First Edition: March 6, 2024

KFF Health News: Why Even Public Health Experts Have Limited Insight Into Stopping Gun Violence In America
Gun violence has exploded across the U.S. in recent years — from mass shootings at concerts and supermarkets to school fights settled with a bullet after the last bell. Nearly every day of 2024 so far has brought more violence. On Feb. 14, gunfire broke out at the Super Bowl parade in Kansas City, killing one woman and injuring 22 others. Most events draw little attention — while the injuries and toll pile up. Gun violence is among America’s most deadly and costly public health crises. (Spolar, 3/6)

KFF Health News: Biden Is Right. The US Generally Pays Double That Of Other Countries For Rx Drugs
It’s well documented that Americans pay high prices for health care. But do they pay double or more for prescriptions compared with the rest of the world? President Joe Biden said they did. “If I put you on Air Force One with me, and you have a prescription — no matter what it’s for, minor or major — and I flew you to Toronto or flew to London or flew you to Brazil or flew you anywhere in the world, I can get you that prescription filled for somewhere between 40 to 60% less than it costs here,” Biden said Feb. 22 at a campaign reception in California. (Putterman, 3/6)

KFF Health News: Share Your Catholic Hospital Story With Us
Are you a patient who has received care at a Catholic hospital? Are you a clinician working at a Catholic hospital who has felt the care you give has been constrained by the “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services,” issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops? Tell us here. (3/5)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute'
“Health Minute” brings original health care and health policy reporting from the KFF Health News newsroom to the airwaves each week. (3/5)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Offers Relief To Providers Affected By Change Healthcare Outage
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has rolled out efforts to help providers navigate the Change Healthcare outage disrupting healthcare operations nationwide, the Health and Human Services Department announced Tuesday. CMS ordered its claims administrators to assist pharmacies, hospitals and others that need to use alternate means to process transactions while Change Healthcare, part of UnitedHealth Group's Optum subsidiary, works to get its systems back online following a Feb. 21 cyberattack. (Berryman, 3/5)

Bloomberg: UnitedHealth Unit Hack Muddies Humana’s View Of Care Expenses
The cyberattack on a UnitedHealth Group Inc. data service is making it harder for health insurers across the industry to gauge their medical care expenses, Humana Inc. executives said Tuesday. About 15% to 20% of Humana’s medical claims submitted by providers flow through Change Healthcare systems before they reach the insurer, Humana Chief Financial Officer Susan Diamond said at an investor conference. (Tozzi, 3/5)

Axios: Change Cyberattack Spawns Threat Of Patient Lawsuits
The cyber attack on Change Healthcare that's reverberated across the medical system is now spawning threats of litigation from patients. Patients left scrambling to determine if insurance will cover drugs or treatments could seek damages from the UnitedHealth Group subsidiary, whose stricken payment network is a mainstay of hospitals, pharmacies and physician offices and processes 15 billion transactions annually. (Reed, 3/6)

Reuters: 'Exit Scam' - Hackers That Hit UnitedHealth Pull Disappearing Act 
The hackers responsible for the breach at UnitedHealth Group appear to have pulled a disappearing act on Tuesday, leaving their cybercriminal associates in the lurch and replacing their old website with a bogus statement from law enforcement. The U.S. insurer disclosed on Feb. 21 that Blackcat hacking gang - also known as ALPHV - had perpetrated a cyberattack on its technology unit Change Healthcare, causing disruptions across the U.S. healthcare system. (Pearson and Bing, 3/5)

Crain's Chicago Business: Lurie Children's Hospital Reactivates Electronic Health Records
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital said it has reactivated its electronic health record (EHR) platform, among other systems, and has fully restored its phones after a cyberattack that forced the hospital to shut down its entire network in late January. However, patients do not yet have access to the electronic portal MyChart, Lurie said. Patients and their families use MyChart for interactions including sending questions to providers, scheduling, reordering prescriptions, viewing test results and reviewing records. (Asplund, 3/5)

