First Edition: Nov. 17, 2022

KHN: How Banks And Private Equity Cash In When Patients Can’t Pay Their Medical Bills
Patients at North Carolina-based Atrium Health get what looks like an enticing pitch when they go to the nonprofit hospital system’s website: a payment plan from lender AccessOne. The plans offer “easy ways to make monthly payments” on medical bills, the website says. You don’t need good credit to get a loan. Everyone is approved. Nothing is reported to credit agencies. In Minnesota, Allina Health encourages its patients to sign up for an account with MedCredit Financial Services to “consolidate your health expenses.” In Southern California, Chino Valley Medical Center, part of the Prime Healthcare chain, touts “promotional financing options with the CareCredit credit card to help you get the care you need, when you need it.” (Levey and Pattani, 11/17)

KHN: Blackfeet Nation Challenges Montana Ban On Vaccine Mandates As Infringement On Sovereignty
J.R. Myers’ frustration grew as he read the email: To attend a local economic development council meeting in Browning — the largest community on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in northwestern Montana — he had to bring proof he was vaccinated against covid-19. It was November 2021. Six months earlier, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, a Republican, had signed a law prohibiting businesses and governments from discriminating against people who aren’t vaccinated against covid or other diseases. To Myers, the requirement to attend the meeting of the Glacier County Regional Port Authority — formed by local governments in Glacier County’s tribal and nontribal areas — appeared to violate that law. (Houghton, 11/17)

KHN: Fight Over Health Care Minimum Wage Yields A Split Decision In Southern California
An expensive fight over health worker pay in two Southern California cities appears to have ended in a draw, with each side claiming a victory and a loss. Inglewood residents were poised to approve a ballot measure that would boost the minimum wage to $25 at private hospitals, psychiatric facilities, and dialysis clinics. The latest vote count showed Measure HC leading 54% to 46%, according to Los Angeles County election officials. In Duarte, roughly 35 miles away, voters were on track to decisively reject a similar proposal, Measure J, 63% to 37%. (Bluth, 11/17)

Roll Call: Pediatricians Beg For More Federal Help To Fight Wave Of RSV
The pediatric care organizations argue that significant capacity issues in hospitals can only be solved by a federal emergency declaration from the White House and Health and Human Services secretary — like the ongoing COVID-19 public health emergency. An emergency declaration would allow for more telehealth flexibilities and waive certain Medicare, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program requirements that make it difficult for providers to share resources. (Cohen, 11/16)

The Hill: Pediatric Health Groups Call For National Emergency To Fight Respiratory Illnesses 
Pediatric health provider groups are calling on the Biden administration to declare a national emergency to help them combat the surge of hospitalizations due to respiratory illnesses in children. Seasonal flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and other respiratory viruses are hitting young children especially hard this year. The resulting hospitalizations are putting an immense strain on a pediatric health system that is still reeling from COVID-19. (Weixel, 11/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID Plus Flu And RSV Spike Puts Bay Area Hospitals Under Strain
“This is the first year where we’re not only facing COVID but also increased influenza activity and unusually high levels of RSV,” Dr. Sarah Rudman, deputy health officer for Santa Clara County, said during a press briefing. “These are two other types of viruses that can also cause possibly the same respiratory symptoms as COVID, but can also cause severe respiratory disease — or even life-threatening disease.” (Vaziri and Kawahara, 11/16)

Stat: Pfizer Scientist Says A Flu Pandemic Is Only A Matter Of Time
Even after leading the charge combating the worst pandemic in a century, vaccine researcher Kathrin Jansen doesn’t feel that she can relax. Another pandemic — this one based on an influenza virus — is inevitable, Jansen said at the annual STAT Summit on Tuesday. (Goldhill, 11/16)

AP: Officials: Monkeypox Contributed To Indiana Resident's Death 
Monkeypox was a contributing factor in the recent death of an Indiana resident, state health officials said Wednesday. The Indiana Department of Health said the person who died had a monkeypox infection as well as multiple other health conditions which contributed to that individual’s death. Patient privacy laws prevent officials from releasing additional information about the person who died. (11/16)

