First Edition: November 13, 2023

KFF Health News: How Lawmakers In Texas And Florida Undermine Covid Vaccination Efforts
Katherine Wells wants to urge her Lubbock, Texas, community to get vaccinated against covid-19. “That could really save people from severe illness,” said Wells, the city’s public health director. But she can’t. A rule added to Texas’ budget that went into effect Sept. 1 forbids health departments and other organizations funded by the state government to advertise, recommend, or even list covid vaccines alone. “Clinics may inform patients that COVID-19 vaccinations are available,” the rule allows, “if it is not being singled out from other vaccines.” (Maxmen, 11/13)

KFF Health News: Why It’s So Tough To Reduce Unnecessary Medical Care
The U.S. spends huge amounts of money on health care that does little or nothing to help patients, and may even harm them. In Colorado, a new analysis shows that the number of tests and treatments conducted for which the risks and costs exceed the benefits has barely budged despite a decade-long attempt to tamp down on such care. The state — including the government, insurers, and patients themselves — spent $134 million last year on what is called low-value care, according to the report by the Center for Improving Value in Health Care, a Denver nonprofit that collects billing data from health plans across Colorado. The top low-value items in terms of spending in each of the past three years were prescriptions for opiates, prescriptions for multiple antipsychotics, and screenings for vitamin D deficiency, according to the analysis. (Hawryluk, 11/13)

KFF Health News: Who Will Care For Older Adults? We’ve Plenty Of Know-How But Too Few Specialists
Thirty-five years ago, Jerry Gurwitz was among the first physicians in the United States to be credentialed as a geriatrician — a doctor who specializes in the care of older adults. “I understood the demographic imperative and the issues facing older patients,” Gurwitz, 67 and chief of geriatric medicine at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, told me. “I felt this field presented tremendous opportunities.” (Graham, 11/10)

Stat: Weight Loss Drug Wegovy Cuts Risk Of Heart Attacks In Milestone Trial 
Novo Nordisk’s obesity drug Wegovy notably cut the risk of heart attacks in a landmark cardiovascular trial that affirms the treatment offers health benefits beyond weight loss. The company in August had announced that in this trial, called Select, Wegovy reduced the overall rate of major heart problems — heart attacks, stroke, or cardiovascular-related death — by 20%. That finding, which was the primary outcome the trial set out to study, was stronger than many were expecting and led Novo’s stock to surge. (Chen, 11/11)

Reuters: Wegovy's Heart Benefits Due To More Than Weight Loss, Novo Says
In the study of overweight and obese patients based on body mass index who had preexisting heart disease but not diabetes, Wegovy reduced the risk of non-fatal heart attack by 28%, non-fatal stroke by 7% and heart-related death by 15% compared to a placebo. Given that patients had not started losing weight when the cardiovascular benefits first appeared suggests the heart protection was not purely the result of weight loss, Novo said. (Wingrove, 11/12)

Bloomberg: Wegovy, Ozempic: Novo To Expand Production
Novo Nordisk A/S will invest more than 42 billion kroner ($6 billion) to expand its manufacturing facilities as it fights to maintain dominance of a weight-loss market that’s expected to hit $100 billion by 2030.Work will begin this year on a new 170,000 square-meter factory at the company’s existing facilities in Kalundborg, Denmark, according a statement on Friday. (Kresge and Wienberg, 11/10)

The New York Times: Crisis Heightens At Gaza’s Main Hospital Amid Dispute Over Desperately Needed Fuel
More patients are dying because of a lack of power at Gaza’s main hospital, medical staff said on Sunday amid conflicting accounts from Israel and health authorities in Gaza over why a badly needed fuel delivery for the besieged and crumbling facility had been held up. (Yee, Harouda and Abuheweila, 11/13)

