First Edition: Sept. 14, 2023

KFF Health News and WBEZ Chicago: Abortion Bans Fuel A Rise In High-Risk Patients Heading To Illinois Hospitals 
When she was around 22 weeks pregnant, the patient found out that the son she was carrying didn’t have kidneys and his lungs wouldn’t develop. If he survived the birth, he would struggle to breathe and die within hours. The patient had a crushing decision to make: continue the pregnancy — which could be a risk to her health and her ability to have children in the future — or have an abortion. (Schorsch, 9/14)

KFF Health News: As More Patients Email Doctors, Health Systems Start Charging Fees 
Meg Bakewell, who has cancer and cancer-related heart disease, sometimes emails her primary care physician, oncologist, and cardiologist asking them for medical advice when she experiences urgent symptoms such as pain or shortness of breath. But she was a little surprised when, for the first time, she got a bill — a $13 copay — for an emailed consultation she had with her primary care doctor at University of Michigan Health. The health system had begun charging in 2020 for “e-visits” through its MyChart portal. Even though her out-of-pocket cost on the $37 charge was small, now she’s worried about how much she’ll have to pay for future e-visits, which help her decide whether she needs to see one of her doctors in person. Her standard copay for an office visit is $25. (Meyer, 9/14)

AP: Contradicting Federal Health Officials, Florida Gov. DeSantis Recommends Against New COVID Booster 
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s top health department official are directly contradicting federal health recommendations and warning residents against getting a new COVID-19 booster, saying there’s not enough evidence it provides benefits that outweigh risks. DeSantis, who is running for president, and Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo discussed the vaccine with doctors Wednesday on a Zoom call livestreamed on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. It repeated much of what they said a week ago during a live event in Jacksonville, in which they warned against the vaccine that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended this week. (9/13)

AP: There's No Sign Of Widespread COVID-19 Mandates In The US. Republicans Are Warning Of Them Anyway
As Americans fend off a late summer COVID-19 spike and prepare for a fresh vaccine rollout, Republicans are raising familiar fears that government-issued lockdowns and mask mandates are next. It’s been a favorite topic among some of the GOP’s top presidential contenders. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters that people are “lurching toward” COVID-19 restrictions and “there needs to be pushback.” South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott posted online that the “radical Left” seeks to bring back school closures and mandates. And former President Donald Trump urged congressional Republicans to stop the Biden administration from bringing back COVID-19 “mandates, lockdowns or restrictions of any kind.” (Swenson, 9/13)

The Washington Post: New Coronavirus Vaccine Shots Are On The Way. Here’s What To Know.
Updated coronavirus vaccines are on the way — the latest weapon for fending off a wily foe that has relentlessly evolved and is causing an uptick in covid-19 cases and hospitalizations. The shots, designed to provide improved protection against omicron subvariants now circulating, are manufactured by Moderna and by Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech. They were cleared Monday by the Food and Drug Administration and were recommended Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its advisers. (McGinley and Sun, 9/13)

CIDRAP: Mount Sinai Announces $13 Million Grant To Develop Coronavirus Vaccines 
Mount Sinai has received a $13 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to develop vaccines that can protect against many different types of coronaviruses. The 5-year grant was awarded to the Icahn School of Medicine. The award will fund the "Programming Long-lasting Immunity to Coronaviruses" (PLUTO) project led by Viviana Simon, MD, PhD of Mount Sinai, and Ali Ellebedy, PhD, of Washington University in St. Louis. (Soucheray, 9/13)

Reuters: Moderna Flu Shot Succeeds In Late-Stage Study
Moderna on Wednesday said its flu vaccine had generated a stronger immune response against all four A and B strains of the influenza virus compared to traditional flu shots in a late-stage trial. The effectiveness of Moderna's flu vaccine was demonstrated across all age groups, including older people, and was found to be safe and tolerable, according to the company. Moderna also said it had found that its shot was equal or superior to Sanofi's high-dose flu vaccine in a separate early head-to-head study. (Wingrove, 9/13)

