First Edition: May 5, 2023

KFF Health News: Can A Fetus Be An Employee? States Are Testing The Boundaries Of Personhood After ‘Dobbs’
Kaitlyn Anderson was six months pregnant when a driver killed her and a Missouri Department of Transportation colleague in 2021 while they were doing roadwork near St. Louis. Her fetus also died. Although Anderson’s family tried to sue the department on her behalf, workers’ compensation laws in Missouri and elsewhere shield employers from wrongful death lawsuits when an employee dies on the job. So the case was also filed on behalf of the 25-year-old woman’s unborn child, a son named Jaxx. This was possible because Missouri law defines life — and legal rights — as beginning at conception. (Sable-Smith, 5/5)

KFF Health News: Lead Contamination Surfaces In Affluent Atlanta Neighborhood
Elizabeth Burns had just come inside from gardening in 2021 when she caught a TV news report about a rocklike material contaminating a nearby community’s soil with lead. She was stunned. Her own backyard had many such chunks. (Miller, 5/5)

KFF Health News: Montana Passes Significant Health Policy Changes In Controversial Session
Republican leaders’ banishment of a transgender lawmaker from floor debates in the recently ended Montana legislative session seized the nation’s attention. It also overshadowed significant health policy changes and historic levels of health care spending. (Larson, 5/5)

KFF Health News: 'What The Health?' Podcast: Health Programs Are At Risk As Debt Ceiling Cave-In Looms
The partisan fight in Congress over how to raise the nation’s debt ceiling to prevent a default has accelerated, as the U.S. Treasury predicted the borrowing limit could be reached as soon as June 1. On the table, potentially, are large cuts to federal spending programs, including major health programs. (Rovner, 5/4)

The New York Times: Covid Remained A Leading Cause Of Death Among Americans In 2022
Covid was the fourth leading cause of death in the United States last year, dropping from its place as the third leading cause in 2020 and 2021, when virus fatalities were superseded only by heart disease and cancer, the National Center for Health Statistics reported on Thursday. Unintentional injuries — a category that includes drug overdoses and car accidents — were responsible for more deaths than Covid last year and were the nation’s third leading cause of death. Deaths from heart disease and cancer both rose in 2022, compared with 2021. (Caryn Rabin, 5/4)

The Washington Post: Covid Deaths Dropped In 2022, CDC Data Shows 
The report shows an overall drop of 5.3 percent in the death rate from all causes, a signal that the country last year had exited the worst phase of the pandemic. Deaths from covid dropped 47 percent between 2021 and 2022. (Achenbach, 5/4)

The New York Times: 900,000 New Yorkers Lost At Least 3 Loved Ones To Covid 
An estimated two million New Yorkers — nearly one in four — lost at least one person close to them to Covid within the first 16 months of the virus’s arrival, according to the data, which was collected in mid-2021 by federal census workers on behalf of the city. Nearly 900,000 New Yorkers lost at least three people they said they were close to, an open-ended category that included relatives and friends, the survey found. (Otterman, 5/5)

Politico: Moderna Expects Updated Covid-19 Vaccine To Cost $110-$130
Moderna anticipates its updated Covid-19 vaccine to have a list price in a range of $110 to $130 per shot, the company said Thursday. The price update comes more than a month after lawmakers on the Senate HELP Committee pressed Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel to justify a $130 price point given the $12 billion the government spent to speed the company’s clinical trials and purchase its vaccine. (Lim, 5/4)

AP: North Carolina Lawmakers Pass 12-Week Abortion Ban; Governor Vows Veto
North Carolina lawmakers on Thursday approved and sent to the governor a ban on nearly all abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, down from the current 20 weeks, in response to last year’s overturning of Roe v. Wade at the U.S. Supreme Court. (Robertson and Schoenbaum, 5/5)

WUNC: Abortion Bill Headed To Governor After Party-Line Senate Vote
While abortions before 12 weeks would remain legal, patients would face additional hurdles. It requires in-person doctor visits for patients seeking medication abortions and mandates that a doctor must be present when abortion medication is administered. It adds new informed consent requirements, and it increases licensing requirements and regulatory fees for abortion providers. (Campbell, 5/4)

