First Edition: Oct. 29, 2021

KHN: ERs Are Swamped With Seriously Ill Patients, Although Many Don’t Have Covid 
Inside the emergency department at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Michigan, staff members are struggling to care for patients showing up much sicker than they’ve ever seen. Tiffani Dusang, the ER’s nursing director, practically vibrates with pent-up anxiety, looking at patients lying on a long line of stretchers pushed up against the beige walls of the hospital hallways. “It’s hard to watch,” she said in a warm Texas twang. But there’s nothing she can do. The ER’s 72 rooms are already filled. (Wells, 10/29)

KHN: Texas Abortion Law Gets Speedy High-Court Hearing Monday
The Supreme Court on Nov. 1 will hear oral arguments challenging the constitutionality of a new Texas abortion law — just days after agreeing to hear the case. That’s just one of many unusual things about the Texas law, which halted almost all abortions in the nation’s second-most populous state. The court plans to hear another major abortion case this fall: Justices previously set Dec. 1 as the day for arguments in a case from Mississippi that directly challenges Roe v. Wade and other decisions that guaranteed a constitutional right to an abortion before a fetus is viable. (Rovner, 10/29)

KHN: What’s Scarier Than Covid? Halloween Health Haikus
Boo that we couldn’t treat all the readers participating in our third annual KHN Halloween Haiku Contest to their moment of gory glory. Your entries — like our health care system — ranged from frighteningly complex to haunting. And, based on a review by our panel of never-say-die judges, here’s the winner and a sampling of finalists. Also, keep an eye on KHN’s social media accounts for more of our favorites. Enjoy! (10/29)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Biden Social-Spending ‘Framework’ Pulls Back On Key Health Pledges 
President Joe Biden unveiled a purported compromise on his social-spending plan shortly before taking off for a series of meetings in Europe. But it remains unclear whether the proposal — which jettisons some of the president’s health priorities — will win the support of enough Democrats to push it over the finish line. (10/28)

Stat: Biden Abandons His Push To Lower Drug Prices 
The White House is abandoning every single policy idea aimed at lowering prescription drug prices in President Biden’s domestic spending package, it announced Thursday morning. Biden is effectively admitting he can’t overcome deeply entrenched pharmaceutical industry opposition to any change to the status quo, even with broad political support for the effort, and both chambers of Congress in Democratic control. The announcement came as part of an effort from Biden to put together a framework for a major domestic spending package that the entire Democratic caucus in Congress could support. (Cohrs, 10/28)

Politico: Dems’ Drug Pricing Dreams Crash Into Reality In Social Spending Tumult 
Democrats control Washington and their proposal to let the government negotiate drug prices is backed by more than 80 percent of the public. But, like many before them, they have so far failed to prevail over the pharmaceutical industry and pass a plan that directly addresses the price of drugs for most Americans. The sweeping social spending package before Congress remains a work in progress and four industry lobbyists told POLITICO they aren‘t celebrating just yet. But President Joe Biden’s Thursday pitch to Capitol Hill eliminates any effort to crack down on drug prices, a coup for the industry that has spent months pouring millions into lobbying and advertising campaigns. (Ollstein, Wilson and Fuchs, 10/28)

Stat: Here's How Biden Can Address Drug Prices Without Congress
If President Biden wants major pharmaceutical industry reforms, he may have to achieve them on his own. That’s looking increasingly likely after the White House’s concession on Thursday that it is abandoning its push for Congress to include major drug pricing provisions in its long-debated social spending bill. (Facher, 10/29)

Politico: Your Guide To The Huge Dem Deal: 14 New Policies And What Could Stop Them 
The White House debuted a framework Thursday for the grand social spending deal that has eluded Democrats for months, answering major questions about what survived the carving knife of the party’s centrists. The outline pegs the final price tag at $1.75 trillion and divulges key details on the majority party’s bid to turn many of President Joe Biden’s campaign-trail promises into law. But the sketch is no substitute for real text of the bill, which is still being finalized. Without that, crucial specifics remain untold and political landmines linger as Democratic leaders pursue the support of every member under the dome. (Emma and Scholtes, 10/28)

AP: Medicaid Issues, Not Medicare's, Get Fixes In Biden Budget
Medicaid issues are turning up as winners in President Joe Biden’s social agenda framework even as divisions force Democrats to hit pause on far-reaching improvements to Medicare. The budget blueprint Biden released Thursday would fulfill a campaign promise to help poor people locked out of Medicaid expansion across the South due to partisan battles, and it would provide low-income seniors and disabled people with more options to stay out of nursing homes by getting support in their own homes. It also calls for 12 months of Medicaid coverage after childbirth for low-income mothers, seen as a major step to address national shortcomings in maternal health that fall disproportionately on Black women. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 10/29)