Politico: Congress Sends First Weed Bill To Biden 
The Senate passed a bill designed to expand medical marijuana research on Wednesday by unanimous consent. Passage of the legislation, which is sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) in their respective chambers, signaled a new era in federal cannabis policy: It’s the first standalone marijuana-related bill approved by both chambers of Congress. The House passed the bill in July, also by unanimous consent. (Fertig, 11/16)

The Hill: Senators Introduce Bill To Lower Prescription Costs For Seniors With Chronic Illnesses
Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on Wednesday introduced a bill that would allow people enrolled in the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) to choose their prescription drug plan under Medicare Part D and save more in monthly medication costs. PACE is a Medicare/Medicaid program that provides medical and social services through a team of health care professionals which enrollees have regular access to, with the aim of avoiding placement in a nursing home. (Choi, 11/16)

The Hill: Grieving Parents Push For Kids’ Online Safety Bills During Lame Duck
Congress has a busy itinerary in the lame duck session, but some grieving parents believe lawmakers should have a clear legislative priority: protecting minors from the harms they say led to their children’s deaths. A group of mothers whose children’s deaths were tied to social media are meeting with lawmakers this week, and sent a letter to congressional leaders, to push Congress to pass two bills that would add additional regulations governing how tech companies operate for children and teens. The group includes parents of kids who died by fentanyl-laced drugs purchased on apps, by suicide after being cyberbullied online and by participating in a dangerous viral “choking challenge.” (Klar, 11/16)

The Hill: Coalition Calls For Increased CDC Oversight
The Health Innovation Alliance on Tuesday called on congressional leadership to pass legislation that would increase accountability for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other public health agencies. “Not only has the CDC been provided an extensive amount of additional funding for COVID-19 response, but the agency failed to update and modernize its response plans and systems as required by Congress in 2006, and again twice since then,” the group’s Executive Director Joel White wrote in a letter addressed to top lawmakers. (Mueller, 11/16)

The Hill: FDA Warns E-Cig Companies Over Products That Look Like Toys And Target Children
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued warning letters to several e-cigarette companies on Wednesday for packaging their products to look like toys and appeal to children. The FDA criticized the five relatively unknown companies — Wizman Limited, Shenzhen Fumot Technology, Shenzhen Quawins Technology, Ruthless Vapor and Moti Global — for selling e-cigarettes designed to look like items such as glow sticks, Nintendo Game Boys and walkie-talkies, or to imitate foods such as popsicles. (Shapero, 11/16)

The Washington Post: Lab-Grown Meat Is Safe To Eat, Says FDA
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday declared a lab-grown meat product developed by a California start-up to be safe for human consumption, paving the way for products derived from real animal cells — but that don’t require an animal to be slaughtered — to someday be available in U.S. grocery stores and restaurants. Dozens of major food companies are jostling to debut cultivated meat to the American public. As of now, Singapore is the only country in which these products are legally sold to consumers. (Reiley, 11/16)

CNN: US Home Births Reached Highest Level In 30 Years In 2021
There were more than 50,000 home births in the United States in 2021, an increase of 12% over the year before and the highest level since at least 1990, according to a report released Thursday from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. This follows a 22% increase in home births between 2019 and 2020, “corresponding with the initial surge of COVID-19 cases in the United States,” the report says. (Hassan, 11/17)