Modern Healthcare: Private Equity In Healthcare Under Scrutiny From FTC, DOJ, HHS 
Federal regulators launched an investigation Tuesday probing private equity firms’ investment in healthcare. The Federal Trade Commission, Justice Department and Health and Human Services Department are seeking information on the effects of private equity and other corporate investor-backed healthcare transactions, particularly those that fall under regulators’ threshold for review. (Kacik, 3/5)

Modern Healthcare: Private Equity Rapidly Acquiring Physician Groups, Study Shows
Private equity firms continue to acquire physician groups at an accelerating clip, prompting closer scrutiny from state and federal lawmakers. Private equity acquisitions of physician practices grew seven-fold between 2012 and 2021, according to a peer-reviewed study from University of California, Berkeley researchers. The study, published Monday in Health Affairs, said those acquisitions have led to a concentration of private equity firms’ market share. (Kacik, 3/5)

Stat: Biden's 'March-In' Plan On Drug Prices Could Fall To New GOP Attack
Republicans in Congress might try to use a technical maneuver to block the Biden administration from using so-called march-in rights to seize pharmaceutical patents and lower drug prices. (Wilkerson, 3/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Voters Approve Measure Requiring Drug Screening
A contentious ballot measure sponsored by Mayor London Breed to mandate drug screenings for welfare recipients passed Tuesday, sending a clear message that voters want to see a more aggressive response to the city’s drug crisis. The measure was backed by 63% of the vote late Tuesday night. The measure, known as Proposition F, requires adults who receive cash assistance from San Francisco to undergo a drug screening and enroll in a free treatment program if they’re determined to be drug users. (Angst, 3/5)

Politico: A Nail-Biter For Newsom’s Mental Health Bond 
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature mental health bond was too close to call Tuesday night, with support hovering over 50 percent around midnight while ballots were still being tabulated. Proposition 1 would change the Mental Health Services Act, a 2004 tax on incomes over a million dollars that currently generates around $4 billion annually, imposing new requirements on how counties report and spend the funds on mental health programs. The measure also includes a $6.4 billion bond that supporters say would build 11,000 addiction and mental health treatment beds and supportive housing for veterans. (Bluth, 3/6)

Reuters: South Carolina Still Cannot Defund Planned Parenthood, US Court Rules
South Carolina cannot cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday, finding that doing so would deprive Medicaid patients of their right to choose their provider. The order marks the third time that a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has stopped the state from defunding the reproductive health organization on the grounds that it provides abortions. (Pierson, 3/5)

AP: Alabama Lawmakers Advance Legislation To Protect IVF Providers After Frozen Embryo Ruling
Alabama lawmakers facing public pressure to restart in vitro fertilization services in the state advanced legislation to shield providers from the fallout of a court ruling that equated frozen embryos to children. Committees in the state Senate and House on Tuesday approved identical bills that would protect providers from lawsuits and criminal prosecution for the “damage or death of an embryo” during IVF services. The state’s three major IVF providers paused services after the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling last month because of the sweeping liability concerns it raised. (Chandler, 3/6)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: IVF In Missouri Protected By 2016 Court Ruling, Experts Say
After the Alabama Supreme Court ruled last month that pre-embryos created through in vitro fertilization are “extrauterine” unborn children, some IVF providers in that state suspended services. A cascade of news coverage followed the decision, stoking fears about the legal status and availability of IVF in other states, including Missouri. (Pfeil, 3/5)

NPR: How States Giving Rights To Fetuses Could Set Up A National Case On Abortion 
When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, decisions about abortion regulation reverted to individual states. But Ziegler said if states can continually make laws that give rights to fetuses and that makes it to the highest court, it could potentially cut off access to abortion nationwide. (McCarthy, 3/5)