AP: Thousands Flee Gaza's Main Hospital But Hundreds, Including Babies, Still Trapped By Fighting
Thousands of people appear to have fled from Gaza’s largest hospital as Israeli forces and Palestinian militants battle outside its gates, but hundreds of patients, including dozens of babies at risk of dying because of a lack of electricity, remained inside, health officials said Monday. With only intermittent communications, it was difficult to reconcile competing claims from the Israeli military, which said it was providing a safe corridor for people to move south, and Palestinian health officials inside the hospital, who said the compound was surrounded by constant heavy gunfire. (Shurafa and Magdy, 11/13)

AP: Republican Faction Seeks To Keep Courts From Interpreting Ohio’s New Abortion Rights Amendment
Four Ohio Republican state lawmakers are seeking to strip judges of their power to interpret an abortion rights amendment after voters opted to enshrine those rights in the state’s constitution this week. Republican state Reps. Jennifer Gross, Bill Dean, Melanie Miller and Beth Lear said in a news release Thursday that they’ll push to have the Legislature, not the courts, make any decisions about the amendment passed Tuesday. (Hendrickson, 11/11)

The Hill: Ohio GOP Lawmakers Call To Block Courts From Implementing New Abortion Amendment
“To prevent mischief by pro-abortion courts, Ohio legislators will consider removing jurisdiction from the judiciary over this ambiguous ballot initiative,” the lawmakers said. “The Ohio legislature alone will consider what, if any, modifications to make to existing laws based on public hearings and input from legal experts on both sides.” (Weixel, 11/10)

The 19th: Virginia Republicans Embraced A 15-Week Abortion Ban — And Then Lost
Virginia Republicans bet their fate on a strategy that they hoped would neutralize abortion rights and warnings from Democrats: Embrace a 15-week abortion ban with some exceptions and convince voters such a measure is a “common sense,” consensus limit. But by Wednesday morning, their enthusiasm had been dampened. Republicans’ stunning flop in Virginia suggests that even a 15-week ban may turn off a broad coalition of voters who are wary of government restrictions on the procedure. (Barclay and Luthra, 11/9)

CQ-Roll Call: House GOP Eyes Trans Care As Newest Battleground Issue
House Republicans who waged fierce political battles over Obamacare and abortion after that have found a new focus as the lead-up to the 2024 elections: gender-affirming care for transgender Americans. They’ve added riders on seven of the 12 House fiscal 2024 appropriations bills that would put restrictions on gender-affirming care, which can be anything from hormone therapy to surgical care to insurance coverage of either. (Cohen, 11/10)

The Washington Post: Federal Program Didn’t Make A Dent In Physician Shortages Overall
A decades-old federal program that offers doctors incentives to practice in disadvantaged communities has had little effect on physician density or patient mortality, a recent analysis concludes. Publishing in the journal Health Affairs, researchers looked at data from the Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) program, zeroing in on physician density and mortality. Introduced in 1965, the HPSA program designates areas in need of more physicians and offers bonuses, loan repayment, visa waivers, higher reimbursements and other benefits to doctors who choose to practice and serve Medicare patients in specific communities. (Blakemore, 11/12)

AP: Nonprofits Progress In Tackling Veterans Homelessness, But Challenges Remain
Along a busy Atlanta residential road, a 68-year-old Vietnam War-era Army veteran has found what he calls a “match made in heaven. ”Harold Tilson Jr. found himself homeless earlier this year but for the past few months has been living in transitional housing run by the nonprofit Veterans Empowerment Organization, or VEO. It provides emergency and permanent housing for dozens of previously homeless military veterans. (Rico, 11/11)

The Hill: Biden Expands Veterans’ Health Care Coverage
The White House on Friday announced the expansion of health care coverage for the nation’s veterans, creating a no-cost system for World War II veterans seeking care and accelerating enrollment for all veterans applying for benefits after exposure to toxins. Starting this month, all living World War II veterans can access health care services from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) at no cost, including nursing home care, the White House said in a press release. (Dress, 11/10)