AP: GOP Prosecutor Urges Judge To Toss Wisconsin Abortion Suit
Attorneys for a Republican prosecutor urged a judge Thursday to toss out a lawsuit seeking to repeal Wisconsin’s 174-year-old abortion ban, arguing that a newer state law permitting pre-viability abortions complements the ban rather than supersedes it, as Democrats maintain. (Richmond, 5/4)

AP: ACLU Sues Amid Missouri GOP Spat Over Abortion Measure Cost
The Missouri ACLU on Thursday sued statewide officials for stonewalling a constitutional amendment to restore abortion rights as the attorney general pushes for a price tag on the proposal that is 1 million times higher than what the state auditor has estimated. At issue is a power struggle between two Republican statewide officials — Attorney General Andrew Bailey and Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick — that has delayed supporters from collecting required voter signatures on the ballot measure. (Ballentine, 5/4)

AP: Judge Extends Suspension Of Missouri AG's Transgender Rule
A judge has extended her order barring the enforcement of a unique rule pushed by Missouri’s Republican attorney general that would require adults and children to undergo more than a year of therapy and fulfill other requirements before they could receive gender-affirming treatments such as puberty blockers, hormones and surgery. (Salter, 5/4)

The Wall Street Journal: The U.S. Is Running Out Of Research Monkeys
America’s monkey shortage is getting worse. The pandemic has exacerbated a continuing supply crunch, throttling research and threatening the country’s ability to respond to public health disasters, including the next pandemic. That is according to a new report published Thursday by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine that noted that new ways of studying biology, using artificial-intelligence models or cells in culture, aren’t ready to replace testing in monkeys. (Subbaraman, 5/4)

AP: Research Monkey Shortage Undermines US Readiness, Panel Says
There’s a shortage of monkeys available for medical research and the U.S. should expand its breeding programs rather than rely on international suppliers to solve it, an influential scientific advisory panel said Thursday. (Neergaard, 5/4)

Stat: Report: NIH Must Overhaul Systems For Tracking Non-Human Primates
A worsening shortage of non-human primates and an inadequate government response threatens to undermine biomedical research in the U.S. and hamper the ability to respond to public health emergencies, a sweeping new report warns. (Silverman, 5/4)

Reuters: At Musk’s Brain-Chip Startup, Animal-Testing Panel Is Rife With Potential Conflicts 
Elon Musk’s brain-implant venture has filled an animal-research oversight board with company insiders who may stand to benefit financially as the firm reaches development goals, according to company documents and interviews with six current and former employees. (Levy and Taylor, 5/4)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden Administration Warns Of AI’s Dangers. There’s A Limit To What White House Can Do
The Biden administration is confronting the rapidly expanding use of artificial intelligence, warning of the dangers the technology poses to public safety, privacy and democracy while having limited authority to regulate it. (Siddiqui and McKinnon, 5/4)

Politico: Biden Administration Faces Hurdles Finding Someone To Run Its New Pandemic Command Center
President Joe Biden has a vision for the next stage of his administration’s pandemic response — if only he can find someone to lead it. A week before Biden is set to declare an end to the nation’s public health emergency and dissolve his current Covid team, the White House still hasn't found a director to run the new office charged with keeping up the fight, four people with knowledge of the matter told POLITICO. (Cancryn, 5/4)

Politico: U.S. Must Do More To Prepare For Future Pandemic Threats, Health Officials Say
The United States must do more to prepare for future pandemics and biological threats, top federal health officials told the Senate HELP Committee on Thursday. “The increased frequency of outbreaks mean that we should not be asking if we will face another serious public health threat, but when,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said. (Lim, 5/4)

Politico: Watchdog Says Therapists Improperly Billed Medicare $580 Million
More than half of the psychotherapy provided to Medicare patients, at a cost of $580 million during the pandemic’s first year, did not meet government billing standards, HHS’ inspector general said Thursday. The IG reached that conclusion after extrapolating from a review of 216 psychotherapy claims out of a total of 13.5 million, a "statistically valid random sample," according to spokesperson Morsal Mohamad. (Leonard, 5/4)