AP: US Home Births Increased In Pandemic But Are Still Uncommon 
Elizabeth Gregory, the report’s lead author, said reasons for the increases are unknown, but they occurred when COVID-19 rates were high and vaccinations were either unavailable or not widely used. Other reports have shown that many people avoided hospital and doctor visits early in the pandemic. Other possible reasons: Women lacked health insurance or lived far from a hospital and couldn’t make it there in time. Previous research suggests that about 1 in 4 home births are unplanned. (Tanner, 11/17)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Metro Atlanta Abortion Clinics Flooded With Calls After Court Strikes Down Restrictions
Phone calls to metro Atlanta abortion providers surged Wednesday after a judge struck down Georgia abortion restrictions that had been in place since July. Several clinics said they have begun performing abortions again for patients more than six weeks pregnant as women — and some protesters — showed up less than 24 hours after the court ruling. (Malik, Papp and Suggs, 11/16)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia GOP Will Let High Court Rule Before Pursuing New Limits On Abortion
Georgia legislators say they are taking a wait-and-see approach after a Fulton County judge overturned the state’s 2019 abortion law on Tuesday and told lawmakers they would need to pass new legislation if they wanted to reinstate limits on the procedure. (Prabhu, 11/16)

AP: N. Dakota AG: Docs Can Use Health Info To Defend Abortions
Doctors who perform abortions should be able to disclose the patient’s personal health information as part of their defense to avoid prosecution, North Dakota’s attorney general said Wednesday. North Dakota’s abortion ban, which is currently on hold because of a lawsuit, makes the procedure illegal except in cases of rape or incest or when the life of the mother is in danger. Doctors would have to prove those exceptions in court in order to be cleared of a Class C felony. (Kolpack, 11/17)

Reuters: DeSantis Says He Cannot Be Witness In Prosecutor's Lawsuit Over Abortion Cases
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Tuesday sought a court order blocking him from being called as a trial witness by an elected state attorney who was suspended after saying he would not prosecute abortion cases. (Scarcella, 11/16)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Health Authorities Recommend Masking Up, Not Kissing Babies For Thanksgiving
“With the triple threat of seasonal flu, COVID-19 and RSV looming, we’re advising people to get their flu vaccine and updated COVID-19 boosters before their Thanksgiving get-togethers,” Dr. Fermin Leguen, district health officer for the Southern Nevada Health District, said in a news release. It takes about two weeks for a vaccine to provide full protection. (Hynes, 11/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID In California: Black Hairy Tongue, An Unsightly But Common Symptom, Gets Fresh Attention
Tongue discoloration is a condition that has been associated with various viral infections long before the coronavirus pandemic, but the symptom has drawn fresh attention since the death last month of author Julie Powell, the inspiration for the movie “Julie and Julia.” In her final tweet, the 49-year-old food writer who had recently recovered from a bout of COVID-19 said she woke up “with something that’s literally Black Hairy Tongue.” (Vaziri, Kawahara and Buchmann, 11/16)

Scientific American: Who Is Dying From COVID Now, And Why 
For the past several weeks, the COVID death rate in the U.S. has stayed fairly steady, with 2,344 people dying of the illness in the seven-day period ending on November 9, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Even so, the U.S. still accounts for a large portion of all confirmed COVID deaths happening around the globe, and it has the highest number of confirmed COVID deaths of any country. There have been 1.2 million excess deaths in the U.S. since February 2020, according to the CDC—losses that have reshaped almost every part of American life. (Schreiber, 11/16)

Bloomberg: Covid Drug Treatments Aren't Keeping Up With Virus Mutations
Covid-19’s constant mutations have proven nearly impossible for drugmakers to keep up with. Omicron’s newest stepchildren threaten to render the last two antibody drugs on the market ineffective: Eli Lilly & Co.’s bebtelovimab, which is used to treat symptoms, and AstraZeneca Plc’s Evusheld, which helps prevent infections. (Muller, 11/16)

The Washington Post: Nobody Can Find A Therapist. High Demand Signals Continued Mental Health Crisis
America’s therapists are booked. Six in 10 psychologists say they don’t have openings for new patients, according to a survey conducted by the American Psychological Association. The high demand for therapy is the latest sign of and ongoing U.S. mental health crisis exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. Though millions of Americans have returned to normal life, many people feel far from normal. A majority of the psychologists surveyed said that since the start of the pandemic, they’ve seen an uptick in patients who are dealing with anxiety, depression and trauma, and that the demand for services continues to remain high. (Amenabar, 11/16)