CNBC: Paid Leave Advocates Slam Policy Exclusion In Social Spending Bill
President Joe Biden has unveiled the framework for a proposed $1.75 trillion social spending and climate plan. But one key component — paid family and medical leave — has been nixed from the proposal. Biden had called for 12 weeks of paid leave as part of his American Families Plan. In recent days, that was whittled down to four weeks as Democrats tried to reduce the costs of the bill. Talks had also turned to the possibility of just providing paid leave to new parents. (Konish, 10/28)

The Washington Post: Biden Raises The Stakes With The Biggest Gamble Of His Presidency 
President Biden entered a caucus meeting of Democrats on Thursday morning, told them he wanted to speak from the heart, and then made one of the biggest gambles of a career that spans nearly a half century. He put the future of his presidency, and the state of his party, on the line with a major bet that he could persuade a fractious group of Democrats to rally behind him and support a compromise $1.75 trillion social spending plan at the heart of his agenda. (Viser and Sullivan, 10/28)

The Hill: Biden Appoints Sara Minkara As US Special Adviser On International Disability Rights 
President Biden announced on Thursday that he has appointed Sara Minkara to serve as U.S. special adviser on international disability rights. The senior-level position, which is housed within the State Department, is meant to lead the U.S.’s strategy when it comes to promoting and protecting the rights of individuals with disabilities throughout the world and in the department, according to a statement from the White House. (Schnell, 10/28)

Modern Healthcare: Biden To Nix HHS Regulation 'Sunset' Rule
The Health and Human Services Department plans to repeal a regulation that would eliminate department rules after 10 years, according to a Federal Register notice published Thursday. The department finalized that regulation in the waning days of President Donald Trump's term. The policy, which never fully took effect, would have sunset HHS regulations after 10 years unless the department reviewed them and justified leaving them in place. President Joe Biden's administration delayed enforcement of the rule in March; the new HHS notice spells its imminent demise. (Hellmann, 10/28)

The New York Times: Families Separated At Border Under Trump Policy May Each Receive Up To $450,000 
Migrant families separated at the border by the Trump administration may be eligible to each receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation for the damage inflicted on them by the policy, according to several people familiar with the matter. Some families could receive as much as $450,000 for each member who was directly affected, the sources said. However, negotiations between the Biden administration and lawyers representing the families are not over, and many might get far less, they said. (Jordan, 10/28)

Politico: 'Tossing People Aside': DeSantis Escalates Clash With Biden Over Vaccines
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday followed through with his threat to sue the Biden administration over vaccine mandates, setting up yet another clash between the Democratic president and the potential 2024 challenger. Florida’s lawsuit, filed in federal court against Biden and a handful of federal agencies, seeks to block a vaccine mandate that federal contractors must comply with by Dec. 8. The legal challenge does not address the Biden administration’s plan for businesses with 100 or more employees to require vaccines for their staffers or weekly testing. That plan falls under a rule that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is expected to formalize soon. (Fineout, 10/28)

Bloomberg: Biden Vaccine Mandate Will Let Employers Make Workers Pay For Covid Tests
The Biden administration’s highly anticipated vaccine mandate rule for private-sector employers will allow businesses to force workers who refuse to get the Covid-19 shot to pay for required weekly tests and masks, two sources familiar with the matter said. The emergency rule, which will apply to companies with at least 100 employees and is expected to be released next week, will give employers the option of paying for testing and masks for unvaccinated workers or compelling those employees to foot the bill themselves, according to the sources, who requested anonymity because they didn’t have approval to discuss the rulemaking. (Penn, 10/28)

CBS News: Citigroup To Require U.S. Employees Be Vaccinated Against COVID-19 
Citigroup will require all of its U.S. workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment, the nation's third-biggest bank said Thursday. Given the U.S. government is a large client, Citi has an "obligation" to comply with an executive order from the White House requiring that employees supporting government contracts be vaccinated, Sara Wechter, head of human resources at the financial giant, wrote on LinkedIn on Thursday. (Gibson, 10/28)