Politico: Lawmakers To Scrutinize Pharma ‘Tax Avoidance Schemes’
The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing next week on the impact U.S. international tax policy has on the pharmaceutical industry, Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Thursday. Wyden said the hearing will focus on the effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which Democrats widely criticize, and what he characterizes as the drug industry’s “tax avoidance schemes.” (Lim, 5/4)

Stat: ‘Patients Are Not Hot Potatoes’: How The Fight Over Dialysis Coverage Is Putting Kidney Failure Patients At Risk
As soon as she heard the Supreme Court decision, LaVarne Burton began to worry. As CEO of the nonprofit American Kidney Fund, she knew that the court’s ruling on Marietta v. DaVita last June — which allows employer-sponsored health insurance plans to limit outpatient dialysis coverage — was going to put the health of kidney failure patients at risk. (Arnold, 5/5)

The Hill: Becerra On Atlanta Shooting That Killed CDC Employee: Gun Violence Is ‘A Public Health Crisis’
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra confirmed in a statement Thursday that an employee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was one of the victims of a shooting in Atlanta on Wednesday. “Last night, we learned the tragic news that Amy St. Pierre, an HHS colleague at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was the victim of a senseless shooting in Atlanta, Georgia,” Becerra said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to her husband Julian St. Pierre, her children, and all her loved ones at this difficult time.” (5/4)

AP: West Virginia Settles With Kroger, Opioid Money Now Tops $1B
West Virginia has settled with Kroger for $68 million over its role in distributing highly addictive prescription painkillers into the U.S. state that has lost more lives to opioid overdoses per capita than any other. That brings West Virginia’s total opioid litigation dollars up to more than $1 billion, more than any other state per capita, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said at a press conference at the state Capitol in Charleston. (Willingham, 5/4)

Fox News: Teens Are Turning To 'My AI' For Mental Health Support — Which Doctors Warn Against 
Anyone who uses Snapchat now has free access to My AI, the app’s built-in artificial intelligence chatbot, first released as a paid feature in February. In addition to serving as a chat companion, the bot can also have some practical purposes, such as offering gift-buying advice, planning trips, suggesting recipes and answering trivia questions, according to Snap. (Rudy, 5/5)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Named Worst State For Mental Health Care, Forbes Finds
More than one in five adults with mental illness are uninsured in Texas, making it the worst state in the nation for mental health care, according to a new Forbes Advisor study. Researchers also found Texas is home to the highest percentage of adults with a cognitive disability who could not see a doctor due to cost, and the highest percentage of youth who had a major depressive episode in the past year and did not receive treatment. (Rice, 5/4)

The Hill: Employees Love Remote Work, But Is It Good For Our Mental Health?
The mental health implications of telework is a relatively new field of study. And that makes sense, given that only 5 percent of American work took place remotely before the pandemic. “There aren’t really experts in it. This is all new,” said Eric Elbogen, a professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University. “There are just so many questions we still don’t know the answers to.” (De Visé, 5/4)

CIDRAP: Large Study Shows No Changes To Menstrual Cycles After COVID Vaccination
Since the first COVID-19 vaccines were made widely available in early 2021, some women have anecdotally noted changes to their menstrual cycle following vaccination, reporting shorter intervals between menses and heavier bleeding. Some studies that relied on menstrual tracking apps and self-reports have also noted a relationship between vaccination and menstrual disturbances. (Soucheray, 5/4)

Bloomberg: Heavy Marijuana Use Increases Schizophrenia In Men, Study Finds
As many as 30% of cases of schizophrenia among men aged 21-to-30 could have been prevented had they avoided cannabis use disorder, according to the study published Thursday in Psychological Medicine. The condition, loosely defined as frequent use of the drug despite negative consequences, has been found to develop in around three in 10 who use marijuana, according to past research. (Kary, 5/4)

