First Edition: May 9, 2024

KFF Health News: Paid Sick Leave Sticks After Many Pandemic Protections Vanish
Bill Thompson’s wife had never seen him smile with confidence. For the first 20 years of their relationship, an infection in his mouth robbed him of teeth, one by one. “I didn’t have any teeth to smile with,” the 53-year-old of Independence, Missouri, said. Thompson said he dealt with throbbing toothaches and painful swelling in his face from abscesses for years working as a cook at Burger King. He desperately needed to see a dentist but said he couldn’t afford to take time off without pay. (Dyer, 5/9)

Modern Healthcare: Ascension Reports Cybersecurity Incident, Possible Data Breach
Ascension has detected a cybersecurity incident that is disrupting its clinical operations, and has advised business partners to disconnect from its systems. The nonprofit health system said Wednesday it had discovered "unusual activity" on select network systems that it believes is due to a cybersecurity event. An Ascension spokesperson did not respond to questions about the extent of the disruption. (Hudson, 5/8)

Becker's Hospital Review: Cyberattack Disrupts Clinical Operations At Ascension
Cybersecurity firm Mandiant is aiding Ascension's investigation. Ascension said if sensitive information was compromised, it will immediately notify affected individuals. News outlets are reporting that the incident is affecting Ascension facilities in Florida, Wisconsin, Texas, Oklahoma, Indiana and Michigan. Ascension includes 140 hospitals and 40 older adult living facilities in 19 states. (Diaz, 5/8)

Pensacola News Journal: Ascension Hospitals Are Experiencing A Cyberattack. What To Know
Ascension confirmed to the News Journal that it had detected “unusual activity on select technology network systems” early Wednesday afternoon. Ascension Florida spokesperson Gary Nevolis told the News Journal in a written statement that the health system responded immediately. Employees report to the News Journal that charting, scheduling and prescription writing systems are down. (Girod and Little, 5/8)

Modern Healthcare: Telehealth Rules Extension Passes House Committee
Congress took the first step Wednesday to extend expiring telehealth rules, hospital at home services and other programs aimed at rural hospitals. The House Ways and Means Committee passed the Preserving Telehealth, Hospital, and Ambulance Access Act of 2024 by a vote of 31-0, setting it up for passage by the full House later this year. (McAuliff, 5/8)

Bloomberg: US Justice Department Calls For More Antitrust Enforcement In Health Care
The US hasn’t enforced its antitrust laws enough in the health care industry, top Justice Department officials said, voicing particular concern about consolidation among groups of doctors and nurses. “We are becoming more lucid to under-enforcement in healthcare,” Doha Mekki, the No. 2 official in the Justice Department’s antitrust division, said during a Bloomberg roundtable on Wednesday. The US has roughly 2,000 fewer hospitals today than existed in 1998, she said. (Nylen and Willmer, 5/8)

Roll Call: ‘Birthing Friendly’ Label Requires Little Effort By Hospitals 
Six months after the launch of the Biden administration’s “birthing friendly” designation for hospitals, advocates are questioning the next steps for the tool aimed at incentivizing better care for patients. (Hellmann, 5/9)

CIDRAP: FDA Postpones Advisory Committee Meeting On Next COVID Vaccines 
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday announced that it has changed the date of its upcoming Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) from May 16 to June 5, during which the group will discuss and make recommendations on the strain or strains to include in 2024-25 COVID vaccines. (Schnirring, 5/8)

Axios: New Variants A Reminder Of COVID Reality
To most Americans, COVID-19 now ranks with everyday risks like reckless driving, smoking and drinking too much. But the emergence of new variants called FLiRT is a fresh reminder that the coronavirus still is circulating and evolving, even with hospitalizations at record lows. (Bettelheim, 5/9)

CIDRAP: Study: US Children At Times Received Ineffective COVID-19 Treatments 
US children were prescribed ineffective and potentially harmful drugs to treat COVID-19, such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), according to a study published today in Pediatrics. The authors note that while the rates of non-recommended prescribing were very low, because of the large number of pediatric cases, the actual impact is fairly substantial. (Soucheray, 5/8)

