First Edition: May 19, 2023
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
KFF Health News:
Remote Work: An Underestimated Benefit For Family Caregivers
For Aida Beltré, working remotely during the pandemic came as a relief. She was taking care of her father, now 86, who has been in and out of hospitals and rehabs after a worsening series of strokes in recent years. Working from home for a rental property company, she could handle it. In fact, like most family caregivers during the early days of covid-19, she had to handle it. Community programs for the elderly had shut down. Even when Beltré switched to a hybrid work role — meaning some days in the office, others at home — caring for her father was manageable, though never easy. (Kenen, 5/19)
KFF Health News:
When Older Parents Resist Help Or Advice, Use These Tips To Cope
It was a regrettable mistake. But Kim Sylvester thought she was doing the right thing at the time. Her 80-year-old mother, Harriet Burkel, had fallen at her home in Raleigh, North Carolina, fractured her pelvis, and gone to a rehabilitation center to recover. It was only days after the death of Burkel’s 82-year-old husband, who’d moved into a memory care facility three years before. (Graham, 5/19 )
KFF Health News:
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': The Abortion Pill Goes Back To Court
A three-judge appeals court panel heard testimony this week about revoking the FDA’s 22-year-old approval of a key pill used in medication abortion and miscarriage management. The judges all have track records of siding with abortion foes. Meanwhile, as the standoff over raising the federal debt ceiling continues in Washington, a major sticking point is whether to impose work requirements on recipients of Medicaid coverage. Victoria Knight of Axios, Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. (5/18)
KFF Health News:
Watch: 5th Circuit Judges Question Two-Decade-Old Approval Of Abortion Pill
A three-judge panel comprising Judges James Ho and Cory Wilson, appointed by then-President Donald Trump, and Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod, appointed by then-President George W. Bush, on Wednesday appeared to support claims that the conscience and religious rights of anti-abortion physicians are harmed by the FDA’s nearly 23-year-old approval of mifepristone. (Varney, 5/18)
AP:
Montana Judge Temporarily Blocks Enforcement Of Abortion Ban; Hearing Next Week
A Montana judge has temporarily blocked the state from enforcing a new ban on the type of abortion most commonly used after 15 weeks of gestation until he can hear arguments on the law next week. District Court Judge Mike Menahan issued a temporary restraining order Thursday against a law that bans the use of dilation and evacuation abortions. Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the bill into law on Tuesday and it took immediate effect. (Hanson, 5/18)
AP:
South Carolina Moves Closer To Abortion Ban, A Southern Trend That Puts Pressure On Virginia
South Carolina became the latest state to move toward a near total abortion ban Wednesday with legislation that if enacted would leave Virginia an outlier in the South as a place where women have unrestricted access to abortions amid a rapid rise in restrictions in the year since Roe v. Wade was overturned. South Carolina is among the last bastions in the region for those seeking legal abortions, but that status could end soon. Access would be almost entirely banned after about six weeks of pregnancy — often before women know they’re pregnant — under the bill that now must pass the state Senate, which previously rejected a proposal to nearly outlaw abortions but could give final passage to the new legislation next week. (Kruesi, Rankin and Lavoie, 5/18)
The Hill:
Rhode Island Governor Signs Bill That Would Cover Abortions For State Workers, Medicaid Recipients
Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee (D) on Thursday signed into law on Thursday a bill that would let state funds pay for health insurance coverage for state employees and Medicaid recipients that covers abortions. “Here in Rhode Island, we will always protect a woman’s right to choose and ensure equal access to these crucial health care services,” McKee wrote on Twitter, sharing a photo of the signing. “I’m proud to sign the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act into law and include related funding in my budget proposal.” (Mueller, 5/18)
AP:
Ohio Board Approves August Ballot Question Meant To Thwart Abortion Rights Push
A ballot question seeking to make it more difficult to amend the Ohio Constitution was cleared for an August ballot on Thursday, and teams of Republican and Democratic lawmakers assigned to write pro and con arguments, respectively, to be presented to voters. (Smyth, 5/18)
Politico:
Anti-Abortion Leaders Worry They May Have To Oppose Trump If He Doesn’t Back National Ban
Top anti-abortion leaders are continuing to lobby Donald Trump on a 15-week ban they believe should be the standard for the Republican Party. Their efforts come even as Trump has not only refused to embrace a ban but has framed some abortion legislation as electorally toxic. And it is being driven by a desire to avoid the politically uncomfortable spectacle of having to rebuke the man who not only delivered their movement its greatest win, but is likely to be the GOP’s presidential nominee. (McGraw and Allison, 5/18)