CIDRAP: Mental Health Of Teachers, Teens Takes Big COVID-19 Hit 
The COVID-19 pandemic extracted mental health tolls from both teachers and young teens, with the former—remote instructors in particular—experiencing more anxiety than other workers, and the latter reporting depression owing to financial stress, according to two new US studies. (Van Beusekom, 11/16)

The New York Times: Amid the Adderall Shortage, People With A.D.H.D. Face Withdrawal and Despair
By the time Michael Kenneally found himself pacing outside a CVS drugstore in Cambridge, Mass., this summer, he was on a first-name basis with the pharmacist. Mr. Kenneally, 48, had been told multiple times that his Adderall prescription couldn’t be filled. For 25 days, he continued to check by phone and in person. Mr. Kenneally had been on the medication to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or A.D.H.D., for 25 years. “It’s been so long for me that I’ve been on it that it’s difficult to function without it,” he said. (Blum, 11/16)

AP: US Overdose Deaths May Be Peaking, But Experts Are Wary 
Have U.S. drug overdose deaths stopped rising? Preliminary government data suggests they may have, but many experts are urging caution, noting that past plateaus didn’t last. U.S. overdose death rates began steadily climbing in the 1990s driven by opioid painkillers, followed by waves of deaths led by other opioids like heroin and — most recently — illicit fentanyl. Last year, more than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses — the highest tally in U.S. history. (Stobbe, 11/16)

Fortune:  Researchers May Have Discovered A Breakthrough Vaccine For Fentanyl—The Drug At The Center Of The Opioid Crisis 
A team at the University of Houston that developed the new vaccine say it could affect fentanyl’s impact on the brain, eliminating the euphoric feelings it produces. They published their findings in the journal Pharmaceutics. (Mikhail, 11/16)

Stat: Top U.S. Addiction Scientist Calls For Broad Methadone Deregulation
The U.S. government’s top addiction researcher is calling for broad deregulation of methadone, a key drug used to treat opioid use disorder. American doctors should “absolutely” be allowed to prescribe methadone directly to patients, Nora Volkow, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said Wednesday. (Facher, 11/16)

USA Today: Walmart Opioid Settlement: $3.1 Billion To States, Changes To Pharmacy
Walmart’s plan would have to be approved by 43 states by Dec. 15, and local governments could sign on by March 31, 2023. Each state’s allocation depends partly on how many local governments agree. The retail giant’s announcement follows similar proposals on Nov. 2 from the two largest U.S. pharmacy chains, CVS Health and Walgreen Co., which each said they would pay about $5 billion. (Magdaleno and Ramm, 11/16)

Stat: Across 10 Countries, Primary Care Doctors Report High Burnout
The increased stress doctors have faced throughout the Covid-19 pandemic is making some feel like they are providing worse patient care, according to a new survey of primary care physicians from 10 wealthy countries. (Joseph, 11/17)

The Boston Globe: ‘It Feels Like We Just Got Them Into Harvard’: The High-Stakes Mission To Ease Gridlock Inside Mass. Hospital Emergency Departments
Gail McCabe has gotten good at scrounging and pleading, hunting for places that will accept patients ready to be discharged from Tufts Medical Center. They need rehabilitation or long-term care, but few facilities have room for them. (Lazar, 11/16)

Yahoo Finance: Uber Health Looking To Expand Food, Medical Delivery Services
Uber Health, a subsidy of the popular ride-sharing app, has seen growing demand for services as it continues its foray into the $4 trillion health-care industry. Global Head of Uber Health Caitlin Donovan said there is especially growing interest in delivery services for specialized meals and medical devices. When it launched in 2018, it was primarily for patient ride services. (Khemlani, 11/16)