The Hill: Trump Doubles Down On Death Penalty For Drug Dealers
Former President Trump doubled down on calling for the death penalty for drug dealers Saturday. “President Xi in China controls 1.4 billion people, with an iron hand, no drug problems, you know why they have no drug problems?” Trump said at a campaign event in New Hampshire Saturday. “Death penalty for the drug dealers.” (Suter, 11/11)

The Hill: Gallup Finds Most Think US Losing Ground In Drug Fight; Sharp Political Split
A majority of those polled in a survey released Friday say the U.S. is losing ground on illegal drugs. The Gallup survey found that 52 percent of Americans said the country has lost ground in the fight against drugs, which Gallup said was a first since it began polling on the subject in 1972. A record-low 24 percent said the nation has made progress in the fight, while 23 percent said things had stood still. (Suter, 11/10)

The Washington Post: More Than 500 Children Exposed, Tested For Tuberculosis In Nebraska
Tuberculosis testing for hundreds of children in Omaha began Saturday, after a large group of infants, toddlers and children was potentially exposed to infection through a drop-in day-care program. More than 500 children need to be tested within the next week, local health officials said, and younger ones will be given preventive drugs. It’s an unusually large tuberculosis exposure of children, who are more vulnerable to the disease and can become very sick quickly. (McDaniel, 11/11)

The Hill: Pet Foods Recalled After Infants Sickened By Salmonella
Some pet foods have been recalled after infants were sickened with Salmonella. “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and state partners, is investigating seven human cases of Salmonella Kiambu infection potentially associated with pet food made by Mid America Pet Food,” the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a release Thursday. (Suter, 11/10)

CIDRAP: CDC Warns About Salmonella Outbreak Linked To Recalled Dry Pet Food
The CDC said illness onsets ranged from January 14 to August 19. One patient was hospitalized, and no deaths were reported. Six patients are children younger than 1 year. A sample of the dog food collected and tested by the South Carolina State Department of Agriculture yielded the outbreak strain, and genetic sequencing shows that the strain is closely related to the one that infected people. (Schnirring, 11/10)

The New York Times: Can’t Think, Can’t Remember: More Americans Say They’re In A Cognitive Fog
There are more Americans who say they have serious cognitive problems — with remembering, concentrating or making decisions — than at any time in the last 15 years, data from the Census Bureau shows. The increase started with the pandemic: The number of working-age adults reporting “serious difficulty” thinking has climbed by an estimated one million people. (Paris, 11/13)

NBC News: New Toothpaste May Reduce Allergic Reactions To Peanuts In Adults
Scientists have developed a new toothpaste that shows potential to prevent severe allergic reactions in adults with peanut allergies. An early-stage clinical trial tested whether 32 adults with peanut allergies could safely brush their teeth with the toothpaste, which contains trace amounts of peanut protein. The hope is that introducing small amounts of peanuts to the body over time will help the immune system get used to the allergen and reduce severe reactions. (Mogg, 11/9)

NPR: CRISPR For High Cholesterol Shows Promise In First Study
Preliminary results from a study involving 10 patients born with a genetic condition that causes very high cholesterol found that editing a gene inside the liver can significantly reduce levels of "bad cholesterol." The experimental treatment needs to be tested on more patients who would be followed for much longer to confirm the approach is safe and effective. But the results are being hailed as a potential landmark proof-of-concept that could eventually provide a powerful new way to prevent heart attacks and strokes. (Stein, 11/12)

CNN: Cutting 1 Teaspoon Of Salt Works As Well As Blood Pressure Meds, Study Finds
Cutting 1 teaspoon of salt from your diet each day can lower your top blood pressure reading just as much as a typical hypertension medication, even if you don’t have high blood pressure, a new study found. (LaMotte, 11/11)

CIDRAP: Study Finds Prenatal Vaccination Protects Infants From COVID
Infants as old as 6 months were protected from COVID-19 infections only when mothers were vaccinated prenatally, and not before pregnancy, according to a new study in JAMA Network Open. The study is one of the largest to compare outcomes among infants whose mothers were vaccinated before pregnancy, during pregnancy, or were unvaccinated at the time of birth. (Soucheray, 11/10)