CIDRAP: NIH Announces Long-COVID Trials To Examine Treatments For Sleep, Exercise Disruptions 
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today announced the launch of four more long-COVID clinical trials, which will examine sleep disturbances, exercise intolerance, and post-exertional malaise. The studies add to six earlier investigations that are part of the NIH's Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative. The newly announced trials will assess potential treatments for the symptoms and will enroll about 1,660 people across 50 study sites, the NIH said. (Schnirring, 5/8)

Stat: Bird Flu In Milk Supply Is Likely Coming From Asymptomatic Cows
Since March, when the first reported cases of H5N1 bird flu began showing up in dairy cattle in Texas, the Food and Drug Administration has been asking farmers to discard any milk from infected animals. Initially, spotting tainted milk was believed to be fairly easy because cows that get sick with H5N1 begin producing milk that is thick and yellowish. (Molteni, 5/8)

Stat: Bird Flu Outbreak In Cows Is Latest Avian Flu Curveball 
Twenty-seven years ago today, a 3-year-old boy in Hong Kong developed a sore throat, spiked a fever, and started to cough. Six days later, he was hospitalized; six days after that, he died of acute respiratory distress caused by viral pneumonia. Testing showed the toddler, who’d had contact with sick chickens before becoming ill, had been infected with H5N1 bird flu. (Branswell, 5/9)

The Boston Globe: What Is The Risk Of Bird Flu Spillover In Humans?
Nichola Hill has been studying bird flu for more than a decade, but it wasn’t until last month that she truly came to fear it. The University of Massachusetts Boston researcher was standing on a spit of windswept beach on Nantucket, surrounded on three sides by the North Atlantic and swathed head to toe in protective gear. Dead birds lay along the stretch of shoreline. ... The virus had arrived in her own backyard. And it suddenly felt unstoppable. (Piore, 5/8)

CNN: In Effort To Prevent Rabies, CDC Launches New Rules For Bringing Dogs Into The US 
The United States has new rules for how dogs are brought into the country, and they go into effect in August. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday that it is updating regulations for bringing dogs into the United States in an effort to keep the country free of canine rabies. (Howard, 5/8)

Los Angeles Times: What Parasite Might Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Have Had In His Brain?
Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made various claims about his health over the years, but the most shocking came Wednesday when it was revealed that Kennedy once insisted that a worm ate a portion of his brain over a decade ago. Kennedy’s assertion, which was reported by the New York Times, was made during divorce proceedings from his second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, and was intended to support his claim that health issues had reduced his earning potential. (Fry, Purtill and Kaplan, 5/8)

Boston Globe: Brain Worms: The Science Behind RFK Jr.'s Parasitic Infection 
Yes, it’s possible to have a worm living in your brain — in fact, it’s far more common than you might think, said Dr. David Hamer, a professor of global health and medicine at the Boston University School of Public Health, who also directs a travel clinic at Boston Medical Center. (Piore, 5/8)

The Boston Globe: Steward Can’t Even Get Bankruptcy Right, State Says
Massachusetts officials said bankrupt hospital operator Steward Healthcare has created an overly complicated plan to sell its eight facilities in the state at a time when the system is rapidly running out of money. Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office complained in a new filing in the bankruptcy proceeding that Steward has separate sales processes for its hospitals that preclude a bidder from offering to buy all in one transaction, and had even excluded some potential buyers from participating. (Pressman and Weisman, 5/8)

Modern Healthcare: Highmark Health Layoffs Hit 47 Employees In Latest Round Of Cuts
Highmark Health has laid off 47 employees in its latest round of job cuts. The Pittsburgh-headquartered organization owns Highmark Inc., which provides health insurance plans to 6.9 million policyholders in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware and New York. It also operates Allegheny Health Network, which comprises 14 hospitals. A Highmark spokesperson declined to answer questions about the types of roles or specific locations affected. (Berryman, 5/8)

Modern Healthcare: Nursing Home Mergers Targeted In States With Better Medicaid Pay
Mergers and acquisitions activity is heating up in the skilled nursing industry as higher labor costs and other challenges are sending some small to mid-sized operators to the exits. Staffing costs, the federal staffing mandate, uncertainty over interest rates and low Medicaid reimbursements are creating a buyer’s market for large nursing home operators and real estate investment trusts that own nursing homes or lease properties to skilled nursing facility operators. (Eastabrook, 5/8)