NBC News:
States With Abortion Bans Could Drive Away Young Doctors, Survey Finds
Medical students say strict abortion laws are driving them away from pursuing careers as doctors in states where the procedure is banned. The finding comes from a survey of third- and fourth-year medical students, conducted from August through October of last year — just after the June 2022 Supreme Court Dobbs decision that overturned Roe V. Wade, which for nearly 50 years granted the right to an abortion across the U.S. (Edwards, 5/18)
Politico:
White House Negotiators Signal Concessions On Work Requirements In Debt Talks
White House negotiators are willing to make some concessions to tighten work requirements for federal cash aid as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling. The negotiators are narrowing in on possible changes that would further restrict access for low-income Americans to the emergency aid program known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, according to two people familiar with the talks, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations. Republicans are also pressing the White House team to agree to expanded work requirements for some adults without children receiving food assistance, which Biden didn’t rule out in comments he made to reporters on Wednesday. (Hill, 5/18)
Fox News:
White House Announces New Funding For Teen Mental Health Crisis: ‘Will Help Save Lives’
As millions of Americans, particularly our young people, continue to struggle with worsening mental health challenges, the White House announced on Thursday — the National Day of Mental Health Action — how the Biden administration plans to tackle the crisis. Coinciding with Mental Health Awareness Month, the new strategy involves increasing mental health staffing in schools, bolstering operations of the 988 crisis lifeline and making it easier for schools to obtain Medicaid funding. (Rudy, 5/18)
The Washington Post:
Sen. Feinstein’s Health Complications From Shingles More Severe Than Disclosed
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 89, returned to Washington last week after having suffered more severe health complications from her shingles diagnosis than were previously disclosed. Feinstein’s shingles triggered encephalitis, which is inflammation of the brain, as well as Ramsay Hunt syndrome, which causes facial paralysis, according to Feinstein spokesman Adam Russell, who added that the senator has since recovered from the encephalitis complication. The additional health issues, stemming from the case of shingles that hospitalized the six-term senator in February, were first reported by the New York Times. (Goodwin and Johnson, 5/18)
The New York Times:
What Is Post-Shingles Encephalitis? Dianne Feinstein’s Recent Illness
Dianne Feinstein, a Democratic senator from California, returned to the Capitol last week after spending more than two months recovering from shingles. The disease, often characterized by a painful rash, is triggered by the same virus that causes chickenpox, which stays in people’s bodies for life and, years later, can become reactivated. For Ms. Feinstein, 89, the virus also brought on a previously unreported case of encephalitis, a rare but potentially debilitating complication in which the brain swells. The condition is often caused by an infection or an immune response. (Mueller, 5/18)
The Hill:
Investigation Into Suicides On US Navy Ship Reveals Service Failures, Turns Eyes Toward Leadership
An investigation into a string of suicides of U.S. Navy sailors assigned to the USS George Washington has revealed failures in the working and living conditions at naval shipyards, leading to recommendations for improvements in mental health services, food and housing. “The conditions experienced by those assigned to the USS GEORGE WASHINGTON and MARMC are not the result of any act or inaction by any single leader. Collectively, Navy senior leadership, officer and civilian, let our standards slip — and in so doing we let our people down,” said Navy Chief Adm. Michael Gilday and Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro in a memo. (Mueller, 5/18)
Military.com:
'A 9/11-Like Event': Navy Report On Carrier Suicides Cites Missed Warning Signs, Leadership Failures
The ship was failing to provide many of the programs that were supposed to help the crew deal with stress. During a briefing to reporters, Adm. Daryl Caudle, the man who oversees much of the Navy's East Coast fleet, said he saw the cluster of deaths as "a 9/11-like event." (Toropin, 5/18)
The New York Times:
FDA Panel Recommends RSV Vaccine To Protect Young Infants
An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration voted on Thursday in favor of approving a vaccine by Pfizer to prevent the severe respiratory virus that is a potentially deadly threat to infants. The vaccine would be the first to protect babies from respiratory syncytial virus, or R.S.V., which is the reason many infants are admitted to children’s hospitals each year and kills several hundred under 5 each year. (Jewett, 5/18)
Reuters:
Those At High Risk Of Mpox Should Get 2 Doses Of Bavarian Nordic Vaccine, US CDC Says
