First Edition: March 22, 2023

KHN: End Of Covid Emergency Will Usher In Changes Across The US Health System
The Biden administration’s decision to end the covid-19 public health emergency in May will institute sweeping changes across the health care system that go far beyond many people having to pay more for covid tests. In response to the pandemic, the federal government in 2020 suspended many of its rules on how care is delivered. That transformed essentially every corner of American health care — from hospitals and nursing homes to public health and treatment for people recovering from addiction. (Pradhan, 3/22)

KHN: Prescription For Housing? California Wants Medicaid To Cover 6 Months Of Rent 
Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose administration is struggling to contain a worsening homelessness crisis despite record spending, is trying something bold: tapping federal health care funding to cover rent for homeless people and those at risk of losing their housing. States are barred from using federal Medicaid dollars to pay directly for rent, but California’s governor is asking the administration of President Joe Biden, a fellow Democrat, to authorize a new program called “transitional rent,” which would provide up to six months of rent or temporary housing for low-income enrollees who rely on the state’s health care safety net — a new initiative in his arsenal of programs to fight and prevent homelessness. (Hart, 3/22)

KHN and Tampa Bay Times: A Lot Of Thought, Little Action: Proposals About Mental Health Go Unheeded 
Thousands of people struggle to access mental health services in Florida. The treatment system is disjointed and complex. Some residents bounce between providers and are prescribed different medications with clinicians unaware of what happened. Jails and prisons have become de facto homes for many who need care. These problems and more were identified in a scathing report released earlier this year by the Commission on Mental Health and Substance Abuse, a 19-person panel that Florida lawmakers created in 2021 to push for reforms of the state’s patchwork of behavioral health services for uninsured people and low-income families. (Ogozalek, 3/22)

KHN: Listen To The Latest ‘KHN Health Minute’ 
This week on the KHN Health Minute, toxic substances in common beauty care products and what might be next after the government lowers the barriers to gold-standard addiction treatment. (3/21)

The Washington Post: Oklahoma Must Allow Abortion If Mother’s Life Is Threatened, Court Rules
The Oklahoma Supreme Court overturned part of the state’s near-total abortion ban, ruling in a 5-to-4 decision that the procedure would be lawful if there is a reasonable chance that a pregnancy could threaten a pregnant person’s life. Oklahoma’s constitution protects the right to an abortion if “the woman’s physician has determined to a reasonable degree of medical certainty” that continuing “the pregnancy will endanger the woman’s life,” the court’s justices said in Tuesday’s ruling. “Absolute certainty” that the pregnancy will be life-threatening isn’t required, but “mere possibility or speculation” is insufficient, they added. (Jeong, 3/22)

AP: Judge To Consider Allowing Abortions To Resume In Wyoming
A judge will hear arguments Wednesday over whether abortions will be allowed in Wyoming while a sweeping new ban gets challenged in her court. The ban took effect Sunday, making abortion illegal in Wyoming despite earlier rulings by Teton County District Court Judge Melissa Owens that blocked an earlier ban hours after it took effect last summer. (Gruver, 3/22)

WUSF Public Media: A Florida Senate Panel Advances A Measure To Ban Most Abortions At 6 Weeks
A Florida bill that would limit most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy began moving forward in the state Senate on Monday. The bill (SB 300) cleared the Senate's Republican-controlled Committee on Health Policy while several amendments brought by the panel's three Democratic members failed. Under proposal, moving to a six-week limit would be contingent on the Florida Supreme Court effectively upholding the 15-week law. A decision may not come until the legislative session ends in May. (Carter, 3/21)

AP: Evers Pushes To Repeal Abortion Ban Ahead Of Court Election
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and his fellow Democrats worked Tuesday to keep the spotlight on abortion ahead of next month’s state Supreme Court election, resurrecting a bill that would repeal the state’s 1849 ban on the practice. (Richmond, 3/21)

AP: Kansas Could Soon Approve 'Born Alive' Abortion Bill
A Kansas proposal based on the disputed idea that providers leave newborns to die after unsuccessful abortions is nearing legislative approval, as Republicans pursue limited anti-abortion measures following a decisive statewide vote last year protecting abortion rights. (Hanna, 3/22)

Politico: Abortion Pill Access Threatened In Nevada Amid Legal Uncertainty 
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) is condemning one of the nation’s biggest pharmaceutical wholesalers — AmerisourceBergen — over what she said is its refusal to distribute abortion pills to retail pharmacies in her state. The state’s senior U.S. senator said the company’s government affairs and legal teams informed her staff on Friday that Nevada is one of 29 states where it will not supply pharmacies with the Mifeprex, the brand name of the FDA-approved abortion drug mifepristone. The company will, however, continue to supply the drug directly to physicians. (Ollstein, 3/21)