Fox News: Biden Admin Barred From Firing Unvaccinated Employees After DC Judge Issues Injunction
A Washington, D.C., district court judge issued a temporary restraining order Thursday that prevents both civilian and active-duty military plaintiffs from being terminated after they sued the Biden administration over religious exemptions to COVID-19 vaccines. "None of the civilian employee plaintiffs will be subject to discipline while his or her request for a religious exception is pending," District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered, according to a Minute Order obtained by Fox News. The judge also ruled that "active duty military plaintiffs, whose religious exception requests have been denied, will not be disciplined or separated during the pendency of their appeals." (Brown, 10/28)

The Washington Post: Air Force Is First To Face Troops’ Rejection Of Vaccine Mandate As Thousands Avoid Shots 
Up to 12,000 Air Force personnel have rejected orders to get fully vaccinated against the coronavirus despite a Pentagon mandate, and officials say it is too late for them to do so by the Tuesday deadline, posing the first major test for military leaders whose August directive has been met with defiance among a segment of the force. The vast majority of active-duty airmen, more than 96 percent, are at least partially vaccinated, according to data from the Air Force. (Horton, 10/28)

Oklahoman: OKC Firefighter Fired After Refusing COVID-19 Test
An Oklahoma City Firefighter was fired this week after refusing to submit to COVID-19 testing protocols, according to a release from the department. Cpl. Jerimiah Hoffstatter, a nine-year veteran of the department, was terminated Wednesday following an administrative investigation. The department cited the reason for the termination as gross insubordination. (Williams, 10/28)

NBC News: Trash Piles Up As Vaccination Deadline Looms For NYC Workers
Trash piled up in parts of New York City on Thursday as garbage collection slowed ahead of the deadline for city workers to get vaccinated. Missed collections were reported in Staten Island and Brooklyn. And residents have taken to social media in outrage over the accumulating garbage and to raise concern that the slowdown is intentional in protest of the vaccine mandate. (Lee, 10/28)

AP: Iowa Lawmakers Pass Vaccine Mandate Exemption Bill
Iowa employees could seek medical and religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccine mandates and those who are fired for refusing a vaccine would be guaranteed unemployment benefits under a bill approved Thursday by the Iowa Legislature. The bill was released just minutes before lawmakers met for a special session convened to address redistricting. (Pitt, 10/28)

AP: Tennessee GOP Lawmakers Sprint In Bid To Curb COVID Rules
Republican lawmakers in Tennessee could be voting within days on whether to ban most businesses from solely requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination for their customers and workers and severely limit when companies and government entities — including schools — can require masks. Lawmakers on Thursday quickly advanced the measure carrying the prohibitions, despite growing opposition from the business community, and could vote by week’s end. Prominent groups asked lawmakers not to put them in “an impossible position between federal and state mandates,” including the upcoming employer vaccination mandate announced by President Joe Biden. They said conflicting mandates could “subject employers to potentially crippling litigation costs.” (Mattise and Kruesi, 10/28)

AP: Inslee: 94% Of State Employees Comply With Vaccine Mandate
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Thursday applauded numbers showing that some 94% of state employees are vaccinated against COVID-19 or have received exemptions from his mandate, and 3.1% are waiting to get a vaccine or exemption. Inslee said another 2.9% of state employees have left their jobs, either by quitting or retiring. (Geranios, 10/28)

NPR: Here's The Timeline For The Kids COVID Vaccine Authorization
Children as young as 5 may be able to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in the U.S. as soon as next week. While some parents aren't sure how they feel about this, others are waiting eagerly for a chance to protect their children from COVID-19. But federal agencies can't be rushed. Here's what still needs to happen before the Pfizer-BioNTech shots can start going into kids' arms. (Simmons-Duffin and Hurt, 10/28)

NBC News: Why Do Kids Need The Covid Vaccine?
A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee’s vote Tuesday to recommend a lower-dose Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use authorization for children ages 5 to 11 means the shot could be available as soon as next week, yet only a minority of parents say they plan  to get their children vaccinated. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll published Thursday found that less than 30 percent of parents of 5- to 11-year-olds plan to get their children vaccinated. Another third of parents reported they plan to wait to see how the vaccine performs outside of clinical trials, and roughly another third do not plan to get their kids vaccinated against Covid at all.  (Sullivan, 10/29)

The New York Times: Has The Virus Infected Huge Numbers Of Younger Children? 
A startling statistic emerged as advisers to the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday debated use of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in children ages 5 to 11. According to one federal scientist, by June an estimated 42 percent of these children had already been infected with the coronavirus. That figure was much higher than anyone expected. But the estimate, which was from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, might have overstated the percentage of children who were infected, several experts said in interviews. Among other flaws, the percentage was based on tests known to have a high rate of “false positives” — signaling the presence of antibodies where there are none. (Mandavilli, 10/28)