Modern Healthcare: Government Shutdown Risk To DSH Payments, PEPFAR, Other Programs
With all eyes on a possible government shutdown at the end of the month, Congress is also on the brink of plunging large swathes of the healthcare system into limbo. Numerous pieces of legislation meant to fund or reauthorize a slew of major programs affecting hospitals, federally qualified health centers, medical education programs, opioid and HIV/AIDS treatment programs and even pandemic preparedness expire on Sept. 30. (McAuliff, 9/13)

Stat: In New Regeneron Deal For Covid Drug, White House Imposes Price Limits For First Time
A groundbreaking clause in a new deal between the Department of Health and Human Services and the pharmaceutical company Regeneron marks the first time the Biden administration has directly used its leverage to challenge drugmakers’ list prices, experts told STAT. The contract between Regeneron and the government requires that the list price for a future monoclonal antibody drug to prevent Covid-19 is the same or lower in the United States as in other high-income countries. The release doesn’t explain which countries the government will be comparing prices with, or how pricing data will be determined. (Cohrs, 9/13)

Axios: Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Court Battles Could Play Into 2024 Election
The legal challenges to President Biden's drug price negotiation law could be on a collision course with the 2024 election. Should the Medicare negotiation program survive its first courtroom showdown tomorrow, analysts say drug companies challenging the law could still have several chances to stop the program before next year's election — which could undercut Biden's ability to campaign on his victory over Big Pharma. (Owens, 9/14)

Stat: Bill Would Require Drugmakers To Give Key Info To FDA And U.S. Patent Office
Amid concerns over monopolies held by drugmakers, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill that would require the companies to certify they have provided the same information to different federal government agencies when seeking marketing approval and patent protection. (Silverman, 9/13)

Modern Healthcare: DEA Virtual Prescription Proposal Draws Criticism From Pharmacists
Tensions between pharmacists and telehealth companies are surfacing as the two groups attempt to sway federal regulators on the issue of virtual prescriptions. During public listening sessions Tuesday and Wednesday, telehealth companies whose business strategies depend on the remote prescribing of medications were broadly supportive of making permanent current flexibilities allowed by the Drug Enforcement Agency. The majority of pharmacy stakeholders expressed skepticism. (Turner, 9/13)

Politico: A House GOP Attempt To Advance Abortion Measure Backfires In Funding Fight 
House GOP leaders have abandoned efforts to pass an agriculture funding bill amid an intraparty row over abortion policy. Now, Speaker Kevin McCarthy is left without critical leverage as the Democratic-majority Senate advances its own plans and Congress hurtles toward a federal shutdown Oct. 1. House GOP leaders had hoped that inserting abortion policy into every major piece of their government spending plans would help win over conservative members and placate influential outside groups agitating for more aggressive action on the issue. But so far, the move has helped to seal the demise of what is usually among the easiest appropriations bills for Congress to pass, drawing fierce and rare pushback from more than a dozen moderate Republicans. (Hill and Ollstein, 9/13)

Bloomberg: Pentagon Vows To Stick With Abortion Policy, Spurning Tuberville’s Demands
The Pentagon won’t yield to demands from Senator Tommy Tuberville to scrap its travel policy for service members seeking an abortion in exchange for lifting his blockade on more than 300 military promotions, Defense Department spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Wednesday. “We are not changing our policy,” Singh said on Bloomberg Television’s “Balance of Power.” (Tiron, 9/13)

The Hill: DeSantis: Criminalizing Women For Getting Abortions ‘Will Not Happen In Florida’
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Wednesday that he does not support criminalizing abortion in his state. “We have no criminal penalty,” he said in a CBS News interview. “The penalties are for the physician.” Florida’s six-week abortion ban is not in effect, pending a lawsuit, but would enable the state to pursue felony charges against “any person who willfully performs or actively participates in a termination of pregnancy,” it reads. (Robertson, 9/13)