Axios: Nurses Push For A STEM Designation
As the country struggles with nursing shortages, some in the field are pushing for a federal solution: a new STEM designation. Classifying nursing as a STEM field would unlock millions in federal funding for recruitment programs and expand opportunities for international students. (Goldman, 5/9)

Modern Healthcare: Hospital CEO Pay Rises But Burnout Persists As Roles Grow: Survey 
Executive search firms say their healthcare clients are generally offering leaders higher pay as they take on more responsibilities at increasingly complex organizations. But those running hospitals and health systems also continue to struggle with burnout. A Modern Healthcare survey of 30 executive search firms found that growth in C-suite compensation is due in part to consolidation and health systems’ heightened competition for talent, especially in financial and operational roles. (Devereaux, 5/8) 

Stateline: You’ve Covered Your Copayment; Now Brace Yourself For The ‘Facility Fee’ 
Even if you have health insurance, you might expect to be charged a copayment for some routine care, like office-based exams and consultations. But you probably don’t expect to receive a bill a few weeks later charging you an extra $100 or more. (Vollers, 5/8)

Missouri Independent: Missouri Senate Holds Fate Of Women’s Health Care Bill
A wide-ranging women’s health care bill that stalled in the House for months over concerns about expanding coverage for birth control is a step away from the governor’s desk — though dysfunction in the Senate could derail its chances of becoming law. (Spoerre, 5/8)

The 19th: Democratic State Attorneys General Are Teaming Up To Protect Abortion Access
A group of Democratic attorneys general are working to strengthen state-level protections for abortion, contraception and gender-affirming care. These protections could include expanding the use of so-called “shield laws,” which assert that states where abortion or gender-affirming care are legal won’t cooperate with out-of-state efforts to prosecute anyone who helped provide treatment. (Luthra, 5/8)

The Hill: Doug Emhoff Urges Men To Join Abortion Rights Fight: ‘Women Are Dying’
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff urged more men to advocate for abortion rights on Tuesday, saying the key 2024 election issue is about more than just women, but families and all Americans. “This is an issue of fairness to women. Women are dying,” Emhoff told NBC’s Yamiche Alcindor. “It’s affecting [men’s] ability to plan their lives. And it’s also an issue of what’s next, what other freedoms are at risk. And these freedoms are affecting all Americans, not just women.” (Robertson, 5/8)

American Homefront Project: A New VA Policy Covers Fertility Treatments For More Vets, But Some Are Still Excluded
The VA pays for IVF treatment for unmarried and LGBTQ veterans. But they must prove their fertility problems are service-related. (D'lorio, 5/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: 9th Circuit Upholds California Law Providing Gun Data To Researchers
A California law allowing researchers to obtain records of all guns and ammunition bought in the state does not violate gun owners’ privacy or their right to keep and bear arms, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The law, AB173, was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021 but blocked in November 2022 by a San Diego judge in a privacy-rights suit by gun advocacy groups. It was reinstated a year later by a state appeals court, which said the studies provide valuable information on reducing deaths and violence from firearms. (Egelko, 5/8)

The CT Mirror: CT Bill To Lower Wheelchair Repair Wait Times Gets Full Passage
A bill aimed at curbing wait times for wheelchair repairs won final approval at the General Assembly on Tuesday. Lawmakers in the House unanimously passed House Bill 308, An Act Implementing Task Force Recommendations For Wheelchair Repair. It goes to Gov. Ned Lamont’s desk for final signature. (LeMaster, 5/8)

WFSU: New Florida Law Can Help Make Police Aware Of Drivers With Disabilities 
The law will be part of the motor vehicle registration process. Sponsors say it will make officers mindful of possible medical conditions of someone in the vehicle who may not respond to commands as expected. (Andrews, 5/8)

Houston Chronicle: Cy-Fair ISD Board Removes Vaccines, Cultural Diversity From Textbooks
More than a dozen chapters including content on vaccines, cultural diversity, climate change, depopulation and other topics deemed controversial by conservative Cypress-Fairbanks ISD trustees will be removed from textbooks in the state's third largest school system for the 2024-2025 school year. Trusteed voted 6-1 late Monday to omit the material, after an hourslong discussion about a $138 million budget deficit that is forcing the district to eliminate 600 positions. (Sander, 5/8)