Politico: ‘The Worst Message We Could Find’: How Alabama’s IVF Ruling Raised The Stakes For Food Aid Fight 
The Alabama Supreme Court’s IVF decision upped the pressure on House Republicans to back a funding increase for nutrition aid to low-income moms and babies in the spending deal Congress is poised to pass this week. Some GOP lawmakers facing tough reelections in more moderate districts had been pushing Speaker Mike Johnson to keep a dispute over the funding from becoming a major fight in the spending talks. (Hill, 3/5)

Stat: Streamlined Flu Vaccines Recommended By FDA Advisory Panel
When Americans line up for flu vaccines next fall, they will almost certainly be getting vaccines that no longer contain protection against a family of flu viruses that appears to be extinct. (Branswell, 3/5)

The Washington Post: What Happened After A Man Got 217 Coronavirus Shots
German researchers have examined a “hypervaccinated” man they say received more than 200 coronavirus shots without any noticeable side effects or harm to his immune system. ... The 62-year-old man came to researchers’ attention when German prosecutors opened up a fraud investigation. The man said he had received 217 vaccinations for “private reasons.” German authorities did not file criminal charges. (Pannett, 3/5)

Fox News: Chip Roy Unveils Bill To Let Americans Sue COVID-19 Vaccine Makers Over Injury, Negative Effects 
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, is unveiling a new bill on Tuesday that would allow Americans to sue COVID-19 vaccine makers over adverse health effects allegedly caused by the shot. The Let Injured Americans Be Legally Empowered (LIABLE) Act is aimed at wiping away COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers’ statutory protections, opening them up to civil lawsuits. (Elkind, 3/5)

Politico: Cuomo Subpoenaed By House Panel Over Covid Response 
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo was issued a subpoena Tuesday by the Republican-led House subcommittee investigating the governmental response to the Covid-19 pandemic. ... Questions were raised more than a month into the crisis after a state order in March 2020 that barred nursing homes and assisted living facilities from turning away Covid positive patients as officials feared hospitals would be overrun. Approximately 15,000 nursing home residents died, and his administration later acknowledged it had withheld information.(Reisman, 3/5)

Stat: Florida Health Officials Providing Scant Details On Measles Cases
On Sunday, public health officials in two Michigan counties warned their residents that they may have been exposed to measles. In Wayne County, an adult who had contracted the virus abroad had been in health-related settings in Dearborn on two days last week — two urgent care clinics, a CVS pharmacy, and a hospital emergency department. Health officials in neighboring Washtenaw County issued a similar alert about a different case — also an adult, also infected abroad — who was in the emergency department of a hospital in Ypsilanti on March 1. (Branswell, 3/6)

Reuters: Pharmacy Exec In Plea Deal In Michigan Over 2012 Meningitis Outbreak Deaths 
A former owner of a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy whose mold-tainted drugs sparked a deadly U.S. fungal meningitis outbreak in 2012 has pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter charges over the deaths of 11 Michigan residents. The plea by Barry Cadden, the former president of New England Compounding Center, was announced on Tuesday by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and resolves a criminal case her office brought against him in state court in 2018. (Raymond, 3/5)

Reuters: Bayer Notches More Wins In Roundup Weedkiller Cancer Trials 
Bayer on Tuesday said it won a trial in a lawsuit brought by a retired postal service worker in Pennsylvania who alleged he developed non-Hodgkins lymphoma from using the company's Roundup weedkiller. In addition to the jury verdict in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Bayer said a California farmer, who said he contracted the same type of cancer from exposure to the product, and his wife on Tuesday voluntarily dropped their lawsuit while a trial was underway in the in state court in Sonoma County, California. (Pierson, 3/5)

Reuters: Latest J&J Talc Trial Ends With Hung Jury
The latest trial over claims that Johnson & Johnson's talc products cause cancer ended in a mistrial on Tuesday, as a Florida state court jury said it could not agree on a verdict. The lawsuit was brought by Bob Sugarman, who said that J&J's talc-based baby powder led his wife to develop ovarian cancer and die from the disease. J&J said in a statement after the mistrial that its baby powder "is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer." (Pierson, 3/5)