Bay Area News Group: COVID Outbreak Among Cheerleaders At California High School
The cheerleading team at a Los Angeles County high school has been put on hiatus because it is the apparent center of a COVID-19 outbreak. An email sent to Valencia High School families on Tuesday by principal Pete Getz said 33 cases have been confirmed among students and staff. Most of the infected students are cheerleaders. Valencia High, in Santa Clarita, has an enrollment of about 2,600 students. The positive tests “started to pop up last week and … increased through the weekend,” school district spokesman Dave Caldwell told TV station KABC. (10/28)

NBC News: Is Your Child Afraid Of Needles? How You Can Help Them Before Their Covid Shots
The Covid-19 vaccine is likely to be authorized for children 5 to 11 years old within days, which means parents who have been eagerly awaiting the chance to vaccinate their kids will soon get the opportunity. But those kids may not be as excited about the shots as their parents. A fear of needles, or trypanophobia, is common in children — a majority have it, one statistical analysis found. (Chuck, 10/28)

AP: 16 Inmates Have Tested Positive For COVID-19 In Kingman Jail
Mohave County Sheriff’s officials are continuing to deal with COVID-19 issues in the Kingman jail. They said the Adult Detention facility identified 16 inmates who tested positive for the virus this week out of 34 inmates. (10/29)

NBC News: America's Falling Covid Case Rate, In 3 Charts
The number of new Covid-19 cases in the United States has dropped by nearly a quarter in the last two weeks, further signaling a downward trend in the country’s fourth wave of the pandemic. The country has averaged about 70,000 new cases per day from Oct. 14 to Oct. 27, a decrease of 22 percent from the two weeks prior. The number of Covid-related deaths also dropped during that time by about 14 percent. (Ramos and Chiwaya, 10/28)

The Atlantic: Is Moderna Really Better Than Pfizer—Or Is It Just a Higher Dose?
“More vaccine” is not a simple proposition. For one thing, doses of Pfizer and Moderna are measured in mass of mRNA lipid nanoparticles; J&J doses are measured by counting the number of harmless adenovirus particles that each one contains (about 50 billion). You can’t really compare lipid nanoparticles with viral particles, several experts told me. According to Michael Arand of the University of Zurich’s Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, you shouldn’t even assume that each 50-billion-particle dose of J&J will be equivalent in size to the next one, since, depending on the details of production, some particles can be more infectious than others. A better dosage measure for adenovirus-based vaccines, he argued in a recent opinion paper, would be “infectious units.” When I asked him via email whether developing a standard measure that works across different vaccine platforms might be possible, he said, “I do not think so.” (Gutman, 10/28)

Modern Healthcare: Another Kaiser Permanente Union Authorizes Strike
Nearly 2,000 Kaiser Permanente workers in California voted to allow a strike, their union announced Thursday. The not-for-profit integrated health system's labor woes continue to mount. This vote by members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers follows a series of strike authorizations backed by members of labor groups belonging to the Alliance of Health Care Union. So far this month, unions representing more than 25,000 Kaiser Permanente employees in California and Oregon have given their bargaining teams permission to initiate strikes if negotiations don't progress. (Christ, 10/28)

Crain's New York Business: UnitedHealthcare, Montefiore Reach Agreement To Restore Access
Insurer UnitedHealthcare and Montefiore Health System have reached an agreement after a contract dispute, restoring access to health plan members, they announced Thursday morning. Some 60,000 people with UnitedHealthcare and Oxford employer-sponsored health plans, as well as those on the Minnesota-based insurer’s Medicare dual special-needs plan, had lost access to the Bronx health provider's facilities in December. UnitedHealthcare and Montefiore had failed to agree over proposed increased rates. Plan members will have access restored effective Dec. 1. (Sim, 10/28)

The Advocate: Nearly 1,000 Employees Laid Off From Bob Dean Nursing Homes As He Fights To Get License Back
Louisiana nursing home magnate Bob Dean has laid off nearly 1,000 employees as he awaits hearings that will determine whether he can reclaim the nursing home licenses that the state Department of Health revoked after finding widespread problems with how he evacuated residents to a warehouse for Hurricane Ida. In notices of mass layoffs filed with the Louisiana Workforce Commission, administrators for Dean’s seven nursing homes wrote that LDH’s decision to take away their licenses meant that “the nursing homes are unable to operate for the foreseeable future and the decision had been made to lay off all, or substantially all, hourly employees effectively immediately.” (Gallo and Mosbrucker, 10/28)