CIDRAP: Vaccine Exemptions Among US Kindergarteners Increase Post-Pandemic
The number of kindergarteners with vaccine exemptions increased 0.4 percentage points to 3.0% during the 2022–23 school year compared with the 2019-2020 school year, according to a new study in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. (Soucheray, 11/10)

Bloomberg: Covid Loss Of Smell Takes Up To Three Years To Return, Study Finds
The loss of taste and smell — hallmarks of a coronavirus infection early in the pandemic — became a stubborn blight for many long Covid sufferers, but new research shows that the sensory problems gradually abate. Smell and taste disturbances were reported in almost two-thirds of the 100 people who had caught a mild case of Covid-19 in the fall of 2020 in Trieste, Italy, and were randomly selected for studying alongside 100 uninfected people for comparison. Both groups were followed for three years. (Gale, 11/10)

CIDRAP: Study: Persistent CNS Immune Activation Not Main Driver Of Neurologic Long COVID
Persistent central nervous system (CNS) immune activation is not the primary cause of neurologic long COVID, suggests a case-control study by Yale researchers. The research, published today in JAMA Network Open, involved 37 US patients who self-reported neurologic long-COVID, also known as post-COVID-19 condition (PCC), and 22 asymptomatic controls recruited for other studies before the pandemic. All participants underwent a large-volume lumbar puncture and blood draw for analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). (Van Beusekom, 11/10)

Modern Healthcare: Instacart Health’s Partnerships Grow With Food-As-Medicine Program
Instacart launched Instacart Health in September 2022 to expand the work it had been doing with food assistance programs, nutrition education and prescribed meal plans. While it continues to offer grocery delivery and other services to consumers, Instacart is increasingly partnering with healthcare organizations to offer food-as-medicine programs, said Sarah Mastrorocco, Instacart Health’s general manager. (Perna, 11/10)

Reuters: AstraZeneca Prioritizes US For RSV Drug Amid Surge In Cases
AstraZeneca on Friday said it was prioritizing the U.S. market for additional doses of its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) drug Beyfortus, which was approved in July to prevent the disease in infants and toddlers, as a surge of cases is outpacing supply. AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot in an interview at the Reuters office in New York said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had been asking for more of the antibody therapy that was co-developed with French drugmaker Sanofi. (Wingrove and Fick, 11/10)

Bloomberg: AstraZeneca Eyes Market For Cheap Ozempic-Like Drug In Pill Form
AstraZeneca Plc Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot envisions his company bringing more affordable drugs to people who need to lose a modest amount of weight for health reasons but don’t necessarily have obesity. One day after the UK drugmaker announced a deal to develop an obesity pill with a Chinese biotech, Eccogene, Soriot said the company is aiming for a once-daily pill that’s less costly to produce than injectable obesity medicines. (Langreth and Cattan, 11/10)

Reuters: Novo Seeks Obesity, Diabetes 'Bolt-On' Deals
Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO) wants to buy more companies with drugs in early- to mid-stages of development through "bolt-on" deals of up to a few billion dollars, CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen told Reuters on Friday. As the company's fortunes soar on demand for its popular weight-loss medicine Wegovy, Jorgensen said Novo sought to acquire companies working on medicines in the areas where it is already focused. (Fick and Gronholt-pedersen, 11/10)

Modern Healthcare: HCA Plots Aggressive Expansion For Hospitals, ERs, Other Services
HCA Healthcare has bold growth plans to take market share. The for-profit system is investing billions of dollars to expand its physical footprint across service lines. As of Aug. 31, the company had $5.3 billion in approved capital projects set to be completed in the next two years, ranging from renovations of existing facilities to new hospitals and outpatient locations, Chief Operating Officer Jon Foster said Thursday during HCA's investor day conference. (Hudson, 11/10)