Reuters: U.S. FDA Advisers Back Ardelyx's Kidney Disease Drug
A panel of advisers to the U.S. health regulator on Wednesday recommended the approval of Ardelyx Inc's drug for chronic kidney disease patients on dialysis, more than a year after it was initially rejected. (Leo and Mandowara, 11/16)

Stat: Vertex Made Cystic Fibrosis Manageable. Executives Say That’s Just The Start
Vertex Pharmaceuticals reshaped the way doctors treat cystic fibrosis, turning what was once a childhood death sentence into a manageable condition — and making the Boston biotech a multi-billion-dollar company in the process. Its next goal? Reproducing that success. (Wosen, 11/17)

Modern Healthcare: OptumRx To Cover Biosimilars For Humira
By placing biosimilars on the same formulary level as Humira, OptumRx will allow members to continue using the brand-name medicine or switch to a lower-cost alternative. OptumRx is the first PBM to reveal how it plans to deal with the high-cost, brand-name drug when competitors hit the market. AbbVie did not immediately respond to an interview request. (Tepper, 11/16)

Stat: Lilly CEO Says Twitter Flap Over Insulin Costs Shows 'More Work To Do'
After a tweet from a fake corporate account last week claimed Eli Lilly would give insulin away for free, the drugmaker’s chief executive officer acknowledged the need to do a better job of widening access to the life-saving diabetes treatment and change perceptions of its existing efforts to do so. (Silverman, 11/16)

CBS News: As STDs Proliferate, Companies Rush To Market At-Home Test Kits. But Are They Reliable?
Online shoppers can already choose from more than a dozen self-testing kits, typically ranging in price from $69 to $500, depending on the brand and the variety of infections they can detect. But, except for HIV tests, the Food and Drug Administration hasn't approved STD test kits for use outside a medical setting. That leaves consumers unsure about their reliability even as at-home use grows dramatically. (Szabo, 11/17)

The Hill: Texas Bills Seek To Add Criminal Penalties To Gender-Affirming Health Care, Drag Performances
At least three bills filed Monday in the Texas House would designate gender-affirming care for minors as child abuse under state law, and another would revoke liability insurance for providers that prescribe medications used to treat gender dysphoria in minors. (Migdon, 11/16)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Children’s ER Visits Spike For Kids In Mental Health Crisis
The number of children turning up in the emergency room with mental health crises at Texas Children's Hospital has skyrocketed 800% since before the pandemic, according to the hospital, reflecting a troubling national trend. (Bauman, 11/16)

AP: Feds Probe Missouri's Treatment Of Severely Mentally Ill 
The Justice Department on Wednesday announced it’s investigating whether Missouri has violated civil rights laws by institutionalizing adults with severe mental illnesses. The investigation will review whether Missouri’s use of guardianships and conservatorships instead of less restrictive forms of assistance needlessly strips people of their independence, the federal agency said. (11/16)

NPR: How Working On Prison Executions Harms People And Changes Their Views
Pretending to die isn't typically part of a correctional officer's job. But when the court issues a death warrant, there's often a team that has to rehearse the execution of the prisoner. In Nevada, one of the people they practiced on was officer Catarino Escobar. (Eisner, 11/16)

CIDRAP: Arizona's Maricopa County Reports Local Dengue Case
The Maricopa County Department of Public Health (MCDPH) in Arizona this week reported a dengue infection in someone who was probably exposed to an infected mosquito in Maricopa County. Mosquito surveillance has detected dengue virus in a mosquito trap in one of the county's neighborhood, the MCDPH said in a Nov 14 press release. (11/16)

NPR: How Can We Stop Hendra Virus From Spilling Over From Bats To Horses ... To Us?
Fortunately, Hendra doesn't spread easily among humans. There have only been seven documented cases, but four of them were lethal. And each time a virus jumps from animals to humans — in this case, from bat to horse to person — it gets another chance at evolving and becoming more infectious. (Daniel, 11/16)