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging people at high risk of mpox to get two doses of Bavarian Nordic's (BAVA.CO) Jynneos vaccine, based on new evidence from a U.S. study showing that the regimen is more effective at preventing infection than one shot. The study, published on Thursday, offered some of the first evidence on the efficacy of the Jynneos vaccine, which was deployed last year during a global outbreak of mpox that affected more than 30,000 people in the United States. (Leo, 5/18)
CIDRAP:
Case Study Details Mpox Spread Among Casual Heterosexual Partners
A letter published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine describes 16 adult cases of mpox seen in Bayelsa, Nigeria, among casual heterosexual partners, confirming that heterosexual intercourse plays a role in transmission of the virus, though not nearly to the degree that male-to-male sexual contact has. (Soucheray, 5/18)
Reuters:
WHO Recommends New COVID Shots Should Target Only XBB Variants
A World Health Organization (WHO) advisory group on Thursday recommended that this year's COVID-19 booster shots be updated to target one of the currently dominant XBB variants. New formulations should aim to produce antibody responses to the XBB.1.5 or XBB.1.16 variants, the advisory group said, adding that other formulations or platforms that achieve neutralizing antibody responses against XBB lineages could also be considered. (5/18)
CIDRAP:
Heart Transplants From COVID-Positive Donors May Increase Risk Of Death
Transplant patients who receive a heart from a COVID-19–infected donor may be at greater risk for death at 6 months and 1 year, finds a study published yesterday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. ... Donors were considered to have COVID-19 if they tested positive during hospitalization and then were subclassified as having active infection if they tested positive within 2 days of organ procurement or having recently resolved COVID-19 if they tested positive and then negative before procurement. There is no clear consensus on the evaluation and use of COVID-19 donor hearts for transplant, the authors said. (Van Beusekom, 5/18)
The Hill:
Gorsuch Slams Pandemic Emergency Power As Intrusion On Civil Liberties
Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch on Thursday slammed the use of emergency power during the pandemic as a mass intrusion on civil liberties. The high court on Thursday dismissed as moot a case seeking to preserve Title 42 after the pandemic emergency expired last week. The public health authority had allowed for the swift expulsion of migrants without allowing them to seek asylum. (Schonfeld, 5/18)
Bloomberg:
Teva Plans To Cut Back Generic Drug Production Even As Shortages Intensify
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. plans to cut back manufacturing of generic drugs, citing low profitability, at a time when shortages are intensifying and makers of these medicines are struggling to stay in business. The Israel-based company is one of the world’s largest makers of generic drugs, but has been contending with high debt as prices shrink across the board. Some nine out of 10 prescriptions filled in the US are for generic drugs. The industry has been under increasing pressure, leading to a scarcity of crucial medicines like antibiotics and cancer treatments. (Swetlitz, 5/18)
Stat:
Gene Therapy Death Not Caused By CRISPR, Investigators Confirm
Terry Horgan, the 27-year-old patient who died eight days after receiving a CRISPR therapy custom-built for him, likely suffered a fatal innate immune response to the virus used to deliver the treatment, investigators concluded. The findings, posted late Thursday to the preprint server Medrxiv, confirmed that CRISPR, the Nobel-Prize winning genome editing tool now being used to develop treatments for a wide range of diseases, played no role in Terry’s death. (Mast, 5/18)
CIDRAP:
US Researchers Report Urinary Tract Infection Caused By Pan-Resistant E Coli
Researchers with Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine reported yesterday that they identified what they believe is the first clinical case in the United States of a patient with an infection showing resistance to all available beta-lactam antibiotic regimens. (Dall, 5/18)
Modern Healthcare:
HCA Healthcare To Buy 41 Urgent Care Centers In Texas
HCA Healthcare plans to expand its footprint in Texas by acquiring 41 urgent care centers from FastMed, the company announced Thursday. The deal, expected to close this summer, includes 19 FastMed locations and 22 MedPost centers in Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Houston and San Antonio. The Nashville, Tennessee-based health system and the Raleigh, North Carolina-based clinic operator didn't disclose the terms of the agreement. (Hudson, 5/18)
Crain's New York Business:
Mount Sinai Hospital Fined $127K For NICU Understaffing
Mount Sinai Hospital was ordered to pay a $127,000 fine to nurses for understaffing its neonatal intensive care unit, according to an arbitration agreement reached earlier this month. Arbitrator Timothy Taylor found that the hospital displayed a “persistent pattern” of staffing violations between mid-January and mid-April, the agreement said. The arbitration was first reported by Politico. (D'Ambrosio, 5/18)
Modern Healthcare:
Minnesota Nurse Staffing Bill, Mayo Clinic Exemption Under Fire
Minnesota hospital and health systems, both their executives and clinicians, are rallying against nurse staffing legislation and a potential exemption for Mayo Clinic, the state’s largest provider. In April, the state Legislature passed a bill that would require each inpatient care unit of a hospital to set up committees of nurses, other direct caregivers and executives to agree on certain staffing levels or set them via arbitration. (Kacik, 5/18)
The Washington Post:
Bogus Nurses, Fake Diplomas: Officials Search For Unqualified Health Workers
In spring 2019, a curious piece of information landed at the FBI’s Baltimore field office. An informant said that for about $17,000, a recruiter in nearby Laurel, Md., had offered to provide a diploma and a fake transcript from a Florida nursing school, along with tutoring for the nurse licensing exam — without the need to actually take courses or receive clinical training. That tip has mushroomed into an ongoing search for bogus nurses that spans all 50 states, D.C., Canada and parts of the Caribbean. It has resulted in the indictments of 25 people on wire fraud charges and a continued investigation of additional schools that may be offering the same fraudulent arrangement. Ten people have reached plea agreements with prosecutors. (Bernstein, 5/18)
Bloomberg:
NYC Law Proposed To Hold Hospitals Accountable For Health Care Costs
New York is closer to making the city and its hospitals more accountable for soaring health care costs. A new proposed local law would create a committee to monitor the city’s employee-related health care expenses and disclose prices for hospital procedures. The measure could come to a vote as early as next week and save New York $2 billion a year, according to its main sponsor, City Council member Julie Menin. (Coleman-Lochner, 5/18)
Detroit Free Press:
Michigan Lawmaker Wants To Ban Health Insurance Copay Accumulator
A battle between pharmaceutical companies and health insurers is escalating over high-priced specialty drugs used to treat conditions like cystic fibrosis, hemophilia, autoimmune disorders, HIV and cancer. In many ways, patients who are the most vulnerable say they are in the crosshairs — left struggling to figure out how to pay for medicine they need to survive or have a better quality of life. (Jordan Shamus, 5/17)
San Francisco Chronicle:
1 In 4 California Child Care Facilities Has High Lead Levels In Water
Lead is pervasive in the drinking water of child care centers across California, with almost 1 in 4 child care facilities testing above legally allowed levels in the state, per new data released by the California Department of Social Services. (Hao, 5/18)
AP:
California Lawmakers Block Bill Allowing People To Sue Oil Companies Over Health Problems
California lawmakers blocked two big environmental bills Thursday: One that would have ramped up the state’s emissions targets, and another that would have made oil companies liable for the health problems of people who live close to oil wells. They are among the hundreds of bills that did not survive the Legislature’s suspense file, a mysterious process where lawmakers decide — with no explanation — which bills will get a chance to become law later this year and which ones should not move forward. (Austin, 5/19)
The Washington Post:
Weight Loss Drug Reverses Obesity For Nearly Half Of Teens In Study
Just under half of obese adolescents administered the latest in a new generation of recently approved weight-loss drugs were no longer considered to be clinically obese by the end of a 16-month trial, a study found. The findings support a small but growing body of evidence that the drug semaglutide, which goes by the brand names of Ozempic and Wegovy, can be an effective treatment option for chronic weight management for a range of ages. (Sands, 5/18)
CIDRAP:
Some Seeking Weight-Loss Drug Risk Ordering It Online From Compounding Pharmacies
Amid spotty access to semaglutide (brand names, Ozempic and Wegovy), people seeking the injectable drug for weight loss have begun ordering it from alleged doctors on TikTok, online pharmacies, medical spas, and compounding pharmacies peddling nonexistent "generic" versions of the drug. (Van Beusekom, 5/18)
The Washington Post:
Stomach Viruses Are Back Up On Cruise Ships, With Hundreds Falling Ill
As cruise passengers return to the seas in force following a pandemic lull, an unwelcome side effect is also back: outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, so far this year there have been 11 outbreaks of vomiting and diarrhea that reach the threshold for public notification on cruise ships visiting U.S. ports. The mid-May tally has already exceeded the total number of outbreaks reported in 2019 and tied the yearly number for both 2017 and 2018. (Sampson, 5/18)
NBC News:
Woman Who Refused Tuberculosis Treatment Not In Custody 2 Months After Arrest Warrant Issued
A Washington state woman who has repeatedly refused a judge’s order to take medication for tuberculosis remains at large weeks after a rarely used arrest warrant was issued, authorities said. The woman, identified in court documents as V.N., has a court hearing scheduled for Friday in Pierce County, south of Seattle, but it’s unclear if she’ll appear. (Stelloh, 5/18)