Stat: Ozempic Has Benefits For Kidney Disease As Well As Diabetes
Novo Nordisk’s diabetes medication Ozempic cut the risk of patients developing advanced kidney disease or dying from kidney or heart complications, the company said Tuesday, adding to the evidence the wildly popular drug has broader health benefits for patients beyond addressing their diabetes. (Joseph, 3/5)

Reuters: WHO Warns Of Growing Resistance To GSK's HIV Drug
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday resistance to GSK's HIV drug dolutegravir has exceeded levels observed during its trials, citing observational and survey data received from a few countries. Resistance ranged from 3.9% to 8.6% and reached 19.6% among people who have received and transitioned to a dolutegravir-containing antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimen to combat high HIV viral loads. (3/5)

Stat: Approach Menopause With More Than Hormone Therapy, Researchers Say
One in eight people is postmenopausal, and about 50 million women enter menopause every year. A new essay published on Tuesday in The Lancet argues that it’s time to stop treating them like patients suffering from a disorder. (Merelli, 3/5)

Bloomberg: Salesforce CEO Gives $150 Million To Hawaii Hospitals
The donations were made in partnership with the University of California, San Francisco, and together make up the largest gift in the state’s history, according to a statement from UCSF. (Alexander, 3/5)

CBS News: Roughly 1,000 Nursing Home Workers Hit The Picket Lines Across Twin Cities
Nearly 1,000 nursing home workers are away from their residents and marching on a picket line. It's one of the biggest strikes the industry has seen in our state. "We need protection, pay and respect," Estates at St. Lous Park nurse Jared Mitga said. Mitga is among the dozens of nursing home workers picketing outside the Estates at St. Louis Park Tuesday morning. The workers striking come from 12 different facilities across the Twin Cities. It's not just nurses like Mitga, but maintenance, laundry and kitchen staff too. (Leone, 3/5)

Minnesota Public Radio: Students Gather At Capitol In Support Of Bill Banning Flavored Tobacco Products
Hundreds of students and advocates gathered at the Capitol on Tuesday to express their support for a bill that would ban the sale of flavored tobacco products in Minnesota. (Roth, 3/5)

The Washington Post: Baby Born At D.C. Home In 2022 Will Finally Get A Birth Certificate
The process of getting Baby JJ a birth certificate was complicated by the way he was born: in an inflatable tub in the family’s Southwest Washington living room with no medical assistance. (Silverman, 3/5)

CBS News: Avian Flu Spreading To Marine Mammals Grows Concern Of Potential Risk To Humans, Study Says
Concern is growing about the avian flu now spreading to marine mammals and a new study says that it increases the potential risk to humans. The danger to humans is low right now, but as long as the avian flu is spreading to other animals, there's a risk it could spread to people, which is why scientists say close surveillance and research is needed. ... Researchers say there have been cases where the virus spreads from infected birds to mammals. Now, researchers fear it may be moving from one mammal to another. (Stahl, 3/5)

CIDRAP: European Countries Report Unusual Rise In Psittacosis Infections 
Five European countries have reported an unexpected rise in infections involving psittacosis, a respiratory disease from a bacteria known to affect birds, which began in late 2023 and has led to the deaths of five people. In an outbreak notice today, the World Health Organization (WHO) detailed recent reports from Austria, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands. In most instances, people had contact with wild or domestic birds. ... Infections are often mild, but patients can develop a sometimes-fatal pneumonia. The disease is treatable with prompt, appropriate antibiotics. (Schnirring, 3/5)

Fox News: Man Dies After Consuming Too Much Vitamin D As Experts Warn Of Risks: 'Cascade Of Problems'
Amid reports of a U.K. man's death from high amounts of vitamin D, experts are warning about the dangers of unsafe levels. After 89-year-old David Mitchener died last year from hypercalcemia, a buildup of calcium in the body that is caused by excess levels of vitamin D, the Surrey assistant coroner released a report urging regulatory agencies to warn consumers about the risk of excessive intake. (Rudy, 3/5)