CIDRAP: Study Explores Role Of The Gut Microbiome, Antibiotics In Preemie Infections
A new metagenomic study of babies born prematurely indicate the bacterial strains that can cause dangerous bloodstream infections in those infants may originate in the gut, and antibiotic use may promote the growth of those pathogens. The authors of the study, published yesterday in Science Translational Medicine, say the findings are another indication of the need for more careful use of antibiotics in preterm infants. (Dall, 5/4)

CIDRAP: 57% Of Raw Stuffed Chicken Products From Homes, Stores Yielded Salmonella
From 1998 to 2022, 11 US Salmonella outbreaks were tied to raw stuffed, breaded chicken products, and a median of 57% of samples collected from homes and stores yielded the bacteria, finds a study today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). (Van Beusekom, 5/4)

The New York Times: Link Between Long Telomeres And Long Life Is A Tall Tale, Study Finds
“Short telomeres were thought to be bad — people with premature aging syndromes had short telomeres — so, by analogy, long telomeres were thought to be good,” said Dr. Mary Armanios, professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of the Telomere Center at the medical school’s Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. “And the longer the better.” (Kolata, 5/4)

Reuters: Novo Nordisk Rivals See Room To Compete In $100 Billion Weight-Loss Drug Market
The enormous demand for weight-loss treatments like Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy could support as many as 10 competing products with annual sales reaching up to $100 billion within a decade, mostly in the United States, industry executives and analysts said. (Erman, 5/4)

Reuters: Moderna Reports Surprise Profit As It Books Deferred COVID Vaccine Sales
Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) on Thursday reported a small profit of 19 cents per share instead of an expected loss as it booked more revenue in the first quarter from last year's deferred orders for its COVID-19 vaccine than had been anticipated. Analysts expected a loss of $1.77 per share, according to Refinitiv data, and Moderna shares had jumped more than 5% to $136.71 by midday. They had fallen nearly 28% this year. (Wingrove and Leo, 5/4)

CIDRAP: Prostate Cancer Drug Shortage Should Ease Soon, Novartis Says
Supplies of Pluvicto, a radioactive drug used to treat metastatic prostate cancer, should rise "meaningfully" in the second half of this year, according to its lone manufacturer. In April, Novartis AG announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved manufacture of the drug (generic name, lutetium Lu 177 vipivotide tetraxetan injection) at a new facility in Millburn, New Jersey, in addition to its Ivrea, Italy, plant. (Van Beusekom, 5/4)

Modern Healthcare: What Insurance Executive Compensation Looked Like In 2022
Compensation for the CEOs of large health insurance companies rose modestly and less than overall inflation last year, according to a Modern Healthcare analysis of data the companies submitted to regulators. (Tepper, 5/4)

Modern Healthcare: Nursing School Enrollment Dipped In 2022—AACN
Enrollment in college nursing programs experienced its first year-over-year decline in two decades in 2022, a potentially worrisome sign amid industry struggles to recruit and retain staff, declines in residency applications and an aging healthcare workforce. (Devereaux, 5/4)

AP: California Lawmakers OK Emergency Loans To Failing Hospitals
Alarmed by the closure of a rural hospital earlier this year, California lawmakers on Thursday voted to loan $150 million to struggling medical centers in the hope of preventing a cascade of similar failures across the state. The only hospital in Madera County closed in December, leaving the community of nearly 160,000 people with no medical center within a 30-minute drive. The closure was a startling reminder of the plight of many community hospitals in mostly rural areas of the country that have struggled to stay open during the coronavirus pandemic. (Beam, 5/4)

Politico: Health Care Measures In New York Budget: What To Know
The newly approved state budget commits over $22 billion to shore up New York’s pandemic-battered health care system, offset long-stagnant Medicaid reimbursement rates and bolster funding for mental health services. The $229 billion budget for the fiscal year that started April 1 included a smorgasbord of new health policies that expand what insurance is required to cover, improve privacy protection for people seeking abortions and add oversight of temporary health staffing agencies operating within New York. (Kaufman, 5/4)