Politico: The End Of Roe Is Having A Chilling Effect On Pregnancy
The end of Roe v. Wade in June 2022 has had a profound effect on maternal healthcare and abortion access across the country. Fourteen states have now completely banned abortion and two dozen more have bans at 22 weeks or less. As a result, an already grim maternal health care landscape has worsened. New data reveals an unexpected consequence of these developments: Young women, even those in states where abortion remains legal, say they are foregoing having children because they are afraid to get pregnant because of changes that followed the Dobbs decision that ended Roe. (Leader, 9/13)

USA Today: American Red Cross Links National Blood Shortage To Climate Disasters
The American Red Cross has declared a national blood shortage in the wake of a record catastrophic year for weather and climate disasters across the country. The nonprofit organization announced on its website Monday that the national blood supply has fallen nearly 25% since early August, and the shortage is fueled by a sequence of natural disasters. Hurricane Idalia, which two weeks ago slammed through Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, caused more than 700 units of blood and platelets to go uncollected, the Red Cross said. (Arshad, 9/13)

NBC News: Fentanyl Plus Stimulants Drives ‘Fourth Wave’ Of Overdose Epidemic In The U.S.
The proportion of overdoses involving fentanyl and a stimulant — most commonly cocaine and methamphetamine — increased more than fiftyfold from 2010 to 2021, a study published Thursday in the journal Addiction found. “The roots really did start with overprescribing prescription opioids, but now it is really characterized by stimulants and fentanyl,” said Chelsea Shover, an assistant professor-in-residence at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, who co-authored the study. (Sullivan, 9/14)

Axios: The Stark U.S. Divide In Xylazine Use
There are stark regional differences in the use of xylazine, a powerful veterinary sedative increasingly mixed with illicit fentanyl that can cause skin-rotting wounds, according to a new report from the drug testing lab Millennium Health. (Millman, 9/14)

Military.com: VA Electronic Health Record Rollout Unlikely To Resume For A Year After Being Derailed By Problems
The Department of Veterans Affairs said Wednesday it may resume agency-wide adoption of its new electronic health records system next summer, after it was placed on hold in April due to problems involving patient health and safety and frustration among users. VA officials told members of Congress that introduction of the Oracle Cerner system across 166 additional hospitals could resume in 2024 if the department makes progress on several goals, including a successful rollout in March at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in Illinois. (Kime, 9/13)

Axios: Blues Data Shows Price Hikes For Common Medical Procedures
Colonoscopies can cost up to nearly 60% more when performed in a hospital compared to an ambulatory surgery center, according to a new analysis from a Blue Cross Blue Shield Association subsidiary. The report draws on claims data for 133 million Blues members from 2017 through 2022 and underscores insurers' arguments for site-neutral policies that pay the same for some services, regardless of the setting. (Reed, 9/14)

Stat: John Green Calls On Cepheid To Lower The Price Of Its TB Test
John Green, a novelist and high-profile YouTuber, is once again leveraging his star power in the global fight to end tuberculosis. His latest target? The diagnostics company Cepheid and the price of its tuberculosis test, GeneXpert. (Lawrence and Silverman, 9/14)

Stat: FDA Panel Endorses Alnylam’s Heart Drug — After Picking It Apart
A group of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted in favor of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals’ treatment for a debilitating heart disease Wednesday, but only after a day-long debate challenging whether the drug’s modest observed effects were actually meaningful for patients. (Garde, 9/13)

Stat: Hospitals Consider Fixing Cancer Drug Shortages On Their Own
A nonprofit formed by hospitals to deal with drug shortages is considering a move into chemotherapies. Frustrated by drug shortages and the price spikes that typically ensue, executives from large hospital systems launched the nonprofit Civica Rx to deal with the problem in September 2018. Months later, the publicly traded group purchasing organization Premier created a subsidiary, ProvideGx, with the same aim. (Wilkerson, 9/14)

Stat: What To Make Of Biden’s Latest Efforts On Cancer Research
The next chapter of President Biden’s moonshot to end cancer has landed. While the new goals are inspiring hope among cancer researchers, not everyone is impressed. (Owermohle and Chen, 9/13)