Stateline: More Addiction Patients Can Take Methadone At Home, But Some States Lag Behind
Matt Haney’s home in San Francisco isn’t far from a methadone clinic. ... His neighbors wait for the daily dose of methadone that relieves their cravings and minimizes opioid withdrawal symptoms. Despite methadone’s effectiveness, a labyrinth of state and federal rules — meant to guard against its misuse — keeps it inaccessible to many people who desperately need it, Haney said. (Claire Vollers, 5/8)

The New York Times: Environmental Changes Are Fueling Human, Animal And Plant Diseases, Study Finds 
Several large-scale, human-driven changes to the planet — including climate change, the loss of biodiversity and the spread of invasive species — are making infectious diseases more dangerous to people, animals and plants, according to a new study. Scientists have documented these effects before in more targeted studies that have focused on specific diseases and ecosystems. For instance, they have found that a warming climate may be helping malaria expand in Africa and that a decline in wildlife diversity may be boosting Lyme disease cases in North America. (Anthes, 5/8)

NBC News: Colon Cancer Rates Have Been Rising For Decades In Younger People, Study Finds
Colorectal cancer rates have been rising for decades among people too young for routine screening, new research finds. Routine screening is recommended every 10 years starting at age 45; the new study focused on rates of the disease in children and adults ages 10 to 44, using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cases of colorectal cancer were on the rise in all age groups, the researchers found. (Sullivan, 5/9)

USA Today: Is Decaf Coffee Bad For You? Why Some Want To Ban Methylene Chloride
Health advocacy groups are petitioning the Food and Drug Administration to ban a chemical sometimes used in the process of decaffeinating coffee. Lawmakers in California also recently reportedly proposed a bill to ban the use of the compound in coffee statewide. ... The Clean Label Project, a nonprofit that fights for food labeling transparency, found that several popular coffee brands ... included traces of methylene chloride, a liquid sometimes used for paint stripping that in large doses can cause a slew of health issues. (Yasharoff, 5/8)

Stat: Software Glitch Causes Tandem Insulin Pump To Shutdown, FDA Warns
At least 224 diabetes patients have been harmed by a software error causing their insulin pumps to spontaneously shut down, the Food and Drug Administration announced in a recall notice on Wednesday. (Lawrence, 5/8)

Reuters: US FDA Advises Healthcare Facilities To Switch From Getinge's Heart Devices 
The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday advised healthcare facilities to move away from using Getinge's heart devices in patients as they faced safety and quality concerns despite a string of recalls. The recommendation is based on concerns that the company has not sufficiently addressed the problems and risks with the recalled devices, it added. (5/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Neuralink’s First Brain-Chip Implant In A Human Appeared Flawless. There Was A Problem
Neuralink encountered a problem with the implant in its first human patient, Noland Arbaugh, that reduced the amount of data it could capture from his brain, according to a blog post the company published on Wednesday. Some data was lost because a number of the implant’s threads that had been placed in Arbaugh’s brain came out. The company, owned by Elon Musk, didn’t disclose the reason why some threads retracted unexpectedly. (Winkler and Corse, 5/8)

Stat: Google Says AlphaFold 3 Can Map A Vast Universe Of Biomolecules
Google on Wednesday unveiled an artificial intelligence tool capable of predicting the structure and interaction of a vast universe of biomolecules, a fundamental advance that may help scientists unravel poorly understood aspects of biology and disease. (Ross, 5/8)

Stat: Getting Alzheimer's Drug Leqembi To Patients Can Be A Challenge 
A host of hurdles are slowing the adoption of the new Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi, experts involved in the treatment of patients said Wednesday, from complicated logistics to the fact that many people don’t recognize that their memory loss is a disease soon enough. (Herper, 5/9)

Stat: Cholera Vaccine Supply Gets Boost As Demand Surges Globally 
Weeks after the global public health community sounded the alarm on the shortage of cholera vaccine, the World Health Organization moved to prequalify a new cholera vaccine last month. The vaccine is a simplified version of the two existing oral vaccines, both produced by Korean vaccine manufacturer EuBiologics Co. (Merelli, 5/9)