is looking to change that with its new AI platform called Waterlily. The founder and CEO, Lily Vittayarukskul, started the platform after her own personal struggles with family caregiving. (Rudy, 3/21)

NBC News: Aggressive Colon Cancer: Newly Identified Bacteria Found In Half Of Tumors May Drive Growth
A type of bacteria that causes dental plaque may be behind a treatment-resistant form of colorectal cancer, a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature found. The particular bacterium, which appears to shield tumor cells from cancer-fighting drugs, was found in 50% of the tumors tested in the study. The discovery, experts say, could pave the way for new treatments and possibly new methods of screening. (Sullivan, 3/20)

NPR: Federal Menthol Cigarette Ban Is Coming. So Are 'Non-Menthol' Substitutes
A long-awaited federal ban on menthol cigarettes and cigars remains in limbo, after the White House delayed finalizing a proposed rule until at least this month. In states like California and Massachusetts where such restrictions already exist, tobacco companies are launching new menthol-like products to try to sidestep regulations. These new "non-menthol" tobacco products mimic traditional menthols; they contain a different chemical additive with a similar cooling effect, and often come branded and packaged, much like their menthol predecessors. (Noguchi, 3/21)

The New York Times: Eclipses Injured Their Eyes, and the World Never Looked the Same
A young woman visited New York Eye & Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai Hospital shortly after the eclipse of Aug. 21, 2017. She told Dr. Avnish Deobhakta, an ophthalmologist, that she had a black area in her vision, and then drew a crescent shape for him on a piece of paper. When Dr. Deobhakta examined her eyes, he was astonished. He saw a burn on her retina that was exactly the same shape. It was “almost like a branding,” he said. (Kolata, 3/20)

CNN: Global Fertility Rates To Plunge In Decades Ahead, New Report Says 
A new study projects that global fertility rates, which have been declining in all countries since 1950, will continue to plummet through the end of the century, resulting in a profound demographic shift. (Cheng, 3/20)

CIDRAP: WHO Warns Of Yellow Fever Spread In 13 African Nations 
The World Health Organization (WHO) said today in an outbreak notice that 13 countries in Africa have reported confirmed or probable yellow fever cases since the start of 2023. It urged countries to increase surveillance because of the potential for onward transmission through travel and the presence of mosquitoes in neighboring countries that are capable of spreading the disease. (Schnirring, 3/20)

CIDRAP: Climate Change Unleashing Torrent Of Infectious Disease Threats, Physicians Caution
The shorter and milder winters, warming oceans, altered precipitation patterns, and extreme weather of climate change are fueling the spread of infectious diseases, experts warn today in JAMA. Infectious-disease physicians from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the University of California Davis (UCD) noted that the past decade saw 9 of the 10 warmest years on record, along with severe heat, droughts, wildfires, floods, and hurricanes. (Van Beusekom, 3/20)