The Boston Globe: Former Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorzky Joins RI Biotech Company
Alex Gorsky, the former CEO and chairman of pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, was named lead director of Neurotech Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Wednesday. ... The Cumberland-based clinical stage biotech company was founded in 2001, and has been focused on developing therapies and implantable devices for chronic eye diseases. The company remains privately held and has less than 50 employees. (Gagosz, 9/13)

Stat: Akili Changes Sales Model For Its ADHD Video Game Treatment
Akili Interactive, which in 2020 made waves by receiving Food and Drug Administration clearance for its video game that improves symptoms of ADHD in children, on Wednesday announced it would reorient its business around selling its products directly to users over the counter, rather than by prescription. (Aguilar, 9/13)

Modern Healthcare: Akili Layoffs Hit 45 People As Company Shifts To Subscription Model
Akili will slash its workforce and stop offering products that require prescriptions, the digital therapeutics vendor announced Wednesday. The company is eliminating 45 jobs, which amounts to 40% of its headcount. Most of those positions are linked to prescription-based offerings, Akili said in a news release. The company laid off 46 employees in January. Akili is moving away from prescription products to reduce its reliance on health insurance coverage, improve patient access and boost profit margins, the company said in the news release. (Perna, 9/13)

NBC News: Anti-Asian Racism In The Medical Field Is A Common Reality, Yale-Led Survey Finds
Throughout his career in medicine, David Yang, 32, says he’s acutely felt the impacts of his race. A Chinese American emergency medicine fellow at the Yale School of Medicine, Yang said he’s had slurs hurled at him by patients, faced racist comments tying him to Covid, and has been confused with his Asian colleagues. He knew there were others who shared his experience, but he said meaningful research on the subject of anti-Asian racism in the medical field just didn’t exist. So he put forth his own study, and surveyed two dozen medical students. (Venkatraman, 9/13)

Reuters: US Declares Public Health Emergency In Georgia After Hurricane Idalia
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Wednesday declared a public health emergency (PHE) for the state of Georgia to deal with the ramifications of Hurricane Idalia. ... With the PHE declaration, healthcare providers and suppliers will have greater flexibility in meeting emergency needs of people covered by the Medicare and Medicaid health plans, the HHS said. (9/13)

Reuters: US Judge Freezes New Mexico Governor's Gun Ban
A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked a ban on carrying guns in New Mexico's largest city after the order by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham threw the state into the center of the U.S. gun-rights debate. U.S. District Court Judge David Urias said the governor's 30-day suspension of concealed and open firearm carry rights in Albuquerque and its surrounding county went against a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that people had a right to carry a gun outside their homes for self defense. (Hay, 9/13)

Los Angeles Times: California Moves One Step Closer To Five Paid Sick Days, With Unions Banking On COVID Lessons
California employers will be required to provide workers with five days of paid sick leave under legislation passed by the state Legislature on Wednesday, up from the current three-day requirement. While similar attempts to expand paid sick leave have stalled in the past, politically powerful unions are banking on workplace lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic to be enough to get Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign the bill this time around. (Mays, 9/13)

CBS News: Proposed $35 Price Cap On Insulin Heads To Gov. Gavin Newsom's Desk
A proposal by a Bay Area lawmaker that would cap the cost of insulin to $35 is heading to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk after being unanimously approved by state legislators. Senate Bill 90 by State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) passed the Assembly with a 63-0 vote and the State Senate on a 39-0 vote. The measure would ban co-pays over $35 for a 30-day supply of insulin and prohibit health plans from imposing a deductible on insulin prescriptions. (9/13)

Fox News: Rubio Bill Would Cut Off 'Radical Gender Ideology' In Health Care Systems
Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio introduced legislation Wednesday that would ban government agencies and federally funded hospitals from forcing employees to partake in programs that "promote radical gender ideology." "It is deeply disturbing to see the progressive left infiltrate the American healthcare system and compromise the quality of patient care in the process. I am introducing the Protecting Conscience in Healthcare Act to stop this harmful, radical gender ideology in American hospitals and healthcare facilities," Rubio said in comment on the legislation, which was exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital. (Colton, 9/13)