The 19th: Only 1 Percent Of Utah's Abortions Are Performed In Hospitals
Exclusive research provided to The 19th shows that almost all of the abortions in Utah were done in clinics, which will soon no longer be able to perform the procedure. Last week, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed a law banning abortions from being provided in specialized clinics. Under the law, Utah will stop renewing or issuing licenses to abortion clinics starting May 2. As of January 2024, licenses will be outlawed in the state. (Gerson, 3/21)

The 19th: Wisconsin Supreme Court Election: Abortion Takes Center Stage In Debate
The two candidates in a pivotal race for Wisconsin Supreme Court sparred on abortion access and judicial independence in their only one-on-one debate, held Tuesday afternoon. The election between liberal Janet Protasiewicz and conservative Dan Kelly will decide the balance of the court and likely the fate of abortion in the state, where it has been inaccessible since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. (Panetta, 3/21)

The Atlantic: The Missing Data That Could Help Turn The COVID Origins Debate
But what might otherwise have been a straightforward story on new evidence has rapidly morphed into a mystery centered on the origins debate’s data gaps. Within a day or so of nabbing the sequences off a database called GISAID, the researchers told me, they reached out to the Chinese scientists who had uploaded the data to share some preliminary results. The next day, public access to the sequences was locked—according to GISAID, at the request of the Chinese researchers, who had previously analyzed the data and drawn distinctly different conclusions about what they contained. (Wu, 3/21)

The New York Times: Wuhan Market Samples Contained Covid and Animal Mixtures, Report Says
On Jan. 12, 2020, Chinese investigators combing a market for clues about the outbreak of a mysterious new illness in the city of Wuhan swabbed a cart. It was the kind typically used for transporting animal cages, and it came back positive for the coronavirus. Three years later, a team of international experts has sifted through the genetic contents of that swab, which were quietly uploaded to an international database and made public only this year. In a report released on Monday night, the scientists described in detail for the first time evidence from the swab that they say strengthens the case that illegally traded wild animals ignited the coronavirus pandemic. (Mueller, 3/21)

The New York Times: ‘We Were Helpless’: Despair At The CDC As The Covid Pandemic Erupted 
In early March 2020, as the nation succumbed to a pandemic, a group of young scientists walked out of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. They left quietly, one or two at a time, through the building’s front doors, flashing their badges at guards, instead of through side exits where their departures would be recorded. Gathering in a small park across the street, they stood with their coffees in hand and agonized over some shocking developments. (Mandavilli, 3/21)

CNN: Health Officials Consider Another Round Of Bivalent Boosters For The Most Vulnerable Americans
US officials are weighing whether to offer people who are at high risk of severe Covid-19 the chance to get another bivalent booster, according to a source familiar with the deliberations, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to share the details of ongoing discussions. (Goodman, 3/21)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Missouri House Advances Measure Limiting Vaccines
The Missouri House approved an anti-vaccination measure Tuesday that could tie the hands of health professionals to address future pandemics. The proposal, sponsored by Republican Rep. Bill Hardwick of Waynesville, would bar governments from being able to mandate a COVID-19 vaccine or future potential medical technologies like microchips placed under someone’s skin. (Erickson, 3/21)

AP: North Carolina House Advances Ban On COVID Vaccine Mandates
North Carolina’s public schools, colleges and universities would be prohibited from requiring a student to prove they have been vaccinated against COVID-19 under a bill that advanced Tuesday in the state House. (Schoenbaum, 3/21)

Los Angeles Blade: National AIDS Policy Office: Congress Must Increase Funding
Harold Phillips, director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP), said Monday that Congress must increase funding to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic, including for programs designed around the lives and needs of Americans who are living with the disease. “We have the support of the Biden Harris administration, and we have the support at HHS, but without Congressional funding we can’t get there,” said Phillips, who delivered his remarks during the AIDS United annual AIDSWatch conference in Washington, D.C. (Kane, 3/20)

NBC News: Grindr Joins Major Public Health Push To Distribute Free At-Home HIV Tests
The world’s most popular gay dating app, Grindr, is participating in a nationwide effort to distribute free at-home HIV testing kits to populations most affected by the virus. “If you’ve got a way that you are testing, and it’s really working for you, then that’s great, and you should stick with that,” Jack Harrison-Quintana, director of the app’s social justice division, Grindr for Equality, told NBC News. “If you don’t, this is an additional way for you to get tested in a way that’s just about as easy as doing an at-home Covid test.” (Valle, 3/21)

ABC News: Gerber Powdered Infant Formula Voluntarily Recalled Due To Possible Bacteria Exposure
Some of Gerber's powdered infant formula products that were manufactured at a facility in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, have been voluntarily recalled due to possible bacterial contamination. The infant formulas are "being recalled out of an abundance of caution due to potential presence of cronobacter sakazakii," Perrigo Company, which makes the recalled formulas, announced Friday. (Yu, 3/21)