AP: Massachusetts Health Network Hacked; Patient Info Exposed
A Worcester, Mass. health care network says someone hacked into its employee email system, potentially exposing the personal information of thousands of patients. UMass Memorial Health notified patients earlier this month if their information was involved in the breach, which occurred between June 2020 and January. The personal data included Social Security numbers, insurance information and medical information, The Telegram & Gazette reported Thursday. (10/29)

AP: Maryland Officials Highlight New Health Insurance Subsidy
A new Maryland subsidy will make health insurance more affordable for young adults ages 18 to 34.Local officials and state lawmakers gathered on Thursday to highlight the new subsidy as Maryland’s open enrollment period begins Monday for the state’s health exchange. Legislation enacted by the Maryland General Assembly allocates $20 million a year for two years to bring down the cost of health insurance for people ages 18-34 with low and moderate incomes. (10/28)

San Francisco Chronicle: UCSF Announces Opening Of $535 Million Brain Research Facility
UCSF on Thursday marks the opening of the Weill Neurosciences Building, a groundbreaking facility that — once all the crates are unboxed — will bring patients, physicians, medical scientists and researchers together under one roof in the hopes of treating brain diseases that have until now proved largely intractable. The 282,500-square-foot building at UCSF’s Mission Bay campus is unlike any other in America for its multi-disciplinary approach, said Dr. Stephen Hauser, director of the Weill Institute for Neurosciences, which was founded in 2016 and will be housed in the new complex. It will be the largest integrated neurology and neuroscience center in the U.S. (Vaziri, 10/28)

The New York Times: Texas Nurse Sentenced To Death For Fatally Injecting 4 Heart Patients With Air 
A former Texas nurse was sentenced to death this week for injecting air into the arteries of four patients recovering from heart surgery, causing fatal brain damage, a court official said. A jury in Tyler, Texas, handed up the sentence on Wednesday in the capital murder case of the former nurse, William Davis, eight days after convicting him. (Vigdor, 10/28)

AP: US Lowers Cutoff For Lead Poisoning In Young Kids
U.S. health officials have changed their definition of lead poisoning in young children — a move expected to more than double the number of kids with worrisome levels of the toxic metal in their blood. The more stringent standard announced Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention means the number of children ages 1 to 5 considered to have high blood lead levels will grow from about 200,000 to about 500,000. (Stobbe, 10/28)

AP: Decorating A Cake With Glitter? Check That It's Edible
They make cakes and cupcakes sparkle and shine, but popular decorative glitters can contain toxic metals and aren’t always safe to eat. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report Thursday that the products known as “luster dust” aren’t all meant to be eaten even if they’re labeled “nontoxic.” Some should be used for display only, like on a cake topper that’s removed. The report cites investigations by health officials in two states that traced illnesses to baked goods using such dusts. (Choi, 10/28)

USA Today: Halloween Candy: Doctors Give Advice On How Much Kids Should Eat
Many health experts say there is no right or wrong amount of candy one should consume during or after Halloween, but one thing to definitely check for: make sure the candy is safe to eat."Anything with holes in the packaging, those should all be thrown out and not consumed," Dr. Ben Levinson, primary care pediatrician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, told USA TODAY. Levinson added parents should be cautious of anything homemade as well, as it may contain allergens. But for the candy that is safe? Levinson said children can go all-in. (Mendoza, 10/28)

Fox News: Halloween Costume Contact Lenses May Be Scarier Than You Think
Americans might be haunted with scary eye infections long after Halloween if they wear costume contact lenses without a prescription, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The agency notes out of the 45 million Americans who wear contact lenses, it’s difficult to estimate approximately how many actually wear decorative contact lenses, but the number always increases around Halloween, with highest demand often in the demographic at most risk for infectious complications, according to a recent report. (Sudhakar, 10/28)

Los Angeles Times: Poor Neighborhoods Bear The Brunt Of Extreme Heat
It was a typical summer day in Los Angeles, but a satellite orbiting hundreds of miles above the Earth could detect that it was getting much hotter in some neighborhoods than others. In a majority-white area of Silver Lake — where median household income is more than $98,000 a year and mature trees dapple the hilly streets with shade — the surface temperature was 96.4 degrees. Less than a mile away, in a corner of East Hollywood, it was 102.7 degrees. The predominantly Latino and Asian area, where median household income is less than $27,000 a year, is packed with older, 2- and 3-story apartment buildings. It has few trees big enough to provide shade, and less than one-third the canopy of Silver Lake, ranking it among the lowest coverage areas in the city. (Barbosa and Vives, 10/28)