Reuters: Parents Challenge Massachusetts' School District's Gender Identity Policy
A federal appeals court on Wednesday wrestled with whether to revive a lawsuit by two parents challenging a Massachusetts’ school district policy to not disclose students’ gender identities expressed at school to their families without their consent. The parents' lawyer told the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that staff at a school in Ludlow, Massachusetts, withheld from them that their two children had begun using different names or pronouns during class hours, in violation of the parents' constitutional rights to direct the care of their children. (Raymond, 9/13)

Los Angeles Times: STDs Have Been On The Rise. Who Should Pick Up The Tab For Testing?
“This type of work cannot just be exclusively publicly funded,” said Dr. Rita Singhal, the department’s chief medical officer and director of the disease control bureau. “The more revenue for this effort, the better.” In the past, the department said it spent between $1.1 million and $2.3 million annually on testing for STDs. ... “If you’re trying to control a disease that’s spiking, you have to take away any deterrents, any obstacles” to routine screening, said Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. (Alpert Reyes, 9/13)

Stat: New Generation Of Researchers Unravel 'Hispanic Paradox' 
For 40 years, researchers have unsuccessfully tried to explain — or debunk — the “Hispanic Paradox,” the finding that Hispanic Americans live several years longer than white Americans on average, despite having far less income and health care and higher rates of diabetes and obesity. Now, armed with more comprehensive data, powerful genomic tools, and a rich cultural awareness of the communities they study, a new generation of scientists is finally making headway. (McFarling, 9/14)

CNN: Gen Z Vs. Millennials: What A New Study Reveals About Mental Health Concerns 
A smaller share of Gen Z is thriving compared to millennials at the same age, and members of Gen Z are far less likely to describe their mental health as “excellent,” according to a new study. (Shoichet, 9/14)

The Washington Post: The Food Industry Pays ‘Influencer’ Dietitians To Shape Your Eating Habits 
As the World Health Organization raised questions this summer about the risks of a popular artificial sweetener, a new hashtag began spreading on the social media accounts of health professionals: #safetyofaspartame. Steph Grasso, a registered dietitian from Oakton, Va., used the hashtag and told her 2.2 million followers on TikTok that the WHO warnings about artificial sweeteners were “clickbait” based on “low-quality science.” (O'Connor, Gilbert and Chavkin, 9/13)

CBS News: Cleaning Products, Even "Green" Ones, Emit Chemicals That May Impact Health, Study Finds
Cleaning products you may be using in your home — even the "green" options — could impact your health, according to new research from a nonprofit advocacy organization. In a peer-reviewed study by the Environmental Working Group that was published in the journal Chemosphere, scientists found everyday products may release hundreds of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. (Moniuszko, 9/13)

CNN: Nipah Virus: India's Kerala Rushes To Contain A Deadly Outbreak
A state in southern India is taking measures to contain an outbreak of the Nipah virus after two people died from the rare and often deadly disease, shutting schools and testing hundreds to prevent its spread. (Mogul, 9/14)

Reuters: India's Nipah Virus Trackers Gather Samples From Bats, Fruit 
Experts have fanned out in India's southern state of Kerala to collect samples of fluid from bats and fruit trees in a region where the deadly Nipah virus has killed two people and three more have tested positive. The state is battling its fourth outbreak since 2018 of a virus for which there is no vaccine, and which spreads through contact with the body fluids of infected bats, pigs or people, killing up to 75% of those infected. (Jain, 9/14)

Reuters: What Is The Nipah Virus That Killed Two In India And How Is It Treated? 
India's southern state of Kerala shut some schools and offices this week as officials raced to halt the spread of the deadly Nipah virus, after it killed two people in the fourth outbreak since 2018. (9/14)