NBC News: Drug Shortages Are Rising And Pose A National Security Risk, New Report Warns
Children's medication, antibiotics and treatment for ADHD are among a number of drugs that have been in short supply in recent months — and these shortages of critical medications are only rising, according to a new report set to be released on Wednesday. From 2021 to 2022, new drug shortages increased by nearly 30%, according to the report prepared by Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. (Shabad and Tsirkin, 3/22)

The Washington Post: Rise Of Deadly Fungus Spotlights Hospital Infection Control Challenges
A deadly fungus spreading at an alarming rate in U.S. health facilities has exposed the broader problem of how patient safety is jeopardized by underfunded and understaffed infection-prevention efforts, experts say. On any given day, 1 in 31 hospital patients and 1 in 43 nursing home residents has an infection acquired while seeking medical care, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Nirappil and Keating, 3/21)

The Washington Post: New Liver Transplant Rules Yield Winners, Losers As Wasted Organs Reach Record High
New rules requiring donated livers to be offered for transplant hundreds of miles away have benefited patients in New York, California and more than a dozen other states at the expense of patients in mostly poorer states with higher death rates from liver disease, a data analysis by The Washington Post and the Markup has found. The shift was implemented in 2020 to prioritize the sickest patients on waitlists no matter where they live. While it has succeeded in that goal, it also has borne out the fears of critics who warned the change would reduce the number of surgeries and increase deaths in areas that already lagged behind the nation overall in health-care access. (Carollo and Tanen, 3/21)

MiBiz: Michigan Family Physicians Seek Funding To Halt Rural Staffing Crisis
The group representing 4,300 primary care doctors in Michigan is calling for more public funding to stem a worsening shortage of family physicians, especially in rural markets. (Sanchez, 3/21)

Modern Healthcare: How Health Workers Are Getting Mental Health Help From Employers
Healthcare providers such as Advocate Health, Ochsner Health and Inspira Health are turning their focus to long-term, creative and cost-effective investments to support employee mental health. The COVID-19 pandemic heightened existing challenges surrounding labor shortages and employee burnout. Scrambling to accommodate healthcare workers suffering through the crisis taught employers key lessons that inform new approaches to employee well-being and mental health, executives said. (Berryman, 3/21)

Stat: Cerebral, Telehealth Startups Face Privacy Pushback Over Ad Models
A potential class-action lawsuit against troubled digital prescribing startup Cerebral raises crucial questions about whether standard online marketing methods violate legal and ethical standards — an issue with important implications for dozens of other telehealth companies doing largely the same thing, experts tell STAT. (Ravindranath and Ross, 3/22)

The Boston Globe: Boston Scientists Say They’re A Step Closer To Growing Human Eggs In The Lab
George Church is known for pushing the boundaries of biology. The Harvard University geneticist played a key role in developing technologies to read and edit genes and has made waves with his proposal to resurrect the extinct woolly mammoth. Now one of his latest projects could have enormous implications for how humans reproduce. (Cross, 3/21)

AP: Georgia Bill Restricting Vaping In Public Gets Final Passage
Georgia lawmakers gave final passage Tuesday to a bill that would restrict vaping in public spaces. The state House voted 152-14 to pass Senate Bill 47, which would regulate vaping in the same way the state already regulates smoking. The bill goes to Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature or veto. (3/21)

The Hill: ‘Cancer Alley’ Residents Say They Are Victims Of Environmental Racism In New Lawsuit 
Residents of an area of Louisiana that has become known as “cancer alley” due to the prominence of pollution coming from industry there are alleging that they are the victims of environmental racism in a new lawsuit. They specifically point to a 2014 land use plan issued by their parish, the Louisiana equivalent of a county, which designated majority-black areas as places where industry could develop, according to the lawsuit. (Frazin, 3/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Nestlé Says Less Than Half Of Its Main Portfolio Is Ranked As Healthy
Less than half of Nestlé’s main food-and-drink portfolio is considered healthy, according to the results of an international nutrient profiling system that the Swiss food company published for the first time. Nestlé started using it last year with the aim of boosting transparency about the nutritional value of its products. In its 2022 annual report, published Tuesday, the maker of KitKat chocolate bars and Nescafe coffee said 54% of its net sales came from products rated at the lower end of the health ratings scale. This doesn’t include pet food or other specialized products, such as vitamins, and excludes some recent acquisitions, Nestlé said. (Kirby, 3/21)

CBS News: Eye Drop Recalls: Death Toll Climbs In People Affected By Pseudomonas Aeruginosa
The death toll has now climbed in the outbreak of extensively drug-resistant bacteria that was linked to recalled eye drops, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday, confirming two more deaths in people infected by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Eight people have lost their vision and four have had their eyeballs removed, according to the CDC's latest update, out of 68 patients identified across 16 states with the bacteria. One death had previously been reported in a Washington state man. (Tin, 3/21)