Modern Healthcare: Thoma Bravo Closes NextGen Healthcare Acquisition For $1.8B
Private equity firm Thoma Bravo said Friday it closed its $1.8 billion acquisition of electronic health records vendor NextGen Healthcare. NextGen shareholders approved the deal during a meeting Tuesday and will receive $23.95 per share. NextGen is the latest health technology business to go private, following private equity deals for companies that struggled on the public markets, such as SOC Telemed, Allscripts and Tivity Health. (Turner, 11/10)

The Boston Globe: Mass General Brigham Offers Buyouts To Technology Staffers
Mass General Brigham said Friday it has offered buyouts to an unspecified number of employees who work in its technology arm as the financially strained health care giant seeks to “better optimize our workforce.” The company said in a statement that it had offered “volunteer separation” to employees in its Digital unit, which provides services ranging from information technology to maintenance of patients’ electronic health care records. (Saltzman, 11/10)

CBS News: Sutter Health Announces Ransomware Attack That Exposed Personal Information Of Patients
The personal information of potentially hundreds of thousands of patients at Sutter Health was exposed during a ransomware attack on one of its vendors earlier this year, Sutter Health announced on its website. ... Virgin Pulse estimated about 845,000 Sutter Health patients could be affected by the attack, according to Sutter Health. They did say social security numbers and financial information were not impacted. (Downs, 11/10)

San Gabriel Valley Tribune: 85,000 Kaiser Permanente Workers Ratify Contract That’s Boosting Wages 21%
More than 85,000 Kaiser Permanente workers have voted to ratify a new labor contract that will boost wages, promote increased hiring and give front-line healthcare employees a stronger voice on the job. The workers, represented by the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, voted 98.5% in favor of the four-year labor agreement that runs from Oct. 1, 2023 to Sept. 30, 2027. ... “When healthcare workers stand shoulder-to-shoulder to fight for our patients and our jobs, we can win.” (Smith, 11/9)

The Hill: New York Appoints Famed Sex Therapist Dr. Ruth As State’s Loneliness Ambassador
The famed media personality and sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer will serve as New York’s loneliness ambassador, a first-of-its-kind role intended to assist an underserved mental health need, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced Friday. Westheimer, known for her once-prominent radio and television shows as simply “Dr. Ruth,” pitched Hochul on the job last year. (Robertson, 11/10)

AP: Anchorage Adds To Record Homeless Death Total As Major Winter Storm Drops More Than 2 Feet Of Snow
Four homeless people have died in Anchorage in the last week, underscoring the city’s ongoing struggle to house a large homeless population at the same time winter weather has returned, with more than 2 feet (61 centimeters) of snow falling within 48 hours. (Thiessen, 11/11)

The Mercury News: Southern California Confirms 1st Human Case Of Mosquito-Borne St. Louis Encephalitis Since 1984
The Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services confirmed the city’s first case of St. Louis Encephalitis — a mosquito-borne virus with symptoms akin to West Nile virus — on Thursday, Nov. 9. It’s the first documented case of St. Louis Encephalitis, or SLEV, in Long Beach since 1984, the health department said Thursday. The city’s announcement came a little more than a week after it confirmed a case of dengue fever. (Hutchings, 11/10)

Houston Chronicle: Officials Mum After Cyberattack On Harris Center
Harris County officials on Thursday offered few details about the investigation into a recent ransomware attack on the county’s provider for mental health services, saying cybesecurity experts had recommended they not share information. ... Late Wednesday, officials with the center said it had been the target of a ransomware attack Tuesday and that some employee files had become inaccessible because of encryption. (deGrood, 11/9)

Stat: CVS, Rite Aid Closures Threaten To Worsen Pharmacy Deserts
Pharmacies were once abundant in the South Side of Chicago. Now, residents living in the majority Black neighborhood often find themselves with few options when it’s time to get a prescription refilled or stock up on cold medicine. (Nayak, 11/10)