AP: US Cites 'Crisis' As Road Deaths Rise 18% In First-Half 2021
The number of U.S. traffic deaths in the first six months of 2021 hit 20,160, the highest first-half total since 2006, the government reported Thursday, a sign of growing reckless driving during the coronavirus pandemic. The estimated number was 18.4% higher than the first half of last year, prompting Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to call the increase an unacceptable crisis. That percentage increase was the biggest six-month increase since the department began recording fatal crash data since 1975. (Krisher and Yen, 10/28)

AP: 4 E. Coli Cases May Be Linked To 2021 Georgia National Fair
State health officials are investigating whether E. coli was spread at the Georgia National Fair held earlier this month. The Georgia Department of Public Health said it has confirmed four cases of the illness among children who were at the event in Perry from Oct. 7 to Oct. 17, news outlets reported. Three of them are now hospitalized. (10/28)

AP: Mississippi: 14K Pandemic Food Cards Mistakenly Deactivated
More than 14,000 low-income children in Mississippi had their pandemic food cards mistakenly deactivated, prompting an apology from state officials and a promise that new cards would be mailed to their families within days. Children with an apostrophe in their first or last names all had their cards deactivated Monday by a processing partner, the Mississippi Department of Human Services said in a news release. It said that department and the Mississippi Department of Education were notified of the error on Tuesday. (10/28)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Louisiana Law Allows Pregnant Minors To Get An Abortion Without Parental Consent. A Mom Is Suing
A Lafayette woman is suing the state to prevent her teenage daughter from having an abortion, in an unusual case that takes new aim at the state’s “judicial bypass” law, which allows judges to grant the procedure for pregnant minors who lack a parent’s consent. While Attorney General Jeff Landry is defending the state in the case, his solicitor general, Liz Murrill, largely supported the mother’s cause in a legal brief this week. Landry’s office also submitted disciplinary records on abortion providers, orders by the state Board of Medical Examiners, health inspection reports and other records to the court, aimed at painting a grim picture of Louisiana abortion providers. (Simerman, 10/28)

The Washington Post: If Roe V. Wade Is Overturned, The Closest Abortion Clinic For Those In The South And Midwest Could Be Hundreds Of Miles Away, Report Says 
If the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, people seeking abortions in the South and Midwest would have to travel hundreds of miles to get an abortion, according to a new report released Thursday. The Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research center based in New York and Washington that supports abortion rights, examined the impact of so-called trigger laws that would ban or severely restrict the procedure in multiple states if the high court issued such a ruling. It measured how far clients in those states would have to travel to get to the closest abortion clinic. It also looked at how states where the procedure would remain legal would be affected by the influx of patients. (Asbury, 10/28)

Bloomberg: England May Become First Country To Prescribe E-Cigarettes
England could become the first country in the world to prescribe e-cigarettes to people who want to quit smoking, which would be a boon for an industry that is facing regulatory pressure in the U.S. Makers of e-cigarettes can submit their products to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and undergo the same approval process as other medicines available on the NHS, the government said Friday. (Gretler, 10/29)

Modern Healthcare: FDA Releases Joint AI Medical Device Guidance With Canada, U.K.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and its counterparts in Canada and the United Kingdom issued joint guidelines for companies creating medical devices that use artificial intelligence on Wednesday. The 10 "guiding principles" from the FDA, Health Canada and the U.K. Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency applying expertise from multiple disciplines throughout product development and testing AI devices on data that's representative of the intended patient population. The trilateral regulatory framework seeks to establish a foundation for safe and effective use of AI and machine learning in medical devices that organizations such as the International Medical Device Regulators Forum can build upon. (Kim Cohen, 10/28)

Bloomberg: WHO Says $23 Billion Needed To Expand Access, Fight Covid-19
The World Health Organization said $23.4 billion is needed to help provide access to Covid-19 vaccines, treatments and tests in low- and middle-income countries. The organization gave the estimate for the needs of its ACT-Accelerator plan through September 2022. The WHO has set a target to vaccinate at least 40% of people in every country by the end of the year with the help of Covax, the facility aimed at making inoculations available worldwide, after falling short of previous goals. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called on rich countries to step up their support of poorer ones in order to accelerate the end of the pandemic. (Mulier, 10/28)